CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING SIGNALS AND COMMUNICATIONS ON RAILWAYS AND BETWEEN RAILWAY ENGINES, CARRIAGES, AND TRAINS, WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER LOCALITIES
Year: 1846

page_text: BANFIELD, of Birmingham, Organ Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at"
Westminster, the Eleventh day of March, in the ninth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Banfield, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said John Banfield, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Banfield, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years. therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town:
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plan-
tations abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and'
Man, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING SIGNALS AND
COMMUNICATIONS ON RAILWAYS AND BETWEEN RAILWAY ENGINES, CARRIAGES, AND
TRAINS, WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER LOCALITIES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said John Banfield shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner"
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: 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 compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Banfield, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained
in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The nature of my Invention consists in making the signals and commu-
nications aforesaid by means of whistles or alarums constructed so as to emit
sounds much louder, and of a more peculiarly distinctive character than those
ordinarily employed, one of which whistles or alarums is to be fixed to the
engine or tender of each train of railway carriages, and to communicate with a
mouthpiece, bellows or other blower, attached to the carriage which carries
the guard, by means of a series of air and water-tight flexible tubes, kept in a
state of circular distension by spiral wires enclosed therein; and which whistles
or alarums may also be fixed at railway stations, and communicate by means of
pipes laid under the ground with similar mouthpieces or blowers placed at the
next adjoining stations; and the manner, in which the said whistles or alarums
are constructed and connected with the passages or tubes through which they
are to be sounded, is represented in the said Drawings annexed hereto, and by
the following description thereof:-Figure 1 is a vertical section, and Figure 2
a back elevation of the whistle or alarum, and its more immediate appendages.
The whistle or alarum itself consists of two hollow cylindrical pieces A¹ and A²,
the latter of which is slid upon or over the former as far as the projecting
flange a, b, so as to be to that extent concentric therewith. The under-
piece A', which constitutes what is technically called the 'languid' of the
whistle, is represented in Figure 1 as secured by a broad flange or shoulder
piece f, f, to the tender or engine; it is quite closed at top, but near to the
bottom has a lateral opening c, all round, with the exception of two narrow
and slightly protruding side pieces p, p, left to connect the top and bottom
parts, and at top there is a rim r, which projects a little way beyond the body
of the piece. The upper piece A³ is in all respects the same as A¹, except
that it is somewhat larger in diameter and much longer; it has, like the other, a
lateral opening &, and when it is slid upon or over the under piece A¹, this
opening (c), terminates just below the projecting top rim (r) of A¹, leaving a
small open space between that rim and the lower part of A2. G is one of the
series of flexible tubes attached to the bottom of the whistle, and extending to
the guard's box or seat through which the whistle may be sounded by a blower,

page_text: or where the distances are short by the mouth alone. I make these tubes
(by preference) either of sulphurised caoutchouc or of sulphurised gutta percha,..
but they may be made of any other flexible material or combination of
materials, which is air and waterproof, and not readily affected by oils or grease,
or by changes of temperature; and I keep them in the state of circular
distension necessary for the uninterrupted transmission of sound by means
of strong spiral wires introduced into the interior thereof, as shewn at x, x, in
Figure 1. I connect the different pieces together by metal bayonet (or screw)
joints, as shewn at y); blowers of various well-known sorts may be attached to
the guard's end of the tubes. In Figure 3, I have shown one of a very
simple construction, which by the mere pressure of the band or foot will
produce a very loud sound. I propose that the tubing shall be allowed to hang
loosely under the carriages, supported at intervals by hooks or rings, in order
that it may yield readily to any turns or bends in the direction of a train or
to any sudden contraction or extension of its length.
The same means of commuicating between railway stations and railway
carriages, which have been herein-before described, may, it is obvious, be applied
to the conveyance of signals and communications in other localities, as for
example, between the engine room and quarter-deck of steam vessels, or from
one bank of a river to its opposite, or from the counting house of a manufactory
to the workshops, &c. &c. The whistle may be also attached to the top of a
steam boiler, and used as a substitute for that now ordinarily employed, in
which case a steam cock must be attached to it, as indicated by the portions of
Figure 1, colored red.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I am aware that whistles
and alarums are already in common use on railways, and that it has also been
proposed to make use of a combination of rigid and flexible tubes for con-
veying oral communications from one part of a railway train to another part,
o and that I therefore make no claim to the use of such whistles or alarums
generally, or of such combination of rigid and flexible tubes; but that what
1 claim as my Invention is,-
First, the whistle or alarum of the peculiar construction before de-
scribed.
And second, the employment, for the purpose of such signals and commu-
nications as aforesaid, of sets or series of tubes, all of which are flexible, with
the exception only of the metal joints, and are composed of materials which are
air and waterproof, and not readily affected by oils or grease, or changes of

page_text: temperature, and. are kept in a state of circular distension. by spiral wire,
enclosed therein, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Banfield, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
JOHN (L.S.) BANFIELD..
Enrolled the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six..