The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1906-09-22
TO ABOLISH WRECKS
DEVICES INTENDED TO MAKE
RAILROAD TRAVEL SAFER.
Inventions Recently Patented by an
Indiana Man Which Are Hoped to
Do Away Entirely with Pres
ent Despatehing System.


of knightstown. has just patented two
devices invented by him which he
hopes win prevent many railroad acct
dents and make travel on trains much
safer than II is at present.
Steiners devices do away with the
present despatching system and put in
its stead an automatic system. He
worked for two years on his inve
tons, and he thinks he has succeeded.
He says his system has the following
advantages:
lt does away with all possibility Of
rear or head-on collisions, as. each
train crew knows at any time just
where all the others are.
II is security against any train run.
Ring into an open switch, as the reg
ister on each train shows whether the
switch be open or closed.
1t does away with telegraph opera
tors, thus saving millions in salaries
TO the companies using it.
The system cannot 60 to sleep at
the instrument or the switch" and can
work "a hours a day without food,
fatigue or pay.
Being purely mechanical, it is infal-
lible, and cannot make mistake or
"misinterpret ORDERS" and even if it
could disaster would be impossible.
It does away with the necessity OF
making stops for any purpose except
to take on or discharge passengers or
freight.
With the train reporting system"
said Steiner. "a railroad may be
equipped at regular intervals of any
distance desired with stations in the
track bed, each of these stations be-
ing connected by circuits Of electric
wires with the central office. When
ever a train passes over one of the sta
tions II automatically registers the
number OF the train and the number
OF the station. so that the central
dispatcher can tell at any moment just
where any train is.
In addition, every switch on the
line is equipped with stations, and the
minute train enters a siding the de-
spatcher will be notified by 1t by the
automatic register of the number OF
the train. A switch is always regis
tered open or closed. and II one is in
advertently left open the register will
show it. and an approaching train can
be advised Of 1t from the central Of
fee"
With the ntercommunicating sys-
TEN - his second device - attached,
there is nothing left to be desired in
a system Of train despatching. BY
means Of this system the central de-
spatcher may communicate order to
an engineer, conductor or train crew.
either while the train is standing stll
or moving. and in the same manner
the crew can answer the orders. The
system is so arranged that each train
makes a constant circuit with the cen
tral Office, and each train is constantly
in circuit with every other train on
the same division. Thus one train
crew can communicate with any other
crew, and the register on one train
will show just where every other train
on the road is az any given time. An
engineer can look at the register and
tell lorg before he reaches it If a
switch which the train is approaching
is open or closed, and he knows at a
glance just how far ahead or behind
him is any other train, in whichever
direction it may be going.
The system would do away entirely
with telegraph operators at way sta
tions. so far as delivering and receiv-
ing orders are concerned. 1t would
even be possible for trains to run un-
der this system without a a despatch
err as each train would know at any
time where other trains were located.
This. of course. would be impractica-
BILE. as 1t would give free rein to train
crews to run too much at will.
Power for the system is furnished
by either storage batteries or dyna.
mos. Once installed the system would
be inexpensive, as the first cost would
be the greatest 1t is adaptable to
electric roads as well as to steam rail
roads.
Steiner, who is a rural mail-carrier,
first began to think Of his invention
two years ago when he heard railroad
men on a train discuss the problem OF
railroad accidents and their preven-
ton. He then resolved to use his me
chanical talent and ability in that di
rection, and he hopes that he will soon
see the results of his labor in general
use.