US527481A - Treadle foe use in bail wat signaling - Google Patents

Description

. (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. G. DIXON. TREADLE FOR USE IN RAILWAY SIGNALING. No. 527,481.

Patented Oct. 16, 1894.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

I J. G. DIXON.

TREADLE FOR USE IN RAILWAY SIGNALING.

Patented Oct. 16, 1894.

. a; EL

UNITED. ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN GEORGE DIXON, OF BIRKBY, ENGLAND.

TREADLE FOR ussm RAILWAY SIGNALING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 527,481, dated October 16, 1894. Application filed February 20, 1 894- Serial No. 500,890- (No model.) Patented in England December 13, 1898, No. 23,945.

. To all whom it may ooncerni- Beit known that I, J OHN GEORGE DIXON, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 98 Norman Road, Birkby, in the county of York, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Treadles forUse in Railway Signaling, (for which I have applied for a patent in Great Britain, No. 23,945, dated December 13, 1893,) of which the following is a specification.

My mvention relates to an improved form of treadle for actuating an electrical contact for any purpose in .railway signaling where it is required thatthe passage of a train or vehicle shall release, lock or actuate block instruments, signals, bells, indicators or any device employed for the purpose of railway signaling. 1

My inventionconsists in the novel construction and combination of the parts hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In order that my invention may be better understood and more readily carried into effeet I will describe the drawings hereunto annexed.

Figure 1 is a plan of the treadle showing one form of cylinder or dash pot. Fig. 2 is a section of the dash pot shown in plan in Fig. 1' arranged with a prolonged making contact. Fig. 3 is a section of the lower portion of the same dash pot as illustrated in Figs. 1

I and 2, showing an alternative method of prolonged making contact.

Fig. 4 illustrates a section of the lower portion of the cylinder or dash pot illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 but at one of its ends below rail level, and is attached at or near its other end to the transverse lever e by means of. the connection 01. The transverse lever e is pivoted at f. The other end of the transverse lever e is coninsulating material.

nected at g to the piston rod h. The piston j is connected to the piston rod by the nut 'i. k is the cylinder which is open at the top but is closed and air tight at the bottom Z. m is ing prevents the free passage of air to the upper or open end of the cylinder. Me an outside protect-ing shell or case which is connected to the rod h at p. The said shell or case 0 while acting as a cover also acts as a counter balance weight. The piston j and cylinder 10 are constructed of anyconvenient conducting material. In a suitable position in the cylinder 71; is fixed an insulator qwhich consists of a plug of ebonite, porcelain or any A hole is first bored in 7a to receive q, and inserted at or near the center of theinsulator q is a conducting stop, pin or spring 1. Toris attached awire s. In electrical contact with It is a wire 15 which is stroke, that is, its normal position, the contact piece 1' is not in contact with the piston j but is situated at such a height that at the commencement of the upward movement of the piston jelectrical contact would be completed between j and 'r, and the circuit included in the wires 8 and i will be completed andwill remain completed as long as the piston j is traveling upward and until it has returned toits normal position when the circuit becomes broken. It will thus be seen that as the downward travel of the piston is retarded by meansof the valve m so the contact that r makes with j (j being already in electrical communication with k) will be prolonged correspondingly.

Fig. 8 shows a modified arrangement of prolonged making contact. In this case the electrical circuit is completed by means of a springuwhioh is fixed to an insulating piece I) the latter being attached to It. When the piston j rises the inner side of thepiston j comes in contact with the spring to and remains in contact with 21. until j hasreturned fixed to k by any convenient means. The 130- ,sition of the conducting piece '2" is such that when the piston j is at the bottom of its to the normal position when the circuit between 8 and t willbe broken.

Fig. 4 shows a form of instantaneous brushes y, 2. These springs y and z are at-' tached to the insulating piece w. In the normal position the piston j is at the bottom of its cylinder k, then m is in electrical contact with y and z and consequently the circuit between s and t is completed. When the treadle bar a is depressed by the tread of the front wheel of a passing engine the transverse bar e is tilted so that the piston rod hand piston j I are moved upward, the contact of 00 with y I and z isinstantaneously broken and so remains until the return of the piston to the normal piston and 00 makes contact with y j and .2. In this figure the circuit is normally made.

Fig. 5 is a plan showing the treadle, rail,

Fig. 6.

transverse lever and alternative dash pot.

Fig. 6 is a section on line Y-Z' of Fig. 5. :7 In Figs. 5 and 6, the result is practically the same as that described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the only diflerence bef ing that a .more prolonged contact is obtained in Fig. 6 and at a certain specified distance I on the. return stroke of the piston the air is j admitted rapidly into the cylinder and the treadle returns normal immediately. In these figures, a, b, c, d, e, f and gare corresponding parts to those described in Figs. 1 to 4. h is the piston rod; is, the cylinder; j, the piston. k

k is a pipe from the cylinder terminating in a spring valve m. m is the spring. Projecting from h is a tappet h having a ball or other shaped end 72. through which a slot is 1 Operating in this slot is a rod h with made. adjusting screws k and h atthe ends. A ball valve n is provided at the upper side of the cending piston, substantially as set forth.

cylinder. The cylinder is inclosed.

The action is as follows z-Normally the rodh with its lower adjusting screw it is resting upon the upper part of the valve no so that the valve is normally open. On the operation of the treadle c the transverse bar e is raised at the other side of the fulcrum. The piston'rodhand piston j are moved upward and air is forced out of the valve 12, and drawn in at the valve m. When the transverse lever and piston have been raised to a specified distance the termination 71. of the tappet h comes in contact with the adjusting screw it and raises the lower adjusting screw 72. free of the valve m which closes by the spring at being allowed to expand. On the return stroke of the piston, the air not being allowed to escape freely from either of the valves, the return movement is very much prolonged, the

escape being through leakage from the bottom to the top side of the piston. When the piston has moved down to a pre-determined distance the rod h is free to fall so that the nut h presses on the top of the valve m, when air is freely admitted and the piston completes its downward motion rapidly.

Although in this figure no electrical contacts are described, it is obvious that those described in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive are applicable in every form to the dash pot shown in Other arrangements of valves might be made. The chief point, however, of my invention consists in arranging a dash pot substantially as described for the purposes of making'electrical' contacts used in railway signaling.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is- The combination,with a depressible treadle, and the counterbalanced and pivoted lever e, of the dash pot cylinder 10,. the piston sliding therein, the rod h operatively connecting the said lever and piston, the insulated contact piece normally above the piston in the cylinder, and the two conductors connected respectively to the said contact piece and cylinder, the circuit being completed by the as- JOHN GEORGE DIXON.

I Witnesses:

WM. RAMSDEN, HAROLD H. RAMSDEN.

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