US1646684A - Railway-train-control system - Google Patents

Description

Oct 25 19?.

E. CLARK E AL RAILWAY TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM Filed May 9, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet l INV ENTOR. M

- ZTTORNEY.

Oct. 25,, 1M

11'. E. CLARK ET AL RAILWAY TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM Filed May 9. 1925 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

' 0a. 25, 192? LMMM T. E. CLARK ET AL RAILWAY TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM AT TZRNE Y.

Fatented Get. 25, lQZ'Y.

FFHQE.

THOMAS E. CLARK AND E'AMES E. CLARK, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNORS TO CONTINUOUS TRAIN CONTEOL CORPOIMEION, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A COR- IOBA'IION OF MICHIGAN.

BAILWVAY-TRAIN -OO1\TTROL SYSTEM.

Application filed May 9, 1925. Serial Ho. 29,054.

This invention relates to the control of railway trains by means of a high-frequency current propagated in or imposed on railway tracks by train controlled instrumentalities positioned along the trackway coacting with brake controlling instrumentalities on the locomotives or other controlled vehicles, and embodying current collecting devices whereby the. control current produced by, induction may be picked up, and its object is to provide a system of this character whereby acontrol current will be transmitted to the train when a section of track'in advance of a train is occupied, and also, whenever the current propagating meansat the next train-control station in advance is inoperative.

It further relates to means for. visibly indicating to a following train the occupancy of the iirst or second track section in advance, and embodies, means for causing the operation or that signal which indicates the occupancy oi"? the track between it and the next station in advance,.whenever the Sta tion in advance becomes inoperative.

In railway signal and control devices of the character hereinafter described, which embody a group of lamps of different colors at each control station, means are provided whereby current flows to these lamps only when a train approaches the lamp stand or support and the current is interrupted when the train has passed the lamp stand. In the present construction, certain of the lamp circuitsare made use of to determine the operation of a transformer for propagating high-frequencycontrol current in the track rails of the section in which the train is running, and proper means responsive to electric currentare provided whereby each signal and transforming station influences the next station in the rear, so that, should either the signal or control mechanism tail to operate, the sigi'ial mechanism and the control mechanism will be positioned in the same manner as they would it the track be tween such stations. were occupied.

When a section ottrack receives this co11- trol current and atrackvehicle moves along this section toward the exit end where the transformer is connected to the rails and is transmitting high-frequency current there to, a zone 'or field of induced current travels just in front ofthe leading axle or the vehicle, which field becomes stronger as the vehicle approaches the connections with the transmitter. Proper receiving mechanism for this induced current is mounted on the locomotive and a relief valve controlling the brakes is normally held closed by an electromagnetic device energized by a current source on the vehicle, the circuit between them being kept closed by devices which may be controlled by the current picked up from the rails so that when this current is picked up, the circuit to the valve-controlling mechanism is opened, which will result in the brakes being set.

A forestalling key is provided to close another circuit between the current source and the electro-magnetic device controlling the relief valve so that the application oi the brakes'may be avoided.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagram of the circuits and instrumentalities embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a diagram of the transformer. Figs. 3 and are views, partly diagrammatic and partly sectional, of the instrumentalities to be mounted on the locomotive.

Similar reference characters reter to like parts throughout the several views.

The track for which the present invention is designed is divided into blocks or sections each provided at its exit end with a signal and control station. The direction of traftie in Fig. 1 is supposed to be from right to left, and each signal and control station is controlled by a train, if any, occupying its block and by the station next in advance. A signal stand at each station near the insulation joint between adjacent blocks, is provided with the usual green, yellow and red lamps which receive currentonly when the block immediately in the rear is occupied so that there is no unnecessary loss of current. .Vihen such block is occupied, a red light becomes visible at its exit end when the next block in advance is occupied, a yellow light when the second block in advance is occu pied, and a green light when neither is occupied. The installations may be said to be in clear, caution and danger posi tions when the circuits are closed to the green, yellow and red lamps, respectively.

In F 1, the rails are lettered 1 and 2, the insulations dividing them into blocks are lettered 3 and the lamp stands by at. The

wires 5 and (5 connect the track relay 7 to the rails'and current for the relay is conducted to the rails by the wires 8 and 9 from the track battery 10, a resistance 11 being employed to prevent damage to the battery when a car axle on the rails short circuits this track relay. The relay 7, while energized, holds up its arinatures a, Z) and 1 and thereby holds open the common circuit to the signal lamps and the circuits to the train control mechanism. But when this relay 7 de-energizei'l by reason of its block or track section being occupied, its arinatur s will close these circuits so that one of the lamps and the train control mechanism will function.

Each signal installation is controlled by the signal installation next in advance to the effect that it an installation is in danger position, the installation next in the rear will assume caution position and cause the second station in the rear to assume clear position. ,No installation has any ell'ect on the stations in advance.

The sections and their installations are lettered. A, B and C in Fig. 1, and these lettors are occasionally associated with the numerals designating parts. Each section has a storage battery 13 or other current source and the circuits thereto are controlled in part by a polar neutral relay 14: whose winding is connected to the installation next in advance by wires 15 and 16. Current flows to this relay 1 1 from the station in advance over wire 15 and back over wire 16 when clear conditions are to control, and

flows in the opp site direction when cantion conditions are to control, while no current flows over these wires when danger coinlitions control. The relay 1 1 has neutral arniatures-i a, b, c, and (Z, and polar armatures c and j" which retain their positions until positively nioved therefrom. For convenience it will be assumed that positive current llows to relay 1 1 01 a station over wire 15 when the installation is to be at clear, and that this causes the arrnatures c and f to swing clockwise, while negative current iiows over this wire 15 when the installation is to be at caution, and these arimrturef-i swing counterclockwise.

The relays 11 and the circuits between the stations therefore control the signals. Stare ing with block 13, where no current is received by relay 1113, current flows from the battery 1315 over wires 17 and 18, dropped armature 1%, wires 2-1 and 1613 to relay 14C, and wire 15B, armature 25" of station 13, wire 26, armature 7, wire 27, armature 1-1 and wires 28 and 22 to the battery.

Relay 11C is negatively energized, and ii block C were not occupied, current would flow from battery 13C over wire 17, arinatur'e 14 wire 27', armature 7". wire 26', annatu-re 25 and wire 15C to relay 1% of station 1) (not shown) and back over wires 16C and 2 1, armature 14 and wires 28 and 22 to battery 13C. The result would be a positively energized relay 1 1 at station D. The control oi relay 25 will be explained later on.

Section A was clear until a train (not shown.) now occupying it passed signal station B, so that the polar armatures e and f of relay 1 1 of this station are still in the position they assumed when positive current came to this relay 1 1 over wire 15A. But when the train entered this block A, its relay 7 was short cireuited and no current flows over wire 15A.

As there is no train in block B, there is no current flowing to the lamp stand at the exit end of block B, but if there were, relay 7 of block B would be (ls-energized and current would flow from the battery 1313 over wires 17 and 18, armature 14 and wire 19 to red lainp R and wire 20, armature 7 and wires 21 and 22 to the battery. It for any reason therefore, no current flows to a sta tion over wire 15A, :1 red lainp will indicate this fact to the train approaching that station in block 13. 7

Station G next in the rear also has a relay 1-1 to which the wires 15B and 16B "extend ftOlH station B. Current flows from the battery 131) over wires 17 and 1S, armature 1%", wires 24 and 1613 to relay 14 of station C and then over wire 15B, armature b of relay wire 26, armature 7, wire 27, armature 1 t and wires 28 and 22'to the battery.

Considering the current in wire 1513 as a negative current to relay MC, the polar armatures 1-1" and 1-1 swing counter-clockwise and current will flow from the battery of station C over wires 17 and 18, arn'iature -lat", wire 30, armature" 1'1 and wire 31 to lamp Y, and thence over wire 20, armature 7 and wires 21 and: 22 back to the battery.

It block C were not occupied by train T and relay 7 otstation (l were energized, curtent r xould flow from the battery 13G over wire 17, armature 14 wire 27, armature 7 wire 26, armature 25* and wire 15C to relay 1 11) (not shown), causing its-'a-rinatures e and f to swing clockwise. Current. at station I) would then flew from the battery over wires 17 and 1-8, armature 1 1 wire 30, armature 1-1" and wire 33 to the green lamp on the stand 1. It therefore, ablock is occupied, and a train approaches from a disstanee, a green light will show at the exit end of the third block in the rear, a yellow light at the exit end' of the'second block in the rear, and a red light at the exit end of the next block in the rear, as each of these blocks 15 occupied in turn. But should one of these signal installations fail to function and no current flow to the next station in the r ar, a red light will immediately show at that point and the sequence of lights toward the rear willbe the same as just stated.

A high-frequency current of a predetermined wave-length is propagated in the section at whose exit end a red lamp receives current,'and also in the section at whose exit end a yellow lamp receives current, and the len 'th of track which carriesa suliicient amount of this current to affect instrumentalities on the locomotive will depend upon the character of the current impressed upon the rails. The turns-forming and transmitting device is diagrannnatically shown in Fig. 2 and described later on, and is indi cated by the circle 34 in Fig. 1, current being conducted to this transmitting device only when either of the two blocks in advance is occupied, that is, when negative current or no current passes to relay 14, and occurs only when the block belonging to that transformer is occupied, and therefore when no current passes to relay 7.

When a red light is visible at the exit end of an occupied block. battery current passes from the battery 0]": the station adjacent said exit end over wire 17, armature 14", wire 35, armature"? and wire 36 to the transformer, and wires 37, 21 and 22 to the battery. The high-frequency current passes to-the rail 1 over wires 38 and 5, and to the rail 2 over wire 39, condenser 40, wire ll, relay 6L2 and wiresdS and 6.,The condenser 4-0 prevents the passage of the track current from the battery at the other end ofthe block through the relay l2 and the transformer.

The relays 7- do not respond to'the high-tre quency current from the transformers 34.

'l-lelay 4-2 responds to this current from the transformer Eat and attracts its armature a which closes the circuit to the relay 25, over wires 17 andlS, dropped armature 14 wires 2 and 1.6 to relay 25, wire 45, armatare wires lii 'and-2T,droppcd armature 14c, and wires 28 and 22; Relay'25 has a heavy core and so is energized and de-energized slowly. Relay 25-being energizechattracts its armatures a and Z). As soon as the train leaves block C, relay 7C becomes enere gized. closing a'second circuit from the bat tery 13C OV1:WlleS 17 ElHl 18, dropped armature lt, wires 2st and 16 to relay 25, wire 45, armature 25, wire 26,. armature 7", wire 27 dronned armature 14: and wires 28 and a l i 22 to the battery.

ll lien a yellow light is visible at the exit end o't'an occupied block C. as indicated at the right in Fig. 1, block B being unoccupied, battery current passes from battery 13C over wires 17 and 18, rmature H wires 44 and 35, armature 7 (dropped) and wire 36 to the transformer, and wires 37, 21 and 22to the battery. The current from the transformer passes to the rails as before described. Block 0 being occupied; and negative current passing torelay 14C, as before .expla'inecbcausing'armatures lat and le to assume counter-clockwise positions, currentwill flow from the battery 136 over wires 17 and 18, armature 1r, wire 44 to wire 35, armature 7 and wire 36 to the transformer and 'back over wires 37, 21 and 22 to the battery. The transformer being energized, high-frequency current-passes to the rails.

lVhen positive current flows over the wire to a relay l t to cause the armatures 1& and 14? to swing clockwise, and the block approaching the station is occupied, current will pass over the wire to the green lamp, but the circuits to the transmitter will be open at armature 14, and no control current will pass to the rails.

The advantage of this arrangement is that while a block is unoccupied and relay 7 is energized, current flows to the relay of the installation of that block over arn'iature 7F and relay 14 of the next installation in the rear will be energized either positively or negatively. Then when the block between these installations is occupied and relay 7 is Clo-energized, the circuit comprising armature 7 is broken but the circuit to the transformer 3th is closed. If now this transformer functions properly and relay 4-2 is energized, the second circuit to relay 25 is closed so that current will again flow to relay 14. of the block to the rear. But should the transformer fail to function, then the second circuit to the relay 25 will not be closed and no current will flow to relay 1% of the next installation in the rear and a red light will show whenever the block in the rear is occupied. The short time be tween the energizations of relay i2 is not sufficient for the slow relay 25' to lose its magnetism so its armatures will remain attracted during this interval.

The transformer is more fully illustrated inFig. 2. A dynamometer 51 receives direct battery current over the wires 36 and 37, and 53 and delivers direct current of from 300 to 500 volts over the wires 54 and 55. The filament 56 of the electron tube 57 connects to the wire 87 by means of an adjustable resistance 58 and connects to the wire 36 by means of the wire 59. The wire connects to the plate coil 60 and to the tuning condenser 61, the Wires 6% and connecting this condenser and coil 00 to the plate 66. The wire 54 connects to the grid coil 67, and that conuects'to the grid condenser 68 and grid leak (39 by means of the wire 70. A wire 72 connects this condenser 68 and grid leak 69 of the tube 57. An out put coil 74: connects to the wires 38 and 39, which, in turn, connect to the rails as above described, the condenser 40 preventing the track relay being short-circuited by this output coil. Thecurrent delivered to the rails may beef any desired wave-length, waves of from'1500 to 6000 meters in length being feasible. No claim is made ofinvention in the details of this transformer and transmitlib? ter and any other desired means for accomplishing the same results may be employed.

It the vehicle had but a single axle which passed into a clear block at whose exit end a green light showed, the generator of the station oil that block would not deliver current to the track rails and therefore the relay 25 would be de-energized so that no current could pass over the wire 15 leading from that station to the next station in the rear, and would remain that way. But railway vehicles have more than one axle so that two adjacent stations are occupied as the leading axle leaves the clear block which results in the circuit to relay 1.4; of the clear block being opened by relay 7 of the block in advance and a red light showing in place of the green light and in the generator 3 1 operating during the time the vehicle or trains moves out of that clear block. This gives current to relay 12 and causes relay to pick, up. its armatures.

The. locomotioe installation.

Mounted on the locomotive at an oblique ai'igle to the rail just in frontof the leading axle where the induced field is the strongest is a collector coil which connects to a thermo-junction heater current converter 101 by means of the wires 102 and 103, an adjustable condenser 101 being connected into this circuit for tuning it to resonance with the train control current propagated in the track rails.

Arelay 105 connects to the converter by means of wires 100 and 107 and its armatiu'c a is normally in engagement with its back contact to close the circuit to the relay 108 which is from the battery 109 over the wire 110 to the relay 108 and thence over wires 112 and 113, armature 108, wire 1131-, armature 105 and wires 115 and 1113 back to the battery. A solenoid 117 controls the operation of the brakes, and while energized holds the valve 118 on its seat to prevent flow of air from the pipe 119 connecting to the main air reservoir of the brake system, and the circuit tor this solenoid is from the wire 110 over armature 108 and wire 120 on one side and wires 122 and 116 on the other, so that this solenoid remainsenergized so long as the circuit to the relay 108 remains closed. But when the collector coil 100 picks up the proper current from the rails and causes the relay 105 to pick up its armature, the circuits to both the relay 10S and solenoid 117 will le opened and remain so until both of the l'mrestailing keys 122 and 123 are depressed, one ot these being mounted adjacent the engineers and the other adjacent the liremans station. The depression of both keys simultaneously will close an auxiliary circuit between the battery and the relay 108. An ac cidental closing of one key at the time the coil 100 is receiving current will therefore fall to bridge the two wires 11 1 and 115,

after which the closing of both torestalling keys will again cause the relay 108 to pick up its armatures and complete the circuits to itself and the solenoid117. These keys must be held depressed during the entire time the loop 100 receives current in order to prevent the application of the brakes,

The brakcs are caused to be applied by'the reduction of the air in the train pipe or line and so long as the solenoid 117 is energized, no interference with the control of the brakes by the train valve 131 occurs. Air normally flows from this train pipe through the branch to the control valve 133 and to the storage ank 13 1 through the pipe 135. This tank serves to reduce the speed of application of the brakes, for the openings through which the air of the train pipe escapes may be made larger when a storage tank o'l 'this charapter is employed.

When the solenoid 117 is tie-energized and the valve 118 moves down to close the vent passage 136, air flows through the valve body 1217 and pipe 138 to the whistle 139 and to the check-valve body 140, lifting the valve 1 12 and passing through pipes 1 13, 1 14: and 1415 to the control cylinders 146 and 14.7 and to the storage tank 148, which merely accumulates air and permits of delayed movements of the pistons 14,9 and 150.

The piston 149 moves the valve 152 to close the normal passage between the train pipe 130 and the train valve 131 so that the engineer cannot supply air to the train pipe to prevent the setting of the brakes. But he can set his valve to exhaust the train line pipe. The check valve 153 will permit this upward flow of air.

Vhen the piston is forced to the posi-' tion shown in Fig. 4, it connects the small passage 15 1 (which is controlled by the needle valve 155 and is connected to the outside air by the vent 156) to the space above the piston 157. lVhen the parts are as shown in Fig. 3, the air pressure on both sides of this piston 157 is the same, and the passage 154-. out 01f from the space abovepipe through the restricted vent 160, which results in setting the brakes. This flow will,

ill

be slow because of. the tank 134; which holds air at the same initial pressure and which must also escape through the vent 156..

All this time the whistle 139 is sounding and if the engineer and firemanare both alert, each can operate his forestalling key to cause the electro-magnetic valve to close.

But unless the forestalling keys are de pressed, air will continue to escape from the train pipe and result in the brakes being applied.

;WVl1en the control keys are depressed and the solenoid 117 energized to stop the flow of air from the pipe 119, the engineer may open his train valve 131 to permit full pressure air to flow into the train pipe which will result in the valve 152 and piston 1 19 being pushed back to normal position, which is rendered possible by the escape of the air in the pipes 143, 1 14; and M5, cylinders 146 and 14:? and tank 148 through the whistle 139 and vent 136, the valve 142 being so formed as to permit a slow flow of air to the pipe 138. The new pressure in the train pipe 180 and its branch 132 also forces the Valve 158 and piston 150 back to the position shown in Fig. 3. r

Whenever therefore, the collector coil 100 passes along a properly energized Zone where it picks up current of the proper wave length, the relay 105 will cause the valve 108 to admit high pressure air to the cylinders 146 and 147, which results in the applica-. tion of the brakes unless forestalled by the proper use of the keys 122 and 123 which should be so placed that they cannot be operated by one man.

The details of construction and the arrangements and positions of the various parts may all be changed by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of our invention as set forth in the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a railway train control system comprising signal inechanism along the trackway for visibly indicating three dili'erent speed conditions, means for propagating or imposing high frequency current upon the rail at the points where the minimum speed condition signal is visible, means for causing such imposing of said high-frequency current when an adjacent signal mechanism becomes inoperative, and means on a vehicle on the track andextending adjacent the trackway and tuned to respond to the wave length of said imposed current to affect instrumentalities on said vehicle.

2. In a railway train control system comprising signal mechanism along the trackway for visibly indicating three different speed conditions, means adjacent each signal mechanism for imposing high-frequency current upon the rails at points where the signal for minimum speed conditions is visiquency bis, means for causing such imposing of high-frequency current when an adjacent current imposing means becomes inoperative, and means on a vehicle on-the track tuned to respond to the wave lengths of .said imposed current.

the signal mechanism or the transforming mechanism of the block in advance is inop erative.

4. In a railway train control system, a series of successive block sections, signal mechanism for each section embodying a battery and three signal lamps and circuits between the battery and the lamps, a polarneutral relay controlled by current from the block in. advance to select the circuit to the proper signal lamp according to the occupancy of the track in advance and also controlling the signal mechanism of the track sections in the rear, means for transforming the battery current into high-frecurrent of predetermined wave length and imposing the same on the track rails, means controlled by said polar-neutral relay to cause the operation of said transformer, and a relay energized by said transformer for closing the circuit from the battery to the polar-neutral relay of the next installation in the rear.

5. In a railway train control system, a series of successive block sections, a signal installation for each section embodying a plurality of lamps, a signal battery and a circuit from each lamp to the battery, a polar-neutral relay controlled by currents from the block in advance and adapted to select the proper lamp circuit according to the occupancy of the t ad; in advance, bat teries connected to the track at adistance to the rear from each signal installation and track relays energized thereby and located adjacent the signal installations, armatures for the track relays to open and close the circuits to said lamps, means to transform signal battery current into highfrequency current of predetermined wave length, a circuit for the transformer adapted to be opened and closed by the track re-' lay and by the polar-neutral relay, circuits connecting the transformer to the rails and embodying a third relay, a circuit between the battery and the polar-neutral relay of til the next station in the rear, said circuit bemg closed and opened by said third relay as that is energized or tie-energized, and a ing a relief valve adapted to be moved to open position to cause the brakes to be set, means operated by compressed air to open said valve, a control valve and electro magnet-ic means to normally hold it closed to prevent the connpressed air to open the relief valve, a battery and a circuit between the battery and the electro n'iagnetic means, a relay to'hold this circuit closed, a normally closed circuitbetween the battery and said relay, a second relay to open the circuit to the first, a collector coil and a circuit therefor to pick up high-frequency current from the track rails, means to tune the collector coil and its circuit to the wave length of the current in the track rails, and means to transform the collected current into proper current to affect the second relay.

7. In a railway train control system, the combination of an air brake system embodying a relief valve adapted to be moved to open position to cause the brakes to be set, means operated by compressed air to open said valve, a control valve and electro-magnetic -means to normally hold it closed to prevent the compressed air to open the relief valve, a battery and a circuit between the ing a thermo-jmiction heater current rectitier.

8. In a railway train control system com-- prising signal mechanism along the trackway for visibly indicating three different speed conditions, .11 vans adjacent each signal mecl'ianism for imposing high-frequency current upon the rails at points Where the goal for either minimum or intermediate speed conditions is visible, means for causii'ig such imposing of high-frequency current when an adjacent current imposing means becomes inoperative, and means on a vehicle on the track tuned to respond to the wave tion of current by a control mechanism when its block and either the next or second block in advance are occupied and to prevent such imposition when the two blocks in advance are unoccupied.

THOMAS E. CLARK. JAMES E. CLARK.

Images