US543933A

US543933A - Electric signal for railway-trains

Info

Publication number: US543933A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1895-08-06
Anticipated expiration: 1912-08-06

Description

(No Model.)

J. 0. HENRY. ELECTRIC SIGNAL FOE RAILWAY TRAINS. No. 543,933.

Patented Aug. 6, 1895.

' Nrrnco STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

JOHN C. HENRY, OF WESTFIELD, JERSEY.

ELECTRIC SIGNAL FOR RAILWAY-TRAINS.

fiPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 543,933, dated August 6, 1895.

' Application filed April 20, 1895. Serial No. 546,542. (No models To (2% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN C. HENRY, a citizen of the United States, residing in Westfield, county of Union, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Signals for Railroads, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in signaling devices for railway-trains.

The main object is to dispense with the ordinary bell-cord and utilize an electric current to actuate the signal and bell located on the locomotive.

The invention having special advantages on such rolling-stock as is commonly used on elevated railways, it will be described in that connection.

In the operation of elevated-railway trains the common practice is for the guards at thedifferent gates to transmit impulses from one to the other by the bell-rope. When the guard in the forward part of the train receives a number of impulses corresponding to the number of guards in the' rear, he then assumes that all gates are closed and signals the engineer to go ahead. To close the gates the rule is for the guards to use one hand for each of them and afterward to give the signal. This rule is frequently disobeyed. It is quite common in his eagerness to save time for the guard to close but one gate and pull the bellcord at the same time. This frequently exposes the passengers, who are rushing forward to catch the train, to danger.

. In the drawing, A represents the locomotive; B, a section of one of thecars of the train.

c, c, 0 and 0 represent a number of gates at the car-entrances.

e e represent an electric circuit passing around the train through the magnet f and terminating at the battery 9.

h and h represent switches which complete or break the circuit on opening or closing the gates.

circuit is completed and the pointer assumes the opposite position. To attract the attention of the engineer, the bell is tripped and sounded at each change.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv 1. In a signaling device for railway trains a magnetic electric alarm, located on the locomotive; a circuit completed throughout the train; switches arranged at the gates of the cars, and means whereby an alarm is actuated by opening any one of the gates, and the opposite alarm is given only by the closure of all of said gates.

2. In a signaling device for railway trains a magnetic electric alarm, located on the 10- comotive; a circuit completed throughout the train; switches arranged at the gates of the cars, and means whereby a signal is made on the locomotive by opening any one of the gates, and another signal is made when all of said gates are closed.

3. The combination with a railway car, of a gate protecting each entrance thereto, a switch adjacent to each gate and in position to be operated thereby, a signaling device in circuit with said switch, and means whereby one signal is given when a gate is opened and another when all the gates are closed, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' JOHN G. HENRY. Witnesses: v

VALLA KILTON, MARY HAMPTON LLOYD.