77 



Mr. Gardner Morse, of Leominster, entered a box of beau- 

 tifully finished shell combs, from his manufactory, which com- 

 manded much admiration. They were fully entitled to a 

 premium, but through some mistake in the arrangement of 

 articles, the Committee did not know of their being entered, 

 until after their awards were made. 



By request, the Committee examined a new signal for 

 Railroad Bridges and Crossings, one of which is in operation 

 on the Vt. & Mass. Railroad, the invention of Mr. Geo. L. 

 Whitney, of Fitchburg, and one which cannot fail to do much 

 towards preventing those fatal bridge accidents so common 

 on our railroads. It is a signal to be placed at a distance of 

 eighty or a hundred rods from any bridge, and consists of a 

 bell suspended by a crane directly over the track, some ten 

 feet higher than the top of a car. An iron rod with an elbow 

 at the top of the crane post, connects this bell with a shaft 

 running from the foot of the post under the rail, the end of 

 this shaft being flattened into a pedal, raised just enough to 

 be pressed upon by the flange of the car wheel, so that the 

 bell is rung directly over the head of the brakeman, by every 

 wheel passing over the pedal ; that is, the bell continues to 

 ring until the whole train has passed by the signal ; a warning 

 that cannot be unheeded, of the danger at hand. 



It is obvious that this simple but ingenious contrivance can 

 be made equally successful at crossings, where frequently, 

 owing to the direction of the wind, or a short curve, the ap- 

 proach of the train is not discovered in season. To serve 

 this purpose, the bell may be hung over the crossing, and by 

 means of poles, connected by a stout wire or rod with the 

 shaft and pedal above described, so that the bell at the cross- 

 ing, will, by its continued ringing, give warning of the ap- 

 proach of a train, to passengers on the highways near the 

 crossings, in season to provide for their safety. Had this in- 

 vention of Mr. Whitney's been applied to the crossing on the 

 Camden & Amboy road, the late terrible slaughter near Bur- 

 lington would not have occurred. 



