Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-20
Some Things You Want to Know

The meeting in Chicago during the last
week of the various railroad associations,
dealing with matters looking to the. safety
of American railway travel, was full Of
interest in view Of the Investigations on
the same subject now being made by the
Interstate Commerce commission. This
body, through its block signal and train
control board, is making some studies
which promise to work a revolution in the
art Of preventing accidents in transporta-
ton. Although there is only one passenger
killed out of every 100000 who travel, in
the aggregate there were 1896 killed last
year and 12,116 wounded. Add to this the
2,456 railroad employees who were killed and
the 81, 1904 who were wounded, and the re-
suit is a list of killed and MANNED almost
as large as that Of the largest battles of
the civil war. Even these figures mark a
falling off as compared with previous
years.
In the office Of Secretary Mosley of the
Interstate Commerce commission there
hangs a chart which graphically portrays
the vast protection tina has been thrown
around railroad men by the laws of con-
gress. 1t shows that prior to 1898 the
chances of getting killed or injured during
a years time were almost even. Gradually
this condition has been improved, until now
the chances arc approximately only one in
five. But still there is much to be accom-
plished, and the railroads are contesting
every inch Of the ground. The majority
Of the companies act as If vested interests
were much more sacred than the lives Of
their employees, and they resist every effort
to insure the further safety of passengers
and employees. Some few of the big sys-
TENS are exceptions to this charge, but
1t is true of the most of them.
The main thing that Is being sought now
is a block system that will prevent railroad
accidents, especially collisions. The wide
publicity that was given the search at it's
inception resulted in hundreds of devices
being brought to the attention of the com
mission. But It has been a case of many
being called and few chosen. Out Of the
SS5 devices offered, some GOO have been ex-
amined, and only twenty-four were pos
sessed of sufficient merit to warrant the
recommendation that further effort be
made to perfect them. OF the dozens of
signal 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 satisfac-
tory as yet is the Rowell-Potter system.
$50 ~AaA1 u Ill oJ
coupled with an automatic stop. The
power which actuates the machinery con-
trolling the signals and the stops is de-
rived from the passage Of train wheels over
a tTeadle on the track, BY a system Of
levers this winds up a number of heavy
coil springs. The passage Of two cars
and an engine will wind up the mechanism
sufficiently to set the signals and the auto
matte stop. There was LANCER that in the
passing OF the many wheels Of a long
train the springs might be wound too tight,
and to overcome this an cut
out and cut-in was Installed. When wound
up to a certain point the winding mechan-
ism 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 of the axles Of the
tender. When the signals call for a stop
this lever is up. and strikes the one on
the tender, thus throwing on the air brakes
and enforcing the stop order. II would
be too technical to enter a full description
OF the signals, but it remains only to be
said that the signals are so arranged that
II there is anything wrong with them their
position goes to stop" This, Of course.
is the prime essential OF a successful block
signal system. An open circuit system,
when out OF order, would show a clear
track. but the closed circuit system warns
the engineman Of It's own defects as well
as OF other troubles.
The Northern Pacific Is now trying out
what is known as the A B c method OF
block system operation. Under this system
the dispatcher never Issues an order for
the running of a train further than the
next station. When II caches that station