AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS, &C., FOR THE PREVENTION OF LOSS OF LIFE AND ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry Ingall, of Throgmorton Street, in the
City of London, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Inven-
tion of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND
GUARDS, &C., FOR THE PREVENTION OF LOSS OF LIFE AND ACCIDENTS ON
RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 11th May 1855, and dated the 16th November 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Ingall at
'the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th November 1854.
I, GEORGE HENRY INGALL, of Throgmorton Street, in the City of London,
in the County of Middlesex, Gent", do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS &
GUARDS, &C., FOR THE PREVENTION OF LOSS OF LIFE AND ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in communication between passengers and
guards, & vice versa, the guard & engine driver, for the more effectual
prevention of loss of life & accidents on railways, is effected in the following
manner, & will be readily understood on reference to the Drawing annexed.
Fig. 1 represents a side view, & Fig. 2 a plan view, of a railway carriage

page_text: with the improvements attached. Placed to the end of every carriage is a force
pump (A), the piston (B) of which being placed excentric with the axle of
the wheel (C), supplies a constant rush of air for the whistle (D), which air
not being required passes through the aperture (E, Fig. 2,) & escapes. (F) is
the handle of a metallic plate, containing a glass reflector; (G), the signal, the
cross shaped part of which is made of red glass; (H), a chain attached to
the signals and lever, (I); (I), lever & valve for opening or shutting off the
supply of air 'to the whistle' (D); (K), the carriage lamp; (L), a board
passing along the top of the carriage; (7), a piece of cocoa matting, connected
by hook & eye from one carriage to the other, forming a continued path
along the train; (M), a railing fixed to the top of the carriage for the guard
to hold. In the event of any danger occurring in any carriage, a passenger
pulls down the handle (F, Fig. 1), which handle at the same moment raises
the danger signal (G), at the same time shutting the open valve & allowing
the air to rush into the whistle; the piston being fixed excentric to the
wheel (C), keeping up a constant supply of air by the force pump, which
it works, & which (except in case of the danger signal being used) escapes
unheard. The guard on hearing the whistle looks along the line of carriages,
and at once detects by the signal where he is wanted; he then makes his
way, holding on by the railing (M), until he reaches the compartment of the
carriage where the signal is raised, & where his services are required; on
reaching the place, he is then enabled, by means of the aperture made by
the open reflector and signal, to learn the cause for which he is wanted. The
engine driver also on hearing the whistle would be watching for the guard's
signal either to stop, slacken, or continue his former speed.
The signal, when once the handle is drawn down, goes up with a spring, &
cannot be put down again by any one but the guard, & then only from the
outside of the carriage. The guard has also attached to his box a whistle,
similar to those on the other carriages, but larger, so that on the driver, hearing
that work, would bring the train to a stand still." "
On the signal being used at night, the guard is enabled to tell where he is
wanted by the following means:-On the reflector (F¹) being drawn down to
the angle shewn (Fig. 1), the light from the carriage lamp (K), reflecting
upon the danger signal (G); enables the guard at one end of the train to see it,
and through the red glass at the other.
:

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Henry Ingall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th May 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HENRY INGALL, of Throgmorton Street, in the City of London, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Henry Ingall, Her special licence that I, the said George Henry
Ingall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Henry Ingall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND GUARDS, &C., FOR THE
PREVENTION OF LOSS OF LIFE AND ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, "the said George Henry Ingall, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Henry Ingall, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
My said Invention of improvements consists in an improved method, and by
the use and employment of improved apparatus or machinery, by which the
passengers or any of them travelling in carriages upon railways are at any
time enabled to signal to or draw the attention of the guard or guards or
other attendants of such carriages, or the engine driver, should anything
occur, or should there be any reason to consider it to be requisite to stop the
train of carriages, or to communicate with. the guard or other attendant for

page_text: any purpose; and also to enable the guard or other attendant to signal to or
draw the attention of the engine driver of such train, for the purpose of
stopping the further progress of the train when requisite.
The mode by which the attention of the guard of the train of carriages is
arrested is by means of a whistle, which is sounded or brought into operation
by any of the passengers of the train requiring the assistance, and the same
act or effort of the passenger in sounding the whistle at the same time
brings into action a signal, so as to indicate to the guard the particular
carriage of the train to which his attention is called, and where his assistance
is required.
By reference to the annexed Drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a train of
carriages with its accompanying locomotive engine and guard's van; and
Figures 2, 3, 4, & 5, are details of parts, drawn to an enlarged scale; Figure 2
being a view of the whistle; Figure 3, a longitudinal section of part of the top
of one of the carriages, showing the signal down or closed, and consequently
not visible to the guard of the train; Figure 4 represents the same sectional
view of part of the top of a carriage; but the signal in this case is up or open,
and in action, that is, it is visible to the guard, and to which his attention
has been called by the whistle; and Figure 5, a transverse or face view of
the signal.
Upon the top of the carriage, in any convenient part of it, the signal A is
mounted; it is so mounted, that when down and not in use, it is level or nearly
so with the top of the carriage, so as not to be visible to the guard when he
looks along the tops of the carriages, and also so that the passenger within
the carriage can at any time, when required, raise the signal (as shown in
Figure 4), by merely pulling down the knob or handle B, projecting inside the
carriage, and thus render it visible to the guard. Upon one side of the signal
frame is carried a disc or plate C, having upon it two studs or pins carrying
single pullies, so placed that when the signal is down, they allow the cord or
chain D to pass freely in a straight line, or nearly so, passing above one of the
pullies and under the other; and when the signal is raised, the cord or chain
is, by the altered positions of the pullies, caused to assume a serpentine direc-
tion partially around each pulley (as shown in Figure 4), and thus cause the
whistle or whistles to which the end or ends of the cord or chain is attached,
to be open or acted upon, so as to draw the attention of the guard to the
raising of the signal.
The construction of the signal may be of any approved kind; but what I

page_text: prefer is, that it should be of colored glass, or of plates of glass containing
between them any colored fluid or material, so that it shall be sufficiently
distinguishable to the guard when the signal is raised during the light of day;.
and also that when the signal shall be raised at night, it shall also be suffi-
ciently distinguishable to the guard, by reason of the reflection from the ordi-
nary lamp contained in the carriage; and the position of the signal in the
carriage roof should be that, with respect to the lamp, as to produce this effect.
in the most advantageous manner. In some cases. I place reflectors within.
or in conjunction with the signals, with a view to a more distinguishable
effect; these signals may be placed in the carriages one in each of the com-.
partments, or one may be common to two compartments, as most convenient..
The cords or chains connecting the signals upon the carriages with .the.
whistles extend, when connected together, the whole length of the train, each,
carriage having its own portion of the cord or chain, which is attached to the
carriage, and when the carriages are connected, the portions are also .con-.
nected. The chain or cord is represented by D in the Drawings; the mode of
connection may be in any convenient manner.. In .this, modification of my;
Invention, two whistles are shown in the system; one of these is upon the.
tender of the locomotive, and is for the purpose of calling the attention of the.
engine driver to the guard at the back end of the train, or to the signal being
raised by any of the passengers for stopping the further progress of the train,,
or for any other purpose. This whistle is sounded by the steam from the boiler
of the locomotive, conveyed to it by a pipe to. the handle of the tap, of which.
for turning on, the steam one end of the cord..or chain D is attached;. the.
other end of the cord or chain is attached to the whistle upon the guard's van.
This whistle is sounded by compressed atmospheric air, compressed by. a.
pump E, fixed upon the under side of the van, and communicating by a ver-
tical pipe from it to the whistle, and into which the air is compressed to a,
degree of tension sufficient to sound the whistle when the tap of it is opened,.
by the passenger pulling up the signal, or by the engine driver pulling the
cord or chain. In conjunction with this whistle is a relief valve, to let off the
superabundant pressure of air. When the whistle is not in action this is requi-
site, as the pump supplying the atmospheric air is continually in operation
while the carriage or van is moving, the piston of. the pump being worked.
by an excentric upon the axle of. the carriage or van, so that the supply is
continuous and the pressure always kept up.
The action of the communication is thus:-Supposing it is desired by reason,

page_text: T
of danger or from any, other cause to signal to the guard or engine driver, or
both, to stop the further progress of the train: the passenger, taking hold of
the kuob or handle B of the signal, and pulling it down, causes the signal to
assume a vertical position, or up (Figure 4). This movement also, by acting upon
the cord or chain by the pullies, pulls it, and opens the taps of the whistles
upon the guard's van and the tender of the locomotive engine, or either of
them, which then sound, and draw the attention of the guard and engine
driver, who, looking along the tops of the carriages, distinguishes the elevated
signal. The guard may either at once signal the engine driver to stop or
otherwise, or he may proceed over the tops of the carriages (upon which pro-
vision is made to facilitate his transit) to the carriage to which his attention has
been drawn, to ascertain the cause, and act accordingly. Upon the signal is a
catch, so acting, that when the signal has been raised, it cannot be returned to
its former position except by the guard or some other person releasing it from
the outside and top of the carriage, and cannot be released by those within.
F represents a piece of cocoa matting, or other suitable flexible material,
attached to and stretching between two carriages of the train, to facilitate the
passage of the guard along the tops of the carriages, upon which boards are
also placed for like purpose: Upon the carriages are also placed the railing
G, for the purpose of assisting the' guard, and preventing his falling off; the
ends of this railing are connected together by the chains H, H.
"In some cases, as, for example, on short branch lines of railway, where
guards' vans are sometimes not attached to trains of carriages, I then place
and apply the atmospheric, whistle and its attendant air pump and con-
nections upon one or inore of the carriages themselves of the train, acting
in the same manner and intended to produce the same effect as before
stated, and the whistles may be mounted upon and applyed to any carriage
or carriages of the trains in addition to or independent of those upon the
guards' vans, and also whether or not to the same carriages to which the
signals are applied.
Having now described my said Invention of "an improved method of com-
munication between passengers and guards, &c., for the prevention of loss
of life and accidents upon railways," and stated and shown the manner of
carrying the same into practical effect, I now state that what I claim as my
Invention is, the improved method of communicating or making communica-
tions and signaling or making signals between the passengers travelling in
carriages upon railways, or any of them, and the guard or guards or other

page_text: attendants of such carriages, by means of signals upon such carriages, and in
conjunction with whistles sounded by compressed atmospheric air, in the
manner herein-before shown, described, and stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henry Ingall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
GEORGE HENRY INGALL. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed in the presence of
JOSEP S. EIDMANS.