Improvements in Apparatus for Indicating Land-slips and the like upon Railways.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 14th July, 1897-Accepted, 14th Aug.,
1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Indicating Land-slips and the like
upon Railways.
I, HERMANN BIERMANN, of 5A Paradiesstrasse, Breslau, in the German Empire,
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 apparatus by means of which land-slips or the like
may be indicated upon railways in order to prevent accidents.
In order that my invention may be more readily understood I have hereto
appended a sheet of drawings which illustrate my improved apparatus and to
which I will hereinafter refer.
Figure 1 represents a section of a railway embankment provided with my
improved apparatus.
Figure 2 illustrates upon a larger scale the apparatus itself.
As shown by the drawings the apparatus consists of two balls one arranged
inside the other and forming the terminals of an electric circuit. This double
ball is placed upon or is buried within the permanent way at any convenient or
desired spot in such a manner that upon a land-slip or the like taking place the
two balls are brought into electrical contact and close the circuit thereby
actuating a visible or audible signal. Any number of the double balls may be
used and placed at convenient distances apart.
The construction of the apparatus is plainly shewn in Figure 2. 6 is a ball of
This external ball is
conducting material contained within an outer ball d.
provided with an internal conducting ring e upon which are arranged other con-
ducting rings or strips f. The inner ball has a stem c which protrudes through
the outer ball and forms a means by which the two balls may be flexibly connected
together as for example by the leather or indiarubber tube h or by a corrugated
metal tube. In the latter case precautions must be taken to prevent the two balls
being electrically joined together. Normally they are out of contact with each
other but they are capable of moving into contact to close the circuit g, g¹, the
wires of which are connected respectively to the inner ball and to the conducting
strip of the outer one.
In the arrangement represented by Figure 1 one double ball is arranged at each
end of a railway sleeper a and buried in the ballast. They are placed in parallel
within the circuit g, g¹ and each inner ball is connected by its stem to the sleeper.
Upon a land-slip or the like occurring the two balls of one or each pair are brought
into contact with each other and actuate a suitable signal placed at any convenient
point. A lamp k or a bell i may be the signal or both together may be employed.
If desired, however, the signal may be placed upon a train in which case the
tails may be used as conductors. The driver of an approaching train would thus
be warned of the state of the track. In a modification the signal upon the train
may be substituted or supplemented by electrical apparatus for automatically
applying the brake when the circuit is closed by the double ball.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
An apparatus for indicating land slips or the like, consisting of a double ball
constructed arranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore described and as
illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
W. E. HEYS & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.