 A dead man's switch in a Very Narrow Aisle warehouse truck. A dead man's switch (for other names, see alternative names), as its name suggests, is a device intended to stop a machine in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, and is a form of fail-safe. They are commonly used in locomotives, freight elevators, lawn mowers, tractors, jet skis, outboard motors, chainsaws, snowblowers and snowmobiles. For other uses, see Dead mans switch (disambiguation). ...
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Great Western Railway No. ...
For other uses, see Elevator (disambiguation). ...
A typical modern gasoline-powered mower. ...
Jet ski is the brand name of Kawasaki Heavy Industries personal water craft. ...
Bolinders two cylinder Trim outboard engine. ...
For other uses, see Chainsaw (disambiguation). ...
A snow blower, snowblower, or snow thrower is a machine for removing snow from an area where it is not wanted, such as a driveway, sidewalk, roadway, or runway. ...
A snowmobile tour at Yellowstone National Park. ...
Background Interest in dead-man's controls increased with the introduction of electric streetcars and especially electrified rapid transit trains, though dead-man equipment was quite rare on US streetcars until comparatively recently. In conventional steam railroad trains, there was always a second person with the engineer, the fireman, who could bring the train to a stop if necessary. For many decades this practice continued on electric & diesel locomotives, even though a single person could theoretically operate them. This article refers to public transport vehicles running on rails. ...
“Mass Transit†redirects here. ...
Steam railroad is a term used in the United States to distinguish conventional heavy railroads from street railways, interurban streetcar lines, and other light railways usually dedicated primarily to passenger transport. ...
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This article is about the fuel. ...
Great Western Railway No. ...
With modern urban and suburban railway systems, the driver was typically alone in an enclosed cab. Though automatic devices were already beginning to be deployed on newer installations of the New York City Subway system in the early 20th century, it took the disastrous Malbone Street Wreck on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit system in 1918 to point out the need for universal deployment of such devices to halt trains in the event of an operator's disability. Cities with at least a million inhabitants in 2006 An urban area is an area with an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. ...
Illustration of the backyards of a surburban neighbourhood Suburbs are inhabited districts located either on the outer rim of a city or outside the official limits of a city (the term varies from country to country), or the outer elements of a conurbation. ...
Times Square–42nd Street station entrance The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority , an affiliate of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit. ...
(19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...
The Malbone Street Wreck, also known as the Brighton Beach Line Accident of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT), was a rapid transit railroad accident that occurred November 1, 1918, beneath the intersection of Flatbush Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and Malbone Street, in the community of Flatbush, Borough of Brooklyn, New...
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a transportation holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate transit facilities in Kings County, now Brooklyn, New York. ...
Year 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
Types Handle
Pneumatically or electrically linked dead-man's controls, still used today, involve relatively simple modifications of the controller handle, the device that regulates traction power. The main requirement is that the train's emergency brakes are applied if pressure is not maintained on the controller. Pneumatics, from the Greek πνευματικός (pneumatikos, coming from the wind) is the use of pressurized air in science and technology. ...
Typically, the controller handle is a horizontal bar, rotated to apply the required power for the train. Attached to the bottom of the handle is a rod which, when pushed down, contacts a solenoid or switch inside the control housing. The handle springs up if pressure is removed, releasing the rod's contact with the internal switch, instantly cutting power and applying the brakes. For other uses, see Solenoid (disambiguation). ...
Though there are ways that this type of dead-man's control could conceivably fail, they have proven highly reliable.
On some earlier equipment, pressure was not maintained on the entire controller, but on a large button protruding from the controller handle. This button also had to be pressed continuously, typically with the palm of the hand so that the button was flush with the top of the handle. Another method used, particularly with some lever-type controllers, which are pushed or pulled rather than rotated, requires that the handle on the lever be turned through 90 degrees and held in that position while the train is in operation.
Some dead-man's controls require the motorman to hold it in the mid-position rather than apply full pressure (see pilot valve). A Pilot valve is a small valve that controls a limited-flow control feed to a separate piloted valve. ...
In many modern New York Subway trains, for example, the dead man's switch is incorporated into the train's speed control. On the R142A the train operator must continually hold the lever in place. This was depicted in the movie and book The Taking of Pelham 123, in which a group of men hijack a New York City subway train for ransom, but because of the Dead-man's feature, cannot escape while the train is moving. South Ferry station 125th Street station The New York City Subway is a large rapid transit system in New York City, New York, United States. ...
The R142A, along with the R142 is the next generation of cars for the New York Subways IRT divsion. ...
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (also known as The Taking of Pelham 123) is a thriller movie released in 1974. ...
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The term ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner to extort money or property extorted to secure their release, or to the sum of money involved. ...
Every lawn mower sold in the US since 1982 has an "operator-presence" device, which by law must stop the blades within 3 seconds after the user lets go of the controls[1].
Touch Sensor
On the Nottingham Express Transit vehicles, the tram's speed controller is fitted with a capacitive touch sensor to detect the driver’s hand. If the hand is removed for more than a short period of time, the track brakes are activated. Gloves, if worn, have to be finger-less for the touch sensor to operate. A back up Dead-man's switch button is provided on the side of the controller for use in the case of a failed touch sensor or if it is too cold to remove gloves. Nottingham Express Transit (or in short NET) is a light-rail tramway in the Nottingham area in England. ...
This article refers to public transport vehicles running on rails. ...
Track brakes are a form of braking unique to railbourne vehicles. ...
Pedal
A pedal can be used instead of a handle. In the Waterfall train disaster, it appeared that the driver, who was overweight, slumped on his seat, kept the pedal pressed when he died. In the movie Silver Streak, a man hijacks the train and keeps it running by placing a heavy toolbox on the pedal. Media photo of police surveying the scene of the Waterfall Rail Disaster. ...
Silver Streak is a 1976 comedy, action and mystery film about murder on a Los Angeles-to-Chicago train journey. ...
Seat Switches
On tractors, the switch is beneath the seat, and will cut the engine if the operator gets off the tractor while the transmission is engaged or the power take-off is spinning. A tractor PTO A power take-off (PTO) is a splined driveshaft, usually on a tractor or truck that can be used to provide power to an attachment or separate machine. ...
Key Switches
On recreational water vehicles, such as jet skis and wave runners, the user has the ignition key attached to his wrist or waist by a leash. The key will be removed from the ignition switch if the rider falls into the water, thus turning off the engine.
Vigilance control -
The main safety failing with the basic dead man’s system is the possibility of the operating device being held permanently in position, either deliberately or accidentally. Vigilance control was developed to detect this condition by requiring that the dead man’s device be released momentarily and re-applied at timed intervals. A dead-mans vigilance device is a hybrid of a dead-mans control and a vigilance control. ...
Something that could be considered an early vigilance control device is the one-legged stool issued to watchmen: If the watchman were to fall asleep on his stool, he would fall over and be woken.
There has also been a proposal to introduce a similar system to automotive cruise controls[citation needed]. For the software build framework, see CruiseControl. ...
A hybrid between a dead man's switch and a vigilance control device is a dead-man's vigilance device. A dead-mans vigilance device is a hybrid of a dead-mans control and a vigilance control. ...
Software uses Software versions of dead man's switches are generally only used by people with technical expertise, and can serve several purposes; such as sending a notification to friends or deleting and encrypting data. The "non-event" triggering these can be almost anything, such as failing to log in consecutively for a week, not responding to an automated e-mail ping, a GPS-enabled telephone not moving for a period of time, or merely failing to type a code within a few minutes of a computer's boot. Motivations vary, depending on the individual's needs. For example, somebody in a police state may be concerned about the security of their data (or deleting it), while others may just wish to alert friends or the authorities by e-mail that something undesirable might be going on. Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ...
Encrypt redirects here. ...
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For other uses, see Ping (disambiguation). ...
Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ...
For other uses, see Telephone (disambiguation). ...
In computing, booting (booting up) is a bootstrapping process that starts operating systems when the user turns on a computer system. ...
Miscellaneous uses Dead man's switch devices have also been used in suicide bombing, to trigger the explosive if the bomber is shot or overpowered. This is a fail-deadly mechanism, rather than a fail-safe mechanism. A suicide bombing is an attack using a bomb in which the individual(s) carrying the explosive materials composing the bomb intend(s) and expect(s) to die upon detonation (see suicide). ...
Fail Deadly is a concept in military strategy which encourages deterrence by guaranteeing an immediate, automatic and overwhelming response to an attack. ...
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Alternative names - Driver's Safety Device (DSD) is the official UK railway term.
- Dead man's pedal
- Dead man's handle
- Dead man's control
- Dead man's brake
- Kill Switch
- Vigilance control
- Live-man switch
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent...
Event recording The status and operation of both the vigilance and dead-man's may be recorded on the train's event recorder (commonly known as a black box). Event Recorder (Black Box) Event Recorders are similar to the black boxes found on transport airliners. ...
See also A dead-mans vigilance device is a hybrid of a dead-mans control and a vigilance control. ...
A train protection system is a railway technical installation to ensure safe operation in the presence of human failures. ...
A watchdog timer is a computer hardware timing device that triggers a system reset if the main program, due to some fault condition, such as a hang, neglects to regularly service the watchdog (writing a “service pulse†to it, also referred to as “petting the dogâ€). The intention is to...
Emergency brake handle in a German train around 1920 An emergency brake is a brake system that is generally only to be used in emergency situations to slow or stop a machine. ...
In cars, the hand brake (also known as the emergency brake, e-brake, park brake, or parking brake) is a supplementary system that can be used if the vehicles primary brake system (usually hydraulic brakes) has a failure. ...
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