IMPROVED AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC SIGNALS TO PREVENT COLLISIONS ON RAILROADS & RAILWAYS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Barnett, residing at 60, St. Mary Axe, in
the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVED AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC
SIGNALS TO PREVENT COLLISIONS ON RAILROADS & RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 11th March 1862, and dated the 14th September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Barnett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th September 1861.
I, FREDERIC BARNETT, residing at 60, St. Mary Axe, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED AUTOMATIC
ELECTRIC SIGNALS TO PREVENT COLLISIONS ON RAILROADS & RAILWAYS," to be
as follows:-
Whereas collisions on railroads and railways arise from ignorance of the
situation of trains while running on the rails, if running or not, if stopping, or
if returning to the station just or last left; these evils I propose to remedy.
By means of my Invention it will be known whether a train is advancing,
standing still, or returning. Thus, let us suppose two stations, A and B, five
miles apart, which distance shall be divided into ten sections; at each section
I shall establish at the inner side of the rail what I term an improved
automatic electric button, which button shall be so arranged that each time
the flange of the engine and carriage wheels pass over them they shall depress
the said buttons, and in so doing cause two plates of platinum or other con-
ducting metals to touch, establishing a circuit of electricity, furnished by
batteries properly placed & disposed for that purpose. That these said
improved automatic buttons shall be connected by positive and negative wires,
with an indicator (see Drawing), containing as many numbers as there are
buttons between the said two stations. The said positive wire shall be con-
[Price 8d.]

page_text: nected with a bell surmounting the said indicator, and all the buttons shall, by
means of one positive wire, be connected with the bell. There shall also be
one negative wire to each button, connected each with a number acting so
that immediately the flange of the wheels in passing over the buttons and
depressing them, the circuit of electricity by such means being completed,
the bell on the indicator shall sound simultaneously with the showing of the
number on the indicator over whose button the wheel has just past. According
to the distance apart that the automatic buttons are placed, I shall know
where the train is. If the bell be silent, and no other number show, I shall
know that the train is stopped. By closing the last number but one last
again out of its order, that the train is
exposed, I shall know if it open
returning. However great the distance of these improved automatic electric
buttons may be from the stations, the effect will in all respects be the same.
The signals can be varied ad infinitum by means of these improved automatic
electric buttons.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
A, an indicator; B, the automatic electric button, depressed by the wheel E,
the same to be made of wood and other materials; C, the automatic electric
button not depressed, elevated to its full height by means of its interior
springs; D, transverse section of the rail, the automatic electric button
depressed by the flange of the wheel; E, the wheel, passing over the automatic
13
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederic Barnett in the Great Seal Patent Oflice on the
14th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERIC
BARNETT, residing at No. 60, St. Mary Axe, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto I,
the said Frederic Barnett, Her special licence that I, the said Frederic
Barnett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Frederic Barnett, 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 thorein expressed, should and lawfully might make,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED
AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC SIGNALS. TO PREVENT COLLISIONS ON RAILROADS AND
RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Frederic Barnett, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederic Barnett, 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:
Whereas collisions on railroads and railways arise always from ignorance of
the whereabouts of trains while running on the rails, the want of knowledge of
their actually running or not; whether of their stoppage by accidents or other
causes, or even if they be or be not returning to the station which they have
recently left. These evils propose to remedy by means of my Invention.
inasmuch as I will undertake to show a simple way, by which properly
appointed persons at the stations shall, in their offices, know whether a train
on their railway be running, where it be running, and whether it be going
forward or coming backward, or whether it be standing still; the distance
near or far being without importance. Let us suppose two stations, A
and B, on a railway five miles apart, which, simply for example, we will
suppose divided into ten sections or more, as occasion may require. It
will be necessary to establish an electric or galvanic battery of sufficient
force where most convenient. From this battery I conduct a positive wire,
placing it parallel to the rails as far as convenient, and when convenient,
carrying it on upright poles or otherwise. One end of this wire charged
positively shall terminate by means of a junction in what I will call an
automatic button E; the real and true ends of this wire being one at the
battery, the other at an indicator F at the stations A or B.
be as many wires charged negatively as there will be buttons at each section
of the line between the stations A and B; by means of junctions these
negative wires shall communicate between each button at each section and the
indicator F at the stations. Within each so called button E will be placed
the necessary plates of platinum or other metal or material, one of each
positive or negative wire being connected with one of the two said plates of
There shall also

page_text: platinum or other material suitable to the purpose, which two plates must be
held apart by springs or other suitable contrivance for such purpose until
pressed together (as related hereafter), when the circuit of the electric fluid
being completed the necessary signals (more fully explained below) shall be
given. Suppose there be three stations, A, B, and C, and that from A to B
bd five miles, and from B to C be also five miles; we will place two indi-
cators F, one for the arrival from A, and the other for the departure to C, in
the station B, that is, at the middle station, (though all other stations will
require two indicators, namely, of arrival, and another for the departure); we
will then divide the distance from A to B in tens sections (more or less, as re-
quired, will be employed), and the five miles from B to C equally into the like
number of sections; at each of these ten sections, from A to B and from B to C,
I will place what I shall term an automatic or self-acting button E, duly provided
in its interior with the necessary plates of junction and wires, as above rehearsed.
These buttons shall be properly placed at the side of the inner part of one of the
two rails, and in such proximity that by reason of their form, height, and nature,
the flange of each wheel of each carriage of each train passing over and on it, shall
so depress it as to cause the two plates in its interior to touch, and so establish
the circuit of the electric fluid, which, terminating by means of its negative
wire in a number of the indicator F, shall simultaneously ring the bell G, and
expose to view a number, as at H. As we have, for example, divided the distances
between A and B, and B and C each into ten sections, we must have in each
indicator ten numbers, from No. 1 to No. 10. As I have said, in each station
there should be an indicator for arrival and another for departure. Suppose
us to be at station B with the two indicators, each having ten numbers, and
that we have started a train from B to C, at length the bell G on the
indicator rings, and a little screen falling simultaneously shall expose No. 1.
I shall know that the train working from B to C is at a half mile from the
station B; again the bell G rings, and Number 2 by the falling of the little
screen is exposed; it will be evident that the train has past a mile. I now
close No. 1 screen, shutting that number out of view, but leave open No. 2.
In the same way we will suppose the train to work on to No. 5, all the
numbers from No. 1 to No. 4 being closed, and knowing very nearly the time
required for the train to work from section to section, and that that time shall
have elapsed without the bell G ringing and No. 6 being exposed and all
remain still, shall know that the train be stopped between Nos. 5 and 6,
that is to say, at between 2 and 3 miles distance, and of course take the
necessary measures to stop the next train, which on the indicator of arrival (I
will say, for example,) is marked at No. 8. By these meaus, there being a

page_text: distance of half a mile between the sections, I shall know. that the coming
train is at a little less than a mile distant; this train I stop, and acquaint the
driver that between Nos. 5 and 6, or between 2 & 3 miles ahead there is
a stoppage, and I at once send assistance, and knowing the distance the train
will be taken at such a speed that shall not endanger the train stopt in
advance. Thus assistance will be promptly on the spot, and all danger of
collision avoided. Let us suppose ourselves again at the station B, and a train
working from B to C, and that No. 5 be exposed, and the proper time nearly
elapsed for No. 6 to open, No. 4 being closed; if, instead of the screen falling
of No. 6, simultaneously by the ringing of the bell G, No. 6 remain closed, I
shall know that the train is returning over No. 5, but to be quite sure I have
but to await about the usual time for the passage of the train between the
sections, and No. 4 screen falling instead of that of No. 6, I am confirmed that
the train is coming back towards the station, and of course the necessary steps
will be taken to stop all trains, clear the line, and adopt all other necessary
precautions.
To give increased security these indicators might be placed on long stations
more frequently than at the stations only; signal men should have them in
their huts, so that, supposing two trains to be working between two stations,
and that an accident should happen, the train behind always preserving a
reasonable distance, could be stopped by the ordinary signals.
These indi-
cators should be placed at the ends of tunnels, by which means the position
of the train would not only be evident, but also if it were returning or in the
event of a stoppage from whatever cause, all fear or risk of collision would be
rendered impossible for tunnels or elsewhere. Where desirable, I would for
night signals have buttons at intervals with the wires in connection with a
battery sufficiently charged to light an electric lamp or lamps. Say that
buttons for the lamp should be 200 yards apart (more or less, as should be
deemed judicious,) and say that a tunnel should be one thousand yards long,
I should have three buttons with their necessary apparatus and wires. I
would place the first lamp at 200 yards from the entrance of the tunnel, but I
would place the first button (to be operated on by the flange of the wheels as
the other buttons) at 400 yards, so that the train passing over it should light
the lamp 200 yards in its rear, and so on till the end of the tunnel with the
other buttons at intervals of 200 yards, the train always lighting the lamp at
200 yards behind it. Thus any train working behind another would be aware
of its proximity by an unmistakeable signal. The one side of the lamp would
be shaded to prevent misleading a train on the opposite line. The same plan
when not in tunnels might be adopted with advantage at night; also in day-

page_text: time by means of my automatic buttons, signals could be shown on tall posts,
say, the train working from B to C at section No. 5, should indicate auto-
matically its passage by signals of different constructions, which should operate
on posts erected near section 4, that is to say, behind it, or otherwise, as might
be deemed most judicious. My plans, properly carried out, will. I believe,
add the last and necessary link to complete the railway chain.
Posts should be placed at the roadside, facing the buttons, to indicate their
locality, by means of which, in the event of accidents, they might be readily
found so as to signal to the nearest station the state of affairs, which could be
done by pressing the automatic button at the side of the rail; thus, ring twice
(two distinct pressures) signify "wheel broken;" ring three times. "off the
rail" ring four times. "boiler burst," and so on by arrangement of code; the
assistance needed could be promptly rendered.
The automatic buttons should be so made that the upper part should after
the plates of junction have touched, yield by their elasticity of india-rubber or
stuffed leather on their tops, so that no danger of the throwing the train off
the line should accrue, and at the same time an undue pressure on the springs
and plates would be avoided.
CLAIMS.
The application of an automatic electric button or partly solid form. com-
posed of the materials most suitable to obtain the desired end, these buttons
containing plates of metal suitable to complete the circuit of electricity, which
system I prefer to breaking it up, though both can be made available to my
purpose, the same buttons to be used on railways, acted on by the flange of
the wheels or otherwise, in conjunction with an indicator with bell and
numbers, permitting of organised signals and code to make known the passage,
stoppage, or return of trains: also to light the electric light in tunnels or
elsewhere, to give roadside signals, to signal to stations the cause and nature
of accidents or stoppages, or for any other cognate purpose for railroads and
railways.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh
day of March AD 1860
Witness,
F. TOLHAUSEN.
FREDERIC BARNETT. (L.s.)

page_text: B. The Automatic Button depressed, to be.
made of wood and other materials.
C. The Automatic Button, not depressed,,-
-risen to its height by means of its interior Spring
D. Section transverse of the rail with automatic butto
depressed. hy the flange of the wheel.
E The wheel passing over the automater button.at B.