Ever wonder what is inside?

[Mdcastle]

More photos of my art deco traffic light. The cork gaskets around the lenses have rotted away, but pieces of the asbestos rope gasket around the doors have not. These uniquely used a worm gear to close and internal hinges making for a clean looking appearance. The reflectors are glass. Also the lenses have a "smiley" on the pattern to direct more light downward in case it was hung on a wire over the intersection to make it easier for pedestrians to see.

What other hobby combines lead paint, asbestos, PCBs and high voltage. The wiring is a mess and is going to be replaced. You can get repro cloth wires, but I don't believe in disguising the work I do so I'm just going to use modern wire.







Are other people here interested in this kind of stuff or are me and "Mr Marbelite" just going to be talking to each other. I have "what is inside" pictures of other traffic signals including some neons, my Peek 3000 controller, a load switch.

[M3019C LPS20]

Here are three pictures of the inside of three e/m signal controller cabinets in service. From Manhattan, New York.

The first two are signal controllers that were manufactured by Marbelite. From the M-30 series.





These cabinets are rather small, so the T.M.C. equipment takes up a lot of space as you could see. What a mess.



A General Traffic Equipment/Marbelite e/m signal controller. From 1st Avenue in Manhattan. Generally speaking, this cabinet from G.T.E. is larger than the Marbelite cabinet (although Marbelite did offer a larger cabinet of its own). Much cleaner in this one, and the T.M.C. equipment doesn't take up a lot of space.

[roadfro]

What is "T.M.C." equipment?

In the last pictures, why is the that bit of equipment towards the top (is that the e/m controller?) surrounded in a plastic enclosure?

[M3019C LPS20]

What is "T.M.C." equipment?

T.M.C. is simply, of course, an acronym for Traffic Management Center. In the 1990s, New York City's T.M.C. installed small blue boxes (as some people like to refer to them as) in most signal controller cabinets throughout the city. At the time, electro-mechanical signal controllers were still in use. You could see them in the three pictures above. These are essentially computer systems that control the signal controllers themselves, so they do not work on their own. The systems generally provide various time plans that are adequate for the signal controllers. The blue boxes are wired to the center in lower Manhattan. If the connection was lost, then the e/m signal controllers would work on their own.

Aside from Manhattan, the other boroughs used them as well. Most (that are still e/m signal controllers) still have these systems equipped in them nowadays.

The blue box is a rather sophisticated computer system, since I once worked on it. It has other features that are common in today's modern signal controllers, such as actuation (for pedestrians and vehicles), interconnection, and pre-emption. 

In the last pictures, why is the that bit of equipment towards the top (is that the e/m controller?) surrounded in a plastic enclosure?

Yes, that is the actual signal controller tray that contains the dial timer, cam shaft, cams, signal circuits, solenoid, etc. With regards to your question, Marbelite and G.T.E. refer to this piece merely as a "dust cover." Even though ventilation strips are not present on the cabinet, the plastic cover just provides extra protection for everything on the tray.

[Mdcastle]

Modular Neon ped. These were made by ICC in the 1980s. The modules themselves come up regularly on eBay and are inexpensive, often their mislabled as "LED", They fit a standard ICC housing.






Opening the grate and door reveals the prismatic diffuser.


When you flip down the module it's not particulaly interesting either.


It looks nicer with the lights off.


To open it you need to remove the silicone sealant. It was never designed to be service, if it went bad you'd throw away the whole module and pop a new one in.


Lit up. The orange neon tubing lasts for decades, but the white argon/mecury tubing degrades over time. The module that came with my housing as you can see is just about shot, so I bought a second module, much cheaper than having a neon shop bend tubing.


The back holds the power supplies, these are modern switching power supplies instead of old-school huge magnetic transformers. The tubing operates on thousands of volts but no special precautions are used with the wire because the whole module is sealed in plastic. There are some minor differences between the two.


THe housing as I got it, it was powder coated black, the spray-painted green, then that awful yellow. I had it stripped and repainted black. Also, someone decided they wanted a white hand and orange man.


Originally the case had a Phoenix asset tag on that had to be sacrificed to get it back to the original color.

[Mdcastle]

GE Countdown module teardown (to try to fix some intermittent LEDs)

IMG_4870 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_4869 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_4865 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_4945 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_4939 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_4940 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_4942 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_4938 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_4903 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_4929 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

[thenetwork]

Here's a video of the inside of one of my e/m signal controllers. This one in particular is my Marbelite M-3019C signal controller.
The other signal controller from General Traffic Equipment has the same concept as well. It's always interesting to observe them in person while they're in operation.

My favorite controllers were the ones which made a slow "grinding/growling" noise instead of the sharp "clicks" when the signals were changing.  I want to say they were older Crouse-Hinds models (?) since that was the most common signals in my area at the time.

[M3019C LPS20]

My favorite controllers were the ones which made a slow "grinding/growling" noise instead of the sharp "clicks" when the signals were changing.  I want to say they were older Crouse-Hinds models (?) since that was the most common signals in my area at the time.

Crouse-Hinds signal controllers had that rather unique sound you mentioned. What I remember from New York City produced "CLUNK-CLUNK" and "BZZZ-CLUNK" sounds. Those were the Marbelite M-30 and G.T.E. signal controllers.

There were some Crouse-Hinds PCN-300 and Eagle EF-20 signal controllers in use there, too. Not as many as the two I mentioned above, though.

[M3019C LPS20]

By the way, the original intention of this thread was to show the interior of solely electro-mechanical signal controllers. The other pictures of the interior of traffic signals and L.E.D. inserts are cool, though.

[Jardine]

I just figured all those mysterious boxes along the roads were filled with that nasty acid that dissolves EVERYTHING that they used to put inside golf balls.

[The High Plains Traveler]

In the electro-mechanical controllers, what was the technological change that sped up the transition from one indication to another? Redondo Beach, near where I grew up, had a series of signals along the PCH that had a distinct dark phase between indications (i.e., the green would go out and it took more than 1/10 second for the yellow to come on, enough time to see the wink-off, wink on effect). I remember those controllers having the grinding sound referenced above.

[M3019C LPS20]

In the electro-mechanical controllers, what was the technological change that sped up the transition from one indication to another? Redondo Beach, near where I grew up, had a series of signals along the PCH that had a distinct dark phase between indications (i.e., the green would go out and it took more than 1/10 second for the yellow to come on, enough time to see the wink-off, wink on effect). I remember those controllers having the grinding sound referenced above.

What you described is commonly known as a momentary "dark out." That was typically a result of a problem that stems to the parts of the signal controller itself.

There were circuits that were dedicated to signal indications. Each circuit had a cam and finger, in which their purposes were to close and open at correct intervals in a cycle. This determined when the corresponding signal indication was lit and unlit. The cam itself has individual tabs that do represent intervals, and some of them had to be cut off, in order for the finger to close to cause the signal indication to appear illuminated. Sometimes, when a cam is damaged, it may not successfully open and close a circuit, in which causes that momentary dark out period. Another problem that could cause this is the tension of the actual finger itself, in which corresponds to the cam. If it is too lose, it may move loosely than when nice and tight in its position.

[talllguy]

US 1 @ Willow Ave:


MD 144 @ MD 166