IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING APPARATUS FOR USE ON SHIPS AND FOR COLLIERY, RAILWAY, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Walker Moseley at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 13th March 1876.
WALKER MOSELEY, of Mersey Road, Rockferry, in the County of Chester,
Telegraphic Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING APPARATUS FOR USE ON
SHIPS AND FOR COLLIERY, RAILWAY, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
My said Invention relates to apparatus for signalling to and from the deck and
engine room and other parts of a steamship, and for indicating the position of a ship's
rudder. Also for effecting communication to and from the surface level and the
bottom or other parts of a coal or other mine, for operating signals on railways, and
for other like purposes.
The peculiar feature of the said Invention is the employment of an endless band of
thin steel or other suitable metal for transmitting the motion from the sending
instrument to the indicating instrument as herein-after described.
In adapting my said Invention for signalling or communicating between the
different parts of a steamship or other vessel, I employ any suitable indicating
apparatus of either the dial or cylinder form, and provided with the usual sending
and indicating devices. I arrange in combination with these instruments a series
of pairs of rollers on suitable brackets or plates placed in the required positions to
guide and support the said thin metal band between the sending and indicating
instruments. The rollers of each pair are arranged side by side to properly support
and guide both portions of the band. The said metal band is perforated with
small holes at uniform intervals throughout its entire length, and the rollers or
pulleys on the said instruments have pointed pins or spurs which enter the
perforations of the band as the said rollers turn on their axes.
With these per-
forated endless bands passing over pulleys and arranged as above described, I am
enabled to actuate the indicating instruments entirely in one direction, and to
utilize the whole of the face of the indicator dial for the signals, and to operate the
bell or sounder more advantageously than heretofore; but I wish it understood
that if desired I arrange the said endless metal bands to act with a reciprocating
motion.
Near each of the said instruments I arrange a small cup or other vessel containing
oil, and furnished with a wick, pad, or rollor, for applying the oil to the metal band
as the same passes over it.
I also provide the apparatus with take-up pulleys connected with a spring or
weight. The metal band passes over these pulleys, which are so arranged that the
[Price 201

page_text: tension of the spring or the weight tends always to keep the same band properly
tight throughout its entire length.
In applying the said Invention to a colliery or mine, or a railway, it is arranged
in nearly the same manner as above described, with such modifications as may be
required by the different construction or position of the sending and indicating
apparatus.
Among other advantages arising from the use of my Invention may be mentioned
the facility and quickness with which it may be fixed on board ship, and the com-
paratively small number of guiding and supporting pulleys which it requires.
Morcover the continued movement of the metal band in one direction brings every
part of the same under the eye of the operators at the sending instruments, so that
its condition is always seen.
The said apparatus may also be utilized in hotels, warehouses, and other buildings
for conveying messages to and from different parts of the same.
For this purpose
the said bands are provided with small spring clips or similar devices, in which
may be inserted strips of paper or cards whereon the messages are written.