IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF EFFECTING ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION " IN RAILWAY TRAINS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Fairholme, of No. 15, George Street,
Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
66
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF EFFECTING ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Fairholme at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th July 1872.
I, CHARLES FAIRHOLME, of No. 15, George Street, Hanover Square,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF EFFECTING ELECTRICAL
COMMUNICATION IN RAILWAY TRAINS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," to be as
follows:-
t
My Invention applies to railway trains in which a communicating
chain or set of rods is employed for the purpose of operating brakes in
the manner described in Provisional Specifications filed by Jacob
Heberlein, dated the 11th April 1872, No. 1071; by John Imray (a
communication from the said Jacob Heberlein), dated the 17th May

page_text: 1872, No. 1508; and by John Imray (also a communication from the
said Jacob Heberlein), dated the 19th June 1872, No. 1849; and my
Invention has for its object the utilising of such communicating rods
and chains for the purpose of electrical conduction throughout a train,
so that from various parts of the train signals can be transmitted to
other parts; as for example, from a passenger in a compartment to the
guard or driver...
o
The line of communication for working the brakes, as described in the
Provisional Specifications above referred to, is most conveniently made
to consist of lengths of rod extending along each carriage, with short
pieces of chain coupling these lengths from carriage to carriage. I
insulate these rods by passing them through guides or over rollers of
non-conducting material, such as glass, earthenware, vulcanite, and
like substances, or I pass them through metallic guides or over metallic
rollers and insulate these guides or rollers by fixing them to the carriages
with insulating material interposed between them and any conducting
materials of the carriage.
In the guard's van or other convenient part of the train, but preferably
at the end, I fix a battery or other source of electrical power, to which
is connected an electrical bell or other known electrical signal, arranged
so that it operates when the electric circuit, is broken. This circuit is
effected through the insulated brake rods' and chains along the whole
length of the train, returning along the rails or earth, connection being
made at either end of the train by a conductor from the communicating
rods to an axle, whereby the electrical current can pass through the iron
wheel to the rail and back from the rail by the wheel. While this
circuit remains uninterrupted and electricity passes along it, no signal is
given, but should the circuit be anywhere broken the bell is sounded or
the signal is given.
In order that the circuit may be broken at pleasure in any carriage I
divide the rod which passes along the carriage into lengths, which I
couple by non-conducting material, such as vulcanite, making the
couplings strong enough to sustain the strain to which the rods are
subjected in operating the brakes. Each length of rod so coupled is
connected by a conducting wire to an instrument for making or breaking
contact fixed in any convenient part of the carriage. These instruments,
unless when used for making a signal, maintain contact, so that the
-

page_text: .
electrical current passes through them from one length of rod to the
next. But they are so arranged that by pressing a button or turning a
knob a passenger can push aside a spring which maintains contact, and
thereby break the electrical continuity of-the rods. On this being done
in any carriage the electrical circuit is broken and the bell is sounded or
other signal given.
In order that the guard or other official may ascertain whence the
signal was sent the button or knob operated on by the passenger is pro-
vided with a spring pawl, so that when it has been pressed or turned it
remains in the position to which it had been put by the hand of the
passenger, and thus serves as a tell-tale.
The guard or official having inspected the several instruments of the
train and found that which had been acted on, can, by means of a key,
release it and so restore the electrical communication which had been
interrupted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Fairholme in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th January 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FAIRHOLME, of No. 15, George Street, Hanover Square, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-.
sixth year of- Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give.
and grant unto me, the said Charles Fairholme, Her special license that
I, the said Charles Fairholme, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Charles Fairholme, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THE MEANS OF
EFFECTING ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION IN RAILWAY TRAINS, AND APPARATUS

page_text: THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Fairholme, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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.
1
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Fairholme, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say :-
My Invention applies to railway trains in which a communicating
chain or set of rods is employed for the purpose of operating brakes in
the manner described in the Specifications of Patents obtained by Jacob
Heberlein, dated the 11th April 1872, No. 1071; by John Imray (a com-
munication from the said Jacob Heberlein), dated the 17th May 1872,
No. 1508; and by John Imray (also a communication from the said Jacob
Heberlein, dated the 19th June 1872, No. 1849; and my Invention has
for its object the utilising of such communicating rods and chains for the
purpose of electrical conduction throughout a train, so that from various
parts of the train signals can be transmitted to other parts, as for
example, from a passenger in a compartment to the guard or driver.
The line of communication for working the brakes, as described in the
Specifications above referred to, is most conveniently made to consist of
lengths of rod extending along each carriage, with short pieces of chain
coupling these lengths from carriage to carriage. I insulate those rods
by passing them through guides, or over rollers of non-conducting
materials, such as glass, earthenware, vulcanite, and like substances; or
I pass them through metallic guides, or over metallic rollers, and insulate
those guides or rollers by fixing them to the carriages with insulating,
materials interposed between them and any conducting materials of the
carriage.
In the guard's van or other convenient part of the train, but preferably
at the end, I fix a battery or other source of electrical power, to which
is connected an electrical bell or other known electrical signal arranged

page_text: so that it operates when the electric circuit is broken. This circuit is
effected through the insulated brake rods and chains along the whole
length of the train, returning along the rails or earth; connection being
made at either end of the train by a conductor from the communicating
rods to an axle, whereby the electrical current can pass through the iron
wheel to the rails, and back from the rails by the wheel, or when wooden
wheels are used the circuit from their naves to their tyres is completed
by a conducting wire. While the circuit remains uninterrupted, and
electricity passes along it, no signal is given, but should the circuit be
anywhere broken the bell is sounded or the signal is given.
In order that the circuit may be broken at pleasure in any carriage
I divide the rod that passes along the carriage into lengths which I
couple by non-conducting material, such as vulcanite or earthenware,
making the couplings strong enough to sustain the strain to which the
rods are subjected in operating the brakes. Each length of rod so
'coupled is connected by a conducting wire to an instrument for making
or breaking contact, fixed in any convenient part of the carriage. These
instruments, unless when used for making a signal, maintain contact, so
that the electrical current passes through them from one length of rod
to the next. But they are so arranged that by pressing a button, or
turning a knob, a passenger can push aside a spring which maintains
contact, and thereby break the electrical continuity of the rods. On
this being done in any carriage the electrical circuit is broken and the
bell is sounded or other signal given.
In order that the guard or other official may ascertain whence the
signal was sent the button or knob operated on by the passenger is
provided with a spring pawl, so that when it has been pressed or turned
it remains in the position to which it had been put by the hand of the
passenger, and thus serves as a tell-tale.
The guard or official having inspected the several instruments of the train
and found that which had been acted on, can by means of a key release it,
and so restore the electrical communication which had been interrupted.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents diagrammatically a longitudinal section of one of
the carriages of a railway train fitted with apparatus constructed and
arranged according to this Invention A is the communicating and

page_text: working the brakes in the manner described in the Specifications above
referred to, the rod in this case being arranged under the carriages of
the train. The rod A. is coupled at each end by pieces of chain a, a, to
corresponding rods on the carriages before and behind, and it is sup-
ported on rollers b, b, which may be of vulcanite, earthenware, or other
non-conducting material, or which may be of metal mounted in frames
or brackets insulated from the body of the carriage by the interposition
of a plate of vulcanite or other non-conductor between them and the
framing of the carriage to which they are fixed. The rods A and
coupling chains a thus insulated along the train would, if they were
continuous, serve as conductors from one pole of a battery or other
source of electrical power situated at one end of the train to an axle at
the other end of the train. This axle being connected by the iron spokes
of its wheels, or, in the case of wooden wheels, by a conducting wire to
the wheel tyres, and by them to the rails or earth, a return current
would be maintained along the rails or earth to a wheel near the battery
having its axle connected to the other pole thereof. The rods A, how-
ever, are not made continuous as conductors, each being separated into
two or more lengths, as at C, by a non-conducting junction, such as
breaks electrical continuity, but maintains strength for transmitting
tension through the rods.
Fig. 2 represents a side view and Fig. 3 a sectional plan of a simple
form of junction for this purpose; it consists of a round piece of glass,
earthenware, vulcanite, or other non-conducting material D with a
groove in its periphery and a round-edged hole through its middle.
The end of one length of the rod A is passed round its periphery, and
twisted so as to form a loop enclosing the non-conductor, and the end
of the other length is passed through its hole and also twisted so as to
form a loop; thus the two lengths of rod are made clectrically dis-
continuous, while they remain continuous for transmitting the tension
necessary to bring the brake apparatus into action. .
1. From some convenient point in each of the two lengths of rod A,
as at E and F (Fig. 1), insulated conducting wires e, f, are led to
contact making, and breaking instruments G fixed in any convenient
positions in the several compartments. The conductors e-f, are
twisted helically or in any other known way arranged with sufficient
slack to allow of the movement of the rods A necessary for working
the brake apparatus. One of the instruments G (which I will presently

page_text: describe) is connected by the wire e, to the one part of the rod A on
the one side of the non-conducting junction C, and also by a wire.
to another of the instruments G', which in its turn is connected by a
wire to another of the instruments, as G2, and so on, the last of the
instruments in the carriage being connected by the wire f to the other
part of the rod A, on the other side of the non-conducting junction C..
Each of the instruments G in its normal condition maintains electrical
conduction from the one of its wires to the other, but contact may be
broken at any one of the instruments, in which case, as will be under-
stood from the arrangement of conductors above described, the electrical
conduction along the train is interrupted.
!
'
Fig. 4 represents a sectional plan and Fig. 5 a front view of one
of the instruments G. It consists of a case H which can be fixed by
screws to any part of the sides or roof of a compartment. Within
the case is a piece of metal I fixed on vulcanite or other non-conducting
material secured to the case, and connected to one of the insulated
conducting wires e. A metal spring J is in like manner insulated
from the case and connected to the other-wire f. The spring J bears.
against the piece of metal I, the bearing surfaces being platinised or in
any other known way rendered fit for maintaining electrical contact.
A sliding knob K of ivory, vulcanite, or other suitable material
passing through a hole in the face of the case can be pressed by the
finger against the spring J, so as to move it away from the metal
piece I, and thereby to break the electrical contact, in which case,
as has been described above, electrical continuity throughout the train
is broken. The slide K has a groove into which a tumbler L can
enter when the slide is pushed in. The tumbler L is mounted by
projecting bosses so as to turn round the centre of a keyhole 1, and
is pressed against the slide K by a spring M. Thus when the slide K
has been pushed in so as to break the contact of I and J, the tumbler K
entering the groove k prevents the slide from retreating until the guard
or other official by inserting a suitable key into the keyhole / turns.
aside the tumbler L, in which case the spring J causes the slide K
to retreat, and returns to make contact with the piece I. The instru-
ment thus arranged becomes a tell-tale, informing, by the position of
the slide K, the guard or other official that it has been acted on so as to
break the electrical continuity.
+

page_text: 4:
As above explained a bell, or other audible or visible signal of any
known construction is placed in the guard's van, or on the locomotive,
or in any convenient part of the train in communication with the con-
ducting rods arranged in such a manner that so long as the electrical
continuity is maintained no signal is given; but when the electrical 5
continuity is broken a detent is released or an index is moved, whereby
an audible or visible signal is given to the guard, driver, or other official.
This may be effected by placing the coil of an electro-magnet within
the circuit and arranging its armature with a spring, so that whenever
the electrical circuit is broken the armature being no longer attracted-1
to the magnet moves in obedience to the spring, and releases a detent
or moves an index so as to give the signal, thereby indicating that in
some compartment of the train one of the contact instruments G has
been acted on.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what 1
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. Employing as electrical conductors the tension rods used for
working the friction brake apparatus of a railway train, and arranging:
such rods with breaches of electrical continuity in combination with..
contact making and breaking instruments and signalling instruments, 2
whereby signals can be transmitted throughout the train, substantially
as herein described.
Second. The construction and arrangement of the contact making and
breaking instruments above referred to, so that they act as tell-tales to
indicate that they have been used, substantially as herein described with 2
reference to Figs. 4 and 5.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Fairholme, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
CHARLES FAIRHOLME. (L.S.)