Patent GB-474863-A (GB)
Title: A remote control system for toy railways
IPC: A63H19/10
Filed: 1936-11-24
Abstract: 474,863. Control of motors; actuating electromagnetic switches; toy railways. MARX & CO., Ltd., L. Nov. 24, 1936, No. 32186. Convention date, Dec. 31, 1935. [Classes 38 (iii) and 38 (v)] [Also in Groups XV and XXX] Reversing.-A toy railway system comprises a locomotive driven at variable speeds in accordance with the potentia applied to a track on which the locomotive runs and from which it is energized. reversing mechanism on the locomotive effective to reverse the driving motor connections when the supply to the motor is interrupted, and a trackside controller for varying the potential applied to the track down to a minimum sufficient for preventing operation of the reversing mechanism but insufficient to operate the motor, the reversal being effected by means arranged to opencircuit the supply to the track. The motor M is supplied from the track T through a reversing switch having an operating coil 46 and contacts 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, the'voltage applied to the motor circuit and the coil 46 being varied by a variable tapping on the secondary winding 68 of a transformer S forming part of a trackside controller C. The primary 60 of the transformer is supplied from the household mains and the secondary is arranged in three sections 64, 66, 68, a tapping connection being made at 86 from which smaller train sets and trackside accessories may be supplied. The variable tapping connection is made by a sliding contact 70 which engages a bared section of the secondary winding 68 and is operated by a control handle from a maximum voltage position to a position in which contact is made with a conducting plate 72 connected either through a resistance 74 to the secondary winding 66 or to the tapping 86. When the control handle is moved to this stop position the voltage applied to the track is insufficient to operate the motor M but sufficient to keep the coil 46 energized and prevent reversal, and also to maintain the train lamps 94 illuminated. In order to reverse the direction of operation, a control reversing switch R is operated and momentarily opens the supply to the track from the secondary of the transformer, so that the coil 46 is de-energized and upon re-energization operates the reversing switch to its other position. The core 48 of the coil 46 supports a freely mounted link 50 consisting of a U- shaped piece of wire, the lower end of which is arranged beneath a wedge-shaped centre portion 52 of an insulating carrier 32 carrying the movable reversing contacts. Thus each time the coil 46 is de-energized and re-energized the link 50 operates on the member 32 at opposite sides of the portion 52 to effect reversal. The downward movement of the link 50 is guided by the sides of an opening in insulating plates 132 through which the lower end of the link 50 passes. The controller handle may be arranged to have a position beyond its stop position at which the slide 70 moves on to an insulated plate to interrupt the supply circuit to the track and so render a separate control reversing switch unnecessary. The collector consists of shoes 164 formed of bent metal having openings 166 through which the tongue 168 of a supporting insulating plate 160 passes, and formed at the opposite ends into tongues which pass through slots in the plate 160. Leaf springs 174 which also convey current exert pressure on the shoes. Associated with the controller handle is a spring-pressed positioning pawl.