An Improved Indicator for Railway Carriage and other Door Fastenings.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Nov., 1886.
Complete Left, 18th May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 21st June, 1887.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Indicator for Railway Carriage and other Door
Fastenings.
I JOHN WHITEHEAD of 63 Saint John's Villas Clarence Road, Harborne in
the county of Stafford Engraver do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
This invention relates to a method or arrangement of indicating whether or not a
door has been secured by its fastening, and which particularly applies to the doors of
railway and other carriages, where the handle of the fastening is upon the outside, and
not readily seen by the occupant of the carriage. As is well known it sometimes
happens that a railway carriage door for instance is shut but not fastened, and in most
of such carriages at any rate there is nothing upon the inside to indicate the danger of
this: and to obviate or lessen this danger I have made this my invention. It may be
applied also to other doors for indicating purposes. In applying this my invention I
should in most cases fix it upon the door frame or casing when it would be operated
upon, and made to act or register by means of the bolt or latch of the door falling or
working into the bolt box or recess upon the said casing, or it may be entirely upon
the door, and worked by the spindle to which the handle is attached, the former
however being preferable.
In the former case;-Upon the inside of the door framing and about opposite to the
bolt box I make provision to receive the indicator which consists of a arm or arms
which move about a centre as a fulcrum. This centre or spindle is carried into the
thickness of the door, and provided with a short arm or its equivalent, so that it may
be operated upon from the recess or opening into which the bolt or latch falls. Upon
the arm or quadrant I make certain marks such as FAST, OPEN, SAFE, DANGER,
ENGAGED, or other selected words. In front of this working arm I fix another
plate or quadrant having suitable openings so that when the arm working behind this
plate assumes certain positions, the indicative words thereon are visible, while in other
certain positions they are invisible; or if desired the indicative words may be upon
the fixed plate, and the moving arm be made to cover or uncover such words when
the door is closed or opened as the case may be.

page_text: When the door is closed, and the bolt or latch is turned into its recess, the said bolt
or latch strikes the short arm or its equivalent upon the fulcrum of the indicating arm,
and turns it (the latter) into the desired position; and when the said bolt is with-
drawn, and the door unfastened, the indicator thereby changes its position, and
indicates such change accordingly. A simpler form of this indicator would be made
by placing it upon the inside of the door, direct upon the spindle of the handle of the
door fastening, when by the turning of the handle to open or close the door, the
indicator would be made to assume its different indicative positions.
Dated this 22nd day of November 1886.
CHAS. T. POWELL,
Applicant's Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
.
An Improved Indicator for Railway Carriage and other Door
Fastenings.
I JOHN WHITEHEAD of 63 St. John's Villas, Clarence Road, Harborne, in the
County of Stafford, Engraver do hereby declare the nature of this invention 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 a method or arrangement for indicating whether or not a
door has been secured by its fastening, and which particularly applies to the doors of
railway and other carriages, where the handle of the fastening is upon the outside, and
not readily seen by the occupant of the carriage.
As is well known it sometimes happens that a railway carriage door for instance, is
shut but not fastened, and in most of such carriages at any rate, there is nothing upon
the inside, to iudicate the danger of this, but in order to obviate or lessen this danger
I have made this my invention. It may also be applied to other doors for indicating
purposes.
In applying this my invention I should in most cases fix it upon the door frame or
casing, when it would be operated upon, and made to register or indicate, by means of
the bolt or latch of the door fastening, falling into or working within the bolt box or
recess upon the said casing.
Upon the inside of the door fastening, and about opposite to the bolt box, I make
provision to receive the indicator mechanism, which consists of an arm or arms

page_text: which move about a centre as a fulcrum. This centre or spindle is carried into the
thickness of the door frame, and there provided with a short arm or its equivalent, so
that it may be operated upon from the recess or opening, into which the bolt or
latch falls.
Upon an arm or quadrant or its equivalent I make certain marks or words, such as
FAST, SHUT, OPEN, SAFE, DANGER, ENGAGED or other selected words.
In front of this indicating arm I fix another plate or cover having suitable perforations
or openings, so that when the arm working behind this plate assumes certain positions,
the indicative words thereon are visible, while, in other certain positions they are
invisible, or,
if desired the indicative words may be upon the fixed plate, and the
moving arm be made to cover or uncover such words, when the door is closed
(fastened) or opened (unfastened) as the case may be. When the door is closed and
the bolt or latch turned into its recess, the said bolt or latch, strikes the short
arm, or its equivalent, upon the fulcrum of the indicating arm, and turns it into
the desired position, and when the said bolt or latch is withdrawn and the door
unfastened the indicator thereby changes its position, and indicates such change
accordingly.
I will now proceed to describe more particularly this my invention and in
what manner it is to be performed having reference to the accompanying illustrative
sheet of drawings, upon which are letters and figures of reference, like letters
throughout the several views referring to the same thing or part.
Fig. 1, shews the position of the indicating mechanism, when the door would be
fastened.
"
Figs. 2, & 4 shew "fast," and "open" positions of "latch" and "short arm on
the spindle of the indicating mechanism.
Fig. 3 shows the position of the indicating mechanism, when the door. would be
unfastened.
Fig. 5 shews a plan of Fig. 1.
Fig. 6 shews interior of a railway carriage, and the approximate position of the
indicator when made and applied after the manner of Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.
Figs. 7, 8, & 9 illustrate my invention in a slightly modified form, and will herein-
after be more fully described.
Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6, a, is the door, b the door frame or casing, c, is
the spindle which is turned by the handle d, and which, further carries the latch or
bolte. Into the frame b, I pass a spindle or fulcrum f, from the inside. Upon this
spindle, I provide a short arm g, having preferably two operating surfaces h & i. As
will be seen in Figs. 5, this short arm g, is placed opposito the latch e,
for the purpose
of being operated upon thereby. Upon the inside end of the spindle f I fix the arm
or quadrant or its equivalent j, which is so shaped that the bulk of its weight is upon
the (left hand) side, to facilitate its readily changing its position from that shewn
in Fig. 1 to that shewn in Fig. 3, when the latch e, is lifted from the front of
the arm g, at h. A spring may be employed if desired, to accomplish the same
object.
Upon the outside of the indicating arm I provide a cover plate k, having a per-
foration 1, of a suitable size, through which the indicative words may be seen, and
behind which a protection of glass m, may be placed.
.
Upon the door frame, and opposite to the perforation I, I may put the word OPEN,
so that when the door is unfastened, and the indicating arm lies behind the plate k,
such word may be seen, or, I may omit such word, leaving a blank space or other sign
to indicate that the door is not secure.
Its action will now be readily understood as follows:-When the door closed and
fastened the latch e, see Fig. 4 strikes the surface h of the arm g, and moves it into
the position shewn in Fig. 2. In so doing the spindle f, is turned, causing the arm j
to change from the position shewn in Fig. 3, to that position shewn in Fig. 1, when
the word SHUT would be presented to view.
When unfastening the door, in order to more positively ensure the return of the
indicating arm back to the position as shewn in Fig. 3, I have provided the projection

page_text: and surface i upon the arm g, so that when the latch e is lifted it strikes thereagainst,
and throws it over.
Figs. 7, 8, & 9 shew a modification of my invention, whereby the indicating
plate j, is carried higher, where it may be in some instances seen more readily.
The method of operating the spindle f, by means of the latch e and arm g, would be
similar to that already described. Upon the spindle f, I provide an arm n, which by
any suitable joint o, is connected to a vertical rod p, upon, or attached to, the upper
end of which latter, is the indicative arm or plate. A cover plate k, with aperture
or perforation 1, is provided as before, behind which the indicating arm j¹ works.
Preferably the vertical rod p, would be square to prevent liability to twist, and would
be covered and protected by square cover q. Where this modification is permissible,
from the construction of the carriage &c., it has the advantage of being more readily
seen than the former. Fig. 9 shews approximate position of such indicator in a
railway carriage.
As will be readily understood this my invention may be applied to the fastenings of
doors other than those of carriages, where a bolt or latch enters a box or recess after
the same manner.
my
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 :-
eq
1st. The operating or working of indicating mechanism for doors, from the
latch when entering its box or recess in the door frame or casing, substantially us
hereindescribed, and illustrated upon the drawings in Figs. 1 to 9 inclusive.
2nd. The general combination and arrangement of indicator for doors, sub-
stantially as hereindescribed and illustrated upon the drawings in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.
3rd. The general combination and arrangement of the modification of indicator
for doors, substantially as hereindescribed and illustrated upon the drawings in
Figs. 7 & 8.
Dated this 17th da
1000