US1434776A - Railway signaling system - Google Patents

Description

J. C. FIELD.

RAILWAY SIGNALING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30. 1919.

1,434,77, Patented. Nov. '7, 1922.

v Z L30 5 Patented Nov. 7, 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH C. FIELD, OF OR ANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOJR T0 WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

RAILWAY SIGNALING SYSTEM.

Application filed December 30, 1919.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH C. FIELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Orange. in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Signaling Systems. of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

This invention relates to selective signaling systems and particularly to the class known as train despatching systems.

One object of this invention is to provide a system whereby a despatcher or an attendant at a central station may determine when a train or car arrives at or passes a particular track section, and means whereby an answer-back signal may be transmitted. from a way-station and permanently recorded at the despatchers station.

A further object is to provide means whereby a despatcher or an attendant at a central station may signal a trainman to execute certain orders upon arriving at a predetermined track section.

Other objects of this invention are to simplify the way-station equipment by eliminating relays as much as possible and substituting therefor motor driven cams and code wheels which make apparatus more positive in action and require less maintenance.

In accordance with this invention there is provided a signaling system, the circuit of which extends from a central or despatchers station along a railroad track divided into sections. ,With certain sections of the track are associated signal-sending devices set in condition for operation from the central station, the passing of a train or car into the section causing the signalsending device to send signals to the central station, where such signals are recorded by a suitable recording device. More specifically the invention contemplates the employment of motor operated cam discs at a way-station for setting the signal-sending device in condition to be operated by the entrance of a train into the associated track section, and a local source of current intermittently connected with the line by means of code wheels for causing the operation of a suitable recording device at the despatchers station. Furthermore the invention contemplates the employment of additional means at a way-station under control of the central station despatcher for setting a sigsection C.

Serial No. 348,330.

nal indicating device at a way-station. which, when set to its operative position, will provide a distinctive code answer-back, indicating the position of the signaling deylce, and means whereby when the indicatmg device is restored to normal or its unactuated position. another distinctive code answer-back will be provided.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagram of the apparatus and circuit connections of a railway signaling system wherein the central office despatcher is apprised of the entrance of a train into, or the passage of a train through. a particular track section. The apparatus and circuit a arrangement of Fig. 2 1s simllar to Fig. 1,

except that a signal indicating device is shown at a. way-station which is adapted to be operated and restored to normal by the central office despatcher. Fig. 3 represents an alternative arrangement of the system disclosed in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 the way-station selectors are controlled over a metallic circuit and the central station recording mechanism is also controlled over a metallic circuit. In Fig. 2 the way-station selectors are controlled over a metallic circuit while the central office recording mechanism is controlled over a simplex circuit. In Fig. 3 the way-station selectors are controlled over a simplex circuit and the central office recording mechanism is controlled over a metallic circuit.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Fig. 1, A designates a central or receiving station and B a way-station associated with a section C of a railroad track along which extends line wires 10 and 11 connected to the receiving or central station A.

Located at the central station is an impulse transmitting device 12 for signaling the Way-station associated with the track- An impulse transmitting device 13 is shown at the central station which may be employed to signal a Way-station asso- I ciated with section D of the railroad track. It will be understood that any number of impulse transmitting devices may be employed for controlling apparatus at any number of Way-stations. For the sake of simplicity, only one way-station and two impulse'transmitti'ng devices are shown.

At the transmitting station A there is a main battery 15 for supplying current for operating the selectors at the Way-stations. This battery is normally disconnected from the line wires and 11 and may be'connected therewith by the operation of a relay 16. A pole changing relay 17 is also pro-- vided for reversing the connections from battery to the line wires. The relays 16 and 17 are connected in parallel and in circuit with a local battery 18 and are controlled by the impulse transmitters 12 and 13. Each impulse transmitter is provided with cam surfaces and teeth for controlling contact springs and 21, which are in circuit with the pole changing relay 17. The free end of contact spring 20 of transmitters 12 and 13 is bent downward and normally rests in a notch in the transmitter discs and is normally out of engagement therewith. During rotation of a transmitter disc, in the direction of the arrow, contact spring 20 is in engagement with the disc, thereby maintaining the circuit of relay 16 closed to connect battery 15 to the line wires 10 and 11. Assuming that impulse transmitter 12 is operated. as the disc thereof starts to rotate, the circuit of relay 16 is completed operating this relay and connecting battery 15 to the line wires.- As contact spring 20 rides upon the first tooth, it also engages contact spring 21 to actuate the pole changing relay 17 by current from battery 18 to reverse the connection of battery 15 to the line wires. \Vhen spring 20 drops between two teeth, relay 17 will be deenergized, and during the time spring 20 is passing over the second tooth, the pole changing relay 17 will again be actuated to again reverse the connection of battery 15 to the line wire. As the transmitter disc continues to rotate, alternating impulses are sent over the line wires. It will be readily understood that as the transmitter disc rotates and spring contact 20 passes over and between the teeth of thetransmitter disc, alternating impulses of substantially equal length will be transmitted, and during the time the contact spring 20 leaves the last tooth of one group and engages the first tooth of another group, a prolonged impulse of predetermined polarity is sent over the line wires. When the transmitter disc has completed a revolution, the contact spring 20 drops into the depression 22, thereby opening the energizing circuit of relay 16 to remove battery from the line wires and permit the release of the selector at the selected station.

A selector is provided at the Way-station which may be of the type shown in my Patent No. 1,200,095, dated October 3, 1916. Such a selector is adapted to respond to the actuation of impulse transmitter 12 and would, in this instance, respond to a code of impulses represented by 3-24-12. The spaces between the several groups of teeth on the impulse transmitters are for the purpose of providing suitable time intervals of sufiicient duration to permit the contact arms of all selectors on the line, except the desired one, to release before the first impulse of the succeeding set is transmitted.

The selector 25 at way-station B, beim bridged across the line wires 10 and 11, will respond to the alternate impulses sent out by the operation of impulse transmitter 12 to cause the selector 25 to' move contact arm 26v into an engagement with contact 27. The closure of contacts 26 and 27, although only momentary, establishes an operatin circuit for motor 30. The instant this circuit is established and before the selector contacts 26 and 27 are opened, the motor has advanced the control wheel an amount suffi cient to close contacts 35 and 41, which are connected in parallel with the selector contacts, thereby continuing the operation of motor 30 until the control wheel 10 has made approximately one-half a revolution, when the contacts 35 and 14 will be broken and the motor stopped. During the first half revolution of motor driven cam shaft 136, the contact springs 65 of code wheel 70 are operated and a circuit is completed from line wire 10. conductor 28 through control wheel +10, contact spring 35, local battery 31, armature 32 and front contact thereof of track relay 33, contacts of control wheel 50, con tacts of control wheel 70, conductor 29 to line wire 11. The impulse relay 16 at the central station now being deenergized. the line wires 10 and 11 are extended through the back contacts of the armatures of relay 16 to the electromagnet 19. The electromagnet 19 in its operation controls the operation of a suitable recorder connected in a local circuit including battery 23, armature 24 and front contact of magnet 19. Thus, the instant a way-station is selected, characteristic code impulses may be sent from the waystation by code wheel and local battery 31 to operate a suitable recorder at the dospatchers station which may produce a permanent record of each closure of the circuit through magnet 19. In accordance with the teeth out on the lower half of code wheel 70, the recording instrument should record symbols 22-4. indicating that the Way-station circuit is in condition for receiving an answer-back, commonly known as an OS signal, when a train arrives at that particular track section.

'W'hen a train enters the track section C, the track relay 33 is short-circuited, thereby releasing the same. Track relay 33, upon being deenergized, releases armatures 32 and :34, thereby closing back contacts 36 and 37. The closure of contacts 37 completes an operating circuit through motor 30 from local battery 31, armature 3-1 of track relay 33, contacts 37., contacts 38 of control wheel 50. which are now closed due to control wheel 50 having completed one-half of a revolution, series field 39, armature of motor 30 to the other side of localbattery 31. The m0- tor 30 will then operate to rotate the. cam shaft 36. After the control wheel 50 has been rotatedonly a few degrees, the contacts 38 controlled thereby will be broken. but owing to the fact that control wheel 40 has been rotated a sufficient amount to close contacts 35 and 44, the operating circuit for motor 30 will not be broken until control wheel 40 has completed the remaining onehalf of a revolution. \l'hilethe cam shaft 136 is turning through the last half of a revolution, an answer-back circuit is completed in substantially the same manner as the one previously traced, except that code wheel 60 is now employed instead of code wheel 70, and by reason of the altered arrangement ofthe teeth, a distinctive code answer-back is transmitted to indicate that a train has arrived at the track section t. This last mentioned answer-back circuit may be traced from line wire 10, conductor 28, control wheel 40, contact spring local battery 31, armature 32 and back contact 36 of track relay 33, contacts of code wheel 60, conductor 29 to the other line wire 11. Since the code wheel 60 is provided with teeth arranged in groups of 223, the

magnet 19 at the despatchers station will be energized and deenergized in proper sequential order to, in turn, cause the record 2-23 to be recorded by the recording device.

The instant cam shaft 136 has completed one-half a revolution, contacts 35, controlled by wheel 40, will be opened, thereby opening the energizing circuit of motor 30, to thereby stop the motor and leave the control and code wheels, mounted on shaft 36, in the positions shown in the drawings. As soon as the train passes out of track section 0, track relay 33 will again be energized, thereby placing the apparatus again under the control of the central oflice despatcher.

Referring to Fig. 2. the apparatus and circuit arrangement of the despatchers equipment are similar to the central otlice equipment just described, and the way-station equipment is substantially the same as that previously described, except that a signaling device 75 is shown in place of the contacts controlled by the track relay 33. If it is desired to operate the signal 75, shown in Fig. 2, the central otfice despatcher may operate the calling key or impulse transmitter 12 to operate the way-station selector 25, as previously described, to cause the selector contact arm 26 toengage the contact 27, thereby completing an operating circuit through motor 30. The instant motor 30 begins rotating, control wheels 80 and 90 and code wheel 95 will commence rotating in the direction of the arrow. A slight rotation of control wheel 80 will cause the closure of contacts 81 thereby maintaining an operating circuit from local battery 31 through the motor 30. A slightrotation of control wheel 90 will cause the closure of contacts 91 and will complete an operating circuit through the signal 75 including local battery 31, which is in parallel with the motor circuit. As soon as signal 75 has been set or operated by-the closure of its energizingcircuit, code wheel 95 will cause the intermittent closure of contacts 96, sending impulses to the despatcher-"s station from ground at the way-station through the battery 31 and over the metallic conductors 10 and 11 in parallel to ground at the despatchers station, employing what is termed a simplex circuit, i. e., one in which electric current flows over two conductors in parallel which are parts of asecond circuit (the. full metallic circuit comprising conductors 84, 85, 10 and 11) without disturbing the current flowing in the second circuit or being disturbed by the current flowing therein. This circuit may be traced from ground at contacts 96 through the battery 31, contacts 81, control wheel 80, contacts 82 controlled thereby over conductors 84 and 85 in parallel to line wires 10 and 11, through the armatures and back contacts of impulse relay 16, and the winding of magnet 19 to ground, thereby operating the recording mechanism as hereinbefore described. In this instance, and in accordance with the arrangement of teeth on the code wheel 95, the record 2- 21 should be recorded by the recording mechanism, thereby indicating that the signal 75 is set. This signal 75 may be employed for any desired purpose, .for example, to authorize a trainman to take asiding, call up the central office despatcher by telephone, etc.

After the trainman has responded to the despatchers signal and it is desired to restore the signal to its normal position, the despatcher may again operate the impulse transmitter 12 to restore the signal to normal, and, at the same, time, receive a distinctive code answer-back, indicating that the signal has been so restored. This may be accomplished by the despatcher operating the impulse transmitter 12 a second time to cause the selector 25 atthe way-station to again complete the operating circuit of motor 30. The shaft 136, in completing the last half of its revolution will, through the rotation of control wheel 80, close contacts 81 and contacts 82, and through the rotation of control wheel 90, contacts 91 will be opened to release the signaling device 75; Code wheel 95 will open and close contacts 96 in accordance. with the teeth arrangement on the upper portion of the code'wheel, as

shown, to send adistinctive code answerback to the despatchers station over the circuit hereinbefore traced. The code signal in this instance will be 2-22 which will be permanently recorded by the recording mechanism at the despatchers station under the control of the electromagnet 19.

The apparatus and circuit arrangement disclosed in Fig. 3 are substantially the same as the arrangements disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2. In Fig. 3 the way-station selector is operated from the despatchers station over a simple-x circuit, while in Figs. 1 and 2, the way-station selectors are operated over a full metallic circuit. In Fig. 3 the answerback recording mechanism is operated, as in Fig. 1, over a full metallic circuit and unlike the answer-back recording mechanism disclosed in Fig. 2, which is operated over a simplex circuit.

In series with the line wires 10 and 11 are inserted retardation coils 47 and 48 respectively, which are bridged by means of a condenser 49. The retardation coils and the condenser are for the purpose of graduating or smoothing out the current impulses from the impulse relay, in order that they will not cause a disagreeable thump in telephonic apparatus which may be connected with the line Wires during the transmission of the signaling impulses.

In each of the figures of the accompanying drawings the cam and code wheel shaft 186 is shown directly connected to the motor 30 for'simplicity of illustration. It is to be understood, however, that any suitable means may be provided. for driving the shaft 136 from the motor 30, and that in actual practice a set of reducing gears would probably be employed in order that the shaft 136 might be run at a speed considerably less than the speed of the driving motor. Furthermore any suitable driving means may be used in place of motor 30, for example,

'a step-by-step mechanism which automatically opens and closes its own circuit.

hat is claimed is:

1. In a railway signaling system, a central station, a way-station, selectively-operated circuit-closing means at said way-station, impulse-sending means at said central station controlling the operation of said selectively-operated means, a circuit controlled by said select-ively-operated means, electrical driving means in said circuit; a plurality of answer-back operating means at said way-station controlled by said driving means, each of said answer-back operating means adapted to send a different and distinctive series of answer-back signals to said central station, and means controlled by said electrical driving means for stopping the operation of each of said answer back operating means.

2. A railway signaling system comprising a railroad track divided into sections, a central station, a simplex circuit and a full metallic circuit extending from the central station to a track section, a signal-sending device associated with said track section and operable electrically to send a code signal over the metallic circuit to the central station, means rendered effective by the en trance of a train into said track section for causing operation of the signal-sending device when that device is in a particular condition, and means selectively controlled over the simplex circuit from the receiving station for placing said signal-sending device in said particular condition.

3. A railway signaling system comprising a railroad track divided into sections, a central station, a way-station associated with one of said sections, a line circuit extending from said central station to said way-station, a motor at said way-station, means controlled from said central station for starting said motor, means actuated by said motor for sending a code signal back to the central station, a cam operated by said motor for stoppin it, a'second cam operated by said motor, an means controlled jointly by said second cam and by the entrance of a train into the track section associated with said way-station for causing the operation of said motor and the code signal actuated thereby.

4. A railway signaling system comprising a railroad track divided into sections, a central station, a way-station associated with one of said sections, a line circuit extending from said central station to said way-station, a. motor at said way-station, means controlled from said central station for starting said motor, means actuated by said motor for sending a code signal back to the central station, a cam operated by said motor for stopping it, a second cam operated by said motor and means controlled jointly by said second cam and by the entrance of a train into the track section associated with said way-station for causing the operation of said motor and the code signal means actuated thereby.

5. A railway signaling system comprising a railroad track divided into sections, a central station, a simplex and a full metallic circuit extending from the central station to a track section, a motor associated with said track section and when operated adapted to actuate means for sending a code signal over the metallic circuit to the central station, means rendered effective by the entrance of a train into said track section for starting said motor, and means selectively operated over the simplex circuit for starting said motor.

' 6. A railway signaling system comprising a railroad track divided into sections, a cen tral station, a simplex and a full metallic circuit extending from the central station to llU a track section, a motor associated with said track section and when operated adapted to actuate means for sending a code signal over the metallic circuit to the central station, means rendered effective by the entrance of a train into said track section for starting said motor, and means selectively operated over the simplex circuit for starting said motor to actuate a different means for sending a different code signal to the central station.

7. A railway signaling system comprising a railroad track divided into sections, a central station, a simplex and a full metallic circuit extending from the central station to a track section, a motor associated with said track section and when operated adapted to actuate means for sending a code signal over the metallic circuit to the central station, means rendered effective by the entrance of a train into said track section for starting said motor, and means selectively operated over the simplex circuit for starting said motor to actuate a different means for sending a different code signal to the central station, and means controlled by said motorv for stopping it.

8. A railway signaling system comprising a railroad track divided into sections, a central station, a simplex and a full metallic circuit extending from the central station to a track section, a motor associated with said track section and when operated adapted to actuate means for sending a code signal over the metallic circuit to the central station, means rendered effective by the entrance of a train into said track section for starting said motor. and means selectively operated over the simplex circuit for starting said motor to actuate a different means for sendinga dilferent code signal to the central station, and common means controlled by said motor for stopping it when started either by the selectively operated means or by the entrance of a train into said track section.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 27th day of December A. D., 1919.

JGSEPH C. FIELD.

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