IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH SAFETY SIGNALLING AND INDI- CATING APPARATUS FOR MINE AND OTHER SHAFTS OR WAYS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George William Smith, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Civil and Mining Engineer, for the Invention of
" IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH SAFETY SIGNALLING AND INDI-
CATING APPARATUS FOR MINE AND OTHER SHAFTS OR WAYS."
Sealed the 22nd February 1878, and dated the 27th August 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George William Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th August 1877.
GEORGE WILLIAM SMITH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Civil and Mining Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH SAFETY
SIGNALLING AND INDICATING APPARATUS FOR MINE AND OTHER SHAFTS OR WAYS."
This Invention relates to signalling and indicating apparatus, such as is used in
connection with colliery and other similar shafts or ways, and has for its object to
provide a very simple and at the same time perfectly safe and reliable means of
communicating signals between the "bottomer," or attendant at the bottom of the
shaft, and the engineman controlling the winding apparatus at the pit head.
In apparatus of the kind referred to, the signals have usually been made audible
only, as by the striking of a gong, or have given but imperfect and unsafe indica-
tions; but by the present improvements, whilst the sounding or audible signal is
retained, the mechanism controlling it is arranged to act on a visible indicator of
novel construction, which communicating instructions simultaneously with the gong
shows when the hoisting and lowering operation may be safely proceeded with.
In carrying out the Invention, the usual signalling lever at the bottom of the
shaft is connected by means of wires and a series of bell-crank levers to a hammar,
which acts on a gong situated in any convenient part of the engine house at the pit
head, and immediately above the gong is placed an index plate, having in it a
vertical slot, through which two markers or indexes project from vertical sliding

page_text: bars, to which they are attached behind the plate. These bars are movable
vertically in guides, and on each depression of the signalling lever are raised a step
or stage to positions in which the indexes correspond with figured points on the face of
the index plate by means of a hinged tongue piece on an arm of the last of the series
of bell cranks acted on by the signalling lever, this tongue piece on rising coming in
contact with steps or projections on one of the vertical sliding bars, and the other
bar being lifted by a projecting arm on the lower end of the first bar. When raised,
these sliding bars, being notched or indented on their outer edges, are retained in
their positions by ratchet pawls. These pawls have on them projecting pins,
and are actuated by a wire connected through a series of bell cranks with levers
formed on folding bars or doors placed at the entrance to each working seam in the
shaft. One of these folding bars or doors must be raised by the "bottomer" before
a hutch or tub can pass to the cage in one division of the shaft, but when the hutch
has been securely placed, on the cage, that folding bar is lowered, and acting
through its wire lifts the ratchet pawl from one of the sliding index bars, which
bar, with the corresponding index or marker, then falls to zero or "all
clear," a weighted hammer at the same time being released so as to strike the gong.
The cage with its hutch or tub in the first division of the shaft being then raised by
the engineman, the opposite cage and hutch in the adjoining division descends. On
the cage reaching the bottom, a folding bar or door at the entrance to the seam is
lifted to let off the hutch, and this bar acting through its wire on the second ratchet
pawl lifts it, and allows its corresponding index bar and index to fall to zero, thus
leaving the indicator clear for the next series of signals.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George William Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
February 1878.
GEORGE WILLIAM SMITH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Civil and Mining Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH SAFETY
SIGNALLING AND INDICATING APPARATUS FOR MINE AND OTHER SHAFTS OR WAYS."
My said Invention relates to signalling and indicating apparatus, such as is used
in connection with colliery and other similar shafts or ways, and has for its object
to provide a very simple and at the same time perfectly safe and reliable means of
communicating signals between the "bottomer," or attendant at the bottom of the
shaft, and the engineman controlling the winding apparatus at the pit head.
In apparatus of the kind referred to, the signals have hitherto been usually made
audible only, as by the striking of a gong or plate, or have given but imperfect and
unsafe indications; but by my present improvements, whilst the sounding or
audible sigual is retained, the mechanism controlling it is arranged to act on a
visible indicator of novel construction, which, besides communicating instructions
simultaneously with the gong, also shows when the hoisting and lowering operations
may be safely proceeded with.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of explanatory Drawings,
to be herein-after referred to, and representing a modification of my improved
safety signalling and indicating apparatus. In these Drawings the same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet 1 of the Drawings, are vertical sections, taken as at
right angles to each other, of a colliery shaft fitted with my improved signalling
and indicating apparatus; and Figures 3, 4, and 5, on Sheet 2, are respectively a
front elevation, a sectional end elevation, and a back elevation of the improved
indicating apparatus, drawn to a larger scale.
In carrying out my said Invention the usual signalling lever or slide bar 1 at the
bottom of the shaft is connected by means of a wire 2 to a bell-crank lever 3 formed
on the sounding hammer at the pit head, and the wire 2 is continued from an arm
of the lever 3 over a pulley 4 to a weight 5 (shown in Figure 4) at the back of the
indicating apparatus or indicator in the engine house. The weight 5 bears on the
outer end of a lever 6, which is centred on a bracket 7 fixed to the back of an index
plate S. The inner end of this lever 6 is connected by a chain 9 to a bell-crank
lever 10, which acts on a short lever arm 11 of a hammer 12; and when the side
bar 1 is depressed to convey a signal to the engineman, the weight 5 drops, and
through the levers 6, 10, 11, and chain 9 actuates the hammer 12, causing it to strike
a bell or gong 13. The inner end of the lever 6 also carries a hinged tongue piece 14,
which on each depression of the weight 5 engages one of a series of steps 15 on a
vertical sliding bar 16, raising the bar one step or stage. The movable bar 16 is
provided with slides or catches 17 embracing a fixed bar. 18 serving as a guide, and
there is also attached to it a red marker or index 19 projecting through a slot 20 in
the index plate 8, and marking or indicating the number of steps or stages through
which the bar 16 has been raised, and consequently the nature of the signal made by
the attendant working the side bar 1. On the lower end of the bar 16 there is formed
a foot piece 21, which supports a second vertical bar 22 sliding on a guide bar 23,
and having a white index 24 attached to it. This bar 22 is always raised by the foot
21 along with the bar 16, and its index 24 is during the ascent hid or "blinded"
by the red index 19. The index bar 16 has notches 25 cut in its side, and when
raisedtis retained in its position by a pawl 26. This pawl has on it a projecting
pin 27 held loosely in a slot in a horizontal bar or link 28, carried by levers 29, 30

page_text: centred on the back of the index plate 8. One arm of the lever 30 has a loop
at its end holding a weight 31, which is hung on a wire 32, passing like the wire 2
into the pit shaft, and the main wire 32 is connected by short wires 33 to lever arms
34 on the ends of folding bars or rods of hollow metal 35, protecting the entrance
to each working seam in the shaft. One of these protector bars 35 has to be raised
before a hutch or tub can pass from the seam to the cage in one division of the shaft,
but when the hutch has been securely placed on the cage, that bar is lowered or
swung round, and its arm 34, acting through the wires 33, 32, lifts the weight 31.
The weight 31 no longer retaining the lever 30 and link 28 in the position shown,
a small balance weight 36, suspended from the lever 29, causes that lever to turn on
its centre and move the link 28 towards the right. This movement of the link 28
allows the end of the slot to come in contact with the pin 27, relieving the pawl 26,
and permitting the index bar 16, with the red index, to drop to zero.
At the same
time a small knuckle jointed lever 37 on the end of the lever 29 presses aside and
passes over an arm 38 connected to a hammer 39, causing it to strike the gong 13.
The movement of the link 28, which lifts the pawl 26, also causes a second pawl 40
to engage in a corresponding notch 41 in the index bar 22, retaining it in the
position to which it has been raised, and its index 24 still continues to show the
instructions signalled. Thus, whilst a protector bar is raised during the passage
of a hutch, or the sending of a signal, the red index 19 only is seen on the indicator,
and serves as a danger signal; but when that index falls on the lowering of the
protector bar, the white index 24, being displayed, shows the engineman that he
may safely proceed to hoist the cage.
When the cage with its hutch or tub in the first division of the shaft is raised,
the opposite cage and hutch in the adjoining division descends, and on reaching the
bottom, the protector bar 35, at the opposite entrance to the seam, is lifted to let
off the hutch, and this bar 35, acting through the wires 33, 32, lowers the weight 31,
causing the link 28 to move back again to the position shown on the Drawing
(Figure 5), and lift the pawl 40, when the index bar 22, and its corresponding
white index 24 fall to zero, thus leaving the indicator clear for the next series of
signals. As soon as the protector bar 35 is lowered, after the passage of the butch
into the seam, the weight 31 rises, and the pawl 40 then engages a notch 41 in the
index bar 22, preventing either index bar rising and any signal being made on the
gong 13 until a protector bar has been again lifted by the attendant at the entrance
to the seam.
When two or more seams are worked in one shaft, the protector bars at the
entrances to the various seams are connected by the wires 33 to the main wire 32,
and the raising of any one bar 35, drawing down the wire 32, prevents a bar at any
other entrance acting on it; but if, when the cage is in motion in the shaft, and all
the bars 35 are down, any protector bar should be raised, leaving the access to the
shaft open, the white index 24 will immediately fall down behind the red index at
zero, and give the engineman warning of danger.
The graduation marks, shown on the index plate 8, suffice for the. signalling
arrangements of an ordinary colliery shaft, but they may be extended or varied to
meet the requirements of any shaft, the steps and notches on the index bars being
correspondingly extended or varied.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the
precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel
and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The arrangement and combination of parts forming safety signalling and
indicating apparatus for mine and other similar shafts or ways, substantially as
herein-before described.
2. The arrangement and combination of parts forming an indicator for mine and
other similar shafts, substantially as hercin-before described.

page_text: 3. The arrangement of protector bars (35) operating in connection with signalling
and indicating apparatus, substantially in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George William Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
Vitness,
WALLACE FAIRWEATHER, C.E.,
Patent Agent,
134, St. Vincent Street,
Glasgow.
GEO. W. SMITH. (L.S.)