US1531432A - Railway-crossing signal - Google Patents

Description

Mmh 3-1. 192s. 1,531,432

N. J. BRIGGS RAILWAY CROSSING SIGNAL Filed June 9, 1925 @MUNI IN VEN TOR.

/M J'Brzffs Patented Mar. 31, 1925.

UNITED *STATES NORMAN J. BRIGGS, OF PENSACOLA, FLORIDA;

RAILWAY-CROSSING SIGNAL.

Applicationvnlea June a, 1923. serial No. 644,422.

To all whom t may cow/oem;

Be itknown that I, NORMAN JfBRIsG's, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pensacola, in the county of Escambia and State of' Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Crossing Signals, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad to the laccompanying drawings.

The ob `ect of this lnvention is to provide means for preventing accidents to vehicles at railway crossings, and the general object of the invention is to provide a device of this character so disposed and constructed that it will compel a driver to slow down before reaching the railway crossing and compel the driver toobserve the danger signal and do this at such a distance from the track that the driver will realize the proximity of the railway crossing before he` reaches the crossing itself and thus before it will be too late for him to slow down, the device being further so arranged that it will cause any vehicle to slow down before' reaching the railway crossing so that a driver will not be likely to `endeavor topit his speed against the speed of the train.

A further object is to provide a device of this character which is so designed as to contract the roadway just in front of the railway crossing and to provideI means which will prevent any driver from approaching the contracted portion of the roadway at `full speed and will oblige him to slow down in order to pass through this contracted portion and which will positively call his attention to a danger signal disposed in the roadway opposite said contracted portion so that he cannot but be aware of the fact that he is approaching a railway l crossing and that` he must look out for trains. l l.

A still further object is to provide ,an-.de-

vice of this'` character which may be cheaply constructed and applied to dirt or concrete roads, and in which the signal is relatively cheap, is firmly supported in position, cannot be ordinarily damaged,land which is of such character as will inevl4 ably call the p drivers attention to it'. .j

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure l is a plan view of a roadway having a safety crossing signal and obstruction made in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is an elevation of the construction illustrated in Figure l, looking toward the railway;

Figure 3 is an elevation of the signal showing the manner in which it is embedded in the earth or concrete; f'

- Figure 4' is a Vsideelevation of thesignal;

Figurey 5 is asection on the line 5-5of Figure 4.-, looking in the directionA of the arrow.

Referring to Figure 1, A designates a public highway and B a railway track crossing the highway. Disposed some thirty feet more or less fromv the railway and in the middle of thepublic highway A is asignal mast, designated generally 10, which supports the target or circular disk This mast is preferably made of angle iron, channel iron or T-iron and at its lower end'is rigidly bolted to a longitudinally ex! tending base 12 whichy may be of concrete, wood or any other suitabley material. The upper end of the masty is supported by means of a brace 13 extending downwardly and outwardly and bolted at its lower end to the base 12.

Mounted upon the upper end of the mast 10 and above the target 11 is a lamp bracket 14 upon which alamp isdesigned to ybe disposed. This lamp bracket should beso formed that a lamp can only be placed upon it in one way. The lamp l5 designed to be used with this lamp bracket has two lenses, one of the lenses being red and being .directed away from the .railroad crossing and the other being yellow or any other desired color. The lower portion of the. lamp is preferably surrounded, on concrete roads, 'by a concrete curb 16 and on dirt roads there will be an elevated portion formed immediately around the base of the mastwhich may be made by vertical boards defining the mound, the space between these boards being filled with earth. Preferably, though not necessarily, a red flag 17 will be mounted upon the target 11. The target will, of course, have words of warning thereon as, for instance, Railroad Crossing, Stop, or any other suitable words of warning. y

Starting immediately opposite the signal mast and extending inward and toward the railroad track B in a curve are the in wardly convergent walls, ramps or curbs 1S. These on concrete roads will be built of concrete and may be built of concrete on dirt roads. It is also possible to form these curbs 18ct earth with board walls. These curbs 18 extend inward and forward or toward the railroad-y in a curve and then ex- 4 tend directly toward the railroad a very short distance, as at 19. Those ends 19 of the curb which are adjacent each other are disposed just a sutiicient distance apart to permit the passage of two vehicles, and the base of the sign post or mast 10 is of such area that a driver cannot drive directly through the opening 20 between the ends 19 but must drive toward the curb or wall 18 and obviously he is obliged to turn his car inward, as shown by the arrowsY in Figure 1, and then move forward toward the railway. Thus it is obvious that the wall or curb 18 will oblige the driver to slow up before he approaches the railway and in doing so the drivers attention must be caught by the signal and he cannot pass on and across the railroad without having observed the signal.

It will be seen that I have provided a stationary sign anchored in the road and used in connection with the curb or wall 18 which forces a slow down. Thesign'is` so constructed that it will stand all abuse and can# not be knocked down. It is also to be noted that the walls 18 oi' curbs do not cause a vehicle to turn sidewise or parallel with the railroad, in which case the motorist would be unable to see the railroad and would be I unable to see, therefore', whether a train was coming or not. In my construction, however', the driver innst drive his car slightly' vdiagonally to' the road in ordervt'o pass through the relatively narrow opening 20, but the angle is not so great that hc can'- not see an approaching train.' Furthermore, this device is very simple and cheap and this is essential in view of the fact that there are thousands of crossings to be protected. This construction is such that vehicles of a relatively long wheel base, such as Vautomobiles or teams of more than two horses, can readily pass on either side o't' the base of the signal and pass through the opening 20. It will be noted also that the driver of the vehicle cannot pass through the opening 2'() with ease by taking the middlel of the road or ,goingvto the left hand side of the road. It is just as difficult for hiin to pass through this opening by going to the left hand side of the signal as it is to pass through the opening by going on the right hand side of the signal.

I do not `wish to be limited to any particulaigconstruction for lthe curbs 18, noi' to their height, so long as they form an obstruction which will cause the driver to turn inward toward the opening 2O and prevent the driver from driving straight along the road. Neither do I wish to be limited to the details of construction of the signal and its mounting, except that the signal and its support should be of sufficient strength as to form an obstruction to traflic which willl prevent the driver from attempting to steer directlythrough the opening 20.

I claim 1. A roadway intersecting a railway track having a signal structure disposed in the middle of the roadway and distanced from the track, and curbs extending from' the lateral margins of the roadway inward and toward the track, the forward ends` off the curbs being spaced from each other to-,forin a relatively narrow passageway, the signal structure being disposed approximately on a line with the intersection ofthe curbs with the lateral marginsv of the roadway, the roadway being of uniform normal width from a point on one side of the track beyond the curbs to a point on the other side of the track beyond' the curbs. l

2. A roadway intersecting a railroad track having a signal structure disposed in the middle of the roadway and distanced from the track, the signal structure comprising a relatively large base, a mast,` and a signal mounted upon the mast, the base of `the signalstructure being relatively wide at its end remote from the track but converging toward the track, and curbs extending from the lateral margins of the lroadway inward and toward the track, saidcurbsbeing curved in their -length, the forward ends'o-f the curbs being spaced from each other to form a relatively narrow passage-way, the rear end of the base of thesignal structure being disposed approximately on a line with the ends of the curbs remote from the track, the structure including'a day. signal and a'night signal, the roadway being of uniform normal width from a point on one side of the track beyond the curbs to a point on the other side of the track beyond the curbs. y

3. A roadway intersecting a railroadtrack having a signal structure disposed iii the middle of the roadway and distanced from the track, the signal structure comprising a relatively large base, a. yinast, a signal mounted upon the mast, the base ofthe signal structure being relatively wide at its end remote from the track but converging toward the track, and curbs extending from the lateral margins of the roadway in- Ward and toward the track, said curbs being curved in their length, the forward ends of the curbs being spaced from cach other to form a relatively narrow passageway, the rear end of the base or' the signal structure being disposed approximately on a line with the ends of the curbs remote from the track,

the roadway being of uniform normal Width from a point on one side of the track beyond the curbs to a point on the other side 10 signature.

NORMAN J. BRIGGS.

Images