SAFE RAILWAY CROSSINGS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 204, 17 January 1913, Page 5

SAFE RAILWAY CROSSINGS.

J AX IXGLEWOOD INVENTION. The appalling frequency of fatalities afc railway crossings of late emphasises the need not only for inspection of and attention to railroad level crossings, but also, in view of the rapidly increasing vogue of the motor vehicles, the need for the adoption of some better system of warning travellers by road of the approach of trains. Mr. L. de Launay, of lnglewood, lias been for some three years engaged in perfecting the invention of an automatic warning signal force at these crossings, and on Thursday a Daily News reporter was given a private demonstration of the working of the model. This consists of about twenty feet of miniature.. railroad, a. model steam locomotive, and a semaphore post erected at a road crossing. New Plymouth people are to be given an opportunity of seeing the working model at the Town Hall this afternoon, at 2.30 o'clock. Tt is hoped to iloat a small cornpan'' to place tin! invention on the maiket.

A few minutes suffice to get up steam on the little model locomotive engine, to which is attached a tender, and the engine starts on her journey towards the semaphore post., As the engine approaches within, say, a couple of hundred yards of the crossing, an inclined plate underneath presses down a swing bar or lever placed between the metals, and instantly there swings into position, resting at right angles to the post, a biff red board bearing in staring white letters the word "'stop." Just before passing over the crossing the engine presses down a second lever and the warning signal falls again to the side of the post. Again and again the little model makes the journey and the signal leaps into position and disappears a wain with unerring regularity. " Then the inventor shows how it is impossible for the signal to fall back into place until the engine has operated tlie releasing gear; and also that until that signal has been released the engine may shunt backwards and forwards over the setting lever without affecting the signal in the slightest. Also he explains that in the event of a train having two engines coupled together only the first one will set the signal, whilst the same holds good with regard to the releasing gear. A red disc projects at right "angles from the face of the "stop" sign. Thix clise faces the approaching engine, and is visible only when the signal is down. Thus, should the signal fail to act, of which there would seem to be only the remotest possibility, the engine-driver will become apprised of it as soon as he has passed the lever, and he will have' time to slow down for the crossing. Should this red disc be invisible from the engine it can he taken as proof positive that travellers by road have been warded of the approach of the train, and that the train is so close as to make crossing dangerous. There are no springs, and no intricate mechanism, to get out of order, ~tw» weights sufficing to raise or depress the semaphore. Provisional patents Jiave been secured _ for _an extension ' of ' the system to suit night train services by attaching lights which will be visible to the public only, when the signal-am is iat "danger." -It would, be hard fo imagine anything more simple, and it should be a success in operation. The invention is protected in Australia, i and other countries. !