IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY APPLIANCES FOR RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK, AND IN THE METHOD OR MEANS OF OPERATING THE SAME
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert Pickwell at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 11th August 1881.
ROBERT PICKWELL, of Kingston upon Hull, in the County of York, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY APPLIANCES FOR RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK,
AND IN THE METHOD OR MEANS OF OPERATING THE SAME."
This Invention is an improvement upon that for which I obtained Provisional
Protection, No. 2854, dated 14th day of July 1879, and, unlike the former
Invention, has been well worked out and experimented upon.
The object of my present Invention is to place all the carriage doors of a train
under the control of the guard or engine driver, or of both, so that upon the
starting of a train they may all be closed and secured simultaneously, and upon the
arrival of a train at a platform they may all be released simultaneously. I also
prefer to employ a movable footboard in connection with the mechanism for
actuating the doors.
The operating force may be that used for actuating the brakes upon the train
(when that is obtainable and suitable), such as compressed air or vacuum; but
when that is not obtainable, special appliances must be introduced for the purpose,
such as a pressure or vacuum pipe extending through the train, or a chain or
equivalent if the power be obtained from the revolution of the wheels or
electricity. Under the floor of each carriage or other suitable position is placed a
cylinder or equivalent, the pressure or vacuum for which is obtained from the
continuous pipe, and which may be actuated by any suitable one of the well known
methods employed for actuating the brakes. The piston of this cylinder is suitably
connected as by levers and so forth with horizontal sliding bars which pass along
each carriage, and to which are attached the doors by means of suitable levers and
springs or equivalent, in such manner that when the sliding bars are moved in one
direction they close all the open doors; and when moved in the opposite direction
they allow the doors to be opened. Suitable attachments are provided for each
door, so that in case of obstruction (as of a passenger being trapped) it can remain
unclosed till the obstruction is removed (the other doors closing mean time), when
it will close at once and bo secured like the others. This may be accomplished by
means of what I call the spring box and notch attachment.

page_text: A movable foot board works in connection with the sliding bars, so that when
they are withdrawn to allow of the doors opening, the foot board comes into
position ready for use; but when they are moved to fasten the doors, the foot board
is returned to its former position out of the way.
By preference I also attach an air catch or lock in place of or in addition to the 5
spring fastening or lock which I should otherwise employ to fasten the doors with,
such air lock being so arranged that when the continuous pipe is charged with
air under pressure or vacuum, the spring bolt of such lock protrudes, and the
moment any door is thrown to it becomes fast until the man in charge releases the
pressure or destroys the vacuum, when the spring bolt is withdrawn and the door 1
may be opened.
The apparatus is automatic in so far as releasing is concerned, as in case of a
break-away or similar accident all the doors are at once released and left free to be
opened at will.