IMPROVEMENTS IN OPERATING UPON RAILWAY SIGNALS AND IN INDICATING MURID POSITION BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Whitaker, of Haverstock Hill, in the
County of Middlesex, Electrician, and Ralph Augustine Jones, of Ayles-
bury, in the County of Buckingham, Railway Superintendent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OPERATING UPON RAILWAY SIGNALS AND
IN INDICATING MURID POSITION BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Whitaker and
Ralph Augustine Jones at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 20th August 1861.
We, SAMUEL WHITAKER, of Haverstock Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
Electrician, and RALPH AUGUSTINE JONES, of Aylesbury, in the County of
Buckingham, Railway Superintendant, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OPERATING UPON RAILWAY SIGNALS AND
IN INDICATING THEIR POSITION BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY," to be as follows:-
Firstly, our Invention consists in applying springs instead of weights and
levers as heretofore, for operating upon railway signals. On the signal rod is
fitted an arm, to the end of which is connected a spiral or other suitable
spring fixed on the signal post or contiguous thereto. The rod or wire (as
the case may be) connected with the signal lever is at its extreme end con-
nected to another arm on the signal rod, which is actuated by the signal lever
in the ordinary manner.

page_text: Secondly, our Invention consists in the means employed for indicating the
position of an auxiliary signal to the attendant working the same when the
signal is placed beyond his view, and is intended to remedy the evils arising
from the constant slackening of the wire for working the signal. We
arrange the wires and electric battery to form contact at the signal post and
indicate the position of the signal to the attendant at the signal lever.
Contact springs are placed at right angles to each other on a bracket fixed
to the signal post in such a position that the signal rod shall work through a
slot in the said bracket. On the signal rod is fixed, free to revolve with the
said rod, a collar, on the under side of which are two pins or projections for
forming contact with the said springs; one of the wires from the battery
is in connection with these projections, and the other with the contact springs
on the bracket. In working the signal the said projections are brought
round and form contact with the said springs, when the signal is either on or
off; but should the signal be at an intermediate point contact is then broken.
At or near the signal lever is placed an indicator consisting of an ordinary
galvanometer, with a suitable index marked with the words "off," "half on,"
and "on," for denoting the position at which the signal is standing. The
wire used for working the auxiliary signal is also used for connecting the
battery with the indicator.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Whitaker and Ralph Augustine Jones in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 20th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
WHITAKER, of Haverstock Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Electrician,
and RALPH AUGUSTINE JONES, of Aylesbury, in the County of Buckingham,
Railway Superintendent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Samuel Whitaker and Ralph Augustine Jones, Her special licence that
we, the said Samuel Whitaker and Ralph Augustine Jones, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such. others as we, the said Samuel Whitaker
and Ralph Augustine Jones, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from. time to time and at all

page_text: 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 OPERATING UPON RAILWAY SIGNALS AND IN INDICATING THEIR
POSITION BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Samuel Whitaker and Ralph Augustine Jones, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing ünder our, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Samuel Whitaker and Ralph Augustine
Jones, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
The nature of the said Invention consists, as herein-before intimated in and
by the Provisional Specification left and recorded on application for the said
Letters Patent in this :-
Our Invention relates primarily to the means employed for indicating the
position of an auxiliary signal to the attendant working the same when the
signal is not within view, and is intended to remedy the evils arising from
the constant slackening or tightening of the wire for working the signal. We
arrange the wires and electric battery to form contact at the signal post and
indicate the position of the signal to the attendant at the signal lever.
Contact springs are placed at right angles (or nearly so) to each other on a
bracket or platform fixed to the signal post in such position that the signal
rod shall work through an orifice in the said bracket or platform. On the
signal rod is to be fixed a collar free to revolve with the said rod, on the under
side of which collar are two pius or projections for forming contact with the
said springs. One of the wires from the battery is in connection with these
pins or projections, and other wires with the contact springs on the aforesaid
bracket or platform. In working the signal the said pins or projections are
brought round and form contact with the said springs when the signal is either
"on" or "off" the circuit being completed by wire to the earth; but should
the signal be at an intermediate point contact is then broken. At or near the
signal lever handle, where the policeman or attendant is stationed, we place
an indicator consisting of an ordinary galvanometer, with a suitable index
marked with suitable words, such, for instance, as "off," "signal wrong,"

page_text: and "on," to denote the position at which the signal is standing. The wire
used for working the auxiliary signal is also used for connecting the battery
with the indicator.
For night signalling, as hereafter particularly described, we place within
the signal lamp a thermometer having electric wires inserted in the tubes in
contact with the mercury, and connected with the wires for actuating the
signal, so that the mercury in the thermometer will be acted upon by the heat
of the lamp, and therefore should the lamp go out, that fact would be indi-
cated through its effect on the mercury in the thermometer.
Our Invention also relates to applying springs instead of weights and levers
as heretofore, for operating upon railway signals.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, we now proceed to
particularly describe and ascertain in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, wherein we shall refer to the accompanying Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, elevation of an ordinary signal post, with this Invention applied to
the same; Figure 1*, the handle and arrangements for working the signal
shewn on an enlarged scale, also shewing the indicator; Figure 2, elevational
view of a signal post, with our spring arrangements applied thereto, and
shewing the course of the wires for actuating the signal; Figure 3, side view
of the contact springs and contact pins or projections which work in con-
junction therewith, as herein-before mentioned; Figure 4, plan view thereof;
Figure 5, contact regulator or peg switch for night signalling; Figure 6,
indicator.
A denotes the signal post, and A¹ the signal rod; B, the lamp; C, the
signal lens for night signals; A, the ladder; D, the day signal; E, bevil
gearing, weights, and appliances used for working the signals, all the afore-
said arrangements being the same as those heretofore adopted. F, box upon
the bracket containing our contact springs and contact pins aforesaid; G, the
usual main wire for working signal; H, usual handle and appliances for
working the signal; I, the indicator; K, the battery used for effectuating our
system of indicating as aforesaid.
By referring to Figures 3 and 4 it will be seen that there is a collar /
(denoted in the plan, Figure 4, by the large circle shewn thereat) to which
collar two contact pins or projections m are secured (shewn by the small
circles in plan view, Figure 4), and to these pins or projections are attached
the ends of a wire n passing from one pin to another, and having another
wire o (see dotted lines in Figure 2) going in a coil (so as to allow of the

page_text: necessary play) to the main wire G; p, the contact springs, to each of which
an electric wire 7, r, is attached, the wire from one proceeding to one pole of
the battery K, and the other going to the opposite pole of the battery. At the
other end of the main wire G, near the handle H (see Figure 1*), is attached
a coiled wire S connected with the indicator, the said indicator having another
wire t which proceeds to the earth.
In working this Invention the battery we at present prefer to use is a
divided battery, that is, from the middle cells a wire is put in connection,
which goes to the earth through the regulator or peg switch which is placed
in the small box marked B* fixed close to the signal lamp, Figure 5 shewing
the said regulator plate or peg switch. and appliances for the night and day
signalling. The said regulator being a plate or plates of brass or other suitable
metal, with two openings or spaces x,y; and at * is the aforesaid wire from the
battery; at a wire going to the earth for day signal, and at *** a wire
which proceeds to the thermometer, and ends in a fine platinum or other wire
which is introduced into the tube, and remains in contact with the mercury
(provided the mercury be kept at the proper height by the heat of the
lamp as it will as long as the lamp remains alight as it shou.. do);
****, similar wire going from thermometer to the earth. This regulator or
switch is for the purpose of putting the night and day signal arrangements
into and out of work, which is done by putting a pin into the circular part
of the opening a, when the metallic plates or conductors Nos. 1 and 2
are thereby conjoined and brought in contact (No. 3 being out of
contact), making the circuit through No. 1 by the wire *** and ther-
mometer (provided the mercury be kept at the proper height by the heat of
the lamp aforesaid), and through it to the earth by wire ****; whereas
for day signalling the attendant will remove the said contact pin and place it
between Nos. 2 and 3, when the circuit will pass from the battery wire * to
No. 2, and through the contact pin to No. 3, thence to wire **to the earth,
completing the circuit.
For working the signal rod by our spring arrangements, L is a spring
attached to a standard secured in the ground, which presses against a pro-
jecting arm M, with a stop at back thereof, which spring arrangement tends
to return the rod to the position of rest or signal off; its force being
counteracted by the handle or lever being fastened by catch or otherwise
as may be required; the main wire G being fastened to the signal rod by the
arm N. It will be obvious that upon the policeman or attendant pulling the
main wire G by the handle H as usual, that he will not only act upon
the signal, whether day signal (or lamp for night signal) as usual, but will by

page_text: the wire (0) cause the motions of the signal rod A', which are necessarily
simultaneously communicated to the pins (n), to act either the one or the
other, as the case may be, of the contact springs (p), and will shew upon the
indicator either signal on" or "signal off." But should the electric contact
not be made from atmospheric action or other causes, the needle will remain
vertical and "signal wrong." And the same thing will occur upon the move-
ment of the signal lens or lamp at night, as upon the lamp going out contact
would be broken at that point, that is, where the current passes through the
mercury of the thermometer, by reason that the mercury would fall so low as
to lose contact with the platinum wires inserted into the tube as aforesaid) and
the needle of indicator instead of pointing to "on" or "off," would stand per-
pendicular and point to "light out." For the case of the signal "on," it
would be desirable to have an arrangement for ringing a bell or sounding a
signal attached to the electric wire near the indicator.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we would here
remark that although we have shewn the electric power as generated by a
battery, yet it is obvious that other forms of electric power might be adopted,
for magnéto-electric apparatus might be used in lieu thereof; but we claim
the operating upon railway signals by means of mechanism acting in con-
junction with electrical power, so as to indicate to the policeman or attendant
the action of the signals at a distance from the place where said signals are
fixed; also the operating on such signals by springs instead of weights and
levers.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Whitaker and Ralph Augustine
Jones, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventeenth day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two.
Witness,
THO. STUBBS.
SAMUEL WHITAKER.
(L.S.)
RALPH AUGUSTINE JONES. (L.S.)