New or Improved Apparatus for Preventing Railway Accidents.
Year: 1896

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Apparatus for Preventing Railway Accidents.
I, HERMANN BIERMANN, of 5 Paradiesstrasse, Breslau, in the Empire of Germany,
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 safety apparatus for railways by which the breakage or
loosening of a rail is indicated on an approaching train while it is still at a distance
from the point where the breakage or loosening has taken place, and in which also
the level crossing stop bar is actuated, an alarm-bell rung, and an electric lamp
lighted by means of an electric current generated in the train itself.
According to this invention the railway line is divided into a number of separate
sections of any suitable length such as two kilometres for example The rails of
each section are used as a conductor for an electric current which is produced by a
dynamo, a storage battery, or other source of electricity on the train. In that
section of the line on which the train happens to be, there is thus always a current
of electricity circulating which serves to operate the level crossing stop bar apparatus.
Should an interruption of the current, or an increase in the resistance thereto;
occur in consequence of the breakage or loosening of a rail, the current is led into
a secondary conductor in the train, by means of which an alarm signal is given
and, if desired, the reversing gear of the engine and the brake apparatus brought
into action.
In order to effect the operation of the stop bar by means of the current in the
train the stop bar is connected electrically with the section of the line to which
it is adjacent. This arrangement is shown in Figures 1 to 7 of the accompanying
drawings in which Figure 1 is an elevation of the stop bar apparatus, Figure 2 is a
sectional elevation of the same taken at right angles to Figure 1, Figure 3 is a plan,
to a smaller scale, of the same apparatus, showing its connection with the rails, Figures 4
and 5 show details of certain parts, and Figures 6 and 7 show one form, by way
of example, of a dynamo for producing the electric current, and its connection with
the engine of the train.
The stop bar apparatus consists essentially of three parts, namely the bar a pivotted
at a*, the alarm apparatus and the lighting apparatus c. In the train, either on
the engine, or in some other suitable carriage, is placed a dynamo or other suitable
source of electricity e. The current is conducted from the source of electricity e,
through a contact arm, to the rail section d, and thence through a second contact
arm, not shown in the drawings, through signalling, lighting, or other requisite
apparatus back to the source of electricity e. When the train has passed over the
points d' where the adjacent ends of two sections of rails are insulated from one
another the electric current flows from one rail g, for example, to the lamp c and to
the alarm bell in the post b, putting both into action, and then returns through the
other rail h, for example, to the source of electricity e. The current continues to
act in this circuit until the train has reached the second insulating space d 2. So
long as the train is between d¹ and d 2, and consequently at a convenient distance
from the stop bar, the alarm signal at the latter continues to sound.
When the train has passed the second insulating point d 2, the electric current
is transferred to the rail section d2 d 3, in which the alarm signal b, the electric
light c and the stop bar a are included. The actuation of the stop bar a, that
is to say the drawing down of the same into the position shown in Figure 1, is

page_text: effected by a small electric motor i placed for that purpose in the post of the stop
bar and connected with a windlass on to the drum of which one end of the
actuating cord i is wound when the electric motor i is set in action by the current,
the other end of the cord being connected at 2 to the end a¹ of the bar a.
The stop bar a is thus kept closed so long as the train with its dynamo or other
source of electricity is between the insulating points d2 d3. When the train has
passed the insulating point d 3 the lamp and alarm bell only are included in the
section between 3 and d4 and current is no longer supplied to the electric motor i, the
pivotted bar a is then raised by its counter-weight a 1. When the train has passed
the insulating point d4 the alarm signal 6 censes to sound, and the lamp e is
extinguished. The train then proceeds on its way and actuated the next level
crossing stop bar apparatus in the same way.
In the apparatus for indicating the breakage or loosening of a rail the track is
likewise divided into separate sections, and these are used as conductors for the
current produced by a dynamo or other source of electricity on the train. The
connection between the rail sections is so arranged that in the event of the breakage
or loosening of a rail in a section a signal is given to the engine driver of an
approaching train so long as the said train is on the section of rails immediately
preceding that in which the breakage or loosening of the rail has taken place.
The apparatus for indicating the breakage or loosening of a rail may either be
used in combination with the apparatus for actuating the stop bar apparatus or
independently thereof.
In the drawings the said apparatus is shown independently of the stop har
apparatus, for the sake of simplicity. Figures 8 and 9 show diagrammatically
the conducting connections within the conducting sections. Figure 10 shows the
circuit of the electric current produced in the conducting sections by the passing
train. Figures 11 and 12 show side and back views of the locomotive with the
dynamo or other source of electricity placed thereon.
At the points of division of the sections a 2 b2, e2, are arranged contact
apparatuses g, h, each section is also provided with a secondary conductor.
For each direction of motion of the train there is a special secondary conductor
which is formed of a rail a² or at and a wire k or k¹. This wire is led at the end
of the section, through the contact apparatus g' ' or ', and is then connected
electrically with the rail a' or a'. This secondary current serves to break the contact
between the rails in the section on which the train happens to be, so that the main
current is no longer conducted to the contact apparatus &', but to the next following
one. By this means a fault which may exist, for example, in the section b 2, is
signalled to the train in the section a 2 so that the engine driver on that section
knows whether he may proceed on to the section 2 or not.
On the wire k or k runs a roller o turning on the contact arm of the engine,
but insulated therefrom; this roller is connected electrically with the dynamo or
other source of electricity d 5. If now the train enters upon the conducting section a 2
the roller o comes into contact with the wire k at its free end. Thereby the
secondary conductor is closed, and the current now passes through the contact
apparatus A', and there so acts that the section 62 is brought into circuit with the
main conductor. In the secondary conductor the current flows from the dynamo d 5
through the contact roller o into the wire k, thence through the contact apparatus &
to the rail a 3, and from this back to the dynamo. The operation is therefore as
follows-The electro-magnet is excited by the current in the secondary circuit,
and attracts the spring contact maker whereby the electric connection between the
two rails a³ a is broken at this point. The main current is thereby prevented from
passing at the contact point h¹, but passes on to the contact point i, so that the
current in the section a 2 also governs the section 2. On the passage of the train onto
the section b 2 the secondary conductor included in the section a 2 ceases to receive
current, and a fresh scondary conductor of the same kind in section 62 is brought into
circuit whereby the section c 2 becomes included, and so on.
If the current is interrupted or the resistance increases at the connecting point in

page_text: the main conductor in consequence of the breakage or loosening of a rail, it passes on
to a secondary conductor connected with the dynamo or other source of electricity in
the train and in which secondary conductor the alarm and brake apparatuses and the
locomotive reversing gear or regulator are brought into the circuit.
For example, as shown in Figure 12, there may be connected to the main-
conductor a secondary circuit in which is included the alarm, brake-releasing, or
other apparatus to be actuated. In this secondary circuit is placed a resistance z 2
which is so adjusted that the current passes through it when a resistance occurs in the
main conductor consequent upon the breakage of a rail or the loosening of a fish-plate-
for example, so that the current from the source of electricity does not pass through
the main conductor but through the secondary circuit z¹.
The electric current produced by the dynamo or other source of electricity in the-
train may also be used for lighting and heating the train.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
First. The new or improved apparatus for proventing railway accidents, which
consists, firstly, of a dynamo, storage battery or other source of electricity mounted
on the train, and, secondly, of the rails of the track divided into sections, and used as
a conductor for the electric current generated by the said source of electricity on the
train, constructed and operating so as to actuate the level crossing stop har, ring an
alarm bell, and light an electric lamp, substantially as described with reference to
Figures 1 to 7 of the drawings.
Second. The new or improved apparatus for preventing railway accidents, which
consists, firstly, of a dynamo storage battery, or other source of electricity mounted!
on the train, secondly, of the rails of the track divided into sections and used as a
conductor for the electric current generated by the said source of electricity on the
train, thirdly of secondary conductors, and fourthly of contact making and breaking
apparatuses, constructed and operating so as to indicate, on an approaching train, the
fact of the breakage or loosening of a rail in a section of the line in advance of such.
train, substantially as described with reference to Figures 8 to 12 of the drawings.
Dated this 10th day of March 1896.
H. BIERMANN,
Per W. H. Beck,
115 Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent..