" IN APPARATUS FOR PLACING DETONATING SIGNALS UPON LINES OF RAILWAY
Year: 1885

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by Gustave Lirand, of Chatellerault (Vienne),
District Manager to the Cie. d'Orléans, and Ernest Gaupillat, of 54, Rue des
Petites Ecuries, Paris, Engineer and Cartridge Manufacturer, both in the
Republic of France.]
Lines of Railway.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
"
IN APPARATUS FOR PLACING DETONATING SIGNALS UPON LINES OF RAILWAY
which Invention has been communicated to me from Abroad by Gastave Lirand of
Chatellerault (Vienne) District Manager to the C d'Orléans and Ernest. Gaupillat
of 54 rue des Petites Ecuries Paris Engineer and Cartridge Manufacturer both in
the Republic of France to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in automatic apparatus for laying fog
signals or detonators upon lines of Railway such as is described in the Specification
annexed to the application for Letters Patent made by E de Pass on the 6th day of
May 1884 No 7299 and is intended to enable the apparatus to place the same
detonators on the line again and again or every time that the line is blocked until
the detonators are exploded by the passage of an engine whereupon fresh detonators
are automatically placed in readiness to be brought into action as hereinafter
explained.
A lever capable of oscillating on a horizontal axis is arranged at right angles to
the rail in such a position that one of its extremities can be depressed by the
passage of an engine when elevated by the action of the signalling mechanism.
The detonators are carried by a plate or disc capable of rotating on a vertical axis
carried by a support which is moved towards or away from the rail.
This support carries an arm which when the support is operated by the signalling
mechanism acts upon an incline on the lever hereinbefore described and raises or
depresses it that is to say moves it in or out of the path of the wheels according as
the signals are set at danger or line clear. Fixed on the same spindle as the plate
carrying the detonaters is a disc provided with pins which when the plate and disc
are moved so as to place the detonaters on the line come in contact with and move
a short lever turning on a vertical axis the tail of which lever then slides under
[Price I

page_text: the lever firstly described and becomes locked in a recess provided in the underside
of the latter which at the same time is moved by the arm on the support so as to
rise above the rail in a position to be acted on by the wheels of a passing Engine.
If an engine passes the apparatus when the parts are in this position the wheels
depress the end of the lever firstly described and cause it to release the short lever
which is returned to its original position by a spring and when the support carrying
the detonaters is drawn back comes in contact with one of the pins on the disc and
causes the latter and consequently the plate carrying the detonaters to describe a
fraction of a revolution so as to bring fresh detonaters in position ready to take the
place of those which have been exploded by the passage of the engine. On the
other hand if the signals be pulled off or returned to the position indicating that
the line is clear before any engine has passed the lever firstly described will not be
depressed and consequently the short lever will remain locked and out of the path
of the pins on the disc. The plate carrying the detonaters consequently has no
rotary motion imparted to it but merely partakes of the rectilinear motion of the
support and thus presents the same detonaters again and again on the rail as often
as the signals are set at danger until the detonaters are exploded by the passage of
an engine which at the same time releases the short lever as hereinbefore described
the same operations being repeated until the supply of detonaters is exhausted.
A pawl engaging with notches or teeth in the disc prevents the latter from turning
backwards. The short lever is so adjusted relatively to the pins on the disc that
only a portion of the rectilinear motion of the support is utilized for producing the
rotation of the disc and plate carrying the detonaters.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Placing Detonating Signals upon
Lines of Railway.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this Invention which has been com-
municated to me from Abroad by Gustave Lirand of Chatellerault (Vienne)
District Manager to the Cie d'Orleans and Ernest Gaupillat of 54 rue des Petites
Ecuries Paris Engineer and Cartridge Manufacturer both in the Republic of France
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This Invention relates to apparatus for automatically placing detonating signals
upon lines of railway the said apparatus being operated by the mechanism of the
ordinary semaphore signal. In apparatus constructed according to this invention
the detonaters are carried by a plate or carrier partaking of an intermittent rotary
motion being also moved bodily towards or from the rail upon which the detonaters
or fog signals are to be deposited and this apparatus is combined with means for
enabling it to present the same detonaters again and again until they have been
exploded as hereinafter explained.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to
the several figures on the annexed sheet of drawings the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in plan the essential parts of
an apparatus constructed according to this invention and Figure 2 is a sectional
elevation of a portion of the said apparatus.
A support or fork F sliding in guides G G¹ G¹¹ is operated by a rod E connected
to the lever of the semaphore and carries a disc A¹ fixed on a vertical shaft or
spindle B on the end of which is fixed a plate or arms A (indicated in dotted lines
in figure 1) carrying the detonaters This disc A¹ is likewise provided with say
four studs or pins H₁ H. H, H, which at a certain time strike against the
finger Hand presents say four notches I, I, I, I, capable of engaging with a catch
or pawl J carried by the fork.
The full lines on the drawing show the position of the parts when the signal is
at danger. When the semaphore is operated to indicate that the line is clear the
fork or support F is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow a figure 1.
This movement causes the pin H, to come in contact with the finger H and
compels the disc A¹ to describe a fraction of a revolution in the direction of the
arrow b the disc being at the same time moved bodily in the direction of the
arrow a. After travelling a certain distance the pin H。 comes in contact with a
stop K which then prevents any further rotation of the disc. The angular dis-
placement of the disc and detonater carrier may be limited to 90° for example as in
the apparatus illustrated which is constructed for eight detonaters two being
placed on the rail at a time in order to avoid risk of missing fire. The act of
operating the semaphore to indicate danger or line blocked causes the fork F to
move in the opposite direction to that indicated by the arrow a and the two
detonaters are thus placed upon the line. During this rectilinear motion the discs

page_text: do not rotate the pins on the disc A¹ come in contact with the finger H but the
latter yields to the pressure and allows them to pass without moving the disc-
which is prevented from rotating in the opposite direction to the arrow by the
spring pawl J which engages with the notches I, I, I, I, in the periphery of
the disc A. By repeating the operations it is evident that the four pairs of
detonaters will be successively placed upon the rail.
It may happen that the engine driver seeing the signal at danger may be able to
stop before passing over the fog signals In this case when the signal is set to
indicate that the line is clear the disc would describe another fraction of a
revolution and bring a fresh pair of detonaters into position notwithstanding that
the first pair had not been exploded. In order to prevent this a lever X Y
pivoted at O and operated by an arm Z on the fork F is employed to lock the
finger H out of action as hereinafter described by engaging with a tail H² formed
by a prolongation of the said finger. The end X of this lever is situated near the
rail so that when elevated it will come in contact with the wheel of the locomotive
The end Y is provided with an incline y and when the fork F is drawn back the
arm Z acting on this incline elevates the end Y and depresses the end X. When
the fork F is moved forwards or towards the rail the finger H is moved by one of
the pins on the disc A¹ until it assumes the position indicated in dotted lines at H¹
figure 1 in which position it is retained by engaging with a recess v fig. 2 in the
lever X Y the end X of the said lever being at the same time elevated above the
rail. If a train passes when the parts are in this position the wheels depress
the end X of the lever and elevate the end Y thus releasing the tail H2 of the
finger H which is then caused by a spring h¹ to return to its original position in
which it is enabled to act upon the disc A¹ and cause it to describe a fraction of a
revolution the next time that the signal is pulled off but if no train passes before
the signal is returned to line clear the finger H remains in the position indicated
by the dotted lines and is prevented from acting on the disc A' when the latter is
drawn back. Consequently the same detonaters are presented again and again
until they are exploded and the lever has been caused to release the finger by the
passage of a train.
When the wheels pass over the detonaters they tend to drag them in the opposite
direction to that in which the train is travelling and thereby displace the disc A'.
In order to prevent this motion a stop K₁ is arranged to act upon the pins H, etc
and prevent the disc from turning until the latter has been drawn back clear of
the stop.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is
1st The general arrangement and combination of parts constituting the improved
apparatus for automatically placing detonating signals upon lines of railway sub-
stantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2nd In automatic apparatus for placing detonators upon lines of railway the
employment of means for preventing the mechanism from placing fresh detonaters
upon the line before the first have been exploded consisting essentially of a locking
lever which locks the feed mechanism until the said lever has been acted on by the
wheels of the train substantially as herein before described with reference to the
accompanying drawings.