ELECTRIC EYE DRIVES TRAIN.
REMARKABLE GERMAN INVENTION
Of the many ingenious ways of stopping a train automatically it' the signals are against it the invention lately tried hy the German State Railways is surely the most remarkable. The control of the train is brought about by the photo-electric cells which operate the brakes by means of a light signal, but the light itself is provided by the engine. A dynamo on the locomotive feeds a lamp which throws an almost vertical cone of light into the air. Mirrors are arranged on upright supports at points along the line where control is necessary, and if the signal is against the train the mirrors will be in such a position as to meet the beam of light and throw it down on a pair of photo-cells mounted in the searchlight of the engine." The electric current from the cells operates a relay, and the brake magnets are opened and the train is brought to a standstill. With another arrangement of photocells the speed of the train can be automatically adjusted at any speed from sixty to two miles an hour, and by means of the' mirrors along the track it can be varied before entering a station or a dangerous curve, so that its safe running is assured.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)
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216ELECTRIC EYE DRIVES TRAIN. Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)
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