Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1875 — New Application of Electricity on Railroads. [ARTICLE]

New Application of Electricity on Railroads.

The French have lately introduced a system by which a stationary electric battery is made subservient to blow the whistle of an approaching locomotive, in ease the road- is not clear, without the engineer having to give any attention to it. Such an arrangement is of course exceedingly valuable at night, and especially during a fog, when signals cannot be seen at a distance. It is the reverse of the system introduced bh bur Hudson River Railroad, by which every approaching locomotive sets a stationary electro-magnetic alarm-bell at the depot in motion. In the French system referred to the obstruction at the depot starts the steam whistle on every approaching locomotive when the train is still far enough away to slacken speed and stop. It has now been in successful operation for a year on the line of the Northern ( »mpany of France, informing the engineer whether the way is clear or not. The signal tender turns a disk and sends an electric current in the direction of the coming train to bar placed between the rails; when the engine reaches the spot a metal brush placedbetween the wheels sweeps the bar,, the current passes to the engine, and by means of an electro-magnet presses upon a lever which opens the steam whistle, thus makinc it blow automatically.—3T. ZrnipAfc.