IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATING SIGNALS ON BOARD SHIP, ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Newton Gisborne, of No. 8, Adelaide
Place, London Bridge, in the City of London, Engineer and Electrician,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATING
SIGNALS ON BOARD SHIP, ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Newton Gisborne
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th December 1868.
I, FREDERIC NEWTON GISBORNE, of No. 8, Adelaide Place, London Bridge,
in the City of London, Engineer and Electrician, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATING
SIGNALS ON BOARD SHIP, ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
I have shutters to cover the signals, which are on glass or other suitable
material, and such shutters are pivoted to move excentrically when pressed on
by a lever acted on by a revolving cylinder or cam having as many steps or
projections as there are shutters. A wheel geared in unison with a wheel
upon (for example) the bridge of a steam ship will as it is moved raise the
signal corresponding to the order given.
In connection with the above I use for ship-steering purposes a wheel
attached to the rudder head geared to a similar wheel, which carries a pointer

page_text: upon the bridge, and thus indicates the position of the helm. I also use a
strong spiral or other spring in my connecting wires, chains, or cords as a
compensator for the contraction or expension of such connectors.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederic Newton Gisborne in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERIC
NEWTON GISBORNE, of No. 3, Adelaide Place, London Bridge, in the City of
London, Engineer and Electrician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Frederic Newton Gisborne, Her special licence that I, the
said Frederic Newton Gisborne, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Frederic Newton Gisborne, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF COM-
MUNICATING SIGNALS ON BOARD SHIP, ON RAILWAYS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said. Frederic Newton
Gisborne, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Frederic Newton Gisborne, 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 :-
My Invention consists of a novel arrangement of mechanical apparatus,
whereby the look-out officer or other person may at any convenient part of a
ship or premises communicate orders to an engineer, helmsman, or other

page_text: persons at another part of the ship and receive replies. Also of an arrange,
ment whereby the rudder of a ship or an engine may be made to indicate its
various movements.
In Sheet 1 I have shewn two views of the apparatus whereby the officer can
communicate with the engineer. Fig. 1 is an external elevation, shewing the
front of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same,
shewing the arrangements of the levers and some of the other parts con-
nected therewith.
The apparatus shewn in Figs. 1 and 2 consists of a box or case a, a, in
which are arranged several levers b, b, pivoted through the dial face d, d, at c, c.
These levers rest upon the axis of several small shutters e, e, which are again
pivoted so as to move excentrically when pressed against. Beneath the shutters
are the orders, ASTERN, HALF SPEED, &c. &c., painted upon enamelled
glass. Behind the dial is a shaft f, f, upon which are fastened several
discs 9, 9, and upon which are one or more cams h, h; on the top of the shaft
is a pulley J. There is also a bell or gong behind the dial, and in the front
plate glass K, K, to protect the flaps. This is the receiving apparatus.
Figs. 3 and 4 are the sending apparatus, and require but little explanation.
The handle l, which acts as a pointer to the order, is attached to the shaft
m, m, upon the lower end of which is another pulley n.
The orders upon
the dial face o, o, are painted upon enamelled glass. The two pulleys J and N.
are then connected by a wire cord P, into the circuit of which is introduced a
strong steel or other spring Q as a compensator for metallic contraction or
expansion. Sometimes, as in the Drawing, a separate pedal and wire is used
for sounding the engine-room bell and the reply bell, and sometimes I use
pinions on the shaft f, Fig. 2, to strike the bell. So long as the pulleys J.
and N move in unison or nearly so a movement of the pointer to an order.
will cause a corresponding movement of the shaft f, and thus bring one or
other of the cams h, which are fixed on their discs upon corresponding seg-.
ments of the circle under the lever of the particular order desired. The cams,
as in Fig. VII., being slightly higher than the allotted space between the
levers b, b, and the discs 9, 9, cause during their passage round a slight.
upward push of the levers, which again press against the axis of the,
shutter e, e, and with a sliding motion cause them to open at right angles as.
at r, r, Fig. 2. It will be noticed that the lower shutter is made to falb
downwards upon the same principle of movement.
Fig. 5 is the bell arrangement worked upon the same principle. a being
the hammer; .b, its shaft; c, the axis of motion pivoted excentrically at d;
F, E, g, is the lever, g being a flat spring; E a solid piece of metal, and F

page_text: small wheel or roller at the end thereof, and h the wire. A very short and
slight pull at the wire h will cause a heavy and rapid stroke upon the bell,
or pinions fixed upon the shaft or discs would cause the bell to sound
automatically.
Fig. 6 shews that an electro-magnet T may be used to cause a shutter to
open by attracting an armature attached to the lever b, in lieu of the
mechanical movement herein-before described, and in this case I make one
electro-magnet open two shutters alternately at pleasure, by fixing two small
permanent magnets on the levers 6, 6, in such manner that their two north
poles are over either end of the electro-magnet. By a well-known rule or
law of magnetism, either one permanent magnet is attracted or repelled
according as the current transmitted through the electro-magnet is positive
or negative.
Similar apparatus to the above may be used for ship steering signals,
semaphore, &c. &c., while a pulley attached to the rudder head or wheel may
cause a similar pulley to move on the bridge, and thus with a similar shaft
and pointer, as in Fig. 4, indicate the various movements of the rudder. For
some purposes I shorten the shaft f, Fig. 2, one-eighth of an inch, so that no
cam touches a lever until the said shaft is raised to it. A small lever, one end
of which rests under the lower disc z, is attached at the other end to the bell
lever and wire e, h. It is thus evident that by first moving the pointer t,
Fig. 4, to the signal required, no movement of shutters takes place until
ringing the bell, when the particular shutter which you desire is raised. When
the shaft and shutter are thus raised the tumbler a assumes a vertical position,
thus maintaining the shaft and shutter in position until a new movement of
the communicator tilts over the tumbler, and allows the shaft to return to its
original bearing and closes the shutter. Sometimes, as in Sheet II., I cause
the shaft to revolve horizontally instead of vertically, and upon it fix an
octagon or circular disc D, having the several orders required painted upon it.
This shaft I either revolve backwards and forwards by pulleys, as in Sheet 1.
Fig. 1, or only one way, as in Figs. 1, 2, 3, Sheet 2. In order to accomplish
this I use a return spring S and an open ratchet wheel W, herein-after
described for the purpose of arresting the octagon at any particular order
required. In some instances I use, as in Fig. 1, Sheet 1, a single shutter r,
Fig. III., to cover the orders, and sometimes I dispense with the shutter, as
in Fig. 1, Sheet 2. Fig. III., W is the ratchet wheel; o, the bevelled holes ;
and c, the spring pin. As the octagon revolves the pin moves from hole to
hole, arresting the backward tendency of the spring S until the arm A is
brought round to and against the bolt b, which it pushes in behind the spring

page_text: pin C, and thus prevents it entering any hole of the ratchet wheel. The
octagon thus released flies back to its normal position, and in so doing causes
arm A to withdraw the bolt B, which again allows the spring pin C to come
into play. The bell is sounded by means of the projections t, t, t, touching
the hinged hammer h as the octagon revolves. Fig. IV. is simply a commu-
nicator for like purposes as in Sheet 1, Figs. 8 and 4.
I have shewn my Invention as applied on board ship, but it will be obvious
that it may be readily applied for communicating signals on railways and for
other purposes.
I do not claim any of the parts herein-before described separately; but I
claim as my Invention the combinations and arrangements herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Newton Gisborne, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
FREDERIC NEWTON GISBORNE.
(L.S.)