IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAIN STAFFS FOR WORKING SINGLE LINE RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS
Year: 1886

page_text: Railways and Tramways.
BERKELEY DEANE WISE Engineer's Office Belfast and County Down Railway
Belfast Ireland Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAIN STAFFS FOR WORKING SINGLE LINE RAILWAYS AND
TRAMWAYS, to be as follows:-
My improvements in train staffs for railway traffic purposes on single lines,
consists in making the staff to carry its own tickets for that section of line, and
of so fitting the tickets that they lock themselves into their compartments, and
cannot be removed except at the stations at the ends of the section.
The tickets are also exposed to the view of the engine driver, keeping him
acquainted with the traffic on that section of line in his front and rear.
The train staff and tickets can be made of wood or brass, I do not bind myself
to any material.
The train staffs used on single lines at present are plain round bars with locking
ends for opening separate boxes at end of each section, and the tickets are kept by
the station master in these boxes, which only can be opened on the application of
said train staff. Delays, & risks are saved by the staff carrying its own tickets
and each station master keeps the key for his end and liberates the ticket allowing
the driver to start the train. The ticket is pushed into its compartment after the
train carrying the staff reaches the other end of the section and locks itself in.
1000

page_text: Railways and Tramways.
I BERKELEY DEANE WISE, Engineers Office, Belfast and County Down Railway,
Belfast, Ireland, Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-—
According to the system hitherto followed in working single lines with the aid
of train staffs the line is divided into sections. There is one train staff for every
section and, except when a train ticket is used as hereinafter mentioned, no train
or engine is allowed to travel over a given section without the staff belonging to
that section, consequently no two trains can meet. But when two or more trains
have to pass over the section in the one direction, say from A to B, without a train
passing in the opposite direction, that is from B to A, the use of the train staff is
supplemented by train tickets. Then the station agent, say at A, when the first
train has to proceed to B opens by means of the staff which itself forms the key,
a box from which he takes a train ticket; he then shuts the box and removes the
key which he cannot do so long as the box is open; he fills up and signs the train
ticket and hands it to the driver as his authority to proceed to B.
The same
process has to be gone through for every train from A to B preceding the train
that is to carry the staff. This system has the following defects:-1. There is.
nothing to prevent a careless station agent taking out more than one train ticket
and leaving the superfluous ones lying about and these might be wrongly given to
a driver.
2. When a train is travelling with the staff the driver has no means of
knowing what trains have preceded him with train tickets. 3. The procuring of
the train tickets from the box and filling them up causes delay. 4. The train
tickets and boxes cause considerable expense and trouble.
Now according to my invention I construct train staffs so that they carry their
own train tickets for their particular section of the line, the train tickets and train
staff being so arranged that the train tickets are automatically locked to the train
staff and cannot be removed except by the proper key kept at the end of the
section. They are exposed to the view of the engine driver or other person holding
the train staff. The line is worked in sections and there is one train staff for each
section as hitherto.
The annexed drawings represent a train staff made according to my invention.
Figure 1 is a front view and Figure 2 a side view, partly in section. Figure 3
represents one of the train tickets or, as I prefer to call them, permits, removed
from the staff. Figures 4 and 5 represent the respective keys for the two ends of
the staff, these two keys are kept at the respective ends of the section of line on
which the staff is used and each can only act on its own end of the staff. At the
ends of the staff proper a are boxes b and b¹ divided into as many compartments
as there are to be permits or tickets d, d; the box 6 contains permits to be used in
the one direction say from A to B and box b¹ contains permits to be used in the
other direction say from B to A. I have shown 4 permits in each box which will
generally be a suitable number, but the staff may be made to hold more or less
according to the requirements of the line. I have also shown the permits in the
form of the letters A and B respectively and the keys of like configuration ab

page_text: their rear end but the form of the permits and keys is entirely optional, the only
requirement being that the permits at the one end of the staff cannot be mistaken
for those at the other. The permits at each end are numbered from 1 to 4 and
their compartments are correspondingly numbered. The permits when pushed into
their compartments become automatically locked. This automatic locking can be
effected in various ways; the means I prefer will be understood on reference to
Figure 3 in which the front plate e of the lock portion of the permit is removed to
show the internal mechanism. The lock is composed of two pieces ƒ, ƒ (shown
separately in Figure 6) mounted loosely on a stud g'and kept in their normal
position (Figure 3) by a spring h. The lower ends of the pieces f, f are bevelled
and act as catches; when the lock portion of the permit is pushed down into its
compartment a fixed pin or rod i in the compartment after passing into the slot k
of the lock forces back and passes the bevels of the pieces f, f which then imme-
diately spring back and catch under the pins so that this holds the permit in place.
There is a pin or projection m at the bottom of the permit to enter a corresponding
hole in the bottom of the box, but this pin and hole are not essential. In order to
prevent a permit from locking itself into any other compartment but its own; the
pins or projections m on the several permits are placed in different positions and
the positions of the holes in the bottom of the box correspond. A permit cannot
be removed until by means of the proper key inserted into the hole the upper
ends of the pieces f. f are pushed apart and the lower ends thereby opened
sufficiently to clear the pin i. Each permit carries its own lock and they can only
be removed one at a time. The staff and permits should be engraved with the
names of the stations at each end of the section respectively.
The mode of using my improved staff is readily understood. When the station
agent at say A wishes to start a train to B with a permit he unlocks permit No 1
from the A end of the staff in view of the driver and hands it to the driver who
from the fact of getting N° 1 will know there is no train in front of him on that
section. If the next driver is handed N° 2 permit he knows there is one train in
front of him. If a driver is given the staff with Nos 1 and 2 permits removed he
knows there are two trains in front of him. Each driver will give up his permit
on reaching station B and on the arrival there of the staff the station agent will
push into its proper compartment each of the permits he has received.
It is evident that the construction of my train staffs may be variously modified
while still comprising the essential feature viz:-that the staff carries its own
permits or tickets which are locked thereto and can only be removed by means of
the proper key.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. Constructing train staffs with permits or tickets secured thereto or therein in
such manner that they can only be removed by means of the proper key, sub-
stantially as and for the purpose herein before described.
2. A train staff comprising the staff proper a, two boxes b, b¹ at the respective
ends of the staff and divided into compartments, two sets of train permits or
tickets d, d for the respective boxes, and automatic or spring locks whereby the
permits or tickets become held when pushed into place, all substantially as and for
the purpose herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 10th day of Inly 1888