Improvements in Devices for Preventing the Collision and Derailment of Railway Trains:
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Dec., 1895-Accepted, 28th. Nov., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices for Preventing the Collision and
Derailment of Railway Trains:
We, COUNT EUGEN LÁZAR and JOHANN TAMÁS, Gentleman, both of Marss-
Vásárhely, Hungary, do hereby declare the nature of our invention. and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described. and: ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
The present invention relates to a device for preventing collisions and derailments
of trains and which. further enables the attendants on the train to communicate
with the stations and vice versa so that the safety of railway travelling is greatly
enhanced.
The device is operated by electricity and consists in the arrangement of circuits
adapted to be broken or become effective if a break in the rails occurs anywhere or to
operate the emergency brake of the train if another train on: the same line is over-
taking it or coming up. behind.it, or meeting it. According to the present invention
the condition of both the rails can be controlled whilst at the same time the con-
struction of the apparatus for operating, the emergency brake is such as to prevent
the brake being applied inadvertently for instance by concussion or vibration when
passing crossings or switches or if any small object which may have been on the
rails is knocked off by the train. or by means of the slight change in the electrical
condition of the train. when.telegraphing.
And in order to render the present specification more easily intelligible reference
is had to the accompanying, drawing in. which similar. letters denote similar parts
throughout the several views,
:
Fig. 1 being a diagrammatical representation of the electric conductors and the
apparatuses employed in connection with the same,
Fig. 2 is a cross section of the modified. form of permanent. way showing the
arrangement of the conductors and
Fig. 3 is a diagrammatical representation of the arrangement of the conductors at
the switches.
Referring to Figure 1, I is the departure station, II the arrival station and III a
car running between the stations and carrying the mechanism for operating the
emergency brake. This latter mechanism. may either be arranged on a special car
or on an ordinary car or the locomotive of any train provided with the Hardy or
Westinghouse brake, the device is however advantageously arranged.in the guards van.
The devices in the car. III are connected up parallel to the main conductors which are
formed by the rails A¹ A 2 to which current is supplied: from the station II by
way of the conductor a 2. and the apparatus B2, which will be hereinafter more
particularly described, from the battery E.2.. The current passes along the
rails A A 2 into the apparatus. B₁ of the station 1, said apparatus being exactly
similar to the one B 2. From the apparatus B₁ the current passes along the
conductor a¹ to point 1 whence it can either pass through the switch 61 to the
alarm and along further to point. 2 or along a to the battery E! thence to
the Morse key K' and Morse writer M¹ through the switch c¹ to the point 2. The
switches 6' and may be combined to form a commutator without influencing the
nature of the invention, the two switches being merely shown for. the sake of greater
clearness. From the point 2 a conductor d¹ leads to the rail: D, which as shown at
Figure 2 is mounted on longitudinal.sleepers running between the rails, said sleepers

page_text: being designated by E. The sleepers E may be insulated if desired but this is not
absolutely necessary since a great many electric devices for signalling purposes and
the like exist and work well, in which the conductors are not insulated from the
earth. The conductors D may also be arranged as overhead conductors without
departing from the nature of the present invention. At the station II, the rail Dis
again connected by means of the conductor d 2 with the point 3, either by way of the
switch c 2, Morse writer M 2, Morse key K 2 to the other pole of the battery E2
and then along a 2 or by way of the switch b2 and alarm C2 to the point 4, in which
case the two points or switches 2 and c 2 may also be combined to form a commutator.
As regards the co-operation of the switches b¹ c¹ with b2 c 2 when the signalling
conductors are in operation, it should be remarked that if for instance the battery,
Morse key and writer at station. II are switched in, then the alarm at station I will
be switched in through 6. If the batteries E1 and E2 are connected in a corro-
sponding manner the telegraphic apparatuses of each station will be switched in the
signalling conductors so that both stations can communicate with each other through
the signalling wires. The devices B' and B2 may be regarded as commutators which
serve to switch the rails A' and A 2 alternately into and out of the above described
circuit, in such manner however as not at any time to interrupt the circuit. These
commutators consist of cylinders f' and f2 of non-conducting material upon which
semicircular conducting pieces g' and 9 2 are mounted one on each cylinder or drum,
said pieces being if desired more than semicircular. The drums f' and 12 are kept in
slow rotation by means of suitable clockwork (not shown in the drawings) of any
known construction. Brushes h¹ h2 and h 3 h 4 are arranged respectively on each of
these drums in such manner that one of the same is continually in contact with the
contact piece gl or 92. The two brushes of each drum are each connected by
suitable conductors to one of the rails A¹ A 2 and they are arranged at such distance
from the conductor g¹ or g2 as to enable each of the rails A¹ A 2 to be alternately
switched in the circuit a sufficient length of time to operate the emergency brake if
the drum 1 or 2 is rotated at a certain speed. During the operation of the device
the commutator B2 of station II (under the circumstances previously presumed) will
rotate whilst the one B' at the starting or departure station remains stationary and
will have both its brushes and 2 in contact with the conductor g'.
In order to properly explain the main conductors and to obviate the necessity of
reverting to them it should be mentioned here that the rail D as shown at Figure 3
is interrupted at the switches and connected with its branches d' and d² by means of
underground conductors 5 and 6. The rails A' A 2 are connected with the branch
lines A 3 A4 and A5 A6 respectively by means of the underground conductors 9
and 10 and 7 and 8 respectively. The conductors on the car are connected with the
circuit just mentioned by means of a secondary circuit.
The current passes to the car by way of the wheel L running on the rail D, said
wheel being insulated from all the metal parts of the car and being pressed against
the rail D by means of a spring 1. The current passes along the conductor i to the
junction 11 from which point it may take two circuits, either to the relay R and
then to the relay of the telegraphic apparatus, the contact 12 of the Morse key K 3,
through the key to the axle of the wheel U and through the latter to the rails A' A 2,
or to the operative contact 13 of the Morse key through the key to the axle of the
wheel U and thence to the rails A' A 2. The direction of the current may be
determined by means of the Morse key. The armatures of the relays R and r switch
the apparatuses connected therewith into the local circuit only when the main circuit
is interrupted. The interruptions however take place simultaneously. The following
points should be taken into consideration as regards the dimensions of the spool of the
relay R-The resistance of this spool must be sufficient to enable the variations in the
resistance caused by the variation of the distance of the train from the arrival station,
as regards the spool resistance, to be ignored, i.e. at whatever part of the line the train
may be, the relay R must not release its armature R¹ when the circuit is closed or in
other words when the line is free, on the other hand the magnetism of the relay must
not be sufficient to overcome the power of the spring R 2 if a second train is on the

page_text: line carrying a similar apparatus or in other words the armature R¹ must then be
released and the circuit in connection therewith (shown in Figure 1 in thin dot and
dash lines) must be closed. The local circuit just mentioned is supplied with
electricity from an accumulator S, galvanic battery or the like, one pole of which is
connected to a circuit breaker T which keeps the current broken whilst the train is in
the station, but should be closed as soon as the train starts. The circuit breaker T is
connected by suitable conductors to a dynamomotor P with which the operative contact 14
of the relay R is connected. The other pole of the battery is connected to the
armature R of the relay R so that if the main or field circuit is broken by any
means e.q. owing to the breakage of a rail, or during telegraphing, or if the current
passing through the relay is weakened by the presence of another train having a
similar apparatus on the same line, the battery circuit will be closed. Thus the
dynamo will rotate and its rotation will be transmitted by means of gearing p¹ p2 p3
or any other suitable transmitting agency, at a proportionately reduced speed to the
disc 4. This disc p 4 is weighted at p 5 so that it will always be returned to the
position shown at Figure 1 as soon as the dynamo stops, and thus the pin p 6 of
the disc p4 will always be kept in its highest position when the disc is at rest.
When the dynamo has turned sufficiently far the pin 6 strikes the lever s depresses
the same and operates-by means of suitable transmitting agency-the Hardy or
Westinghouse or other brake system, thus applying the brake to the train and calling
the attention of the engine driver to the danger. It is necessary that the speed of
rotation of the dynamo be reduced when being transmitted to the brake operating
disc in order to prevent stopping the train on passing switches through contact with
slight hindrances which may be on the rails at such points.
The Morse writer M 3 may also be switched into the circuit of the battery S, its
pin being operated by the relay which is switched in this circuit.
The operation of the apparatus will be readily understood from the foregoing:
Supposing the car to be running from station I to station II. Station I signals
the departure to station II. The latter sets its commutator going by the aid of a clock
work, switches the alarm C2 out and the battery E 2 in (by means of the switch c 2)
as also the telegraphic apparatus. In the meantime station I has put the commutator Bí
in the proper position, switched the alarm Cinto the circuit and the other con-
ductors out. The alarm will sound uninterruptedly as long as its circuit is not
interrupted by any irregularities, such as the fracture of a rail or short circuiting
caused by another train on the line, or in other words as long as the train is running
properly and the rails are in proper working order. On the car the switch T in the
circuit shown in thin dot and dash lines is closed as soon as the train has started,
whereupon the signalling apparatus is ready for operation and the guard enabled to
telegraph to station II at will. If now the signalling circuit is interrupted at any
point the circuit of the dynamo P will be closed. If however the interruption is
only momentary, the brake will not be applied and the counterpoise p 5 will return
the pin p6 to its normal position. This arrangement prevents the possibility of the
brakes being applied unintentionally if for instance the train passes a number of
switches in succession in which case, were it not for the counterpoise the wheel
would be gradually turned round far enough to apply the brake.
If the interruption has been caused by a fracture of the rail, the circuit will remain
closed sufficiently long in order to operate the brake and stop the train. Thus
derailment which usually results from rail fractures will be avoided.
If a second train comes on to the same line the relay R will only receive half
current power and will consequently close the circuit of the dynamo P and apply the
brake.
If from any of the above mentioned causes the train stops at any part of the line,
the alarm at station I will cease to sound, but this station will be able to telegraph to
station II and inform the latter of the fact.
If the interruption was caused by a second train on the same line, the attendants of
the train will be able to telegraph to station II, but if on the other hand the
interruption was caused by a break in one of the rails, the commutator B2 of

page_text: station II must be stopped and be connected to the rail, which has remained intact
so as to enable communication through this circuit.
Thus by means of the present invention the train is ensured against accidents of all
descriptions.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our invention and
in what manner the same is performed we declare that what we claim is :-
1. A device for preventing collisions and derailments of trains, consisting of signal
conductors or a signalling circuit, formed by commutators (B' c' 6') arranged between
branched wires at the one station in suitable manner, by the telegraphing and signalling
apparatuses (K¹ M³ C') of the electric battery (E') and by the apparatuses (B 2 c2b2
K2 M2 C2 E 2) arranged at the second or next station and of corresponding con-
struction to those of the first station, by means of the rails (A A') connecting the two
stations and by a special return rail (D) and by a branch circuit parallelly connected
to said signal circuit, said branch circuit embracing the contact wheel L, the relays R
and the Morse key (K 3) the wheel U and the conductors as specified and being
arranged on the car, said parts being arranged in such manner that any alteration of
the electric state of the signalling circuit-whether by reason of a break in the rails,
or of the presence of a second train on the line-shall cause the local circuit to the
dynamo P to be closed in order to operate the brake as specified, and consisting
further of suitable means for retarding the effect of the dynamo to prevent the
operation of the brakes from slight causes--such for instance as when passing
switches, and of a device in connection with the retarding mechanism such as a
counterpoise (5) adapted to return the said transmitting mechanism to its initial
position after every slight alteration of the electrical condition for the purpose
substantially as described.
2. In combination with the device covered by Claim 1 means for switching in the
alarm (C) at the departure station and the battery (E 2) and telegraphing apparatus
(K 2 M 2) in the circuit substantially as described.
3. In combination with the device covered by Claim 1, the arrangement of a
commutator (B or B 2) at each of the stations I and II said commutators being so
constructed as to keep one of the rails (A' or A 2) always switched in the circuit,
substantially as described.
4. In combination with the device covered by Claim 1 the arrangement by which
one of the commutators (B') remains stationary during the travel of the train and
keeps both rails (A¹ A 2) switched in the circuit, whilst the other commutator (B2)
rotates at such speed as to alternately keep one of the rails in the circuit a sufficient
length of time to enable the brakes to be operated at each alternation substantially as
described.
5. In combination with the device covered by Claim 1: the arrangement of a
conductor (D) between the rails either with or without an intermediate insulating
layer substantially as described.
6. In combination with the device covered by Claims 1 and 5 means for continuing
and branching off the conductor (D) consisting of underground conductors (7 8, 9 10,
and 5 6) substantially as described.
7. In combination with the device covered by Claim 1 the arrangement of the
relay (R) so as to enable the variations of resistance of the signal circuit, due to the
movement of the train, to be ignored whilst the spring R2 is sufficiently strong to
close the dynamo circuit by means of the armature (R') and operate the brake, as
soon as another train having a similar device comes onto the line, substantially as
described.
8. In combination with the device covered by Claim 1, the arrangement of the
pin (p 6) on the disc (4) said pin being adapted to be returned to its initial
position after the variation of the electric condition of the signal circuit has ceased,
said return being effected by means of a counterpoise (p 6) substantially as
described.
.. 9. In combination with a device covered by Claim 1 of a device to enable

page_text: telegraphic communication between the attendants of the train and one of the stations
consisting of the Morse key (K 3), the relay (r) and the Morse writer (M3)
substantially as described.
10. In combination with the device covered by Claim 1 means for enabling com-
munication between the two stations consisting of the commutators c, d, and c 2 d2
and the batteries E' E 2 substantially as described.
Dated this 2nd day of December 1805
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.