IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GIVING RAILWAY SIGNALS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Stevens, of Darlington Works, Southwark
Bridge Road, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GIVING
RAILWAY SIGNALS."
Sealed the 13th April 1854, and dated the 2nd February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Stevens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
February 1854.
I, JAMES STEVENS, of Darlington Works, Southwark Bridge Road, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR GIVING RAILWAY SIGNALS" to be as follows:-
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me is described an In-
vention for combining semaphore apparatus and lamps, so that the same act of
the signal man might produce the desired signal by night or by day. Now my
present Invention has for its object improvements in such and other semaphore
and lamp signal apparatus. Heretofore, in using signal apparatus when acted
on from a distance by wires, there have only been means of showing the two
extreme signals with certainty, and not the intermediate one. My improve-
ments consist of applying a self-acting stop or support to the apparatus, so
that when acted on from a distance, the arm or lever, when it arrives beyond a
support or stop, that stop or support shall move, and retain the arm or lever in
the intermediate position, until it is desired to move the semaphore arm or
lamp to one of the extreme positions.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Stevens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
STEVENS, of Darlington Works, Southwark Bridge Road, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Stevens, Her special licence that I, the said James Stevens, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Stevens, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR GIVING RAILWAY SIGNALS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Stevens, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 I, the said James Stevens, 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
thereof (that is to say):-
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me is described an In-
vention for combining semaphore apparatus and lamps, so that the same act of
the signal man might produce the desired signal by night or by day. Now my
present Invention has for its object improvements in such and other semaphore
and lamp signal apparatus. Heretofore, in using signal apparatus when acted
on from a distance by wires, there have only been means of shewing the two
extreme signals with certainty, and not the intermediate one. My improve-
ments consist of applying a self-acting stop or support to the apparatus, so that
when acted on from a distance, the arm or lever, when it arrives beyond a
support or stop, that stop or support shall move, and retain the arm or lever in
the intermediate position, until it is desired to move the semaphore arm or
lamp to one of the extreme positions.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure shews a side elevation of apparatus constructed and combined
according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a plan thereof. The other Drawings
shew views of some of the working parts on a larger scale.
The object of the Invention is to enable the signal attendant to give from a
distance with perfect certainty the green, red, or white signals (or caution,
danger, and all right), which has not heretofore been accomplished by the
apparatus employed. A is a weighted lever which communicates by means
of the connecting rod 6 with the semaphore and lamp apparatus; and the
lever A is actuated (so as to produce the desired signal from a distance) by
one of the levers at R or S, and the wire and chain connection f, in the fol-
lowing manner-When the danger sigual, is required, the parts. are to be
placed in the position shewn in the Drawing, with the weighted lever A resting
on the stop or support e, fixed to the framing.
To produce the caution or intermediate signal, the levers R, S, must be
moved into the position indicated by the dotted lines R', S', which will lift the
weighted lever A into the position indicated by the dotted lines A', where it
will be retained by the projection a, on the weighted lever A, resting on the
self-acting stop or support C', formed on the weighted lever C, which is brought
into a suitable position by the stud d, on the shorter arm of the weighted lever
D. When the all-right signal is necessary, the levers R, S, must be moved
into the position indicated by the dotted lines R², S, which movement will lift
the lever A into the position indicated by the dotted line A, with its shorter
end resting on the stop or projection E fixed to the framing, when the appa-
ratus may, if required, be returned to its original position, to produce the danger
signal, the projection a on the lever A during such return movement passing
over the surface C² on the lever C, the lever D being meanwhile supported by
the projection g, fixed or formed on the framing. The actuating lever R is
suitable for short distances, but for a long range the lever S, and wire wheel
W, are necessary, which are so arranged as to compensate for the elongation
or contraction of the wire, and always retain it at a proper degree of
tension.
The chain and wire connection f is attached to the periphery of the ratchet
wheel (1), turning freely on the axis (2). S is a lever on the axis (2), which
acts on the ratchet wheel (1) by means of the driver (S'), and the ratchet
wheel is retained in position by the weighted lever (3) suspended on the

page_text: axis (2), the lever (3) having a pall. (4) which takes into the teeth of the
ratchet wheel (3), so as to retain the apparatus in either. of the positions in
which it may be placed, the weight (5) counterbalancing the parts of the
signal apparatus. (6) is a chain which connects the lever S and pall (4), in
order to release the pall (4) from the teeth of the ratchet wheel when the
danger signal is required, the weight of the signal apparatus acting to return
the parts to that position.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim any of
the mechanical parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the precise details 1
herein described, so long as the peculiar character of my Invention be retained.
But what I claim is, the combination of parts herein described, whereby signal
apparatus capable of giving three signals may be caused to show either of
the extremes, or the intermediate signal, with certainty.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Stevens, have hereunto set my hand 1
and seal, this First day of August, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
B. GOBEY,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
JAMES STEVENS. (L.S.)