US418258A - Electric railway-signal - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. E. 0. WILEY. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SIGNAL.

Patented Dec. 31, 1889.

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E; G. WILEY.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY SIGNAL. No. 418,258. Patented Dec. 31, 1889 "i jagmrafiile y llwrrnn dramas Earhart @rricn.

EDGAR C. WILEY, OF INDEPENDENCE, VIRGINIA.

ELECTRlG RA! LWAY-"fiG NAL..

SPEGIFICATION'forming part of Letters Patent No. H8358, dated December 31, 1889.

Application filed March 8, 1889. Serial No. 302,4:98r (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR O. WILEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Independence, in the county of Grayson and State.

of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric RailwaySignals, of which the following isa specificatioi1..' 7

My invention relates to an improvement in electric railway-signals adapted to automatically signal between moving trains approachin from opposite direction, and thereby warn the engineer of each to be on the lookout; and my invention consists in the peculiar con struction and combination of devices that will be more fully set forth hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Fignre lis an elevation of a portion of a railroad -track and of a locomotive provided with my. improved signaling apparatus. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of one of my improved electrical contact-brushes, showing the manner of arranging the same in position on a railroad-track. Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view oi a railroad-track provided with my improved electrical conductors. Fig. 4 is a similar View of an arrangement for the side track to indicate the position of the switch.

A represents the track-rails, which form the return-conductors, and 13. represents an insulated conducting-Wire, which is arrangedlongitudinally on the road-hed-and either midway between the tracks or in close proximity to the inner side of oneof the track-rails, and the said conductor 13 is arranged in a series of disconnected blocks or sections-*each of any desired length-thereby forming the conductor into sections or blocks, which are pro-' vided with contact devices, which will be hereinai'tcr described more fully, and which are designated in Fig. 3-hy the numerals l 2 3 at. The disconnected ends of the conductor will be located at points of the track where there are stations or depots at which all trains stop onslack speed. It will be understood that any desired number of the said sections will be employed, according to the length of. the track.

Arranged midway between the track-rails and at distances of, say, thirty feet apart are non-eonc'lucting blocks or plates (2, and on the same are supported contact-brushcs I), each metal and has the concave-convex portion E and the horizontal arm F. The said arnis F rest on the plates 0, and are secured. thereto by means of screws G or otherfsuit-able devices, and the conducting-wires B are passed" the brushes and are clamped between them,-

and those portions of the said conducting-' wires which are in contact with the arms- F are stripped of their insulating materials, and are thereby caused .toforin electrical contact with the brushes. v

In the cab of the locoin'otiveor inanyotlrei' suitable part of a rail'roadtrain is an electrical "gong II, which electrically connected to p le-changing device I ,.having a shifting- 7 lever K, and to a pair of cut-out plates L M,

of the usual construction, thesaid plates having central openings, in which a conducting connecting-plug N, of the usual well k'nown variety, is adapted to loeinserted. A tel'e' phone 0 or telegraphic instrunient'is in circuit].

with the plates M, and'incln'ded' in circuit, 7

With the-poles or conducti'ng-platesof the} pole-changer is a galvanic batteryP, dynamoelectric generator, or any other suitablesource of electricity.

The locomotive-frame is provided-atits ends with downwardly-c xtendli151gbracketslt to which arms R are pivotally attached. Said arms are provided with segmental plates S,

andsprings S are arranged to forcethefree A flexible conducting-'stripfl, ofcopper or other suitable material, is extended under the segment-platesS and. has its ends attached to the brackets R By the pressure of the ends of said armsi'n :a downward direction;

springs S upon the arms B it will be seen conductor 'l.- The latter isoonnectedin. cir

cult with the plates L or M by means of a wire or other conductor U, and one pole of the pole-changer is connected in circuit with circuit with the track, and hence the bell or gong will be silent; but in the event that two locomotives or trains should be 011 the same section their signaling apparatus will be connected in closed circuit and the gongs of both will be continuously sounded, thereby giving ample notice to the engineer of each train of impending danger and enabling; them to avert the possibility of a collision.

In order to prevent trains which may be simultaneously running on the track in the same direction from signaling each other, their pole-changers must be so arranged that the similar poles of their batteries will be con nected to the conductor B and to the track or return-conductor, respectively, and when thus arranged the electric circuits will be in opposition and the gongs in both locomotives will be silent, Trains running on the track in the opposite direction will have their signaling apparatus connected to the conductors in reverse polarity, and when thus arranged no two trains proceeding in opposite directions can be on the same block or section without signali'ng each other in the manner before de-,

scribed. I

In Fig. 4 I illustrate an arrangement whereby a train standing on a side track a will be signaled by an approaching train on the main track A before the latter reaches the switch I) This I accomplish by providing the side track with a conductor 13', similar in all respects to the conductor B, previously described, providing the latter with a contact plate or point X, and providing the moving switch-rod Y with a contact-plate or circuitcloser Z, which is electrically connected to the conductor B and is moved from and out of contact with the contact-plate or electro X when the switch is open and is moved into contact therewith when the switch is closed. \Vhen the latter arrz'mgemcnt is effected, the conductors B and B will be part of the same signal block or section, and as soon as a train enters said block or section, approaching the switch from the direction indicated by the arrow, it will immediately signal the train standing on the side track or moving thereon in the manner before described.

In order to enable communication to be tablished between two trains on the same blocks or section and moving toward each other, it is only necessary for the engineer of each to insert the plugs N in the cut-out plates M, and thereby cut out the gongs II from the electrical circuit and place the telephones or telegraphic instruments in said circuit, as will be very readily understood.v

Ilaving thus described my in vention, I claim- In a railway signaling apparatus, the continuous return-conductor A, the conduciorll, arranged in disconnected blocks or sections and having the electrodes 1), with the curved elastic contact-sprin gs E, arranged at suitable intervals, the electrodes attached to a locomot-i ve or train and comprising i he hinged springpressed arms It, having the seg -ncnts b, and the flexible conducting-stri ps 'l, extending under said segments S and adapted to be in contact with at least one electrode I) at all times while upon one of the blocks or sections, and the signaling mechanism and electric generators in the locomotive or trains in electric circuit with the conductor A and wit 11 the electrodes having the conducting-strips '1, all combined alid arranged su bst-an tiall y as specified.

. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto atlixcd my signature in presence of two witness s.

EDGAR (v. \VILEY. Witnesses:

- J. 11. S eenns, R. E. JOYCE.-

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