Novel Switch Device Saginaw Man's Invention To Prevent Railway Collisions Wonderful Piece Of Mechanism Switches Left Open By Negligent Employees Closed By The Train Itself-claimed The Apparatus Will Save Millions Of Dollars To The Railroad Companies

NOVEL SWITCH DEVICE

Saginaw Man's Invention to Prevent Railway Collisions.

WONDERFUL PIECE OF MECHANISM

Switches Left Open by Negligent Employees Closed by the Train Itself - Claimed the Apparatus Will Save Millions of Dollars to the Railroad Companies.

An automatic switching device, the purpose of which is to prevent railroad accidents resulting from open switches, is the product of the brain of a Saginaw (Mich.) man, Mr. David J. Sullivan, says the Cincinnati Enquirer. The patents are controlled by F. H. Harper and E. L. Fish of Saginaw, protection from infringement having been obtained in every country in the world where railroad building amounts to anything. The attention of capital is already being drawn to this life and property saver and it is impossible to predict the enormous benefits which will be the result of its use. This mechanism automatically closes railway switches which have been accidentally of intentionally left open when, in the operation of the road, the conditions are such as to require them to be closed. Simple and effective means are provided for automatically locking the switch tongue in either of its positions to prevent casual displacement.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the switch operating mechanism may be made temporarily inoperative for local switching purposes between a main and branch track, and, in case of the failure of the trainmen to reset the apparatus and close the switch, the mechanism will be automatically reset by the departing train, or, in case a train approached while a train was on the switch, the approaching train would make the system operative and close the switch, thus preventing a collision. This system is not intended for yard switching, but only for branch roads leading from the main line and for switches along the line for the use of handling freight and to allow trains to pass.

The locking bars or levers tilt upward from the middle of the track, so that when struck by a train they are thrown down and the switch closed. The guard the approach to the switch from every direction. When the switch is closed, the bars lie flat and ordinarily a train does not strike them. A train on the switch can pass to the main line, but should it back up after going on the main track it strikes the lever and it would be impossible to go on the switch again unless the lever was fastened back up to an L shaped piece of steel, which is part of the device. Between the lever and the track is a spring which is struck by the flange of a wheel. The spring is located an eighth of a mile down the track and is connected to the L shaped piece of steel by a cable. A train an eighth of a mile away strikes the spring, which releases the lever, and it flies into position to again guard the switch.

It will thus be seen that it is absolutely impossible for a train to run into an open switch. If the system is made temporarily inoperative for switching purposes, it is made operative by an oncoming train striking the spring an eighth of a mile away. The tilting levers are then in position, and the switch is thrown before a train can reach it. The train passes on without being obliged even to slow down.

The levers, spring, cables, etc., in this device have been made practically unbreakable. The springs have a strength of 300 to 700 pounds, while the breaking tension of the cables is 34 tons, where only 300 or 400 pounds must be shifted. Inch cables are used and five-eighths of an inch chains.

One of these switches has been in operation on the Pere Marquette railroad in Saginaw, and it was demonstrated to be a success. Michigan's state railroad engineer has approved of it, and many railroad men who have examined it pronounce it to be a great success. Tired and overworked railroad men make mistakes and often neglect to close a switch. The new device makes it absolutely safe for all trains to pass switches, as it allows to errors to creep in.