IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS TO CARRIAGES AND PASSENGERS ON RAILWAYS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVE- MENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO SAVE LIVES AND PROPERTY ON OTHER PLACES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
VAUX, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Gentleman, 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 Eighteenth day of November, in the ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Christopher Vaux, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Christopher
Vaux, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Christopher Vaux, my exors, adñors, or 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, the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR PREVENTING
ACCIDENTS TO CARRIAGES AND PASSENGERS ON RAILWAYS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVE-
MENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO SAVE LIVES AND PROPERTY ON OTHER PLACES," partly
communicated to me from abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that I, the said Christopher Vaux, shall cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of the 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 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
Christopher Vaux, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,.

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):
My Invention consists,―
First, of a mode of arranging apparatus in order to ensure the cutting off
the steam when a locomotive carriage is approaching a terminus, or a curve,
or a tunnel, or a crossing, or other place where it is desirable to cut off the
steam and to sound the whistles, to ensure the retardation and ultimate
stopping of the locomotive engine and the train, without depending on the
performance of that act by the engineman; and,
Secondly, my Invention consists in so arranging apparatus or instruments on
railway, and carriages to move therein, that a train in passing along a railway
may be the means of interposing instruments ör apparatus between it and the
next coming locomotive engine, and that at a subsequent period it may also
be the means of removing such apparatus or instruments, as will be fully
described hereafter.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by mc.
J...
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
Figure 1 shews part of a side view of part of a locomotive engine.
Figure 2 shews an end view thereof, having apparatus affixed thereto according
to the first part of my Invention. a, b, are two levers moving on the axis c.
One of these levers (a) are intended to put the whistle in action, and the
lever 6 is for cutting off the steam. d is a chain connecting the lever a with
the handle of the whistle e, as is shewn. And it will be evident that in the
event of the other end of the lever a coming against any instrument fixed,
or for a time placed on the railway, so as to cause the lever a to be raised and
the shorter end of the lever a depressed; and the instrument used for acting on
the lever a may be varied, and I shall hereafter describe apparatus or instru-
ments for this purpose. f is an endless chain passing over the pulleys g, h, i, the
pulley i being on the axis of the valve for 'shutting off the steam; and in the
pulley h. there is a notch, into which the shorter end of the lever 6 enters when
the steam is let on to the engines. j is a lever fastened at its outer end to the
chain f, and k is a strong spring constantly tending to force up the lever j, and
the spring will force up the lever, and move the chain, when the lever 6 is out
.of the notch in the pulley, and by such means the valve will be closed, when
the lever 6 is acted on by an instrument fixed or for a time placed on a rail-

page_text: way, the engineman retaining.the.means. of opening and closing the valve as
He may require, in addition. to. the power of closing; the valve without any
attention from him. The instruments on the railway.for this purpose.may be
varied, and I shall hereafter describe. suitable instruments for this purpose..
I would remark,ithat in place of using chains, ascabover explained, for commu-
nicating motion from the levers a and b, straps, bands; or cords may be used.
And I would state, in respect to this part of my Invention, that I am aware
that it has before been proposed to cut off the steam, and to sound a
whistle; by means of: apparatus in connection therewith, putain motion by
instruments fixed or for a time placed on railways. I do not therefore claim
the same as new, this part of my. Invention consisting only of the peculiar
means above described.
..
The second part of my Invention consists of so combining instruments. and
apparatus to railways, and to carriages moving on railways, that a carriage
passing along a railway may be the cause of moving instruments into position,
so as to cut off the steam of the next coming locomotive, and also be the
cause of sounding the whistle of such next coming locomotive engine, to
indicate that the previous train has not gone up to or beyond certain
distance, and then, having so brought into action apparatus as above men-
tioned; the first passing train having arrived at and passed a defined
distance, it shall be the means of causing the instruments to be removed
out of the way of the next coniing locomotive engine, and.. thus should* the
first passing train go through its journey correctly the succeeding locomotive
engine will not be interferred with, and it will only be interfered with in the
event of the first passing train being delayed from any cause, in which case
it will at all times be the cause of leaving apparatus in position to prevent the
next coming locomotive coming up to it.without having received notice and
having its steam cut off. Figure 3 shows a section of a truck for having
apparatus applied thereto for carrying out this the second part of my Inven-
tion. A similar apparatus may be applied to a railway passenger carriage, as
is shown at Figure 4; and Figure 5 shows a plan of Figure 4. The instru
nients used for putting the apparatus hereafter explained into, and out of
action, which are applied to the truck or to the carriage, consist of three
bars 7, 1, each having at its lower end a friction roller. These bars are capable
of being caused to assume the horizontal position when desired to be out of
the way, and they are retained in a vertical position by means of the sockets m,
which can be caused to slide up and down the fixed square-barn by a chain
or other instrument attached thereto. When the sockets mare down, the
upper end of the bars & pass through them, and they are thus held securely.in

page_text: a vertical position, as is shown; and when the bars 7 are to be in a horizontal
position, then, on raising the sockets m, and bringing the bars to a horizontal
position, they will be held in that position by the springs o, o. I would here
state, that I am aware that it has been before proposed that a passing carriage
should, when desired, have the means applied thereto for putting apparatus on
a railway into a position for cutting off the steam of a coming locomotive
engine; but in such cases no means of putting such apparatus out of the way
of the next coming locomotive have before been arranged, so as to enable the
first passing train to put the apparatus on the railway out of action so soon as
the first passing train has passed a given distance. The bars 1, when in a
vertical position in passing along a railway, come in contact with levers p, p,
so as to cause them in succession to assume the positions shewn by the dotted
lines. Thus, supposing a train of carriages to be passing in the direction of
the arrow in Figure 6 (which the Figure shows part of a plan of railway
having apparatus applied thereto according to this part of my Invention), the
bars would in succession come in contact with the first lever p, and cause it
to assume the position shewn by the dotted lines, and the effect would be that
the next lever p would also be put into action by means of the connecting
rod, and then the bars 7 would come in succession against the second lever p,
and move it into the position shewn by dotted lines; and the movement of the
second lever P. by the bars coming against it, will put the third lever into
motion, and bring it to a similar angle to that at which the first lever p is
shown to be placed, in order that when the bars come up to the third lever p,
it will be in a position to be correctly acted on by the bars ; and the third
lever p, like the two previous ones, will be forced into the position shewn by
the dotted lines by the bars 7; and the object of having the first two levers p,
in place of only one, is to prevent the necessity of a sudden change of position
to the apparatus in connection with the levers; and the object of the third
lever p is to bring the other two levers back into position, their chain then
remaining slack till the apparatus attached thereto is released, which apparatus
I will now describe. On the axis of the second lever p there is fixed a pro-
jecting arm g, which has a curved surface struck from the centre of the axis
on which that lever p moves. To the arm q is affixed a chain q', which is
attached to a strong wire ', the other end of which is attached to the sliding
bar r, which slides in slits s', formed in two fixed side plates s. And in order
that these details may be more readily understood than they would be by the
Drawing Figures 6 and 7, I have, in Drawings Y and Z, shown the various
details of the apparatus applied to the railway on a larger scale than at
Figures 6 and 7, where the same parts are necessarily shown on a small scale,

page_text: in order that the position may be indicated in respect to the railway itself.
The sliding barr has two projections. To one the wire q is affixed, and to the
other another strong wire t is affixed; and the other end of this wire t is
affixed to the sliding bolt u, which slides in a fixed frame, as is shown. On
this sliding bolt u are affixed the projections u', which bolt, by sliding, comes
against the arms v, affixed on the square axle w; and on this axle are affixed
two arms, and y, which are caused to assume a vertical position, as shewn by
dotted lines in the Drawings, by the turning of their axle w, and they will be
kept in a vertical position so long as the sliding bolt is drawn up to the
position shewn by dotted lines; and therefore it will readily be understood
that if a locomotive engine were to come up whilst this state of things
remained, its whistle would be sounded, the steam cut off from the engines,
and the brakes applied by the levers a, b, described in respect to Figures
1 and 2, coming into contact with the arm a, and the sliding bolt u will be
retained in the position shewn by the dotted lines, in the following manner :-
The sliding bar r, having been drawn into the slits s³ of the fixed plates s,
which it is enabled to do by moving away the swing stops, and then the
return of the swing stops, together with the ends of the slits &³, will retain the
sliding bar r from moving back, till released by means of other apparatus, at a
distance, say, of one thousand yards from the apparatus now under description;
and should the passing train not arrive at such further apparatus hereafter
described, the apparatus above described will interfere with the next coming
locomotive; and I apply the apparatus above described at intervals of, say,
every five hundred yards, by which there will at all times be fifteen hundred
yards between the first passing train and the next coming locomotive engine.
I will now describe how such apparatus is put out of position by the same
train which is passing along the previous part of the railway put the apparatus
into position. A, A, are fixed side plates, similar to those at s, but five
hundred yards distant therefrom; and the train on passing such apparatus
will, by means of similar levers p drawing the sliding bar B, which is similar
to r, and place it into the lower part of the slits in the plates A, where it will
be held securely till released, as hereafter described; and it will be seen that
the bar B is in connection by a strong wire with the sliding instrument C,
which slides in second slits formed in the plates, which sliding instrument is
drawn along with the bar B of the other apparatus, and it comes beyond the
lever D, and there remains till the bar B is released; and it will be seen that
the sliding bar r, and the sliding instrument C, have chains connected to them,
passing over rollers or pulleys, and the chains have weights & suspended thereto;
hence, when the bar r and the instrument C is released, the weights draw
.

page_text: back the bar and instrument C, and the arms x, y, are brought to an
inclined, position, and therefore out of way of the next coming locomotive
engine.
I will now describe the means of. setting the apparatus free, which will
be done on the train arriving at a distance of one thousand yards, where
similar levers are used, and in connection by means of a strong wire with the
sliding incline planes E which slide between the fixed plates, A. The inclined
planes E moving along the projections E' come against the forked lever F,
which raises the stop G out of the way of the sliding bar B, and allows it to
be lifted up by the highest part of the inclined planes É coming under the
bar B, the consequence of which will be that the sliding instrument C will
be drawn back by its weight, and the cross piece C will put in motion the
lever D, which will lift the sliding bar r, which it will be allowed to do by.
the stop being first moved out of the way by the levers ¹ being: moved by
the projections C¹, so as to press on the arm of the stop, and thus raise the
stop, the projections C' of the sliding instrument C coming in contact with
the tail of the levers, and thus will the arms a and y of the first-described
apparatus be released, and there will be two other sets of arms a and y, one
set of each, five hundred yards, which will have been brought into action, and
set by the passing train before this the first apparatus is. released. I have
unmentioned distances of five hundred yards and one thousand yards; 'but these
distances may be varied. I would remark, that it will be evident that similar
apparatus may be laid on a railway so as to act in the opposite direction,
and successively give notice to distant places of the coming of the train.
The apparatus or arm a puts into action the levers a and b attached to the
locomotive engine, Figures 1 and 2, and the apparatus or arm y puts into
motion a brake, which will readily be understood on examining the Drawing at
Figures 4 and 5. H is a lever which, coming over the upper part of the arm
y, it is raised up, and by being raised up the bent projection I rises up till
the sling. J comes under it, the sling J being at all times pressed on by the
spring K at its upper. part, and so as to bring the lower part of the sling
under the elbow of the projection I, by which that projection will be upheld
till released by the guard by the lever handle L moving the bar or connecting
rod M, to which the upper end of the sling is attached by a pin joint, the
connecting rod M being attached to the cranked lever N, which is by the
connecting rod O connected to the lever handle L. On the rising of the
lever H the arm P, which rests on it, will be raised, and as the arm is affixed
to axis Q, that axis will be put in motion, and consequently the ordinary
connecting rods. R of the breaks, and thus will friction be applied to the