Improvements relating to Electric Railways.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Sept., 1896-Accepted, 24th Oct., 1896
[Communicated from abroad by ROBERT SUNDELL, of Brooklyn, in the County
of Kings and State of New York, United States of America, Electrician.]
Improvements relating to Electric Railways.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co. Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
This invention relates especially to electric railways of the kind known as
surface trolley electric railways, in which the electric current is conveyed to the
propelling motor by sectional conductors or contacts which are rendered
temporarily active or "alive" beneath a car, only while it travels over them. The
chief object of this invention is to make sure of such temporary connections
between the sectional conductors and the current feeder or main, and of their
disconnection again, as the propelled car passes along the railway so as to thereby
insure certainty of action and also safety to persons and animals in the vicinity of
the railway.
This object is fully accomplished by the means illustrated in the accompanying
drawings and hereinafter described.
Figure 1 of the drawings illustrates diagrammatically an electric railway
embodying the invention, and
Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of the road bed, tram rails and sectional
trolley conductors; illustrating also one of the contact buttons fixed in the
road bed.
W W represent the wheels of a car carrying a propelling electric motor M of
well known type and an operating or controlling switch Sw operatively connected
to a rheostat, and a small storage battery B preferably of low voltage.
R and R' represent the track or tram rails and Se Se³, Se³ Set, Sc Sco, pairs of
sectional trolley conductors or rails embedded in the surface of the road bed
parallel with the rails R R', as clearly shown.
These sectional trolley conductors are preferably of T-section as shown and are
firmly secured to the cross-ties in such manner as to leave spaces of only about one
inch or one and a half inches in breadth between them and the rails R R', their
surface width and strength being such as to offer to wagon wheels sufficient
resistance to prevent the forming of gutters near the tram rails, as is now the case
in existing lines of street railways.
TT and Tr Tr are trolley wheels preferably of steel and of V-shape in cross
section so that they will readily cut through ice or mud and remain always in
electrical contact with the sectional trolley conductors as they pass over the latter.
These trolley wheels are electrically connected together and to the battery B by
conductors as shewn. S is a conducting trolley shoe of well known form, carried
by the car and electrically connected to the motor M and adapted to bridge
together and bear successively upon conducting contact buttons B1, B2, B', located
preferably at the middle of the road bed, one between each pair of sectional trolley
conductors.
Each of these contact buttons is connected to a branch feeder extending into
a switch box, not shown, wherein are located two pairs of switching contacts, one

page_text: pair of said contacts being adapted to connect the normally open branch feeder to
the positive or plus main feeder, and the other pair to connect in like manner one
line of the sectional trolley conductors Se, Se or So to the negative or minus
feeder or main; M' M' and M' being switching magnets the cores or armatures of
which carry movable switching contacts as shown.
The other sectional trolley conductors Se Se Se, are permanently connected to
the tram rails R R' through the switch magnets M' M' M, the circuit connections
between these sectional trolley conductors, the trolley wheels Tr Tr and system of
conductors on the car being such that the battery B, when connected in circuit,
will energize the switch magnets in sequence, as the car advances.
The operation is as follows: Suppose the voltage on the main feeders to be 500
and of the battery B to be 10, and that the winding and resistance of the switch
magnets is such that they will operate for say 15 amperes of current.
-
On closing the switch Sar, current flows from the + pole of the battery B, in
a direction reverse to the arrow, to the switch and to car wheel W to ground or
tram rails R R', which are bonded together; thence through the core of magnet M
to sectional trolley conductor Se, trolley wheels Tr Tr, back to the pole of
battery B. This current energizes the magnet M' and causes its core or armature
to actuate the movable switching contacts so as to close the circuit from the power
house electric generator through the motor and battery on the car, by way of the
positive and negative mains or feeders as follows. By the + or positive main to
the switch contacts through the branch feeder; thence to contact button B2 and
trolley shoe S to motor M and switch Sw, where the current divides, one part
flowing through the magnet roil M2, as before, to the feeder or main, and the
other part charging the battery B and passing thence to trolley wheels, sectional
rail Se and the switch contacts on the right to the feeder also. The iustant that
the trolley wheel Tr comes into contact with the next sectional trolley rail Se in
advance, less charging current will flow through the battery in as much as, there
are now two switch magnets M and M³ in parallel circuit, the resistance of the
magnet circuit being only one half as much as before.
It will be apparent upon examination of the circuit operating the switching
magnets that no leakage currents can hold the magnets closed after a car has
passed. If there is any surface leakage at all, this will take place between one of
the buttons and the sectional rails. Leakage current from the huttons to sectional
rails Se Sc Se will go directly through the switching contacts to the main
without affecting the magnet coils, and the leakage current from the buttons to the
other sectional rails Se' Se' Se will pass through the magnet coils in the wrong
direction (reverse to arrows) before it can find its way to the main. This
leakage will cause the magnets to open quickly.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :--
1. In an electric railway system provided with sectional trolley rails or
conductors and electro-magnetic switching devices; eirenit connections whereby
any surface leakage from the current feeder or main through any switchiu g
electro-magnet will always pass through the coils of said magnet in a reverse
direction to that taken by the working current, substantially as described.
2. In an electric railway system a current feeder or main; a series of normally
open sectional trolley rails or conductors; electro-magnetic switching devicea
having circuit connections adapted to connect said sectional rails or conductors to
the current feeder or main and to an electric motor on a car, in combination with
additional circuit connections for conveying surface leakage through the switching
magnets of the switching devices in a reverse 'direction to that taken by the
working current when the switches are operating, substantially as described.
3. In an electric railway system, a current feeder or main, three sets of sectional
trolley rails or couductors, electro-magnetic switching devices, a source of electrical

page_text: energy carried by a car or vehicle and circuit connections. therefrom through the
tram rails and one set of sectional trolley conductors for actuating the switching
magnets, substantially as described.
4. In an electric railway system, three sets of surface contacts, one set being
connected to the positive or plus current main, the second set to the negative or
minus main or return and the third set connected to the track rails through
switching electro-magnets, substantially as described.
5. In an electric railway system, two current feeders or mains, two lines or sets.
of sectional trolley conductors arranged in pairs, a third line of contacts located
between said lines, and circuit connections provided with switching electro-
magnets for connecting the third line of contacts with the plus or positive
current main and the two lines or sets of sectional conductors respectively with
the negative feeder and the switching electro-magnets, substantially as described.
6. An electric railway having tram or track rails, in combination with two sets
of sectional trolley rails between and closely adjacent thereto; said sectional rails.
having their ends closely adjacent and being secured in the road bed in such
manner as to offer sufficient surface resistance to prevent wear of the road bed
between the track rails by wheeled vehicles, substantially as described.
7. An electric railway system having a current feeder or main; two sets of
sectional trolley conductors arranged in pairs; contact buttons or plates, one
between each pair of sectional trolley conductors, in combination with an electro-
magnetic switching device for each button and pair of sectional trolley conductors
and a trolley shoe carried by a car or vehicle and having circuit connections with
a switch operating battery and an electric motor carried also by the car; the
arrangement being such that the battery actuates the switching electro-magnets
and the current feeder supplies the propelling current through the sectional
conductors, substantially as described.
8. In an electric railway system, a line of track rails; positive and negative
current feeders or mains; three sets of sectional contacts or conductors located
between the track rails, one set being electrically connected to normally open
branch feeders running to the positive current feeder or main, the second set
connected to normally open branch feeders running to the negative feeder or main,
and the third set connected through the electro-magnets of the switching devices
with the track rails, in combination with a trolley shoe carried by a car and
adapted to bridge adjacent pairs of contacts of one set and having electrical
connection with a switch operating battery and a propelling motor carried also on.
the car, substantially as described.
Dated this 19th day of September 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.