El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-03-26
TESTS MADE WITH AUTOMATIC BLOCK
SYSTEMS To PREVENT WRECKS

if vested interests were much more sa
cred than the lives of their employees,
and they resist every effort to insure
the further safety of passengers and en-
plOyes- Some fewzof the big systems
are exceptions to this charge, but 1t IS
true OF the most of them.
System to Prevent Wrecks.
The main thing that is being sought
now is block system that will prevent
railroad accidents, especially collisions.
! The wide publicity that was given the
search at its inception resulted in nun
dreds of devices being brought to the
attention of the commission But it has
been a case of many being called and
few chosen.
Out of the S35 devices offered, some
600 have been examined and only "a
were possessed of sufficient merit to
warrant the recommendation that fur
Their effort be made to perfect them. OF
the dozens OF signaling devices offered,
only three are now being tried out. the
law having provided that all trials shall
be without cost to the government.
The only device that has proved sat
iSfactOry as vet is the Roswell-POtter
system. This consists of an automatic
block system coupled with an ,automa-
tic stop. The power which act1etes the
machinery controlling the signals and the
stops is derived from the passage of
train wheels over a treadle on the track.
BY a system of levers this winds up a
number of heavy coil springs
Stop Trains Automatically.
The passage of two cars and an engine
will wind UP the mechanism sufficiently
to set the signals and the automatic
stop. There was danger that IN the
passing of the many wheels of long
+ train the springs might be wound too
tight, and to overcome this an automa
tic cutout and cutin was installed.
When wound up to a certain point the
winding mechanism is automatically cut
! out, to be thrown in gear again when a
! certain degree of loOseness is reached,
! this operation also being automatic.
The automatic stop is. so arranged
, that whenever the signals call for the
| stopping Of a train it must stop. There
| is a lever reaching UP from the track
which engages another lever on one CT
the axles of the tender. When the sig
mails call for stop this lever is up, and
strikes the one on the tender, thus
throwing on the air brakes and enforc-
| ing the stop order
! 1t would be too technical to enter 4
! full description of the signals, but it re-
mains only to be said that the signals
are so arranged that If there is any
! thing wrong with them their position
! goes to stop" This of course. is the
prime essential of a successful block
! signal system. An oDen circuit system,
when out of order, would show a clear
track, but the closed circuit system
warns the enginenan of its own defects
as well as of other troubles.
Northern Pacific's System.
The Northern Pacific is now trying
! out what Is known as the \ B c method
/ of block system operation. Under this
system the dispatcher never issues an
order for The runnino of train further
than the next station. When it reaches
that station it must receive another or
! der before it can proceed.
The Northern Pacific has found that
I it can move its trains over the road in
! 20 percent less time with the 4 B c.
system than under the old block signal
sohedule-dispateher system Yet even
! this new system has its Weaknesses.
The theoretical stopping place is at
the tower post approaching the system.
| Two trains coming head on will. theore-
/ fically. stop with only the width of the
! signal post between their pilots. Some
times the brakes may fail to work.
Sometimes the dispatcher confuses his
orders as to which train shall take the
station siding and which keep the main
/ track. Two collisions resulted in conse-
quence of such confusion, and these ac-
cidents led to the adoption of a rule
that every train shall stop at the end
of the siding it first approaches. If
this rule is obeyed there can be no col
lisiOns- Other Devices
On some of the New York traction