US402828A - Circuit-closer for railway-car telegraphs - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

G. I. HOPKINS. CIRCUIT CLCSRR PCR RAILWAY CAR TRLRCRAPRS.

Patented May 7, 1889.

N. PETERS, Phlo-Lithognpher, Washnginn. D4 C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

GEORGE IRVING HOPKINS, OF MANCHESTER, NEV HAMPSHIRE.

CIRCUIT-CLOSER FOR RAILWAY-CAR TELEGRAPHS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 402,828, dated May 7, 1889.

Application filed January ll, 1887. Renewed October 19, 1888. Serial No. 288,614. (No model.)

T0 all whom/ it Hefty concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE IEVING HOP- KINS, a citizen of the United States, residing in Manchester, in the county of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oircuit-@losers for Railway-Car Telegraphs; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descript-ion of my invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to circnit-closers designed for use in train-telegraphs, especially those systems of train-telegraph in which electrical outgoing and return conductors are carried through the cars in a cord corresponding in position and function to the ordinary bell-cord now used on passenger-trains.

The details of my invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a section through one end of a railway-car and through my circuit-closer applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a detail, and Fig. 3 illustrates the electrical circuits.

Referring to the drawings by letter, A represents a section through one of the end partitions of a railway-car.

B is a tube passing through an opening in the said partition. The tube is internally threaded at the end and fitted with caps C and D, as shown in the drawings. Hthin the tube B are two blocks or plugs, E and F,

'of insulating material, the former of which has some play between the cap O and the shoulder G within the tube, while the latter is fixed against the shoulder II after the cap D is screwed in place. Each of the insulatin g-blocks is traversed by a pair of conducting-rods, c' and one of each pair is connected. with one of the other pair across the intervening space in the tube by a coiled wire, 7'. The plug E is normally held against the shoulder G by a spiral spring, L.

To the outer ends of the respective rods/L' t' are secured electrical conductors 0 o', which are united, as shown, in a cord, P, but keptl electrically insulated from each other. rlhe rods vl t' are also insulated from the cap O.

The apparatus above described is protected from dust. by caps or-coverings T T, each of through which the cord passes.

The tube B and the caps C and D are made of any suitable metal, preferably brass. On that end of the insulating-plug E which is located neXt to the cap C are supported two pairs of flaring springs, e c, which are electrically connected with the rods z' z'. -Now it is evident that the said rods, together with the coi-led wires jj, form part of the electric circuit of the conductors o o. As shown in Fig. 3, th ese wires or conductors are connected with a battery, S, and a bell, V, on the locomotive. The conductors pass from there to a coupler, IV, between the locomotive and the first car, and thence through the car to the circuit-closing apparatus, already described. There is a coupler, lV, between every two cars; but the circuitis open through the entire length of the train except when closed through the circuit-closer. The details of the coupler are not shown nor described here, but in a separate application, Serial No. 224,005, tiled herewith.

The action of the circuit-closer is as follows: IVhen it is desired to signal the engineer, the cord P is pulled and the insulating-plug E is drawn outward,bringing the springs c e into contact with the metal cap C. It is evident that by this process the electrical circuit is'closed from one wire to the other and the bell on the locomotive will sound.

I have shown but a single circuit-closer in each railway-car; but I may have a circuitcloser at each end of every car. It will be understood that the circuit is open at the rear of the train, as well as between the several cars.

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. In a railw'ay-car-telegraph system, the combination, with a pair of insulated electrical conductors united in a single cord, of contact-springs joined to the said conductors, and a fixed conductor located in the path of the said springs, the latter being adapted, when the conductors are moved longitudinally, to be brought into contact with the said h'xed conductor, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with the plug E, rods which is provided with a small opening,-

IOO

'1l fI, Springs e e, and ezLp C, of the coiled Wires set forth.

The eombi11atio11,wth the Jaube B, of lLhe movable insulating-block E and the xed iu- Sulatvi 11g-block F, the rods z' 1', Jche Springs e e, the 0:11) C, mld the coiled wresjj, as und for he purpose Set forth.

4. The combination, with the cord P :md its contained conductors, the tubo B, oups C und 1'), and insulating-plugs E and F, eouneeted by the coiled Wiresjj, the Suid plugs ,717' :md the spring 71:, as and for the purpose y supporting the rods fz `1I and the springs e e, of the caps T T, for protect-ing the parts from,

dust.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto Signed my name in the presence. of two subscribing

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