AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PERSON OR PERSONS HAVING THE CHARGE OF A RAILWAY TRAIN' AND THE CONTROLLER OF ITS MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
MORDEY MOWBRAY, of No. 36, Paternoster Row, in the City of London,
Wholesale Druggist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Tenth day of December, in the ninth year of Her reign, did give and
grant unto me, the said George Mordey Mowbray, my exors, adññiors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said George Mordey Mowbray, my exors, adññors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said George Mordey Mowbray, my exors, admors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times hereafter during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, aud vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PERSON OR PERSONS HAVING THE CHARGE OF A
RAILWAY TRAIN' AND THE CONTROLLER OF ITS MOTIVE POWER;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said George Mordey
Mowbray, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's said High

page_text: Court of Chancery within six calendar months next immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, reference being thereunto
had, may more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Mordey Mowbray, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in and
by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereto
annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in the application of hydrogen gas and carbonic
acid gas, or of a mixture of hydrogen gas and carbonic acid gas (the gases being
evolved under pressure) with an admixture in each case of more or less atmo-
spheric air to sound a whistle, by means of which signals may be conveyed
from the person or persons having charge of a railway train to the controller
of its motive power. The arrangements which I propose for this purpose are
represented in Sheet I. of the Drawings hereto annexed.
Sheet I., Figure 1, is an elevation, Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 an end
view of a railway carriage provided with this improved means for the trans-
mission of signals. A, B, C, are three cylinders, whose respective lengths may
be five feet six inches, and diameters about thirteen inches; they may be
made of wrought iron, or copper, or brass, but, of whatever material made,
they should be lined with lead, and, as they will be required to withstand a
pressure of from twenty to one hundred pounds to the inch, the lining should
be cemented in, so as to leave no interstice between the inside of the outer
cylinder and its lining. To one extremity of each of these cylinders a flange
is attached, and the lead lining lapped over it, so that the metal of the outside
cylinder may not be exposed to the action of the contents of the vessel. The:
end-covers (shewn in Figure 1) of the cylinders are faced on the inside with:
lead and secured by screw bolts, which admit of the covers being removed, in
order to empty or charge the cylinders as required. A' is a two-inch leaden
charging pipe, which is passed down from the top part of the cylinder A,
nearly to the bottom of it, as shewn by the dotted lines in Figure 1, and is.
surmounted by a screw cap with leaden washers. The cylinders A and B
communicate with each other at the bottom by a three-quarter inch leaden pipe
d, d. From the upper part of the vessels A and B two tubes a and b, of small
calibre (say three sixteenths of an inch), lead to a tube c, c, which rises from
the vessel C, and is carried up to the guard's box, where it terminates in the
steam whistle W. The tubes a, b, and c, are all lined with lead. The tube a
has a stopcock at e, and the tube c, one at i, and another at g; which last
commands both the under part of c and the whole of the tube b. All those

page_text: stopcocks are so placed as to be conveniently got at by the guard. On-tire
tube c, and below the whistle and its stopcock i, a. small tube branches off
at h to a manometer or pressure guage. All the tubes a, b; and c, should be
inserted into their respective cylinders within a few inches of the flanges, in
: order that the soldering may be easily managed. The mode of charging the
apparatus to be ready for action is as follows:-In the cylinder B are placed
about forty-four pounds of iron turnings, or fifty-six pounds of zinc clippings,
.or eighty pounds of marble, the head is then securely bolted on, and rendered
tight, if necessary, with some good cement. The heads of the other cylinders
are next screwed on in like manner, and the stopcocks i and 9 commanding
the whistle are opened. About sixty-three pounds of the oil of vitrol of
commerce, with about two hundred and twenty pounds of water, previously
mixed and cold, or instead thereof, about two hundred and fifty pounds of
muriatic acid, specific gravity 1.118, are now introduced through the leaden
pipe A' into the cylinder A. The cap of this pipe A¹ is then securely fastened
and the stopcock i, which immediately commands the whistle, closed. To
increase the pressure, the stopcock e should be opened for a second or two
occasionally (the stopcock g being open the while), and the result may be
afterwards read off on the pressure guage. If the apparatus is charged at too
high a pressure, by closing the stopcock g and opening i, and also the stopcock
e, only for half a moment or so at a time, the pressure will diminish as soon as
the stopcocks are returned to their normal state. The signalling is effected
by opening and closing the stopcock i in the same manner as is now done on
the locomotive steam whistle, the stopcock g being open.
My Invention consists, secondly, of certain additions to railway carriages,
whereby a rotary motion may be transmitted from the shafting of one carriage
to the shafting of another; and such rotary motion may be made subservient to
the conveyance of signals from one end or one part of a train to the other end
or to another part thereof.
The Drawings explanatory of this part of my Invention are contained in
Sheet II. Figure 1 represents portions of passengers' carriages and tender;
and Figure 2 a portion of the guard's carriage, each with these additions.
To the under side of the cross pieces of each carriage frame are attached two
or three bearers k, k (according to the length of the carriage), with plummer
blocks, and through these plummer blocks or bearers a rod is passed,
running the whole length of the carriage and projecting at either end as far as
the end of the buffer socket, each carriage frame being thus fitted with a shaft l,
as shewn in Figure 1. A union T piece or socket M is attached to each end
of each shaft, and traversing this union T piece, perpendicular fo the axis of

page_text: the shaft, is a pin n indicated by the dotted line at n, Figure 3, surmounted by
a washer and screw nut. The lower end of the pin n forms one half of a
circular joint, into which the upper end of the bar O, whose length should be
about the same as the projecting piston rod of the buffer is made to fit. At
the lower extremity of this bar O is another circular joint, into which either
end of the bar P, Figure 3, whose length should be more than twice the
.length of the bar O, may be readily adapted. If two carriages be now brought
together, both mounted as above described, and offering, as shown in Figure 3,
at either end the extremity of the shaft l, with the union T piece M, pin n,
washer and screw nut, short pendant bar O, and if one end of the bar. P. be
fitted into the lower extremity of each of the perpendicular bars O; O,
a connection will be formed resembling a crank, as shewn separately in
Figure 3, Sheet II., between each carriage, and capable of transmitting a
rotary power from one shaft to the other, altogether independent of and
unaffected by the oscillating movements of the carriages when proceeding
along the line at a rapid pace. In the view of the guard's carriage, Figure. 2,
is shewn a means of communicating the motion froin the ordinary perpen-
dicular screw lever of the break on to the female screw piece A, which, by
acting upon the lever B, lowering or raising the same, turns the shaft l. on its
axis. Motion being thus transmitted from the guard's box down the carriage
to the shaft l, and from one shaft by the jointed crank on to the next, it only
remains to attach to the last shaft a levelled wheel q and pinion 1: (an arrange-
ment being made to open a steam whistle, as shewn in Figure 1, Sheet II.,
which is supplied with steam from the locomotive boiler) and then to surmount
the upright rod, which carries the pinion r, taking into the bevilled wheel, as
shewn in Figure 1, with a lamp or lamps and signalling tablets, similar to
those usually affixed at railway stations.
My. Invention consists, thirdly, of a peculiar arrangement of levers, whereby
the guard or guards of a railway train is or are enabled to communicate to
the person or persons having the control of its motive power, that a signal
from the latter is understood; as, for instance, the warning sound of the
steam whistle desiring the break to be put on. To the lever break, as shewn
in Figure 1, Sheet I. (or to any other suitable lever break), the draw bar
is attached by means of a bolt and pin at s, being nearly the centre of the
carriage; and. behind the spiral spring t is a resisting boss u against which
the, arm of the crank lever w (whose fulcrum is at a) acts. On the other
arm of the crank lever there is a female screw piece y to receive the perpen-
dicular. rod z, on the lower part of which is cut a left-handed screw, fitting
into, the screw piece y, the rod z being prevented from rising or falling by the

page_text: stops above and below the bearer m. Or slings may be attached to the
female screw piece y, and the rod z may then work into a socket.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as con-
stituting the same are,―
First, the application of hydrogen gas and carbonic acid gas evolved under
pressure, and used either singly or conjointly, and in either case with an
admixture of more or less atmospheric air, to the causing of sounds in the
whistles employed for conveying signals between the person or persons having
charge of a railway train and the controller of its motive power, as before
described.
Second, the additions to railway carriages before described, whereby a
rotary motion being given to the shafting of one carriage in a train it may
be transmitted to the shafting of any number of carriages in the same train,
and such rotary motion made subservient to the conveyance of signals from one
end or part of a railway train to the other end or to another part thereof. And,
Thirdly, the peculiar arrangement of levers before described, whereby the
guard can, by checking the progress of the train, indicate that a signal
made to him by the controller of its motive power has been understood.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Mordey Mowbray, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-six.