IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY TRAINS
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Smeeton at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th December
1866.
I, JOHN SMEETON, of No. 25, Fieldgate Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS
IN SIGNALLING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY TRAINS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the arrangement or combination herein-after
described of the parts of a signalling apparatus for railway trains; by the use
of which signalling apparatus a passenger in a railway carriage may in case of
danger, or when otherwise requisite, call the attention of the guard or driver,
and indicate from which carriage the signal was given. On the outside of
each of the railway carriages of a train I hinge or joint a hollow flap in the
form of a flat box. The inside of the said flap contains a lamp, and the sides
have panes of red glass inserted in them, a door at one side giving access to
the said lamp. This hollow flap constitutes a day and night signal, as herein-
after explained. The hollow flap or signal turns on pivots or axes in brackets
attached to the side of the railway carriage. By means of these pivots the
said flap or signal may be placed parallel to the side of the carriage, or at
right angles thereto and is also capable of a limited rising and falling motion.
The bottom bracket in which the flap works has depending from it a tubular
detonating signal, the said signal being discharged in the manner herein-after
explained. The top of the detonating signal is provided with a nipple piece,
upon which a percussion cap is placed. The detonating signal screws into

page_text: the bottom bracket, the nipple piece described occupying the lower part of
the hole or depression in which the lower pivot of the hinged flap works. The
said bottom bracket is formed with two steps or parts situated in different
planes; the lower step contains the hole in which the lower pivot of the flap
works, and the upper step is made of a semicircular figure, in which the edge
of the flap is supported and on which it works. When the flap or signal
is in its normal position, that is, is situated parallel to the side of the carriage,
the inner edge of its hinged end occupies the top step on the lower bracket.
On turning the flap or signal outwards or at right angles to the side of the
carriage the flap or signal drops from the top step of the bearing to the bottom
step. By this descent of the flap its lower pivot strikes the percussion cap
on the detonating signal, and discharges the said signal. After the signalling
apparatus has been used the hinged flap is lifted to the top step of the bracket,
when it can be turned on its pivots and placed against the side of the carriage.
By removing the discharged signal and screwing a fresh one in its place the
signalling apparatus is again ready for use. A spring on the side of the.
carriage holds the signal flap in its place with sufficient force to prevent the
vibration of the carriage from throwing out the said flap. The hinged flap
or signal may be turned outwards by a passenger inside the railway carriage
by means of a chain or cord passing from the jointed end of the flap to the
inside of the carriage, the said cord or chain being furnished with a handle.
When the signalling apparatus is used in the daytime the explosion of the
detonating signal calls the attention of the guard or driver, while the hinged
flap or signal indicates from which carriage the signal was given; when the
signalling apparatus is used at night a lamp is placed in the hollow or box
of the flap, through the red panes in which the light is seen by the driver
or guard after his attention has been called by the explosion of the detonating
signal.