IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING SIGNALS FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER IN RAIL- WAY TRAINS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Fielding, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING SIGNALS FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER IN RAIL-
WAY TRAINS."
Sealed the 27th December 1872, and dated the 1st July 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Fielding at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st July 1872.
I, JAMES FIELDING, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING SIGNALS FROM ONE PERSON TO
ANOTHER IN RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in an arrangement for conveying signals in
railway trains from one person to another, applicable at night as well
as day. Upon the top of a carriage or carriages, or it may be over
each compartment, I place a vane which is hinged to a part secured to
the carriage, the said vane being acted upon by a spring or weight

page_text: which tends to turn it upward or outward upon its centre of motion,
or it may be without a hinge, and tend to shoot upward or outward in a
right line, but until such movement is required it is retained by a
suitable catch. Inside of each compartment is a rod, cord, or chain,
or other ordinary apparatus which is connected to the aforesaid catch,
and when it is pulled the vane is released and flies upward or outward
to act as a signal.
I propose to connect the above-mentioned vane to a detonating tube,
rocket, or ball, which being exploded when the said movement of the
vane takes place, calls attention to the signal and from which part of the
train it proceeds.
The above described arrangement will answer for day, but for night
signals I propose to use combustible matter after the manner of the said
detonating apparatus, which being thus fixed, emits a stream of light
which may be of any desired colour.
I have above spoken of my apparatus as placed on the top of the
carriage, but it may be attached to the side or other part thereof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Fielding in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st January 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
FIELDING, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Fielding, Her special license that I,
the said James Fielding, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Fielding, 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

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING SIGNALS
FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER IN RAILWAY TRAINS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said James. Fielding, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 James Fielding, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say :-
My Invention consists in arrangements for conveying signals from
one person to another, applicable at day as well as night, and I will
in the first place describe the arrangement I employ under the former
condition.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents in section a portion
of a railway carriage with my Invention adapted; Fig. 2 is a plan view
of the same; and Figs. 3 and 4 detached_views (the latter on an enlarged
scale), to be hereafter referred to; the frame of the carriage is represented
at 1, 2, upon the roof 2, of which is fixed a plate 3 provided with a
stud 4, on which is mounted an arm 5 so that it may turn outward as
shewn by the dotted lines. At 6 is a shaft passing along the top of the
carriage and mounted in bearings 7; at one end of this shaft is a lever 8
provided with a catch 9 and pressed upward by a spring 10, so as to
cause the said catch to embrace and hold the arm 5 when the signal is
not in action. At 11 is a vane mounted on the arm 5 so as to be able
to turn a quarter of a revolution when required to do so, as will be
hereafter referred to. Upon the shaft 6 is a lever 12 connected to a rod 13,
which passes downward through a tube 14 situate within the com-
partment A of the carriage. At 15 is a knob passing through a slot
formed in the said tube and attached to the rod 13, but the said alot is
covered by a sliding plate 16 which moves with the knob 15 (see the
enlarged detached view Fig. 4). The rod 13 is formed with a recess 17,
within which is a spring catch 18, the end thereof being capable of
passing at suitable times into a perforation 19, formed in the tube 14,

page_text: and the rod 13 is pressed upward by a spring 20. Around the stud 4 is
placed a coiled spring 21, one end being connected to the arm 5 so as to
force it outward, but according to the positions of the parts shewn it
and consequently the arm 11 are held back by the catch 9 (see the
detached view Fig. 3).
Suppose a person in the compartment A desires to make a signal to
the guard or other official, he pulls down the nob 15, and by so doing
draws downward the rod 13, and consequently the lever 12, thus causing
the shaft 6 to turn upon its centre and carry with it the lever, thereby
moving the catch 9 from the arm 5. This having been accomplished,
the coiled spring 21 is free to act, and the arm 5 is forced outward into
the position shewn by the dotted lines, carrying with it the vane 11, and
this being made heavier on one side than the other, turns over until
it has performed one-quarter of a revolution, when it is arrested by a
suitable stop, and thus a signal is exposed which may be seen by the
guard or other official, and which indicates the portion of the train
requiring assistance.
In order however to attract attention to the display of the signal I use
another precaution. Attached to the vane 11 is a detonating apparatus 25,
of any usual construction, provided with a friction fuse, to one end of
which is attached a cord 27, the other end being made fast to the
carriage. When the arm 5 is thrown out, as above described, the cord 27
(which is made short enough) draws the friction fuse and explodes
the detonating apparatus, thereby calling the attention of the guard or
other official. When the nob 15 is pulled down, as above described,
the spring catch 18 passes into the perforation 19 and the apparatus is
held in its acting position, and as the recess 17 is covered by the sliding
plate 16, the occupants of the carriage cannot tamper with the acting
parts so as to put back the signal when it has once been given. In
order however to enable the guard or other official to put back the vane,
I adapt a suitable fastening to the plate 16 which may be opened by a
key so as to move the said plate from the recess 17.
The above description refers to one compartment of the carriage only,
but there are nobs 15%, 15%, 15%, and levers 12ª, 12, 12, which
enable the signal to be given from the other compartments B, C, D, and
the whole. apparatus may of course be repeated for as many carriages as
may be desired.

page_text: To put back the signal, the oatch 18 is withdrawn from the per-
foration 19 (the plate 16 having been moved as above mentioned), and
the arm 5 is then turned back on to the catch 9, in effecting which the
vane turns upon the said arm into the position shewn.
The above description refers to a signal for day time, for night I
substitute for the detonating apparatus, or use in combination therewith,
combustible matter, which will emit a stream of light of any desired
colour, and which is fired by the fuse after the manner above described,
so as to call the attention of the guard or other official.
The vane has been described as turning outward on a centre, but it
may move outward or upward in a right line, and may be on a side or
end of the carriage instead of on the roof.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited
Letters Patent,—
Firstly. The use of the vane and parts connected therewith, substantially
as described.
Secondly. The detonating apparatus and light signal used substantially
os described