242 



Popular Science Monthly 



Automatic Flagmen to Warn Motor- 

 Car Drivers 



IT 



W- 



Wi 



The automatic 

 flagman at a cross- 

 ing. At right, de- 

 tail of four differ- 

 ent installations 



IN these days of 

 automobiles 

 and motor-cycles, 

 something more 

 than the old- 

 fashioned "Stop, 

 look and listen" 

 sign is necessary 

 at railroad cross- 

 ings. Such signs 

 are entirely too 

 unobtrusive to 

 attract the atten- 

 tion of a motor- 

 car driver going 

 r.t sixty miles an 

 hour. At night 

 they are practi- 

 cally worthless. 



A striking ex- 

 periment has re- 

 sulted in the in- 

 vention of the "automatic 

 flagman." At the approach 

 of a train it rings a loud 

 gong, and waves a bright 

 red disk by day and a red 

 lamp by night. So sensi- 

 tive is the Iniman e\'e to red 

 and to motion that such a 

 warning can li.irdly escape 

 notice. 



The ilexice consists of a 



IP 



Single track, battery 

 installation 



-y 



wealher-i^roof case containing the ope- 

 rating mechanism and a signal disk upon 

 which are mounted stand- 

 ard ruby-red switch lances 

 with an incandescent lamp 

 between. Energy' is sup- 

 plied by a small electric 

 motor, which operates the 

 mechanism that rings the 

 gong and waves the disk. 



The motor receives its 

 energy from storage batter- 

 ies, lighting circuits or trol- 

 ley circuits, depending on 

 the character of the installa- 

 tion. On steam roads the 

 track is insulated and bond- 

 ed for the desired distance 

 away from the signal and is 

 charged with current from 

 a small battery. On entering this block 

 the train completes the circuit and 

 operates a relay, which connects the 

 motor with the power circuit. 



w 



Double track llOv 

 A. C. installation 



Vt 



[D|^^ 



Trolley contactor circuit. 

 Trolley voltage 



TJ= 



^ 



^ 



M] 



V 



JTJ 



Third-rail contactor circuit. 

 Third-rail voltage 



A Western Railroad's Clay 

 Locomotives 



HEN a western railroad wanted to 

 convey the information to the 

 traveling public that its locomotives 

 were of the newest and biggest design it 

 called in Emory P. Seidcl, the sculjitor, 

 and asked him to make models of them. 

 Mr. Seidel searched some time for a suit- 

 able substance out of which to construct 

 his models and finally decided upon a 

 greasy composition from Italy which 

 closely reseml)les clay. '\hv models are 

 five feet in height and represent three 

 weeks' work on the part of the sculptor. 

 The cost was li\ e hundred dollars. 



It took a sculptor three weeks to fashion 

 these locomotives in a clay composition 



