Improvements in Electric Railway Signals.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE
SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electric Railway Signals.
I, WILLIAM HENRY WADDELL, of Lexington, in the County of Rockbridge
and State of Virginia, United States of America, 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 :-
My invention relates to certain improvements in electric railway signals, and
consists in certain novel features of construction and in combinations of parts more
fully described hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.
Referring to the accompanying drawings -
Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of a railroad track, showing the conductors and
two moving vehicles and their signaling devices.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the track and two vehicles thereon.
Figure 3 is a detail perspective of the brackets each carrying a contact brush.
Figure 4 is a section of one of the brackets of Figure 3.
Figure 5 is a detail perspective of a different form of brush bracket.
In the drawings the reference letters a a, indicate the rails of a railroad track
resting upon the usual sleepers b. Each side of the track is provided with a single
conductor extending parallel with and a distance from the series of rails on the
respective sides. The pair of conductors cc, located on the opposite outer sides of
the track are hence parallel with each other. These conductors, preferably, consist
of a wire, or wires or cables supported a distance from the ground or sleepers by
the insulators d, usually formed of glass with a socket in the bottom to receive a
rigid standard extending up from a sleeper or other suitable support and cach
having a transverse groove in its top in which the conductor lies.
Each conductor is broken into à mumber of sections insulated from each other,
and of suitable and preferably equal length, and the breaks y, in the conductors on
opposite sides of the track are so arranged that the sections of the opposite con-
ductors overlap, that is the sections of each conductor are of the same length and
the breaks, of one conductor are located approximately opposite the centres of
the sections of the conductor on the opposite side of the track; indicate two
moving vehicles on the track and each of said vehicles is provided with a pair of
brushes or other suitable contact carriers, insulated from each other and each
bearing on one of said two conductors.
Each vehicle is provided with two circuits, each circuit terminating in one of
said brushes and in a wheel or axle, so that there will be a partial or open circuit
from each conductor to the rails on the same side of the track. The circuit on one
side is provided with an electric alarm k, only and the other circuit with the source
of electricity j, as shown. Thus it will be seen that either of these circuits will be
closed when the conductor and rails are electrically connected and when so closed
the alarm will be sounded. It should be stated here that the rails on the two sides
of the track can be electrically connected to form two conductors, or the separate
rails need not be connected together but be so located that the circuit from the
vehicles can be grounded through them.
From the foregoing it will be seen that when two vehicles equipped as before
described approach each other on the same track so that their brushes or said
other contact carriers will be on the same conductor sections the circuits in both
vehicles on that side will be closed and the alarms in both vehicles will be sounded
thereby notifying the engineers of the danger of a collision and giving them time
to stop their trains. The circuit in each vehicle passing from the rail (through the
series of rails or from the ground through a rail) through the wheel, battery and
bell to a brush or other contact carrier, and through the conductor section to the

page_text: corresponding brush or other contact carrier of the other vehicle. These conductor
sections are of such length that when two approaching trains come in contact with
one of them the trains will be far enough apart to have ample time in which to stop
before coming into collision;
If the conductors on the opposite sides of the track were not formed in over-
lapping sections, but the breaks in the conductors were opposite each other, two
trains might meet at the breaks without notice to their respective engineers. The
conductor sections are drawn tight and at their ends rigidly secured to the insulators
so that throughout their lengths they will rest in the top grooves of the insulators
without being fastened.
The arms or brackets carrying the contact brushes are tubular as shown, and
in Figures 3 and 4 these brackets consist of a tube 1, horizontally secured to
the car and projecting beyond the sides of the same, and the two tubular brush
arms mm, at their upper ends journaled on said cross bar to allow their.free
ends to swing vertically and the lower open ends of said tubular arms contain the
wire or metal brushes i, which rub upon the conductors. The wires, from
the two brushes or contact carriers extend up inside of said two hollow arms m,
to the interior of the car, and the two brushes ii are insulated from each other
at any suitable points as by insulating material surrounding the brushes them-
selves, or by insulating material between the arms m, m, and shaft I, as shown in
Figure 4. These arms can be provided with springs n' to yieldingly hold them
in contact with the conductors, each spring being secured to its arm m, and at its
opposite end to a rigid arm m¹ rigidly secured to shaft /.
In Figure 5, an elongated brush i, is shown which will have an extended
bearing on the wire, and this brush is adjustable and removably secured to the
lower end of a tubular right angular bracket p, through which the wire extends
and which is secured to and extends out from the side of the car. Each brush
being provided with a separate bracket. Each bracket is secured to the
vehicle by means of a depending rigid post, from the bottom or other part of
the vehicle fitted and adjustably secured in a vertical socket or tube on the end
of the bracket.
11,
The alarm mechanism is carried by a locomotive or other car and is so located as
to notify the engineer.
These single conductors may be of one wire or other suitable material, or to
obtain better contact with the contact carrier may be composed of any number of
wires or other suitable material, preferably united or joined together at the end
of a section thus forming a single conductor and one contact carrier or brush
running over the whole.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what
I claim is
1st. In an electric railway signal, the combination with the track, of a pair of
separate conductors as described, located on opposite sides of the track and
insulated from each other and from the ground, each conductor being divided into
non-communicating sections having the breaks between the sections on one side
located substantially opposite the centre of the sections on the other side of the
track.
2nd. In an electric railway signal, a pair of separate conductors located on
opposite sides of the track, and insulated from each other and from the ground,
each conductor being divided into non-communicating sections having the breaks
between the sections on one side located substantially opposite the centres of the
sections on the other side of the track, in combination with two vehicles on the
track, cach containing two separate circuits having a source of electricity and an
alarm, each circuit being connected with a conductor and with a rail on that side,
substantially as described..
3rd. In an electric railway signal, the combination of a track, a pair of separate

page_text: conductors located on opposite sides thereof and divided into non-communicating
overlapping sections, as described, and a moving vehicle having lateral brackets
carrying metal brushes or other contact carriers bearing on said conductors and
circuits in the car including a source and alarm and connected with said brushes or
contact carriers and with the rails of the track substantially as described.
4th. In an electric railway signal the combination with the conductor of an
insulator having a deep transverse groove across its top in which said conductor
rests, substantially as described.
5th. The combination with the conductor of an insulator having a socket in its
bottom, and a deep transverse groove across its top, substantially as described.
6th. In an electric railroad signal, the combination with a vehicle and a con-
ductor along the track, of a tubular bracket carried by the vehicle having a metal
brush on its lower end bearing on the conductor and the wire from the brush
extending up the interior of the bracket, substantially as described.
7th: The combination with the vehicle, of tubular brackets secured and extending
laterally from the car and carrying contact brushes at their lower open ends bearing
on conductors beside the track, substantially as described.
8th. The herein described electric railway signal.
Dated this 18th day of November 1890
W. H. WADDELL,
By L. W., per F. B.