Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-11-08
Waddelps Railway Signal a Success.
TESTED ON A PASSENGER TRAIN-THI
BELL RINGS EVERY TIME.

~>9>~N~A -
TESTED ON A PASSENGER TRAIN-THI
BELL RINGS EVERY TIME.
The experiments with the railway cleo
trio signal invention of Mr.. w. II. Wad
dell of Lexington, Va, in which so many
of our citizens are interested, have finally
resulted in a complete success.
Several gentlemen from Staunton who
are stockholders in the company were i'll
vited to Lexington Monday by Mr.. Wad
dell, the Secretary of the company, to wit
ness the final test. They returned to Staun-
ton that afternoon On the regular local train
OF the Valley Railroad, riding on the cal
to which the apparatus had been attached,
and all were delighted with the operation
of the invention, which accomplished every
thing that had been claimed for it by the
ingenious inventor. The object of the in
ventiOn is to prevent collisions of railroad
trains whether meeting each other OF one
following the other.
Wires are laid on both sides of the track
in any section-length desired, say one or
two miles. The sections Oh one side of the
track overlap those on the opposite side,
that is the end of a section on one side is
approximately opposite the centre of the
section on the other side, thus etfectuaily
preventing a collision at the end of a sec
ton as well as on it.
1t was at first intended to use two wires
on each side of the track with wire brush
running on each wire, thus completing the
circuit, but as all electricians hold that the
rail will act as ground wire, the expert
ments have been made with single wire
on each side. Each engine is to be equipped
with battery, one pole of which is connec-
ted with a brush running on the right hand
wire and the other pole is connected with
the box of the car to form a ground con-
nection. A bell is also placed in each ell
CINE connecting with steel brush on the
left hand wire, and with the box of the engine.
When two engines are approaching each
other and the battery on the right of one
engine gets on the same section with the
bell on the left of the other engine, the Gil
cult is completed and the bell is thereby
rung on both engines and the warning given
to both engineers that they are approaching
each other. The wires are placed along
several miles of the track on the Valley
road between Timber Ridge and LeXing-
ton, and in the experiment OF last Monday
one Of the batteries was placed on the for
ward car, the bell was fastened on the in
side of the car where all the passengers
could see it, and another battery and bell
were placed on a hand car on which there
were several gentlemen, also. After the
passenger train passed the hand car coming
North, it was placed on the track and fol-
lowed the train. AS soon as the hand Car
reached the wire over which the passenger
train was passing the bell ON the Car COM
menced to ring clearly and regularly and
continued to ring, much to the sur
prise and delight of all on board,
as long as the two cars were on the
wires. Towards the last, the cars were
about half mile apart but the bell rang as
loud and distinctly as when they were near
together.
In addition to the Staunton party, there
were along Mr.. Samuel Campbell, the cleo
trician, who has aided MI. W addell greatly in
perfecting his invention; MI. Thos. Wad-
dell, son of the inventor, and several rail-
road men. The latter were very much pleased
with the test, pronounced it decided sue
cess and great invention which, if adopt
ed by the railroads, must result in a reduc-
ton to minimum of the loss to life and
property by railroad accidents, and the
opinion was maintained that the invention
would work smoothly and satisfactorily on
trains running at the highest rate Of speed.
The point which seems to have suggested
the main difficulty when trains would be
going very fast, was whether the brush
would not jump the wire. That has been
provided against by using wire brush
| five feet long, the comb of which straddles
the ground wire the whole length of the
brush, an arrangement which seems to be
very complete and works perfectly.
The Company's board meets this week to
take steps to bring the now perfected and
tested improvement to the attention of
the railroad companies, and it will then be
decided what plan will be adopted in nego-
tiating with those corporations, and they
expect shortly to report to the stockholders
very satisfactory results.
The Board of Directors of this Company
consists of Messrs. Frank T. Glasgow,
President; W. H. Waddell, Secretary and
Treasurer; S. II. Letcher, J. G. Boude, T.
S. Doyle and II. L. Hoover, and the capital
stock is only 500 shares of 500 each, which
will make each share very valuable when
the railroads generally adopt the improve
ment.