US1347523A - Assig-hor - Google Patents

Description

H. ROWNTREE.

TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-3.1917.

Patented July 27, 1920.

2 SHEETS-HEET 1.

mnu//////V UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

HAROLD ROWNTREE, OF KENILWORTH, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL PNEU- MATIC COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

TRAIN-CONTROL SYSTEM.

Application filed. August 3. 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARoLn ROWNTREE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kemlworth, county of Cook, State of Illinois have made a certain new and useful lnvention in Train-Control Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates totrain control systems, and is particularly applicable to elevated and subway systems.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and useful train control system which is designed to relieve congestion of the passengers, and to aflord a more eflicient and economical system for the purpose of carrying passengers from one locality to another.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and useful details of construction and arrangement pertaining to new methods of train control.

A further object of the invention is to provide an automatic train control system eflicient for the purposes required, and which may be operated at a saving of cost of maintenance over the system at present employed.

Further objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists substantially in the method of operation and in the construction, combination, location and relative arrangement of parts employed in accordance therewith, all as will be more fully hereinafter set forth, as shown by the ac companying drawings and finally pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings Figure l isa diagrammatic plan view of. a repair station of a system embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view in front elevation of one end of the repair station.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the ends of two cars employed in accord ance with my invention.

Fig. i is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, of the buffer or coupling mechanism employed in connection with my 1nvention.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic wiring diagram showing one portion of the train control and signaling mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the control mechanism employed in accordance with my invention.

The same part is designated by the same Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1920.

Serial No. 184,211.

reference numeral wherever it appears throughout the several views.

The method of train control generally employed today is the outgrowth of the old original system whereby single cars, or at most two or three cars coupled together, were suficient to meet the requirements of afiording space and capacity for carrying passengers. As traflic has increased we have increased the length of our trains, but we have still maintained the old idea of operating separate and segregated trains with necessary safety intervals between them. In all cases the train is controlled by a motorman or engineer at the front end of the train who has control of the traction power and of the braking power of the entire train. Sometimes the traction power is only employed on the front car or engine, and sometimes it is employed on every car of the train, but in all cars it is controlled by the engineer or motorman at the front of the train. In all cases a considerable interval has to be kept between trains in order that a train can. always be stopped before crashing into the train ahead irrespective of its speed at the time the brakes are applied. It is obvious, of course, that the greater the speed of a following train the greater the distance allowance that must be made within which the train can stop.

As traffic conditions have increased the length of the individual trains has steadily increased in order to accommodate more passengers, and the speed of the trains has been steadily increased so as to handle more passengers per hour.

There are of necessity however limitations to the length and speed of the individual trains and therefore limitations to the number of passengers that can be carried on a single line by the present method of individual trains, and there are indications that this limit has already been reached, or nearly reached on certain congested elevated and subway systems. It is manifestly true that the faster the trains are operated the longer must be the safety distance between them, as above set forth, so that a point is reached where the gain in speed is offset by the fewer trains per mile, and no further increase in the number of passengers carried per hour can be obtained by any further increase 1n speed.

Again the length of the train is limited by the power of the engine that draws the train, and for this type of train the limit has already been reached and passed, and two engines are frequently employed to draw the longer individual trains, and as the control of the two engines is entirely independent, such use of double headers of necessity increases the liability of accident.

every car of the train controlled by one man, this particular obstacle to a further increase of the length of individual trains does not exist, but other equally serious obstacles are encountered.

In the first place there is a limit to the length of trains that 1111 be made up in the terminal yards. Even if this obstacle were eliminated, there are obstacles that are met in practical operation that increasing the length of the train beyond a certain limit does not lessen or remove. There is frequently a limit of the length to which the station platforms can be extended, a limit governed not only by the lack of space for such extensions, but a limit inherent in the use of individual stations. Passengers in many cases will not spread themselves along the length of a long platform but will congregate near the point where they enter the station, with the result that certain cars become so crowded that the train is seriously delayed while the guards are endeavoring to get the doors shut, So long as individual trains are employed, individual stations must be used, and'therefore a limit to the practicable length of the individual station means a limit to the practicable length of the individual train.

For these reasons the present method of using individual trains seems to be approaching the limit of practicable usefulness, and my invention is designed to so control a system of endless trains or a continuous circle. of cars that a very much higher total number of passengers per hour can be car ried on a single line with perhaps even less possibility of accident than under the present system. It is true of course that the idea of utilizing endless trains, or moving side walks is not new, and that many ideas have been evolved in the attempt to make them a some practical use, but to the best of my knowledge no permanent practical use has been made of the moving platform idea because if operated at a slow speed its capacity is small, and if operated at a high speed the probabilities of accident to passengers is too evident.

In my invention I propose'to use an endless circle or train of cars operating at a high rate of speed for acertain specified distance, then slowing down and stopping for the admittance and discharge of passengers, and then again resuming its high rate Of course where traction is employed on of speed. If these cars were operated at the same speed for example that the cars of the New York subway are operated, with the same length of stopping time, then it is manifest that they would transport several times as many passengers per hour as the entire track would be filled with cars, in stead of only a comparatively small portion of the tracks being in use at any one instant of time.

To accomplish this result, however, many radical departures are necessary from the devices and arrangements heretofore in use and my invention consists in the conception of devices and arrangements for accomplishing these results.

will first describe the difliculties that would have to be overcome, and then describe in detail the devices and arrangements. I have designed for accomplishing them.

In the first instance, some means must be devised for allowing for the slight variationsthat might occur in the total length of the train, due to the different relative positions occupied by the cars in passing around curves. Means must also be devised for automatically regulating the total length of the train, as determined by the number of cars composing it, so that it harmonizes with the total length of the endless track on which it operates.

Means must be devised for taking a de fective car out of the train, and replacing it with a perfect car. There are many kinds of trouble that may appear in the car mechanism, and that may incapacitate the car from being used until it is corrected. It would be fatal to the successful operation of the system if the entire endless train had to be shut down while the mechanism on any one car was being repaired. It would be almost equally fatal if any material amount of time should be consumed in replacing the defective car with a new one, and therefore it is absolutely essential to the successful operation of an endless train that means should be devised for replacing defective cars in the very shortest possible time, and this means also that all questions pertaining to the ways in which the cars are attached to-. gether, and-to the way in which, and the extent to which, couplings for air or electric connections are used, must be considered in their relation to the time consumed in replacing defective cars.

It is manifest that means would have to be employed to assure all the doors of all cars being closed beforethe train started, and such means are in use today on many roads but additional means must be devised if the endless train is to operate on short time stops, and yet operate with safety.

The longer the train, the greater number of cars in the train, and the greater the number of doors that are opened and closed at each stop, and as the endless train might easily be ten or twelve miles long, or even longer, we would have perhaps one thousand cars and perhaps three thousand doors on the operating side of the entire train. The longest individual train on the subway today has about thirty doors on the operating side, and we are proposing to increase this perhaps one hundred fold.

This tremendously increases the probability of some one of the many guards being dilatory in getting his doors closed. It'also tremendously increases the probability of some one of the many door switches being defective or failing to operate properly, and so tying up the starting of the train.

It is necessary therefore, to devise means whereby a signal will be given to the guard on any car when all the doors on that car are not closed so that their signal switches have properly operated, as soon as most of the cars hzwe had their doors closed. In other words when all the cars except a few have their doors closed, then a hurry-up signal must be given on those cars with a door still open, in order to hasten the action of the guard, and the hurry-up signal should be automatically stopped the moment the doors on that car are all closed. Also it is essential in the event that the hurry-up signal continues to operate after the doors are apparently closed, thereby showing that some part of the door signaling system has failed to function, that the guard can oper ate a reserve switch on the car which will instantly place the safety signaling systems of the train in the condition it would occupy if the door switch system on that car had not failed, and the hurry-up signal must cease the moment such reserve switch is operated.

By properly devised mechanism for accomplishing these results the stopping time of an endless train of one thousand cars need not be any longer than the stopping time of a. train of five or ten cars, that is, perhaps, about thirty seconds.

It is also necessary to devise a practicable arrangement whereby passengers will not be apt to congregate at certain congested points, and whereby passengers alighting from an express endless train can always be at the right point to board a local endless train.

I will now proceed to point out and describe the devices and arrangements 1 have devised for accomplishing these results.

The cars 2 composing thee endless trains can be of any size or shape or construction desired but 1 am making a radical departure from the present universal method of coupling the cars together. Under my invention the cars are not coupled together at all but are simply butted one against the other,

each car being equipped at each end with a spring buffer 1 as shown in Figs. 1 to el. 33 and 35 represent the two ends of adjacent cars with their respective builers 36 and 37. These buiiers are preferably curved so as to facilitate the cars passing around curves and the buffers are held in a forward position by springs as shown at 38, the forward movement of the spring and builer being limited by stops 39 as shown. The tendency, therefore, of these spring buffers would be to press tightly against each other and to take up any lost motion between the cars. The buflt'ers or" course can be held out by compressed air or any other suitable means but for simplicity of operation I prefer the springs.

fr hen it is rememlxiered that we have been figuring on a train of perhaps 1,000 cars long, then if the butler at each end of each car were depressed one-half inch, making a total of one inch for each car it would make a di'll'erence in the whole train of 1,000 inches or over eighty feet which would be as great, or greater than, the length of an individual car so that a very slight variation in all the buffers would very easily cause the cars to take up any lost motion and'to fit accurately in the total length of the endless track and any slight variation, if any, made by the cars that are actually rounding a curve would be taken up by a very slight variation in the buffers of the large number of cars that were operating in a straight line at that time.

I propose to furnish the power and control for the power respectively through two separate third rails which I am calling respectively the power rail and the control rail. These rails are not shown on the drawings as they are of the ordinary type and construction or of any desired type and construction. Electrical connection from these rails to each car is made through the ordinary shoes which travel on the rails and which are connected by electrical connections to the desired mechanism on the cars as hereinafter described; also each car is equipped with. its own individual air compressor, tank, etc, so that there would be no need "for any connection, either electric or pneumatic, between. the ends of adjacent cars, and the individual cars would be entirely independent of each other, merely butting against each other with their respective spring buffers, 36, 3

This construction is of special importance in view of the necessity of being able to very promptly change a disabled car for a new car when the necessity arises. The details of the mechanism employed for effecting this change are shown in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1, 2 represents a few of the individual cars of the train operating on the track which is shown in dotted lines. 31

represents an endless stationary platform immediately adjacent to the path of travel of the cars so that whenever the cars stop the passengers can immediately alight on to a the platform 31. At some convenient point,

or number of points, in the circuit of the endless track, preferably at a point in close proximity to the control station, which will be hereinafter described, and preferably also in close proximity to the repair shops, is located the transfer table 28. At this point the stationary platform 31 and the endless track arecut away along the lines 4243 to a depth quite a little below the level of the endless tracks and a pair of transverse tracks 29 and 30 are placed in this aperture on which the transfer table 28 opcrates, sliding backward and forward along the rails 29 and 30 on its rollers or wheels 40 as shown. This transfer table 28 carries two sets of tracks A l and 4:5 and two sets of platforms 32 and 33 and they are so located that when the transfer table 28 is at one limit of its movement track 44% is exactly in line with the endless track and platform 32 is exactly in line with the stationary platform 31 and track 45 is in line with the secondary track 26 which runs off toward the repair shops. lVhen the transfer table 28 is moved to the other extreme of its position then track 45 is brought into accurate alinement with the endless track and platform 33 is brought into alinement with the stationary platform 31 while track 44 is brought into alinement with the secondary track 27 which also runs oif to the repair shops, perhaps passing under or over the endless track in order to reach the same shops as are reached by track 26.

The transfer table 28 will be operated fromone extreme to the other by motor with suitable control and suitable automatic limit stops. I have not described or shown this motor as manifestly many types of motors now on the market will be suitable for this work, as for example any one of the many types of electric or pneumatic mechanisms with limit stops and suitable control as shown and described in various patents that have been issued to me in the past.

The operation of the transfer table will be as follows:

Let us suppose that some part of the mechanism on car 22 has shown to be defective. Something may be wrong with the motor or its controllingmechanism or with the air brake or the brake shoes or with the door switches or with any one of a dozen other parts of the car equipment, and it is desirable and important that the defect should be corrected. Word is transmitted to the train controller at the controlling point as will be hereinafter described, that car 22 is to be taken out of the train. As the endless train proceeds on its way, stopping and starting at its accustomed intervals, the train controller will slow down the train as car 22 approaches the "transfer point and finally stop the train with car accurately on the transfer table. hfeanwhile car 25 in perfect condition, would have been brought from the car shops over track 26 and placed on the transfer table on track 45. The moment that car 22 was accurately stopped on track a l the train controller would start the motor that operated transfer table 28 and it might be mentioned here that of course the control of said motor would be so interlocked with the control of the endless train that the motor of the transfer table 28'could not be started when the endless train was in motion in any manner well known in the art. Starting the motor of the transfer table 28 would immediately move car 22 out of alinement with the endless train and move car 25 into alinement with the endless train. Any tendency on the part of the spring buffers of the various cars of the train to expand and move either car 21 or car 23 toward each other and so partially or entirely fill the gap between that had been occupied by car 22 would be pre vented by the edges 4L2 and 43 of the platform 32 which during the progress of the transfer table 28 would pass between the ends of the adjacent cars as car 22 was leaving them and would keep the adjacent cars the proper distance apart until car 25 had entered between them. The moment car 25 was in its proper relation in regard to the endless train the endless train would be again started. It seems to me reasonable to assume that this transfer complete could be made within thirty seconds, that is, within the time ordinarily consumed in the regular stoppage of the endless train.

The defective car 22 would be immediately shunted over secondary track 27 to the repair shops and a perfect car immediately brought out on track 27 and placed on the transfer table on track ist, the endless train meanwhile operating over track 45 so that the transfer table would be in readiness for an instant reversal and would be ready {loaded with another perfect car whenever it was again desired to change another defective car. It will be noticed also that regardless of whether track 44 or track 4:5 is in use for the endless train that the stationary platform 31 is always complete, either through platform 32 or platform 33 of the transfer table 28.

I will now describe the mechanism on each car, and in doing this it is not necessary to show or describe the standard mechanism that is now in use on cars of individual trains and wherein all cars are controlled from one place. The cars will of course be equipped with the usual motor whereby when a circuit is completed electric control mechanism is put into operation to cause the motor to start and to steadily increase the speed of the motor until the desired standard maximum speed is attained and when the electrical connection is broken the electric controlling mechanism is operated to shut off current from the motor and so bring the motor to rest. The car would of course also be equipped with the usual air brakes including compressor, tank, automatic regulator and the suitable electrically controlled valves for controlling the air brake so that when an electrical connection is made the brakes will be liberated and when the electrical connection is broken the brakes will be applied with the maximum voltage consistent with the safety of the equipment and the comfort of the passengers. The mechanism by which all this is accomplished is so Well known in the art that it is unnecessary to describe it here and it is only necessary for me to describe the means whereby at the proper time this electrical connection is made and broken so that making the electrical connection from the power line through the means of the power car shoe will liberate the brakes and start the motor, and.breaking the electrical connection will apply the brakes and shut off power from the motor.

InFig. 6 I have shown a solenoid '7 which when energized completes the above mentioned electrical circuit and when deenergized breaks the said electrical circuit. This solenoid 7 is in constant connection through a car shoe with the control rail and the other terminal of the solenoid 7 is grounded so that whatever voltage exists in the contact rail is at all times transmitted to the winding of solenoid 7.

Each door of the car is equipped with a suitable switch as shown diagrammatically at 8, 9 and 10 so connected to the door that the circuit is completed when the door is fully closed and broken when the door is not fully closed. These switches 8, 9 and 10 are in series with each other, one end of them being connected to the power rail through the power car shoe, and the other end being connected to one end of the wind- I ings of solenoid 11, the other end of the windings being grounded. If, therefore, all the doors on the car are properly and en tirely closed solenoid 11 will be energized but if any of the doors on that car are open solenoid 11 will not be energized. hen solenoid 11 is not energized it makescontactbetween contacts 12 and 13 but when it is energized this contact is broken. Contact12 is connected with the control rail through the car control shoe. Contact 13 is connected to one blade of a knife switch as shown at 14. This knife switch is placed in convenient location to the guard on the car for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

From the other blade of the switch 14 a connection is made through a resistance 16 to the ground and also through an electric sounder 15 to the ground, this sounder being a bell, buzzer or any other well known form of audible or visible signal, preferably audible.

Before describing how the above mecha-' nism operates it will be necessary to describe the controlling mechanism of the train. This controlling mechanism is preferably at a controlling station situated adjacent to the endless track at some convenient point preferably close to the transfer table. In this controlling station is a control handle 46, see Fig. 5, operating around a pivot 47. This handle carries a contact piece 48 which makes contact with the contact strip 4 and also makes contact with the three buttons 1, 2 and 3, being so arranged that it will make contact with button 3 before it leaves button 2 or with button 2 be fore it leaves button 3, as indicated in dotted lines. Button 1 is a dead button. Buttons 2 and 3 are connected together through resistance 5. Button 3 is connected to the control rail of the endless train; segment 4 is connected to the current feed.

From button 3 there is also a connection to the electrical indicator 6, the other side of this indicator being connected to the ground. This electric indicator will register the current voltage at any given time in button 3 and its connections.

I will now describe the operation of the device;

Let us suppose that handle 46 is on button 1. There will, therefore, be no current in button 3 and therefore no current in the control rail. There being no current in the control rail solenoid 7 on each car will not be energized and the switch it controls will therefore be open and therefore the brakes will be applied and the motor will be shut ofl on each car. Let us suppose that the control handle is moved so as to make contact with button 2. Current would immediately pass through segment 4, contact piece 48 to button 2 and through the resistance 5 to the button 3 and then to the control rail and also to the meter 6 indicating the amount of current in the control rail. There would therefore be current entering the control rail through resistance 5 and leaving the control rail through each of the solenoids 7 and the resistance 5 would be so graduated that the amoun of current entering the control rail through resistance 5 would be somewhat. below that sufiicient to energize the solenoids 7, that is with all the solenoids 7 in parallel with each other and connecting the control rail to the ground. Further, this insufficiency of the current coming through resistance 5 to energize any of solenoids 7 must exist even if all the doors on the train are closed and therefore when all solenoids 11 are energized and no current is passlng out of the control rail through contacts 12 and 13 through the switch 1 1 and through the resistance 16 or the sounder 15.

If all the doors, or a large number of the doors, of the train are open when handle 46 is moved to make contact with button 2 then the current passing through resistance 5 in addition to leaking out of the control rail through all the solenoids 7 will also be leaking out through all the resistances 1G and all the sounders 15 on the cars on which any door was open, and these resistances 16 would have a sullicient carrying capacity in proportion to the resistance 5 that there would be practically no current in the control rail so long as any material number of cars had any doors open, and therefore so long as any material number of resistances 16 are making connection from the control rail to the ground. Therefore, if any considerable niunl'or of doors were open the meter (3 in Fig. 5 at the control station would practically indicate zero.

As soon, however, as a large majority of the cars had all their doors closed, and therefore their solenoid 11 energized and therefore connection from the control shoe to the resistance 16 and the sounder 15 was cut out on suchcars, the current entering the control rail through resistance 5 would have less free access to the ground and would begin to build up a voltage in the control rail. By the time there only re mained some few cars with any door open this voltage would be sui'iicient to cause the sounder 15 to sound on .such cars, thereby notifying the guard on each car on which such sounder was heard that his car was delaying the starting of the train. This would cause such guard to immediately rcdouble his efforts to get his doors all immediately closed and the moment his sounder ceased he would know that his car was no longer delaying the train. Should, however, it possibly occur that something had gone wrong with one of the door switches or with the electrical connections or with solenoid 11 or with one of the door operating engines or its control (it being naturally assumed that each door would be a power-operated door controlled by the guard) and the guard found that he was unable by manipulating the door control to cause the sounder to cease sounding then by opening the manual switch 14 he would immediately disconnect the control shoe from the resistance 16 and the sounder 15 just as though this disconnection had been made through the normal operation of solenoid 11 and the train would then be no longer delayed by this particular car. In this way, therefore, I prevent the train being unduly delayed either by the guard being dilatory or by the mechanism on the car becoming tempo 'arily out of order, and, therefore, the train could always proceed on schedule time.

It might be mentioned that it may be found advantageous to attach an electrical recorder in connection with the sounder 15 whereby a record would be automatically kept of each time the sounder had operated so that a car inspector could instantly tell by looking at the recorder how frequently that particular car had been one of the last ones to get the doors closed and thereby check up on the efficiency of the guard.

The meter (5 at the controlling station which records at all times the voltage in the control rail would be steadily recording a heavier and heavier voltage as the number of car on which any door was open was being reduced and as the last car got its doors closed or its switch it opened which produces the same effect, and the control rail was free of any connection to the ground other than through the solenoids 7 the meter 6 would touch the point where it would indicate this fact to the man in charge of the control station and he would instantly mov the control handle 16 to button 3 thereby putting full voltage into the control rail and so energizing all the solenoids T and so completing the circuit on each car that liberates the brake and start the motor mechanism into action.

\Vhen he desired to stop he would mov the handle to the dead button 1, whereupon solenoids 7 would be deenergized, the motor control would be disconnected and the brakes applied and the train stop and as soon as it was stopped he would move his control handle 46 to button 2 so as to obtain through meter 6 an accurate indication of when the 7 door were closed.

It will be seen therefore that I have de vised an exceedingly simple and eflicient arrangement whereby an endless train of cars can be controlled so that the train can be operated rapidly and can be stopped when desired, where the man in charge of thecontrolling station knows when all doors of the train are closed and where the hurry-up signal is given on the cars that are last to have their doors closed and where means are provided whereby the guard at any car is enabled to place the system in condition so that the train can be operated even although any part of the safety arrangement on his car has become damaged.

In order to get the full benefit ofa system of this type it would be necessary to depart entirely from the present prevalent idea of having more or less isolated stations a considerable distance apart, that is of having the entrances to the platform only at far separate intervals. To obtain the greatest advantage there should be entrances from the street to the platform atver frequent inter vals and it would probably lie found advantageous to make such entrances from stores, hotels, etc. This would enable passengers to board the train at the nearest point that the line of travel of the train was to their starting point and they would be saved the pres ent disagreeable feature of having to walk perhaps several blocks along the line of travel of the train before gaining access to the platform. There would also be the great advantage of preventing the passengers from over-crowding at one point which tend to delay the departure of the train by the passengers attempting to crowd into an already filled car.

It would of course also be advisable to have-an equal, or even greater, number of exits from the platform.

The length of travel of the train, that is of any particular car of the train from one stopping point to the next'would of course be optional with the management and would perhaps vary from a quarter of a mile on what might be called local trains to perhaps a distance of two miles on express trains. It is evident of course that any one endless train could not make frequent stops at one portion of the circuit and less frequent stops at another portion, and the distance traveled would have to be equal at all portions. If the distance traveled by each car between stops always remains constant, it would of course be a practical convenience to the traveling public to provide signs on the platform where each car stops, indicating the street at which that particular car would next stop.

It would probably be advisable rather than make the endless trains of excessive length to adopt a system wherein there would be two or three or more independent endles trains which would meet each other, that is at certain places they would touch on opposite sides of the same stationary platform, touching it for a length somewhat in excess of the length of travel between stops of either train so that every car of either endless train in some one of the stops of the train would always stop opposite some car of the other train.

It is obvious that very many different arrangements of endless train systems might be advantageously adopted without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention as defined by the claims.

less chain of unattached cars, and means for starting and stopping said chain of cars from a single control station.

2. A railway system, comprising an endless chain of cars, means for starting and stopping said chain of cars from a single control station, and means for rendering said starting means inoperative when any door of any car is open.

3. In a railway system, the combination with an endless chain of unattached cars, of means for automatically taking up any lost space between adjacent cars.

4. In an endless chain of cars, the combination with unattached cars, of means for automatically taking up any lost space between adjacent cars, and means for taking any car out of the system without varying the space between adjacent cars.

5. In a railway system of the class described, the combination with cars provided with yieldable bufiers located at their ends and bearing against similar buffers of adjacent cars, of means for taking any car out of the system without varying the space between adjacent cars.

6. The combination with an endless chain of cars operating on an endless track, an endless platform positioned adjacent thereto,-of a movable section of track and platform provided with an auxiliary track and platform, and means for moving said movable section of track and platform out of alinement with the remainder of said track and platform and for moving the auxiliary track and platform into alinement therewith substantially as and for the purpose described. I

7. A railway system comprising an endless chain of unattached cars, and means for starting and stopping said cars from a single control station.

8. A railway system comprising an endless chain of unattached cars, and means for starting and stopping said cars from a single control station, and means for rendering said starting means inoperative when any door of any car is open.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand on this 19th day of July A. D.,

HAROLD ROWNTREE.

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