Improvements in and relating to Railway Signal and other Illuminating Lamps.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 19th July, 1899
Complete Specification Left, 19th Apr., 1900-Accepted, 16th June, 1900
Improvements in and relating to Railway Signal and other
Illuminating Lamps.
I, WILLIAM HENLEY, of 30, Camplin Street, New Cross, London, S.E., Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention is devised primarily with the object of providing a simple,
reliable, and inexpensive means of enabling railway distant signals to be dis-
tinguished from the "home" signals and vice versa although my invention may be
availed of also in the case of lamps used for other purposes of illumination.
In accordance with my improvements, I adapt to an opening formed (in the
case of railways) in the usual railway signal lamp body, a supplementary chamber
which is closed on the top and bottom, the two sides, and the outer end. Into
this closed outer end and so as to project therefrom, I fit any desired number of
prismatic lenses-such for instance as those known as pavement lights. These
receive the light from the signal lamp, and become thus illuminated so as to be
readily discernable by and serve for the guidance of the engine driver (in the
case of a railway train) when approaching the signal. The illuminating lenses
aforesaid may either be caused to emit a plain white light or they may be caused
to shew a tinted light of any predetermined color by the introduction of colored
glass shutters or slides at the point of connection between the signal lamp and
the supplementary chamber aforesaid.
11: Wuth day of Luly 1800
Improvements in and relating to Railway Signal and other
Illuminating Lamps.
I, WILLIAM HENLEY, of 30, Camplin Street, New Cross, London, S.E., 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 fol-
lowing statement:-
"
My invention is devised primarily with the object of providing a simple,
reliable, and inexpensive means of enabling railway distant signals" to be dis-
tinguished, when illuminated, from the "home signals" and vice versa.
My said improvements may, however, be advantageously applied to lamps
used for other purposes; for instance,
code" or "route" lamps for tramcars
and other vehicles: "code" lights for steam and other vessels; illuminated buoys
and so forth.

page_text: In applying my invention, by way of illustration, to railway signal lamps, I
proceed as follows:-
I adapt to an opening formed at the side of the lamp, a closed chamber, from
the outer end of which projects a glass prism, or several of these, of the kind
known as pavement lights." These lenses reflect light from the signal lamp
and are visible at a distance, serving to distinguish the signal.
"
The prisms may shew a plain white or a colored light, as may be desired. A
convenient means for shewing color, is to introduce colored glass slides between
the lenses and the supplementary chamber.
Instead of a chamber at one side of the lamp there may be a chamber with its
lenses at each side.
The accompanying drawings illustrate in Figures 1, 2, and 3, my invention
as applied to a railway signal lamp, and Figures 4 and 5 illustrate it as applied
to a lamp for tram cars and other road vehicles.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a railway signal lamp modified according to
my invention; Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 is a vertical central section. In
the drawings, a is the case of the lamp, with bull's eye b; c is the supplementary
chamber at one side of the lamp, formed with two angularly disposed branches c¹
and which radiate, preferably, from the flame or centre of the bull's eye
Each of these openings is fitted with a prism f, of the kind known as pavement
lights," and so arranged that the light from the lamp g, is reflected, approxi-
mately, at right angles from their front faces, in beams parallel or nearly so, to
that from the bull's eye, shewing either a plain white light or a colored light;
colored slides h, being fitted behind the base of the lenses f.
Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, of which Figure 4 is a section, and Figure 5
a front view partly in section, of a lamp according to my invention for use on
tramcars and other vehicles, I have shewn an electric incandescence lamp o within
a reflector i, fronted by a bull's eye k. The lamp case has on each side a chamber!
into the outer end of which is fitted a prism m, projecting outwards. Colored
glass slides n, may be placed behind the prisms so as to throw a colored light
forwards on each side of that from the bull's eye.
Obviously more than two prisms may be applied to the lamp, the shape or con-
struction of which may be varied according to the particular use to which it is
intended to be applied.
I wish it to be understood that I make no general claim to the construction
of a lamp with a side chamber or several of these, containing reflectors, but
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:-
A railway or other signalling lamp provided with a lateral chamber or several
of these, each having projecting from it a prism or several prisms so formed and
arranged as to reflect light from the lamp in a beam or beams, approximately
parallel to the beam from the bull's eye, substantially as described.
Dated this 18th day of Invil 1900
WILLIAM HENLEY.