US217355A - Improvement in railway-signals - Google Patents

Description

W. G. EVANS. Railway-Signals.

' Patented July 8,1879.

W/JTNLESAS'ES INVENTOR I; fltt0rne1/8 y MPETERS. PHOIO LJTHOGRAPHER WASH Naron I) G UNITED STATES PATENT u-i'OFFIGE.

WILLIAM G. EVANS, OF PLEASANTON, KANSAS.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-SIGNALS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 217,355, dated July 8, 1879; application filed October 12, 1878.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM G. EvAN s, of

Pleasanton, in the county of Linn and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Signals; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,

which will enable others skilled in the art to? structed according to my invention. 5

This invention consists in the wedge-shaped form of the casing containing the windows, and in the arrangement of the flags, as will be hereinafter fully explained.

a is the signal-box, which is made wedgeshaped, as shown, so that when set with its central line or w,Fig. 1, at right angles to the railway track or line of motion of the locomotive the sides a a will be at an angle other than a right angle to the said track or line of motion.

The windows a a in the sides a a are a plain fiat-surface, and, being placed at the angle above explained, the reflection of the light in day-time is away from the line of motion of the locomotive, so that there is obviated the difficulty experienced in ordinary day-signals by the obscuring of the color of the flag by the white light reflected from the glass surface into the eye of the engineer.

The lights a a take up about half the space of the sides a a the upper half of said sides being made of wood or other suitable material, so that the flags may be rolled up behind the same and hidden from view.

Within the casing a are placed the vertical guide-rods b b, for the purpose of preventing anyinterference between the different flags as the latter are raised or lowered.

c d are the flags, made of loose woven flannel or cloth, suspended on the rollers c d, and operated by the cords of on the outer side of the case a. The lower end of each flag is provided with a weight, g, which causes it to drop flags c are of ordinary construction, being of same color on both sides.

- The red flags d have their inner sides, next the lamp 1', lined with white cloth, while the green flag is lined with another shade of green.

I have by experiment found that a red flag lined with'white will show a better red color, not only by day but by night also, when the color is shown by the lamp 6.

The green flags are lined with a material of their own color, but of lighter shade, because they will thus show a better green light after night, or when the sun shines on their inner sides; also, the arrangement of a red flag behind the green will show a better signal at times.

To illustrate, suppose the railway runs north and south and the green flag be shown to the south. If the sun be shining bright the rays will pass through the flag and a green light will be shown also on the north side of the box.-

To avoid this I drop the red flag, which is sus pended on the same side of case with the green flag, behind the latter, which obstructs the green rays, and there will be shown a clear white light to the north.

By means of the flags and box constructed and arranged as described I have furnisheda .device which may be used both for day and night signals. By it I can show at the same time, either night or day, on opposite sides, a green and a white, or a green and a red, or green and green, or red and red signals, as may be desired.

I am aware that signal-boxes having curved or rounded glass fronts have been used; but

these will not accomplish the results gained by my device-namely, the reflection in daytime of all the rays of the sun away from the track and the eye of the engineer.

Heretofore signal-boxes with glass sides have been unserviceable in day-time.

My device overcomes the difficulties heretofore met with, and I have provided a signal equally serviceable in either day or night.

The upper part, a, of the box is closed in by the sides, so that it forms a close chamber, within which are supported the rollers c d. The flags 0 d are supported on these rollers, and may be drawn up out of sight when desired.

By this construction and arrangement I am enabled to use one or more flags of different colors.' All the flags not in use can be drawn up into the chamber, so that they will give no inconvenience and cause no confusion of colors.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

' 1. In a railway-signal, the box or casing to,

ber, a, as described, and provided with suitable means for supporting and operating the rollers c d, and having in the lower ends of the opposite sides a a the windows a a, inclined to the angle of vision, the flags 0 d, arranged in pairs or series of difl'erent colors on the opposite sides of said box and supported and operated by the rollers 0 cl in the chamber a and the vertical guide-rods b, all arranged to operate substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a railway-signal, the combination, with the box at, having glass windows a a on its opposite sides, of the flags c d, arranged in pairs on opposite sides and next the windows, the outer flag, 0, being made of green cloth,

and the inner flag, 11, being of red cloth and lined on its inner side with white cloth, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM G. EVANS.

Witnesses JOHN E. GRoDE, A. D. HYATT.

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