AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRO- DUCING SOUND FOR SIGNALS, CALLS, AND ALARMS, ADAPTED TO USE ON VESSELS, RAILWAY TRAINS, BUOYS, REEFS, LIGHTHOUSES, AND IN OTHER PLACES OF DANGER
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Harkness Wray, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRO-
DUCING SOUND FOR SIGNALS, CALLS, AND ALARMS, ADAPTED TO USE ON VESSELS,
RAILWAY TRAINS, BUOYS, REEFS, LIGHTHOUSES, AND IN OTHER PLACES OF
DANGER." A communication from abroad by the Incorporated Marine
Sigual Company, of Wallingford, in the State of Connecticut, United
States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Harkness Wray at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th July 1865.
I, JOHN HARKNESS WRAY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR PRODUCING SOUND FOR SIGNALS, CALLS, AND ALARMS, ADAPTED TO USE ON
VESSELS, RAILWAY TRAINS, BUOYS, REEFS, LIGHTHOUSES, AND IN OTHER PLACES OF
DANGER," to be as follows:-
I make use of a bent or curved pipe having the general form of the
letter U, with whistles upon the upper ends, and the pipe itself is partly filled
with water or any other liquid; motion is given to this pipe, and the liquid
causes the air to be ejected or to be drawn in through the whistles and thus
produce sound. This pipe with whistles is to be mounted on a rock shaft in a

page_text: frame, so that it may be swung by hand, and used on a vessel in a fog or at
night on a light ship or lighthouse, or on a railroad train. When fitted for
use in a vessel to indicate a leak it is to be placed in the hold of the vessel,
and have a small hole in the lower part of the tube, so that water, if the
vessel leaks, may pass into the pipe, and by the motion of the vessel give an
alarm by forcing the air through the whistles. A valve may be fitted near
the upper end of the pipe opening inwards to let in air, so that the blowing
will be effected only where the air is ejected. A whistle of this kind for a
buoy or for a reef is to be made self-acting by the use of a straight vertical
tube, with the whistle on the upper end; the rise and fall of the waves or
swell operating the air and blowing the whistle. The whistles themselves
can be made similar to an organ pipe, or by a mouth formed with teeth,
through which the air issues and sounds a whistle tube formed as a cap, or
with notches or openings through it at different distances from the air mouth,
so as to be adapted to sounding at the different velocities of the air; and this
character of whistle may also be formed with a mouth-piece, so as to be
blown by a man in given signals.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Harkness Wray in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HARKNESS WRAY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Harkness Wray, Her special licence that I, the said John
Harkness Wray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Harkness Wray, my executors, administrators, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SOUND FOR SIGNALS, CALLS, AND ALARMS
ADAPTED TO USE ON VESSELS, RAILWAY TRAINS, BUOYS, REEFS, LIGHTHOUSES, AND
IN OTHER PLACES OF DANGER," being a communication from the Incorporated

page_text: Marine Signal Company, of Wallingford, in the State of Connecticut, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Harkness Wray, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 Harkness Wray, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "An Improved Apparatus for Producing Sound for
Signals, Calls, and Alarms, adapted to use on Vessels, Railway Trains,
Buoys, Reefs, Lighthouses, and in other Places of Danger," is shewn in the
accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus
adapted for a fog signal.
The apparatus consists of a bent or curved pipe a, having the general form
of the letter U, provided with whistles b, b, upon the upper ends. The pipe a
is partly filled with water or any other fluid, as indicated by the dotted
lines 1, 2; this curved pipe is mounted on a centre spindle c which rests in
bearings on the top of the fixed framing d, and upon imparting a rocking
motion to the pipe the liquid contained will be made to run from side to side,
and cause the air to be ejected or to be drawn in through the whistles b, b,
and thus produce a sharp sound which may be heard at a considerable
distance. The pipe a with its whistles bis mounted on the rock shaft or
spindle c in the frame d, so that it may be swung by hand and used on a
vessel in a fog, or at night on a light ship or lighthouse, or on a railroad
train. It will also swing of itself if there is any pitching or rolling motion in
the vessel. When fitted for use in a vessel to indicate a leak, as shewn in
Fig. 2, the curved pipe a is to be placed in the hold of the vessel, and a small
hole is to be made in the lower part of the pipe, so that if the vessel leaks
water may pass into the pipe, and by the motion of the vessel give an alarm
by forcing the air through the whistles 6 above. Valves e, e, Fig. 1, may be
fitted near the upper end of the pipe a, and made to open inwards to let in
air, so that the blowing will be effected only where the air is ejected. A
whistle of this kind for a buoy or for a reef is to be made self-acting by the
use of a straight vertical tube provided with a whistle on the upper end. The

page_text: rise and fall of the waves or swell will force the air up and down the
tube and blow the whistle. The whistles themselves can be made similar to
an organ pipe, or formed of a mouth provided with teeth, through which the
air will issue and produce a sound; or a whistle formed as shewn at
Figures 3 and 4, having a cap e with notches or openings f at different
distances from the air mouth may be employed and be adapted for sounding
signals. The air passes through serrations in the edge of a diaphragm g, the
central portion of which may be open (except at the cross bars which guide
the stem of the valve h). This valve opens inward as the pressure of air
becomes las, and is closed by the internal pressure of air, thereby causing
the air to pass out through the aforesaid serrations in the diaphragm g
and produce the sound. This character of whistle may also be formed
with a mouth-piece, as shown at Figure 4, so as to be blown by a man in
given signals.
Having now described the Invention of "An Improved Apparatus for
Producing Sound for, Signals, Calls, and Alarms, adapted to use on Vessels,
Railway Trains, Buoys, Reefs, Lighthouses, and in other Places of Danger,
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, and having explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured
to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the apparatus herein shewn and
described for producing audiblo signals, calls, and alarms on vessels, buoys,
and other places of danger.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harkness Wray, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.