IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY INDICATING AND SIGNALLING APPARATUSES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Ernest Aimont, of Paris, in the French
Empire, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
INDICATING AND SIGNALLING APPARATUSES."
Sealed the 19th October 1858, and dated the 22nd April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Ernest Aimont at
..the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th April 1858.
I, PIERRE ERNEST AIMONT, of Paris, in the French Empire, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY INDICATING AND SIGNALLING APPARATUSES," to be as follows:-
.The object of this Invention is to afford to drivers of locomotive engines
used on railways indications of their exact position upon the line at any and
every point of the journey, of the time of the day or night, and of the speed at
which they are travelling, and also to provide means by which, either ordi-
narily, or in the event of an accident to a train or to the permanent way, a
signal of danger or otherwise may be given to a train approaching the spot in
either direction. And the Invention consists in the construction of an indi-
cating apparatus as follows:-Upon a disc of card or other suitable material
are marked around the circumference thereof a number of points representing
the relative positions of all the stations, crossings, curves, and other places, with
the positions of which it is desirable that the driver should be acquainted,

page_text: these points all being spaced off according to their distances apart from a
starting point which represents the terminus from which the train is to start.
The disc thus marked has a central aperture, behind which a watch, clock, or
chronometer is placed, so that the face of it may be visible through the
aperture, and near the edge of the disc a fixed needle or pointer is placed.
Behind the said needle or pointer the card is made to rotate by means of
gearing driven by the axle of the locomotive, the gearing being so pro-
portioned and adjusted, that while the locomotive travels from one station to
another the point on the disc which represents the former station shall move
from the needle, and that which represents the latter station shall arrive at it.
An engine driver provided with such an apparatus, by inspecting the disc will
observe the exact position of his train upon the line, by inspecting the time-
piece will observe the time, and by comparing the two will observe the speed
at which he is travelling. The apparatus, being entirely independent of
external influences, will not be liable to error or failure from fog, darkness,
or other like causes. In some cases I prefer working the apparatus before
described, or a modification of the same, by means of a rod attached to the
locomotive. This rod carries at its lower end a spring, or other rod or pro-
jection, which extends downward near to the rail or road: In the road is
fitted a rocking lever, which ordinarily lies clear of the locomotive and all
connected with it, but which, when a wire or string attached to it is pulled,
rises up so as to come in contact with the rod or projection of the locomotive
when that passes the spot, and thus communicates motion by suitable toothed
or ratchet wheels to the rotating parts of the indicating apparatus. The wire
or string attached to the rocking lever is supported upon pulleys and extended
over any required distance, and any required number of rocking levers may be
amploved
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Ernest Aimont in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
ERNEST AIMONT, of Paris, in the French Empire, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant

page_text: unto me, the said Pierre Ernest Aimont, Her special licence that I, the said
Pierre Ernest Aimont, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Pierre Ernest Aimont, 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 RAILWAY INDICATING AND SIGNALLING APPARATUSES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre Ernest Aimont, 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 Pierre Ernest Aimont, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to afford to drivers of locomotive engines,
used on railways, indications of their exact position upon the line at any and
every point of the journey, of the time of the day or night, and of the speed at
which they are travelling, and also to provide means by which, either ordinarily
or in the event of an accident to a train or to the permanent way, a signal of
danger or otherwise may be given to a train approaching the spot in either
direction. And the Invention consists in the construction of an indicating
apparatus, as follows:-Upon a disc of card or other suitable material are
marked around the circumference thereof a number of points representing the
relative positions of all the stations, crossings, curves, and other places with the
positions of which it is desirable that the driver should be acquainted, these
points all being spaced off, according to their distances apart, from a starting
point, which represents the terminus from which the train is to start. The
disc thus marked has a central aperture, behind which a watch, clock, or
chronometer is placed, so that the face of it may be visible through the
aperture, and near the edge of the disc a fixed needle or pointer is placed.
Behind the said needle. or pointer the card is made to rotate by means of
gearing driven by the axle of the locomotive, the gearing being so proportioned
and adjusted that while the locomotive travels from one station to another, the

page_text: point on the disc which represents the former station shall move from the
needle, and that which represents the latter station shall arrive at it. An
engine driver, provided with such an apparatus, by inspecting the disc will
observe the exact position of his train upon the line, by inspecting the time-
piece will observe the time, and by comparing the two will observe the speed
at which he is travelling. The apparatus being entirely independent of
external influences will not be liable to error or failure from fog, darkness,
or other like causes. In some cases I prefer working the apparatus before
described, or a modification of the same, by means of a rod attached to the
locomotive. This rod carries at its lower end a spring or other rod or pro-
jection, which extends downward near to the rail or road. In the road is
fitted a rocking lever, which ordinarily lies clear of the locomotive and all
connected with it, but which, when a wire or string attached to it is pulled,
rises up so as to come in contact with the rod or projection of the locomotive
when that passes the spot, and thus communicates motion by suitable toothed
or ratchet wheels to the rotating parts of the indicating apparatus. The wire
or string attached to the rocking lever is supported upon pulleys, and extended
over any required distance, and any required number of rocking levers may be
employed.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have represented the best method
of carrying my Invention into effect with which I am acquainted. Figure 1
is an end view of a locomotive fitted according to it; Figure 2 is a lateral
view of the principal parts partly in section; Figure 3 is a separate view of
the indicator card face; Figure 4 is an elevation of the apparatus fitted on
the railroad for giving motion, when desired, to the locomotive apparatus;
Figure 5 is a plan of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a general view, on a small scale,
of the engine and its apparatus. In this Figure an endless screw is shewn
fitted upon the axle to impart motion to the apparatus. Figure 7 is a detached
view of part of the road apparatus, showing the internal arrangement;
Figure 8 is a view of part of a railway fitted with the said road apparatus.
Both the construction and the mode of working of the several parts will be
understood from the following description.
The locomotive being in motion, the rod a will come in contact with the
rail or bar A, which will move the lower part of a from right to left about the
bolt or axis b, and therefore the upper part of it from left to right, bringing
that part against the cam or incline c. This cam c is connected to. and
therefore moves the piece d, which again has connected to it and moves the
catch e.
The cam c is also moved vertically upwards, and thus, by means of
the catch e, moves the ratchet wheel 9 round one tooth. On the same axles

page_text: or arbor as the wheel g, which has, say, 80 teeth, is the pinion h, having an
equal number of teeth, and this pinion gears into a wheel i, with, say, ten
times its number of teeth. Upon the axle of this wheel i the indicating
pointer or needle is fixed. It is evident that if a bar A be placed at every
500 yards on the line, then the wheel g will be moved round one tooth every
500 yards, and the wheels g and h will each make one revolution while the
train travels 40,000 yards. In like manner it will be seen that the large
wheel i, and therefore the pointer, will make one revolution for every
400,000 yards travelled. The spring k, attached to the lever a, comes
against the cross piece 1, and returns it to the stop m. To prevent the
oscillating motion proceeding from curves in the line of way causing the
lever a to deviate from its position, the cam c is so made as that when
the lever a has raised it to its highest point it can pass under it without
further moving it.
If any danger occur on the line of way, a labourer or any other person
puts the bars A and B on the incline. In order that these bars may be the
means of sounding an alarum, a descending arm n, composed of two moveable
pieces, is fixed to the lower end of a rod o. One moveable piece imparts an
upward motion to the rod o when the train is moving in one direction, and
the other moveable piece imparts to it a like motion when the train is moving
in the opposite direction. At the upper end of it the rod o carries an incline
p, which by means of the arm q imparts motion to the hammer r. When
the arm n has passed the bar A, the spring t placed between the shoulders u
and throws down the rod o, and allows the hammer to descend and strike
the bell sharply, thereby warning the driver of the danger. If on the
contrary the engine runs back or in the opposite direction, the arm x comes
against the bar B, and moves it from left to right; the movement is trans-
mitted to the levers y and z, which communicate it to the rods a¹, b¹, which
again impress a movement from right to left on the secondary lever c' fixed
on the lever d'. The lever d' is thus moved about the axis bas in the
former case; the upper end of it comes therefore against the incline of the
lever e¹, the other end of which is connected to the rising and falling piece f',
which moves in a guide. This piece f¹ moves the catch or lever g', which
thereby is caused to move the wheel 9 round one tooth in the opposite-
direction. When the engine is backed, the catch e should be withdrawn
from the wheel g by the button h¹; the secondary levers c¹ are also raised by
a handle ¹, the said levers sliding in the guides k. If the machine runs
back, and there is danger, the bars are raised, as we have before seen.
arm, composed of two parts like the arm n, fulfils the same function as
The

page_text: that, only the movement is different. If the arm 1 encounters the bar, it
turns the shaft m¹ in its bearings, and the bar gives motion to the curved
arm n¹, and forces it under the arm n, which is connected to the bell, and
acts in the manner already described.
At the points and crossings, the cords which work the discs and bars along
the line are enclosed in tubes to prevent accidents. The bell is of course
sounded only when the line bars are raised for the purpose. The arrange-
ment and mode of action of the line apparatus are illustrated in Figure 8.
If any obstacle exists on the way, an attendant descends and turns down the
arm, on which the disc 0¹ 4, is carried into the position shown. The cord of
this disc passes over a pulley p¹, and returns to the discs 0¹ 2, and 01 3.
These are therefore thrown up into the positions shewn, and thus raise the
bars A, B, which rest upon a piece attached to them. The arms carrying
these two discs are sustained by the supports q'. When the train has passed,
the attendant turns down the disc 0' 3, and thus restores all the parts to their
former positions. The cords are wound round the axles of the discs, and are
kept extended by means of a ratchet wheel and lever catch, as shewn in
Figure 7. This method of extending cords may be applied with advantage
to other discs already in use on railways. The discs may be connected and
disconnected, if desired, by means of hooks and eyes.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim the construction
and operation of railway indicating and signalling apparatuses essentially as
herein-before described, and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Ernest Aimont, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD, Ing" Civil,
23, Boulevd de Strasbourg,
à Paris.
P. E. AIMONT. (L.S.)