IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR SIGNALLING UPON RAILWAYS
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION,
We THOMAS ABBOTT of the County Asylum Lancaster in the County of
Lancaster, Clerk of Works, and MILES HAWTHORNTHWAITE of Cable Street also
in Lancaster, Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR SIGNALLING UPON
RAILWAYS" to be as follows:-
Our Invention has for its object to give warning signals to engine drivers and to
guards or officials in charge of Railway trains. In ordinary practice it is frequently
necessary to give special warning signals to engine drivers as for example at times
when repairs to the permanent way are in progress or at times when the ordinary
signals cannot be distinctly seen. For these purposes so termed fog signals are
used to a great extent and other means necessitating the temporary stationing of
men upon the line are also used. According to our Invention we arrange for a
warning signal to be given upon the engine or in the guards van or in any suitable
part of the train by means of a whistle gong or signal apparatus actuated by means
of an incline or part placed in position to act upon a lever or part which is connected
with the signal apparatus. In the arrangement which we consider to be suitable a
lever is connected with the cock or valve of the whistle or of a whistle and is
formed with a long curve suitable to run up an incline. The incline is double so
as to act both ways and is portable so that it can be conveyed to any required
place and placed in position upon the sleepers or ballast. By preference the said
lever is in a central position so that the incline would occupy a central position
between the rails and would act upon the lever of an engine in whatever direction
or relative position it was running. The same incline might act upon a lever or
part to sound a gong or alarm in the guards van. We may use any form of
appliance to act upon the lever. The whistle valve may be closed by means of a
spring or weight and an air cylinder or a check or time apparatus be used to
regulate the time during which the whistle shall sound or the length or form of the
incline might govern the duration and character of the signal. When used by plate
layers the signal will serve the double purpose of cautioning the driver and of
warning the plate-layers of the approach of the train or engine When not required
to act the incline may be removed or be simply moved out of its central position.
In some cases we inay fit the incline to slide upon ways or to be moved into or out
of its acting position by means of rods or appliances which can be operated upon
from a distant point or from a signal box.
Dated this 27th day of Tune 1994

page_text: "
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
We THOMAS ABBOTT of the County Asylum, Lancaster, in the County of
Lancaster, Clerk of Works, and, MILES HAWTHORNTHWAITE of Cable Street, also
in Lancaster, Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR SIGNALLING UPON
RAILWAYS and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying
drawings:-
31
Our Invention has for its object to give warning signals to engine drivers and
to guards or officials in charge of railway trains. In ordinary practice it is
frequently necessary to give special warning signals to engine drivers as for
example at times when repairs to the permanent way are in progress or at times
when the ordinary signals cannot be distinctly seen. For these purposes so termed
fog signals are used to a great extent and other means necessitating the temporary
stationing of men upon the line are used. According to our Invention we arrange
for a warning signal to be given upon the engine or in the guard's van or in any
suitable part of the train by means of a whistle, gong, or signal apparatus actuated
by means of an incline.
In the accompanying sheet of drawings we have illustrated suitable means for
carrying our Invention into effect and in order that the said Invention may be
fully understood we will describe the same with reference to the said drawings.
Fig 1 illustrates the manner in which we propose to sound the whistle or a
whistle upon a locomotive. In the said Fig. a represents a portion of a locomotive
b is a whistle and c is the incline. The steam cock or valve which admits steam to
the whistle is arranged to be opened and closed by means of a rod d which is
connected with a lever e. The said rod may be connected with the handle of the
steam cock or by preference with the lever or spindle of a special valve with which
the whistle is provided in addition to the ordinary cock. The lever e is fixed upon
a shaft which is mounted in bearings in. the hangers fand upon the same shaft is
'fixed a second lever g which is provided with a bowl or wheel h. The free end of
this lever is connected by means of a link with the rod of a piston which works in
an air cylinder i. This cylinder is provided with valves suitably adapted to permit
of the quick movement of the piston in one direction whilst retarding movement in
the other direction in a manner which is well understood. The incline is made
of a double form so that it will act upon the whistle sounding apparatus when the
locomotive is moving in either direction. For ordinary use by plate-layers we
propose to make this incline in a portable form so that it can be readily transported
from place to place and be put down in position between the rails at any part of
the line to suit the requirements of the plate-layers. For this purpose the incline
may have feet which when the incline is placed in position take bearings upon two
or more of the sleepers. In order. that the incline may be double acting it is
necessary that the boul h carried by the engine shall be in a central position with

page_text: respect to the engine wheels. It is then only necessary to place the incline centrally
between the rails. Upon a locomotive provided with the sounding apparatus
passing over the incline the boul h will run up the incline whereby the rod d will
be pushed upward and the whistle will thereby be sounded and will continue to
act for a longer or shorter time after the incline has been passed according to the
adjustment of the time regulator i. If not considered to be necessary this time
regulator may be dispensed with but we prefer to use it as it will enable us to use
shorter and therefore more portable inclines. When the signals are not required for
a time the incline may be shifted side-ways a short distance. In the example the
incline is not represented as being portable as the construction of such an incline
would readily be understood without the aid of drawings. The incline is repre-
sented as being sustained by means of two bell crank levers k, k, which are connected
together and are actuated by means of a rod l which is in connection with a lever
suitably situated as for example in some cases the said rod would be in commu-
nication with a signal box. By means of this rod the incline can be raised into
action or lowered out of action. When so arranged the incline may remain per-
manently in position and be used when required in place of fog signalling or
otherwise to sound an alarm when desirable. In Fig: 2 a modification in the
method of actuating the rod d is illustrated. We do not confine ourselves to any
particular arrangement of parts for operating upon the steam valve or cock.
place of the bowl h we may use a curved shoe. Fig: 3 illustrates a modification in
the method of mounting the incline. In this example the incline is hinged so that
it can be turned over side-wise by the action of the rod k when not required to
act as indicated by the dotted lines. In Fig: 4 the incline is similarly hinged to
supporting feet m and can be turned over by the hand or foot of the plate layer.
We might mount the incline upon slides and slide it bodily into and out of its
working position. Although we have shown and described our Invention as being
applied in part to a locomotive we do not confine ourselves to this application as
the incline might act upon a lever or part carried by the guards van or by a
passenger coach or otherwise located in a train than upon the engine and might in
some cases be arranged to sound a gong or to move an indicator or both or otherwise
to give a suitable warning."
In
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
1. The apparatus for sounding a whistle fitted to a locomotive and arranged to
be operated when required by means of an incline placed or mounted in position
between the rails substantially as and for the purposes set forth and indicated.
2. The portable inclines for placing between the rails of permanent way in
combination with levers or parts which effect the opening of a steam valve or cock
upon a locomotive so as to cause the sounding of the whistle or which act upon
other sounding or signalling apparatus fitted in any suitable part of the train
substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated.
3. The inclines arranged to be raised and lowered and moved into and out of
their acting positions substantially as and for purposes set forth and indicated.
Dated this 27th day of March 1885