IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC SIGNALLING AND TELEGRAPHIC APPA- RATUS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, of the Telegraph
Department, Great Western Railway, Paddington, in the County
of Middlesex, Telegraphic Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left by the said Charles Ernesto Spag-
noletti at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th January 1871.
I, CHARLES ERNESTO SPAGNOLETTI, of the Telegraph Department,
Great Western Railway, Paddington, in the County of Middlesex,
Telegraphic Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-`
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC SIGNALLING AND TELEGRAPHIC APPA-
RATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in electric signalling
and telegraphic apparatus.
In order to signal from one signal station to another the passage of
railway trains I employ a screen or disc carried by an axis on which two

page_text: bent needles are also mounted, one. near each end of the axis. Each
needle is made in two parts connected to the axis and to each other by
a piece of brass or other non-magnetic material, and the parts are
magnetized by two bar magnets parallel with the axis and with their
ends in close proximity to the needles; one part of each needle thus
receives a north polarity and the other part a south polarity. The
needles may be of horse-shoe-like form, and between their ends the poles
of an electro-magnet are situate, so that when this magnet is excited by
a signal current entering its coils each pole attracts one end and repels
the other end of the needle adjacent to it. The arrangement is so
weighted that the needles remain in the position to which a signal.
current brings them until they are moved in consequence of the passage
of a current in the reverse direction.
This apparatus with a pointer substituted for the screen or disc may
be used as a speaking instrument.
When it is employed for train signalling it is advisable that the
signalman at one end of the line should not have the power to alter the
signal without the concurrence of the man at the other end. To this
end I employ at each extremity of the line a spring key which has to
be depressed to complete the circuit.
An electric bell is provided in conjunction with the apparatus, and
the man wishing to alter the signal gives notice by the bell. The
other man concurring presses his spring key and the change is made.
The electric bell I arrange as follows:-I mount the hammer upon
an iron axis with two short arms upon it. These arms are situate imme-
diately in front of the pole pieces of a straight electro-magnet parallel
to the axis (or two magnets at right angles to the axis and coupled
together may be substituted). There are also coils surrounding the
axis and connected with the magnet coils, so that when a current passes
both the electro-magnet and the arm on the axis opposite to its poles
become magnetized and they attract each other, and so a more powerful
action is obtained than if the magnet only were excited.
This arrangement is applicable also to other telegraphic uses. In
electric telegraph indicators I dispense with permanent magnets by
the following arrangement:-I. cause. the incoming current to flow
through the coils of a pair of straight electro-magnets parallel to each
other. Between their poles are two iron arms both fixed to an axis

page_text: parallel to the magnets. A coil encircles the axis and is in connection
with a relay instrument and a local battery. The incoming current.
passes through the coils of the relay, which then acts so as to magnetize.
the axis and the arms upon it whilst the same incoming current also
excites the electro-magnet and causes one of its poles at either end to
attract the adjacent arm of the axis whilst the other repels it. The
indications vary with the direction of the incoming current the axis and
arms always receiving similar polarity.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ERNESTO SPAGNOLETTI, of the Telegraph Department, Great Western
Railway, Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, Telegraphic Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, Her
special licence that I, the said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Ernesto
Spagnoletti, 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 ELECTRIC SIGNALLING AND TELEGRAPHIC APPARATUS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Ernesto
Spagnoletti, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in electric signalling
and telegraphic apparatus.
'
In order to signal from one signal station to another the passage of
railway trains I employ a screen or disc or indicator carried by an axis
on which two bent needles are also mounted, one at or near each end of
the axis. Each needle may be made in two parts, connected to the axis
and to each other by a piece of brass or other non-magnetic material,
and the parts are magnetized by two bar or horse-shoe magnets parallel
with the axis, and with their ends in close proximity to the needles.
One part of cach needle thus receives a north polarity and the other
part a south polarity. The needles may be of horse-shoe-like form, and
between their ends the poles of an electro-magnet are situate, so that
when this magnet is excited by a signal current entering its coils cach
pole attracts one end and repels the other end of the needle adjacent to
it. The indicators are so weighted that they remain in the position (or
they may be held by magnetic attraction), to which a signal current
brings them until they are moved in consequence of the passage of a
current in the reverse direction. This apparatus with a pointer sub-
stituted for the screen or disc may be used as a speaking instrument.
When it is employed for train signalling it is advisable that the signal-
man may or may not at one end of the line have the power to alter the
signal without the concurrence of the man at the other end. To this
end I use two wires, and employ at each extremity of the line a spring
key, which has to be depressed to complete the circuit.
An electric bell is provided in conjunction with the apparatus, or the
arrangement may be added to the bell, and the man wishing to alter
the signal gives notice by the bell. The other man concurring presses
his spring key and the change is made.
The electric bell I arrange as follows:-I mount the hammer upon
an iron axis with two short arms upon it. These arms are situate
immediately in front of the pole pieces of a straight electro-magnet
parallel to the axis (or two magnets at right angles to the axis and
coupled together may be substituted). There are also coils surrounding
the axis and connected with the magnet coils, so that when a current

page_text: passes both the electro-magnet and the arm on the axis opposite to its
poles become magnetized, and they attract each other, and so a more
powerful action is obtained than if the magnet only were excited.
This arrangement is applicable also to other telegraphic uses. In
electric telegraph instruments I dispense with permanent magnets by
the following arrangement:-I cause the incoming current to flow
through the coils of a pair of straight electro-magnets parallel to each
other. Between their poles are two iron arms both fixed to an axis
parallel to the magnets. A coil encircles the axis, and is in connection
with a relay instrument and the local battery. The incoming current
passes through the coils of the relay, which then acts so as to magnetize
the axis and the arms upon it, whilst the same incoming current also
excites the electro-magnet and causes one of its poles at either end to
attract the adjacent arm of the axis, whilst the other repels it. The
indications vary with the direction of the incoming current, the axis and
arms always receiving dissimilar polarity.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Ernesto Spagnoletti, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
onc.