AN IMPROVED MEANS OF PREVENTING ACCIDENTS UPON RAILWAYS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Parsons Houghton, of Hillmorton,
in the County of Warwick, Clerk, and Andrew Stewart, of Hill-
morton aforesaid, Mechanic, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MEANS OF PREVENTING ACCIDENTS UPON RAILWAYS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Parsons
Houghton and Andrew Stewart at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th December 1853.
We, MATTHEW PARSONS HOUGHTON and ANDREW STEWART, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MEANS OF PREVENTING ACCIDENTS UPON RAILWAYS" to be as follows, that
is to say:
Our Invention consists in placing between each line of rails at con-
venient distances an arm or arms to be worked by a connecting rod or
rods and lever on the side of the railroad, and in placing a lever or
levers (simpic or compound) underneath the engine, and so arranged
that it may open a valve, and thereby blow a whistle, cut off the steam,
or reverse the engine, and in some instances it may be advisable to use
Price Ed.l

page_text: condensed air, when such lever and whistle is required to the break
carriage or carriages. The manner in which these signals are brought
into operation is this: In case of a break down or stoppage of a train in
unusual places, rendering one or both lines temporarily impassable, it
will be immediately necessary that a messenger be sent backward, or
backward and forward, along the line, to the nearest arm or arms, which
by means of the lever and connecting rod or rods, as before described,
will be raised up in a vertical or slanting direction, as most desirable,
and as the following train advances the lever or levers underneath tho
engine and break carriages will be brought into operation, cutting off
the steam, reversing the engine, or sounding the alarm signal, so that
the engine driver and guard or guards may immediately arrest the
further progress of the train or trains.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Matthew Parsons Houghton in the Great. Seal
Patent Office on the 17th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
MATTHEW PARSONS HOUGHTON, of Hillmorton, in the County. of
Warwick, Clerk, and ANDREW STEWART, of Hillmorton, aforesaid,
Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto us, the said Matthew Parsons Houghton and
Andrew Stewart, Her special license that we, the said Matthew Par
sons Houghton and Andrew Stewart, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Matthew Parsons Houghton
and Andrew Stewart, our executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: Invention for "AN IMPROVED MEANS OF PREVENTING ACCIDENTS UPON
RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others), that we, the said
Matthew Parsons Houghton and Andrew Stewart, by an instrument in
writing under our 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Matthew Parsons Houghton
and Andrew Stewart, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say):-
.
Our Invention has for its object the prevention of accidents on rail-
ways by sounding an alarm whistle attached to locomotive engines.. or
break vans used in a train, thereby calling the engine driver, guard, or
attendant, singly or collectively, into immediate action when danger is at
hand; and the appliances by which we effect this object will, if required,
cut off or reverse the steam, thereby becoming, as it were, self-acting
in the prevention of accidents; and the manner in which we effect this
great desideratum is simple, inexpensive, and not liable to derangement,
and will be understood by the following description. Between the rails
at suitable distances, along the whole line of road, or the station
approaches, we place an apparatus that can be elevated, when desired,
into a double-incline plane, by levers placed on the side of the railroad
as far from the. incline as would be necessary to arrest the progress. of
an approaching train, such incline and lever being connected by small
iron rods or wires extending from the incline to the lever, which in our
opinion could be casily worked at distances varying from a half mile to
one mile. In a suitable position attached to the engine is a lever extend-
ing down, so that the end of it may come in contact with the inclined
plane before described, and this lever is connected above with a steam
whistle conveniently situated, so that the. inclined plane being elevated,
the lower extremity of the lever coming into contact with it will thereby
open the valve, admitting steam to the whistle, which will be at once

page_text: the call of alarm, reminding the engine driver of his own immediate
danger, as also the occupants of his own as well as the preceding train,
and which whisue will continue its alarm cry until stopped by the
engine driver or attendant having first applied the break or breaks and
reversed the steam, but which lever may also be made to reverse the
steam as well as sounding the alarm whistle, or an additional lever and
incline may be used for that purpose, operated on by the same lever or
levers placed along the line of rails; but in case of such alarm whistle
being placed to guard or break vans, such whistle must be sounded by
the escape of condensed air in a suitable chamber; but in order that we
may bo well understood, we have subjoined a Drawing exhibiting one
mode of carrying our Invention into effect, and which we will proceed
and WHICH Whiste will continue its alarm cry until stopped by the
engine driver or attendant having first applied the break or breaks and
reversed the steam, but which lever may also be made to reverse the
steam as well as sounding the alarm whistle, or an additional lever and
incline may be used for that purpose, operated on by the same lever or
levers placed along the line of rails; but in case of such alarm whistle
being placed to guard or break vans, such whistle must be sounded by
the escape of condensed air in a suitable chamber; but in order that we
may be well understood, we have subjoined a Drawing exhibiting one
mode of carrying our Invention into effect, and which we will proceed
to describe.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING.
Fig. 1 represents a side view of a line of rail, with our apparatus
applied, and an engine supposed to be moving in the direction of the
arrow; and Fig. 2 represents a top view of the same without the
engine; and for the convenience of bringing the incline, and the lever
by which it is worked, within the range of the picture, we have repre-
sented the road as broken in each Figure; and, although we have shewn
two levers and two inclines, it will be only necessary to describe the
action of one lever and one incline to understand the whole, with the
exception that they are represented here for the purpose of shewing
onc lever and one incline in operation, and the other at rest. We
have also thought it expedient to give a sectional view of the double
incline drawn at a larger scale at Figure 3, which we will proceed to
describe. A and B, are two plates of iron, which we think the most
suitable material, united by a hinge joint in the centre, and jointed also
at C, to an iron frame secured to the sleepers as shown in
and also united to the same frame by a slot joint at D.
is fixed on the axis F, to which is attached a lever for
and control over it, and by which it can be lowered in the
the dotted lines, and thereby depress the inclined planes by the pin G,
working in the slot H. To the axis F, is attached a pulley, the
the top view,
The arm E,
giving power
direction of

page_text: diameter of which regulates the action of the apparatus, as will be here-
after shewn at Figure 2, which we will now describe. A and B,
represent the double incline plane; and F, the axis to which the arm E
is attached, not shewn in this Figure; and J, the pulley over which
works a chain attached to the iron rods or wires, as represented by the
red lines, the other end of which is attached to another pulley marked
K, which pulley is operated on by the lever L, shewn in its vertical
position at Figure 1. And it will be easily conceived, that the chain
being fastened to the periphery of the pullies K and J. that the action
of the lever L will operate on the incline planes A and B. And we
may here observe, by way of illustration, we will suppose it necessary to
stop the progress of the advancing train or engine, and to effect this
the guard or attendant has gone to the lever I, and lifted it from an
horizontal to its perpendicular position, and which has had the effect of
raising the inclined plane as exhibited at A and B, shewn elevated at
the same letters of reference in the top view, Figure 1, which also
shews that the engine cannot progress without the friction roller M
coming in contact with the incline plane A, causing the lever N, partly
shewn in dotted lines, and working on its fulcrum at P, to move in the
contrary direction, shewn by the small arrows, O and Q, thereby pressing
the friction roller at the end of the rod R, against the inverted incline
handle or lever S, and by that means the steam is admitted to the alarm
whistle T, which continues to sound its shrill notice of danger until the
lever S is pulled down, cutting off the steam, while the rod R is forced
back into the position shewn by the helical spring U, U. And it
requires very little effort of imagination to see that if apparatus such
as the lever N, the rod R, and whistle T, was applied to a guard or
break van, with a plentiful supply of condensed air, which may be
always kept supplied by condensing apparatus worked by the locomotion
of the carriage, that the same result would be produced; and it will
also be perceived that the same lever N may be made to reverse the
steam of the engine simultaneously with its sounding the alarm whistle,
or, if preferable, a distinct lever and incline as shewn in dotted lines at
V. and W, Figure 2, may be used. Thus we have this great deside-
ratum, that the engine driver, stoker, and guard or guards are not

page_text: called upon to keep up a continual and tedious watching for signals of
caution or danger, but can exercise their unfettered attention to the
discharge of their arduous duties with the certainty that, when in
danger, they will be duly apprised of it, so that they can immediately
apply their breaks to stop in safety, and give the same notice of danger
to the following train, by the simple lifting of the road side lever L,
sending back the intelligence some half mile or mile behind them.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried into effect, we wish it under-
stood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details as herein
described and exhibited in the Drawings, as it is evident that the
incline plane between the line of rails may be dispensed with, and an
arm with a friction roller attached may be substituted, which roller
coming in contact with a yielding double-incline plane, placed under-
neath the engine or break vans, the same result may be produced; but
what we do claim as our Invention is, the setting up of apparatus along
the line of railway, which apparatus may be so arranged that it may be
elevated in time of danger, which elevation coming in contact with a
part or parts of the engine or break vans suitably arranged shall
cause an alarm sound to be made so that the engine driver, guards, or
attendants may be roused to the immediate necessity of stopping the
train by applying breaks, &c.
And, secondly, we claim the application of the like arrangements for
cutting off or reversing the steam of the engine, as well as sounding the
signal of alarm.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Parsons Houghton (as
well on my own behalf as on that of the said Andrew Stewart),
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
MATTHEW PARSONS HOUGHTON. (L.S.)