IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRICAL APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING BETWEEN PASSENGERS, GUARDS, AND ENGINE DRIVERS ON TRAINS, AND FOR DISPLAYING THE NAMES OF STATIONS IN CARRIAGES, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR EFFECTING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PERSONS UNDER OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES, AND FOR OTHER ELECTRICAL APPARATUS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Sturgeon at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
December 1868.
I, THOMAS STURGEON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ELECTRICAL APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING BETWEEN PASSENGERS, GUARDS,
AND ENGINE DRIVERS ON TRAINS, AND FOR DISPLAYING THE NAMES OF STATIONS IN
CARRIAGES, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR EFFECTING COMMUNICATION
BETWEEN PERSONS UNDER OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES, AND FOR OTHER ELECTRICAL
APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
In the first place this Invention consists in an improvement upon the
ordinary vibrating electric bell. Besides making the usual connections
between the bell and the battery, we make another connection by means
of a wire passing through these points from which it is desired to have
a means of communication. This connection is not made through the
contact breaker of the bell, but is made direct to the wire of the electro-
magnet, being so arranged that so long as metallic connection is perfect.
it magnetizes the electro-magnet of the bell, and thus attracts the
hammer, thereby preventing the battery from acting on the bell in the

page_text: usual manner, but as soon as contact is broken at any of the points of
communication, it releases the hammer and allows the battery to act
on the bell in the ordinary way, thus causing it to ring.
When this principle is used for communicating in trains a bell, such
as that above described, is fixed in the guard's van, and I fix one or
more contact breakers in each compartment; these contact breakers
are made as follows:-A small roller carries a piece of metal, upon
which press two springs, which are connected to the conducting wires,
and by means of a handle which projects inside the carriage and which
can be pushed against a small lever this roller can be pushed round so
as to move the metal away from the springs, and thus break metallic
contact and ring the bell. A semaphore signal or flag is fixed to the
roller, so that it is pushed out when the roller is moved, and thus
indicates from which compartment the communication is made. When
the signal is thus pushed on it is caught by a catch which holds it in
that position until the guard by means of a key relcases it, when it is
pulled back by the action of an india-rubber or other suitable spring.
The handle is not jointed to the lever, but merely pushed against it, so
that when the signal is once pushed out it cannot be disturbed by
pulling the handle back. A bell similar to the one above described,
and which might be worked by a separate battery, should also be fixed
near the engine driver. In luggage trains the contact breakers and
signals will not be required, but these trains should be provided with
the alarm bells and connecting wires, so that should a portion of the
train become detached the guard and engine driver will both be apprised
of it owing to the connection being broken and their bells consequently
set ringing.
In the next place the object of the Invention is to enable the guard
to communicate to the passengers the names of the stations at which
the train arrives, together with any necessary information, such as
the names of places for wich it will be necessary to change trains.
This apparatus is constructed as follows:-The names of the stations
are printed on a band; this band is wrapped on a roller, which is
acted on by another roller and spring, so that the tendency of this
second roller is always to wrap the band on to itself from off the other
roller. An escapement wheel or stop is fixed on to the axis of this
roller, and its movements are regulated by means of catches fixed to a
lever. This lever is acted on by means of an electro-magnet, which

page_text: holds it in a certain definite position as long as a current is circulating
through the wire; but when the current is interrupted the lever falls
and is again lifted when the current is renewed, and the catches are
so arranged that they will allow the rollers to move a certain distance
every time the current is interrupted and renewed. An apparatus of
this kind is placed in each compartment, and the guard has a similar
apparatus in his van, all of them being suitably connected by wires
to a battery in the guard's van. The apparatus in the guard's van is
furnished with a contact breaker, so that the guard can at will
interrupt the current and renew it again, and so regulate the move-
ments of the rollers in all the compartments. Each apparatus is
enclosed in a box, out of the front of which a piece is cut in order
to display the name, and the guard by means of his contact breaker
can regulate the movement of the rollers so as to bring up successively
the name of each station at which the train arrives, his own instrument
proving a guide to him. This apparatus may be worked by means
of the wire which is used to communicate from the passengers to
the guard, for a single interruption of the current will not materially
affect its indications. The box containing the rollers can be arranged
so as to be readily replaced by another one, so that if a carriage is
moved from one line to another the box can be taken out and another
one (suited to the new line) put in its place. These arrangements may
be used separately or combined.
In the next place my Invention consists of an improved means of
connecting the conducting wires of electrical apparatus. For this
purpose I use a metallic snap similar in principle to the ordinary
necklace snap, which consists of a hollow socket, into which fits a
little spring pin having a projection which catches against a shoulder
or edge formed in the socket. Instead of using a complete socket I
may use a ring which should have sharp edges so as to scrape away
any dirt that may be on the spring pin.