1851 Great Exhibition: Official Catalogue: Class VII.: Robert Jeffery

14. JEFFERY, ROBERT, Upper North Place, Gray's Inn Road. — Inventor.

Railway tunnel signal, intended to prevent accident to a train while in a tunnel, from being overtaken by another train. At present, if from slackness of speed, temporary stoppage, or any impediment, a train is detained in a tunnel, great alarm is felt by the passengers, lest the following train should overtake it. This invention exhibits a large white disc by day, and a lamp by night, either of which is self-acting; and it is displayed conspicuously at the upper edge of the arch, immediately on the train entering, remaining in sight until the train leaves the other end of the tunnel, when it instantly disappears. This is repeated whenever a train enters and quits the tunnel, without any assistance. The following train is always reminded by the presence or absence of the disc or lamp, whether the tunnel is clear or not. It also indicates to the authorities, by any unusual length of time during which the disc is in sight, the existence of some interruption in the tunnel.

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