Patent Publication Number: US-10773740-B2

Title: Oncoming train alarm assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM. 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention. 
     (2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to alarm assemblies and more particularly pertains to a new alarm assembly for a railroad track. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing that defines an interior space. The housing is positioned on a first side of a railroad track. A power module and a microprocessor are coupled to the housing and positioned in the interior space. The microprocessor is operationally coupled to the power module. A transmitter and a speaker are coupled to the housing and operationally coupled to the microprocessor. The microprocessor is positioned to command the transmitter to transmit a photoelectric beam. A receiver is positioned on a second side of the railroad track. The receiver is operationally coupled to the microprocessor and aligned with the transmitter. The receiver is positioned to detect the photoelectric beam and to signal the microprocessor in event of a blocking of the photoelectric beam, positioning the microprocessor to actuate the speaker to sound an alarm to warn persons of an oncoming train. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric perspective view of an oncoming train alarm assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is an end view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a detail view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 6  thereof, a new alarm assembly embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 6 , the oncoming train alarm assembly  10  generally comprises a housing  12  that defines an interior space  14 . The housing  12  is substantially rectangularly box shaped. The housing  12  is positioned on a first side of a railroad track. 
     A power module  16  and a microprocessor  18  are coupled to the housing  12  and are positioned in the interior space  14 . The microprocessor  18  is operationally coupled to the power module  16 . A transmitter  20  and a speaker  22  are coupled to the housing  12 . The transmitter  20  and the speaker  22  are operationally coupled to the microprocessor  18 . The microprocessor  18  is positioned to command the transmitter  20  to transmit a photoelectric beam. The transmitter  20  emits visible light, infrared light, laser light, or the like. The transmitter  20  extends from a first end  24  of the housing  12 . The speaker  22  is coupled to a side  26  of the housing  12 . 
     The power module  16  comprises a third rail of the railroad track, as shown in  FIG. 2 . A bracket  28  is coupled to and extends from a second end  30  of the housing  12 . A plurality of orifices  32  is positioned in the bracket  28 . The orifices  32  are configured to receive mounting hardware to couple the housing  12  to the third rail so that the microprocessor  18  is operationally coupled to the third rail to power the microprocessor  18 . A wire  34  is coupled to and extends between the housing  12  and the railroad track. The wire  34  is configured to ground the housing  12 . 
     A cone  36  is coupled to and extends from the housing  12 , as shown in  FIG. 4 . The cone  36  is positioned around the speaker  22  and is configured to direct an alarm that emanates from the speaker  22 . 
     A receiver  38  is positioned on a second side of the railroad track. The receiver  38  is operationally coupled to the microprocessor  18 . The receiver  38  is aligned with the transmitter  20  so that the receiver  38  is positioned to detect the photoelectric beam and to signal the microprocessor  18  in event of a blocking of the photoelectric beam, as would occur when a train passes between the transmitter  20  and the receiver  38 . In this event, the microprocessor  18  is positioned to actuate the speaker  22  to sound the alarm to warn persons of an oncoming train. 
     A controller  40  is coupled to the second end  30  of the housing  12 . The controller  40  is operationally coupled to the microprocessor  18  and the power module  16 . The controller  40  is positioned to selectively couple the microprocessor  18  to the power module  16  to power the microprocessor  18 . 
     The controller  40  comprises a first button  42  and a second button  44 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . The first button  42  and the second button  44  are depressible. The first button  42  is configured to be depressed a first time to operationally couple the microprocessor  18  to the power module  16 . The first button  42  is configured to be depressed a second time to decouple the microprocessor  18  from the power module  16 . The second button  44  is configured to be depressed to signal the microprocessor  18  to reset after the alarm has been sounded by the speaker  22 . 
     A cable  46  is coupled to and extends between the housing  12  and the receiver  38 . The cable  46  is configured to supply power to the receiver  38  and to operationally couple the receiver  38  to the microprocessor  18 . The cable  46  is positioned under the rails of the railroad track, as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     A stand  48  is positioned on the second side of the railroad track, as shown in  FIG. 2 . The receiver  38  is coupled to the stand  48  proximate to a top  50  of the stand  48  so that the stand  48  positions the receiver  38  in alignment with the transmitter  20 . 
     The stand  48  comprises a base  52  and a post  54 . The base  52  is substantially circularly shaped. The post  54  is coupled to and extends perpendicularly from the base  52 . The post  54  comprises a plurality of nested sections  56  so that the post  54  is selectively extensible. The post  54  is used to selectively position the receiver  38  to align with the transmitter  20 . 
     The plurality of nested sections  56  comprises an upper section  58  that is selectively extensible from a lower section  60 , as shown in  FIG. 6 . A first coupler  62  is coupled to the lower section  60 . A second coupler  64  is coupled to the upper section  58 . The second coupler  64  is complementary to the first coupler  62 . The second coupler  64  is positioned to selectively couple to the first coupler  62  to couple the upper section  58  to the lower section  60  to fixedly position the receiver  38  relative to the base  52 . 
     The first coupler  62  comprises a plurality of holes  66 . The second coupler  64  comprises a pin  68 . The pin  68  is spring loaded. The pin  68  is configured to be depressed to adjust the upper section  58  relative to the lower section  60 . The pin  68  is positioned to selectively insert into a respective hole  66  to couple the upper section  58  to the lower section  60  to fixedly position the receiver  38  relative to the base  52 . 
     In use, the housing  12  is positioned on the first side of a railroad track and the stand  48  is positioned on the second side of the railroad track with the cable  46  extending under the rails of the railroad track. The housing  12  is coupled to the third rail. The receiver  38  that is coupled to the stand  48  is aligned with the transmitter  20  by adjusting the upper section  58  of the post  54  relative to the lower section  60  of the post  54 . The receiver  38  is positioned to detect the photoelectric beam emitted by the transmitter  20  and to signal the microprocessor  18  in the event of the blocking of the photoelectric beam, positioning the microprocessor  18  to actuate the speaker  22  to sound the alarm to warn the persons of the oncoming train. 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.