New Developments CARRIER CONTROL tion is said to afford the additional ranged to be mutually destroying, REPEATER advantage of permitting trailing of which should prove of interest to the switch without damage, yet users of rail motor cars in construc­ THE General Railway Signal Com­ holding the switch closed in either tion and maintenance work. Riders pany, Rochester 2, N. Y., has devel­ the normal or the reversed position, oped a single-channel repeater unit with sufficient force to permit fac­ for carrier control service. It is said ing-point moves at normal yard to be a companion unit to the trans­ speeds. When the machine is power mitter and receiver units, having the operated, the toggle mechanism is same construction and external di­ pushed past center by compressed mensions-91/s in. high, 7 in. wide, air, whereupon the spring-loaded and 8% in. deep. It weighs 8 lb., toggle action forces the switch and is designed for shelf-mounting. points to the opposite position, sim­ The repeater is used where line­ ilar to the action of ordinary toggle wire attenuation becomes severe be­ switches used in electric lighting cause of weather conditions, heavy circuits. Since the holding force of loading of the line due to other fa­ the spring is sufficient to permit cilities, or where small-size line wire must be employed. This unit oper­ ates on a power level of +16 dbm. A particular feature is that the out­ put is essentially constant over wide variations of input voltages and, like Fuses burn for 10 or 5 minutes of such cars have sometimes been injured by fragments of torpedoes Machine is designed especially for yards left on the rail an unknown length of time before. The fusee not only advertises itself until completely facing moves, the air is cut off at consumed but, after the lapse of its the end of the stroke, affording ap­ useful life (10 or 5 min.), completely preciable savings in compressed air removes the torpedo, so that it requirements. vVhen the switch is presents no hazard to motor cars trailed, the toggle mechanism is and causes no unnecessary train de­ pushed past center by the move­ lays. Motor-car riders can protect ment of the points, and the spring­ themselves against following trains loaded toggle action forces the for a period of 10 or 5 min., after points to the opposite position. which the flaming flagman exhausts A separate switch circuit con­ itself and burns the torpedo. Fur­ Repeater operates on +16-dbm. power troller, such as the "Union" U-5, is ther details are available direct from level · used in combination with the NA-10 the company. switch machine for the indication of the other G.R.S. carrier control the position of the points and the units, can be operated directly from control of air valve. According to the RELAY TIMER a 12-cell storage battery without manufacturer, the switch machine is recourse to any additional a.c. available with or without a dual.: THE General Railway Signal Com­ power supplies or inverters. control mechanism for hand opera­ pany, Rochester 2, N. Y. , has devel­ tion of the switch. When the ma­ oped an 'electronic interval timer, chine is equipped with a hand-throw designated specifically for testing re­ E. P. TOGGLE SP RING lever, it is possible to carry on lays. Called the Syncrograph, this SWITCH MACH INE switching operations during periods device is capable of measuring an in­ when the operators are off duty or dicating intervals as small as 0.0001 THE Union Switch & Signal Com­ when power is unavailable. sec. and as large as 9.99 sec. The in­ pany, Swissvale, Pa., is offering the strument is equipped with termin­ NA'-10 electro-pneumatic toggle als and switches which permit di­ spring switch machine, which is de­ TORPEDO FUSEE rect control, from the Syncrograph signed especially for installation in panel, of pick-up and drop-away op­ yards. In addition to the usual ad­ THE Western Railroad Supply Com­ eration of a relay under test. A se­ vantages derived from the power pany, 2428 South Ashland Avenue, lector switch provides choice of operation of switches in such appli­ Chicago 8, has introduced a new three timing ranges: 0.0,000 to cation, the spring-loaded toggle ac- combined torpedo and fusee, ar- 0.0,999, 0.000 to 0.999, and 0.00 to September, 1950 R A I l W A Y S I G N A ll N G and C 0 M M U N I C AT I 0 N S 559 and has practically unlimited life, according to the manufacturer. The new unit is a dry-disk, metallic­ type rectifier with a filter in the out­ put circuit to permit voice communi­ cation on the code line without ob­ jectional hum due to rectifier ripple. It is available in two sizes; one size is for code lines requiring energiza­ tion at a voltage within the range of 30 to 220 volts d.c., and its dimen­ sions are 17%-in. wide, 11 1/ 16-in. high and 101/s-in deep. The other size will handle lines requiring en­ ergization at a voltage within the range of 20 to 80 volts d.c., and its dimensions are 12%-in. wide, 111/ 16-in. high and 10 7j 16~in deep. The unit is energized normally from a 110-volt 50j 60j 100-cycle a.c. sup­ ply. During periods of power out­ age, it is energized from a tuned alternator fed from the local 16-volt battery. In most instances, where The Syncrograph is designed specifically for testing relays a tuned alternator is now in service 9.99 sec., so that measurements may graph is designed for operation on a for supplying standby power to code be made of pick-up, drop-away, and 105 to 130-volt 50 to 60-cycle a.c. equipment, the code line may be en­ crossover times for both quick and supply. Standard accessories includ­ ergized from this same tuned alter­ slow-acting relays. ed with the instn1ment, as shown in nator. Time-interval indications are said the illustration, are two shielded ca­ to be given directly as three-digit ble assemblies and a set of alligator readings by means of neon lamps, (!lips, pin plugs, phone jack, and HIGH-SPEED CODED one of which lights in each of three clip-on test probes which plug onto REMOTE CONTROL columns opposite the digit appropri- the cable terminals. The instrument (Not Illustrated) ate· for the indication. Provision is is portable, weighing approximately A new high-speed coded system for made for automatically accumulat- 28 lb., and is supplied complete with the remote control of interlockings ing the total of a series of readings in a carrying case which includes space has been developed by the General the indication columns, expediting for the test cables and accessory Railway Signal Company, Rochester the computation of totalized times terminals. 2, N. Y., the system transmitting a and of averages. All indications are control in 0.5 sec. Controls and indi­ completely stable, and are retained cations can be transmitted simultan­ indefinitely by the instrument until NEW C.T.C CO DE eously over __ a pair of line wires-the reset. Interval timing may be LINE UNIT controls by d.c. code impulses and started and stopped by any combin­ THE Union Switch & Signal Com­ the indications by carrier frequency. ation of the following, applied in se­ Codes are checked for completeness quence across the "START" and pany, Swissvale, Pa., introduces a new C.T.C. code-line unit which is before being used, according to the "STOP" terminals: (1) Closing a cir­ designed to provide a highly-satis­ manufacturer. cuit, (2) opening a circuit, (3) apply­ factory source of energy for oper­ Heart of the high-speed coding is ing a positive-going voltage ( + ating C.T.C. code-line circuits. It a free oscillating code transmitter pulse), and (4) applying a negative­ eliminates the code-line battery, having a rate of 540 cycles per min­ going voltage(- pulse). When or + with its maintenance and periodic ute or 9 per second. Two such trans.:. - inputs are used, a four-position replacement; reduces space require­ mitters are located in the control sensitivity switch may be set, so as ments on new installations; requires office, and two at the field location, to permit acceptance only of pulses no maintenance; has no tubes or being paired to handle the controls equal to or greater than a selected moving parts requiring replacement; and indications. When no controls level, with rejection of lower-level are being sent, the control transmit­ inputs. ters in the office and field are locked As one example of how start and so that their armatures are station­ stop input signals may be used, the ary. When the leverman turns a pick-up time of a relay can be meas­ switch or a signal lever, both trans­ ured by using as a start signal the mitters are unlocked simultaneously voltage pulse which appears across and oscillate freely and in synchro­ the relay coil when it is energized, nism. Eight swings of the armature, and by using as a stop signal the or 4 cycles, are enough to transfer closing of a front contact. Similarly, the control information to the field other operating time characteristics location and control the operation of the relay may be measured by ap­ of a switch or a signal. Likewise, proprate use of coil voltage pulses when there are no indications to be and contact openings and closings as transmitted, the indication trans­ start and stop signals.