The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-08-13
TALKING BY TELEPHONE
BETWEEN MOVING TRAINS
Experiments Now Being Made in Eng
land-DeScriptiOn of the De-
vice.


forts lately to provide for communica-
ton between trains in motion and has
tested at Strtford-on-Avon the ''railo-
phone device for this purpose.
The equipment is described as con
sisting of telephone transmitter and
a pair of receivers fixed in a sound
proof telephone box in the guaros
van and connected with copper COILS
mounted in a wooden casing and sus-
pended by iron brackets from the
coach. The telephone currents pro-
duced by the voice of the operator
create what is described as a mag
netic field This field induces-on the
wireless principle-an electric current
in a metallic conductor, which is bu-
ried in the earth by the side of the
railway track, and connected with tele-
phonic instruments fixed at stations.
Telephonic conversation is thus car
ried on through the railophone just
as through any ordinary telephone"
John L. Grifhths, consul general to
London, contributes the following on
the subject to Daily Consular and
Trade Reports:
When the first experiments were
made with this device there were no
means of calling up unless the oper-
ator was in attendance. This defect
has now been overcome by the intro
duction of a highly sensitive detecter
through the aid of which the electric
impulses received On the train are
picked up and 'relayed' into sufficient
ly strong currents to ring bell. In
the same way a station can be, rung
up from a moving train. In the Lon
don Pail Mall Gazette of June s, 1912,
it is stated that the inventor claims:
with the railophone, guard and
signalman can communicate with each
other, whether the train is in motion
or at a standstill, for the purpose Of
traffic regulation in case of accidents,
or during fogs or snoWstorms, and
that messages can be sent with ease
and accuracy to and from passengers.
The new detecter has been
adapted for automatically stopping a
train without the intervention of the
guard or driver. By means of the ap-
paratus provided on the train and in
the signal box a remarkable cycle of
operations is carried out:
when train enters the main sec
ton red lamp is lit in the signal box
and simultaneously bell is sounded.
Should the signalman fail to respond
to these signals in 10 seconds the
lever is pulled automatically into the
danger position, rendering it impos-
sible for the section to admit a second
train while the first is still there. IN
til the train has left the section the
lever remains electrically locked.
"'Under all ordinary circumstances
the red lamp above mentioned is au-
tomatically extinguished when the
train enters the clearing section and a
green lamp IS lit. The green lamp is
also exinguished when the train final
ly leaves the section Meanwhile, the
train itself can receive instructions.
In foggy weather, by the addition
of a special fog-signaling attachment,
the train can be automatically pulled
up
'It is also claimed that railophone
messages can not stray to other trains
and that the system is not Influenced
by atmospheric disturbances. The
tests which were made at Stratford-
on-Avon included:
"'The sending of messages between
q moving train and Stratford station,
the warning of moving train by au-
dible signal, signaling to a station
from moving train, the stopping of a
train in motion and the stopping of a
train after it had been allowed to en-
ter a particular section
"a series of experiments were made
to show the possibility of employing
the railophone system to prevent a
collision which would otherwise have
arisen as a result of a signalman's
error discovered too late to be recti-
fed by ordinary Methods
SiIenced a knOcker.
til &o1-