US1268879A - Automatic safety railway system. - Google Patents

Description

H. W. RICHARDS.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY RAILWAY SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.2.1916.

1,268,879, v PatentedJune1L1918.

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H. w. RICHARDS. AUTOMATIC SAFETY RAILWAY SYSTEM. APPILICATION FILED SEPT-2.1916.

1 ,268; 879, Patented June 11, 1918.

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HARRY WISE RICHARDS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAN'D.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 111, 1918.

Application filed September 2, 1916. Serial No. 118,249.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known .that I, HARRY i/Visn RIGH- nos, residing at Baltimore, State of Maryland,'have invented a new and usefulAutomatic Safety Railway System, of which the following is a specification. i

The objects of my invention are, first, to prevent collisions on railroads; second, to prevent wrecks caused by broken or spread rails; third, to avoid depending upon the thoughtfulness and activity of a human being.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 shows the track arrangement; elevation of stop rails shown at 5 Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows second set of rails shown at 6 Fig. 1; Fig. 4 shows the construction of these rails; Fig. 5 shows the wire connections ofthe engine; Fig. 6 showsconstructlon of lllSllliLl'iing jolnt shown at 1 and 2 Flg. 1;

Fig. 7 shows construction of switch boX placed under engine is at Fig. 8; Fig. 8 shows location and arrangement of engine apparatus; Fig. 9 shows attachnientto rail that will cause a spreadrail to short circuit the track battery and cause a stop effect; Fig. 10 shows attachment tothrottle;

Fig. 11 shows plan and end view of apparatus to close throttle, as at 42 Fig. 8; and Fig. 12 shows construction of valve box and light as shown at 41 Fig. 8. j i

The roadway apparatus is shown in Fig. 1, in which 1 and 2 are insulating joints. The battery 4 is connected at the end of the block at 2, while two sets of rails 5 and 6 and the resistance 3 are connected to the entrance of the block at (C l 77 placed far enough a back of the rail 6 sowhen stop is effected by the 5 rail, the train'will come to a stop before reaching the entrance of the block at 1 The construction of this rail is shown in Figs. 2 and 4. Two rails running parallel with each other, 15 and p is about two inches higher than track. Be-

reaches the 5 rail the block is The arrow shows the direction of traflie. The stop rail 5 is stop 4 tween 8 and 9 is a rise of an addi tional two inches. From 9 to 10 is therefore about four inches higher than track. From 1O to 11 there is a drop of two inches, back to the level of 7 to 8- 11 and 12 are on same level as from 7 to 8 j The rail 6 is placed just outside the entrance of the block at 1, Fig. 1. The construction is similar to the sto rail 5 the difference being that from 13 to 14 Fig. 3, is on a level about two inches above track, and has no high portion as in Fig. 2.

A train on the track anywhere between 1 and 2 hort-circuits battery 4 and prevents current from flowing through rails 5 and 6 causlng a stop to be effected of another train 011 reaching the 5 rail.

l/Vhen the train comes to 'a stop the engineer must reset his apparatus and then run him signal to proceed. If when a train clear, current will be flowing in the 5 rail and no stop will be effected.

The resistance 3 is simply a few turns of wire around an iron which is to complete the circuit of battery 4 without short-circuiting it. a

An insulating joint in the railis shown in Fig. 6. These joints are placed in the rail to prevent current of one block flowing into another. A small space 25 i left between the ends of the rails so they do not touch. A piece of insulating material 26 the full length of the joint is fitted to each side of the rails. Iron castings 2r and 28 are placed on each side of the ends of the rails, and castings attached to ends of one rail'do not touch the castings on end of other rail. Bolts hold insulating material andcastings firmly to rail. An iron plate 29 is placed under each end of castings and joins castings on one side of rail with one 011 the other. Bolts or spikes pass through casting and plateinto the tie.

If there is a break in arail between 1 and 2 Fig. 1, the battery circuit is broken and there will be no current in the stop rail and a stop will be effected.

A device for detecting a spread rail is shown at Fig. 9. It consists of a casting 43 which is cast into a point at 44, spiked or bolted to the tie. This casting is connected by a wire 45 to the rail oppocore, the object of plate site. If the rail should spread more than the distance allowed it will press against the point at and cause a short-circuit of the track, and a stop will be effected at the 5 rail.

The arrangement of the engine equipment is shown in Fig. 8. It consists of the switch box with contact rods 10 the valve box and light signal 41 and the throttle attachment 4-2 The switch box is placed under the engineand the rods adjustedso contact shoes on end of the contact rods will hang about 1% inches" above track level. The construction of a switch box is shown in Fig. 7. It consists of two contact rods with two contact shoes 30 and 31 attached to the ends, which are similar but work independent of each other. Attached to the top of the contact rod is the lever 38, which carries the spring brass contact piece 32 on a block of insulating material. The contact piece 32 is insulated from the lever 38, and a binding post 36 is attached to the spring piece to make connections. The other lever 38 carries a similar contact piece 33.

On the front of a block of insulating material 35 is fastened a brass plate 34L. Both contact pieces 32 and 33 rest on 3 1 when contact rods are down. The binding post 37 is attached to the lever 38 to make connections. The length of the contact springs 32 and 33 is such that upon a rise of 1-- inches or more they will be off plate 34 and the circuit between them will be broken. A short link 39 is placed between the lever 38 and the standard to enable the contact rods to move in a vertical line.

A throttle attachment is shown in Figs. 10 and 11. Bolted to the throttle arm is the casting 46. Through a hole in casting 46 turns a rod, on the top end of which is fastened the lever 47, on the other end the lever 48, the levers 4:7 and 48 forming a bell crank. A pin 49 is placed in the rod 51 which disengages throttle look when raised. When rod 50 is pulled it causes lever 47 to move lever 4-8 which in turn-raises rod 51 by pressing When lever 47 is pulled as far as the lug 52 on casting 4:6 it can move lever 48 no farther, and the continuance of the pull draws the unlocked throttle closed.

The pull necessary to close the throttle may be gotten by means of a cylinder containing a piston 54: Fig. 11. "When compressed air enters at 53, piston 5 L pushes over lever 55, which in turn pulls rod 50. The other end ofthis rod 50 is attached to the end of lever 47 on throttle in Fig. 10. The short link 56 is to allow the piston to move in a straight line.

A valve box and signal light are shown "portion partly in section in Fig. 12. It consists of the valves B and C Which are controlled by the electro-magnet A. The

valve B operates the braking system of which operates the exhaust cock F; the

raising of the handle E also raises the lever 72 up to the magnet andresets the apparatus. The drawing shows the apparatus in the setposition. Compressed air enters at 57 from the main reservoir (90 77 lbs.) passes through air strainer Gr through pipes to valves 13 and C. At valve B the air passes through the hole in casting, around groove 59 in piston, through other hole in casting, into chamber 63. The train line pressure (7 0 lbs.) enters at 6% and passes into chamber The pressure in the chamber 63 being greater than that in65 holds piston down and keeps exhaust port 67 closed. The air from 57 cannot pass valve G as the solid of the piston is between the holes in the casting. WVhen the circuit is broken on magnet A, lever 72, assisted by spring 71, falls and rests on top of disk 73. In doing so, the lever 72 causes the other levers attached to itto release valve B and raises piston in valve C. When the valve B is released, the spring 58 pushes piston out. The solid portion 60 then comes between the holes in the casting and cuts off air supply to chamber 63. As the piston moves back, the point on end of piston moves out of exhaust port62, and the air thatis in chamber 63 then escapes through the groove 61 cut in casting, and out port 62. When the air pressure in chamber 63 falls below that of6'5, the piston 66 raises and opens port 67, which applies the air-brakes. piston in valve C is raised, the grooved portion 68 has come between the holes in the casting and allows air from 57 to pass through pipe 53 to the cylinder in Fig. 11, which closes the throttle.

Raising handle E causes 73 to raise and lifts 72 to magnet and returns apparatus to original position. When reset, the

piston in valve C cuts 06:" air supply to throttle cylinder, and the air that is in the cylinder escapes through groove 69 in casting, out exhaust port 70. The brakes can then be released and the throttle opened in the usual manner.

A light signal is shown at H, Fig. 12. A small box is constructed with a hole in it,

When the i tacle for electric lamp.

behind Which is a piece of frosted or ground glass. Inside the box is an ordinary recep- The wire connections of the engine are shown in Fig. 5, in which A is the magnet in valve box; 20 is a battery; H is the electric signal light; 22 and 23 are standard relays, and 40 represents the switch box shown in Fig. 7.

When the train passes over 5 rail, Fig. 1, the contact shoes form a contact with it. If there be no current in the stop rail, circuit on magnet A will be broken when the contact shoes are raised on reaching the high level of the stop rail, and stop is elfected. If the block ahead is clear, current from 5 rail will pass through contact rod, up through relays 22 and 23, and return through other rod to other rail. Relay 23 then closes circuit on magnet and prevents circuit from being broken, and relay 22 closes circuit on signal light, which lights up and shows clear. As soon as train passes out of block, current will flow back to 6 rail and light signal in engine waiting there.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. In a train controlling device, the combination of a track comprising a plurality of successive sections of substantially parallel rails insulated from each other, a track circuit including a resistance and four contact rails for each block; a train stopping means carried by a vehicle upon a track, a clear indication light, a closed electric control circuit, an electric magnet for holding inoperative the train stopping means, said magnet included in the said control circuit, a pair of vehicle contacts, two switches included in said control circuit and actuated by the vehicle contacts, a normally deenergized relay including contacts controlling the vehicle control circuit, means whereby the normally deenergized relay 'is energized by the track circuit current when the vehicle contacts engage the contact rails when the block ahead is clear.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the 2. In a train controlling device, the combination of a track comprising a plurality of-successive sections of substantially parallel rails insulated from each other, two positive and two negative contact rails for each block, a resistance in series with these rails; a train stopping means carried by a vehicle upon a track, an indication light, a closed electric control circuit, an electric control magnet for controlling the train stopping means, said control magnet included in said control circuit, vehicle contact means, two mechanically operated switches connected in the control circuit and actuated by the contact means, an electrically operated switch including contacts controlling the vehicle control circuit and normally separated, a track circuit including a resistance, the contact rails and the transit rails, means for sending the track circuit current through the contact rails to the vehicle contacts to close the contacts of the electrically operated switch controlling the vehicle circuit, when the vehicle contacts engage the contact rails when the block ahead is clear.

3. In a train controlling device, a train stopping means, means for controlling the operation of same, said means comprising a closed electric control circuit carried by a vehicle upon a track, a control magnet in cluded in said control circuit, a pair of mechanically operated circuit breakers for breaking said control circuit, an electrically operated switch adapted when energized to shunt out the contacts of said circuit breakers, the contacts of said electrically operated switch normally separated, a track circuit comprising a resistance, tour contact rails and the transit rails connected in series, the current of said track circuit adapted to close the contacts of the electrically operated switch when the vehicle contacts engage the contact rails when the block ahead is clear.

HARRY WISE RICHARDS. l/Vitnesses:

A. W. Bnvnnmcn, 'C. MILTON DICKERSON.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

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