Patent GB-375802-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to railway traffic controlling apparatus
IPC: B61L7/08
Filed: 1931-03-23
Abstract: 375,802. Railway signalling systems. TOMLINSON, A. V., 65, Victoria Street, London.-(Union Switch & Signal Co. ; Swissvale, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) March 23, 1931, No. 8915. [Class 105.] The invention relates to apparatus for the control of railway points and signals at a number of stations from a central dispatch office and for giving return indications, of the kind in which a chain of relays at the office and similar chains of relays at the stations operate in synchronism when a panel lever is actuated at the office or a change of condition occurs at a station, the arrangements being such that a circuit is completed for the points or signal operation or for the indication device over contacts of an office relay and the corresponding relay at the station. According to the present invention the initiation of a cycle of operation of the chain of relays is arranged first to effect at the office an indication of the condition of each of the devices at the stations and subsequently, if a panel lever has been actuated, to cause a second cycle of operation of the chain or relays to follow during which the points or signals are operated. The apparatus at the train despatcher's office is shown in Fig. 1 and that at one station along the line is shown in Fig. 2. The despatch office apparatus includes an oscillating pole-changing relay Q which is started by any change of condition, such as change of setting of points or track section occupation, to actuate in turn a set of counting relays 0M1 .. 0M8 at the office and by its oscillating contact 13 to apply in turn positive and negative potential to a line wire 14 whereby by means of oscillating contacts such as 69 of a polarized relay 1D in this line wire 14 similar sets of counting relays, such as 1M1 .. 1M8 at station 1, at each of the stations along the line are actuated in synchronism. The despatch office also includes for each station a panel for controlling and for giving a return indication of the setting of the apparatus at each station, a particular panel and the apparatus at the corresponding station being connected up to line wires 16, 17 when the corresponding counting relays are energized. The positive and negative poles of line and local batteries are denoted by ZX, ZY and x, y with exponents denoting the station. The apparatus is shown in its normal condition, all station track sections such as a, b being unoccupied. Relay L is energized from terminal 0ZX of line battery 0Z, over back contact 50 of relay OP, winding of relay L, back contact 53 of relay T<1>, line wire 17, back contacts 54, 56 of relays 1P, 1J at station 1, similar back contacts at the other stations, and common return wire 18. When a train enters section a, b a track relay 1R drops and at its back contact 57 completes a circuit to energize the relay 1P from x<1> over normal contact 59 of a relay 1RA and back contact 62 of relay 1V to y<1>. The relay L accordingly drops its contact 19 and thereby energizes relays T<1>, T<2> from local battery terminal X<0>. Relay T<1> at its contact 9 starts the oscillating relay Q and at its contact 53 connects the line 17 with a wire 64 which, when relay OB is dropped, is connected with a wire 66 which is connected in turn with each panel when the appropriate relay such as 0J1 is energized. Relay T<2> at its front contact 22 applies the local battery terminal X<0> to the polar armature 67 of relay Q and at its front contact 15 connects line wire 14 with the polar armature 13 of relay Q whereby the relays 1D .. are operated to oscillate their armatures 69 in synchronism with armature 67 of relay Q. The oscillating armatures 67, 69 sequentially energize the counting relays 0M1 .. at the despatch office in synchronism with the relays 1M1 .. at each station. When the oscillating armature 69 first moves to the right relay 1M1 is picked up over front contact 72 of a relay 1S which is held by a stick circuit over a back contact 75 of relay 1M2 and its own contact 77 after having been picked up over back contact 49 of a relay 1U which is energized during oscillation of the armature 69. Relay 1U at its front contact 49 energizes relay 1V, the contact 62 of which opens to cause relay 1P to drop and so to close the line 17 which is now however not connected with relay L but with the panels wire 66 over front contact 53 of relay T<1>. Relay 1J is energized over front contact 84 of relay 1M1 and so closes front contacts 56, 86 ; front contact 86 connects line wire 16 over back contact 88 of relay 1B and winding of relay 1RA with the negative terminal 1ZY (track section a, b being occupied) while front contact 56 connects line wire 17 over back contact 92 of relay 1B, winding of relay 1WA, and normal contact 36 of the points circuit controller 1C, with positive terminal 1ZX. At the despatch office when the armature 67 first moves to the right the relay 0M1 is picked up over back contact 96 of relay 0S and at its contact front contact 103 energizes relay 0J1 to connect panel No. 1 with wires 66, 106, whereby relays 1WK, 1RK are energized normally and reversely in correspondence with the points set at normal and the track section a-b being occupied ; the relays 1WK and 1RK, in the conditions stated, light indication lamps 119, 116 denoting respectively points set at normal and track section occupied. The second oscillation of the pole changing relay Q moves the armature 67 to the left and causes the relays OM2 1M2 .. to be energized, relay OM2 being picked up over front contact 131 of relay 0M1 which remains closed just long enough after the de-energization of relay 0M1 by the opening of the right-hand contact 67. The relay 0J2 for panel No. 2 is now energized over back contact of relay 0M1 and front contact 139 of relay 0M2 and accordingly the track and points conditions as a station 2 (not shown) are indicated in a manner similar to that described above for station 1. The apparatus described is for use with even stations the relays 0M1 .. 0M7 acting in the manner above described, with similar sets of relays such as 1M1 .. 1M7 at each station. The relay 0M8, however, when energized, breaks at its back contact 20 the circuit of relay T<1> which drops its contacts 9, 53 to stop the oscillation of relay Q and to re-close the circuit of relay L which is then energized from OZX over back contact 50 of relay OP. Relay T2 is thereupon de-energized by the lifting of contact 19 of relay L and drops its armature 22 to cut off the local battery from relay 0M8 and apply it to a lamp 21 which indicates that the apparatus is now normal. At all the stations the relay such as 1U drops its contact 49 to pick up the relay such as 1S and to de-energize relay 1V but relay 1P is not energized since contact 59 if relay 1RA is now at the left (the section a-b being occupied). It will be seen therefore that any change of condition of track occupation or of points setting energizes a relay 1P to start the apparatus and to transmit an indication to the despatch office. The points and signals are controlled from the despatch office panels. For example, to set the points at station 1 at reverse the lever 1d on panel No. 1 is moved to the left, thereby moving contact 128 to the left ; lever 1f is also moved to the mid position and thereafter a pushbutton r is depressed to pick up relay 0P which is then held by a stick circuit over back contact 151 of relay 0B. Relay OP opens its back contact 50 to de-energize relay L and thereby start the operation of the apparatus which behaves as above described until relay 0M8 is energized, but now the relay T<1> is not de-energized by the opening of contact 20 since a front contact 154 of relay 0P is closed. The oscillating relay Q therefore continues to operate and relay 0M1 is picked up over contact 156 of relay 0M8. A relay 0S, which was picked over a contact 141 of relay OM2 on the first sequence of energization and held over its own front contact 145, closes a front contact 96 in series with contacts 166 of relay 0M1 and 169 of relay OP so that relay OB is energized. Relay 0B is subsequently held over its own front contact 172 and back contact 19 of relay L. The energized relay 0B now connects the panels wires 159, 162 to the line wires 16, 17 and relay 0J1 being energized, negative voltage is applied from terminal OZY over wire 161 and front contact 158 of relay 0J1 to the line wire 16. The energization of relay IM1 on the second sequence takes place over contact 173 of relay 1M8 and effects the energization of relay 1B over back contact 175 of relay 1S (dropped during the first sequence when relay IM2 energized and opened contact 75) and front contact 177 of relay IM1. Relay 1B is then held by a stick circuit over front contacts 49 and 182 of relay 1U and of itself. Relay 1J is also energized and therefore line wire 16 is connected by front contacts 86, 88 with a polarized points control relay 1W which is reversely energized, since line wire 16 is connected at the despatch office with negative terminal OZY over panel contact 128. The points control relay accordingly moves its armatures to the left whereby the points motor IE is energized over front contact 44 of track relay 1R and contact 24-24a of circuit-controller 1C and so moves the points to reverse. The line wire 17 is similarly connected over back contact 54 of relay IP and front contacts 56, 92 of relays 1J, 1B with signal control relays 1H, 1F and accordingly as the wire is non- energized, reversely, or normally energized, depending on the position of the panel lever 1f, the signals are for at danger, cleared set Westbound, or cleared for Eastbound, selectively with the setting of the points by means of circuit-controller contacts 38, 37 and front contact 34 of track relay 1R. At the end of the second sequence when relay 0M8 opens back contact 20 the relay T<1> is de-energized since contact 154 of relay 0P is open, relay 0P having been de-energized when relay 0B picked up an