Improvements in Railway Signalling or Warning Systems, and Devices for Establishing Communication with Trains in Motion.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Feb., 1897-Accepted, 21st Aug., 1897
Improvements in Railway Signalling or Warning Systems, and
Devices for Establishing Communication with Trains in Motion.
I, CHARLES CLAUDIUS OMBRY, of 3 Place Masséna, Nice, (Alpes Maritimes) in the
Republic of France, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to a system of signalling or warning device for railways,
having for its object to place trains when in motion automatically in communication
with the stations, signal boxes or the like.
It consists essentially in arranging along the track at suitable intervals, for instance
100 or 200 metres, electric contacts of any suitable form (for instance in the form of
a post or arm or a horizontal bar arranged along the track). To these contacts or
terminals an electric connection is made from a switch or key placed in the signal box
or office of the station master. On the locomotive or on the guard's van is arranged
a contact device or striker, formed for instance of a suitable steel spring or a dynamo
brush, the dimensions of which are so calculated that its external end strikes the
contacts or terminals of the track at the points where they have a conducting surface
which is in communication with the conducting wire.
This contact brush or striker is connected with a suitable bell or alarm device
arranged in the engine cab or guard's van.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows, merely as an example, the first
method of carrying out this invention. P is a post supporting by means of ordinary
insulators the outward and return conducting wires F, which bring electric current to
the contacts or terminals formed of a suitable conducting material. R R are
flexible steel springs fixed on the locomotive L, which encounter the contacts p. It
is of course understood that the springs R must be arranged in such a way that while
encountering the contacts, they overcome or pass over without difficulty the
obstruction which is offered to them by the contacts. By means of the above
explanations, it will be readily understood that if the station master wishes to stop a
train between his station and the next, or even to warn a train about to shortly enter
the station (because the apparatus may be arranged for one or the other case), it is
sufficient to send by means of the switch or key which he has at hand an electric current
through the circuit F. The springs R of the locomotive encountering the contacts p
will close the circuit to the alarm device & will immediately actuate the bell of the
latter which is placed in the driver's cab, and the latter will know that he has to
stop.
Figures 2 and 3, represent a modification or another mode of carrying out my
invention. In this arrangement the signalling device comprises essentially the
following several parts:
1. Two switches C C¹ independent of each other, each controlling two
wires f, f, F1, F2, and arranged in the station. These switches are of the ordinary
kind and are used to actuate the bell on the train by being opened or closed to contro
the circuit to one or other pair of contacts K K', or H H¹. The wires f¹, f², F1, F2
are fixed or held up by the ordinary telegraph poles extending along the track.

page_text: 2. Two contacts K, K¹, H, H', of copper or any other suitable material arranged at
certain distances say every 500 metres and presenting the form of a very elongated
rectangle, said contacts being about 1.50 metres in length by 08 metres in width.
These contacts are arranged on edge and face one another. They are fixed on a
mount or frame bolted to two sleepers, as shown in the drawing, and are each
connected by a special wire (lead coated) with the particular conductor of the warning
device.
3. An electric bell S with a switch and four cells or batteries on any suitable system
arranged in the guard's van or driver's cab. This bell of the warning device is
connected to two brushes D adapted to encounter the contacts K, K¹, H, H'.
I have indicated in Figure 3. in what manner sidings or branch tracks may be
provided at their connection with two interconnected contact devices, an arrangement
which automatically effects the actuation of the bell, the circuit being closed on the
passage of the train.
The methods of carrying out my invention are of course capable of numerous
modifications in detail, particularly as regards the forms and dimensions of the
terminals and the contact devices. as well as their respective arrangement in relation
to the track and the train. Further, the application of the invention might be
developed by providing each locomotive with a telephonic apparatus, which the
engineer after coming to a standstill, could connect with the station which has
stopped him, and which would enable him to ask instructions, whilst, when the train
was stopped, the guard could communicate or converse with the station.
arrangement requires of course that the station be provided with a telephonic
apparatus in both directions.
This
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The improvement in railway signalling or warning systems for establishing
communication with trains in motion, which consists essentially in arranging along
the railway track a conducting wire through which an electric current may be sent
from a station or signal box, the said electric wire being adapted by means of contact
terminals to be encountered by a contact device (brush or spring) suitably fixed on
the locomotive or on the guard's van in order to transmit current to an electric bell
to give warning to the train officials, substantially as hereinbefore described and shown
in the accompanying drawings.
2. In a system of railway signalling such as described, the arrangement of electric
contact devices substantially as described with reference to Figure 1 of the
accompanying drawings for the purpose set forth.
3. In a system of railway signalling such as described, the arrangement of electric
contact devices substantially as described with reference to Figures 2 and 3 of the
accompanying drawings for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 30th ay of Januarvy 1907
of
January 1907
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.