US759741A - Electric block-signaling and telephoning system for railways. - Google Patents

Description

No. 759,741. PATBNTED MAY 1o, 1904. C. G. OTWBLL & 1. H. MELVIN.

ELECT-R10 BLOCK SIGNALING AND yTELEPHONING SYSTBMFOR RAILWAYS.

APPiIOATION FILED FEB. 1l, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES i Patented May 10, 1904.

PATENT OEEICE.

CHARLES GOODMAN OTWELL AND IRA HOWVARD MELVIN, OF LAUREL, DELAWARF.

ELECTRlC BLOCK-SIGNALING AND TELEPHONING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 759,741, dated May 10, 1904.

Application filed February 11, 1901i. Serial No. 193,179. (No model.)

To o/,ZZ whom 111'; nui/.y concern:

Be lit known that we, CHARLES GOODMAN O'iwELL and IRA HOWARD MELVIN, citizens of the United States, residing at Laurel, in the county of Sussex and State of Delaware, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric Block-Signaling and Telephoning Systems for Railways, of which the followingI is a speciiication.

This invention relates to an electric blocksignalin g and telephoning system for railways, the object of the invention being to provide an effective means of this character for indieating simultaneously to two engineers their presence in a common block and for also permitting telephonie communications by said engineers or the telephonie communication of either or both of them with a central or other station.

While we have used the term engineen we do not wish to restrict the use of the system to steam-railways, for it may be employed. equally well with other kinds of railways. In like manner we may utilize instead of telephones telegraphic instruments for transmitting intelligence from one person in charge of a locomotive vehicle or train to another or to a central station.

In the system which we have selected for illustration in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, the same comprises a plurality of series of parallelconductor-rails, the adjacent rails of the respective series being insulated from each other, electrical connections between the alternate rails, and telephonie or telegraphic conductors electrically connected with said connections, a vehicle or vehicles being' provided with contact to traverse the said conductor-rails, which contacts are connected electrically with suitablellsignal and telephonie means upon the vehicles, whereby the results sought are obtained.

Referring to said drawings, Figure l `is a diagrammatic plan view of an electric blocksignaling' and telephoning system including' our invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation showing by dotted lines a vehicle. Fig. 3 is a diagram of portions of the signal and telephone circuits. Fig. 4" is a sectional detail hereinafter more particularly described.

While we use herein the term rail, this term has been adopted simply for convenience, as it is obvious that structures of a form other than rails could be employed to secure the transmission of'signals and speech or sound in the manner contemplated by the invention.

Referring to Fig. l, the numeral 5 denotes a pair of parallel rails of the usual construction, over which the trains or vehicles travel, and we may arrange outside or between the same the plurality of series of parallel conductor-nails to which reference has hereinbefore been made, said conductor-rails, which are in the nature of main conductors, as will hereinafter appear, being suitably insulated from the ground. In the particular form of the system illustrated (see Fig. 2) the conductor-rails, which are denoted by G, are situated outside the traclerails 5. It will be seen upon reference to Fig. l that the adjacent rails of the two series (5 are insulated from each other, and this result may be secured by separating the adjacent ends of the rails the necessary distance from each other. The conductor-rails, as will be also seen upon an inspection of Fig. l, are electrically connected in alternation, and the conductors or wires 7 are shown for this purpose. While the respective wires or equivalent conductors 7 connect every other rail, this is not essential, for they may connect electrically every fourth or iifth rail, this being dependent upon the length of the respective conductor sections or rails or the length of the blocks.4

The telephonie conductors are'denoted by 8, (see Fig. 1,) and they may be arranged overhead or underground or in some intermediate plane, as desired, andthey are shown connected with the electrica] connection 7 between the respective conductor-rails by wires or similar conductors 9.

A vehicle is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. It carries in some suitable manner the trailing contacts 10, which may or may not be of wheel or roll' form, said trailing contacts 10 being adapted to traverse the parallel series of conductor-rails 6.

In Fig. 3 we have shown the electrical connections between the traveling contacts 10, a signal, and a telephone, the signal being denoted by 11 and the telephone by 12. The signal is shown as being of the audible type, it consisting in the present case of a bell, although a signal of a different character may be employed. Ve prefer an audible signal to a lamp, flash, or other signal.

A wire 13 extends from one of the traveling contacts 10, the one shown on the left in Fig. 3, to the switch 14, a wire 15 extending from the contact 16 to the signal'll. From the signal 11 the wire 17 extends and is connected with a wire 18, connected at its opposite ends to a battery 19 and telephone 12, respectively, a wire 21 leading from the battery 19 to the other contact 10, or the one shown on the right in said Fig. 3. The wire 22 leads from the telephone 12 to the contact 23, the switch 14 being cooperative with said contact 23 and being normally on the contact 16, for a purpose that will hereinafter appear. It will be understood that the wire 22 leads from one terminal of the telephone, while the wire 18 leads from the other end thereof. Normally the switch 14 bridges the break between the Wires 13 and 15, in which relation it is maintained positively by a coiled spring, as 24, and against a stop or pin 25. In this way the signal-circuits when two trains are within a prescribed distance of each other are closed, so as to assure the ringing of the bell 11 or the sounding of another audible signal shoulda bell not be employed.

In practice the batteries 19, carried in the cabs of the respective locomotives or other Vehicles, are of such strength as to cause asounding simultaneously of the two bells 11 when two trains or vehicles are within a predetermined distance of each other in order to announce to the engineers in the cabs such fact.

Let it be assumed that two locomotives are upon the opposite conductor-rails c and L in Fig'. 1 (and we have shown diagrammatically such a conditition in said figure) and at a prescribed distance apart, the signals in the two cabs will be sounded in synchronism. The current will then take the ifollowing path: from the battery 19, wire 17, bell 11, wire 15, switch 14, wire 13, trailing contact 10, and on the other side from the battery 19 and wire 21 to the other contact 10. Leaving the contacts 10, the current traverses the conductorrails a and from thence goes to the connections V7, to the rails and then follows along connections in another cab exactly like those illustrated in Fig. 3. When the two signals are sounded, the two engineers can communicate with each other by throwing the switch 14 or can communicate with a central oliice to receive instructions therefrom. When the switch 14 is thrown onto the contact 23 by either engineer, his telephone is put into circuit with the wires 8, and the-current will then travel from the battery 19 to the wire 18, telephone 12, wire 22, switch 14, to conductor 13, to Contact 10, and on the other side from the battery 19, by the wire 21, to the contact 10, and the two contacts being against the conductor-rails i and the latter being connected to the wires 8 by the wires 9 the telephone 12 will be put into circuit with the main station, and if theother engineer throws his switch 14 both engineers will be put into telephonie communication.

The telephones or equivalent instruments maybe mounted in a locomotive-cab or any other part of the locomotive, or, in fact, they can be situated in any convenient place on a train or other vehicle.

The system is inexpensive to install and will work either in snowy or sleety weather and does not disturb the usual railway-rails or the road-bed of such railway-rails, and owing to the fact that the conductor-rails forming a part of the improvedl system are independent of the railway-rails said system will remain operative notwithstanding accidents to the railway-rails.

The conductor-rails are insulated from the ground, and a means for this purpose is shown in Fig. 4. The numeral 30 designates a block socketed to receive, the insulating material 31, into which the shank 32 is threaded, said shank being tubular to receive the stem of the railsupporting member 33, said rail-supporting member being represented as forked to receive the web of a rail. It will be understood that there are a series of these supports 33 for each rail (the parts being suitably united t0- gether) and a corresponding number of blocks 30 and adjunctive devices. The stems of the terminal supporting members 33 are shown as connected by the wires 7, which wires extend through perforations in the bottom of the blocks 30. Between the supporting member 33, or rather its head, and the tubular stem 32 we Jrit a shield or guard 34 to protect the parts below the same from the action of water and the like.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a system of the class described, a plurality of series of parallel conductor-rails, the adjacent rails of the respective series being insulated from each other, electrical connections between the alternate rails, and soundtransferring conductors electrically connected with said connections.

2. In a system of the class described, a plurality of series of parallel conductor-rails, the adjacent rails of the respective series being insulated from each other, electrical connections between the alternate rails, and soundtransferring conductors electrically connected IOS TIO

IIS

with said connections, combined with a vehicle having1 a signal and a telephone, trailing' contacts adapted to engage said rails, and electrically connected with the ,signal and telephone respectively, and a switch to 'put the signal or telephone into circuit with said trailing contacts.

3. ln a system of the class described, a plurality of series oli' parallel conductor-rails, the adjacent rails of the respective series being insulated from each other, electrical connections between the alternate rails, and telephonic conductors electrically connected with said connections, combined with a vehicle havinga trailing contact adapted to engage one ot' said conductor-rails, a switch electrically connected with said trailing contact, a

fixed contact normally positively` held engaged with said switch, a second fixed contact rnan-` ually engageable by said switch, a second trailing contact adapted to engage the other con ductor-rail, a signal and a telephone, and electrical connections between the two liXed contacts, the signal and the telephone, and hetween said signal and telephone and said second trailing` contact, including a generator.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence oi' two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES GOODMAN O'lWELL. I RA llOWAltl) lll E lIVlN. mfitnesses:

JOHN H. ELLIOTT, l Jol-1N T. MELSON.

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