US1092460A - Railway signaling. - Google Patents

Description

,. -J. B. STRUBLE RAILWAY SIGNALING. APPLICATION FILED J LY 25,1 13.

Patented Apr. 7, 1914 QQ I a T N 0 g E h.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT ora ion.

d'ACOB B. STRUIBLE, OF SAN FRANCISCO,

CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE' UNION SWITCH AND SIGNAL COMPANY, OF SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- 'IION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 7, 1914.

I Original application filed March 4,1904, Serial No. 196,474. Divided and this application filed July 25,

1913. Serial No.781,084.

To all whom, it may concern:

I Be it known that I, JAooB B. STRUBLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, county of San Francisco, and State of California, formerly residing in the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and

electric railways wherein one or both of;

the track rails are used as a return conductor for the propulsion current.

It is customary in electric railways to employ direct current for operating the car on train motors and to employ one'or both of the rails as a return conductor for the propulsion current.

In the present invention I employ alternating current in the track circuits of the signaling system, to which translating mechanisms included in the track circuits, are

. responsive in their control of the railway signals.

I will describe a railway signaling system embodying my invention and then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a diagrammatic view illustrating a portion of an electric railway having a signaling system embodying my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a detail View of an impedance-in the form of a reactance or choke coil, which may be employed in my invention.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in the two views.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to Fig. 1, in the practice of my invention one of the lines of rails of the railway is divided into a series of sections 1, 2, 3, etc., by means of insulation at suitable points, while the other line of rails 4 is preferably made electrically continuous. The sections 1, 2, 8, etc., maygfhe' of any desired length and in the art each section and the opposite portion of the continuous rail 4 is generally termed a block section.

6 designates a direct current generator bonded or joined together for this purpose in the manner hereinafter described.- e

14 designates a railway signal, at least one return for the direct or propulsioncurrent is lathrough one or both track rails, they being being provided at the beginning of each block section. The railway signals 14 may be of any desired construction and they each preferably comprise a semaphore and mechanism or means for movlng the sefna- PhOl from one position of indication to another.

5 designates an alternating current,..gen.. erator. One pole of the alternatingcur'rent generator is here shown as being connected "with the line of rails 4, while the other pole of the, generator 5 is connected with a con ductor 5 extending along the line of railway, and which, at some suitable point, for v example, at the end of the railway, is electrically joined to the line of rails 4.

6 designates transformers, at .least one transformer being provided for each block section.

As shown in the drawings, the primary windings of the transformers are in series with the conductor 5*, and their secondary windings are electrically connected to the opposite lines of rails comprised in each block section. It will be understood that other arrangements of the conductors extending from the alternating current generator 5 maybe provided as well as other arrangements of the primary windings of the transformer. The employment of transformers permits of a high tension current in the transmission conductor 5 and the use of low tension currents in the track circuits.

To prevent an excessive amount of'alternating current flowing in a track circuit transformer ("i-may be built with such resistance as is well known. in the art. The

prises all OILJPOIiZlOl'lS of the track rails of track circuit of each block ,section com-2'" the'block section, a transformer or the secondary winding thereof, and a translating mechanism or device. I

8 designates translating mechanisms or devices, one being provided for each track circuit. Each translating mechanism is in the form of a relay, the coil or coils 18 of which are included in the track circuit. The armature 19 of the relay is pivotally mounted in operative relation-to the .poles of the magnet core energized by the coil or coils 18. The form of translating device andits operation is more particularly set forth in my Patent No. 819,823, issued May 1, 1906. This form of translating mechanism as set forth in the patent hereinbefore referred tois responsive to the alternating current in the track circuit for one of its operations to control a local circuit 13, which circuit includes a source of' electrical energy, and a controlling device of the mechanism of the signal 14, and when the alternatin-g current-is shunted from the coil or coils 18, for example, by the wheels and axles of the train on the track rails of the track circuit in which the translating mechanism is included, it will respond to again control the circuit 13. In other words, when alternating current is flowing through the coil or coils 18, the armature 19 will move to close the circuit 13 and when alternating current is shunted from the coil or coils 18, the armature 19 will move to open the circuit 13. In both conditions of the circuit the mechanism of the railway signal will be affected to have the semaphore thereof give difi'erent indications. Any other form of translating mechanism may be employed.

17 designates impedances in the form of reactance or choke coils (see Fig. 2), which may be constructed in accordance with the rules well known in the art. [The coils may be employed to connect adjacent ends of the insulated track sections,"and they may also be connected across the wires or conductors connecting the translating mechanisms with the track rails. These coils will permit of direct current flowing through them but will oppose 'the flow of alternating current through them, the effect, therefore, being to confine alternating current to the several track circuits and to permit direct current to pass from the trackrails of one track circuit to the track rails of another track circuit. In other words, the direct or propulsion current for the car motors may be flowing through both track rails as a return without in any way affecting the apparatus connected therewith.- Each coil is made with low ohmic resistance so as to form an easy path for direct current from rail to rail, while the flow of alternating current is opposed by the reactive effect of self-induction so that the reactance coil has a choking effect onthealternating current but not on I claim is:

the direct current. The coils and the other I instruments connected with the track circuits will be constructed in the proper proportions'and with the proper resistances to carry outmy inventiom Having thus described my invention, what 1. In combination with a railway having. one rail electrically continuous and the other divided by insulation into track sections,'of a direct current generator having one pole connected with the track rails, reactance coils connecting adjacent ends of-the' insulated sections, react-ance coils connecting the. sections with the continuous rail, and a signaling system said system comprising track circuits, an alternating current supply for each track circuit and a translating mecha-' nism for each track circuit which is operated from the alternating current in the track circuit. c

2. In anelectric railway signaling system employing a closed signal controlling one rail being divided into insulated sec-- tions corresponding to the block sections a signal for each block section operable y an alternating current, a source of alternating current for said signals, a source of direct current for propelling the railway cars, means for permittingthe direct cur-' rent to pass from one insulated rail sectionto another and for preventing alternating current'from passing from one insulated rail section to another, and an inductive bond connecting the rails comprisedin each block section.

3. In a system of electrical distribution and signaling for railways, the combinationof two sources of electrical energy delivering currents differing in character, outgoing feeder conductors, two track rails, one continuous and the other divided into sections track circuit, a plurality of block sections,

to form blocks, a reactance device interposed between each two adjacent sections, and a reactance device connected across the rails of each block.

4:. In combination, a railway the trackway of which is divided to form track sections, a direct current generator having one terminal connected with the track rails, rcactance coils connecting adjacent ends of the sections, reactance coils connecting the opposite rails of the sections, and a signaling system comprising track circuits forthe sections, a' source of alternating signaling current for each track circuit, and a translating mechanism for each track ,clrcuit which is controlled by the alternating signaling current in the track circuit.

5. In combination, an electric railway both track rails of which are included in the circuit for the propulsion current, a source of propulsion current of one charaeter,.a plurality of block sections formed bywinsulations in one of the lines of track rails; a source of signaling current connected with the rails of each section and difiering in character from the propulsion current, a translating device connected with the track rails of each section, signals controlled by said translating devices, means for permitting the propulsion current to pass from each insulated track section to the adjacent track sections and for preventing the passage of the signaling current, and means for permitting the propulsion current to pass from the insulated rail section of each block section to the other rail and for preventing the passage of the signaling current.

6. In combination, an electric railway both track rails of which are included in the circuit for the propulsion current, a source of direct propulsion current, a plurality of block sections formed by insulations in one 20 of the lines of track rails, a source of alternating signaling current connected with the rails of each section, a translating device connected with the rails of each section and responsive to the signaling current but not to the propulsion current, signals controlled by said translating devices, reactances con: necting the insulated track rail of each block section with the insulated track rail of each adjacent block section, and a reactance for each block section connecting the insulated track rail with the opposite rail.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' JACOB B. STRUBLE.

Witnesses! HENRY B. LESTER,

J OHN B. MARTIN.

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