IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAY TRAINS, AND EFFECTING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS OR OTHERS IN CHARGE OF SUCH TRAINS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Isaac Rogers at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st May 1865.
I, ISAAC ROGERS, of Oregon Terrace, Peckham Rye, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAY TRAINS, AND
EFFECTING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS OR OTHERS IN CHARGE
OF SUCH TRAINS," to be as follows:-
The object of the improvements is to enable passengers in railway trains to
signal in case of need for the purpose of attracting the attention of guards or
others in charge of such trains, or of effecting communication between one
part of a train and another or others. Communication is effected between the
guard or others at one end or part of a train to the engine driver, or vice
versa, by means of cords or other bands or chains conducted under the middle
of the carriages, or otherwise, along the train; these cords, bands, or chains
are supported between pulley or other guides to each carriage, and they are
formed in parts, connected together so as to be separable at each carriage for
facility of varying the length of the trains, the parts being connected together
by spring hooks or other suitable connections, whilst each end or other
suitable part of such cord, band, or chain is connected to a lever and clapper
to act on a bell, gong, or other suitable alarum, and to a lantern for night
signal to attract the attention of the engine driver, the guard, or others in

page_text: charge of the train. To prevent the ends of the parts of the cord, band, or
chain from being drawn through the supports when the carriages are detached
the connecting means are formed to open, and thus act as stops. When the
parts of the train and of the cord, band, or chain are connected, and the
guard finds such cord, band, or chain too slack, he can produce the desired
tension by a winch and spring stop. In each compartment of each carriage
there is a rope or other pull, or there may be several of them, placed so as to
be acted upon by the passengers; these ropes or other pulls act on toothed
wheelwork or on bands or chains passing over guides to raise signals exterior
of the carriage to indicate to the guard, engine driver, or others the compart-
ment to which attention is drawn. Each signal when operated upon is then
held in position by a spring or otherwise. The pulls may raise a flag or a
lantern or other suitable signal, or a lamp and other signal combined; these
pulls also pass to the continuous cord, band, or chain, where each is formed
with a ring to admit of the cord, band, or chain passing freely through it, but
when any one of these pulls is drawn upon the main cord, band, or chain
becomes deflected, causing an action on the signals to the engine driver or
others in charge of the train, whilst the signals, as above referred to, indicate
the part of the train to which attention is drawn. To facilitate the passage
of the guard or others along the side of a train whilst it is in motion I apply
thereto long folding steps with flaps which may be turned into position when
required for use, and then at other times turned out of the way. There are
also other folding or sliding branches to connect the continuous footboards of
adjoining carriages of a train.