IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Douglas Coates Crawford at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th February 1877.
DOUGLAS COATES CRAWFORD, of Chertsey, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer
"IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAYS."
The object of this Invention is to afford a ready and efficient means of signalling
on railways.
The Invention refers, first, to the means provided for exhibiting or providing
lights, thereby forming reflecting torch danger signals, so as to warn approaching
trains of the line being blocked, and to protect the train blocking the line or a
stationary train thereon. The lights referred to are placed on the line or beside the
line by persons stationed at signal stations or other appointed places, or from the
trains themselves. These lights are placed at certain distances apart, and they are
composed of or produced from chemical compositions which will burn a given time
with great brilliancy, so that their reflection may be seen in the heavens when the
lights themselves are hidden by reason of curvatures of the line or other causes. I
do not limit myself to the use of any particular composition or compositions of
materials for producing such or similar equivalent lights.
The Invention further refers to the apparatus used in connection with the lights
aforesaid for displaying same, and a convenient form of apparatus is made as
follows:-Rods or staffs are provided of a suitable size and length, shod at the
lower end with metal, and preferably pointed to facilitate their introduction into
the ground; the upper ends of these rods or staffs carry sockets, in which the
material or composition for burning is placed, and this is covered by a cap, which
may be connected by chain to the staff or rod itself sufficiently long to allow the
cap to be pulled off its socket when necessary. The cap covering the composition,
which is supported by the socket, is secured to the socket and staff or rod till the
apparatus is required for use by means of a ring of paper or other suitable material
connecting the same. These apparatus are used for the purposes of my Invention
in the following manner :- -It is intended that a suitable number of the apparatus
should be carried in the guard's van and engine of the train in racks or other
suitable contrivances for the purpose, and that they should be kept at level
crossings, tunnels, signal boxes, stations, and other places where they are likely to
be of use, or are convenient of access from the line. Upon a break down or obstruc-
[Price 27

page_text: tion occurring the guard, porter, platelayer, or any other appointed person takes up
one or several or as many of these rods or staffs as he can conveniently carry, and
runs in the direction from which danger of the arrival of another train is or might be
apprehended; at a certain distance, regulated according to his judgment (say, at
about 100 or 150 yards apart), he forces a staff into the ground (one having been
forced into the ground immediately close to the cause of obstruction), pulls off the
cap which falls, and is then suspended from the staff by chain. The light is ignited,
which burns fiercely and brilliantly for a period regulated by its size and composi-
tion. In this way series of visible signals are laid down, thereby warning any
train that may be approaching in the direction of the block.
Signals made in the manner before described cannot only be seen in a straight
line, but by reflection are visible in the sky at a considerable distance where other
signals are not available by reason of the curves and cuttings, thus also showing the
direction in which the obstruction lies.
I do not limit myself to rods of any particular length, but I find those about four
feet a convenient length for the purpose. They may be made of considerable length
in some cases, and for convenience of carriage I prefer in these instances to fit the
rods so that they will fit into one another with the light at top.