Patent GB-190710560-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Electrically Controlled Railway Block Signalling and Apparatus therefor.
Inventor: BROWNE PATRICK
Filed: 1908-05-04
Granted: 1908-12-03
Abstract: 10,560. Browne, P. May 4, 1908. Transferring articles to or from trains in motion. -In a staff, ticket, or tablet system, spherical controllers are provided to act as staves &c., and are issued from electric instruments provided in pairs at each end of each section, one instrument being used for the section ahead and the other for the section behind. The controller is transferred from an overhead wire to the train in motion, and is retransferred to an overhead wire at the end of a section. Each instrument for the issue of controllers comprises a disk 2, Fig. 6, rotatable by a handle outside the case moving over a dial. The double-acting pivoted pawls 6, 6<1> of electro-magnets 8, 8<1> act upon ratchet teeth to prevent rotation of the disk except when the magnets are correctly energized, and cam-blocks 41 on the disk actuate the pawls to move them near to the magnets 8, 8<1> when these are about to be energized. A rotary cylindrical commutator 21 m each instrument has toothed conducting portions separated by insulation to connect the tongues. 21<a>, 21<b>, 21<c>, 21<d> in pairs. Each commutator is provided with helical teeth which engage with the controllers as described below. Conducting-rings 33, 33<2> on the disk are separated by a shaped insulating portion 33<1> so that sliding contacts 34, 35 are connected alternately to the rings 33, 33<2> as the disk rotates. The inner portions 33, 33', 33<2> of the disk are situated in a recess in the disk 2, with which they are connected by a ratchet free-wheel arrangement so that they only rotate with the disk 2 in counter-clockwise direction. A toothed wheel on the disk spindle gears with a rack, which, at its opposite end, rotates another wheel geared to a second rack fixed to a slide 14, Fig. 7. Another slide 44 is raised with the slide 14 by a stop arm 49 on the latter, and takes in the slack of a wire 45 connected to the starting signal, which can thus be moved to 'safety' only when the slide 44 is raised. A starting-signal indicator in the instrument is also actuated by a rod or wire connexion from the slide 44. The stop arm 49 is retained in engaging position with the slide 44 by a pivoted spring-controlled arm 55 in a groove in the slide 14 until the arm 55 is released by a pivoted arm actuated by the armature of one of the ratchet-pawl magnets in the instrument, so that the slide 44 then falls by gravity to its lower normal position, allowing the starting-signal to move to 'danger.' In the normal condition with no train in the section, all the controllers will be in the instruments, say half at A, Fig. 6. and half at B. Assuming that a train is about to enter the section from A, the signalman at A signals to the operator at B by rotating the disk 2 slightly in a counter-clockwise direction to bring the contacts 34, 35 on to the metal rings 33<2>, 33 respectively. A circuit is then closed from a battery 100 through the contact 37, ring 33', contact 34, and the commutator tongues 21<b>, 21<d> to earth and cabin B, and to lead 111, commutator tongues 21d, 21<b>, contact 37<a>, contact-bridge 37<c>, contact 37b, relay 1, tongues 21<c>, 21<a>, and lead 141 to lice 32 to cabin A, lead 140, tongues 21<a>, 21<c>, ring 33, contact'36, and the lead 106 back to the battery 100. The energized relay 1 at B moves its polarized armature 41<a> to close a contact 39<a> and thus close a local circuit through the bell 40 from the battery 113. The required number of rings having been given on the bell 40 at B, the disk at A is returned to its normal position, and the operator at B returns the bell signal to the operator at A in a similar manner by moving his disk slightly in a counter-clockwise direction. The operator at B then releases a controller from the instrument at A by rotating his disk 2 one step in a counter-clockwise direction to bring the contacts 35, 34 on to the metal rings 33, 33<2>. A circuit is then completed from the battery 113 to contact 37, ring 33<2>, contact 34, tongues 21<b>, 21<d>, lead 111 to earth and cabin A, and lead 103, tongues 21<d>, 21<b>, contacts 37<a>, 37b, relay 1, lead 107, tongues 21<c>, 21<a>, and line 32 to cabin B, and tongues 21<a>, 21<c>, contact 35, ring 33, and contact 36 back to battery 113. The energized relay 1 at A actuates its polarized armature 41<a> to close the contact 39<a> and close local circuits in parallel from the battery 100 to the bell 40 and the magnet 8<1>. The energized magnet 8' attracts its armature, and the attached pawl 6<1> is withdrawn from the toothed disk 2, allowing the operator at A to move his disk one-eighth turn in the clockwise direction until it is stopped by the pawl 6<1>. The operator at B then moves his disk another step, which reverses the direction of the current sent from B to A because the contacts 35, 34 are moved on to the rings 33<2>, 33. The relay 1 at A is thus oppositely energized, and its polarized armature closes the contact 39 to energize the magnet 8 by closing its local circuit. A second movement of the disk is thus permitted to the operator at A because the pawl 6 is withdrawn from engagement with the disk. The sequence of operation is then continued until a complete revolution of each disk is made. This raises the shutter 26, Fig. 7, at A, and a controller 23, Fig. 12, may be taken out and placed on the line 28 in a cradle 29 to be transferred to the gripping device 30 on the travelling engine. The engine carries the controller through the section to B, where it is again transferred to the line 28 and placed into the instrument at B. A rod passing through the controller has curved arms 63 provided with spring snaps which engage upon the bars 65<a> on the engine, the line 28 being inclined to the track. The commutator 21 has been rotated simultaneously with the opening of the shutter 26, Fig. 7, by a pawl 18 engaging teeth 20 on the end of the commutator, and this puts the instruments at A and B out of step, that is : the currents sent from either cabin would energize the locking-magnets so as to lock the disks against rotation while a controller is out of either instrument. When a controller is replaced in an instrument, it is passed into a guideway beneath the commutator and slides by means of grooves in the controller upon guide-rods which prevent its rotation and cause the upper groove in the controller to engage with a helical tooth on the commutator. As the controller slides into the instrument, the commutator is thus rotated through the space of one tooth and the instruments are replaced in step, and the controller then falls down a series of inclined boards into the space covered by the shutter.