IMPROVEMENTS IN ASCERTAINING AND REGULATING THE SPEEDS AND TIMES OF RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1846

page_text: YBRY'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
YBRY, of Rue Saint Lazare, Paris, in the Kingdom of France, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six, in the tenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Ybry, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Ybry, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Ybry, my exors,
admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others; from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of." IMPROVEMENTS IN
ASCERTAINING AND REGULATING THE SPEEDS AND TIMES OF RAILWAY TRAINS;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Charles
Ybry, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and. in what manner the same is to be performed; by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery, within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Ybry, do hereby declare that the nature of my said improvements,
and the manner in which the same are to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention consists of a mode of setting out or constructing time tables
of railway trains, and also of apparatus used thereby, by which the times that
succeeding trains are to take in performing parts of their journey may be so
regulated as that the trains may avoid each other, and by such means the
times of extraordinary or express trains may be laid down quickly, and so as
to guide the driver of an express train in performing a journey in a manner to
avoid all trains which have preceeded and are still on the line; and such time
tables so constructed will on inspection indicate the regulation of the times
and speeds of railway trains, such tables shewing at one glance the whole
working of the various trains, giving immediately and without any calculation
the time not only at which a train arrives and starts from the different
stations, but also the precise time at which a train should be at each part of
the journey, also the length of time a train stops at any station.
The principle on which railway tables are to be constructed according to this
Invention is a follows:-In the movement of a railway train two elements are
taken into consideration: first, the length of space to be passed through; and,
secondly, the time to be occupied by a train in passing thro' such space, and
these two elements in constructing a table are to be represented by the two right
angle sides of a triangle, and the movement or motion of the train will then be
represented by the diagonal line of the triangle; and when a train is to stop at
intermediate stations between 2 terminal points, the train being at rest for
determined quantities of time at those stations, the time will pass, but the
train will pass thro' no space, therefore in the table the time will be repre-
sented by a horizontal line of a greater or less length, according as the train
remains a greater or less time stationary. It will, therefore, be readily under-
stood that all possible speeds of trains will be comprised between the two
sides of a right angle, formed by the two lines representing the two elements,
time and space, during the passing of a train between 2 points, the horizontal
line indicating any one point of the movement of the train and the vertical
line shewing the hour; or this may be reversed.
In carrying out this system in forming time tables for railways, and thereby
to regulate the times and speeds of succeeding trains, and at the same time to
enable a person readily to average the speed of an express train (which might

page_text: be called for at any time), so that it shall not be interfered with by trains which
have preceded it, I proceed as follows:-I draw a parallelogram, and cause the
two horizontal lines to represent time, and the vertical line to represent the
distance or length of a particular railway; the horizontal lines I divide into
hours and subdivide the hours into minutes, and the vertical line I divide into
miles and distances, representing stations or other points in the length of the
line. This will readily be understood by examining the time table or Drawing
hereunto annexed. The actual movements of each train are represented by a
broken line, composed of oblique or diagonal parts, the inclinations of which
being larger or smaller, will indicate the less or greater speed, and the
horizontal parts of the lines (according to their extent) indicate the length of
stoppage.
The Drawing at Figure 1 shews a surface of paper or other material
having thereon the regulated times and speed of the respective journeys
made on a given line of railway. The form of the table is rectangular,
the horizontal lines of which are divided into 24 parts, and each part into sixty,.
indicating the hours and the minutes, the sides being divided into miles to be
run through.
Figure 2, section, showing the gradients of the line of railway which
influence the speed of a train. Through all the divisions in the sides.
are drawn horizontal lines, both at stations and other places where thought
desirable, and from the hours and minutes are drawn vertical lines. The inter-
sections of the diagonal lines with these horizontal and vertical lines are
intended to denote the different positions of the trains at any moment, or the
proper time at any point of the journey. Thus the lines A, B, and C, D, indi-
cate the starting and arrival of two up trains, and the lines A¹, B', and C³, D¹,
the starting and arrival of two down trains; the line marked E, F, denotes
the starting and arrival of a goods or other train proceeding at a slower pace.
These points being traced on the table, and understood, it will be easy to
ascertain the time occupied by each of the other trains, indicated by the
other lines marked on the table, both in going a number of miles and the
time each train ought to arrive at any station. For example:-The train
C', D', will start at thirty-two minutes past 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and
will arrive at the first station X, a distance of fifteen miles, at thirty-eight
minutes past five; it will stop there ten minutes, and will proceed on to the
next station, a distance of forty-eight miles, and will arrive there at fifty-eight
minutes past five, and there stops two minutes, as shewn; then, continuing its.
progress, it will arrive successively at the different stations X" and X", Xu
X, X, X, stopping at each, as is indicated by the short horizontal lines,

page_text: and ultimately arrive at the station X at 48 minutes past 7, as shewn
at D¹. Looking at the speed of the goods or other slow train E, F, it will
be seen that it starts at twenty-six minutes past ten at night and arrives at
the first station X at thirty-five minutes past ten, and remains there ten
minutes, when it passes through the tunnel and arrives at the station X¹ at
sixteen minutes past 12, and before the fast train, which starts at 12 minutes
past 11. The goods or slow train waits for the arrival and passing of this
train, and does not again start until after that train; it then proceeds and
arrives at the station X, as shewn at F, at twenty minutes past 2.
The arrangement on the face of a time table constructed according to the
Invention will be such for each line of railway as to indicate the point of
departure and arrival of the up and down trains, and also the bridges or any
irregularities on the line or tunnels, It will be evident that the engine driver
and guards having such time table with them will be enabled to regulate the
speeds of the different trains with great exactness, and in cases where special
trains are required the diagonal lines of their speed can at once be determined
and ruled on the table, so as to enable the engine drivers to avoid all pre-
ceeding trains which they may have to pass; for by the table the engineers
will not only know the speed at which they are to move, but they will
ascertain at sight the positions where all preceeding trains ought to be at any
moment of time. The part of the Drawing marked Figure 3 is intended to
explain the different marks on the table representing the tunnels, bridges, etc.
From the time table shewn a person will readily construct a time table for
any particular line of railway, and the same may be engraved and printed, not
only for the use of the persons belonging to the railway, but also for the
public.
I will now describe the apparatus which I employ. This apparatus is
shewn in the Drawing, Figure 1, as if placed on the table, and in section at
Fig. 4. The instrument is used in a similar manner to a T-rule, the lower
part of it G sliding along the lower edge of the table, and the upper branch H
being moveable upon an axis at m attached to the plate G. At the lower
part of this branch part H is a toothed arc n taking into a pinion o, upon the
axis of which is fixed a handle p, which moves over a graduated plate q.
The interior of this apparatus is shewn at z in the Drawing. The toothed
are n is such that the circumference of the pinion gives a length equal to the
developement of the arc n of the circle adopted. The instrument H being
placed at a right angle to the table, the handle p is to be placed at zero of the
graduation on the dial, and if the blade, or rule of the instrument is caused to
occupy an extreme position on one side or on the other, the pinion o will then

page_text: have made a complete revolution, and the hand, after having passed all the
graduated points, will have come back to its primitive position. The angles
of inclination formed by the blade or moveable rule H with the lines indi-
cating the space are equal, consequently all the lines traced with the same
inclination will be equal, and the speeds represented will also be equal.
This apparatus forms a complete instrument to ascertain, first, the particular
diagonal line on the table, in order that a train may pass between given
points at a determined speed; and, secondly, to give without any calculation
the average speed of a train, by placing the rule diagonally across the table so
so as to come on the points indicating the time of starting and the time of
arrival of any train.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to
the details so long as the peculiar character of my Invention be retained; but
what I claim is, the mode of constructing time tables for railways and the
apparatus used therefor, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Ybry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
CHARLES (L.s.) YBRY.
Taken and acknowledged by Charles Ybry, party
hereto, at Paris, in the Kingdom of France,
this Fifth day of March 1847, before me,
This is the Specification referred to in the affidavit of William Henry
Ritchie, sworn before me, this 10th day of March 1847,
W. HORNE.
WILLIAM HENRY RITCHIE, of Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, maketh oath and saith, that he is acquainted with the manner and
character of the handwriting of Thomas Pickford, Her Britannic Majesty's
Consul at Paris, in the Kingdom of France. And this deponent further saith,
that the signature "Thomas Pickford" set, subscribed, and written in the
I margin of the Specification hereunto annexed, marked A, and dated the Fifth
day of March now instant, and purporting to be executed by Charles, Ylery, of

page_text: Rue Saint Lazare, Paris, in the Kingdom of France, Engineer, whereby it is
stated that the said Specification was acknowledged by him, the said Charles
Ylery, before the said Thomas Pickford, on the said Fifth day of March, at
Paris aforesaid, is of the proper handwriting of the said Thomas Pickford.
Буаг.
W. HORNE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of William Henry Ritchie
the Specification aforesaid was enrolled, word for word, as above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.