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:
Nov. 21, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 03, 1998
Applicant:
Inventor:
Kevin M McQuistian, County of Westmoreland, PA (US);
Assignee:
Union Switch & Signal Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B61L / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
246220 ; 246253 ; 246476 ;
Abstract
A fixed rail mounted railroad switch point indicator is provided, wherein proximity detectors are mounted to the fixed stock rail to sense the position of the switch relative to those stock rails. Preferably, eddy current sensors are used as the proximity sensors to indicate the distance of the switch points relative to the fixed rails. A microprocessor converts a current reading from the proximity detectors into the distance measurement, such as by indicating an 'on/off' state of the sensor. Additionally, the microprocessor provides information as to the operation of the sensors to provide the reliability of the signals received.