Patent GB-190810006-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and connected with Means for the Electric Regulation of the Running of Vehicles
Inventor: SAYER ROBERT COOKE
Filed: 1908-05-08
Granted: 1908-12-31
Abstract: 10,006. Sayer, R. C. May 8. Locomotive railway and tramway vehicles.-Relates to an electric system for the regulation of the running of vehicles which is similar to that described in Specification No. 3471, A.D. 1906. The locomotive vehicles are provided with one or more flangeless wheels which run on one or more rails or on ordinary road or other surfaces and may be propelled in any manner. Slides or guides adapted to run in a slot conduit laid on the track keep the vehicle wheels down to the track surface and parallel to the conduit slot. The guides are provided with jaws or clamps which slide in contact with the upper parts of the conduit and can be made to grip it so as to act as a brake to the vehicles. The vehicles are guided at junctions either by steering the slide in the conduit or by swivelling the wheels to engage guide - rails or projections on the track. In the latter case, the slide is raised out of the conduit. The conduits are formed of short parts or chairs 4, Fig. 14, which carry the rails 26, and long parts 5, ribs 5<a>, 26<a>, Fig. 21, being formed on these parts at the edge of the conduit slot. At junctions and the like, the conduit is formed with removable covers 27, Fig. 10, which can be raised in opposition to springs 29 when it is desired to remove or replace the guides. The guides, shown in sectional end views in Figs. 10 and 21 and in sectional side views in Figs. 11, 12, and 17, are secured to the vehicles by the part 55 so as to have little or no relative movement. The guides comprise two parts or jaws 50, 78, the jaws 50 being adapted to run normally in contact with the underside of the conduit cover 5 while the other part moves above the conduit and normally out of contact with it as shown in Fig. 21. Two ball races 64, 65, mounted on springs 68, are provided in the part 50 to reduce the friction when this part is only functioning as a guide to the vehicle. These jaws are hung on links 41, 42, 71, 72, Fig. 17, and the part 50 is connected in addition to the part 55 by the bolts 9<a>, Fig. 10, a certain amount of relative vertical movement being possible between them. The links 41, 42 are hung from nuts 38 adapted to be raised or lowered on the rods 37 by the hand actuated pinions 36. The nuts are also connected by springs 39 to the part 50 to press it normally against the conduit cover. By rotation of the pinions 36 the jaws 50, 78 can, through the action of the links, be made to grip the conduit cover so as to act as a brake to the vehicle. The movement of the nuts 38 also simultaneously actuates the bell-crank 44 connected by a link 45 to a slide 51, Figs. 11 and 12, or to two slides 51<a>, 51<b>, Fig. 21. These slides move relatively to the part 50 in grooves formed therein, so that the length of the guide can be increased when it is sliding normally in the conduit and be reduced when it is desired to withdraw it from the con duit at junctions and the like. The guide carries a collector 57, which is adapted to run on the conductor 8 as shown in Fig. 12, but is automatically moved into the position shown in Fig. 11 when the slide is shortened. At junctions, the guides are either withdrawn from the conduit or merely shortened, and the vehicle wheel or wheels and the guides are swivelled by means of a handoperated worm-wheel arrangement. Specifications Nos. 19,200 and 21,598, A.D. 1892, [Abridgment Class Railway &c. vehicles], and No. 15,769, A.D. 1907, are referred to.