Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Preventing Collision ⚫ between Railway Trains.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 4th May, 1899-Accepted, 24th June, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Preventing Collision
⚫ between Railway Trains.
We, ALBERT OSCIMANN, Druggist, and JOSEPH PETIT, Schoolmaster, both of
Mulhouse, (Alsace), in the German Empire, 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;-
Electric apparatus for warning trains as hitherto proposed, allow of auto-
matically warning two trains travelling between two stations on the same line
in the same direction or in opposite directions and of establishing telegraphic
or telephonic communication between the persons in charge of the said two
trains, but it is not possible, with these arrangements, to also warn the two
stations between which the two trains are located, and to telegraphically or tele-
phonically communicate with the officials in the said stations."
It is true that an arrangement has been proposed in which, not only could
the two trains upon the same line between two stations be automatically warned,
but also one of the two stations. Nevertheless it is necessary, in such arrangements,
that the two stations as well as the two trains should be automatically warned.
It has already been attempted to attain this result by an arrangement which,
however, as it requires three supplementary conductors, has proved to be much
too costly.
Now our invention has for object to provide an electric arrangement serving
to prevent accidents on railways and allowing, by the employment of only two sup-
plementary conductors, of warning the two stations, and one or two trains
running between the latter on the same line, and to establish telegraphic or
telephonic communication between the trains and with the stations. Our novel
construction is based on the application of a warning apparatus applicable to
the stations as well as to the trains and comprising a key of insulating material
provided with two contacts at each end, the said key being combined with a
double commutator or switch, a bell and an electric battery.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure illustrates by way of example a diagram of our installation set up
between two stations as well as two trains travelling towards each other on the
same line between the two stations.
Figure 2 represents the same installation with two trains moving in the same
direction, the conductors connecting the apparatus of the two stations being
supposed to be constructed differently from those in Figure 1.
Figure 3 shows the same installation, a train having been stopped in a station
and two trains moving in opposite directions towards the said station, the con-
ductors arranged between the stations being again supposed to be arranged
differently from those in Figures 1 and 2 and the lower part of the said Figure 3
being supposed to be from left to right the extension of the right hand end of
the upper part of the said figure.
Wings A 5 and are views of details

page_text: A and B Figure 1 are the two connected stations. In each station is arranged
a warning apparatus for each line and each direction of travel of the trains; a
similar apparatus is fitted in each train either on the locomotive or in the
brake van.
Parallel with the line are arranged two conductors connecting the warning
apparatus of two adjacent stations and by means of which the electric current
can be brought from the stations to the apparatus of the trains or from the
To this end the two conductors are
trains to the apparatus in the stations.
placed by preference outside the railway rails and comprise as shewn in Figure 1,
contact rods K M of conducting material, insulated, and placed at a certain
distance from one another and electrically connected together by means of iron
wires L or N. With these rods correspond a certain number of rubbers or con-
tact brushes O adapted to the locomotive or to the carriages of each train, the said
brushes on the passage of a train coming successively into contact with the
rods K or M and being connected to the warning apparatus mounted upon the
train. To obtain a more certain contact all the carriages of a train can be pro-
vided with rubbers or contact brushes and be electrically connected together
by an easily detachable coupling. In Figures 2 and 3 the rubber are
adapted to the fixed rods K or M¹ and arranged either vertically or horizontally,
the rods K or M being connected together on each side of the railway by iron
wires L or N¹ (see Figure 2), or with a common conductor L¹ insulated and
In this fixed
carried, for example by the telegraph posts (see Figure 3).
arrangement of the rubbers or contact brushes the locomotive and the carriages
should be provided on each side with a contact bar P (Figures 2 and 3). These
conductors and contact arrangements can obviously be placed below or above
the carriages.
Each warning apparatus comprises an electric battery C, a bell D, a double
key and a double commutator and the whole is mounted on a board or plate I
of wood or other insulating material. The lever E of the double key is also
made of insulating material jointed at its middle part and provided at each of
its ends with two contact pins a¹, a², a³, a, with which correspond contact
In the normal position a
springs 61, 62, 63, 64, insulated from one another.
spring (Figure 4) acting upon the lever E of the key presses the contact
pins a, a against the springs 64, while it keeps the pins a³, a separated from
the springs 63, 64. By pressing upon the knob of the lever E of the key the
contact of the pins a³, at with the springs 63, 64 can, nevertheless, be effected
while, at the same time, the contact between the pins a, a2 and the springs 61, 63
will be broken; but as soon as the knob as is relieved from pressure the lever E
of the key will be brought back by the spring into its normal position indi-
cated in the drawings.
The contact pins al and at are connected together by a conductor and the
positive pole of the battery C is in electric communication with the contact pin a¹
whilst the negative pole of the said battery is connected to the contact spring b³
at one of the terminals of the bell D and to the railway rails S, the other ter-
minal of the bell communicating with the contact spring 2.
The double commutator comprises two metal levers f, f insulated from one
another and jointed at one of their ends to the plate I each of the other ends of
the said levers being adapted to be alternately brought into contact with two
contact plates, 2, or 3, 4, mounted on the plate I. In order to allow of simul-
taneously moving the two levers of the commutator, the latter are connected
together by means of a cross piece of non-conducting material. The lever f
is electrically connected with the contact pin a² and the contact spring 64, whilst
the lever is in electrical communication with the contact pin a³ and the
contact spring. The two middle contact plates 22, 23 are connected to a metal
plate whilst the two outer contact plates , communicate with a second
metal plate g. In the warning apparatus fitted in the stations the metal plate g
is connected to the conductor L K or L' K' and the plate g¹ to the conductor N M

page_text: or NM, whilst in the warning apparatus placed in the trains the plate g is
in electrical communication with the contact device 0 M, OK or POK' situated
at the left hand side and the plate gl with the contact device O K, O M, or
POM, situated on the right hand side looking from the bell side.
Each warning apparatus can besides be combined with a Morse receiver which
would be included in the bell circuit.
In the warning apparatus of the stations the levers f, f¹ of the double com-
mutator are normally in their right hand position at the time that the said
levers ff in the trains are in their right hand position when the apparatus
is moved forward, that is to say, when the commutator is directed forwards,
whilst the levers f, f¹ are in their left hand position when the warning apparatus
is moved backwards, that is to say, when the commutator is directed rearwardly,
looking at the commutator, in each case, from the bell side.
The arrangement which we have herein described operates in the following
manner.―
Suppose that a train Q has left the station A (Figure 1) and is waiting in the
station B, and that the train R travelling towards the train Q upon the same
line has not yet reached the station B. The levers of the commutators occupy
the positions indicated in Figure 1. In the station A the electric current pro-
ceeding from the positive pole of the battery C passes through the contact pin a¹,
the spring, the commutator lever f¹, the contact plate and the metal plate g!
to the conductor N M. In the station B the current proceeding from the positive
pole of the battery C traverses the same route and is, consequently, conducted
through a, b, f, it, and g¹ to the conductor N M. In the train Q the current
proceeding from the positive pole of the battery C passes through a¹, b¹, f¹, i³, g¹
and the brushes also to the conductor N M.
If the train R passes the station B without stopping, it will be observed that,
as soon as its left hand rubbers or contact brushes come in contact with the con-
ductor M N, the current will pass from the latter through the corresponding
brushes 0, the metal plate g, the contact plate 2, the commutator lever f, the
contact pin a² and the spring 62 to the bell D, whence it will return through the
railway rails S to the negative. poles of the batteries A B and Q; the circuit of
the three batteries will be thus closed and the bell of the train R, included in
this circuit, will be rung.
At the same time the circuit of the battery C of the train R will be closed, the
current passing from the positive pole of this battery through a¹, 6¹, f¹, i³, g¹
and the right hand brushes or rubbers of the train R to the conductor L K
whence it is conducted through g, ², f, a², b² to the bell D) of the station B,
through g,, f, a², 62 to the bell D of the station A, and through the left hand
rubbers or brushes 0 of the train Q, through 9, 2², f, a², 62 to the bell of the
train Q, and returns from these three bells through the railway rails to the
negative pole of the battery of the train R, so that the bells of the stations B and A
and of the train Q will be included in the circuit of the battery of the train R and
actuated at the same time as the bell of the train R.
In Figure 2 we have supposed two trains Q and R¹ to be travelling in the
same direction between two stations A and B. The current passes from the
positive pole of the batteries C of the stations A and B and of the trains Q and R
to the conductor N M traversing the route described when referring to Figure 1
for the stations A and B and the train Q. When by pressure upon the knob a
of the lever E of the key of any of the four warning apparatus, for example, that
of the train Q, the said lever E is moved in such a manner that the contact
between the pins a³, at and the springs 63, 6 will be established and that between
a¹, a³, and b1, b2 broken, the electric current will be conducted from the positive
pole of the battery C of the corresponding warning apparatus through
a, a, b, f,, g and the corresponding contact bar P, to the conductor L', K'
whence it will pass to the bells of the stations A and B of the train R¹ and return
through the railway rails to the negative pole of the battery C of the warning

page_text: apparatus placed in the train Q until pressure ceases on the knob as of the lever E
of the key which then moves back under the action of the spring a into its
normal position shewn in the drawings. When, instead of pressing upon the
lever E of the key of the warning apparatus of a train, the fevers f, fi of the
commutator of the said train are moved into the left hand position indicated in
dotted lines in Figure 2 for the train R¹, the current of the battery C of this
train will be compelled to pass from the positive pole of the said battery through
a, b, f,,g and the left hand bar P into the conductor K¹ L' so that the bells
of B, A and Q will be operated by the current of the battery of the train R',
whilst the current passing through the conductor N¹ M will be led to, the bell
of R through the medium of g¹, ¹, f, a², b². The return of the current will take
place through the rails S.
In Figure 3 we have supposed that a train R having left the station A is still
in the station B but nevertheless out of reach of the conductors L K, NM.
A train R departing from the station A¹ for the station B will be in the same
situation as the train. R of Figure 1 and the circuit of its warning apparatus as
well as of the corresponding warning apparatus of the station B and A will be
closed, that is to say, these apparatus will come into operation as soon as the
train R shall come within range of the conductors L' K', NM
11
To prevent collision of the train R¹ with the train Qleaving the station A
for the station B, if the commutator levers f; f' of the warning apparatus of the
stations A and B occupy their normal position indicated in dotted lines in the
drawings, it is indispensable that the levers f, ft of the train Q should be brought
from the position indicated in full lines into that marked in dotted lines; or
that those of the stations A and B should be brought into the position indicated
in full lines; or that the lever E of one of the keys should be depressed which
will cause the said warning apparatus to operate. The two stations A and B
can, at all times, he placed in electrical (telegraphic) communication with a
train travelling between the said stations (for example with the train Q of
Figure 1) and vice versa.
Suppose the train R to be omitted from Figure 1, then the current from the
batteries of the warning apparatus of A. B and Q will pass to the conductor N M
as, already explained.
By then pressing, in the station A, upon the knob a of the lever E of the key
so as to break contact between the pins a¹, «² and the springs 61, 62 and make
contact between the pins a³, a and the springs 6, the current of the corre-
sponding battery will pass through a, a, b, f, and g to the conductor LK
and actuate the bells of B and of Q. In a like manner the same result can be
arrived at by similarly acting either in the train Q or in the station B. By this
means, for example, a train in risk of danger between two stations can, by suit-
able signals, warn the two nearest stations and ask for assistance therefrom.
By connecting up Morse receiving apparatus instead of the bells D in the
described arrangement we can, by means of double keys, transmit telegraphic
signals from the stations to the trains and vice versa.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
An improved installation for preventing collision between railway trains in
which electric warning apparatus fitted in each station and in each train are
combined with a double commutator f, f¹ and a double key E in such a manner
that they can be connected by the poles of the corresponding batteries to two
conductors arranged along the railway rails and connecting the stations, so that,
on the one hand, when two trains are moving towards one another between two
stations, the two stations and the two trains are automatically warned, at the
same time that telegraphic communication can be effected between the trains
and the stations and that, on the other hand when the trains are running one

page_text: behind the other, the automatic warning and the telegraphic communication can
at all times be effected by reversing one or more double commutators or by.
actuating a double key, substantially as herein before described and illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agents for the Applicants.