A METHOD OF COMMUNICA SIGNALS LARG DEALS FROM ONE LART OF A AVAILWAY TRAIN TO ANOTHER.
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Edmund Brae, of Leeds, in the
County of York, for the Invention of "A METHOD OF COMMUNICA
SIGNALS
LARG DEALS FROM ONE LART OF A AVAILWAY TRAIN TO ANOTHER.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Edmund
Brac at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 24th January 1858.
J, ANDREW EDMUND BRAE, of Leeds, in the County of York, do
hereby declare the said Invention for "A METHOD OF COMMUNICATING
SIGNALS FROM ONE PART OF A RAILWAY TRAIN TO ANOTHER" to be as
follows:-
It consists in the formation of a continuous torsion bar along the
framework of the carriages of a railway train by placing longitudinally
beneath or along each carriage a tube free to revolve in proper bear-
ings, and having within it a plunger or plungers capable of sliding

page_text: freely within the said tube, but incapable of revolving independantly
of it.
A portion of each plunger or slider is external to the tube, and has
inserted in it a Hooke's universal joint.
These joints, together with the tubes and sliders, are for the purpose
of permitting, throughout the whole series when connected together,
every description of independant motion in the individual links, except
torsional motion. The whole series being provided with suitable
attachments of the same guage, common to all, are easily united from
carriage to carriage, so as to form one continuous bar or chain, which
being inflexible to torsion will transmit torsional motion, and thereby
actuate signals from any point in a railway train to another.****
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of the above Order, filed by the said Andrew Edmund Brae in
the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 23rd December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ANDREW EDMUND BRAE, of Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Andrew Edmund Brae, Her special
licence that I, the said Andrew Edmund Brac, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew Edmund
Brae, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion of "A' METHOD OF COMMUNICATING SIGNALS 'FROM ONE PART OF A
RAILWAY TRAIN TO ANOTHER," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Andrew Edmund Brac, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: my hand and scal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the saine was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and inmediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Andrew Edmund Brac, 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:
My Invention consists in the formation, by a peculiar arrangement
of known parts, of a torsion bar or chain,.wlierein, by the interposition
of ductile links, I absorb and. neutralise the various irregularities of
motion and position to whichi railway trains are liable, and obtain an
efficient and practicable apparatus for the conveyance of signals from
one part of a railway train to another. I place along the under frame-
work, or in any other suitable situation, of cach carriage in such a train
a tube extending throughout the. length of the said carriage, and
emerging at its ends. I support this tube upon collars or bearings in
which it is free to revolve, but secured from longitudinal motion. Into
either or both extremities of the said tube I introduce a portion of an
arm or plunger of a suitable size to enter into and slide freely within
it, but prevented by any obvious means from revolving or twisting
round independently.of the tube. To the other extremity of the said
plunger I attach one or more well-known contrivances called Hooke's
universal joints, and to these again I attach another arm or bar having
its extremnity formed into one member of a peculiar coupling or junc-
tion, which I shall hereafter more particularly describe. This, whole
group of plunger, Hooke's joints, and junction bar forms the ductile
link by which the apparatus is connected from carriage to carriage.
My reason for placing this link exterior to the carriage frame is two-
fold; first, because in that situation it more effectually absorbs and
neutralizes all déflections froin a straight line, arising from lateral or
vertical irregularities of motion or difference in level of the carriages
between which the link is placed; and, secondly, that they may permit
each branch of the connecting link, when not in use, to hang conve-
niently down out of. the. way...

page_text: In the annexed Drawing, Figure 1, the part b, b, represents one of
the tubes; c, c, c, its collars or bearings; a, a, the flexible links and
plungers. Exterior to a, is that portion of the link which hangs down
when not in use.
In Figure 3, a section is shown of the tube and plunger, together
with one of the methods by which I compel them to revolve together,
by introducing through the tube a screw plug, a portion of which
enters into a longitudinal groove in the plunger.
In Figure 3, is an enlarged representation of the flexible link, with
its Hooke's joints and peculiar coupling piece, in which I make each
member of the pair exactly to resemble the other; the pins, holes, and
ferules are alike in both, and the junction is made by the pin of one
entering the hole of the other, and by being secured in that position by
sliding over them the ferules d, d.
The detached portion of Figure 2, marked A, shows the coupling
completed by the ferules embracing both parts of the splice, the
ferules themselves being secured from separation, if necessary, by a
connecting strap and hook or other means. My object in constructing
this rigid coupling exactly alike in both its branches is to facilitate the
reversal of the ends of any carriage with respect to the rest of the train;
the peculiarity of the coupling is such that either end indifferently of
any carriage furnished with it may be presented to and received by
either end of any other carriage similarly provided.
I now proceed to describe the manner in which I communicate
torsional or revolving motion to the said series of tubes and links, so as
to transmit signals or alarms throughout the whole or any portion
thereof. I construct the said signals, which may consist of any known
instruments or means of attracting attention, in such a manner that they
may be acted upon by a revolving motion of the apparatus in one direc-
tion only; that is to say, a revolving motion from right to left shall
affect a signal, but a revolving motion from left to right shall not affect
the same signal, and vice versa. Hence, if two such signals are sepa-
rately placed in different situations of a railway train, either of them
may be acted upon by a motion of the torsional apparatus which shall
not affect the other. Now in order to give a motion to the torsional
apparatus at any point on the train in the required direction I fix upon

page_text: it a wheel, called a bevelled cog-wheel, capable of working with and
of being acted upon by a similar bevelled wheel or pinion, the spindle of
which shall reach to the point from which it is desirable to transmit the
signal, and shall there terminate in a winch handle or other means by
which it may be caused to revolve; the said spindle may be prevented
from a retrograde motion by a ratchet wheel and stop, or other similar
contrivance. But I do not confine myself to this method of imparting
revolving motion to the torsion bar. I also use for the same purpose,
where I find it expedient, the crown wheel and pinion, the endless chain
and pulley, the chain and barrel, or any other well-known mechanical
apparatus for the transferring of revolving motion from one shaft to
another.
My object in constructing each signal so as to be acted upon by a
revolving motion of the torsion chain in one direction only is, that I.
may be enabled, if desirable, to make use of one and the same appa-
ratus for the purpose of actuating two separate signals, one of which
may communicate with the driver of a railway train, and the other with
the guard. The first I place under the controul of the guard by intro-
ducing the winch and spindle, or other actuating apparatus thereto
applying, into the guard's van. The second I place within the reach of
passengers by introducing an actuating spindle between the linings of
the partitions, so that the same apparatus might serve for two adjoin-
ing partitions in the same carriage. But since in reversing the ends
of any of the carriages the direction of the actuating power situated
within the same would also be reversed, I provide a means of restoring,
the actuating power to its proper direction by placing upon the torsion
bar of each carriage an additional wheel of an opposite level to that
already described, and at such distance from it that a slight lateral
motion of the intervening pinion or secondary bevel-wheel nay throw
it into or out of gear with either of the opposing bevel-wheels between
which it lies. By this means the direction of the motion which the
said pinion imparts to the main shaft may be reversed by a slight
lateral motion of the pinion spindle; this motion I give either by
hand when the carriages are being coupled, or I make it self-acting
by connecting the said spindle to the draw chain of the carriage in
such a way that the leading pull upon each carriage may always

page_text: adjust the apparatus within to the right direction. I also produce the
same effect by a longitudinal removal into new bearings of the tube
itself which carries the opposing bevel wheels, or by any other modi-
fication of what is called the in-and-out-of-gear apparatus.
Where it is impracticable to place the torsion chain in a central
situation with respect to the wheels and rails, or nearly so, it is clear
that upon the reversal of any carriage that portion of the torsion chain
borne by it would no longer lie in the same straight line as the rest.
To provide against this difficulty I make use of two separate lines of
torsion bars, each situated at the same relative distance on either side
of a central line. In this way two continuous lines of torsion chain
must always be complete, whatever may be the direction of the ends of
the individual carriages. When I adopt this method of two separate
lines of torsion bars, one of them may be left unconnected and inactive;
but I greatly prefer to make use of it as an auxilliary line for the pur-
pose of transmitting signals in a retrograde direction from any of the
passenger carriages to the guard at the rear. Thus, while the guard
makes use of one line for the purpose of communicating with the
driver, the passengers make use of the other to signalize the guard.
In this case the gearing is shifted transversely from one line to the
other, so as to adjust it to the direction of the leading end of each
carriage by a similar in-and-out-of-gear contrivance to that already
described.
Instead of introducing into the passenger carriages the winch and
spindle, or other actuating apparatus, I sometimes prefer to place in or
beneath the said carriages a spring of sufficient strength and magnitude
to give, by its reaction when set free from a state of tension, sufficient
torsive power to actuate the signal. In such a case I wind up the
spring to a state of tension, and there secure it by a ratchet and trigger®
stop. I then convey cords or chains from the trigger stop into cach
compartment into which the carriage may be divided, and therein
permit passengers to have access, under proper precautions, to the said
strings or chains, by which it will always be in their power to draw
the trigger and set free the spring.
My reasons for preferring this method of actuating the torsion
apparatus are these:-First, because it greatly simplifies the process

page_text: necessary to be gone through by the passengers, who might not always
be competent to manage any other means of actuating the apparatus;
and, secondly, it renders one actuating apparatus sufficient for as many
compartments as the carriage may consist of.
Now I do not claim as my Invention the application of the general
principle of torsional motion to the conveyance of signals along railway
trains; but I claim as my Invention the peculiar arrangement and
disposition of the several parts herein set forth.
Secondly, I claim as my Invention the equisided coupling apparatus
herein shewn and described, together with the other several provisions
I have set forth and explained, to facilitate and render practicable the
reversal of the ends of any carriage or carriages in a railway train
with respect to the heading or leading of the said train, without inter-
fering with the due performance of the signalizing apparatus.
Thirdly, I claim as my Invention the application of two separate and
parallel lines of torsional apparatus equidistant from a central line
between the rails, not only to facilitate the aforesaid reversal of the
ends of the carriages, but also to provide a second or return line for the
communication of signals.
Fourthly, I claim as my Invention the application of the reaction of
a spring or springs for the purpose and in the manner described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Edmund Brae, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
Signed and sealed in presence of
J. B. CHANTRELL.
AND. EDMP BRAE. (L.S.)