Improvements in and relating to Supports for Overhead Electric Conductors.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Sept., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 2nd June, 1896-Accepted, 25th July, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by CHARLES JORDAN GOODWIN, of Indian Orchard,
Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in and relating to Supports for Overhead Electric
Conductors.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT 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 to be as follows :-
This invention relates to overhead electric conductors its object being to provide
means for preventing accidents due to the breakage of such conductors when charged
with current, especially in cases where the conductors form one side of the circuit
while the ground forms the other side, so that the broken conductor is liable to be
short circuited through an object, as the body of a person or an animal, with which
it comes in contact, thus sometimes causing fatal accidents.
The invention is especially adapted for use with the overhead conductor, or
trolley wire as it is called, commonly used in overhead systems of electric railways
through which accidents of the kind above described have frequently happened.
As commonly constructed the trolley wire of an electric railway consists of a
continuous line of copper wire suspended over the track and supported at points
sufficiently near together to keep the wire substantially horizontal. The wire thus
forms a continuous electric conductor charged with electricity throughout its
entire length so that if it accidentally becomes broken or is purposely severed at
any point between the supports the severed ends fall to the ground charged with
current.
It has been proposed to obviate the danger due to this by dividing the trolley
wire into sections, each of said sections extending only from one supporting point to
the next, and so arranging the supports for the wire that when a break occurs in any
of the sections the ends thereof become electrically disconnected from the remaining
intact sections so that the wire in the broken section is no longer charged with
current and is incapable of doing damage.
The present invention consists mainly in an improved form of coupling device at
the points of suspension whereby the ends of each section are mechanically
connected to the support and electrically connected to the end of the section next
adjacent so as to form when all of the sections are properly suspended a continuous
conductor. The said coupling however, is so arranged that its mechanical connection
with the support upon which of course depends its electrical connection with
adjacent sections of conductor, is dependent upon the position of the conductor, so
that the members of the coupling are held in firm engagement with each other by
the strain of the wire when in its horizontal position, but are automatically
uncoupled when the wire moves from the said horizontal position towards a vertical
position, as when it becomes broken or otherwise severed, so that the free ends fall
to the ground.
The coupling embodying the invention consists of two members which may for
convenience be called the supporting member and the supported member, respectively,
the former being connected to and insulated from any of the suspending devices,
such as brackets or cross-wires, commonly employed for this purpose, while the

page_text: latter is connected to the end of the section of wire to be supported, so that the said
section is connected to the suspender through the coupling. The supporting member
comprises a supporting surface on the supported member, the latter surface being
securely seated on the former by the longitudinal strain of the wire when suspended.
A supplementary engaging surface in the nature of a guide or detent co-operating
with a corresponding surface on the supported member is provided and so arranged
that as the wire moves from the horizontal towards the vertical position carrying
with it the supported member, the movement of the said supported member is
guided or determined by the said detent, the member itself preferably turning on it
as a pivot, and the supporting surface of said member is so arranged as to be carried
away from the supporting surface of the supporting member, so that the former
becomes disconnected and falls; the section of wire to which it is connected being
thus mechanically and consequently electrically disconnected from the remainder of
the line which is left intact, so that the whole of the broken section falls to the
ground entirely separated from the rest of the line and consequently not charged
with current and incapable of doing any harm.
The supported member may be provided with a loose insulated connection with
the cross wire or supports for the trolley wire so that if disengaged from the
supporting member by the breakage of a section of the trolley wire the said
supported member will not fall to the ground, but after being fully disengaged
and electrically disconnected from the supporting member will remain hanging from
the cross wire.
The hanger or support to which are normally coupled two adjacent sections of
the conductor or trolley wire may be composed of a metallic casting having at its
middle an upwardly extended socket adapted to be connected in any suitable or
usual way to the insulator or support sustained by a cross wire or bracket, while
the lower edge of said hanger is substantially straight and adapted to form a
continuous path for the trolley as it passes from one section of the trolley wire over
the couplings and hanger to the other section thereof.
Each end of the hanger is provided with or constitutes the supporting member of
the coupling and comprises a supporting portion which may be a laterally projecting
stud and a detent or guiding surface which may also be a laterally projecting stud
and may be flattened at one side although that is not essential. The supported
member of the coupling is adapted to be securely fastened to the end of a section
of the trolley wire and is provided with portions that co-operate with the supporting
portions of the supporting member. The supporting portion of the supported
member may consist of a recess to engage with the supporting projection, the
surfaces of the supporting portion and the recess being in such relation that when
the coupling is engaged in normal position, they sustain and withstand substantially
the entire longitudinal or horizontal strain on the trolley wire. It is necessary,
however, that these portions should be retained in engagement to withstand the
said strain as long as the trolley wire remains in its normal substantially horizontal
position but should be disengaged if the wire falls as will be the case if it
were not supported at the other end or if it breaks at any point in the section
between two consecutive supports. To insure the performance of these functions
the supported member is provided with a guide or detent surface which may be an
open recess which engages with the guide surface of the supporting member.
Normally as long as the trolley wire and supported member of the coupling
remain in substantially horizontal position or in line with the support the recessed
portion of the supported member overhangs the guide projection and thus prevents
the supporting surface from slipping down vertically from engagement with the
stud. The recess is so constructed with relation to the co-operating projection as to
guide the end member with relation to the main member pivotally. In other words,
when the end member is engaged at its recess with the projection it can turn about the
same but when in the horizontal position the projection prevents further rotation of
the end member about the projection in an upward direction although except for
the strain on the trolley wire it is free to turn in a downward direction about the

page_text: stud and thus to disengage the stud and supporting surface of the two members of
the coupling.
The connection of the trolley wire with the end member being below the level
of the stud the horizontal strain or pull on the trolley wire tends to rotate the
said member in an upward direction and thus tends to keep the stud and its recess
in firm contact. If, however, such strain or pull on the wire should cease, the
said wire and end member connected therewith would tend to fall by gravity and
as long as it remained engaged with the stud would turn about the same as a
centre until finally the portion of the end member which normally stands above
the stud would have turned far enough to have slipped off therefrom when the
supported member would be wholly disengaged and would fall from the supporting
member.
If desired, a wire or other loose connector may be employed extending from the
supported end member of the coupling to the cross wire or some permanent part of
the overhead support to prevent the supported member from falling wholly to the
ground when disengaged from the supporting member.
The portion of the supported end member that engages with the supporting
member is preferably forked or recessed so as to receive the body or web of the
main member within it the studs projecting from both sides of said web and the end
member at both sides of the fork or recess having corresponding portions to engage
therewith.
To couple the members together, it is merely necessary to present the end
member so that recess will receive the stud within it which can be done by
moving said end member upward, while retaining it inclined with relation
to the main member and after such engagement is effected the said member is
turned around the projection as a centre to the position in line with the main
member and with the projection sented in the recess after which the strain on the
trolley wire will retain these parts in engagement as long as the trolley wire
remains intact.
With the parts properly engaged a smooth surface is afforded for the trolley to
run upon from one section of the trolley wire to the next.
It is obvious that the projections and recesses might be interchanged on the
two members, it being necessary only that they should have the co-operating
supporting and guiding surfaces arranged in the operative relation to one
another herein described, said surfaces retaining the members in engagement
and sustaining the strain on the wire as long as the latter remains unstrained or
in substantially horizontal position, and being disengaged by the movement which
ensues when the strain ceases and the wire extending from the coupling no longer
has any support to prevent it from dropping with relation to the coupling under
consideration.
Dated this 3rd day of September 1895.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, Loudon, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in and relating to Supports for Overhead Electric
Conductors.
1, WILLIAM ROBERT 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 to overhead electric conductors its object being to provide

page_text: means for preventing accidents due to the breakage of such conductors when
charged with current, especially in cases where the conductors form one side of the
circuit while the ground forms the other side, so that the broken conductor is
liable to be short circuited through an object, for instance the body of a person
or an animal, with which it comes in contact, thus sometimes causing fatal
accidents.
The invention is especially adapted for use with the overhead conductor, or
trolley wire as it is called, commonly used in overhead systems of electric railways
through which accidents of the kind above described have frequently happened.
As commonly constructed the trolley wire of an electric railway consists of
a continuous line of copper wire suspended over the track and supported at points
sufficiently near together to keep the wire substantially horizontal. The wire
thus forms a continuous electric conductor charged with electricity throughout
its entire length so that if it accidentally becomes broken or is purposely severed
at any point between the supports the severed ends fall to the ground charged
with current.
It has been proposed to obviate the danger due to this by dividing the trolley
wire into sections, each of said sections extending only from one supporting point
to the next, and so arranging the supports for the wire that when a break occurs
any of the sections the ends thereof become electrically disconnected from the
remaining intact sections so that the wire in the broken section is no longer
charged with current and is incapable of doing damage.
in
The present invention consists mainly in an improved form of coupling device at
the points of suspension whereby the ends of each section are mechanically
connected to the support and electrically connected to the end of the section next
adjacent so as to form when all of the sections are properly suspended a continuous
conductor. The said coupling however, is so arranged that its mechanical
connection with the support upon which of course depends its electrical connection
with adjacent sections of conductor, is dependent upon the position of the conductor,
so that the members of the coupling are held in firm engagement with each other
by the strain of the wire when in its horizontal position, but are automatically
uncoupled when the wire moves from the said horizontal position towards a vertical
position, as when it becomes broken or otherwise severed, so that the free ends fall
to the ground.
The coupling embodying the invention consists of two members which may for
convenience be called the supporting member and the supported member,
respectively, the former being connected to and insulated from any of the
Evspending devices, such as brackets or cross-wires, commonly employed for this
purpose, while the latter is connected to the end of the section of wire to be
supported, so that the said section is connected to the suspender through the
coupling. The supporting member comprises a supporting surface adapted to be
engaged by a corresponding surface on the supported member, the latter surface
being securely seated on the former by the longitudinal strain of the wire when
suspended. A supplementary engaging surface in the nature of a guide or detent
co-operating with a corresponding surface on the supported member is provided
and so arranged that as the wire moves from the horizontal towards the vertical
position carrying with it the supported member, the movement of the said
supported member is guided or determined by the said detent, the member itself
preferably turning on it as a pivot, and the supporting surface of said member is so
arranged as to be carried away from the supporting surface of the supporting
member, so that the former becomes disconnected and falls; the section of wire
to which it is connected being thus mechanically and consequently electrically
disconnected from the remainder of the line which is left intact, so that the
whole of the broken section falls to the ground entirely separated from the rest
of the line and consequently not charged with current and incapable of doing
any harm.
The supporting member may be provided with an insulated conuection extending

page_text: member is disengaged from the supported member owing to a break in a section of
the trolley wire, the said member will not fall to the ground but will remain
suspended from the cross wire, although completely disengaged and electrically
disconnected from the supporting member.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a trolley wire support embodying the invention,.
the members at the right being shown as coupled together in their normal operative
position, while the supported member at the left is shown as disconnected from the
supporting member.
Figure 2 is a plan view of the same with one of the supporting members.
removed.
The suspender or support a to which are normally connected two adjacent
sections b, of the conductor or trolley wire is shown as constructed of a piece of
metal, such as brass or copper having at the middle an enlargement a³ arranged
to be connected in any suitable or usual way with an insulator or supporting-
piece upon a cross wire or bracket, while the lower edge of the said support a
is substantially straight, and arranged to form a continuous track for the trolley
when it passes from one section of the trolley wire to the next.
Each end of the support a is provided with a supporting member of a coupling,
or itself constitutes such a member, which comprises a support proper c, shown as
a lateral projection, and a detent or guide-surface d also shown as a lateral
projection preferably flattened upon one side as shown in the drawing, although
this is not essential. The supported member e of the coupling is arranged to be
fixed or secured to the end of a section of the trolley wire, as 6 or 62, and is
provided with parts adapted to co-operate with the parts c and d of the supported
member.
recess or
The supporting portion of the supported member is shown as a
shoulder adapted to be engaged by the supporting projection c as is indicated at
the right of Figure 1, the surfaces of the parts c and f bearing such a relation to
each other that when the coupling is in its normal position as indicated at the right
Figure 1 they bear substantially the entire longitudinal strain of the trolley wire..
It is, however, essential not only that these parts should be retained in engagement
in such a way as to resist this strain while the trolley wire remains substantially in
its normal horizontal position, but also that they should bear such a relation as to
become disengaged from each other when the trolley wire falls, or approaches
a vertical position, as happens if it is not supported at the opposite end of the
section, or if it becomes broken at any intermediate point in the section between
adjacent supports. To accomplish this result, the supported member is provided
with a guide surface or detent g herein shown as an open hook which engages
with the guide surface d of the supporting member as indicated at the right in.
Figure 1.
Normally the trolley wire and the supporting member e of the coupling remain
in a substantially horizontal position or in line with the support a, and the hook of
the supported member e engages the guide projection d in such manner as to
prevent the surface f from sliding vertically down and becoming disengaged from
the projection c. The hook g, however, is so constructed with relation to the
co-operating support d that it practically forms a pivotal guide for the member e in
its movement relative to the member a; in other words, when the member e is
engaged by its hook with the guide support d it is capable of turning upon the
same until it reaches a position shown at the right in Figure 1 when the projection c
prevents the said member e from turning upward further around the projection d, it
being free, however, except for the strain of the trolley wire 62, to turn downward
around the said projection d, and thus cause the disengagement of the parts c and f
of the two coupling members.
Since the trolley wire is connected with the member e at a lower point than the
point of contact between the said member e and the projection d, the horizontal.

page_text: strain upon the trolley wire tends to turn the member e in an upward direction,
thus causing the surfaces e and to be maintained in close contact with each
other.
If, however, this strain upon the wire 6 is relieved, the said wire and the
member e to which it is connected will tend to fall, and while the member e will
remain in engagement with the projection d it will turn around the same as
a centre until finally that part of the member e which is normally held upon the
said projection d will turn far enough to allow the same to pass out through the
mouth of the hook, the consequence being that the supported member becomes
completely disengaged and falls from the supporting member as shown in the left
of Figure 1.
If desired, a wire or similar loose connection h may be used, as shown at the
left of Figure 1, adapted to extend from the supporting member e of the coupling
to the cross-wire or other portion of the overhead supporting system in order to
prevent the supported member from falling completely to the ground when it
becomes disengaged from the supporting member as indicated at the left of
Figure 1.
That portion of the supporting member e which engages with the support a is
preferably forked or divided as best shown in Figure 2 so as to embrace the main
portion of the support a, the projections c and d being on both sides of the said
support a and the member e having a corresponding part upon each side of the
forked projection.
To couple the members together, it is necessary only to turn the piece e to
a position to which the hook will embrace the projection d which can be done by
placing the member e in position shown at the left of Figure 1 inclined at an angle
relative to the member a as shown, and after the parts 9 and d are mutually
engaged the member e is turned upon the projection d' as a pivot into line with the
member a so that the projection crests against the shoulder after which the strain
upon the trolley wire will hold the parts together so long as the trolley remains
intact, or properly supported at each end of each section.
When the parts are coupled together as shown at the right in Figure 1 a smooth
surface is obtained along which the trolley will run easily from one section to the
next of the conducting wire.
It is obviously not essential which member is provided with the supporting
projections, the essential feature being that the coupling pieces should have
co-operating supporting surfaces arranged so as to provide the mutual support
when in a certain position with relation to each other as herein before described, the
arrangement being such that the members are held together so as to support the
strain of the wire so long as said wire remains under strain or in a substantially
horizontal position, and become disengaged from each other by the movement
which takes place when the strain ceases so that the wire changes its position and
that of the coupling members to a point at which the engaging surfaces are
separated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion 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. A supporting device for overhead electric conductors comprising a supporting
member adapted to be permanently secured to the overhead supporting structure,
and a supported member adapted to be secured to the conductor or trolley-wire,
said members being provided with coupling devices constructed and adapted to
operate substantially as described.
2. In a supporting device for overhead electric conductors, the combination with
a supporting coupling member provided with a supporting portion and a guiding
portion, of a supported coupling member having also a supporting portion and
a guiding portion adapted to co-operate with the corresponding portions of said
supporting member, said parts being arranged to engage each other when the

page_text: supported member and the wire connected thereto are in line with the supporting
member, and to become disengaged from each other when the supported member
is no longer held in such position by the strain of the wire, substantially as
described.
3. In a supporting device for overhead electric conductors, the combination with
a supporting coupling member having a flattened guide projection and a supporting
projection, of a supported coupling member having a guiding surface adapted to
engage said guide projection and a supporting surface adapted to engage said
supporting projection, said supporting surface and supporting projection being
arranged to become mutually engaged and disengaged by a pivotal movement of
said guiding surface on said guiding projection, substantially as described.
4. A supporting device for overhead electric conductors comprising a permanently
supported supporting member and a supported member adapted to be secured to the
conductor, said pieces. being arranged to become coupled and uncoupled as
described, and an insulated connecting device loosely connected to the supported
member to sustain the same when it is disconnected from the supporting member,
substantially as described.
Dated this 2nd day of June 1896
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.