IMPROVE- MAD D. CHOSEN A TRATTATIC
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lyne, Steward of Wellington College,
Sandhurst, in the County of Berks, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MAD
D. CHOSEN
A TRATTATIC"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lync at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th January 1866.
I, WILLIAM LYNE, Steward of Wellington College, Sandhurst, in the
County of Berks, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS," to be
as follows:
This Invention has for its object "Improvements in Apparatus for Pre-
venting Accidents on Railways." For this purpose I arrange along the line
of railway at intervals apart, say, of a quarter of a mile, more or less as is
found convenient, hollow posts, which I make by preference of cast iron,
or they may be of wood or other material. These posts may conveniently
be employed to carry the telegraph wires, and each post has within it a bar
or pole either of wrought iron or wood, which at its top is fitted to receive
a signal flag or lanthorn; from end to end of this bar or pole there is a

page_text: toothed rack fixed, and with this rack a pinion on the axis carried by
the hollow post gears; this axis is squared at its end to receive a crank
handle.
When it is desired, in consequence of the break-down of a train or from
other cause, to signal danger along the line, the guard or other person goes
to the nearest of these posts, and by suitable treads formed on the outside
of the post he climbs to the top and fixes a flag or lanthorn to the top of
the inner bar or pole. This being done he or some other person turns the
axis of the pinion already mentioned by means of a crank handle applied
to it, and so the bar or pole is hoisted to a height, it may be of double that
of the fixed hollow post, so that the signal becomes readily visible from a
long distance, and the view will not be interfered with by the bridges. The
bar or pole when hoisted may be secured by a locking pin or in any other
convenient manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Lyne in the Great Scal Patent Office on the
13th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LYNE, Steward of Wellington College, Sandhurst, in the County of
Berks, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Lyne, Her special licence that I, the
said William Lyne, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Lyne, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Lyne, 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
.

page_text: 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 William Lyne, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for prevent-
ing accidents on railways. For this purpose I arrange along the line of
railway at intervals apart, say, of a quarter of a mile, more or less as is
found convenient, hollow posts, which I make by preference of cast iron,
or they may be of wood or other material. These posts may conveniently
be employed to carry the telegraph wires, and each post has within it a bar
or pole either of wrought iron or wood, which at its top is fitted to receive
a single flag or lanthorn; from end to end of this bar or pole there is a
toothed rack fixed, and with this rack a pinion on an axis carried by
the hollow post gears; this axis is squared at its end to receive a crank
handle.
When it is desired, in consequence of the break-down of a train or from
other cause, to signal danger along the line, the guard or other person goes
to the nearest of these posts, and by suitable treads formed on the outside
of the post he climbs to the top and fixes a flag or lanthorn to the top of
the inner bar or pole. This being done he or some other person turns the
axis of the pinion already mentioned by means of a crank handle applied
to it, and so the bar or pole is hoisted to a height, it may be, double that
of the fixed hollow post, so that the signal becomes readily visible from a
long distance, and the view will not be interfered with by the bridges; the
bar or pole when hoisted may be secured by a locking pin or in any other
convenient manner.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows an elevation, and Figure 2 a vertical section of an apparatus
constructed according to my Invention. a is the hollow post, having
within it a bar or pole b, which at its lower end has a rack c upon it, into
which a pinion d gears; this pinion is on an axis e, carried at any desired
distance from the ground by the post a, and on the end of the axis e is a
crank handle f. In the arrangement shown in the Drawing the upper end
of the pole 6 carries a signal disc which can be turned by hand so as either

page_text: to present its edge or its face in any desired direction, and the disc can be
fixed in either position by a pin not shown in the Drawing. When the
pole is not required permanently to carry a signal, then the upper end of
the pole may be suitably formed to admit of the signal flag or lamp being
fixed to it as above described. After the signal has been set at the top of
the pole by a man having climbed to the top of the hollow post, then the
crank handle f is turned so as to raise the pole b in order that the signal
may be visible from a distance. When the pole has been raised to its
highest position it can be retained there by a pin g being passed through
the hollow post just below the bottom of the pole, so that the pole may
rest on this pin, as is shown in Figure 2.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lyne, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
WILLIAM LYNE. (L.S.)