IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR COM- MUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS, GUARD, AND DRIVER OF A RAILWAY TRAIN,. AND FOR SIGNALLING THE SPEED AT WHICH A TRAIN IS TRAVELLING
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Stanley Brown and Edward
Turner at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 28th November 1868.
We, GEORGE STANLEY BROWN, of High Street, Leicester, and EDWARD
TURNER, of Coventry Street, Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR COM-
MUNICATING BETWEEN THE PASSENGERS, GUARD, AND DRIVER OF A RAILWAY TRAIN,.
AND FOR SIGNALLING THE SPEED AT WHICH A TRAIN IS TRAVELLING," to be as-
follows:-
For this purpose each carriage carries a cord or other suitable
communicator, which is capable of being fixed at each end to the ends.
of a similar cord or communicator carried by the adjoining carriages,
the last carriage at each end of a train having its cord or communicator -
connected to signal apparatus carried by the engine or guard's van.
This apparatus consists of a spring catch which, when in one position,.
is capable of holding a lever carrying a bell or a hammer to strike a bell,.
and when operated by the cord or other communicator is released from.
the lever or hammer, and thereby causes the bell to sound. The bell or

page_text: hammer is acted upon by a spring, which when released by the spring
catch causes a sudden motion of the lever or hammer away from such
catch. The cord at each end of a train may be passed around rollers, or
may be attached to bell cranks which are connected to the signal
apparatus. The mode in which we operate upon the cord or other com-
municator for signalling is by means of a winch or pulley, to which the
upper end of a cord or other communicator is fixed, whilst the lower end
thereof carries a pulley over which the cord or communicator is passed,
such cord or communicator being guided close to the before-mentioned
pulley by other pullies one on each side thereof. Thus, by operating a
handle fixed to the winch or pulley, the lever or hammer is released and
the bell sounded at each end of the train. A winch or pulley is fixed in
cach compartment of a carriage, and an arm or semaphore projecting
from the side of the carriage is raised (when a winch or pulley is turned
by means of a cam or other suitable apparatus carried, thereby acting
upon the inner end of a rod which at its outer end acts upon the sema-
phore arm to raise it. And in order to prevent the return of the parts
into their original position until the guard or driver has attended to the
signal, we employ a ratchet wheel or teeth on the axis of the pulley,
with a spring catch or stop to act thereon, thereby preventing the handle
of the winch or pulley being turned in the wrong direction, and serving
to retain the parts in the position to which they have been pulled until
the guard applies a key to the spring catch or stop and releases it from
the ratchet wheel or teeth. The signal apparatus is reset by placing the
bell lever or hammer under the spring catch; this may be done by a
handle or knob fixed to such lever or hammer when in position within
reach of the guard or driver, but when not in such position the parts
may be reset by a cord fixed thereto.
For signalling the speed at which a train is travelling we employ a
lamp at the rear end of the guard's or other van, and cause it or a shade
to revolve by means of a worm or screw formed on or fixed to the axlo
of the hinder pair of wheels, such worm or screw driving suitable
gearing connected to the lamp or its shade.
Thus by the frequency of
the flashes the speed of a train may be readily ascertained.