IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION OF COLLISIONS AND OTHER ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR GENERALLY PROMOTING INCREASED SAFETY IN RAILWAY TRAVELLING
Year: 1866

page_text: .
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edwin Hickling at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th December 1866.
I, WILLIAM EDWIN HICKLING, of Market Street, Leicester, in the Borough
of Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION OF COLLISIONS AND OTHER
ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR GENERALLY PROMOTING INCREASED SAFETY IN
RAILWAY TRAVELLING," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obtain increased safety on railways by
preventing accidents of any of the following kinds :-
If a train breaks down on any part of the line, or for any purpose or by
any means is brought to a standstill, then any train which might happen to be
following would be stopped before arriving at the place where the first train
was standing or had broken down. It is not intended to prevent a train
breaking down or running off the line, but in the event of such an accident
happening any train which might happen to be following would be prevented
from running into the disabled train.
Platelayers when working on the line and taking up the rails could set the
apparatus so as to prevent the possibility of an accident, as the coming train
would be stopped before arriving at the place where the workman would be,
and the train so stopped would not be in any danger from following trains, as
all would be stopped before coming into contact with each other. The
machinery or apparatus may if necessary be made to register the time of the

page_text: passing of the last train over each or any portion of the line; or it may be
arranged to telegraph either backwards or forwards to the next station the
exact position of the train, thus showing (if a break-down occurs) the exact
spot where the accident has happened. I propose to effect this by making
and breaking contact of an electric current alternately for magnetizing and
demagnetizing two electro-magnets which shall actuate a ratchet wheel showing
on the face of a dial placed in the station-master's office the number of times
contact has been broken, and thereby shewing the precise position of the train.
The following is an example of the construction and arrangement of the
machinery or apparatus above referred to and the manner of operating there-
with for effecting the objects of this Invention, that is to say, I propose to
place either between the lines of rails or at the side thereof at distances of
about 800 yards asunder the following mechanism :-A long lever having its
fulcrum in a chair is fixed midway of the line of rails, and carries near its
opposite end a rod or notched bar for holding up the said lever, when it has
been raised by another lever of the following kind; this second lever has its
fulcrum midway, or nearly so, of its length, and carries two inclined pieces of
metal inclining downwards towards the first-mentioned lever when the two
levers are out of action, the aforesaid inclined pieces being near to and parallel
with the inner side of the rails.
The mode of actuating these levers is as follows:-To the last carriage of a
train of carriages I connect temporarily a frame, the lower part of which there
is a horizontal spindle having fixed upon it two circular discs or rings so
placed as to come opposite to the before-mentioned inclined pieces of the
second lever, so that when these discs or rings come into contact with the said
inclined pieces the effect would be to press the incline into a horizontal
position, thereby raising this lever and causing its opposite end to raise the
other and first-mentioned lever, which will be held up by the before-mentioned
notched bar affixed thereto until the train bas passed forward 1,600 yards, or
to the next but one apparatus, when the inclined pieces at this part of the
line being acted upon by the above-mentioned frame with its appurtenances
will by means of a wire or other suitable contrivance connected to these
inclined pieces and to the simple long lever of the first-mentioned mechanism,
which for the sake of distinction I will call No. 1 apparatus; disengage this
lever and allow it to fall down, thus leaving the line clear for another train to
pass over, and suppose one of these apparatus to be placed at every 800 yards
upon the line of railway, I connect No. 1 with No. 3, No. 2 with No. 4, and
so on, that suppose an accident to happen to the train between No. 1 and
No. 3, and before it had passed over No. 3, the consequence would be that

page_text: the raised lever of No. 1 would remain raised, and when another train came
to it by having a sliding rod fixed to the front of the engine and attaching a
wheel to the bottom of the said rod, this wheel coming into contact with
No. 1, raised inclined lever would force the rod up, and cause it to act upon
a crank or arm so as to reverse the motion of the engine, and simultaneously
with this movement steam would be admitted into a small cylinder suitably
placed on the engine for operating upon the brakes, thus effecting the
reversing of the engine and the stopping of the train by self-acting means, so
that two trains upon the same line of rails could never come nearer to each
than 800 yards (or such other distance as it might be found most desirable in
practice to place the apparatus asunder) without having the steam reversed
and the breaks put in action.