US1572137A - Block-signal system - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 9,1926. 1,572,137

F. GRUNIG BLOCK SIGNAL SYSTEM Filed Feb. 0. 1922 v2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1.

/ 77/ Jnventon Fritz amhi Patented Feb. 9, 1926.

rArE r "OFFICE-i FRITZ GRTTHIG; OF THUN, SWITZERLAND.

BLOCK-SIGNAL SYSTEM.

Application filed. February 10, 1922. Serial No. 535,661.

reads, where the trains are equipped with ,l l estinghouse brakes or like continuous pneumatic brakes and where the line circuit is so arranged that certain portions thereof may be cutout near the s ations with a view of causing thereby certain warning signals to be operated on the locomotive for the engineer, when the engine is running past the stop signals and relates more particularly to means for automatically working the continuous pneinnatic brakes simultaneously with the sounding ot' a general alarm signal in the of disability of the engineer.

The annexed drawings represent in Figure 1 in a diagram the arrangement of operative parts on the locomotive and in Fig, 2 a side elevation of a line section between advance signal and home signal i the stop position of parts, showin an intermediate line post carrying a nil. circuit ln-' -=aler.

Fig. 3 e. perspective view oi? this manual circuit breaker in cut out ].)O=l.tll1.

Figs. 4 and 5 are front elevations of the signal discs Hill 39 of advance and home signal, while 54- is a front elevation of an intermediate accessory adv' inc; disc.

Figs. 6 to 8 relate to a modified term of a pedal circuit breaker on the locinnctivc. 6 being; a ertical section tl'irourgh iedal and sliding} bars attached thereto, 7 a horizontal section through the lower lar and Fig. 8 a plan of this lower bar.

The diagram represents the position of parts on the locon'iotive when at rest but ready to start, while the bow collectors are still in contact with the line 1. S id collectors are operated by means of pneuniatically operated pistons of cylinders 33 the engineer openir' or closing); the valves 4; by hand for establ hing or interrupting through conduit 5 the communications be tween said cylinders and a pressure rcscr voir not shown in the diagram.

The motor current for the :uitoinatieallv working devices on the locomotive is ob tained partly from a branch of the line current transformed in a trans'formerl'i. This branch current is also employed for encrpgiw ing' the electro-mugnct of a contact re -av '7.

Another transformed branch of the line current is employed to charge a store-re butterv 8 which is besides char z l cd with current furnish-ed by the motor of the locomotive when this latter is running without load on the descents of the road way.

A circuit derived from this storaoe lmtterv energizes all the alarm devices intended for the engineer said devices comprisinoa shuntcd hell 9 and lamps 1G and another circuit derived from said storecje battery energizes the general alarm signal device intended for the train tafi and comprising; a siren 11 on the outside of the locomotive and is also connected to an electro-motor 12 for ope-nine; the pneumatic conduits so as to automatical- 1y operate the continuous brakes not show in the drawing. A high tension indicator 13 of the line'currentis shunted in the circuit of the contact relay. If there'is current on the locomotive the a'rrmrture 15 vv'hich wise is kept separated from elcctr bv a spring is is attracted by s T and opens the contact at 16 m: the (.ircuu of some optical and acousticsronuls 10 and 9 re -pectivelv intended for the engineer. In this Circuit the bell 9 is in cut out by a hand operate the l mp are in sci-i c and ivs remain in the rcuiti Th s ted i'ii'llll the store-fie battery 8 comp es also a contact relay for operating a switch 18 the Contact arm of which linked to the end of the rod of a p ston On one side pistonQO is subjected to the cilectof a sprinc; 19 and the other side to the efi ect of the air pressure in conduit 21 communicating with the pne nictic pressure reservoir not; shown. Said conduit 21, being a branch of the ma n conduit 80, has an outlet into the free air con trolled by a check valve 24. which is operated tromthe electro-motor 12 by a worm gear 22 on a shaft 23 which by means of a worm gear 25 is adapted to operate a valve 26 for shunt and niav be Itch 17 while a blow off 27 of an. air conduit 90 which" communicates with a main reservoir not shown and with the brake cylinders and in the case of the lVestinghouse brake communicates with ainain conduit not shown and with the free air. As the presence of compressed air has been supposed,the brakes will be operated, whenever the two valves being opened have released the pressure in the feed conduits of the brakes. The worm wheels of the two valves are coupled by a connecting rod 59 having adiandle for manually operating the same sin'uiltaneously: The circuit including the'clectro-motor i2 s energized from the storage battery. This circuit also includes a siren 11 which is in series and a platform circuit breaker .23 at the engineers stand which keeps tlI-Q ClIClll't of the siren open while the platform isle-aded by the engineers body weight, as will be explained hereinafter. at. includes a manual circuit breaker 29 integral with a toothed segment geared with a rack-bolt adapted to lock up the controller switch32 ot' the locomotive, when in the position shown in the drawing.

The controller switch is a step switch providing the motor with transformed line current. It is therefore the powercontroller of the locomotive for regulating the speed, for the stopping and startmg of the same.

It comprises a stationary disc provided with an index point 66 and a limb 63 mounted rotatablv on said disc and provided with a handle The division of limb 63 marks the different steps of tension of the transformed motor current and the index point 66 marks therefore the position of the wheel for certain speed. A mark A atone division part below the zero point and between the latter and the market the maximum speed 13 indicates, when brought *op pos'tte to the index point (36, the position where there is safely no current in the motor. (loi'reswonding to this mark A a notch (i l: provided on the'outer periphery of limb G3 which will be opposite the end of rack bolt 30, when the controller is in its position 01 cutout. In this position the controller becomes blocked by said rack bolt when switch 29 has been opened.

There is in the same circuit also a stopclockwork switch 33 having a hand 34 as contact arm rotatably mounted within a stationary dial provided with a segmental contact strip '35 on which the rotating hand closes the circuit, the free part of the dial representing the space of time during which, when the clock work has been started, the circuit will be open and theoperating of the alarm signal and of the brakeswill be prevented. r

The dial may be made'of glasson'which the copper strip of the segment is fixed.

Somewhat before said segment a short contact 36 is provided on the dial and is electrically connected to a warning bell 37 in shunt for the purpose of advising the engineer bythc ringing of this bell that the circuit ofthe siren is about to be closed at the segment 35.

In the normal position of parts that is, when the rain is moving, the platform circuitbreaker is loaded and the hand of the clockwork switch rests on said contact strip '35. 'In this position the engineer is compelled to occupy the plat-form in order to prevent the operating of the alarm signal and the brakes. Butvin order to leave him acertain freedom oi movement for leaving the platform for a limited space of time, determined by the above mentioned free space of the dial, the clockwork of the switch 33 is arranged like a chronograph or stop watch which is provided with a press button whereby the hand 34 may be started so as to leave the contact strip and to travel over the said free space of the dial, and to stop again on the contact strip where a 'stop pin may be provided which recedes,

when the button is pressed down. Thus whenever the engineer wants to leave his stand for a little while he presses said press button of the clockwork, but the time of his absence islimited by the length of said free space and may be fixed beforehand to a minute or more or less.

i kccording to Figures 2, 3, .4. and 5 the advance disc signal 38, acting as first advice or warning signal, and the semaphore homesignal 39 of the line near the station are as usual connected by a wire gear and lever work to alocking frame d0 at the station or depot. The operating of the hand lever 41 of said locking frame causes the advance signal disc 38 located at theforward end for a normally (lo-energized section of the line and the arm 39 of the home semaphore located at the liomeward end of said normally dcenergized section; of the iline to move simultaneously. In case the line is open, that is, when the said section is to become energized, disc 38 will be swung into a horizontal position and arm 39 into an obliquely upward turned position and in the case oftdanger or stop, that is thenormal condition, when the said section oi the line is without current, disc 38 and .arm 39 will be thrown into a horizontal position such as is shown in Fig. 2.

The just mentioned signals are located in the immediate vicinity of the line posts 42, 43 which are about 200 meters distant from each other, the cross beam resting on the post 42 carries a cut-out switch of the line circuit which together with the mechanismfor operatingthe signals is worked from the station and interrupts the line circuit for step or danger or closes it again for line open. To this aim a T-shaped lever 14 is pivotally mounted on the side post 4.2 of a line wire support. The two ends of the cross bar of this lever are connected to the corresponding bar ends of a similar lever 45 on the home signal post, the lower end of the cross-bar being besides linked by a con necting rod to an arm of an angular lever 46 for operating the disc of the advance signal 38, while the middle bar of lever 14 is connected by means of a rod to an angular lever 47 adapted to operate a similar switch 48, 4-9 as is represented in Fig. 3 for a post 51, and on the cross beam at post 42 the line vis interrupted in a similar way as on cross beam at post 51 which post is established at a distance of only about to meters from post 42. The contact pieces of these two switches are carried, the one on an insulator 48 fixed to the body of the cross beam and the other 49 on an insulator at the end of the free arm of the angular lever 47. Said contact pieces are there connected to the two ends of the carrying wire 50 which is in terrupted between'the two insulators 58, 58. The switch at post 51 is a hand operated switch and the connecting rod 62 for operating the lever 417 is joined to a hand lever 53 enclosed in a locked case 52 fixed to the post 51. The case 52 however is made accessible only to the chief of the station and to the engineer of the locomotive, both of which alone are supposed to possess a key to said locked case.

At both posts 12 and 51 the line wire 1 is interrupted as well as its carrying wire 50. The two ends of wire 1 are wound around sheaves 55 mount-ed between insulated rails 56 which are suspended to insulators carried by the line supporting cross beams of posts 42, 51 in order to have some longitudinal play.

l ndcrneath said rails 56 and fixed to'the same are provided electrically insulated shoes 57 adapted to guide the bow collectors. while they are sliding over the cut out interval between the two ends of the line wire. Thus the portion of the line between posts l2 and 51 may be out out from the line or inserted again at will. hen the signals are placed on stop or danger the line is interrupted at post 4.2. Atpost 51 however it is interrupted permanently. be closed only in the case, when the opened switch at post 42. operated from the station has failed to work owing to freezing in and when current'has to be furnished to the line in order to allow the locomotive to enter the station. The incoming trains will pass the permanently cut-out but very short portion of the line at post 51 without any disturbance whatever.

It must be mentioned here, that the sta tions as well, as also the intermediate poris again closed by switch 29.

The hand switch at post 51 will tions of the line are supposed to be fed with current either directly or by side lines.

For convenience of the engineer the posts 42, 51 are equipped with orange-coloured discs 54 facing the direction of arriving trains. These discs are thus indicating that the portions of the linethereafter are cutout intervals.

The working of the described safety devices is as follows. a

If alccomotive provided with the devices described has run past the advance signal placed on stop and has arrived in the cut-out interval marked by an orange-coloured disc the main controller switch will at once fly out and assume the position A as shown in Fig. 1 and the circuit of the electromagnct of relay 7 will be open; the released armature 15 will close the circuit for the signals intended for the en gineer at contact 16, the bell 9 will be sounded and the lamps 10 will be lighted and the advised engineer will operate the brakes or as in freight trains will give the signal for operating the same. In order to avoid the'sounding of the siren if he wants to leave his platform he will open the manual switch 29 thus preventing application of current to the motor of the locomotive. By this operation the controller switch will be locked fast and will be freed again only when the circuit of the siren troller switch depends in such a way on a relay which is so energizedby'a transformed part of the line current that the arm of said switch is caused to fly out of contact, when line current is lacking.

Normally the position of parts is as indicated by Fig. 1 except that switch 29 is closed, switch 82 unlocked and contact hand 34 contacts with contact strip 35.

The engineer has his stand on the platform 28 and thereby keeps the circuit; of the siren interrupted. If however he has become unfit for service to such a degree that he has dropped off the platform the siren 11 will be sounded by the contact at 85 and the electromotor 12 will begin to operate the valves. The siren will then advise the train staff who will work'the manual brakes and when valves 24:, 26 have opened, all pressure in conduit 21, 5 will be blown off, the bow collectors will drop and through conduit 90 all automatic brakes will be actuated. Piston 20 will be moved by spring 19 and the circuit for the engineers signals will be cut-out. The locomotive made powerless will very soon come to a stop. (The manually operated cocks 4E and 60 have nothing to do with the safety devices of this invention.) If the locomotive has to be started again valves 24, 26 have to be closed by means of hand wheel 61. By refilling the air reservoir from the main reservoir the The conpressure in conduits 21 and 5 will be restored, piston 20 will thereby assume again its former position so as to close the contact of the contact relay and the bow collectors will be raised again. i

As there is now current in the locomotive the contact relay 7 will be openedagain and owingto the armature 15 being at tracted by the electro-niagnet 7 the circuit of the optical and acoustic signals will be opened.

In Figs. 6 to 8 an improved form is shown ofa pedal circuit breaker such as represented in Fig. 1 under 28. By this new arrangement the'enginccr is relieved of the trouble of pressing the pedal at say every minute but he is constrained to keep his stanzl on a platform, said breaker being worked only when by accident or for some other reason the platform becomes'released by the engineers body weigl'it or a certain part of it. I

In the drawing there is a platform 1 supported by at leastthree helical springs 2 (two of which are shown) .and is stiffened by a border This platform is provided on its bottom side with guide rods 4t fixed thereto and permitting a displacement of the platform in a vertical direction only and parallel to itself. The springs 2 are placed over said rods and kept in place by means of cup like washers?) in such a manner that springs 2 may be easily. exchanged when the platform has been Withdrawn from its guides. The strength of the springs is such that the body weight of the engineer will bring the platform nearly at a level with the surrounding floor 25. r Y t It has been supposed that the stand of the engineer is confined to rather a narrow space having a table board in front of it said board carrying all the necessary apparatus and being fixed to a wall of the locomotive.

The platform representing a square of about 40 to .30 centimeters side length reaches to the front wall 6 and is connected at its respective border by means of rod 7 to across bar 9 which is loosely guided at its ends in vertical slots 8 provided in the front wall {3. A'contact strip 10 of a circuit breaker is resiliently attached to the top side of cross bar 9 and is connected to an electrical conductor 11 of the circuit of the siren and motor 12. Another cross bar 13 guided in a similar way and provided with a similarly attached contact strip 12 on its bottom side is arranged over said bar9 and is coupled to the latter by a kind of a trailing connection this connection consisting of two rods 14 fastened to the underside of cross bar 13 and traversing loosely the bar 9 said rods being provided attheir free ends with broad heads and having such a length that, when the two bars are separated from each other, bar 9 will take bar 13 along with itform.

r with a sufficient play between as to have the two contact strips 10 and 12 safely separated from each other. lVhile bar 13 is loosely guided in the slots 8 it is jammed between the ground faces of the slots 8 by means of leather-covered blocks 15, which are under the effect of springs 18 and are guided between the forked ends 17 of said her and by studs 16, said springs being sleeved on said studs. It will therefore require some effort exerted by the bolts let taken along by bar 9 to move bar 13. The strength of springs 18 is such that bar 13 will only be moved when the platform is fully loaded by the body weight of the engineer. Contact strip 12 like strip 10 is connected to the circuit of the siren by a conductor ll and buffers 19 are arranged on the top side of bar 9 so that no harm is done to the con tacts when the two bars will meet.

The sensibility of the springs 2 supporting the platform is such that under'a load of 30 kilograms the contacts 10 and 12 will be separated and that under a load of 150 kilograms the border 53 of the platform touches the ground.

Instead of being balanced by springs the platform'might also be balanced by a lever with a 'slidable weight if the disposable space. will allow it.

The working of this circuit breaker is as follows: i

The position shown in Fig. Gisthat of rest. The unloaded platform is in its highest position and the contacts 10, 12 are closed. Notwithstanding the circuit of the siren is open owing to the fact that the engineer before heleft the platform had put the controller switch32 on A and had opened said circuit at the manual circuit breaker 29, 30 by locking the controller.

Vhenabout to start. the engineer takes his stand on the platform which will sink according to the body weight of the engineerand will cause bar 9 to be separated from bar 13 the latter being held back by the blocks 15. The contacts 10, 12 will also be separated and the circuit be opened at this point. The engineer then unlocks the con troller switch and closes thereby again the circuit of the siren at contact 31 in Fig. 1 which he had opened, when he left the plat He. then closes the check valves 2 1-,

26 and causes thereby the bow collectors to bear on the line wire, whereupon he is free to operate the controller switch in order to speed up the locomotive.

Standing on the platform however he remains now under control of thesiren innsmuch as, ifhe leaves th'e platform or has been constrained to do so on account of illness or accident and if he has relieved the platform of the whole or a certain part of his body weight the platform will rise to close the contacts 10, 12 and will cause the siren as general alarm signal to be sounded.

All parts needing protection against malicious tampering of the engineer, as for instance the contacts 10, 12, the conductors 11, the link bolts of the rods 7 and other parts may be hidden by encasing the same or may be provided with aiiiXed leads or other controlling means.

Having now fully described my invention and the manner in which the same has to be performed what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A control device for electric railway locomotives comprising an electric circuit;

means in said circuit for automatically sounding a general alarm signal; a clockwork switch in said circuit adapted during its normal closed position to control said means; and a platform circuit breaker which is adapted, while occupied by the engineer of the locomotive, to prevent the operation of said means and to actuate said means when unoccupied.

2. A control device for electric railway locomotives comprising an electric circuit; means in saidcircuitfor sounding a general alarm signal and for setting the brakes; a clockwork switch adapted in its normal. closed position to render said means operative; a platform circuit breaker which is adapted, while occupied by the engineer of the locomotive, to prevent the operation of said means and to actuate said means when unoccupied; a car controller switch; and a manual circuit breaker in said circuit adapted in its disrupted state to lock said controller switch in its cut-out position.

3. A control device for electric railway locomotives comprising a storage battery; a line circuit; a pneumatic conduit system; pneumatic bow collectors controlled by said system; an electric circuit adapted to operate alarm signals; a circuit disrupter controlled by fluid pressure in said system, said system adapted to cut out said signals and lower said bow collectors; and an electromagnetic relay dependent on said line circuit and adapted to control said electric circuit.

' 4:. A control device for electric railway locomotives comprising pneumatically operated bow collectors; a general alarm signal; means for simultaneously controlling the pneumatic conduits of the bow collectors and air brakes; an electric circuit adapt ed to control said means and general alarm signal, a second circuit adaptedto operate optical and acoustic signals; a circuit disrupter controlled by fluid pressure. in said conduits and adaptedto cut out said optical and acoustic signals when the bow collectors are lowered; an electromagnetic contact relay dependent on a line current and adapted to control said second circuit; and a platform circuit breaker included in said first circuit which is operated by the weight of the engineer.

In testimony whereof I affix my signa ture.

FRITZ GRUNIG.

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