IMPROVED MEANS OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS, GUARD, AND ENGINE DRIVER OF A RAILWAY TRAIN, PART OF WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE PREVENTION OR DETECTION OF BURGLARY
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alice Isabel Lucan Gordon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the
25th March 1865.
I, ALICE ISABEL LUCAN GORDON, of Prince's Gate, Hyde Park, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MEANS OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS, GUARD, AND
ENGINE DRIVER OF A RAILWAY TRAIN, PART OF WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS IS
ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE PREVENTION OR DETECTION OF BURGLARY," to be as
follows:-
In the first place I propose to furnish each carriage, on any convenient
part of the roof, with a small electric machine provided with a burner enclosed
in a strong blue (or other colored) glass frame; this burner may be either a
charcoal point or any other combustible substance which can be ignited by
electricity. Inside each compartment of each carriage is a button or other
contrivance which, by acting as a "contactor," so as to complete or interrupt
the electric circuit by a simple pressure, will enable any passenger to strike an
instantaneous and brilliant light at will in the blue or other colored glass
lantern on the top of the carriage. In connection with this same button or
"contactor" is a wire running along the roof of the carriage, each wire being
sufficiently long to be connected to the corresponding wire of the adjoining

page_text: carriage, the connection being made (when the carriages are coupled together
to form the train) by any simple contrivance which will ensure electrical
contact between the two wires. These wires communicate with an electrical
bell apparatus in the guard's van, so that upon any passenger moving the
button or other "contactor" in the carriage the bell will be struck so as to
call the guard's attention, and at the same time a brilliant (say, blue) light
will be exhibited on the roof of the particular carriage where assistance is
required. The same apparatus could be readily caused to exhibit a disc in
the guard's van bearing the number of the carriage whence the signal pro-
ceeds. In order to afford the guard facility for reaching any particular
carriage with safety whilst the train is in motion I propose to provide the foot
board which runs along each carriage with a light railing having intervals
or openings opposite the door of each carriage, so that upon the signal being
sounded the guard can immediately proceed to the carriage where the light is
exhibited. Outside each carriage is a second button or "contactor" by
pressing or moving which the guard can reverse the current and cause the
wires to ring an electric bell on the engine, and thus order the driver to stop
instantaneously, or a light might be used on the engine in place of or in com-
bination with the bell. The guard's van is also provided with a similar
arrangement, by means of which he can communicate direct with the driver
when requisite. In all cases where the battery is composed of vessels con-
taining liquids it should be mounted on pivots, so as always to maintain its
perpendicular position. In order to cause the light to be visible by day as
well as by night it should be furnished with a reflector and be placed in a
dark box or have a black screen behind it, and the reflector, together with the
box or screen, should be capable of revolving, or be provided with shutters, or
otherwise arranged, so that they can be placed in the required position in
whichever direction the carriages are travelling.
In applying my Invention to the prevention or detection of burglary I
propose to furnish the door of the safe, or the door or window of the room to
be protected, with a button or "contactor" placed in any convenient position,
and so connected by wires with an electric light apparatus fixed in a con-
spicuous part of the exterior of the building, at any height required, that upon
the door or window being opened a brilliant colored light is exhibited in order
to call the attention of the police or other passers by; at the same time the
"contactor" may be connected (if preferred) with an electric bell either inside
or outside the building.
For the further protection of important buildings, such as banks or large
jeweller's shops, where the expense of laying the wires underground or carrying

page_text: them over the house tops is not too great, the electric bell can be sounded at
the police office, and simultaneously (by a very simple well-known electrical
contrivance) a disc may be exhibited with the name or number of the building
whence the alarm proceeds.