US512051A - Electrically-controlled railway-signal - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet- I.

F. MOBRIEN- ELEUTRIGALLY GONTROLLED RAILWAY SIGNAL. No. 512,051.

Patented Jan. 2 1894.

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(No Model-.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

P. MOBRIEN. ELEGTRIOALLY CONTROLLED RAILWAY SIGNAL.

No. 512,051. Patented Jan. 2, 1894.

" l llllllih Q wvmeooeo @51 M4 abbowwqa THE lu'nonm. u-moammmca COMPANY.

WASHINGTON. n. c.

I UNITED STATES PATENT EETQE.

FRANK MOBRIEN, OF NEWARK, NElV JERSEY.

ELECTRlCALLY-CONTROLLED RAILWAY-SIGNAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 512,051, dated January 2, 1894.

Application filed September 25,1893. Serial No. 486,419. (No model.)

cheapen the construction, and insure the safety of operation of such devices.

In carrying outthe invention a signal device will be located at one end of each protected section or district of the railway, and where a number of signals are used, the line of way will be divided into a plurality of sections of a suitable length, and asignal placed at one end of each section. Each signal will be automatically set by a train entering the protected district, and willremain set until the entire train shall have passed out of said district, when electrical releasing devices will be automatically operated, which will restore the signal to its normal condition. In a prior application filed by me on the 27th day of July, 1893, Serial No. 481,599, such a system was described,but involvedan insulated wire extending between the terminals of a section or protected district to control the releasing devices. My present invention dispenses with the use of such an insulated wire, and the rails of the track are made to accomplish the same result. The successive rails will preferably be bonded at their joints by goodrestoring circuit and its connections are operat ve with any signal which may be automatically set by the entrance of a train, I prefer to use a mechanically set signal, such as that described in a patent to James Wayland, No. 492,598, dated February 28, 1893.

An important feature of' the invention is the concentration of all the operating and controlling apparatus, aside from the track, at the signal station. I

' Another important feature is the influence exerted by the position of the signal itself upon the controlling devices. 7

The several features of novelty of the invention will be more particularly hereinafter explained, and will be definitely indicated in the claims appended to this specification.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention, Figure 1 is a sectional view, partly in elevation, of the Wayland type of signal above referred to, with my improvements attached, and Fig. 2 is a diagram showing two successive signals and their connections with two sections of a railway track.

At the entrance of each section will be placed a signaling device, such as a semaphore, which will be automatically set by the entering train. The apparatus for setting the signal as shown in Fig. 1 comprises a pivoted tread-lever 1 placed at the side of a rail 2 and provided with an inclined shoulder 3, which forces laterally a pivoted arm at against the tension of a stout spring 5, when the tread-lever is depressed by the weight of a passing train. The arm 4 is provided with a beveled shoulder cooperating with a shoulder on the tread-lever 1. In the drawings, the tread-lever 1 is shown depressed, and the co-operation of the two shoulders forces the lever laterally against the tension of its spring and looks it in such position by reason of the shoulder 3 interlocking with the shoulder on the arm 4. A sliding connection is formed between a rod or tube inclosed by the spring and a headed rod 6 pivotally connected with a bell-crank lever 7 mounted on suitable bearings at the base of the signal post. One end of the bell-crank lever is flexibly connected with a vertical rod 8 connected at its upper end to a semaphore provided with a counter-balance 9. A stud bolt 10 is provided on extension of the rod 6, and co-operates with the hooked extension of a weighted lever 11, which is provided with a latch engaging a detent onan armature 12 of a restoring electro-magnet 13.

From the construction thus far described it Will be seen thatwhen the tread-lever 1 is depressed by a passing train, it will first compress the spring 5 and lock it in the compressed condition, the sliding connection between the tube inclosed by the spring and the rod 6 permitting this to occur instantaneously under the weight of the engine. The rod 6 will then be free to be shifted laterally by the bell-crank lever 7, under the influence of the counter-balance 9 of the semaphore, and the semaphore Will rise to a danger position, where it' will remain until the electro-magnet 13 is energized, when the weighted lever 11 will be unlatched and, dropping, its hooked extension near the pivot will strike stud bolt 10 and shift the lever 6 sufficiently far to permit the spring-pressed tread-lever 1 to rise, thus releasing the spring 5 and permitting it to exert a sudden thrust upon the weighted lever 11 and again lift it to or a little beyond the position shown in the drawings, where it will again be latched, because the releasing action which energized the magnet 13 was only momentary, and simultaneously the bellcrank lever draws down the semaphore and elevates its counter-weight.

In order to control the releasing magnet so that it will only be actuated after a train has entirely passed out of the protected section, I provide the signal with a relay 14: normally connected in closed relation to a battery 15, but provided at its two sides with direct connections 16, 17 with the two rails of the track.

' The armature of the relay is connected in a releasing circuit containing a battery 18 and two circuit-closing devices, one of which is the armature of the relay itself, and the other of which is a circuit-closer 19 mounted on the signal rod 8. So long as either of these circuit controlling devices is open the magnet 13 will be de-energized. The circuit-closer 19 is automatically set in closed relation to its contacts, by the passage of a train and the setting of a signal, but during the presence of any part of a train in the protected section the relay is de-energized, being shortcircuited by the wheels of the train, and the releasing circuitwill therefore be maintained inoperative until the train has completely passed out of the section, when, the short-circuit by way of the rails being opened, the relay armature is attracted and the releasing circuit closed by way of the circuit-closer 19, thus energizing the releasing magnet, lifting the latch 12, permitting the weighted lever 11 to release the spring 5, and draw down the semaphore to a safety position against the counter-balance 9. It will thus be seen that all of the controlling apparatus of the signal is localized at the signal station itself and no insulated wires are required between the successive section's, thus dispensing with considerable expense of wiring, nor are any track instruments, except the mechanical device 1 which sets the signal, needed. It will also be seen that the battery which controls the relay being closely ad acent to the same, the operation of the system will not be interfered with by wet weather, for by making the resistance of the relay coll comparatively low, an absolute short-circuit, such as is afforded by the wheel and axle of a car, will be required to cause the relay armature to drop off. A wide margin of safety is thus afforded and with a small local battery. Moreover, no change of adjustment of the relay is required to make it operative 1n different kinds of weather. If the circuit connections, as is ordinarily the case, ran from the distant end of a section, leakage of current in wet weather would be sufficient to render a readjustment of the relay necessary. By reason of the connections it will be evident that if a train should break and part ofit pass out of the protected district, any part of 1t which remained in the district would prevent a clear signal to an approaching train. The employment of the auxiliarycircuit-closer 19 prevents any malicious interference with a signaling device, for, if the tread-lever should be accidentally or maliciously operated, so as to raise the semaphore to a danger position, the circuit-closer 19 would close the c rcuit of the battery 18 on magnet 13, and thus hold up the armature 12, thus permitting the weight to drop back and release the spr ng 8 to draw the semaphore back to a posltion of safety, during which the circuit-closer 19 opens the circuit at that point and permits armature 12 to drop off and latch the welght when thrown up under the stress of the spring 5.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a railway signal a mechanically operated signal set by a passing train, a releasing magnet for the signal, and a circuit closer operated by the signal when set toclose a circuit containing the releasing magnet, and thereby restore the signal if operated w1thout the presence of a train. a

2. A railway signal comprising a signal device and means for setting the same, a releasing magnet, a normally chargedrelay con.- trolling the releasing magnet, and electric connections from the sides of the relay directly to the track, whereby danger of restoring the signal by leakage of current is avoided.

3. A railway signal provided with means for automatically setting a signal, a releasing magnet, a relay in a continuously closed local circuit controlling said. magnet, and branch connections from the sides of the re lay to the track rails, all of said instrumentalities being placed at the signal station,

4. A railway signal provided with a signal device at the end of a section, means for'automatically setting the same upon the passcribed my name this 22d day of September, sage of a train, a relay or electro-magnet of A. D. 1893. low resistance controlling the releasing of the signal,a local battery in operative relation to I FRANK MCBRIEN' 5 the relay, and branch connections from the Witnesses: v

sides of the relay to the track rails. ROBT. H. READ,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto sub- JOHN T. MURPHY.

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