and Points of Railways by Electricity.
Year: 1885

page_text: and Points of Railways by Electricity..
I, EDWARD JOHN HOUGHTON of No 1 Pilkington Road, Peckham in the county
of Surrey, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
" IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING SIGNALLING APPARATUS AND
POINTS OF RAILWAYS BY ELECTRICITY" and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My invention has for its object to prevent a train engine or vehicle from entering
a block section of a railway until a preceding engine or train has passed out of it,
by locking the starting or other signal by a current of electricity controlled by the
train or engine travelling on the section.
For this purpose I employ apparatus arranged as I will proceed to describe with
reference to the accompanying drawing, which shews a diagram of a line of rails
and of the electrical apparatus in connection therewith.
From A to B represents a block section of the line. The ends of the rails are
insulated from each other at A, B and B¹ in any suitable known manner, such as
shewn at B; the intermediate joints of the rails are electrically connected by wire,
as at a, in order to prevent failure of electrical continuity. At A the poles of a
battery Care respectively connected to the two rails and the circuit being coin-,
pleted at B through the electromagnet No I as will be presently explained, a current,
passes from A to B through the said electromagnet. The armature D of this
electromagnet, when no current is passing is held by a spring D¹, in circuit with
a second electromagnet No II through the contact screw E and battery F, the
electromagnet No II being situated on or near the lever frame of the signal cabin,
and its armature G so arranged that when a current of electricity is passing
through the circuit of battery F, the armature being depressed against the action
of the spring G¹, effects the locking of the bar H of the signal lever. A third
electromagnet No III, whose circuit includes a battery I, has its poles connected
respectively to the two rails of the section B to B', its armature being held by
spring J in contact with a screw K when no current is passing, thus completing
by means of wires L and M, the circuit of the battery C and the rails of section A
to B.
The action of the above described apparatus is as follows:
When there is no train or engine on the section A to B the circuit of the
battery C being closed through armature J as described, the armature D of electro-
magnet N° 1 will be attracted and in thus breaking contact with screw E, will

page_text: render inoperative the circuit of battery F so that the armature G of electro-
magnet No II, not being attracted, will be drawn by spring G₁ so as to render free
the signal lever. When a train or engine enters the section at B¹, it electrically
connects the two rails of the section B B' and thus closes the circuit of battery I;
the armature J of electromagnet No III being thus attracted, breaks contact with
screw K and consequently breaks the circuit of battery C. Armature D of electro-
magnet N° I being now caused by its spring to make contact with screw E, the
circuit of battery F will be closed, causing the armature G of electromagnet N° II
to be attracted and consequently to lock the signal lever. As the train passes the
point B, it short-circuits the current from battery C, and thus prevents the electro-
magnet N° I from becoming operative, so that the armature D will keep the circuit
of battery F closed and the signal lever locked, until, on the passing of the train
out of the section at A, the current will again flow through electromagnet N° I
breaking the contact at E and thus liberating the signal.
The armature G is connected by a rod N to the semaphore indicator O so as to
shew when the signals are locked.
It will be evident that the locking of a lever of any description of signalling
apparatus, or of a points lever may be effected by the above described means.
When the block section is of considerable length, the battery at A may be made
to operate the electromagnet N° I through a relay instead of directly, in a manner
well understood.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The use for controlling signalling apparatus or points of railways of the
combination of an insulated block section of rail A B B¹ with three electro-
magnets N° 1, N° II and N° III of which N° I is included in a circuit formed by
battery C. and insulated section of rails A to B, with or without relay, while
No II is included in a circuit formed by battery F and armature D of N° I, and
No III is included in a circuit formed by the insulated rails of section B to B¹, the
armature of N° III being made to complete the circuit of No I, and the armature
of N° II being made to effect the locking of the signal or other lever substantially
as and for the purposes herein described.
2. The combination of the electromagnet N° III with the insulated block
sections of rails A B, B B¹, and with the electromagnets N° I and N° II in such
manner that when a train enters section B B it closes the circuit of electro-
magnet N° III, causing its armature to break the circuit of electromagnet N° I,
thereby rendering operative the circuit of electromagnet N° II, which effects the
locking of the signal or other lever, substantially as herein described.
4
3. The combination, with the locking armature G of the electromagnet N° II,
of an indicator O shewing when the signals are locked substantially as herein
described.