A SAFEGUARD RAILWAY SIGNAL
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Copling, junior, of The Grove, Hackney,
in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, for the Invention of "A
SAFEGUARD RAILWAY SIGNAL."
Sealed the 9th March 1853, and dated the 29th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Copling at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th December 1852.
I, JOHN COPLING, junior, of the Grove, Hackney, in the County
of Middlesex, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of my said In-
vention for "A SAFEGUARD RAILWAY SIGNAL," to be an apparatus for
effecting instantaneous communication between the guard and
engine driver of a railway train, and from any passenger in the
train to the guard, or, if desired, to the engine driver, the arrange-
ment and working of which is as follows, viz'. :-
From a moveable wooden reel suspended by brackets or a
moveable wooden stand in the guard's break van at the rear of the
train, a cord, which may be of wire or other material, is uncoiled,
which is passed forward over the roofs of the carriages through a

page_text: series of snatch-pullies swivelled on iron rods, of which there may
be one or two to each carriage, fixed to and rising about forty inches
above the front or rear edges of each carriage roof, or to as many
of them as convenient; and the cord thus extended slackly forward
above the whole train is attached to the crank of a spring bell on
the engine or to the lever handle of the steam whistle belonging to
the engine, and the bight of the rearmost end of such cord near the
reel is hitched to the crank of a spring bell in the guard's box.
Above each carriage roof about the centre a single swivelled
spring hook of steel or iron connects with or disconnects from this
main cord three branch cords; one of which branches is led into
each compartment of the carriage through the roof or ventilator
and the end made fast to the straps under the roof, together with a
red flag rolled upon its staff as a day signal, a shifting colored glass
being ready to color the usual lamp in cach compartment, or a sepa
rate colored lantern capable of being detached and used as a night
signal. At the moment of danger any one of the branch cords, on being
pulled by a passenger in one direction, will sound the spring bell in
the guard's box; but if pulled in the other direction, or if the main
cord be pulled by the guard, it will draw down the crank of the
spring bell on the engine, or the lever handle of the engine steam
whistle, which will instantly emit its well known sound, when the
steam may be shut off; and if the signal be enforced by waving of
flag or lantern, the guards will put on the breaks, and the train
will be brought to a stand-still quickly or more gradually as the
urgency of the case may be signalled.
This is the simplest and least complicated of any upparatus: but
as railway authorities will not for some time to come allow the
passengers to have the control of the steam whistle or engine spring
bell, a second or lower main cord will be required, of which alone
the passengers are to have the control and which will only act on
the spring bell in the guard's box, who will then use his judgment
or obey his orders as to repeating the signal instantly with the
upper main cord, which alone will act upon the engine spring bell

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent filed by the said John Copling in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN COPLING, junior, of the Grove, Hackney, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
two, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Copling, Her
special licence that I, the said John Copling, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Copling, my executors, administrators, 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 "A SAFEGUARD RAILWAY SIGNAL," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Copling, by an
instrument 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 John Copling, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say):

page_text: My Invention consists of certain apparatus and arrangements for
effecting communication between the guard and engine driver of
a railway train and from any passenger in the train to the guard,
or, if permitted, to the engine driver, as follows, videlicet: From a
moveable drum or reel suspended by brackets, or on a moveable
stand in the guard's break van at the rear of the train (whence the
range of vision is much greater than from the level of the engine),
a cord of wire or other material is uncoiled, which is passed forward
over the roofs of the carriages through a series of snatch pullies
swivelled on rods or standards of metal or wood, of which there
may be one or two to each carriage, fixed to, and rising about forty
inches above the front or rear edges of carriage roof, according to
or as high as the height of the lowest bridge on the railway will
safely allow. The cord thus extended slackly forward above the
whole train is attached to the pulling picce handle or crank of a
spring or other bell on the engine or tender, or to the lever handle
of, or to a crank fitted to, the steam whistle belonging to the engine,
and the bight of the rearmost end of such cord near the reel is
hitched on to the pulling piece handle or crank of a spring or other
bell in the guard's box. Above each carriage roof about the centre
is a single swivelled spring hook of steel or iron, or other material;
for connecting with or disconnecting from this main cord three
branch cords, one of which is led into each compartment of the
carriage through the roof or ventilator, and the end made fast
inside. At the moment of danger any one of these branch cords, on
being pulled by a passenger in one direction, will sound the bell in
the guard's box; but if pulled in the other direction, or if the main
cord be pulled by the guard, it will sound the bell on the engine
or tender, or draw down the lever handle of, or the crank fitted to,
the engine steam whistle, which will instantly emit its well known
sound, when the steam may be shut off; and if the signal be
enforced by the waving of a flag or lantern to be provided for
the passengers in each carriage, the guards will put on the
breaks, and the train will be brought to a stand-still quickly
or more gradually as the urgency of the case may require.

page_text: This is the simplest and least complicated of any apparatus; but if
it be thought inexpedient to allow the passengers to have the means of
sounding the engine steam whistle or the bell on the engine or tender,
instead of communicating with the guard, a second main cord may
be employed, of which alone the passengers are to have the control,
and which will only act on the bell in the guard's box, who will then
use his judgment, or obey his orders as to communicating with the
engine driver, which may be instantly done by repeating the signal
with the first main cord, which alone will act upon the bell on the
engine or tender, or the engine steam whistle, thereby placing this
signal under the control of the guards and engine driver, but not of
the passengers. This second main cord is fitted and managed without
any appreciable extra time or trouble, both main cords uncoiled from
the same drum or reel, which is of two separate parts, and both are
carried forward together by the same guard, one in each hand, but
having spring hooks of different make and size upon the fore end of
cach, so as to allow them to be readily distinguished by the feel in
the dark. The first main cord being passed through the snatch
pullies as before described, the second main cord is passed through
at the same moment in another set of snatch pullies, or in swivelled
spring hooks on the same rods, placed either above, below, or at the
side of the others, or as may be most convenient. The fore end of the
first main cord is attached to the engine steam whistle, or the bell
upon the engine or tender, and the after end to the drum or reel,
while the fore end of the second main cord is attached by the
swivelled spring hook to the van next the engine tender; or if there
be no such van, then to the foremost carriage in the train, and the
bight of the after end is connected by a swivelled spring hook to the
bell in the guard's box. The branch cords are (when the second
main cord is employed) connected by their swivelled spring hooks
with the second main cord, only leaving the first clear between the
guards and engine driver. The swivelled rods or standards, with their
natch pullies and the branch cords (the three outer ends of which
re united by one spring hook) are fixtures. The outer ends of the
ranch cords, and their swivelled spring hook, can be laid on tl:e

page_text: projecting side ledge of the roof during the time that luggage may be
loading or unloading, and carriages can be let into or taken out of
any part of the train without derangement of the apparatus, or any
appreciable loss of time, as regards the apparatus itself, as plenty of
spare length is kept on the drum or reel to veer out or shorten in,
as may be required. To keep the main cords moderately stretched
so as to be clear of the luggage, rails, lamps, break handles, and other
things, I use a balance line, and weight enclosed in a long narrow
box or shoot of metal or wood fixed at each end of the train, viz.:
One to the front of the luggage van, or the carriage next the engine
tender, if there be no luggage van, and the other to the back of the
guard's box, at the rear of the train. This balance line is connected
with the bight of the main signal line by a snatch buckle of metal
or other material at the distance of about two thirds of the length
of the van or break carriage from the head of the balance weight
box. This balance line is passed over a swivelled snatch pulley fixed
above the head of, and passed down and into, this box. To the lower
end of this balance line is connected, by a narrow swivelled spring
hook a clip, from which depends, by one or more spring hooks, a
weight. For a moderate sized train this balance line may be single;
but it may be lengthened to any required extent by the use of
swivelled pullies, or swivelled blocks, with three sheaves, and fitted
with swivelled hooks; one of which blocks is fixed close up to the
head of the balance weight box, whilst the other acts as a travelling
pulley or block below; from the lower hook of which will hang the
weight, and on the lower or standing part of the balance line, which
may be made of gutta percha, wire, cord, or other material, may
be hung the clip, the low part of which clip will be connected with
the upper hook, ring, or strop of the lower or travelling block. The
use of the clip is to detach the weight or lower block when drawn
up close to the pulley at the head of the balance weight box, or
when the tackle inside is drawn up to the position called "two
blocks," to allow the weight to fall to the bottom. This will only
occur in the case of any of the couplings of the carriages breaking,
or from any of then having been forgotten to be fastened, when the

page_text: engine running off from the detached part of the train will cause
the engine steam whistle, or the bell on the engine or tender, as the
case may be, to be long and loudly sounded. And the clip, by
detaching the weight, will prevent its doing any injury to the guard
or otherwise. A second mode of releasing the balance line and
weight, which is always in action, is the snatch buckles, which, on
going beyond their calculated maximum distance from the balance
weight box, is opened by the trigger line, which is always made fast
to the van or break carriage, and the main cords will thus be left free
to run off the drum or reel until the engine be again in its proper
position in the train. The snatch buckles are similar to those
used to free the waggons from contractors' horses instantaneously,
but of course much smaller in size. In a break van at the rear of the
train which has no outside or elevated scat for the guard, the drum
or reel will be placed inside towards the rear of the van on the off
side on a stand, or be suspended by brackets from the roof, and a fair
lead made from the drum or reel for the main cords by snatched
swivelled pullies fixed on the head of a rod attached to the rearmost
part of the van, so as to clear the roof above and below in the lead
of the main cords from the rearmost rod to the drum or reel; and
the balance weight box will, in this case, be fixed at or near the
fore end of the van, and the balance line will be led inside the van,
under and nearly up to the roof, the other portions working in the
saine manner as when fixed outside the van as before mentioned,
excepting that the balance weight box will be turned so as the guard
may most conveniently arrange and observe the working, accordingly
as the interior of the van or the glass windows of the van may
happen to be constructed to enable the guard to walk in a crouching
or stooping position along the whole length of the train in answer
to a signal. Planks may be secured by the same rods as those through
which the main cords are carried, being passed through a circular
hole iron line near the end of the plank, or be fixed to the carriages
so as to project beyond them; such planks to be of such a length as
to overlap the ends of the two contiguous roofs, and afford convenient
means of passing from one to the other. Each plank may be fitted

page_text: with edges raised about four inches, and with a low hand rail above;
and in the case of carriage trucks, ladders may be affixed of sufficient
length to ascend the roofs of a horse box or post office van; also,
to leave a clear passage for the guard, a space of about eighteen
inches may be left in the centre of the roof of each carriage in the
train from front to rear, and also crossways above the centre doors
or compartment, and railed off to the height of about six inches,
and kept clear of luggage; so that, on the guard's bell being sig-
nalled by a passenger, and enforced by flag or lantern, he may in
case he sees no immediate cause to stop the train, procced to the
carriage whence the signal has been given, and, lying down in the
cross space, communicate at the window of the compartment with
the person who has therefrom signalled to him. In carriages in
which this space on the roof from front to rear and across is railed
off, the branch cords or lines may descend perpendicularly through
the roof to each compartment, and the tarpaulin or waterproof
sheet divided into four parts and the covering for the luggage
will be then rendered more manageable. The main cords may
not only be carried along the tops of the carriages, but also along
the soles or underneath the frames of the carriages (one of which
modes should be used for goods trains), or froin the outside iron
shields of the wheels, or underneath the foot boards on the same
principle as above the centre of the roof; or they may be carried
along the eaves of the roof by shortening the rods, or by re-
versing them, or affixing them horizontally, as the case may re-
quire, taking care to have the rods of just sufficient length to keep
the main cords clear of the friction of all parts of the carriages.
The balance line in the guard's van at the rear may be worked on a
small axle or reel capable of being attached or detached to or from
one or both of the separate halves of the large drum or reel by a
ratch and spring catch; and this small axle or reel may be either in
the centre or on the sides of the large drum or reel. The first main
cord may be attached to the end of a lever working on a bar which is
fitted in the engine steam whistle. At the fore end of this lever may
be fitted a strong spiral spring or a weight, which will cause the valve a

page_text: to close again after the steam whistle had been sounded, and prevent
its being opened by any slight strain caused by the weight of the
signal line; and by fitting this bar and lever to the off side of the
engine steam whistle, the inain cord is kept completely out of the
way of the engine driver. In lieu of the engine steam whistle, a
spring or other bell, affixed to the engine or tender near the tool box,
may be substituted and made to act in the most simple mode by
the main cord; and the certainty of the action, whether in the case of
the whistle or bell, will be more easily ascertained by the feel of the
hand when pulling the line, than by any machinery whatever. One or
both of the main cords may be used, and fitted in sections or lengths
adjusted to cach particular carriage, which would thus become a
fixture to each carriage, together with its branch cords; and such
sections would be coupled by strong but narrow swivelled spring
hooks capable of passing over the pullies or sheaves in the rods;
which spring hooks would also be used to confine these sections to
the rods and roofs of the carriages when not in use. The main cords,
either continuously or in sections, may be led through and sustained
by spring rings with elastic openings; and such spring rings may be
fitted with friction rollers.
The annexed Drawing represents the general arrangement,
and also some of the details, of the safe-guard railway signal
above referred to. In the Drawing, Figure 1, is an clevation of
a railway train fitted with the safe-guard railway signal shewing
the leading of the signal lines or main cords; the first of which
is distinguished by the letter B, and the second by the letter
C. C, is a branch from main cord C, to the engine driver. The
balance lines are marked D, and the balance weight boxes E. F,
planks, forming communication for the better working of signal. G,
snatch buckle. H, branch cord from main cord C, to the interior of
the carriage through roof. I, branch cord from main cord C, to the
interior of the carriage through the sides. K, couplings, formed by
swivelled spring hooks which confine the knot of the line within their
swivel. L, clevation, showing the mode of fitting the balance line
outside a break van. M and N, places for placing bell, to be used, if

page_text: required, instead of whistle. Figure 2, elevation shewing the mode
of fitting the balance line inside a break van; Figure 3, plan shewing
space on roof to be left clear for guard's passage; Figure 4, balance
weight box; Figure 5, vertical section of ditto; Figure 6, swivelled
rod or standard; Figure 6*, one of its brackets; Figure 7, short
ditto with screw; Figure 8, fair leader; Figure 9, swivelled rod or
standard, fitted with side friction rollers for lines with very sharp
curves; Figure 10, screw fair leader; Figure 11, snatch buckle, with
its trigger and trigger line; Figure 12, rod applied to steam whistle;
Figure 13, standard for rod; Figure 14, crank for whistle or bell;
Figure 15, crank stop; Figure 16, weight for crank or balance box;
Figure 17, spiral spring for ditto; Figure 18, self-acting clip for
detaching balance weight, if required; Figure 19, drum or reel, with
detaching balance reel; Figures 20, 21, spring bells; Figure 22,
treble block for balance box; Figure 23, spring hook for couplings;
Figure 24, spring hook for attaching clip and weights; Figure 25,
spring hook for attaching branch lines to main cord.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
do not claim the several parts of the above arrangement, when
taken separately, nor do I confine myself to the precise details
herein referred to; and I hereby declare that I claim as my Inven-
tion the arranging and combining apparatus as above described, so
as to constitute a means of communication between the passengers,
guards, and engine driver in a railway train.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Copling, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of June, in the
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
year
JOHN COPLING, JR. (L.S.)