Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 November 1893 — ROBBED OF TERRORS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ROBBED OF TERRORS.

RAILROAD TRAVEL NO LONGER WILL BE DANGEROUS. Mechanical Devices Which Insure Comparative Immunity from the Perils of the Track —Preventing Accidents from Derailments, Collisions, Open Draws, etc. Railroading Simplified. How to prevent accidents from the derailment of a train of cars, how to check a train moving at lightning speed at the entrance of an open drawbridge supposed to be shut, und thus prevent the train from plunging into the yawning abyss with terrific loss of life; how to bring as summarily to a standstill a train about to go on a trestle bridge a span of which has been suddenly swept away by some swift destruction of storm, or flood, or fire; how to prevent a train from being run into by. another train, with the wreck, perhaps, of both trains and instantaneous death to many passengers—these are problems of gravest importance and supremest public Interest These are problems that come home to the hearts and bosoms of everybody, for everybody travels nowadays on railroads. It is believed that these problems, seemingly impossible of solution as they appear at first glance, have been solved. It is not, however, to be wondered at. It is the natural but Inevitable sequence of progress in mechanical science—a step onward

In the great march of invention, which stops not at the seemingly impossible, but ever looking to the far off, unattained and dim, challenges combat with the most subtle and stubborn forces of nature, and in their utilization makes them subject to its impel ious will. Edwin D. Graff, of New York, claims to he the fortunate solver of the gigantic problems to which reference has been made. For each of his four inventions he has taken out patepts in this country and Canada, in England, and in all the leading governments of both hemispheres. He has labored on them for years, and has only recently perfected them. The present description of them is the first that has ever been given. ISlectric Signal System* The electric signal system Is a wonder In Its way, combining a usefulness hitherto unknown ■ in the art of signaling. At present the only signals are visual signals, and the vast majority of them depend for their correctness upon human operation, which has time and time again

proved fallible. But even if the signal has been set correctly the chance of safety is by no means assured. The engineer, for instance, may be consulting his clock, steam gauge, water gauge, air pressure gauge injector, lubricator, or any of the thousand and one things that this argus-eyed individual is supposed to keep watch over, or he may, or he may not, have dropped dead or become paralyzed, or be sleepy or dozing when the signal is passed, or it may be storming violently, or the signal light may have gone out, or the fireman may have the furnace door open, making it impossible to see out of the cab window on account of the glare of light within. Any of these things may cause an engineer to fail to observe the feeble red gleam that stands between him and destruction. The audible signal, however, is open to no such objections. Silent, yet vigilant, it travels with him in his cab mile after mile, and when its brisk ringing breaks in upon the thunder and crash of the engine as it groans under its load of precious human life the engineer knows that the time of danger is at hand and delay means death. How the Electric Signal Works. The electric signal consists of a rod, rail, or conductor, laid down the center of the track the entire length of the same. Its electric continuance is broken at intervals of every 1,500 or 2,000 feet, and a small piece of German silver—resistance wire—is inserted. The locomotive equipment is situated within the cow-catcher, and consists of a brush or roller, adapted to make electrical contact with the central rod, rail or conductor, an electric beli in the cab and a battery of one or two Laclanchc cells. One of the poles of the bell etKoit is connected to the brush or mler, and the other, after passing tbroogh a pole-changing switch, is grounded in the locomotive. It is so arranged that all locomotives going ■ortfe have the positive pole conto the roller and the negative pWMdei is the locomotive, and all iwanwOrn proceeding south are reCMtoected, so that when two

locomotives thus equipped approach near enough to one another to over* come the resistance Interposed between them a circuit is established from one to the other, causing both bells to ring and continue ringing while they remain within dangerous proximity. The block signal portion of this system is arranged so that at certain intervals along the track of a mile, more or less, the road is divided into blocks or sections. At these places a track instrument box is inserted. The track portion of the track instrument box contains two tongues or switches that normally lie along and complete the continuity of the center rod, rail or conductor, but by means arranged within the box, so

that when a train passes over it it moves one of the switches across a short insulated point and makes a contact, which short circuits a train following and causes its bell to ring when it shall have approached sufficiently near. t When the train which effected the movement of the switch reaches the next succeeding track instrument box it repeats the operation and restores the flrstmentioned box to its normal or safety position. The movement to danger is made mechanically and the return movement is effected electrically by means of a magnet in each box, which, on being energized, releases a spring that provides for the return

of the box to its normal position. Thus an open circuit system is provided that is so constructed that should anything happen to the source of electrical supply no clear signal would be given, and even should the system become damaged or broken yet would It be equally safe, so far as giving a clear or safety signal is concerned when danger existed.

Derailment Stop. The derailment stop consists of a lever inside the driving wheels of the locomotive and within the trucks of the cars, whose lower end depends within a few Inches of the top sur- j face of the rail. It is pivoted so as to permit of a movement longitudin- \ ally of the train and its upper free end, which extends beyond the pivot, is connected to a link or arm, which in turn is connected with the handle of a cock situated in the main train pipe of the train’s air brake system. When the derailment takes place the lower end is brought in contact with the ground either by the wheels cutting Into the earth or by a sufficiency of the periphery of the wheel descending between two cross ties. By the forward motion of the train the lower end of this lever is vibrated rearwardly, the upper end moving forwardly from the pivot and by Its forward motion exerting a pull upon the link connected with the handle of the cock in the main train pipe, opening the same and causing the air to escape, thus applying the brakes. Co-operating with this ingenious device is the drawbridge mechanism, which consists of a sliding rod lying at and across the land end of the bridge terminal, and projecting out sufficiently to be engaged by a bracket or arm fastened to the bridge and moving with it This sliding rod has coiled upon it a spring, so arranged that when relieved from the pressure of the arm or plate it springs out, and upon the return of the bridge it is pushed back and the spring compressed. Pivoted to the cross-ties is a bell-crank whose ends are engaged respectively by the sliding transverse rod and a line of gaspipe lever running parallel with the track. This is carried back a sufficient distance and there connected to a crank arm, which in turn is connected to a lock-shaft lying transversely of the tracks, and to which are connected at suitable places sec-tor-shaped trip-pieces, which are raised and lowered by the rotation of the transverse rock-shaft as the bridge is opened and closed through means of above-described mechanism. These trips when in operative or raised position, which is the position they occupy when the bridge is opened, engage the levers of the airbrake system, and by turning them back apply the brakes and stop the train. Upon the closing of the bridge they are of course turned down and out of operative position. An engineer approaching an open drawbridge first* passes a signal warning him to stop, and failing to obey it for any reason his levers are struck and turned back by the stops and he comes to a standstill upon the rails.

GRAFF’s STOP FOR RAILROAD TRAINS.

DERAILMENT STOP.

ELECTRIC TRACK BOX.