US1190173A - Automatic train-stopping and recording device. - Google Patents

Description

F. F. HUDSON. DECD. A HUDSON. ADMINISTRATRIX AUTOMATIC TRAIN STOPPING AND mzcoaome DEViCE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE-I0, l9l4. 1,190,173. Patented July 4,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l- WITNESSES A TTORNEYS F. F. HUDSON. DECD. I

A. HUDSON. 'ADMINISTRATRIX.

AUTOMATIC TRAIN STOPPING AND RECORDING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE I0, I9I4.

1 ,-1 90, 1 73. Patented July 4, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

, fkiozw/a/r fi'fia/asa/ MA B y W ATTORNEYS F. F. HUDSON. DECD.

A. HUDSON, ADMINISTRATRIX- Patented July 4, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- WITNESSES v IIVVENTOR fkmii/c/r flu050/v, gi W ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT oEEroE.

FREDERICK HUDSON, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE; ANNIE HUDSON, ADMINISTRATRIX OF SAID FREDERICK F. HUDSON, DECEASED, ASSIGNOR T0 RECORDING SAFETY DEVICE COMPANY, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, A CORPORATION OF ARIZONA.

AUTOMATIC TRAIN-STOPPING AND RECORDING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented July 4, 1916.

Application filed June 10, 1914. Serial No. 844,249.

To all whom it nmg concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK F. HUD- SON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Memphis. in the county of Shelby and State of Tennessee, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Train-Stopping and Recording Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic train stopping and recording devices, and it consists in the combinations, constructions. and arrangements herein described and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide means whereby a train may be automatically stopped when the engineer fails to regard the signals or for any other reason attempts to pass into a block in which a train has already entered.

A further object of my invention is to provide mechanism on an engine which works in connection with contact rails disposed along the track for applying the brakes, sounding audible and visible alarms, and recording certain conditions such as the time at which the alarms are operated, the time at which the pressure in the train line is reduced and the amount of such reduction and other conditions hereinafter set forth.

A further object of my invention is to provide pneumatic means which are set in operation by the retraction of a magnet due to the breaking of a closed circuit whenever there is danger foroperating the brake setting mechanism and various other operations connected with the alarm system and recording system.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification and the novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Myinvention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part of this application in which- Figure 1 represents, to a certain extent diagrammatically, the arrangement of the devices on the engine, Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view showing certain valve mechanism which forms part of the pneumatic system, Fig. 3 is a detail view showing the marking point 25.

release mechanism for one of the levers wh ch operates a portion of the recording device, Fig. 4 1s a section along the line 44 of Fig. 3, looking-in the direction of the a perspective view showing connections be-- tween the armature of the main magnet and the valve mechanism operated thereby.

The appa 'atus carried by the engine comprises the magnet or relay M. This relay is of the ordinary form and is best illustrated in Fig. 7. It will be seen that the armature is disposed on a lever 19, which closes contacts 20' when the magnet is energized and closed contacts 21 when the magnet is deem.

ergized.

Disposed adjacent to the magnet M is a recording devlce having a rotatable disk provided with concentric lines 22 indicat' ing pressuresand arc-shaped lines 23 which indicate the hours of the day. This recording device is of the type set forth in my prior patent of May 5, 1914, No. 1,095,868. The prior patent, above referred to, set forth in detail the recording mechanism,

but I shall explain only so much of it in this application as to give a good idea of the operation of the parts which form the novel features of the present invention.

Pivotally secured to the rim of the recordingdevice is a lever 24 provided with a One end of this lever extends into engagement with-the end of the lever 19 (see Figs. 1 and 7) so that when the armature of the magnet M is released the arm 24 is swung on its pivot so as to bring the marking pin 25 into contact with th revolving dial, thereby making a mark on the dial.

\Vhen the lever 19 is in its normal position, as shown in Fig. 7 the contacts 20 are closed. These contacts, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 1, are in a shunt circuit around the magnet M, which includes a lamp L so that as long as the magnet M is energized the lamp L is also energized.

When, however, the magnet M lets go the contacts 21 are closed (see Fig. 7) thereby closing a circuit from the battery B through conductor 26, contact 21, lamp L, bell K and back by conductor 27 to battery. The lamp L may be a white light "or a green light or any other color'to signify safety, while the lamp L is preferably a red lamp.

A pneumatic mechanism controlled by the magnet M isset forth in detail in Figs. 2 to 6 inclusive and 8. In Fig. 8 it will be observed, that the end of the lever 19 is connected with a lever 28 pivoted at 29, and which is in turn connected with a bell-crank lever 30, whose lower end is arranged to engage the valve stem 31 of a valve 31 to hold the latter on its seat. The valve 31 is in a valve casing 32 which is in communication by means of the pipe 33 with the main air reservoir 34. The valve casing 32 is provided with a valve 35 whose valve stem is normally in engagement with the valve 31 so as to keep the'valve 35 open. This permits pressure to pass from the main reservoir 34 through the pipe 33 past the valve 35 and into a cylinder 36, which is provided with a piston valve 37 the valve seat being shown at 37. The piston valve is provided with internal passages 38 which are branched, as

shown in the drawings, one of these pas-' sages in the normal position of the engine valve, that is to say when it is set on the seat 37, being in communication with the main reservoir through a pipe 39, which joins the pipe 33. This permits the pressure from the main reservoir to pass around the piston valve to the opposite side, but since the area of the exposed portion of the valve is'less than that at the opposite end of the valve the excess pressure at the opposite end holds the valveseated. Air may also pass through one branch of the internal branch 38 and through the pipe 40 into one end of a cylinder 41, thereby retaining a "alve 42 normally closed. The pipe 40 is continued and communicates by means of a pipe 43 (see Fig. 1) with the lower end of a cylinder 44 having a piston 45. The piston rod 45 of the piston 45 is connected with a valve 47 which is held upon its seat by the combined action of the air pressure and of a spring 48 in the cylinder 44. The main train pipe 49 communicates with a reduced portion of the cylinder 44, while on the opposite side a pipe 50 leads to the engineers brake valve (not shown).

The pipe 43, as will be seen from Fig. 2, communicates with a valve casing 51 at the lower end of a cylinder 52. A three-way valve 51 is disposed in the valve casing 51. The cylinder 52 is provided with a piston 53, which has a valve 54 exposed to the pressure from the pipe 43. The area of this valve is small, however, as compared with the area of the piston. The upper side of the piston is pressed upon by the air which passes through a pipe 55 joining the cylinder 36 with the interior of the cylinder 52. The piston 53 is also pressed on by a spring 56.

Referring again to Fig. 5, it'will be seen that the cylinder 41 is provided with a piston 57 whose piston rod 57 is pivotally connected at 58 with a lever 58, which is made of conducting material, and whose upper end is normally held in a groove or a conducting spring 59. An air pipe 60 leads from the interior of the cylinder 41 to the sand blower.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a small cylinder 61 whose piston 62 is normally kept in an .upper position by pressure coming through lever 71 similar to the marking lever 24, by

means of an intermediate link 72 and a lever 73. Referring again to Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown a valve handle 74 connected at the opposite end of the shaft 66 from the arm 67 for the purpose of turning the shaft. A spiral spring 75 bears on the arm 67 at one end and upon the valve easing at the other.

In the general assembly view set forth in Fig. 1, I have shown a switch b which is interposed between the battery and the connections 76 and 77 leading to the shoes 11. This switch when in its normal position, that is to say when it is closed. supports a weighted bar 78 (see Fig. 6) which is connected by means of a link 7 9 and a. bell-crank lever 80 with a marking lever 81 in such a manner that when the switch is closed the marking lever 81 is held away from the dial. When the switch is opened theweight 78 drops down and a mark is made on the dial.

In Fig. '1 it will be seen that the piston rod 53 is prolonged, and is provided with a rack member 82 arranged to engage a pinion 83 on a shaft which bears a gear 84 ar ranged to mesh with a gear 85 hearing a series of blades 86 which are arranged to contact with a spring device 87 whose position is regulated by means of a screw 88. The rack member 82 is in alinement with an arm 89 on a rock shaft 90 whose end is adapted to engage a marking lever 91 simi- As has been before stated, the main magnet M is normally energized by a current from the battery B on the engine. This current passes from the battery (see Fig. 1)

through the conductor 92, thence through the magnet M, 93, spring-59, lever 58, conductor 94, switch S, 77 through a local circuit which is normally closed and thence by the wire 76, switch S and through 15, back through the other shoe 76, switch S, and by conductor 95 to battery. .As long as there is no danger the lamp L, which indicates safety, 'is lighted, but when the magnet M is deenergized the visible signal L'- and the 5 audible signal K are operated, thus warning the engineer that danger is at hand. This train stopping mechanism is designed to stop the train only when for some reason or other the engineer fails to make use of the manual means for stopping the train. That is to say, the operation of the magnet M does not necessarily result in the stopping of the train, as will be hereinafter pointed out. The actuation of the marking lever ill by the movement of thedever 19 indicates the time at which the main magnet M is deenergcilzed and the signals L and K are operate The retraction of the armature'of themagnet M permits the valve 31 to open and the valve 35 to close (see Fig. The pressure within the cylinder 36 on the large face of the piston 37 will therefore be relieved through the exhaust pipe 96 and the excess 35 pressure now on the opposite end will cause a bodily movement of-thc piston 37 toward the valve casing 32. This movement will bring the branch 38 of the passage 38 into registration with a pipe 97 leading to the 40 whistle 98, thus sounding the latter. It will also bring the branches 338- and 38" into such position as to connect the pipe 39. which communicates with the main reservoir. with a pipe 99, which communicates with the interior of the cylinder 41, thus permitting the pressure from the main reservoir to drive the piston 57 forwardly and thus disconnects ing the battery circuit by the movement of the lever 58 from out of contact with the spring 59, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5. The movement of the piston 57 is such that it will now uncover the end of the air pipe 60 leading'to the sand blower. The movement of the piston 37 will also establish communication between thepipe' 55 which leads into the cylinder 36 and the exhaust pipe 100. thus relieving the pressure on top of the piston 53 in the cylinder 52 (see Fig. 2). It will be remembered that the valve 54: which is connected with the piston 53 is subjected normally to the full pressure of the main reservoir, so that when the pressure on the upper side of the piston 53 is relieved the pressure on the valve will cause itto move, thus letting the air have access to the under side of the piston 53 and cause .it to rise. The rack and gear mechanism prevents the sudden rise of the piston, this device acting as a dampening device or retarding device to cause a slow upward movement of the piston. This gives the engineer time to stop the train manually. He may do this by turning the three-way valve 51 by'means of the handle 71, so as to bring it into the position shown in Fig. 3.

The arm 67 will be rotated so as to engage the lever 69 at the notch 68 and will hold itin the position shown in Fig. 3 for the time being. The manual turning of the three-way valve 51" 90 establishes communication between the bottom part of the cylinder 52 underneath the piston 53 and an outlet pipe 101, thereby relieving the pressure in the pipe 51 whereupon the piston 53 will return to its normal position and the 'alve 5% will be seated.

The relief of pressure from the pipe 43 will permit the pressure within the train pipe -19 to force the piston +15 in the cylinder 4- (see Fig. :2) against the tension of the spring 18 within the cylinder 44. This will cause the valve 17 to come inside, thus allowing the pressure in the train pipe to escape and thus setting the brakes. The movement of the valve l7, however, is such that it will take the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2. so as to bring the valve 47 in such a position as to shut off the pipe 50 leading to the engineers brake valve from the opening uncovered by the valve 4:7.

The initial movementof'the arm 67 which is on the shaft 66 of the valve 51 will, as

stated before, engage the lever 69 whose normal position is that shown in Fig. 1, this lever 69 being weighted to hold the marking lever 71 away from the recording dial. 'hen, however, the lever is forced into the position shown in Fig. 3 by the movement of the arm 67, then the recording lever 71 is operated to record the time at which the engineer operates the valve 51*. It will be noted that when the engineer stops the train voluntarily by manipulating thehandle 74 of the valve 51 in the manner described the piston rod (see Fig. :2) has not had a chance to move far enough to operate the marking lever 91. The marking lever 71 will record the fact that the engineer takes permissive control of the train.

The downward movement of the link 72 caused by the upward movement of the weighted lever 69 causes a bell-crank lever 103, against which the pivoted arm 58 has been moved, to reset the latter in engagement with the contact spring 59. The move ment of the bell-crank lever 103 is accomplished through the medium of a lever 10 which connects the bell-crank lever with the link 72. The arm or lever 58 is not only brought into contact with the spring 59, but

the piston 57 (see Fig. 5) is forced into the position shown in Fig. 5, thereby shutting off the pipe 60 which leads to the sand blower. The movement of the piston 57 also causes the unseating of the valve 42 (see Fig. 5) from engagement with the piston 57 of the valve stem. v This permits pressure to flow from the interior of the cylinder 41 through the pipes 40' and 43 into the cylinder 44, maintaining the pressure therein so as to preventthe application of the brake from a possible leakage. When the current is again established the relay or magnet M will again become energized and will tend to move the lever 19 so asto cause the seating of the valve 31 and the unseating of the valve 35 (see Fig. 5). This causes the piston 37 to take the position shown in Fig. 5 and all the valves and pistons are returned to their normal positions and air pressure is restored to the proper channels.

It will be noted that when airvwas first exhausted from the cylinder 61 (see Fig. 2) the piston descended, thereby permitting the weighted lever arm 04 to descend. \Vhen the pressure is restored to the cylinder (51, this weighted lever arm (34 is raised and in passing its central position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, it engages the weighted lever (39 and pushes it out of engagement with the arm (37, whereupon the spring 60 returns the valve 51* (see Fig. 2) to the normal position shown in Fig. 2. This is to obviate the necessity. of the engineer returning the valve 51* to its normal position. It is a safety device which does not depend upon the volunta ry act of the engineer. lVhen the weighted lever 69 falls it pushes upwardly on the link 72, thus raising the marking lever 71 and causing the record made by it to cease.

As stated above the apparatus'is designed to automatically stop the train only in case of extreme necessity, as where the engineer is incapacitated through sudden death or paralytic stroke or injurv of any kind whichkeeps him from assuming control of the train for stopping the latter at will. Let us now consider the case where he fails to take permissive control of the train by turning the valve 51*. If he does not turn the threeway valve 51 then the pressure in the pipe 43 will cause the piston 53 to rise and when the end of the rack 82 comes in contact with the arm 89 it will cause the rocking of the rod 90 and the swinging of the marking lever 91 to record the fact that the train was stopped automatically at a given time. It will be seen that when the piston 53 clears the exhaust pipe 106 in the cylinder 52 (see Fig. 2) pressure will flow from the pipe 43 through the valve 51* and out through the pipe 106. This will permit the movement of the piston 45 in the cylinder 44 due to the difference of pressures on the face of the piston 45 and on the valve 47. thus permitting the valve 47 to open and the air from train pipe 49 so that when the latter is opened to the atmosphere by the opening of the valve 47 the arm 108 will indicate the time at which the pressure in the train pipe goes off. A pipe 109 leading from the main reservoir 34 also communicates with the recording device and operates the arm 110 so that it'too records any variation of pressure in the main reservoir and also'the time of said variation.

I claim:

1. An automatic train stopping mechanism comprising a main air reservoir, a train pipe, a valve casing communicating with said train pipe, a piston in said valve -asing, an exhaust valve connected with said piston, connections between said main reservoir and said valve casing for nor mally supplying pressure to said piston,

. thereby holding said exhaust valve in closed position, a normally energized magnet carried by the engine, means for controlling the pressure transmitted from said main reservoir to said valve casing, said last named means comprising a cylinder, a piston valve in said cylinder, said piston valve being normally under pressure from said main reservoir, and a pair of valves operated by the magnet, one of said valves serving to control the flow of air from the main reservoir into said cylinder and the other establishing communication between the cylinder and the outer atmosphere.

2. An automatic train stopping mechamsm comprising a mam air reservoir, a train pipe, a valve casing communicating with said train pipe, a piston in said valve casing, an exhaust valve connected with said piston, connections between said main reservoir and said valve casing for normally supplying pressure to said piston, thereby holding said exhaust valve in closed-position, a normally energized magnet carried by-the engine, means for controlling the pressure transmitted from said main reservoir to said valve casing, said last.named' of the piston and said main reservoir bein in communication with said second name cylinder on the other side of the piston.

3. An automatic train stopping mechanism comprising a main air reservoir, a train pipe, a valve casing communicating with said train pipe, a piston in said valve casing, an exhaust valve connected with said piston, connections between said main reservoir and said valve casing for normally supplying pressure to said piston thereby holding said exhaust valve in closed position, a normally energized magnet carried by the engine, means for controlling the pressure transmitted from said main reservoir to said valve casing, said last named means comprising a cylinder, a piston valve in said cylinder, said piston valve being normally under pressure from said main reservoir, means actuated by the movement of the armature of said magnet for cutting ofl the pressure transmitted from said main reservoir into said cylinder and for opening said cylinder to the atmosphere, a second cylinder provided with a piston, an exhaust port arranged to be uncovered by said piston, said second cylinder being in communication with said first named cylinder on one side of the piston and said main reservoir being in communication with said second named cylinder on the other side of the piston, and a manually operated three-way valve having an exhaust port disposed in the connecting pipe between said main reservoir and said second named cylinder.

4. An automatic train stopping mechanism comprising a main air reservoir, a train pipe, a valve casing communicating with said train pipe, a piston in said valve casing, an exhaust valve connected with said piston, connections between said main reservoir and said valve casing for normally supplying pressure to said piston, thereby holding said exhaust valve in closed position, a normally energized magnet carried by the engine, means for controlling the pressure transmitted from said main reservoir to said valve casing, said last named means comprising a cylinder, a piston valve in said cylinder, said piston valve being normally under pressure from said main reservoir, means actuated by the movement of the armature of said magnet for cutting 011' the pressure transmitted from said main reservoir into said cylinder and for opening said cylinder to the atmosphere, a second cylinder provided with a piston, an exhaust, port arranged to be uncovered by said piston, said second cylinder being in communication with said first named cylinder on one side of the piston and said main reservoir being in communication with said second named cylnder on the other side of the piston, a manually operated three-way valve having an exhaust port disposed in the connecting pipe between said main reservoir and said second named cylinder, and means for locking said three-way valve in its shifted position.

5. An automatic train stopping mechanism comprising a main air reservoir, a

train pipe, a valve casing communicating wlth said train pipe, a piston in said valve casing, an exhaust valve connected with said a piston, connections between said main reservoir and said valve casing for normally supplying pressure to said piston, thereby holding said exhaust valve in closed position, a normally energized magnet carried by the engine, means for controlling the pressure transmitted from said main reservoir to said valve casing, said last named means comprising a cylinder,-a piston valve in said cylinder, said piston valve being normally under pressure from said main reservoir, means actuated by the movement of the armature of the magnet for cutting ofi' the pressure transmitted from said main reservoir into said cylinder and for opening said cylinder to the atmosphere, a second cylinder provided with a piston, an exhaust port arranged to be uncovered by said piston, said second cylinder being in communication with said first named cylinder on one side of the piston and said main reservoir being in communicationwith said second named cylinder on the other side of the piston, a manually operated three-way valve having an exhaust port disposed in the connecting pipe between said main reservoir and said second named cylinder, means for locking said three-way valve in its shifted position, and means for automatically returning said three-way valve to its original position. FREDERICK F. HUDSON. Witnesses:

JAcoB BAUER, T. J. JACOBI.

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