Patent GB-769683-A (GB)
Title: Railway route-setting apparatus
IPC: B61L19/06
Filed: 1952-12-19
Abstract: 769,683. Railway route-setting apparatus. STANDARD TELEPHONES & CABLES, Ltd. Dec. 19, 1952 [Dec. 24, 1951], No. 32286/52. Addition to 767,941. Class 105. Co-ordination apparatus for two railway signal cabins, each controlling a portion of a junction network, whereby a route through the network is established as a combination of one path set up in one portion of the network from one controlling cabin and another path set up in another portion of the network by the other controlling cabin, includes common co-ordinating leads between the two cabins for co-ordinating the establishment of any route through the network and a set of combination leads between the two cabins for each group of mutually conflicting routes through the junction, for co-ordinating the establishment of any route within a group. The attendant A at cabin A can indicate to the attendant B at cabin B the path combination required for a desired route and when this route is established an indication is given at cabin A to that effect. In the drawings the apparatus in cabin A is shown above the broken horizontal lines and in cabin B below those lines. In Fig. 2, the selecting equipment for selecting the appropriate route identification equipment for a path in a portion of the junction controlled by a cabin and which equipment is common to all groups of routes is separated from equipment individual to a group of routes by further broken lines XY, e.g. in the top and bottom right-hand portions of Fig. 2. Selectors in each cabin, connected to each other over a group of co-ordinating leads LO1-LO3, Fig. 2, are used, in establishing any route, to select the route-identifying equipment in cabin B corresponding to the path already set up by cabin A. When the required path has been set up by B, supervisory equipment indicates as by the lighting of a lamp LL12, Fig. 1, that the required route has been established and may be used to permit the operation of signals relating to the established route. The selectors (stepping switches, synchronized switches or interacting relay sets) are released after the route identifying equipment has been selected and are available for use in establishing a route in another group. As shown, rotary sending and receiving stepping switches DS, DE are associated with the co-ordinating leads LO1- L03, Fig. 2, in each cabin. When not in use, the switch arms stand on the home contacts O of the banks. When a path forming part of a conflicting route is selected by A, contact fst a, Fig. 1, is closed and that path is identified by the appropriate one of contacts fst1-fst3 closing, e.g. fat1, and the establishment of that path is confirmed by the closure of the appropriate one of contacts fu13, fu23, fu33. At f.c. fst (front contact fst a) relay E is picked up over f.c. fst a, b.c. ba37, ba27, ba17, q5 (back contacts ba37 &c.), lead L2, b.c. all, be15, be25, be35, bf14, bf24, bf34, ff13, ff23, ff33. At f.c. e4, Fig. 2, slow release relays H1, H2 are picked up over lead LO2, contacts O of banks ds23, de22 and at f.c. h11a drive circuit is completed for switches DS1 and DE2 in series over f.c. e3, h11, winding DS1, contact 0 of bank de13, f.c. h13, b.c. p11, lead LO1, b.c. p21, f.c. h23, contact 0 of bank ds22, winding DE2, f.c. h22. The switches DS1 and DE2 step to bank contacts No. 1. The driving magnets functioning as relays when operated close contacts de11, ds11, de21, ds21 to pick up relays R1, R2. At f.c. r12 relays H1, H2 are held over f.c. h15 and h25. The driving circuit over the bank contacts being now open at b.c. r11, the switches stand on the first contacts of the banks. When the required path portion is established by A, contact fst1 and fu13, Fig. 1, are closed and relay V will have operated over f.c. e2 and h17, and be holding over f.c. v4. Latch-type relay BA1 is operated over its winding BA11 and f.c. e1 and v1, and at b.c. ba17 releases relay E so that at f.c. e3 the initial driving magnet circuit is opened and relays RI, R2 released, resulting in the closure of contact rl to complete the energizing circuit over f.c. h22 to step the switches forward and by interaction between contacts ds11 and r11 the stepping of the switches continues until relay P1, Fig. 2, is operated over bank ds13 and the closed off-normal contact del5. In the particular example the desired route path combination is allotted bank contact No. 1 so that the relay P is operated when the switches stand on that bank contact since contact ba19 connected thereto is closed. Contact p11 in the driving circuit is opened and prevents further stepping of the switches. At f.c. p13, relay P2, Fig. 2, is picked up over f.c. h16, lead LO3, f.c. h27, home contact 0 of bank ds25, and at f.c. p23 and p24 the operating windings BF11 and BE11 of relay BF1 and BE1 are energized and holding windings BE12, BF12 for these relays are energized over contacts be16 and bf16, Fig. 1, and f.c. fu11, ba15, b.c. ba25, ba35, f.c. v2 and lead L1. At f.c. p12 switch DE1 is caused to step from its home contact 0 to bank contact 1 and at the off-normal contact ue15 releases relay P1 and comes to rest on contact 1. At f.c. p22 switch DS2 is caused to step on to its first bank contact to release relay P2 at home contact 0 of bank ds25. The stepping of the switches continues by interaction between contacts ds21, de11 and relays R1, R2 as in the case of switches DS1 and DE2, until relay G at cabin B, Fig. 2, is operated, i.e. when switch DS2 stands on the first contact of bank ds24. Contacts h26, bf13, being closed. At b.c. g1 the driving circuit is opened to retain the switches DEI and DS2 on the first bank contact. Relay Q in cabin A is operated over f.c., g2, Fig. 2, b.c. t4, f.c. be13, contact of bank do25, f.c. h27, lead LO3, f.c. h16; b.c. p13, contact 1 of bank de14, f.c. ba18, winding QO1. Relay Q can only operate when the three seelcted relays BA, BE, BF all refer to the same routes. At f.c. q3 lamp LL12 is lighted to indicate that circuits over leads L1, L2 have been established. A holding circuit over its holding winding QO2, Fig. 1, is completed by f.c. q5 over b.c. ba38, ba28, f.c. fu12, ba16, q5, lead L2, b.c. all, f.c. be15, bf15, b.c. bf25, bf35 and winding of relay T. Relay T pulls up and at fc. t2 an intermittent source of power is connected to lamp LL1, Fig. 1, over b.c. fa2, f.c. t2, f.c. be14 and b.c. ff15, the lamp flashing to indicate to B that the path-combination 1 is required. The selecting switches are now released and made available for use in the establishment of a route in another group. Thus contacts ds21, dell being open and relays R2, R1 released at contact r12, relays 41, 42 release and at h26 relay G is released. Contact r11 of relay R1 then interacts first with driving circuit of magnet DS1 over b.c. h12 and thereafter with driving circuit of magnet DE1 over b.c. h14 to step the switches to their home positions. Similarly switches DE2 and DS2 are returned over circuits including b.c. h21, r21 and h24, r22 respectively. At f.c. h17 relay V is released. In response to flashing of the lamp LL1, attendant B sets up the required path in any known manner resulting in the closure of contact u1 to operate the latch relay FF1, Fig. 1, over f.c. t1, u1, be17, bf17, and b.c. ff12, this latter contact being opened on operation of the relay FF1 and this relay can only be operated if the path set up is the same as that required. At b.c. ff14, relay A is disconnected from lead L3 and at fc. ff15 the intermittent source to lamp LL1 is replaced by a steady source to indicate to B that the desired path has been established. At f.c. ff13, relay FA, Fig. 1, is picked up over b.c. ff23 and ff33. At f.c. fa1, relay K, at cabin A, Fig. 1, is picked up over lead L3 and b.c. BRT (release key) and is held over f.c. k3. At f.c. k1 the lamp LL11 is lighted to indicate to A that the route has been established. The established route is released after the passage of a train when the release winding (not shown) of the latch relay FF1 is energized, releasing relay FF1. At f.c. ff13, slow-to-release relay FA is released; at f.c. ff14 relay A is operated over f.c. fa1, not yet restored, b.c. ff14, ff24, ff34, to release relays T and at b.c. a11. At contact q4 the hold windings BE 12, BF12 are de-energized and relays BEI, BF1 released. After the release period of relay FA, at contact fa1 relay A is released and at b.c. a11 release winding BA12 is energized over b.c. ff33, ff23, ff13, bf34, bf24, bf14, be35, be25, be15, all, lead L2, b.c. q5, f.c, ba17 and v3, and relay BA1 releases and the apparatus is restored to normal. If relay Q does not operate, as when a fault occurs and the relays BA, BE, BF do not refer to the same routes, contact q4 will be open when contact v2 opens on release of relay V. The hold windings BE12, BF12 are therefore deenergized and the relays release and the release winding BA12 of relay BA1 is energized over contact q5. To cancel a route before it has been set up, attendant B operates cancel change-over contact BRT, Fig. 1, to operate relay A over b.c. k2, f.c. BRT, lead L3, b.c. ff14, ff24, ff34, and release of the equipment follows as described. If contacts fn13. fn23, fn33 and ul, u2, u3 are omitted, the BA relays and the FF relays may be used to operate the routesetting apparatus whereby a path in the first portion of the junction network is set up by relay BA and a path in the second portion of the network is set up by relay FF and will eliminate the necessity for an attendant at cabin B.