Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-04-14
TELL-TALE.
A Machine that Records the Dis
lance Travelled, Speed and
Stops Of Trains.

New York sun.
Al ingenious machine, called the
tell tale, has been introduced recently
on the Erie railroad. 1t registers the
speed Of trains, when and where they
stop, and how long. 1t is used espe-
cially for freight trains, and is fasten-
cd at either end of small cabooses,
about four and a half feet from the
floor. 1t was adopted because freight
trains frequently exceeded the pre-
scribed rate of speed. They would
run very fast for some distance, and
then take things comfortable for a
time.
The machine works as follows: A
screw is wound round one of the jour
mails or axles of the caboose. A rod,
which is turned by the screw as soon
as the train is in motion, runs hon
zontally to the end Of the side Of
the caboose to a point under
the regulating machine. To this rod
q cogwheel is attached, workingin an
other cogwheel, which turns a rod
running perpendicularly, and ending
in another cogwheel, which turns a
cylinder about four inches long and
one inch in diameter. The number Of
cogs in each wheel varies, so that
when the train has traversed a mile
the cylinder has revOlved only about a
quarter of an inch.
A strip of paper about twenty-five
inches long and four inches in breadth
passes over the cylinder and hangs
into a wooden box under the cylinder.
This paper is called the conductor
service report. Lengthwise it is d.
vided by dotted lines into eighty-eight
parts. Each of these parts, which
represents a mile, is subdivided by
green lines into four parts, each sub.
division standing for q quarter Of {
mile. Breadthwise the strip is di
vided into thirty parts by the greer
lines. Each of these parts represent
a minute. By means of clock work
pencil moves across the paper anC
back again, taking thirty minutes {,
moves across and thirty minutest to NOV,
back again. As soon as the journal o.
axle turns, the cylinder turns az th.
rate of a quarter inch for each mile, S,
that when a mile is traversed the pencil
has marked a line over the space be
tween the dotted lines which rep
resents a mile on the strip Of paper
As the clockwork moves tn
pencil across the strip, the pencI
has also passed over as man
minute divisions as it has taken th
car to run a mile. If the train stop
the cylinder stops. The line made b
the pencil in the direction of tn
length of the paper is broken as lon
as the train stops, and the time'oft tn
interruption in travel is represente
by the number of spaces the penc
moves across the strip before it II
sumes the lengthwise line.
In order to ascertain the poit
where any irregularity occurred, th
stations on the road are printed on {
between the dotted lines at point
corresponding to their distances froi
Jeesey City. Bergen is two miles an
a half from Jersey City. jersey City
printed at the beginning Of the striI
and Bergen is printed two and a ha
spaces further on the length of th
strip. When the train stops the cylir
der stops, and the pencil line length
wise is broken between the printe
names Jersey City and Bergen.
The cylinder and clockWork al
sncased il an iron box, which is loci
ed, When a train reaches its dest
nation, the slie is moved and il
spected.