IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALLING BY ELECTRICITY, AND IN THE ARRANGE- MENT OF APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Kenyon and Archibald
Horn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 10th January 1862.
We, JOHN KENYON, of Ivy Cottage, Lower Heath, Hampstead, and.
ARCHIBALD HORN, of Great James Street, Bedford Row, both in the County
of Middlesex, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY SIGNALLING BY ELECTRICITY, AND IN THE ARRANGE-
MENT OF APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
Our improvements in signalling consists in laying down on lines of railway
a system of telegraph wires and terminals acting in conjunction with batteries,.
and signalling apparatus carried by the train, in such manner that each passing
train shall leave an indication of its presence, if within, say, two or three miles,
whereby to indicate that the line is interrupted, and shall also, on exceeding
that limit, remove the indication of its presence, and thereby denoting the line.
clear to the succeeding train.
To effect this we arrange and dispose terminal or contact points in pairs, the.
several pairs being at distances from each other, say, of half a mile or a mile..
These we unite in alternate pairs by suitable wires or electrical connection, that
is to say, the first is so united to the third, and the second to the fourth; again,.
the third is connected to the fifth, and so on. These terminal points are so.
exposed, that they effect contact with suitable contact points in the circuits of
two independent batteries carried, say, in the guard's van of each train. In the
circuit of one of these batteries there is an electro-magnet and signal bell in

page_text: the guard's van, while the other battery at the proper time actuates an electro-
magnet at the contact points on the line for the purpose of breaking or inter-
rupting the electrical connection of those contact points. In order to establish
the electrical connection of those points we employ the mechanical effect
of the train at the time of passing them. The action and effect of the appa-
ratus is this, a first train passing over the contact points, say No. 1, actuates
mechanically a commutator at those points, so as to place them in electrical
communication; it next passes over points No. 2, and produces a similar effect,
and so on through the whole series.
It was before mentioned that two batteries are disposed in each guard's
van, each of which has separate contact points, the one pair being at
the fore part of the carriage, the other being in the rear, while the contact
point, actuating mechanically the brake apparatus in the circuit of the line
electro-magnet is disposed between the two pairs of contact points in the
carriage. Supposing the line to be perfectly clear, the advance pair of contact
points, (the circuit of which includes the signal bell apparatus) although
effecting contact with the line points, produces no effect, the electrical circuit
not being established in the stationary points. After the passage of the
advance contact points, a contact point of the brake van moves mechanically,
the make and brake apparatus of the line contact points being traversed,
leaving them in metallic connection through the circuit of the electro-magnet,
two miles in the rear. The contact points of the second battery now traverse>
the stationary points, which if within two miles of a terminus, will be necessarily.
inoperative. The effect of thus establishing the electrical connection between.
these points is that a train following the one which made the electrical
connection mechanically within a distance of, say, two miles, (if the points are
disposed a mile apart) will receive a signal by the sounding of its bell as it
passes the points, the make and brake apparatus completing the circuit of its
battery, through the electro-magnet, at a distant point; this second train will
therefore be warned that it is too near to the preceding train. When the first
train passes the second mile, that is to say, contact points No. 3, the same
effect is produced as before, but in addition the second and rear battery in the
train actuates the make and brake apparatus of the points, No. 1, by reason of
its circuit being completed through the coils of an electro-magnet situated at
No. 1, which magnet actuates the brake apparatus, & causes it to interrupt
the metallic connection of those contact points established mechanically as
before described. The same thing occurs at points No. 2, when the first train
arrives at points No. 4, and so on. Thus a second train will be continually
warned of its near proximity to a preceding train, if within a distance of two

page_text: miles, while on the other hand, if the distance between the trains exceeds two
miles, it will receive no signal, being an indication that the line is clear. In
this way an advancing train continually establishes a capability to signal in the
apparatus, but destroying that capability after it exceeds the distance of two
miles, or other prescribed extent, and therefore leaves no trace of its passage
beyond that limit. A second, third, and in fact all trains suitably furnished,
traversing a line so circumstanced, establish the same relations, and thereby
prevent the possibility of a collision, if the attendants do their duty and attend
to the signals. The same apparatus may be used to communicate signals from
a station to a train, or vice versa, by placing such stations in metallic commu-
nication with the line terminal or contact points, distant say one mile, the
station master, by making metallic connection of these points at the station,
will cause electrical communication to be established in the circuit of the
advance & bell battery of a first train, thereby establishing a circuit and
ringing its signal bell. An electro-magnet & bell in the same circuit at the
station, will also indicate at same time the position of the train on the line.
We use the term first train, to denote a train that may be advancing on a
clear line.