US2210747A - Signaling system for toy railroads - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 6, 1940. P. c. BAGNASCO SIGNALING SYSTEM FOR TOY 'RAILROADS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Oct.' '20, 192,8

v INVENTOR. C1396 flsco PHIL 1P ATTORNEES' 6, 0- P. c. BAGNASCO: 2.210.747

V smumma SYSTEM rqn T0! summons Filed Oct. 20, 19218 Sheets-Sheet 2 llllllllllllllllll H n gym u m 1| ymn mun" E t i I z V s n A-L-Ja v 16 43 37 25 PHIL/P 0.294 A/fisco ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 6, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,210,141 SIGNALING SYSTEM non TOY mum-Ans Philip 0. Bagnasco, Williston mi, N. Y.

Application October 20, 1938, No. 235,943

1 Claim. (chess-s1) This invention relates to improvements in signaling systems and has particular reference to a block signaling system for toy. electric railroads. An object of the invention is to provide an improved. system of simple and practical construction wherein a series of signals of different characteristics at each of two or more stations are automatically controlled by the positions of trains on thetrackway of the system, and in which the speed of a train approaching any station. may be regulated in accordance with the signals set at said station.

The inventive idea involved is capable of receiving. a variety of. expressions some of which,

- and contact member carried by the truck of the toy locomotive.

Figure 4 is a top plan view, partly broken away and shown in section, of the apparatus at one of the stations.

Figure 5 is a, vertical longitudinal section through the apparatus of Fig. 4, and, r

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of rail contact member employed in the system. v

The system illustrated in the drawings comprises a trackway consisting of the two wheel rails II, II and a third rail I! from which the motor of "a toy railroad train receives its current for operation. It may be assumed that the truck I! (Fig. '1) carries the locomotive of a train and, in conjunction with this truck, there is provided a contact member ll carrying the rollers I! which engage said third rail for the purpose of conveying current to the motor of the train. For convenience in illustration, the trackway is shown in a straight line but itwill be understood, of course, that the same may take, a circular or other form. The trackway is, like in standard practice, made up of a plurality of sections capable of being joined together to form the complete trackway. Two or more signaling' stations may be associated with the trackway depending upon the length thereof, and, as shown. in Fig. .1, two such stations A and B are shownzzat separated points. The trackway is' divided into blocks two of which are indicated at' Al and BI, with the station A controlling the signals for block A! and station 3 regulating the signals for block BI and also controlling certain signals at station A. The blocks are determined by insulated sections IB and ll of the third g rail It, said sections being associated with the f stations A and B, respectively.

The apparatus which is included in each of the signaling stations proper is illustrated in Figs.

4 and 5 as comprising a base It upon which, is 10' mounted a cover I! and a signal tower the casing II of which has disposed therein the three visible signals 22, 23 and 24 which may be green, amber, and red, respectively. An insulated ex-' tension II of the base It projects therefrom ll beneath the rails l0 and l2 and carries clamps 26 at its outer end engageable 'with the third rail I! so as to cooperate with an eccentric lockinglever 2'! carried by the extension and engageable with the track Ill for securing the base II in fixed relation to the trackway.

Enclosed within the cover l9 and supported upon the base II is a plate 28 which carries two pairs of electromagnetic devices, such as solenoids 2., 30 and ll, 32. The solenoids 01' the two ,5

pairs are opposed to each other and have the common cores a, 34, respectively, provided with laterally extending pins 36 and 38. A switching device is associated with each pair of solenoids for controlling various operations of the system. 80

The device which operates in conjunction with the solenoids il, 30 includesa bracket 31 in which -is rockingly mounted a movable contact II in the form of. a bell crank lever, with one of the arms thereof engageable with the fixed contact I! 85 and the other arm adapted for engagement with the fixed contact 40 when said movable contact II is alternatelyrocked about its pivot in oppo-' site directions by engagement of the pin 35 with the then verticalarm of said movable contact. .Said operation occurs when either one of the solenoids II or ll is energized to move thecore' a in the desired direction. The switching device associated with the solenoids II, 32 is of similarconstruction and includes the locking 4| switch contact 4| adapted to be actuated by the pin 38 for alternate engagement with the pairs of fixed contacts 42 and 43. v

In addition to thelabo've described apparatus,

means are associated'with station B, which may l0 be designated'as the control station as distinguished from station A, for controlling certain signals at both stations and for also governing the condition of the third rail it. Such means embodies the insulated sections I4 and II (Fig. ll

1) arranged at suitably spaced intervals alongance with the length of-the trains on the tracka way. For example, it may be desired that the operation to be performed by the first contact element beyond the station B, which element has its equivalent at 44 (Fig. 1), shall not occur until the last car of the train has moved beyond the insulated section I! at station B. This result may be accomplished by adjusting said .con-.

tact shoe 91 to a distance from the section |I equal to the length of the longest train being operated. In the same sense, when an adjustable contact 41 is employed at the section 45, the same may be spaced any desired distance from the insulated section 44.

The operation of the system will now be described. Under the assumption that a train is approaching the signaling station A and is in block Al, and that a preceding train has cleared block Bl, the green signal 22 at station A is illuminated so that the first train may proceed into block Bl. By reference to Fig. 2, which shows the diagram for the circuits at station A as well as at station .3, it will be seen that under the above named condition a circuit is established for the lamp 22 extending from the positive side of battery 49 through the conductor 59, the movable contact 38, the fixed contact 39, the movable contact 4|, the upper fixed contact 42, the lamp 22, and from thence to ground through the grounded plate 28, the conductor 5| joining said plate with the rail N, and back to the other side of battery through the conductor 52 also connected to said rail. A branch of said circuit also extends from the movable contact 4| through the lower fixed contact 42 and the conductor 53 to the third rail l2 which is thus energized with the full voltage from the battery 49 to operate the motor of said first train. When the contact element H of the train truck l3 bridges the energized third rail in block A, the green signal 22 at said station is extinguished, the red signal is lighted, the third rail in block Al is deenergized and the amber signal 23 at the preceding station (not shown) is illuminated. The bridging of said rail l2 and the section It continues the previously described circuit from the conductor 53 through the contact element 14, the conductor 54 connected to the insulated section It, and from thence in one direction through the conductor 55 through the winding of the solenoid 29'back to the other side of battery 49 through the conductors 5| and 52. Said circuit is established in another direction from the conductor 54 through the conductor 58, the terminal post 51 and conductor 58 back to said preceding signaling station where the solenoids 39 and 3| are energized, in amanner to later appear, to light the amber lamp 23 at the latter station. The energization of the solenoid 29 moves the core 33 to the left, as shown in Fig. 2, thereby causing the movable contact 39 tobe disengaged from the contact 39and engaged with the contact 49. when so engaged the circuit for the red signal24 is established through said contacts 38, 49

and the lamp 24 over the previously described path back to the negative side of the battery 49-. The switching of said contact 38 from contact 39 also removes the source of electrical energy from the third rail of block Al so that a following train will be stopped should it enter said block.

With the above conditions existing, the first train moves through block Bi and when its contact element |4 bridges the third rail of said block and the insulated section l1 the same operation as previously described takes place with the result that the signal at station B is changed from green to red, thethird rail in block BI is deenersized, and the amber lamp 23 at station. A is illuminated by energization of the solenoids 39 and 3| through the circuit including the conductors 56 and 58. The eifect of the energization of said solenoids at station A will be described by reference to Fig. 2 which is illustrative of the control circuits at said station. It will be recalled that before the first train reached station B, the red signal at station A was illuminated with the contacts 39 and 49 in engagement and the contact 4| in the position shown in Fig. 2. However, when said circuit through the conductor 58 and the windings of the solenoids 39 and 3| at station A is established, said solenoids are simultaneously energized to move their respective cores 33 and 34 in opposite directions with the result that the contact 38 at station A is restored into engagement with the contact 39, and the contact 4| is operated to engage the contacts 43. A circuit is thereby closed from the battery 49 through contacts 38, 39, contact 4| and upper contact 43 to ground through the lamp 23. Also, through the lower contact 43, battery is connected to the variable resistance 59- and conductor 53 to the third rail of block Al This variable resistance 59 reduces the voltage now connected to said third rail with the result that any following train entering block AI will have its speed reduced in accordance with the decrease in said voltage, and this decreased speed of the train will be continued until the then existing condition of the third rail in block AI is altered. The movable contact 33 at station B having been disengaged from the contact 39, the battery 49 is disconnected from the third rail in block BI and said rail is deenergized.

As the first train proceeds from this point and preferably after the last car of said train passes over the insulated section the contact element 4 bridges the insulated section 44, or engages with the adjustable insulated contact 41 (Fig. 6). -A circuit is thereby established from the positive side of battery" through the conductor 59, the third rail l2, contact element I4, section 44, conductor 6|, and the windings of solenoids 3|, 39 and back to battery through the conductors 5| and 52. Said solenoids are simultaneously energized as previously described with the result that contact 33 is reengaged with contact 39 and contact 4| is engaged with contacts 43. In a manner now obvious, the red light 24 at station B is extinguished, the amber light 23 is illuminated and the battery 49 is connected through contacts 4|, 43 and resistance 59, to'the third rail. II inblock Bl so that a following train entering said 7 block will have its speed reduced. At the same time, the circuit for energizing the solenoids 3|, 39 is also extended through the conductor 92 to the terminal post 93 and from thence, over the conductor 64 to the solenoid 32 at station A, and from thence to battery with the result that solenoid 32is energized to light the green lamp 22' at station A in the same manner as will presently 15 operation at station B.

appear in connection with the description of the The first train new proceeds until it reaches the insulated section positioned at a suitable distance from section 44. Upon bridging of the third rail and said section 45, the circuit through the conductorill and said third rail is continued over the conductor and through the solenoid 32 at station B to ground and back to the other side of battery 49 through conductors 5| and 52. The solenoid 32 is thus energized to rock the contact 4| out of engagement with the contacts 43 and into engagement with the contacts 42. Whereupon, with contacts 38, 39 engaged by the previous energization of solenoid 30 the originally described circuit for the green lamp 22 is established and full voltage is applied from the battery 49 to the section of the third rail in block Bl so that if a following train is now in said block its speed will be increased.

What is claimed is:

In a toy railroad signaling system, a trackway and a third rail, said third rail having short,

spaced, insulated control sections toi'orm a plurality of blocks along said third rail, a source of electric energy for supplying current to. said trackway, to said blocks and to each of said short insulated sections, a signal station for each of said blocks, signals at each of said stations, a plurality of electromagnetic devices including switching means which remain in their last operated position when deenergized at each of said stations and which are connected to said control sections for variously controlling said signals, the switching means of said electromagnetic devices also connecting said source to and disconnecting the same from the block in the rear of the associated station, means including the control sec-: tion at each of said stations for controlling one of the signals at the preceding station through the electromagnetic devices thereat, a separate short insulated section in said third'rail beyond the last signal in advance of one station and connected' to a first one ofthe electromagnetic devices thereat and to a different one at the preceding station for controlling one of the signals at the former station and for also controlling a difierent signal 'at said preceding station, and additionally controlling said switching means through said electromagnetic devices, and a second separate short insulated section in said third rail beyond the first named separate section and connected to a second electromagnetic device at said former station for controlling still another signal thereat, all of said short insulated sections being energized by the passage of a train thereover whereby said electromagnetic devices will be temporarily energized.

PHILIP C. BAGNASCO. a0

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