Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1914-03-13

this service was started but
the other day on the Buffalo limited
of the Delaware. Lackawanna and
Western railroad.
There are plenty OF examples OF
what the wireless has done for ocean
going shipping in the way of spread
ing news. In giving helpful warnings
and I'm calling succor from afar to in
jured ships. Its application to rail-
ent purpose.
The block signal system now com
monty adopted in combination with
track contacts has done wonders in re-
ducing the risk of accidents. The tow
er men are stationed every few miles,
and unless something goes wrong in.
side the block the train must clear
each zone within certain time.
When It does not do 80 the watcher
at the far end of the block knows
that something Is amiss; but what?
The answer may be one of a score Of
things and the towermen are neces-
sarily in ignorance until some one
from the halted train brings the news.
Then, and only then, the railroad peo-
pie at distant points can be reached
by telegraph and the proper steps
taken TO meet the emergency.
The trainman carrying the message
to the block tower may have to cover
distance OF couple of miles. This
Is not 80 bad in daylight and in good
weather. but what OF the situation
when there Is a driving snowstorm or
Ice covers the ground? To reach the
tower to call for assistance then be-
comes desperately long struggle and
the cause of delay that may imperil
many lives.
Again II happens every now and
then that an engineer fails to see eau
tionary signals which should make
him slacken speed or bring his train
TO standstill. The result may be
collision with loss of life.
II will therefore be seen how desir-
able II Is that each train should have
its own means of creating about 1t
cautionary zone quite Independently
of the fixed track and block signals.
this zone to be communicable to other
trains directly. in this fashion produc-
ing safety system within safety
system and one that would be imme-
diately available ut every point along
the line.
This is not In theory a novelty;
but practical accomplishment has had
to contend with many obstacles.
Something akin to this was evolved
years- ago In the form Of p signal tele-
| graph which made ube 6f track con-
facts at frequent, points. or OF mag
netlc impulses aroused at stated intcr-
walls, but the arch enemy was the
weather. and especially snow and Ice.
The apparatus worked we'll expert
mentally until these foes to efficiency
interviewed. and then the whole tech
nically beautiful installation failed to
operate. Wireless telegraphy prom
lses to do the needed work.
II you look at map of the Lacka-
wanna railroad you will find that Bing-
hamton Is what the railroad man calls
the neck OF the traffic bottle, for there
converge no fewer than three branches
of the road A break In train SEIZED
ules through any delay there may af-
feet all three of these centering
routes. Nature has added to the diff
ficulties by reason OF the topography
Of the country. In n part of the neigh
boring mountainous section snow and
sleet especially have a way OF ham
pering traffic.
These conditions double the task OF
the more carefully every signal. and
they likewise increase immensely the
stress upon the tower man. These cir
cumstances. and an accident which
occurred upon the road year ago,
prompted the experiments with the
wireless installation. There we're sew
eral serious obstacles to overcome.
Wireless telegraphy. as every one
knows. usually calls for tall masts or
towers from which the aerials or an
tannae can be spread, and this ele-
ment OF height and length of dispatch
ing and intercepting filaments inilu-
ences directly the efficiency of the ap-
waves and in being sensitive to the
ether vibrations having their source
elsewhere. How, then, were these
requirements to be met upon swift
ly moving train?
AS a matter of fact, the clearance
between the roofs OF the coaches and
the tops of the bridges and tunnels is
a matter of only few inches Would
aerials as low as this answer? Only
experimenting would solve the ques-
ton, and the electrical experts set
about doing IL in this way:
A single line OF wire arranged like
a rectangle is strung from four low
stanchions placed at each corner of
the car ends, actually below the crest
OF the roof. BY doing this upon four
cars. giving a total length OF aerials
Of something like $50 feet. an arrange
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