CERTAIN IMPROVED MEANS OF PREVENTING ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER.
HANCOCK, of Stratford-le-Bow, in the County of Essex, Engineer, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing, date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of January, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Walter Hancock, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Walter Hancock, my
exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I the said Walter Hancock,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVED MEANS OF PREVENTING
ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said Walter Hancock, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
.

page_text: Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of the said proviso, I, the said
Walter Hancock, do hereby declare that the nature of my said improvements,
and the manner in which the same are to be performed, are fully specified and
set forth in the following description thereof, reference being had to the
different explanatory Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:
My said improvements divide themselves into three branches:-
The first relating to the. mode of working the breaks employed to arrest
the progress of engines and carriages on railways;
The second, to the switches for altering the line of traction; and
The third, to the signals for indicating particular incidents in the working
of railways.
And now to describe Branch First of the said improvements. I declare that
the same are represented in Figures 1 to 8 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure 1ª is a vertical section of a tender, shewing also in section'a peculiarly
constructed cylinder A, A, for working the breaks of a train, of which cylinder
Figure 2 is a plan. This cylinder is of four different diameters, and contains
four simple pistons fixed on one rod.. The largest piston is supposed to be
about seven inches, and the smallest one about four inches in diameter. The
spaces into which the cylinder is divided by the pistons are communicated with
by means of the parts Number 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, which are represented as covered
by the slide valve in the valve box B, but as being in free.communication
with each other, and likewise with the water in the tank,, by the eduction
passage to which the pipe C is fixed. The boiler is connected to the valve
box by a small flexible tube D, by which the pressure of its contents is com-
municated to the. pistons when required. E is a lever connected to the
slide valve by means of the rod a and. levers b, b, on the shaft F. hh, are
two sliding rods which are collared together with the piston rod to the short
cross head G. To this cross head! the train is attached; but the collars on
the rods h, h, inside of the framing, relieve the pistons from the strain occa-
sioned by the draft. The other ends of the rods slide in the guides 1, 1, and
are connected to the levers m, m, on the shaft H, carrying also the levers
O, O, attached to these breaks.. The tender breaks may or may not be used
'with the train breaks, but as they are not required when a train is attached
it is advisable so to adjust them as to permit of their coming into contact with
-the wheels only when the engine and tender are running alone.
Figure 8 is a section of a train carriage frame, and Figure 4* is a plan

page_text: of the same, showing the manner in which each carriage is fitted with breaks.
The breaks are suspended upon pins fixed in the framing in the usual way,
and are connected to levers L, L. on the shaft S, by the links p, p. On the
middle of the shaft S are fixed two levers n, n, the extreme ends of which
are received in the slots provided to receive them on each side of the rod R,
as shewn by the Figures.. The rod R is constructed of strong wrought-iron
tubing, by which the requisite degree of stiffness combined with lightness is
obtained to resist deflection. It is mounted on friction rollers P, P, and
steadying brasses X, X, and extends beyond the ends of the carriage to just
one half the distance between the preceding and succeeding carriages, ternii-
nating at each end in a kind of buffer head, that it may not miss contact
through any variation in height, occasioned by difference of load. T, T, are
two springs for returning the rod to its central position as regards the length
of the carriage after it has been in action on the breaks. In the Drawings
before described, the train is supposed to be running, and all the breaks to be
clear of the wheels; but when it is required to bring the train to a stand the
mode of operation is as follows:-The slide valve is to be drawn by the engine
man from off the port Number 1 by means of the lever E, which admits the
pressure in the boiler to act against the small piston, when that pressure
effects a reduction of the distance between the first carriage and the tender,
while the rod R being resisted by the abutting rod K, Figure 1, undergoes no
change in this particular, whereby the aft breaks of all the carriages in the
train are applied to the wheels simultaneously with a force collectively equal
to the area of the piston multiplied by the pressure in the boiler and the inter-
vening leverage. Thus, suppose the area of the piston to be ten square
inches, after deducting the piston rods, and the pressure in the boiler to be
fifty pounds, we have ten multiplied by fifty, equal to five hundred pounds;' but
as the levers n, n, are double the length of L, L, there will be twice five
bundred pounds, or half a ton weight, exerted upon the breaks obtained from
the small piston. That weight may be increased, too, at pleasure, by opening
the other ports, Numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5, up to the full power of the largest
piston, which would amount to two tons altogether. The ports, however,
should be so small that the water may be forced gradually out of port
Number 5, and transmitted to the other ports, to fill up the enlargement of
the chambers resulting from the movement of the pistons, so that the breaks
may not be brought too suddenly into contact by a blow, as it were, with the
wheels. When circumstances require that a train should be backed, it is
obvious that were it attempted with the apparatus in the position représented
in the Drawings the "breaks would be driven upon the wheels, and the object

page_text: could not be accomplished; but this is provided for by admitting the pressure
from the boiler through the port Number 5, only while all the others are
closed, when the power of the piston will be found to exceed the engine's
power of draft.
Figures 5 and 6 are representations of portions of carriages -shewing a
mode of applying the breaks by hand on occasions when the engine and tender
are cast off, and a train has to run to a station by its acquired momentum.
One or more of the carriages of the train are to be fitted with an extra shaft,
levers, and vertical spindle, with cross arms and handles fixed upon its top.
-The vertical spindle A¹ is composed of three lengths, the top with its screw
working in the eye B₁ has a collar on its lower end enclosed within the
tubular or cylindrical part of the next length by the stopper 1', through which
the smaller part of the rod or spindle operates. The lower part of this
middle length, and opposite to the dotted line 2¹, is retained in its position by
passing through an eye fixed to the carriage; and at a proper distance below
this eye, to admit of the rise of the spindle by the action of the screw or
otherwise, there is a moveable joint, by which the end of the lower length is
enabled to traverse the curve described by the lever D₁ to which it is attached.
The lever D¹, with its opposite arm, and weight E, is fixed on the extra shaft
F¹, the weight E' being designed as a counterbalance to the lever D¹, and
the lower and middle length of the vertical spindle A' being designed to
relieve the springs of the main rod R, as shewn at T, T, Figure 4, from the
pressure of those parts. The connection of the vertical spindle with the main
.rod is completed by the double lever n", n", fixed on the centre of the extra
shaft F. It will be seen by referring to the middle length of the vertical
spindle A¹ that the collar of the top length in the tubular part occupies a
position midway between the top and bottom of such tube, whereby the main
rod R has free action when operated upon by the pressure in the boiler; but
when the engine and tender are cast off, the breaksman, by means of the screw,
pushes the collar to the bottom, or lifts it to the top of the tube, when he
possesses the, power, by farther depressing or raising, to apply the breaks to the
wheels and bring up the train. Figure 8" shews a means of relieving the
rod R from the counter force of one of the springs T, T, Figure 4", and
employing the whole force of the other in keeping the rod of cach carriage in
contact with the preceding, and the whole of the rods of the train in contact
with the abutting rod K (see Figure 1). To effect this object, 'both springs
are fixed on one side of the carriage, as shewn in the Figure 8ª, and to the
tail of each, at 6, 6, is attached two short rods by moveable joints, which are
coupled to the small crank by the two connecting rods 7, 7. The crank is

page_text: fixed upon a spindle that passes through the framing, or is otherwise conve-
niently attached, and which spindle has a lever 8 fixed on. its opposite end.:
The position of the Figure. represents the tail of the left-hand spring pulled.
in, and consequently bearing with all its force against the stud on the rod R,
while the tail of the right-hand spring is thrown out, and its stud thereby.
relieved from its pressure; hence the whole force of the left spring is employed
in keeping the rod R in close contact with the abutting rod K, and so of all
the other rods in the train. When the leading end of the train is reversed,
as it is every alternate trip, the. right-hand spring must be put into action,
which is done by simply putting the lever 8 over upon the opposite bearing
pin. The cylinder, with its pistons, instead of being fixed in the line of draft,.
as herein-before described, with the train connected to the cross head at the
end of the piston rod, may occupy the position of the abutting rod K, and the.
train be attached to the tender in. the usual way; but in that case the.
cylinder must be reversed, that is to say, the large end must be next the train.
through which the piston rod will project from the large piston, and terminate
in a cross head, as before, but armed with a buffer head, against which the.
buffer head of the main rod R will abut, and which will then receive the.
pressure applied direct from the piston rod, and force the breaks upon the:
wheels. When the stopping of the train is accomplished by this arrangement,>
the port Number 5 must be opened, and the pistons will be returned to the.
opposite ends of the cylinder.
And having thus described the first branch of my said improvements; I:
declare that I. do not confine myself to any particular description of breaks, or
to my particular means of connecting them with my improved means of.
working such breaks. But that I claim as my Invention, under this head,
First, the application of the pressure in the boiler of the engine to bring:
the breaks into action by means of a slide valve opening into a cylinder of
different diameters, fitted with a piston or pistons of corresponding diameter,
but all attached to one rod, and with a corresponding number of ports:
Secondly, the mode 'herein-before described of working the main rods with
which each carriage of a train is proposed to be furnished, by simple contact:
and without coupling such rods together:
Thirdly, the mode herein-before described of keeping all the rods of a train
in contact with each other and with the abutting rod K (see Figures 1ª and 8*),
whether springs or any other equivalent mechanical contrivance is used for
the purpose:
And lastly, the arrangement or apparatus herein-before described for

page_text: I proceed now to describe Branch Second of my said improvements, which
comprehends those relating to railway switches. And whereas the working
of such switches is now commonly entrusted to persons appointed for the
purpose, from carelessness and inattention on the part of whom several serious
accidents have occurred, I declare that the principle of my improvements
under this head consists in substituting a self-acting apparatus, which does not
require for its effectual action the services of any switch-tender or other
railway servant.
Figure 1b is a plan of the framing of the bed of a locomotive tender placed
upon a railway, and also of the apparatus adapted to the said roadway and
tender in order to accomplish the desired object.
Figure 2b is a side elevation of part of a tender and of part of a railway in
section, together with the said apparatus. A (Figure 1b) is a common switch,
connected by the rod B with the vertical lever C, by which it is opened or
closed in the usual manner. The centre of the rod B carries a stud, on which
is loosely affixed the arm b'of the double bell-crank lever D, which bell crank
moves upon a centre pin fixed upon the sleeper beneath. To the cross arms
of the lever D the ends of the. two pair of rods a, a, a, a, are united by move-
able joints, while their opposite ends are connected to the double-crank levers E
and F respectively in like manner. The ends of the long arms d, d, of these
levers, are supported by sliding upon plates h, h, provided for the purpose, and
upon these ends are mounted the friction rollers G, G. To give effect to
the apparatus just described, four slants H, H, H, I, (sec Figures 1 and 2)
are suspended from the framing of the tender at a suitable distance between
the axles, and properly braced to resist the pressure of the friction roller G
against either of their inner surfaces, whereby the switch is adjusted exactly
as required, on whichever side of the line it may happen to open, or in what-
ever direction the engine may be going. The mode of operating is as
follows: Let it be supposed that the switch has been negligently or accidently
left open, the inevitable consequence would be, according to the system of
working railways now commonly followed, that the engine, preceding the tender,
as usual, would, instead of continuing its direct course, take the train across to
the other line, to the imminent risk of life and property; but by the adoption
of the apparatus last herein-before described the slant H will force the lever E
into the position denoted by the dotted lines parallel to the rails, and the
switch will be sent home to the rail before the engine can arrive at the point
of divergance, for the length of the rods a, a, a, a considerably exceeds the
length of the engine and tender, in order that the closing of the switch may
be ensured before the engine can arrive, as also that if it should be required

page_text: to transfer a train to the opposite line there may be sufficient time after the
engine and tender have passed the friction roller at the lowest rate of speed
to open the switch in the ordinary way by means of the lever C. At the
customary places of turn out the apparatus need not be employed, though,
when circumstances permit, and it is required, it might be adapted to open
the switches, instead of closing them. The slants H, H, H, H, are represented
as being fixed to the tender, which I think preferable; but they might be
made by several obvious mechanical means to expand from their centres
towards the wheels until they are parallel to each other. And I declare that
though I have specified under this second branch of my said invented improve-
ments those contrivances and arrangements by which I think the objects in
view may be best accomplished, I do not confine myself to these contrivances
and arrangements exclusively; but I claim a right to all variations and modi-
fications, and to all substitutions and equivalents, either in whole or in part,
by which the like effect or effects may be produced by following out the same
general system of construction and operation.
I proceed, lastly, to describe the third and last branch of my said improve-
ments, those relating to signals; and I declare that whereas the signals hitherto
in common use on railways serve only to denote the existence of certain states
of things without indicating how long they have existed, or the occurrence of
certain incidents without registering the time which has elapsed since their
occurrence, and are also defective in depending for their proper management
on the care and attention of railway servants, now the nature of my said
improvements consists in the substitution of a system of signals which may
be managed by hand or without hand, and which will serve at once to signalize
events and incidents, and to denote the exact time of their occurrence. The
Drawings explanatory of this branch of my improvements numbered Figure 1
to Figure 3° inclusive.
In Figure 1, G, H, I, and J, arc four hollow glass vessels or globes,
and E a general reservoir common to all four, and communicating therewith
by the tubes f, g, k, l, m, n, s, v, the whole turning freely on a spindle,
which passes through the centre of E, and is firmly fixed to a post placed in
a convenient position by the side of a railway.. These vessels and their con-
necting tubes are filled, to the extent represented in red, with any bright
coloured transparent fluid (preferring, red, however, as the most distinguishable
under all circumstances); and in the Drawing, Figure 1º, the vessel G.is
shewn as emptying itself into the central reservoir beneath, while the others
are at rest and full. Let it be supposed that G has completely emptied itself
into the reservoir E, and that the whole apparatus is then caused to make one

page_text: quarter of a revolution to the right, then it will follow that the full vessel H will
be raised to the top, and begin to empty itself in the same manner as G into
the reservoir E, and so on continually, as often as the apparatus is caused to
make a new quarter of a revolution, one or other of the four vessels, G; H, I,
and J, will bo raised in a full state to the top, and commence emptying itself
into their common reservoir E; but for the purpose of signals it-is-desirable-
that only that vessel which is in the act of emptying itself, or has last
emptied itself, should be: visible; and therefore the apparatus is covered by a
screen D (as shewn in Figure 2), with such an orifice left in the screen as is
just sufficient to shew that one vessel. The post A, Figure 2°, to which this
signal apparatus is applied, carries also at the same height or level a lanthorn B,
within which is kept a bright light by night and also during dense fogs. Two
sides of this lamp are made of some opaque material, while the front-is of glass,
and the back of any reflecting substance, 'so that the signal vessel, which is
at the time of the passage of a locomotive or train opposite to the orifice, may
be distinctly seen, and the extent to which it has emptied itself of the red or
other coloured fluid with which it is filled. The reservoir and communicating
tubes Figure 1 may be of zinc or of copper or other suitable material; but
G, H, I, and J are necessarily of glass. is a tube or box for the purpose
of receiving the spindle upon which the vessels are made to revolve by the
means to be presently explained. P, Figure 2°, represents the front end of
the spindle; N, N, is a toothed ring which surrounds the glass vessels; q.is a
ratchet jointed with the weighted bell-crank lever r, which lever being raised
by hand or any other means, and the ratchet thereby brought into contact with
the tooth next above of the ring N, N; the lever gradually descends again by
its own weight, and brings down the ratchet q, and with it the toothed ring
N; N, just one quarter of a revolution, when the weight will be found to have
descended to its full extent, as indicated by the dotted lines.
a is a grooved
guide or stay to keep the ratchet in its proper position, and 6 is a spring
attached to the back of the ratchet q. Although, as has been observed, the
levers can be worked by hand so as to produce the effects already described,'
yet the mode of operation which I prefer is as follows:-One of the inclined
planes or slants fixed underneath the tender, for the purpose of turning the
switch, as before described under the second branch of this Specification, is
eaused to impinge during the transit of a carriage or train upon a friction
roller w placed at a, and moves it forward to the position shewn in the Drawing,
when the lever y, which is attached to the spindle of the roller w, pulls
forward the horizontal rod u, which is jointed to it, as shewn in the bird's eye
view, Figure 3º, whereby the bell-crank motion t, Figure 2°, is brought into

page_text: play, and the weighted lever R is raised, which regulates the action of the
ratchet and toothed ring. z, z is a projecting stop or click affixed to the post,
and so placed in relation to the teeth of the ring N, N, as to prevent the ring
from moving in any but one direction. By the falling of the weighted lever R,
the horizontal rod u, connected with t, and jointed with the lever y, brings at the
same time the roller w into its situation as at x, so as to be ready to be acted
upon by the passing of the next train. Each of the connecting pipes, f, g, k, l,
m, n, s, v, has a stopcock attached to it, and the rate at which the coloured
fluid will. descend out of each glass vessel as it comes uppermost will of course
depend upon the manner in which the stopcock beneath it has been adjusted.
The driver of an approaching train may by this means judge of the time that
has elapsed since the preceding train has past the signal post, and regulate his
speed accordingly, being at all times guided by the height of the colored' fluid
in the uppermost glass vessel, as the glass vessel's that contain the liquid may
be graduated, if necessary, or a greater number of glasses may be employed, so
as to shew more than one at a time to the observer, or the screen may have
more than one orifice cut in it, so as to produce the same effect on the eye as
if more than one glass was exhibited. The fluid proposed to be employed is a
mixture of water and spirit, coloured either with alkanet root or cochineal, or
with some metallic salt. The spirit serves to keep the water from freezing.
And having now described the third and last branch of my said improve-
ments, I declare that I do not confine myself to the precise mechanical
arrangements herein-before described, as the same object may be effected by
other equivalent mechanical contrivances, as, for example, by means of a piston
or plunger for forcing up the coloured fluid through a valve into a signal
vessel, out of which vessel it might be afterwards suffered to run at any
determined degree of velocity through a small orifice. But what I claim
generally as of my Invention is, the use of a coloured fluid signal for preventing.
accidents on railways, when such coloured fluid is, either by its ingress or
egress from one vessel to another, made to serve as a measure of time,
and whether the machinery employed to give motion to such fluid is worked
by hand or by any other means.
And such my said invented improvements being, to the best of my know-
ledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
Her Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily
this my said Specification doth comply fully and in all respects, without
reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said-herein-before in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Four-
teenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and forty-one.