The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 15, 2000
Filed:
Feb. 06, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Ernest Peek, Cocoa, FL (US);
Wayne Basta, Saginaw, TX (US);
Assignee:
GE-Harris Railway Electronics, LLC, Melbourne, FL (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B61L / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
246121 ; 246 / ; 2461 / ; 246220 ; 246246 ; 246255 ;
Abstract
This invention relates to a system and method of detecting a broken rail in a railway system. The track sensing circuitry of the present invention applies a voltage source at each end of a block of rails and senses the current flowing through the circuitry. The present invention will detect broken rails continuously in a block, even with a train present (except for a break directly beneath the train). Since the rail is continuously checked, the only restriction imposed on train spacing by this track circuit configuration is that only one train can be present in a block at a time.