US2373451A - Railway switch circuit controller - Google Patents

Description

April 10, 1945. H, L QQ'NE I 2,373,451

RAILWAY SWITCH CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Filed May 27, 1944 5 SheetS -Sheet 1 INVENTOR Hefberz 80129.

HIT ATTORNEY April 10, 1945. H. 1 BONE I 2,373,451

RAILWAY SWITCH CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Filed May 27, 1944 5 Street's-Sheet 2 I [III HIP ATTORNEY [malafz'o n H. L. BONE RAILWAY swi'rca CIRCUIT CONTROLLER April. 10, 1945.

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 27, 1944 IN VEN TOR m M L f M W M! ATTORNEY April 10, 1945. H. BONE RAILWAY SWITCH CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Filed May 27, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 N m a a m. m

, Hi5 ATTORNEY" Apr-i110, 1945. H. BONE 2,373,451

RAILWAY SWITCH CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Filed May 27, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 xifxx F Hi1 ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 10, 1945 UNITED STATES, PATENT OFFICE RAILWAY SWITCH CIRC UIT CONTROLLER Herbert L..Bne, Forest Hills, Pa., assignor to The Union Switch & Signal Company, Swissvale, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania I Application May 27, 1944, Serial No. 537,584

' f 4' Claims. (on. 2 1 253) My invention relates to railway switch circuit controllers, and particularly to' circuit controllers for use in connection with spring switches of the type which are provided with a facin point lock so constructed that when the switch'points occupy their normal positions the locking plunger of the lock will normally occupy a locking position in which it positively locks the switch points in their normal positions, but that, when a train trails the switch the locking plunger will be automatically withdrawn from its locking position to unlock the switch by means mechanically actuated by the train, and that when the movable rails have been returned to their normal positions upon completion of the trailing movement, the locking plunger will be automatically restored to its locking position by spring means to relock the switch.

In one well known form of circuit controller of the type described the same set of contacts are controlled jointly by a point detector rod and by the locking plunger in such manner that these.

contacts will be operated either by displacement of the switch points from their normal positions or by displacement of the locking plunger in either direction from its normal locking position. These contacts have usually been employed to controlboth the main line and siding signals for the switch, and with this arrangement it occasionally happens that main line trains are compelled to which heretofore havebeen provided for reverse point detection in response toovertravel of the plunger; These latter means consist of' an overtravel spring plunger assembly actuated by the locking plunger and cooperating with a cam provided on the'member which heretofore functioned with the'point detector rod'to operate the reverse point detector contacts.

Other objects and characteristicfeatures of my invention will become apparent asthe description proceeds.

I shall describe one form of circuit controller embodyingmy invention, and shall then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig; 1 is atop plan view showing a spring switch-A operated by a switch operating mechanism B -provided with acircuit controller embodying my invention. Fig.

2 is an enlarged top plan view of the circuit controller of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1 with the cover removed to show the operating parts thereof. Fig. 3 is a-vertica-llongitudinal sectional view of thecircuit controller embodying my in-. vention. Fig. 4'isa sectional view taken substantially on the line IV- -JV of Fig. '3. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of apart of the circuit contravel separate from that for the normal position of the points and for undertravel of the locking plunger. The overtravel indication may then be used to control the siding signal only and the other indication may be used to control the main line signals only with the result that main line trafiic will not be penalized by over-travel of the locking plunger and trailing trains will not be penalized by any condition except that which makes it impossible for these trains to unlock the switch.

According to my invention, I modify the cam dog which is carried by the locking plunger of the troller shown in the preceding views. Figs. 6, 7 and daredetail views of various-parts of the circuit controller "shown the preceding views.

Similar reference characters referxto similar parts in each of the several views.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the reference character A- designates a railway switch comprising as usual we fixed railsl and la' and two' movable rails land 20.. The fixed rails l and in are laid on tie plates 3-and= are secured to crossties- 4 in theusual manner. The movable rail's- 2- and 2a are fastened to ether by a front rod 5', a head rod 6, a bridle rod land a tie rod 8 and maybe movedintoanormal or'a reverse position by means of a. switch-operating mechanism B which retarding action on the movable rails.

Fig. 1, the movable rail 2 engages the fixed rail I, and the movable rail 2a is spaced from the fixed rail la. When the switch is reversed, however, the movable rail 2a then engages the fixed rail la, and the movable rail 2 is spaced from the fixed rail 1.

The spring connecting rod C may be of any suitable type, butin the well know form here illustrated, this connecting rod is similar in all respects to the spring connecting'rod C shown and described in Letters Patent of the United .States No. 1,976,827, granted to me on October 16, 1934, for Railway switch operating apparatus. It is believed, therefore, that for purposes of my present disclosure it is sufficient to point out that this connecting rod includes spring means which biases the switch points to whichever extreme po'- sition they are moved to by the mechanism B with sufiicient force to permit facing point moves over the switch without displacement of the points, but which yields when a train trails the switch and thereby allows the train to force the switch points to a position opposite to that to which they are biased by the spring means.

Thehead rod 6 is also connected by means of an adjustable jaw IS with the piston rod 16 of a buffing device D. This bufiing device may also be of any suitable type but, as here shown, this buffing device is similar in all respects to the buffing device shown and described in Letters Patent of the United StatesNo. 1,869,604, granted to William C. McWhirter on August 2, 1932, for Bufiing devices for railway switches and the like. It is believed, therefore, that a detail description of this device is unnecessary. It should be pointed out, however, that this bufling device includes, in addition to the piston rod 16, a cam shaft ll extending into the case of the device and controlling a valve mechanism not shown, Attached to the outer end of the cam shaft I1 is a crank l8 which is connected by a link [9 with the spring rod M of the spring connecting rod 0. If when the movable rails 2 and 2a of the switch A are in their normal positions, as shown in Fig. 1, they are movedto their reverse positions by the mechanism B, the piston rod IE will be moved into the device and the cam shaft ll will be rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1. The construction of the device is such that, under these conditions, the piston rod l6 will be permitted to move with substantially no resistance, and the bufiing device will therefore exert practically no Conversely, if the movable rails are moved from their reverse positions to their normal positions by the mechanism B, the piston rod will be moved outwardly and the cam shaft I! will be rotated in a counter-clockwisedirection, as viewed in Fig. 1,

but due t the construction of'the device, no retarding action will again take place. If, however, when the movable rails are in either extreme postion, a train trails the switch, the cam shaft 11 will remain stationary, and under these conditions, the action of the device is such that the movement of the movable rails away from the positions which they previously occupied will be unresisted by the buffing device, but that, when the movable rails are being restored to the positions which they previously occupied by the spring means of the spring connecting rod C, the bufiing device will act to retard this latter movement. v

The switch operating member 3 is mounted on one endof a tie'strap 20 which is secured to the ties adjacent the outer side of the rail I, and as here shown is similar in all respects to that described and claimed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,235,031, granted to Kenenth J. J McGowan on March 18, 1941, for Railway switch operating apparatus. Since the construction of the mechanism is described in detail in the said McGowan patent, it is believed to be suflicient for the purpose of my present application to point out that this mechanism includes a hand throw lever 2| connected with a switch operating crank 22 through suitable operating mechanism not shown in such manner that the operating crank will occupy the normal extreme position shown or will be rotated from this position in a counterclockwise direction to a reverse extreme position according as the hand throw lever occupies the position shown or its opposite extreme position. The switch operating crank 20 is operatively connected with the previously described operating rod 9. V

The mechanism B also includes a locking plunger 23 which cooperates with a notch 24 in a lock rod L to at times lock the switch in its normal position for facing point moves over the switch. When the hand throw lever 2| occupies the position shown, the locking plunger is yieldably biased by spring means 25 to a locking position in which it is disposed in the notch 24 in the lock rod L, and under these conditions the switch is locked, but when the hand throw lever is rotated from the position shown toward the opposite extreme posi tion, the locking plunger is withdrawn'from the notch 24 to unlock the switch'before any movement of the switch operating crank 22 takes place.

The lock rod L is slidably mounted in a transverse guideway formed in the casing of the mechanism B, and is adjustably secured at one end to the front rod 5 of the switch A. The notch 24 is so disposed that it will align with the locking lunger 23 when and only when the switch A occupies the extreme position in which it is shown in the drawings and the movable rail 2 is in proper engagement with the fixed rail I.

The parts of the mechanismB are so proportioned that when the hand throw lever 2| occupies its normal position as shown, the spring means 25 which moves the locking plunger 23 to its locking position will tend to drive the locking plunger beyond the desired locking position. The locking plunger is prevented from moving beyond the desired locking position under these conditions, however, by linkage 26 which connects it with the tie rod 8. The linkage '26 also constitutes means for moving the locking plunger 24 to its unlocking position to unlock the switch when a train trails the switch as is fully explained in the aforementioned McGowan Patent No. 2,235,031.

Located in the lower end of the casing 30 of the mechanism B is a circuit controller E comprising a rocker arm 31 pivotally supported intermediate its ends on a pivot pin 32 mounted in a pair of spaced lugs 33 extending upwardly from the bottom of the casing 38. The rocker arm is disposed directy above the locking plunger 23, and is provided with a roller 34 and with a cam face 35, which roller and cam face cooperate, in a manner which will be made clear presently, with a cam dog 36 secured to the upper side of the locking plunger. Pivotally attached to the left-hand end of the rocker arm 3! is a contact operating member 31. This contact operating member is mounted to move vertically on guide studs 38, and is biasedto an upper position by compressed coil springs 41 disposed on the studs 38. Secured to the upper sheet the contact operating member are two superposed blocks 39, and 40 or insulating .materlarbetween which are clamped the free ends of aplura'lityof flexible contact fin er M here shown as four in number. Each contact finger 1 cooperates 'with an associated contact member 4'2 to form a plunger Iock contact l l'2.

Each contact'fihger .4! and the associated contactmember 42 are clamped "to the opposite sides of an insulating block 43 by means or terminal posts 114' and 4B, and the insulating block 43, in turn, is supported on legs '46 provided on a. supporting bracket 43. v Each terminal post 4 4 is electrically connected with the associated contact member 12 but is'insu'la'ted. from the associated contact finger 1], whil each terminal post 45 is electrically connected with the associated contact finger 4| but is insulated from the associated contact member '42. g

The cam dog 36 is provided with a cutaway portion 36a which aligns with the roller '3 when the locking plunger 23 is moved to its full locking position or to any position beyond this position, and the parts are so proportioned that when this cutaway portion is in alignment with the roller t h-econtac t operating member is free to. move due to its bias to its upper position in which the contact ll-4 2 are open. 'When, however, the locking plunger is moved to its unlockingposition the high portion of the cam dog 38 engages the roller 34 before the plunger has been moved far enough to clear the lock rod and rotates rocker arm 3i counterclockwise about the pivot pin 32. This rotation of the rocker arm forces the contact operating member 3'! downwardly in opposition to the bias of the springs 47, and thus closes the contacts =42. When the locking plunger has been withdrawn its full travel, the cam dog 36 will have moved beyond theroller 34, but the extreme position under these conditions by enrocker arm will be held in its counterclockwise gagement of the cam face 35 with the top of the cam dog. It will be apparent, therefore, that the plunger-lock contacts will Ice-open when the looking plunger is in its locking position or any position beyond this position but will be closed when the plunger occupies-its unlocking position or any position between its unlocking and its locking position.

The circuit controller also comprises a point detector lever (Fig. '7) which is pivotally supported on pins 51 mounted in the bracket =48, and which is biased, by'means of a spring 52 inter- .p'osed between the frame and a laterallyprojecting arm 58, in a counterclockwise direction to the osition inwhich a roller 54 mounted in a depending lug 55 (see :Fig. '7 formed on the point detector lever enters a notch "56 in a. point "detector rod P. The point detector rod P is slidably mounted in the casing 30, and 'as'shown'in Fig. -1 is attached by means or a link 51 and a bolt '58 to the movable rail 2 or the switch A-in the usual and 'well known manner. -'I-he point detectorv lever 50 is also provided with a laterally projecting arm 59 having a rounded end which overlies and cooperate with-the conical-head 60a ofafin'ger 6!] which is 'adjustably mounted in the end of the rocker arm 3' The notch 56 in the point detector rod P is so disposed and the parts are so proportioned that the roller 54 will enter the notch 56 when and only when the movable rails 2 and 2a of the switch A occu y their normal extreme positions and the movable rail 2 is in proper engagement With the movable rail I. The parts are further pivot pins "5! so proportioned that when theroller 5c is within the notchtb and the rocker-arm 3| occupie its normalposition, the rounded end of the arm 59 jwill-just'tou'ch the upper side'of the conical head sta or the finger til, but that, when the roller '54 is forced out of the notch 58, the resultant clock- 4 c'ontacts ll fi'2 tobecome closed. It follows,

therefore, that any displacement of the switch point '2 away from the rail I when the parts are in the positionsshewn in the drawings will operate the contacts l'l l'i The portion of the circuit controller thus far described is identical to circuit controllers which are in widespread use except for the fact that the cam dog 36 has been modified so that movement of the locking plunger beyond the desired locking position '(overtravel) will not cause operation of'the contacts '4 l- -'42. As was pointed out hereinbefore, the "object of my present invention is to provide means whereby overtravel of the l'ocki'ngplunger will provide an indication which is wholly independent of the indication provided by the portion of the circuit-controller thus 'far described, and I accomplish this object "by the novel means "which I shall now describe.

As here'shown, these means comprise a second set of contacts, each comprising a flexible contact finger cooperating with a fixed contact member "616. Each flexible. contact finger 65 is fastened atone end to a conducting strip '61, the other end'b'fwhich is clamped against the lower side of an insulatingterminal board 68 by means of a terminalpo'st 69 which is electrically connected with'the strip and a terminal post '10 which is insulated from 'thestrip, while each fixed contact member 86 is secured "to, and electrically connected with, an associated one of theterminal posts 10. The terminal board "68 is secured at its ends to the supporting bracket 48. Pivotally mounted below the contact fingers 6-5 on the same lever 50 is a contact 'operatingmember ,1! provided with an insulating block 12 which cooperates with'the flexible contact fingers 65 in a manner which will be'made clear presently. The contact operatingmemb'er H is also provided with a v laterally projecting cam lug I 3, and is biased in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3, by means of a spring 14 to a position in which the cam" lug 13 engages a cam head 15 screwed onto the end of a spring rod 16 forming part of a plunger overtravel spring assembly. The spring 14 is stretched between a spring lug 1! (see Fig.

4) formed on the contact operating member H and a spring bracket 18 secured to the bottom of the mechanism casing. The spring rod 16 is slidably mounted in spaced guideways l9 and provided in a supporting frame 81-, "and is surrounded between the guideway 19 and a washer 82 which abutsaga'inst a "shoulder 83 formed on the rod, by a compressed coil vsprin'g' ll l which biases the spring rod toward the right, 'as viewed in Fig. 3. The 'supporting fr'ame 8 is clamped by means of machine screwsb'li (see Figs. 4 and '5) against finished pads 86 provided 'on the underside of the supporting bracket 48 in such position that the spring rod 16 allgnsaxially with the "locking 7 which support the point detector the spring rod, but that, if overtravelof .the locking plunger occursfor any reason, the end of the locking plunger will then engage the adjacent end of the spring rod and will move it toward the left as viewed in Fig. 3. The limit of overtravel of finger 65 to operate the contacts 65--66.

It will be seen from the foregoing that in accordance with my present invention the circuit controller is provided with two separate and independent sets of contacts, one set of which is operated either bydisplacement of the switch points away from their normal set positions or by movement of the locking plunger from its normal looking position toward its unlocking position, and the other set of which is operated by overtravel of the locking plunger. The provision of these two sets of contacts enables the main line and siding signals commonly employed in connection with spring switches to be separately controlled in such manner that main line traflic will not be penalized by overtravel of the locking plunger, and trailing trains will not be penalized'by anycondition except that which makes it impossible for these trains to unlock the switch. a

It should be particularly pointed outthat the contacts 65-66 may be identical with those which are commonly provided for detecting that the switch points are in their proper.,positions relative to the stock rails when they are set in these positions by operation of the mechanism B to its reverse extreme position, and that the contact operating member 1| is also identical with that which is commonly used to provide reverse point detection except for the addition to this bracket of the cam lug 13. It follows, therefore,

that in order to convert a circuit controller of the type heretofore inwidespread useinto one embodying my present invention it is only necessary to modify the cam dog 36 in the manner outlined hereinbefore, replace the usual-contact operating member II by one provided with a cam lug l3, and add the ov ertravel spring plunger assembly to the mechanism. 6 I

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of circuit controller embodying-my invention, it is understood that-various changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination, ,a railway switch, a lock rod connected to said switch to move therewith and provided with a notch, a locking plungernormally movable between a locking position in which said plunger is within said notch'and an; unlocking position in whichit is withdrawn fromv said notch but capable of abnormal movement within said notch past said locking position a contact, and means for detecting said abnormal movement comprisinga spring rodbiased toaposition to be operated, by movement of said plunger beyond its locking position, and cam means operatively connecting'said contact with said spring rod.

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2. In combination. a spring switch, a lock rod connected with said switch and provided witha notch, a locking plunger normally movable between 2. locking position in which said plunger is Within said notch and an unlocking position its locking position comprising a sprin rod disposed adjacent the end of said plunger and biased to a position to be moved in opposition to its bias by movement of said plunger beyond it lockin position, and means operatively connecting said spring rod with said contact.

3. In combination, a spring switch, a lock rod connected with the switch points to move therewith and provided with a notch, a, locking plunger adapted to enter the notch in said lock rod when and only when the switch occupies its normal extreme position, said locking plunger being movable within said notch to an extreme position which is beyond its normal locking position, means for moving said locking plunger into and out of engagement with said notch, a cam do secured to said locking plunger, a pivoted rocker arm provided with means cooperating with said cam dog in such manner that when said locking plunger occupies its locking position or any position beyond this position said rocker arm will be rotated to one extreme position but that if said locking plunger i withdrawn from its locking position said rocker arm will be rotated to another extreme position, a first contact operated by said rocker arm, a locking plunger overtravel spring assembly mounted adjacent the end of said plunger and comprising a spring rod biased to a position to be operated by movement of said locking plunger beyond it locking position, a

' cam head secured to said spring rod, a contact operating member provided with a cam lug cooperating with said cam headin such manner that movement of said spring rod by engagement with said locking plunger will operate said contact operating member, and a second contact operated by operation of said contact operating I member.

4. In combination, a railway switch, a lock rod connected to the switch to move therewith and provided with a notch, a locking plunger normally movable between an unlocking position in which it is out of engagement with said lock rod and a locking position in which it enters said notch but capable of abnormal movement within aid notch past it locking position, a first contact, cam means cooperating with said first contact for operating said contact to one or another position a-ccording'as said locking plunger occupies its locking position or is moved away from its lockin osition toward its unlocking position, and means for detecting abnormal movement of said plungerbeyond its locking position comprising a second contact, a spring rod biased to a position to be operated by movement of said plunger beyond its locking position, and cam means operated by said plunger for operating said contact.

HERBERTL. BONE.

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