US147692A - Improvement in pneumatic railway-signals - Google Patents

Description

w. near-use". Pneumatic Railway SignalsL Pa tented Feb. 17,1874.

IInrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

"VILLIAM ROBINSON, OF BELLEFONTAINE, OHIO.

lMPROl/EMENT IN PNEUMATIC RAILWAY-SIGNALS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 147,692, dated February 17, 1874; application filed November 9, 1872.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM ROBINSON, of Bellefontaine, in the county of Logan and State of Ohio, have invented an Improved Pneumatic Railway-Signal and Telegraph, of which the following is a specification:

. My apparatus is constructed with two cylinders, connected by a pipe, and provided with pistons which fit the said cylinders with sufficient accuracy to cause a movement of one piston to move the other by the .motion of the ,air at ordinary atmospheric pressure.

In applying the apparatus to signaling on rail'ways, I employ a rocking lever or other suitable form of key which will be actuated by a tappet or projection 011 the pilot of the locomotive or other. part of a passing train. To each piston or piston -rod is attached a signal or signalscreen, and the parts are so arranged that as the train enters the part of the road which the signals are designed to protect, it will, by moving one of the workinglevers in one direction, unmask the signal at that end, while this movement will,by the motion of the air in the cylinders and their connectingpipe, cause a corresponding movement of the piston and screen at the other end, so as to unmask the other sigma-1.. As the train leaves the section of road to be protected it rocks the second lever in the opposite direction, imparting a reverse movement to the pistons, and thereby again covering or screening the signals simultaneously.

Figure 1 is a plan illustrating the application of my invention to a railway-track. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line .1; as, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of one cylinder, signal-lantern and screen, detached.

A A represent a pair of cylinders, open at bottom, and connected at their upper ends by an air-pipe, B, of any requisite length. This pipe I prefer to place under ground, but it may be support ed on posts, if desired. In the cylinders A A are fitted pistons O O,connected, by rods D D, to the extremities of arms E E, which project from rock-shafts F F. rock-shafts are also provided with levers G G the-ends 1 2 of which project nearly horizontally in opposite directions, and are formed to permit the passage of a suitable tappet, and

The

cause the latter to leave in a depressed posi tion that end or arm of the lever which it strikes last. Hrepresents a suitable tappet .or arm projecting from the pilot of a locomo track to be protected. The tappet H passes the depressed end 2 of the lever G without effect, but on reaching the end 1 depresses this, and thus, by the connections F E D L, draws down the screen M, and exposes the signal K. This action also draws down the piston O, producing a slight exhaust through the air-pipe B, and causing the piston O to be thrown up by atmospheric pressure, thus elevating the screen M above the signal K, and unmasking the latter, at the same time throwing the end 2 of the lever G up, and the end 1 down. The parts remain in this position, leaving the signals exposed, as long as the train or locomotive remains on the track between them. As the tappet H passes the lever G it throws down the end 2 thereof, drawing the screen M down in front of the signal K, and, by the means already explained, elevating the screen M, so as to mask the signal K. The same efiect would be produced if the locomotive should back 01f over the lever G. \Vhichever end of the lever is last depressed remains down until it is thrown up by the depression of the opposite end of the same or of the other lever. The depression of the end 1 of either lever exposes both signals, and the depression of the end 2 masks both. Either piston, whether moved up or down, actuates the other piston by forcing or exhausting the air, as the case may be.

Parts of my invention are applicable to producing signals at a distance for other purposes than that above described. I I

I am aware that mechanical railway signals have been patented in which two signals are exposed and masked simultaneously at the ends of a curve or point of danger, and that operated by the double-ended levers G G, in

the broad idea of transmitting motion through combination with the air-cylinders A A and a pipe by means of air is not new. These connecting-pipe B, substantially as herein defeatures of my invention, separately oonsidscribed,for the purpose specified.

ered, are therefore disclaimed. T The following is claimed as new, namely: ROBINSOIM The pair of pistons O G, with their rods D Witnesses:

D, having the signal screens L M L M OGIAVIUS KNIGHT,

attached thereto, and counterbalanced and H. PEAR-CE.

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