IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC TELEGRAPHS AND IN MAKING SIGNALS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
ALFRED JOWETT, of Sawley, in the County of Derby, Engineer, and JOHN
KIRKHAM, of Peckham, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of
September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Henry Alfred, Jowett and John Kirkham, our exors, adñors,
or assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
we, the said Henry Alfred Jowett and John Kirkham, our exors, adñors,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Alfred Jowett and
John Kirkham, our exors, adiňors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC TELEGRAPHS AND IN MAKING
SIGNALS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the
said Henry Alfred Jowett and John Kirkham, or one of us, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Henry Alfred Jowett and John Kirkham, do hereby declare that the nature
of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
are fully described and ascertained in and by the present Specification
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:
Our Invention consists, firstly, of certain mechanical arrangements by
which the driver of a, carriage. or train of carriages following another carriage
or train on a line of railway may at all times know how far the preceding
carriage or train is ahead.
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a line of railway and pair of carriage
wheels, with a front elevation at one side of a signal post, and apparatus for
accomplishing the object in view. Figure 2, a similar elevation of the appa-
ratus, with part concealed by a screen board. W.; .and Figure 3 a back view
and section of the upper portions of the apparatus. The indicator. part of the
apparatus consists of two hollow vessels A, A, communicated with each other
by a connecting stem, after the manner of an hour glass, only that they are
partially filled with a red or other colored liquid instead of sand. This
indicator.is mounted at the top of the signal' post, immediately in front of the
ordinary station.lamp Land centred on a horizontal axis B, which is con-
trolled by a ratchet wheel C, so as to revolve only in one direction.. D is a
vertical rod with racked at top, which. gears into the. ratchet wheel C, and.is
moved up and down by means of a foot lever E, which is centred on a stud a
raised! on one of the cross sleepers of the railway. Supposing one of the
glasses of the indicator to be filled; and that a carriage or train approaches,
the near wheel of the front pair of bearing wheels first comes in contact with
and presses down the foot lever E, and this throws up the vertical rod D, the
rack of which taking into the ratchet wheel C, turns the indicator half way
round on its axis, that is, from a horizontal into a vertical position, bringing
the full glass right before the station lamp, and the empty one behind the
screen W. The colored liquid then begins to flow from the then upper
the. then lower glass, at a rate which may be regulated at pleasure, by means
of a stopcock on the connecting-stem, and should be previously determined
into

page_text: by experiment. After this cock has been properly adjusted, it may be opened
and shut by means of a ratchet attached to the vertical rod D. If it has
been found that the liquid will take, say, ten minutes to flow from the upper
into the lower glass, then the driver can at once tell, from the height-of fluid
visible in the upper glass (being the one lighted up and exposed to view),
how far the last preceding carriage or train is ahead. When the carriage or
train has passed; the vertical rod D descends again by its own weight, and
the rack d drops out of gearing with the ratchet wheel C, leaving the indicator
as it was till the passing of another train, when the preceding operation is
repeated, and so on for any indefinite length of time:
Where there is a tunnel adjoining any, signal station, the apparatus may be
conveniently worked from the middle or any other part of the tunnel by means
of a hand pump, such as represented in Figure 4, communicating by a tube or
hose with the pump at the station, that is to say, by pressing down the plunger
of such hand pump to be pressed down, it will cause the intervening 'column
of water to press up the plunger of the station pump, and with it the vertical
rod which carries the indicator, till the carriage or train to be signalised hás
passed through the tunnel. The certainty of the operation of the apparatus
may be still farther secured by adding a bell to the top of the signal, as
indicated at X, and causing the vertical rod to put in motion at each ascent
the clapper (which may be done in various ways), so that it may be
known along the line, as well by sound as by sight, that a carriage or 'train
has passed.
个
Secondly, our Invention consists of an improved apparatus or system of
signal arrangements for the prevention of accidents on railways. We propose
that. at a convenient distance from each end of a tunnel or station there should
be a signal. post erected, similar to that herein-before described, and that 'the
two posts should be hydraulically connected also in like manner, but we would
vary the mode of action in the manner represented in Figures 5, 6, 7, and. 7.
Instead of the vertical rod D having a rising and falling motion given to it,
we make it revolve on its axis in a socket v; and instead of an hour-glass
indicator, such as before described, it carries at top a four-sided signal.. lamp,
with different colored glasses of the description ordinarily used on railways.
Again, instead of the passing wheels acting on the vertical rod by the déprés-
sion of foot lever, such as that (E) represented in Figures 1 and 2, they act
by the depression of an inclined side bar S, which is attached to the side of
the near line of rails, immediately in front of each signal post, which slide bar,
by its descent, works a compound lever T, one arm of which pulls round the

page_text: may
vertical rod D a quarter of a turn (by means of the chain p and pulley 2), and
with it the lamp at top, which should, of course, be so previously adjusted that
the face of the lamp so brought into front shall be that which have been
previously fixed upon to indicate the passage of a carriage or train, while the
other arm of the lever pushes forward the plunger of a horizontal pump P,
which acting on the column in the connecting tube or hose Q, causes the
plunger of a similar pump at the other station to actuate a lever similar to T,
only in the converse sense, that is to say, so as to pull round the signal lamp
of that station into the same position as the other. By attending, therefore,
to the condition of these two signal posts it would always be seen at either end
whether the passage through the tunnel or past the station was clear or not;
in other words, whenever the safety side of the lamp, say, green, was on view
at either end, that would indicate that the passage was clear. To give the
proper tension to the chain p on the pulley q and vertical rod D, a weight R
is attached to the foot of the latter; and to replenish the hydraulic main in
case of any accidental leakage, a cistern K of water is mounted at the back of
the signal post, and communicates by a pipe f with the hydraulic main, the
mouth of the pipe being provided with a self-acting valve which remains
closed as long as the main is full, but on any descent of the column through
leakage flies open and admits the requisite supply of water from above.
Thirdly, our Invention consists of certain improved means of regulating the
supply of water in hydraulic telegraphs, and has particular reference to former
Letters Patent granted to Frederick William Jowett on the Second January,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, for "Improvements in Tele-
graphic Communication." These improvements are five in number. First,
we divide the hydraulic main into sections, say, of fifty feet each in length,
and each provided with stopcocks at both ends, as exemplified in Figure 8, so
that in the case of leakage it may be ascertained, by testing these sections
successively (or as many of them as may be necessary), where the leakage
has taken place, and where, therefore, repair or replenishment is required.
Secondly, we connect the hydraulic main, by a syphon pipe p, with a supply
cistern, as indicated in Figure 10, 'so that when there is a deficiency of water
the necessary supply may be obtained immediately by opening. the stopcock m
Thirdly, for the purpose of equalizing the pressure of the water in the tube,
arising from difference of altitude along the line, we adopt the arrangements
shewn in Figure 9. We divide the tube, as before, into sections, and we
connect these sections to each other by means of inverted syphons, in which
we place a sufficient quantity of mercury to sustain the pressure of the column

page_text: of water in the section of tube at the lower end of which the syphon is placed.
Fourthly, where it is desired to communicate between any two stations
without the knowledge of or any reference to a third intermediate station, we
adopt at each station an arrangement such as that represented in Figure 11.
A, A, is a hollow plunger all in one, having a stopcock 6 in the centre.
This plunger works into two horizontal cylinders H¹ and H³. If No. 1
station is desirous of communicating exclusively with No. 3, the stopcock
in the plunger at No. 2 is opened, and the communication passes direct
through the plunger; and if No. 2 should happen to shut the cock while the
communication is going on, the plunger moves and still communicates with
No. 3. Figure 12 shews the position of the stopcock when open; and
Figure 13, the same when shut. Figure 14 shows how, for further security,
a bell may be attached to the apparatus. And, fifthly, for the purpose filling
the tubes, we wind them in lengths round an upright drum or cylinder, and
connect the lower orifice of the pipe with a cistern of fluid by means of a
syphon, and we raise the cistern and syphon gradually as the filling of the
tubes proceeds.
Fourthly, our Invention consists of an apparatus for enabling the guard
of a railway carriage or train to communicate with the driver thereof.
A, Figure 15, is an air-tight vessel with a small air pump B, which is worked
by an excentric C fixed upon the axle of the break van. The vessel A is filled
to any pressure which may be required, according to the weight upon the
safety valve D. E is a whistle. The object of this apparatus is, that by
having a supply of air under pressure the guard may signalize to the engine
driver by a continuous and shrill whistle at any time he may desire to attract
his attention.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that the improvements which
we claim are as follows:-
First, we claim the arrangements whereby the driver of a railway carriage
or train can always ascertain how far the last preceding carriage or train is
ahead, that is to say, in so far as regards the employment of the indicator, on
the hour-glass principle, in combination with the means by which the same is
actuated, as herein-before described.
Second, we claim the arrangements for the prevention of accidents in rail-
ways, tunnels, and other points of railways secondly herein-before described.
Thirdly, we claim the five several improvements in hydraulic telegraphs,
described under the third head of this Specification. And,

page_text: Fourth, we claim the apparatus for enabling the guard of a railway carriage
or train to communicate with the driver thereof, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kirkham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-two
Enrolled the Fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two.