IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON
RAILWAY TRAINS."-A communication from abroad by Baptiste Le
Bret, of No. 2, Rue de l'Ecluse, Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION loft by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th August 1871.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
SIGNALLING ON RAILWAY TRAINS," a communication to me from abroad
by Baptiste Le Bret, of No. 2, Rue de l'Ecluse, Paris, France, to be as
follows.

page_text: The signal D is preferably a luminous disc intended to guide the
employees at night and prevent hesitation. This hollow signal carries
within it a small lamp G, consuming very little oil, and which may burn
from 13 to 14 hours. In front of the flame are two magnifying glasses
or lenses H, H, reflecting the light; a sheet iron plate J, movcable and
hinged, is so placed as to permit the cleaning of the various parts of
the apparatus and the easy placing of the lamp, avoiding by this means
the confusion which might arise from the lighting up of the discs
during the journey.
Fig. 1 shows the signal at rest; Fig. 2, same raised with its luminous
disc; Fig. 3, side view of signal with its handle C; and Fig. 4, sido
view of signal with luminous disc.
The functions of the alarm bell are to give instant notice and to
complete the service of the signal which rises above the carriage. The
alarm is set upon an iron support F. The hammer G which strikes tho
alarm is of iron screwed upon a steel spring H³ set upon a bracket K,
which also carries a round iron rod L serving to guide the slide M,
intended to hold the hammer at rest. The traveller has but to press
upon the handle to cause the signal to assume the position shown
Fig. 2, in which it is held by the spring N, which also prevents the
signal being lowered from the interior of the carriage. The signal D
being raised the slide M lowers and frees the spring H³, which set in
motion by the movement of the train causes the hammer to strike upon
the alarm until the signal is lowered, which can only be done from the
outside.
Further, the signal D by means of the small lamp lit within it gives
a light sufficiently brilliant to light up the top of the carriages

page_text: Finally. If any kind of accident happen to a traveller and he turns.
the handle in his compartment the handles of the adjoining compart-
ments follow the same movement, and the persons occupying this
carriage will know at once by the new position of the handle that
something unusual is taking place near them, and may thus be enabled
to aid the servants of the company in assisting the person who has been
under the necessity of using this safety apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in tho County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eightoenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and -seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth ycar of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward Gedge,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all 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
Et IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING ON RAILWAY TRAINS," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Baptiste Le Bret, of No. 2, Rue de
l'Ecluse, Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Edward Gedge, my executors or administrators, by 'an
instrument in writing under my, 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.. --

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Gedge, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawing and to the figures and letters of reference placed 5
thereon:-
Figure 1 being a section through the interior of a compartment of a
railway carriage with this Invention applied; Figure 2, an end view of a
railway carriage with this improved signalling apparatus, and Figure 3
illustrating an arrangement for enabling the traveller to set the 1
signalling apparatus at work without moving from his seat.
This apparatus consists of an iron rod A (see Fig. 1) passing from
one end of a railway carriage to the other beneath the roof and upheld
at certain distances by supports B. In each compartment and near
the lamp the rod A carries a handle C, upon which the traveller has but 1
to press to set the indicator at work. This indicator placed outside one
end of the carriage is composed.—

page_text: Fig. 2, the spring N keeping it raised and also preventing its being
lowered from the interior of the carriage. The signal D being raised
the slide M. lowers and frees the spring H', which set in motion by the
movement of the train causes the hammer to strike upon the alarm
until the signal is lowered, which can only be done from the outside.
Further, the signal D, by means of the small lamp lit within it, gives
a light sufficiently brilliant to light up the top of the carriages
composing an ordinary train by the reflection of the magnifying
glasses fitted to both its faces.
.If any kind of accident happen to a traveller and he turns the handle
in his compartment the handles of the adjoining compartments follow
the same movement, and the persons occupying this carriage will know
at once by the new position of the handle that something unusual is
taking place near them, and may thus be enabled to aid the servants of
the company in assisting the person who has been under the necessity
of using this safety apparatus. -
-
The arrangement shown, Fig. 3, enables a traveller to work this
improved signalling apparatus without rising from his seat; C, handle of
signalling apparatus; a, cord passing over two grooved pulleys b, b¹,
and having at its end two short cords with tassels c, c, one hanging on
each side of the division d of the seat of the compartment and within
reach of the traveller when seated. This arrangement gives five points
from which a signal can be given in lieu of one, that is to say, the
handle. In fact assuming there are only eight places in a compart-
ment thero will be fifteen points of contact, and thus any evil doer who
might desire to prevent the working of the signal would be unable to do
so, all the starting points acting in the same direction.
1
Having now described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention communicated to me as aforesaid, I desire it to be under-
stood that I do not limit myself to the use of any particular material in
the construction of the apparatus, nor to any preciso dimensions of
parts, but that what I claim as secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is,-
Firstly. The use of the signal with its lamp when constructed and
arranged substantially-as-herein-before-set forth.
Secondly. The use of the alarm when constructed and arranged

page_text: Thirdly. The use of the signal and the alarm combined and operated
substantially as and for the purposes herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.