US2009504A - Illuminating unit for railway signals - Google Patents

Description

July 30, 1935. c LARSON 2,009,504

ILLUMINATING UNIT FOR RAILWAY SIGNALS Filed March 2, 1951 12514577257 L H Zia/507$ g4 IMQMV'QI Patented July 30, 1935 g omen STATES ILLUMINATING UNIT FOR RAILWAY SIGNALS Carl H. Larson, Elkhart, Ind., assignor to The Adlake Company, a corporation of Illinois Application March 2, 1931, Serial No. 519,354

1 Claim. (01. 1'l7329) This invention relates to railway signals and down over all three and held in place'by the has for its objects to furnish a resilient support nuts 2|. This forms a rugged terminal strip to for both the signal and the emergency lamp; to which are attached the standard American Railprovide a convenient terminal board; to support way Association binding posts 22. A thumb nut 5 a relay adapted to connect the emergency lamp; 23 is fitted upon each rod and has a constricted 5 and to combine these elements in a single rugged shank portion 24 which is engaged by the squared unit which may be inserted in or removed from end loop 25 of a spring 26. The other end of a standard railway signal casing with a minithe spring is hooked through a disk 21 of insumum of labor and with no danger that the parts lating material which is thus freely suspended will be out of line, or the lamps out of focus. between the posts. A lamp socket 28 fits through 10 These and other objects and advantages will the disk 21 and a collar 29 thereon bears against become apparent from the following description the emergency lamp support 3|. The support when read in conjunction with the accompanyis bored to receive an emergency lamp socket 32 ing drawing. in which and both sockets are held in place by the nuts Fig. l is a vertical section through a standard 33, 33. The support 3| electrically connects the 15 railway signal casing showing, however, the shells of both sockets and the flexible common lens and the illuminating unit in elevation; lead thereto is connected at the point 34.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the unit; For clarity in illustration, in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, Fig. 3 is a detail showing the method of susthe wires have not been shown, but their location pending the lamp sockets; and and arrangement is indicated by Fig. 4. A relay 20 Fig. 4 is a schematic wiring diagram of the 35 of a conventional type is mounted in the housdevice. ing [8. Preferably, between it and the emer- The casing, generally indicated by ID, has its gency lamp is inserted an impedance coil 36 rear end closed by the door II and bears a lens which is more particularly set forth in a com or roundel l2 affixed in the opposite wall. A panion application. The function of the im- 25 further description is not thought necessary since pedance coil is to equalize the voltage applied to the casing is now well known. r the emergency lamp with that applied to the When the casing is applied to dwarf signals, main lamp in the circuit of which the relay coil the signal is often subjected to severe and sudden 31 is included. If desired, the housing I8 may shocks. The apparatus is very close to and be provided with a head 38 over which a pressed 30 often directly connected to the track. The small metal cover 39 may be slid which gives further available space within the casing and the cramped protection to the relay 35. or squat locations in which they are often placed While it is preferred to employ a relay of the makes it desirable that the illuminating appatype above mentioned, it is understood, however,

ratus should be detachable as a unit and cleaned, that any suitable relay may be employed such 35 adjusted and inspected outside of the casing itfor example as the relay disclosed in the Laney self. Furthermore, the very sharp shocks which et a1. Patent No. 755,890, issued in 1904. are imparted to dwarf signals make it desirable The long vertical adjustment which is possible that an emergency lamp be placed alongside the on any thumb nut supplies practically a universal 40 main signal lamp and be held in readiness to movement to the central lamp and by it the sig- 40 light upon the failure of the signal lamp. nal lamp may be set exactly in the focus of the Emergency lamps have heretofore been atlens l2. It is not desired that the emergency tached rigidly to the signal casing and conselamp should occupy the focus since a drop in quently have been subject to all of the shocks the brilliancy of the signal is the tell-tale which 4:5 imparted to the casing itself. The result has indicates that the main lamp has failed. Acbeen that the filament of the emergency lamp cordingly, the emergency lamp is located ahead y be broken before the Signal p burns t. of the focus, but in the axis of the lens. It is to The illuminating unit comprises a base plate be particularly noticed that it is necessary only [3 which is attached to the signal casing by to remove three nuts to free the illuminating means of the bolt 14. Rising from the plate and unit entirely from the casing, viz. the nut 4| on 50 attached thereto by the screws [5, or by any the bolt M which holds the entire assembly to other suitable means, are three threaded rods IS. the casing, and the nuts 22, 22, which hold the Bored ears l'l, integral with the relay housing power leads to the terminal board. is are slid over one of the rods and a plate 19 The emergency lamp has the same measure of of insulating or other suitable material is fitted protection against shocks as does the main sig- 5 nal, and since the relay is opened by current and closed by gravity drop, the particular fixed position of the relay casing assures its operation at all times.

What I claim, therefore, is:

In an illuminating unit, comprising a pair of lamp bulbs for alternative use and means for controlling the relative action of such bulbs, in

combination, a base plate, means for removably securing the plate within a casing, upright posts secured to the plate, means for mounting the lamps on the posts, and a housing for inclosing the first-mentioned means fixed to one of the posts.

CARL H. LARSON.

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