US731108A - Automatic signaling apparatus for railways. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED JUNE 16, I903.

J. GOLDSWORTHY. AUTOMATIC SIGNALING APPARATUS FDR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

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J. GOLDSWORTHY. AUTOMATIC SIGNALING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27, 1902.

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J. GOLDSWORTHY.

AUTOMATIC SIGNALING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27, 1902.

3 SHEBTSSHEET 3.

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INVENTOR" fiy ATTORNEY.

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UNITED STATES JOHN GQLDSW ORTHY, OF'INDIANAPQLIS, INDIANA.

Patented June 16, 1903.

a PATENT OFFICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 731,108, dated June 16, 1903.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN Gonnswonrnv, a. citizen of the United States, residingat In-- dianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Signaling Appara tus for Railways, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to signaling apparatus for railways, whether operated by means of steam, electricity, or other power, for automatically displaying signals for the guidance of those who may be in control of the trains. V

The principal object of the invention is to provide safe, simple, and economical signal-v ing means whereby trains may be controlled in their operation so'as to avoid collisionswarn persons at highway-crossings of the proach of trains.

A further object is to provide signaling devices and a system for operation in connection with the devices which will be so easily understood and so clear as to remove all possibility of collision when operating in conformity therewith, allowance being made for;

the possibility of failure of evenithe most perfect mechanisms as well as faulty judgment of operatives. I

The above objects are attained in the invention illustrated in the drawings accompa:

nying and forming parts of this specification,"

in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout..

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 repre tary View showing hand connectors which may be employed at stations; Fig. 5, a fragmentary view showing the inner side of 'a railway-rail upon cross-ties and operative ele- Applieation filed January 27,1902. Serial No. 91,827. (No model.)

ments, illustrating substantially the manner in which the electric circuit may be completed and broken in the operation of the signals by means of the wheels of the locomotives and cars; Fig. 6, a fragmentary view transversely of the rail, including features shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 7, afragmentary detail view of parts of the signal devices, showing both day and night signals mounted on a post; Fig. 8, a fragmentary view showing modifications of the connecting devices illustratedin Fig. 5; Fig. 9,a fragmentary detail View of the circuit-connector; Fig. 10, a fragmentary detail view of devices for prolonging the period of operation of the signals after having been actuated by the moving train; and Fig. 11 is a top plan of asection of track of indefinite length, showing diagrammatically the arrangement of the signaling devices in connection therewith arranged as connected blocks or series.

In the drawings, a designates the railwayrails forming the track; I), a flanged wheel or a number of wheels of a motor or a car; d, the wall of a station-building; e 6, posts upon which the signals are displayedat either side of the track, and ff batteries for supplying electric currents, these being shown merely to illustrate the electric circuits, the currents in practice being preferably supplied by means of dynamos in the usual manner at powerstations. In practically carrying out my invention I provide a multiplicity of safety sections or blocks, each comprised within the limits of a pair of signal-posts,and devices, as between the posts e and 6, set at suitable distances apart along the track, it being designed that the block-signals be closer together at crooked parts than at straight parts of the road. About midway between two connected signalposts I provide means whereby the wheels of passing trains may operate or control the signals on the posts, so that approaching trains in both directions maybe warned against further movement, A

Each signal-post has stationary arms g and 72, one supporting one or more electric lamps 2' and the other supportinga si-gnal-flagstaffj, to which one or more flags 7c are attached. In practice, however, one stationary arm may suffice for both day and night signals. The

staff j is pivoted to the arm h, and it has a crank-arm l attached rigidly thereto. A bellcrank m is pivoted to the post a or to some equivalent member, and a connecting-rod n is pivotally attached to an arm of the crank m and also to the arm Z. A rod p is connected to the bell-crank m and to a movable arma- I j being in the present case horizontal with the flags drooping when the latter are supposed to be efiective as signals. Suitable stops 0 may be employed for limiting the movements of the stafij.

A" members is designed as a medium, to be operated by contact of the wheels, as hereinbefore mentioned, for opening and closing the electric circuit. The member 5 may be termed a shifter, and preferably consists of an arched spring-steel bar mounted close to the inner side of a rail 0t and having its ends movably seated inho'usings 25, attached to cross-ties or, so that the central portion of the bar may normally stand elastically in a plane sufficiently high near that of the top of the rail that it may be depressed by the flange'of a moving wheel.

A connector 11. is attached to the shifter s and extends downwardly therefrom, the two members being insulated. The connector has a head 1, adapted to engage and connect two like opposing blades '0 r, Fig. 9, that are suitably supported and insulated and connected to the circuit-wires. The single connector may suffice if but one circuit is provided for both signal-posts; but when the wiring is so arranged that the apparatus at each post has a separate circuit then I employ two connectors, the other connector u and its blades U-' being like those above described and operating in the same manner, the connector normally closing the circuit, which would cause the signals to be constantly displayed except when the connector is forced down by the wheels and the circuit thus broken. In thus opening the circuit the head 1 is depressed below the contact-points of the blades '0. When it may be desired to have a closed electric circuit only when the car-wheels press down the shifter s, the connectors and the blades are shorter and normally disconnected, as shown in Fig. 8, the circuits being open and, as will be understood, may be closed by depressing the shifter. In the above-described construction it will be seen that as the Wheels of a train pass over the shifter the latter would be 0pcrated intermittently, and therefore cause the display of the signals intermittently. This may be desirable in some cases, while it may not be so in other cases. I therefore provide means whereby when the shifter is depressed it will remain so during a predetermined length of time. To accomplish this, a friction-bar w is secured to the shifter s and extends downwardly therefrom. A pair of spring friction-blades y y, secured to a base 5, are suitably supported below the bar 1.0, so as to be engaged thereby only when the shifter is depressed. The blades are connected by a bolt 2, provided with a screw-nut 3 and a spring 4 for adjusting the tension of the blades. This provides a simple means for the purpose; but obviously other suitable devices may be substituted therefor.

Suitably-arranged circuit-\vi res connect the blades l) 'L' with the electriclamp t and the electromagnet 'r and also with the batteryf or other electric generator or accumulator, as the wires 6, 7, 8, and 9, and similar wires 10, 11, 12, and 13 connect the blades o with the lamp and magnet on the other post 6' and also with a generator. As it may be desired to manually operate the signals at depots, water stations, or elsewhere when a train is at rest, I provide circuit- breakers 18 and 19, one connected by branch wires 14. and 15 to the wires 6 and 9, and the other connected by branch wires 16 and 17 to the wires 10 and 13.

Any suitable number of blocks or systems of signals may be employed to conform to road conditions, the blocks overlapping, as illustrated in Fig. 1], suitable modifications being made at terminals of roads where signals would not be required beyond the track.

In practical use it is designed that the roadway shall be lighted, figurativelyrather than literally, when clear for trains to proceed by the display of signals, a flag or flags, and one or more lights, and it is to be understood that l in the absence of the signal the trainin the block must stop and not proceed except as rules may permit under control and with caution, first ascertaining Whether the signal had been withdrawn purposely by another I train or accidentally through defects or accidenttothedevices. ReferringtoFig.2,letitbe supposed that a West-bound train approaches from the right. Theengineerormotorman will I see the light in the lamp 1; if at night or the 1 flags 7c in properfposition if in the day-time at the post 6, indicating a clear track and the right of the train to proceed. The signals at the post e also appear, permitting an eastbound train that may be approaching from the opposite direction to also proceed on the same track within certain limits. It is obvious, of course, that the signal-posts may be set or spaced with respect to one another according to well-known plans not necessary to illustrate herein. ever, that in the present invention the posts e and e and the shifter s, as in Fig. 2, comprise one system. Other like systems will overlap, as it were, this system, so that between the shifter s and the post e would be located a shifter of another system with a signal-post between the shifter s and the post It may be stated, how-- luv 2 and its other signal-post at the right of the post e, as in Fig. 11, and so on, so that the shifters would be located equidistant, and between each two shifters would be two signal-posts,'at either side of the track. Now the systems being arranged as stated the trains will have passed the posts e and 6'; but when the west-bound train reaches the shifter between the post 9' and the shifter s the signal for the opposing train that would be between the shifter s and the post 6 will be withdrawn. Should the east-bound train first arrive at the shifter between the post 6 and the shifter s, then it would cause the signal for the west-bound train between the shifter s and the post 6 to disappear. It will thus be seen that either train must withdraw the signal for the opposing train before a collision could occur, and in some cases both trains could withdraw the signals for the opposing trains. In the operation when the first wheel of a train engages the shifters the latter will descend and open the circuit, causing the electric light t to be extinguished and demagnetizing the electromagnet 'r,which v permits the armature q to descend by gravity,

the staff assuming a vertical position. The devices shown in Fig.8 would operate oppositely or with reversed efiects. When the bar w is forced between the blades y y, the latter will frictionally hold down the shifter, and thus continue the period of time in which the circuit'is open, (or closed, as the case may be,) so that after a train may have passed over a shifter the signals behind the train will be a protection thereto for a suitable length of time against a following train, the elastic tension of the shifter s causing the bar to to be gradually Withdrawn from the friction-blades y y, the result being obvious. The advantage of the circuit-breakers l8 and 19 will be obvious if a train stopping between the posts e and e is to be protected against others.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. In railway signaling apparatus, the combination with the track, of a pair of posts at opposite sides of the track, arms attached to opposite sides of the posts, flagstafis pivoted to the arms at either one of the sides of the posts, flags attached to the ends of the staifs, electric lamps mounted on the arms at the opposite sides of the posts, a generator, electromagnets mounted on the posts, movable armatures poised near the electromagnets, operating-rods connecting with the armatures and also with the fiagstaffs,circuit-connectors, a shifter cooperating with the circuitconnectors, and circuit-wires extending from the generator through the electromagnets and the electric lamps to the circuit-connectors and also to the generator, substantially as set forth.

2. In signaling apparatus, the combination of'a pair of posts, arms attached to the posts, flagstafis centrally pivoted upon the arms, flags attached'to the ends of the stafis, electric'lamps mounted on the arms, a generator, electromagnets mounted upon the posts, movable armatures mounted below the electromagnets, bell-cranks mounted below the armatures, operating-rods connected to the armatures and pivoted to the bell-cranks, operating-rods connecting the bell-cranks and the fiagstaffs, circuit-connectors, a shifter cooperating with the circuit-connectors, and circuit wires extending from the generator through the electromagnets and the electric lamps to the circuit-connectors, substantially as set forth.

3. In railway signaling apparatus, the combination with the track,'of a plurality of pairs of posts adjacent to the track, the posts of each pair being at opposite sides of the track and forming a block, and the blocks overlapping adjacent blocks, arms attached to the posts, movable signal devices, means pivotally supporting the signal devices on the posts, electric lamps mounted on the arms, a generator, electromagnets mounted on the posts, movable armatures mounted near the electromagnets and cooperating therewith, movable connections coupling the signal devices to the armatures, circuit-connectors situated at the track, shifters situated at the track, one for each block and cooperating with the circuitconnectors for the block, and independent series of circuit-wires for each block in connection with the generator and extending through the electromagnets and the electric lamps and also through the circuit-connectors of the block, substantially as set forth.

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

JOHN GOLDSWORTHY. Witnesses:

WM. H. PAYNE, E. T. SILvIUs.

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