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. 24, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 10, 2002
Applicant:
Inventor:
Douglas James Holgate, Chellaston, GB;
Assignee:
AEA Technology plc, Didcot, GB;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B61K 9/00 ; B61L 2/500 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B61K 9/00 ; B61L 2/500 ;
Abstract
A break in a rail, where two rails ( ) extend parallel to each other along a railway line, is detected by connecting the two rails together electrically with two electrical connections ( ) at opposite ends of a section of the line, causing electrical currents to flow in parallel along the two rails from a current source ( ), and detecting ( ) the currents flowing in each of the rails ( ). From the two values of current one can find it there is a break in one of the rails ( ). The currents may be measured in one of the connections ( ). The current source ( ) may be DC or low frequency AC, or a coded pulse sequence.