Improvements in or connected with Electric Tram or Railway Systems.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Dec., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 31st Aug., 1896-Accepted, 3rd Oct., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Electric Tram or Railway
Systems.
We HERBERT ALLEN of 62 Hatfield Street, Blackfriars Road in the County of
Surrey, Electrical Engineer, and OLIVER PEARD of 10 South Villas, Camden
Square, N.W. in the County of London, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
At the present time it has been proposed to use what is known as the overhead
system in which the electric current is taken from a suspended wire or conductor,
and it has also been proposed to use what is known as the conduit system in which
conductors are carried in an underground conduit, the collector or one arm of same
passing from the carriage through a slot in the crown or side of the conduit, and
finally it has been proposed to use what may be called the surface system in which
through the cables or conductors are laid undergound, rail sections are from time
to time brought into circuit with the car as it is drawn over them.
The present invention is most closely allied to the last system the object being
to produce an efficient system at a comparatively moderate cost.
The nature of the invention may be broadly stated as consisting in causing the
car as it travels to close normally open switches which when closed cause small
contact plates on or near the surface to be temporarily in the circuit.
such contact pieces current is conducted to the motor by means of a suitable
collector.
From
In carrying out our invention we judge the preferable manner of temporarily
closing the switches will be by means of a pivoted lever or stud carried in or near
the rail-head, such lever being depressed by the passage of the car, and while
compressed caused to close a circuit from the main cable to the surface contact
piece, or even to raise the latter. Such contact pieces are preferably so placed that
the car is taking current from the one in advance before it has left or ceased to
make contact with that behind.
Where a stud is used it may be partially depressed by a front wheel to complete
the circuit to the contact while a back wheel completes the depression and releases
the stud from a catch or stop and enables it to be forced back to its raised position
breaking circuit. Or in lieu of the stop a ratchet and pawl make and break
connection may be used.
In cases where it is desired to temporarily raise the contact piece the stud may
be connected with one end of a pivoted lever, the other end carrying the suitably
insulated contact piece so that as the stud is depressed, the contact is raised and
the circuit completed. If desired a catch may be employed to hold the contact in
its raised position until released by a second or hind wheel of the car.
Dated the 10th day of December 1895.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55 & 56 Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agent,
For the Applicants.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Electric Tram or Railway
Systems.
We, HERBERT ALLEN, formerly of 62 Hatfield Street, but now of 69 Stamford
Street, Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey, Electrical Engineer, and
OLIVER PEARD, of 10 South Villas, Camden Square N.W., in the County of
London, Electrical Engineer, 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 :--
At the present time it has been proposed to use what is known as the overhead
system in which the electric current is taken from a suspended wire or conductor,
and it has also been proposed to use what is known as the conduit system in which
conductors are carried in an underground conduit, the collector or one arm of same
passing from the carriage through a slot in the crown or side of the conduit, and
finally it has been proposed to use what may be called the surface system in which
although the cables or conductors are laid underground, rail sections are from time
to time brought into circuit with the car as it is drawn over them.
The present invention is most closely allied to the last system the object being
to produce an efficient system at a comparatively moderate cost.
The nature of the invention may be broadly stated as consisting in causing the
car as it travels to close normally open switches which when closed cause small
contact plates on or near the surface to be temporarily in the circuit. From
such contact pieces current is conducted to the motor by means of a suitable
collector.
To clearly explain our invention we will describe it by reference to the
accompanying drawings in which is illustrated one form of apparatus with which
our invention may be satisfactorily carried into effect and which at the present time
is the best among the many we have devised but it should be understood that many
other arrangements may be employed for carrying out our invention.
In the drawings :-
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a box placed alongside of one of the rails of a
tramway and containing the contact plate and operating parts as hereinafter
described.
Fig. 2 is a plan of the box and rail.
Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on line x-x of
Fig. 4 is a plan on line y-y Fig. 1, and
Fig. 1.
Fig. 5 is a view showing certain parts in a different position.
In carrying out our invention we place at intervals in the track and alongside of
the rail as described, boxes 1 each being provided with a cover 2 such boxes being
preferably placed with about a length of a car between same so that the car will
pass onto one as it is leaving the other. In the cover of the box and therefore
normally flush with the road surface is a metal block 3 carrying a contact plate 4
which is preferably made of some good wearing and conducting metal and which
may be so set in the block 3 as to be readily renewable when worn by contact with
a collecting brush or rubbing plate of some suitable form which is carried by the
car or the like. The block 3 is carried by a part of the cover which is surrounded
by an insulating material 5 suitably held therein which may also be of such a
character as to form a good tread or road surface. The wall 6 of the box on the side
nearest to the rail forms with a return 7 a chamber 8 in which dirt or water falling
down the side of the rail may lodge. Passing through the rail at the side of the
head and entering the groove of same is a stud 9 screwed to an arm 10 which
passes through a water tight collar or gland 11 in the return 7 and is attached to a

page_text: lever 12 pivoted at 13. The stud 9 has a screw 9ª passing through it and entering
the arm 10 by means of which the stud 9 can be removed and replaced when worn.
The other end of the lever 12 is rounded off and passes through a slot in a block 14
of wood or insulating material such block carrying a conducting bar 15 and a
spring 16 surrounding an extension 17 of the block 3 and secured in the block 14,
the spring bearing on the underside of a plate 18 forming a part of the cover and
also a part of a box or casing for the block 3 to work in. It will thus be seen that
if the stud 9 is pressed down in the groove as by the flange of the leading wheel of
a car or vehicle or by a special wheel or disc carried thereby the arm 10 will be
depressed, the end of the lever 12 raised and through the parts 14, 17 and 3, the
contact plate 4 will be lifted above the surface of the roadway to such a height
that it will be brought into contact with the collecting brush or the like carried by
the car.
When the lever 12 is raised it is desirable to keep it in such raised position after
the leading wheel has left it and until it is released by a trailing wheel at or near
the end of the car as hereafter described.
The lever 12 carries a bar 19 at right angles to it which bar engages with a
catch at each end such catches consisting of crescent shaped pieces 20 pivoted at
their lower ends to the bottom of the box, the pieces 20 having a part 21 with a
somewhat straight side as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. Each catch is normally held
against the pressure of a spring 22 which when the lever 12 is raised forces the
catch forward into the position shown in Fig. 5 when the bar 19 will seat in the
recess above the part 21 so that the downward pressure of the spring 16 will be
unavailing to return the contact plate 4 and connected parts to their normal places
the stud 9 thus remaining pressed down in the groove of the rail. To release the
parts a trailing wheel or disc of some character carried by the car and preferably
pressed downward by a spring is caused to press the stud 9 still further down and
this is effected by deepening the groove in the rail for a short distance on either
side of the stud as at 23. The first wheel will not force the stud into the part 23
as it will either partly travel on the rail head or the depth it enters the groove of
the rail be limited in some other way.
By thus forcing the stud to the bottom of the depression 23 the long end of the
lever 12 is still further raised thus causing the bar 19 to force the catch 20 back
until the parts assume the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5 when a pro-
jection 24 on the spring 22 will enter a notch 25 on the catch and hold the latter
so that after the wheel or disc passes the stud 9 and releases it the spring 16 will
force the lever 12 downwards and the bar 19 striking the lower horn of the catch
will release it from the spring 22 and bring it back into the position shown in
Fig. 1.
Suitably supported inside the box and attached to the cover are arms 26 each
carrying a pair of facing contact plates 27. The arms 26 are in electrical con-
nection with a socket 29 which receives a conductor or main 28 passing out of the
box. The plates 27 are arranged as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 so that when the
conducting bar 15 rises between them a good contact may be made therewith.
To open the box for the purposes of examination a screw plug 30 is provided in
the cover 2 which plug when removed will enable a screw 31 to be removed by a
screw driver so that the cover arms 26, and block 14 and connected parts may be
lifted together. In place of the screw 31 a contact clip may be used to make
contact with the arms (or supporting parts of the arms) 26.
It will be understood that when the conducting bar 15 is in contact with the
plates 27 and the contact plate 4 is raised so as to touch the brush or the like
carried by the car the current will pass from the main or conductor to the motor,
or the car, returning by a rail or in some other way and that when the plate is in
its normal position the circuit is broken. The box may be filled with thick resin
oil to exclude water.
The catches may differ in construction from those shown or the means for
holding the contact plate in its elevated position and subsequently lowering it may

page_text: be varied without departing from our invention which as we have stated is
illustrated here in connection with one form of apparatus only by way of example.
In the form of apparatus shown, the method employed to make electrical contact
with the car is that of raising a contact plate which is then put temporarily in
circuit and this is the arrangement we deem best but the contact plate may be
stationary and be only placed in the circuit when a brush or the like carried by
the car or vehicle passes onto same so that when the latter has passed, the plate
has no current thereon. One means of effecting this result is for the stud to be
partially depressed by a leading wheel of the vehicle to complete the circuit to the
plate while a back wheel completes the depression and releases the stud from a
catch or stop and enables it to be forced back to its raised position to break the
circuit. Or in lieu of the stop a ratchet and pawl make and break connection
may be used.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In electric rail or tramway systems an arrangement of parts whereby a series
of contact plates located in boxes on the track are successively put into circuit
with a motor on a vehicle by means of a stud adapted to be depressed by a wheel
of or one carried by the vehicle the circuit being broken by means of a second
wheel which still further depresses the stud substantially as described.
2. lu electric rail or tramway systems an arrangement of parts whereby a series
of contact plates located in boxes on the track are successively raised and put into
circuit with a motor on a vehicle by means of a stud adapted to be depressed by a
wheel of or one carried by the vehicle the plate being lowered and the circuit
broken by means of a second wheel which still further depresses the stud
substantially as described.
3. In electric rail or tramway systems an arrangement of parts whereby a series
of contact plates located in boxes on the track are successively raised and put into
circuit with a motor on a vehicle by means of a stud situated in the groove of the
rail adapted to be depressed to the normal level of the groove by a wheel of or one
carried by the vehicle and to be held in that position by a catch located in the box
during the passage of the vehicle the catch being then removed, the plate lowered
and the circuit broken by means of a second wheel adapted to force the stud still
further into a depression in the rail groove surrounding same substantially as
described.
4. In electric rail or tramway systems the arrangement and construction of the
apparatus substantially as described and illustrated in the drawings and for the
purpose set forth.
Dated the 31st day of August 1896
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55 & 56 Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agent,
For the Applicants.