Improvements in Signalling Apparatus for Electric Railways or Tramways.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Oct., 1896-Accepted, 12th Dec., 1896
[Communicated from abroad by HOMER ALTON PARRISH, of Jackson, in the
County of Jackson; State of Michigan, United States of America, Inventor.]
Improvements in Signalling Apparatus for Electric Railways or
Tramways.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, 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 electric signals in which both a bell and
lights are employed, and in which the circuits of the relay signal are connected
with a main signal wire along the track, which main wire is also connected with
the terminals which are operated upon by the cars in making the relay circuits,
and in which system all of the circuits receive their electric energy from the main
feed wire supplying the energy to run the cars.
An object of the invention is to have the trolley wheel of the cars operate the
circuits to start and stop the signal, whether on a single or double track.
Another object is to simplify the construction and action of the relay, by having
one armature operate a drop which constitutes a circuit maker, to break all the
circuits; and another armature operate to release the circuit maker to make the
signal circuit, the magnets controlling said armatures being both energized from
the same source, the feed wire which runs the cars and their circuits having
terminals operated by the cars.
In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Fig. 1, is a diagrammatical
view and Fig. 2, is an enlarged view of the circuit maker shown in Fig. 1,
supported by the trolley wire.
Referring to the parts of the drawing pointed out by numbers, 3 is a circuit
maker supposed to be located at a crossing of a street car track, or of any railway
using the trolley system, and being supported by the trolley wire 5. The crossing
may be where a wagon road crosses the track or where one track crosses another.
Out each way from the crossing a sufficient distance is a circuit maker 4, also
supported by the trolley wire 5. Only one of the circuit makers 4 is here shown.
The signal in Fig. 1, in use, is at the crossing in the usual manner. I design to
employ a bell signal by day and lights by night, and by connecting the relay
circuits with the feed wire 6, the signal can be operated at no expense aside from
the cost of construction. I employ two elastic circuit terminals 7 and 8, in the
circuit maker 3. The lower terminals 8 are grounded at G by wire 9, and the
upper terminals 7 are connected with the signal wire 10 by wires 11.
At the crossing the upper terminals 7 are connected with each other by wire 12,.
and the lower terininals 8 are connected with each other by wire 13.
In the circuit maker 4 is a jointed lever 14 provided at the top with an inverted
L-head. This head is preferably made of insulating material. It would serve
the purpose to insulate the wheel in the lower end of the lever, said wheel being
shown at 15. When a car approaches the crossing from either direction, the

page_text: trolley wheel 16 comes in contact with the lower end of the lever 14, which swings
said lever on its pivot at 17, bringing the lateral projection of lever 14 into
contact with the circuit terminals 7 and 8, as shown at dotted position in Fig. 2,
causing them to touch each other and make the circuit, with the effect described
further on. The lever 14 is jointed between its two ends at 18, and is provided
with a stop 19 on one side of the upper portion towards the crossing, which
stop projects down to engage the lower member of the lever to prevent it from
swinging on its joint when the incoming car approaches_the_crossing, but allows
it to swing on said joint when the car is going out. The lever when provided
with a joint is operated on a single track by the incoming car. When used on
double track where the cars run in only one direction the lever is made without
a joint as in the circuit maker 3, Figure. 1. The same lever 14 is employed in
the circuit maker 3, except that it has no central joint, and it has another
projection on the other side at the top, making it T-headed, said head being
insulated from the lever. The two sets of elastic circuit terminals 7 and 8 in
circuit maker 3, are operated upon by the trolley wheel 16, in going in either
direction past the crossing, to stop the bell and put out the lights, thus setting
the signal to safety.
The lever 14 in the circuit maker 4 acts against the resistance of the spring 20,
Figures 1 and 2, when the cars are approaching the crossing, thus the insulated
L-head will not operate on the circuit terminals 7 and 8, more than once by
direct design, which it might do but for the spring 20, owing to the rebound of
the lever. The spring does not let it rebound or continue to swing after once
being operated upon by the trolley wheel 16.
In Figure 1, the armature 21, of the magnet 22, has an insulated end 23, which,
when the magnets 22, are energized swings to the magnets against the resistance
of the spring 24, and contacts with the drop 25, putting up said drop against
the resistance of the spring 26, the end of said drop catching back of the hooked
end of the armature 27 of the magnet 28. This action breaks all the circuits;
and before the drop was put up, it was held by spring 26 against the circuit
terminals post 29, thus operating the signal lights and bell.
The circuits are traced in connection with the operation. Suppose a car
approaching the crossing from the right hand, has closed the circuit terminals 7
and 8 at this point, as indicated by their dotted position in Figure 2, by the swing
of the lever 14 operated upon by the trolley wheel 16.
The circuits of the relay are pointed out by the letters a-b, and c, and all
start at the feed wire 6. The circuit a runs from the feed wire 6, through the
lights, the magnet 28, and from this magnet on out to the circuit wire 10. With
the circuit terminals 7 and 8 closed as stated, circuit a is closed and energizes the
magnet 28, raises the armature 27, releasing the drop 25, thus closing the signal
circuits and ringing the bell 30, and lighting the lamps 31. I should have stated
that another wire lettered a which belongs to the circuit which runs from the
feed wire through the lights and magnet 28, and on to wire 10, is attached to
the wire a, b, c, at the lights and runs to the bell, thus bringing the bell into
the circuit a.
Now with the drop 25 contacting with the terminal post 29, the circuit 6 is
traced as follows. It starts at the feed wire 6, running through the lights 31,
terminal post 29, drop 25, and on out to ground at G. The lights will now
remain lighted and the bell will ring until the car in passing the crossing operates
the T-headed lever 14, to close the circuit terminals 7 and 8 at the crossing, which
action closes the circuit c. The circuit c is traced from feed wire 6, through
the lights 31, thence through magnet 22, thence to upper circuit terminals 7 at
the crossing. The wires a c and c are connected together outside of the
armature 28. The closing of the circuit c energizes the magnets 22, operates the
armature 21, and puts up the drop 25, at which time all of the circuits are broken
and the lights go out and the bell stops ringing, and they remain so until another
car approaches the crossing from either direction.