IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS UPON RAILWAYS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hargreaves and William Rostron, both of
Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS UPON RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hargreaves and
William Rostron at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the Sth March 1871.
We, JOHN HARGREAVES and WILLIAM ROSTRON, both of Bolton, in
in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS
UPON RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
-
The object of this Invention is firstly to prevent the possibility of a
collision between a railway engine (whether by itself or attached to
a train) and any engine, carriage, train, or other similar obstruction on
the line in front thereof.
The principal feature of novelty in the Invention consists in causing
cach engine to carry a long jointed bar in front thereof (say from three

page_text: hundred or four hundred yards to a quarter or even half a mile) which
bar is supported at suitable intervals upon small wheels or rollers
running upon a rail or in a groove midway between the ordinary rails;
the front end of the bar is turned upwards or carries a projection, and
the rear end of the same is carried on a slide under the engine, so that
upon its front end meeting an obstruction and the movement of the rod
being checked it can fall clear of the engine, but in so doing it comes
in contact with a lover which blows the whistle and cautions the driver
that there is danger ahead. This same movement may also be caused to
turn off the steam and apply the breaks so as to bring the engine to a
standstill. Each tender and every guard's van is to carry a projecting
bracket so arranged as to come in contact with the front end of the
jointed bar or with the projection thereon, so that in the event of an
engine coming within a certain distance of another engine or train on
the same line of railway the bar will be released and caused to fall from
the engine and in so doing will sound the whistle, shut off the steam,
and apply the breaks.
A second part of our Invention is designed for the purpose of giving
notice to the driver of a running engine that he is within a certain
distance of a station or crossing, and at the same time signalling to the
pointsman or other person at the said station, not only the approach of
a train, but also the nature of the coming train whether express, parlia-
mentary, goods, ballast, or otherwise. At a given distance from the
station or crossing (say half a mile) we place at the side of the rails a
vertical lever either weighted or provided with a spring which returns it
to its original position after being depressed. At or near the front of
the engine is a projecting finger in connection with the whistle, and
when this comes into contact with the lover it sounds the whistle and at
the same time (by means of a wire connected to the lever) rings a bell
at the station or crossing to warn the person in charge that a train is
approaching. Further back upon the engine or the train are one or
more projections (according to the nature of the train) which will cause
the lever to ring the bell a certain number of times so as to indicate the
nature of the train. The wire or the bell may also work an index which
will point to the words " express," parliamentary," and so forth on a
dial or scale, and will be set back to "zero" by the engine acting on
another lever as it passes the station or crossing. Instead of several
projections on the engine one only might be used, the situation or .height
" "

page_text: of which above the rails being used to indicate the nature of the train by
coming in contact with different portions of the lever, and thus depressing
it more or less, and these variations producing a corresponding effect on
the bell or indicator.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Hargreaves and William Rostron in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
HARGREAVES and WILLIAM ROSTRON, both of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said John Hargreaves and William Rostron,
Her special license that we, the said John Hargreaves and William
Rostron, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said John Hargreaves and William Rostron, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, excrcise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS UPON RAILWAYS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said John Hargreaves and William
Rostron, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in, writing
under our, or one of our, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Hargreaves, on behalf of myself
and the said William Rostron, do hereby declare the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is, firstly, to prevent the possibility of a
collision between a railway engine (whether by itself or attached to a
train) and any engine, carriage, train, or other similar obstruction on
the line in front thereof.
The principal feature of novelty in the Invention consists in causing
each engine to carry a long jointed bar in front thereof (say from three
'hundred or four hundred yards to a quarter or even half a mile), which
bar is supported at suitable intervals upon small wheels or rollers
running upon a rail or in a groove midway between the ordinary rails;
the front end of the bar is turned upwards or carries a projection, and
the rear end of the same is carried on a slide under the engine, so that
upon its front end meeting an obstruction, and the movement of the rod
being checked it can fall clear of the engine, but in so doing it comes
in contact with a lever which blows the whistle and cautions the driver
that there is danger ahead. This same movement may also be caused to
turn off the steam and apply the breaks, so as to bring the engine to a
standstill. Each tender and every guard's van is to carry a projecting
bracket, so arranged as to come in contact with the front end of the
jointed bar, or with the projection thereon, so that in the event of an
engine coming within a certain distance of another engine or train on
the same line of railway, the bar will be released and caused to fall from
the engine, and in so doing will sound the whistle, shut off the steam,
and apply the breaks. Instead of causing the engine to push the jointed
bar in front of it, the same effect may be produced by causing the
guard's van at the rear end of the train to drag a jointed bar behind it,
the rear end of the said jointed bar carrying a double inclined plane,
which upon an engine attempting to overtake the train acts upon a
lever (carried by the engine), which turns off the steam, blows the
whistle, & puts on the breaks.
A second part of our Invention is designed for the purpose of giving
notice to the driver of a running engine that he is within a certain
distance of a station or crossing, and at the same time signalling to the
pointsman or other person at the said station, not only the approach of
a train, but also the nature of the coming train, whether express,
parliamentary, goods, ballast, or otherwise. At a given distance from

page_text: the station or crossing (say half a mile) we place at the side of the rails
a vertical lever, either weighted or provided with a spring, which returns
it to its original position after being depressed. At or near the front of
the engine is a projecting finger in connection with the whistle, and
when this comes into contact with the lever it sounds the whistle, and
at the same time (by means of a wire connected to the lever) rings a
bell at the station or crossing to warn the person in charge that a train
is approaching. Further back upon the engine or the train are one or
more projections (according to the nature of the train) which will cause
the lever to ring the bell a certain number of times, so as to indicate
the nature of the train. The wire or the bell may also work an index
which will point to the words "express," "parliamentary," and so forth,
on a dial or scale, and will be set back to " zero by the engine acting
on another lever as it passes the station or crossing. Instead of several
projections on the engine one only might be used, the situation or
height of which above the rails being used to indicate the nature of
the train by coming in contact with different portions of the lever, and
thus depressing it more or less, and these variations producing a
corresponding effect on the bell or indicator.
"
It will be evident that the first and second parts of our Invention may
be used either separately or in combination.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention for "Improve-
ments in Apparatus for the Prevention of Accidents on Railways," we
will now proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and
in order that the same may be clearly understood we have annexed
Increunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the
same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in
the following explanation thereof.
Fig. 1 in the Drawing represents a side view of a locomotive engine
fitted with the first described arrangement of mechanism.
a, a, is the long jointed bar running on friction wheels in or upon a
central rail, and carrying an upward projection or finger b, b, at its front
end. The rear end of the bar is provided with an inclined plane c, c,
carried by the slide d, d, fixed underneath the engine. This inclined
plane acts (as herein-after described) upon a roller e, e, carried by two
levers (see detached front view, Fig. 2). These levers are mounted
loosely upon a transverse shaft g, g, but are connected to it by means

page_text: of two notched collars h, h, which are keyed thereon, so that the levers
are locked to the shaft when moving in one direction, but are independent
of it when moved in the reverse direction. Mounted and keyed upon
the same shaft g, g, are two other levers k, E, attached by strong
springs 1, 2, to the break bar m, m. This bar is provided with inclined
slots 'n, n, in which work friction rollers attached to the free ends of
belt breaks o, o, which act on the peripheries of the running wheels.
There is also keyed upon one end of the shaft g, g, another lever p, p,
connected by a rod q, q, to the lever handle r, r, under the control of
the engineer, which is provided with a ratchet quadrant and catch 8, 8. 1
To one of the levers ♪♪, is also attached a rod t, 1, connected by a bell
crank u, u, to a rod v, e, which acts upon the steam handle to, to, by
means of a projection x, x, as seen at Fig. 3. The upper end of this
rod t, t, is provided with a loop which at the same time acts upon the
whistlo y, y, the loop allowing the whistle to be sounded independently 1
by the engineer when required.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-As the engine travels
along it pushes before it the jointed bar a, a, with its projection or
finger b, b. The inclined plane c, c, at the rear end of this bar is attached
to the front part of the slide d, d, and held in the position shown in !
Fig. 1, by means of a pin or spring sufficiently strong to overcome the
ordinary resistance of the bar, but upon the finger b, b, meeting an
obstruction it becomes checked and breaks or shears off the pin or over-
comes the resistance of the spring, and the engine still advancing the
slide d, d, is carried forward, and the inclined plane e, c, falls off the 2
end of the slide and becomes disconnected from the engine. Previously
to falling off the slide, however, it acts upon the roller e, e, carried by
the levers, and gives a portion of a turn to the shaft 7, 9, causing
the levers h, k, to slide the break bar m, m, towards the rear, and the
inclined slots ",", acting upon their respective rollers apply the breaks 0, 0, 3
powerfully to the wheels. I would here remark that it will be evident
that this same movement of the inclined plane c, c, might be caused to
apply any other kind of breaks, if preferred. The partial revolution
of the shaft g, g, above referred to will at the same time cause the
bell crank u, u, to pull down the rod v, v, and thus simultaneously turn 3
off the steain and blow the whistle.
A modification of this arrangement which will not in the

page_text: Fig. 1. In this case we propose instead of causing the engine to push
a jointed bar before it to cause the guard's van at the rear of a train
to drag a similar jointed bar z, z, behind it. This bar carries at its rear
end an inclined plane c*, c*, similar to the incline c, c, in Fig. 1, and
which in the event of another engine overrunning it acts upon the
roller e, e, as before described, so as to apply the breaks, turn off the
steam, and blow the whistle.
The second part of our Invention is illustrated by Fig. 5. At any
required distance from a station or crossing is a lever 1 mounted on
a shaft 2, and projecting upwards. As an engine passes this point a
lever 3 carried by the engine comes against the lever 1, and thus causes
a rod 4 to sound the whistle and call the attention of the engineer. In
order to indicate at the station or signal box the nature of the coming
train the engine carries a fixed finger 5 which depresses the lever 1,
causing a pulley 6 fixed on the shaft 2 to wind up a chain 7. The
other end of this chain passes round a pulley 8 connected to an index 9
by an endless chain or in any other convenient manner, so that the
depressing of the lever 1 moves the index 9 over the surface of the
index board 10. The engines attached to trains of a different class or
character carry fingers 5 of different lengths, as indicated by dotted
lines, and hence in passing the lever 1 they depress it more or less, and
this imparts a corresponding action to the index 9, and thus shows the
nature of the train. The same movement may be made to sound the
bell 11. To the extremity of the chain 7 is attached a weight 12, and
to the pulley 8 is connected a ratchet quadrant 13, and hence the
action of the lever 1, winds up the weight 12, which is held by the
catch 14. As the engine passes the station or crossing a projection
thereon carrying a roller 15 depresses a lever 16, releasing the catch
14 and allows the weight 12 to fall and bring back the index 9 and
lever 1, into their original position ready to be acted on by the next
engine.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention
for "Improvements in Apparatus for the Prevention of Accidents upon
Railways," together with the manner in which the same is to be or may
be performed or carried into practical effect, we wish it to be understood
that we claim as our Invention the general construction and arrange-
ment of the mechanism for such purposes as herein-before described
and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings, or any mere imitation

page_text: or modification thereof, constructed and operating in substantially the
same or a similar manner, and more especially we claim,―
Firstly. Attaching a long jointed bar to the front or rear of an engine
or train for the purpose of preventing collisions by automatically putting
on the breaks, turning off the steam, and sounding the whistle in the
event of any obstruction.
And, secondly. We claim placing a finger or projection on the engine
for actuating a lever at a distance from a station or crossing, so as to
indicate at the said station or crossing the approach of a train, and also
the nature or class of train approaching.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hargreaves, on behalf of
myself and the said William Rostron, have hercunto set my hand
and scal, this Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-onc.
Witnessed by
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN HARGREAVES. (L.S.)