The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1909-07-22

.:a: szs< gins. whether
quent railroad accidents may not be
due to the character OF the signals we
employ, 1t should be borne in mind
that these signals must be caught and
instantly translated into action under
conditions of uncommon mental stress
And for this reason defects of the sym
bols which might otherwise be far
from serious do nof become Of vital
moment"
Prof. Stratton goes on to tell about
the severity Of locomotive engineers
work. He says:
"He must know that his outside
lights are burning bright. that the wa
ter in the boiler is sufficient, that the
air-brakes are in perfect working. He
must from moment to moment glance
at the hands of his watch, and must
know exactly where he is upon the
road And yet all the while his eyes
must hardly be taken from the dark
ness into which his engine rushes. to
catch the hrst glimmer of the signal
which is his guide.
Since the safety OF many lives
thus depends upon these signal lights
and upon their sudden clearness to a
mind that must attend to many things
at once, the symbols should at all
times be the least ambiguous that can
be planned Yet the present night sig
nails, given by colored lights beside
the track-upon many roads, white for
safety red for danger and green for
proceed with caution open to
grave objections.
For the human eye at it's best and
without abnormality is liable to mis-
take the signal haes at night, especial
ly when the outward conditions are
anywise untoward svhether by the dis
tance or the low burning OF the lamp
or by fog or smoke or storm. And
even when the colors are perceived
with perfect accuracy the use OF the
common oil light called white, as one
of the signal colors, throws a danger.
GUS task upon the engineer, inasmuch
as it requires him to take constant
heed lest he regard some window
lamp or other meaningless light along
his course as sign that all is we'll
and in consequence rush onward to his
trains destruction.
In regard to the use Of white as
part of the signal code at night the
danger from this source has long beer
recognized by leading signal engineers.
although in spite of this recognition
its use continues ON large number of
our American roads 1t is not many
years ago that an accident occurred
at Whittenton Junction Mass, from
this very cause. The engineer mis-
took lantern hanging from the gate
at street crossing for his safety sig
nal and crashed into another train
More recently Mr. Baggett of the Gal
weston, Harrisburg & San Antonio
road has given an instance where dis
aster resulted from the use of white
The railway signal in this case was
exactly in line with a light shining
from high bay window; and when
the signal light itself was out one
night the engineer mistook the light in
the window for his signal and seri-
Gus accident was the outcome.
The disadvantage under which the
red danger signal labors is, however,
quite insufficiently expressed by say
ing that the ruby glass often virtually
destroys fully four-fifths of the light
from lantern fame already none too
bright, and to this extent increases
the liability that the most momentous
OF the signals will at some crisis be
seen too late or not at all Even the
remaining portion is often far less eff
fectual upon the eye than it's physical
quality would lead us to expect. The
Importance of the matter for signaling
will perhaps justify some further ac-
count.
III, by reliable devices Of the labora-
tory, a semaphore light showing
white be gradually reduced in bright
ness, a point can easily be found
where the eye, grown accustomed to
the dark, can just perceive the light.
And when, for comparison. a railroad
ruby glass, or ROUNDED. Ia placed be-
fore the lamp. the observer now OBJ
tains no conscious impression at ALL
But, instead of having to increase Ave
fold the brightness coming through
the glass las one might expect. know
ing that the red glass is pervious, say,
to but one-fifth of the light of the
fiame), it is necessary to increase it
no less than fourteen-fold.
"Such an Increase is the least have
found necessary when experimenting
at night over stretch Of more than
1000 feet, and when smoke gave a rel
ative advantage to the red. Within
the laboratory the red has never been
perceptible until the light was in
creased IS times the brightness re-.
quired for white Such, however, are
the most favorable experiments. and
are by no means average ones On the
average, it is necessary to increase
the light as much as 80 times before
any conscious impression at all 10
made BY the light through the red