THE INVENTION
OF THE
TRACK CIRCUIT

PREFACE

Believing that no more fitting memorial can be prepared in honor of Dr. William Robinson than to reproduce the salient points relating to his great achievement as written and published by himself in 1906 under the title of "History of Automatic Electric and Electrically Controlled Fluid Pressure Signal Systems for Railroads," the committee has accordingly drawn largely from this pamphlet for the material contained in Part I.

Part II is devoted to W. A. Baldwin, formerly General Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, who was responsible for the first installations of automatic block signals controlled by track circuits.

As this memorial would not be complete without a description of the track circuit, its principle and operation under present day signaling practices, Part III is accordingly devoted to this subject.

HERBERT S. BALLIET, Chairman;
KEITH E. KELLENBERGER,
HENRY M. SPERRY,
Committee.

CONTENTS

THE TRACK CIRCUIT[1]

"Perhaps no single invention in the history of the development of railway transportation has contributed more toward safety and despatch in that field than the track circuit. By this invention, simple in itself, the foundation was obtained for the development of practically every one of the intricate systems of railway block signaling in use today wherein the train is, under all conditions, continuously active in maintaining its own protection.

"In other words, the track circuit is today the only medium recognized as fundamentally safe by experts in railway signaling whereby a train or any part thereof may retain continuous and direct control of a block signal while occupying any portion of the track guarded by the signal."

 [1]

From the Third Annual Report of The Block Signal and Train Control Board to the Interstate Commerce Commission. Dated Nov. 22, 1910.

  Resolution

Adopted at Annual Meeting of Signal Section, A.R.A. Chicago, June, 1921

Whereas, Almighty God, in the exercise of His Divine will, has removed from this world our late honorary member, Dr. William Robinson, and,

Whereas, Dr. Robinson, well called the "father of automatic block signaling" because of his basic invention of the closed track circuit August 20, 1872, began the development of an automatic signal system in 1867 and installed the so-called "open circuit" system at Kinzua, Pa., on the Philadelphia & Erie, now the Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1870, and,

Whereas, he worked on the development of fiber for insulated rail joints in 1876 and also developed the channel pin about the same time, and,

Whereas, one of the first signals controlled by more than one track circuit was installed under his direction at the Tehauntepec tunnel in California in 1877, and,

Whereas, his death at Brooklyn, N.Y., on January 2, 1921, at the age of 80, is an irreparable loss to the