Improvements in Appliances for Automatically Indicating in Railway Trains or Street Cars the Names of the Stations or Stopping Places.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Mr., 1896-Accepted, 20th June, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Appliances for Automatically Indicating in
Railway Trains or Street Cars the Names of the Stations
or Stopping Places.
I, JOHN COOк BUCHANAN, of 10 Bridge Wharf, Broomielaw, Glasgow,
Consulting Engineer, 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 improvements in the construction of the appliances used
for automatically indicating to the passengers in the compartments of railway
carriages or in street cars the next approaching station or stopping place.
And in order that my said invention may be properly understood I have hereunto
appended two explanatory sheets of drawings showing my invention as adapted to a
railway train.
On the drawings:-
Fig. 1 is an eud elevation of a railway carriage showing my appliance fitted
thereto.
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken through a part of the carriage.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail.
Fig. 3 is a front view and Fig. 4 a plan of a modification.
Fig. 5 is a front view and Fig. 6 a plan of another modification.
Fig. 7 is another view of the arrangement Fig. 5.
Fig. 8 is a view of a slight modification of the mechanism.
Fig. 9 is a front view and Fig. 10 an end view of a casing containing a roller
with the names of the stations thereon.
Fig. 11 is a longitudinal section and Fig. 12 a cross section of an indicating
roller.
Fig. 12 is an end view.
Fig. 13 is a view showing a slightly altered method of arranging and rotating
the indicating rollers.
On the drawings the same reference letters wherever repeated indicate the same
or similar parts.
Referring to the drawings.
In carrying out my invention I mount, within the upper part of each carriage
and preferably to the one side of it, a horizontal longitudinal shaft a on which I
fit, in the manner bereinafter described, an indicating roller o, having the names of
the stations on it, within each compartment of the carriage. On the end of the
shaft a a ratchet wheel is fitted and working in the ratchet is a spring lever-
pawl e fulcrumed to the upper end of a vertical rod d, whose lower end extends
below the bottom of the carriage and is provided with a friction roller e. The rod,
which is held in place by the guide brackets f, g, h, has fitted round it a spiral
spring which, at one end, bears against a collar j on the rod d, and, at the other
end, against the bracket k.
7 is a spring catch for preventing the ratchet wheel turning backwards.
trip pin fitted at a suitable distance from the long arm of the lever-pawl c.
inclined rail, or plane, which is fitted preferably at the outside but may be
inside of the usual rails and somewhere in advance of each station.
m is a
p is an
on the

page_text: The upper end of the rod d is made as shown at Fig. 24, that is, with a jaw
which is only open at one side. The lever-pawl c is fitted in this jaw and is, owing
to the shape of the jaw and to the fact that the side d² is solid, only permitted to
turn towards the right hand from the normal position shown at Fig. 1.
The incline p can be of any suitable length and material and can be secured in
place in any well known manner. The plane is, preferably, inclined from both ends
towards the apex pl.
The roller e is always held a few inches above the level of the usual rails by
means of a stop pin g and collar fitted on the rod d and which catches against the
bracket k.
To prevent the rod d turning round it is either made square and passed through
square holes in the brackets or it can be made round and be provided with a
feather d which works in a slot in the bracket g.
With this arrangement, when a train is approaching a station the roller e mounts
the inclined rail p, and, in so doing, forces up the rod d with its spring pawl e and
causes the latter to turn the ratchet wheel 6 one tooth. The movement of the
ratchet wheel causes the shaft a and indicating rollers o to turn and thus show, in
each compartment, the name of the station at which the train is about to stop. After
the rollere has passed over the rail p the spring i forces the rod d back again into
its normal or down position ready for another action whenever the train approaches
the next station. The spring with its collar and pin may be discarded if the
rod d is made sufficiently heavy to return, by its own weight, to its original
position.
The number of teeth in the ratchet wheel is, of course, made to correspond
with the number of stations to be indicated by the revolving indicators, so that, as
the ratchet is turned, one tooth at a time, it will, as a consequence, cause the
indicators to show only one station at a time. The spring catch prevents the
ratchet wheel or the indicators moving backwards.
As the carriage is not always at the same beight above the rails, that is to say,
as it is lower when loaded than when unloaded, it is necessary to provide a com-
pensating movement in the rod d. Under my invention, as shown at Fig. 1, I use
a very simple compensating arrangement which merely consists of the trip pin m
working in conjunction with the long arm of the pawl-lever c. When a carriage is
loaded the pawl will, of course, be forced up higher than it will do when it is un-
loaded and this extra movement is rendered innocuous by the trip pin m pressing on
the long arm of the pawl-lever e, immediately it rises above the position necessary
to turn the ratchet wheel one tooth, and forcing the long arm towards the rod d, against
the action of the spring e', and, at the same time, moving the pawl or short arm
clear of the ratchet wheel, so that the pawl, along with the rod d, is free to rise
upward without danger of breaking the mechanism or of causing the indicators to
turn too far.
Figs. 3 and 4 show a modified arrangement wherein a short pawl e' is fitted on
the top of the rod d and is kept pressed downwards by means of the spring r fitted
to the arm of the ratchet. In this case the compensation is effected by making
the rod d in two parts d, d, and counerting them together by a spring sufficiently
rigid to actuate the ratchet but which takes up any extra movement in the rod d
above that required to move the ratchet one tooth. The spring & is secured rigidly
at each end to the rods d³, d'.
In Figs. 5 and 6 the arrangement is precisely the same as at Figs. 3 and 4
except that the compensation is effected by means of a slotted plate u. This plate u
which is pivotted at u', is made with two curved slots u, u³, in one of which works
a pin 3 fitted on the end of the ratchet arm and in the other a pin fitted to the
top of the rod d. If desired these pins may have friction rollers on them. With
this arrangement, when the rod d is forced up by the rail p it turns the plate u
upon its pivot u to the position shown in Fig. 7 and in so doing moves the ratchet
arm and causes the pawl c¹ to turn the ratchet wheel one tooth. Should the rod
still continue to rise after having turned the ratchet wheel, then, as shown at

page_text: Fig. 7, its pin merely travels up the straight part of the slot & without doing any
work. The slot u is made long enough to suit all likely requirements.
In Fig. 8 an arrangement is shown wherein the ratchet arm r is provided with
an adjustable sliding weight which serves instead of the spring i to bring back
the rod d to its normal or low down position. This weight is, of course, only
necessary when it is found that the rod d will not, by its own weight, return to its
original position.
Figs. 9, 10, 11, 12 and 12 show the indicators o I prefer to use. These
indicators consist, preferably, of porcelain or porcelain covered rollers on which
the names of the different stations or stopping places are printed. Each roller is
enclosed in a casing o' secured to the roof or other convenient part of the carriage
and having at the front a window o' through which the names appear. The casing
is made with a hinged door o³ on opening which sufficient space is left for the
removal of the roller. The door is preferably secured by a small pad-lock o" or
other form of lock.
Each roller is made with a longitudinal slot o in it so that it can be slipped on
and off the flattened part a' of the shaft a. The slot in the roller, when it is fitted
in place, is closed by means of a strip of having the name of a station thereon.
The strip is held in place by means of a ring of at each end which is countersunk
into a circular groove formed at each end in the roller and strip. The casing is
closed at each end by cap covers 08, 0.
A bell p can be fitted within the casing at one end. This bell is secured to the
cover or the case, as desired, and is arranged to be struck by the spring
hammer p whenever a station is indicated so as to call the attention of the
passengers. The hammer pl is momentarily raised, as the roller o revolves, by
pins fitted in the end of the roller o and corresponding in number to the teeth of
the ratchet and the names of the different stations on the indicator. Immediately
the hammer is released from the pin for the time being holding it up its spring
causes it to strike the bell sharply.
It is as a rule only necessary to change the rollers o in long distance trains.
To avoid changing the rollers, however, the arrangement indicated in dotted
lines at Fig. 1 can be used. This consists in fitting a second shaft parallel to the
shaft a and providing it with a separate set of rollers. The shaft v can be rotated
by means of bevel wheels and a cross shaft w from the shaft a. In this case the
one set of rollers would be utilized to indicate the stations when the train is doing
the down journey and the other set of rollers for indicating the stations on the up
journey. The windows of the set of rollers for the time being not in use are
covered by blinds or like arrangements. Or, if preferred, two rollers located side
by side on the shaft a and enclosed in one case with two windows can be used; the
one roller would have the names of the stations for the up journey and the other
the names of those for the down journey and the roller for the time being not in
use would have its window covered by a blind.
The rollers o can be made of wood or metal covered with paper or with enamelled
irou upon which the names appear.
If desired, in order to make the rollers removable from the shaft a and easily
fitted thereto, they may be made in halves and secured together on the shaft by
means of a clip ring at each end, and, in the case of wooden rollers, by two screw
nails.
Fig. 13 shows an arrangement wherein the indicating rollers o are located between
the compartments. In this case the rollers, which have one set of names on one
half y showing into one compartment, and a second set of names, but in reverse
order, on the other half y showing into the other adjoining compartment, are
rotated from the main shaft a by bevel wheels and cross shafts .
It is to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise structural
details of the invention as shown on the drawings as these can be modified or
altered.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
consider novel and desire to claim is :-
1. The improved apparatus for indicating the names of stations or stopping places,
consisting of the incline, the vertical rod with its reverse action spring or weight,
the pawl and ratchet, the compensating device, and indicating rollers; all combined
together and arranged and operating substantially as herein before described with
reference to Figs. 1 and 2 and the modifications at Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the
annexed drawings.
2. The construction and arrangement of the removable indicating rollers,
substantially as hereinbefore described and shown on the drawings annexed.
Dated this 13th day of March 1896.
H. D. FITZPATRICK,
Glasgow and London, Agent.