Improvements relating to Electric Apparatus for Propelling Tram- way Cars and other Vehicles and to Means for Transmitting Electric Currents to such Apparatus.
Year: 1888

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by JOSHUA KLAMES, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
United States of America, Railway Manager.]
Improvements relating to Electric Apparatus for Propelling Tram-
way Cars and other Vehicles and to Means for Transmitting
Electric Currents to such Apparatus.
.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
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 electrical mechanism for propelling street cars and other
conveyances and the object thereof is to provide simple means whereby contact may
be preserved between the main conductor or cable and the arm or arms taking the
current, therefrom to the motor.
Another object of the said invention is to provide means whereby the rocking
movement of the car, as well as the rise and fall of the frame by variations in the
weight carried, may be automatically compensated.
A further object of the invention is to provide a simple insulating bearing for the
contact-arms which shall avoid the necessity of lubrication and give complete
insulation.
A still further object of the said invention is to provide a conduit for the
purpose of transmitting electrical energy to a motor by which a public conveyance
is propelled.
The invention comprises the several novel features of construction and combination
of parts hereinafter fully set forth.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a vertical section of one end of a car and platform showing the
application of the invention.
Figure 2 is a plan view of the same.
Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section in the plane 3. 3 of Figure 1.

page_text: Figure 4 is a detail view enlarged, of one of the contact arms showing the said
part in elevation and in section.
Figure 5 is a perspective of the conduit and conductor.
Figure 6 a longitudinal section and
Figures 7 and 8 detail views of sections of insulating linings and supports employed
in connection with the conduit.
Referring to Figures 1 to 4 inclusive the reference numeral 1 denotes a car of any
ordinary type, having mounted thereon an electric motor of any known or preferred
construction the said motor, inasmuch as it forms no part of the present invention,
not being shown in the drawings.
Rising from the floor of the casing in which the motor is arranged, are vertical
rods or bars 2, which support a plate or spider 3, secured to their top. Below this
spider, and separated from it by spiral springs 4 encircling the rods 2 is a second
plate 5, from which depend arms or brackets 6 of substantially equal length. These
arms are formed in pairs, one pair being at or near one end of the plate and the other
pair at or near the other end.
Between each pair of arms or brackets is pivotally mounted an arm 7 having two
diverging arms 8 and 9 projecting from it at or near the pivotal point. One of these
arms 8 is a contact, and is adapted to engage with a contact 8" depending from the
plate 5. The other arm has a link connection 10, leading from its extremity to a
cross head 12, on a vertical slide bar 13 which passes through both the plate 5 and
the spider 3 and moves freely in each. Upon the lower extremity of each arm is a
contact-shoe 14 adapted to make connection with and move upon the cable. Wires 15
lead from each of the contacts 8 to the binding posts 16 whereby the current is
carried to the motor.
In order to balance the weight of the bar 13, a light spring 17, may, if desired, be
interposed between the plate 5 and a disc or head 18, rigid upon said bar.
It will be seen that by pushing downward upon the vertical slide bar 13, the
arms 7 may be instantly raised out of contact with the cable, either to arrest the
motor or to cross some intersecting cable. At the same time when the car is in
motion, the rocking and swaying of the car body, as well as the rise and fall
thereof, by reason of the entrance or departure of passengers, will be compensated
by the rise and fall of the plate 5, which carries the arm 6 to which the contact
arms 7 are pivoted, as well as the contacts 8ª, the arrangement shown giving a
perfectly uniform contact at all times and under all circumstances.
I prefer to form the pivotal bearings of the contact-arms, as shown in Figure 4 by
setting a glass-or vitreous bearing 19 in an opening in the arm, said bearing having
a flange 20 on one end. A boss or lug 21 is formed on each side or face of said arm
surrounding the bearing and on one of said lugs I mount a wooden annulus 22 secured
in place by screws 23 or equivalent means. This annulus overlaps the flanged end of
the bearing and holds it in place.
I prefer to form the arm 7 with a covering, lining or non-conducting shield 7" of
rubber or similar material, and to protect the whole by an outer coating 7b, of steel or
other metal by which the arm is protected.
Referring to Figures 5 to 8 inclusive the letter A indicates a timber preferably
rectangular in cross section the said timber being grooved, as at B throughout its
entire length. The groove B, is provided with an insulating lining C, preferably
composed of glass, said lining covering the bottom and side walls of the groove and
extending up flush with the top surface of the timber, at which point it is slightly
rounded. Upon top of the timber A and upon each side of the groove B are secured
metal plates or shoes E to prevent wear of the timber, and the surface of these shoes
is corrugated, grooved, or "spudded" in order to roughen the same and prevent
injury to horses and pedestrians.
The lining C is crossed at intervals, by supporting pieces C₁, formed of glass or
other suitable insulating material. These pieces are of such form as to enter
apertures e, in the walls of the lining C, said apertures being formed at suitable
intervals, and each piece is provided with a notch c¹, in its upper edge adapted to

page_text: receive the cable. The length of these pieces is such that, when inserted their
ends lie flush or nearly so, with the outer faces of the lining C, whereby when
the latter is placed within its groove in the timber the said supports C', are
held in position and lateral motion prevented, by the enclosing walls of the timber
support.
A certain number of the sections of the conduit are provided with openings a
communicating with the bottom of the groove B, made by boring through the timber
and lining, and are intended to be connected to a sewer or other source of drainage
for the purpose of allowing the water to pass off from the conduit to the sewer or
drain.
F indicates an electrical conductor, consisting of a copper rod or wire square or
rectangular in cross section, and said conductor lies within the insulated groove B,
and rests upon the supporting pieces (. This conductor is made in sections of
suitable length said sections being joined together, so that in the event of the
breakage of the conductor or the conduit at any point a portion of the conductor or
conduit or both can be removed without disturbing the remainder of the line.
As shown in Figures 6, 7 and 8, the ends of the sections of the conduit are joined
together by lap or break joints, so that when laid the conduit will be practically
continuous.
When used as a mass for furnishing electrical energy to a motor by which a
conveyance is propelled, a connector carried by the motor will be lowered into the
groove B and lie in contact with and travel on the conductor F, and the conductor
substantially occupying the entire width of the insulated groove, no chance is afforded
the connector carried by the motor for slipping off of and out of contact with the
conductor. Should the conductor become unevenly worn upon one of its plane sides,
it may be turned over so as to present a new and unworn surface, and the conductor
being square in cross-section, it will be seen that four surfaces may be from time to
time presented for contact with the connector.
It will be understood that in practice the grooved and insulated sections of timber
will be buried in the roadway in such a manner that the iron shoes E will be
flush with the surface of the roadway, and preparatory to laying the sections I
prefer to treat the timbers composing the said sections with a bath of coal
tar or other preservative substance for the purpose of preventing decay of the
Same.
While I have described the conductor as being rectangular in cross section, I do
not wish to be understood as confining myself to such shape, as the said conductor
may be of any suitable form in cross section.
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 :-
First The combination with a car or other conveyance having an electric motor,
of contact arms taking the current from a subway to said motor, a vertically movable
support upon which said arms are pivotally mounted and carrying the electrical
contacts with which they engage and guides giving vertical movement to said support
substantially as described.
Second The combination with vertical guides having a spider or plate rigidly
mounted thereon, of a support movable on said guides and having brackets or arms
with electrical contacts arranged upon said brackets, and arms pivoted to the latter
and having contact arms and springs interposed between the support and spider;
substantially as described.
Third The combination with vertical guides having a plate or spider mounted
thereon, of a support movable on said guides and provided with brackets and contacts,
arms pivotally mounted on said brackets and having contact arms engaging with the
contacts on the movable support, a vertical slide bar having a link connection with an
arm on each contact arm and springs interposed between the support and the spider,
substantially as described.

page_text: Fourth-The combination, with vertical guide bars having a spider connecting
their upper ends of a support movable upon the said hars springs interposed between
said support and the spider, contact arms pivotally mounted on brackets depending
from said support, a vertical slide bar carried through the spider and the inovable
support and having link connections to arms projecting from the contact arms at or
near the pivotal points of the latter, and a spring giving support to the vertical slide
bars, substantially as described.
Fifth The combination of the swinging contact arm having an opening and
opposite bosses surrounding the ends of the opening, a vitreous bearing inserted in
the opening, and an annulus attached in a fixed position to one of the bosses and over-
lapping one end of the vitreous bearing, substantially as described.
Sixth-The combination, with a contact arm having one or more openings and
provided with surrounding lugs or bosses, of a vitreous bearing having a flanged end,
and a non-conducting annulus overlapping said end and secured to one of said lugs,
substantially as described.
'
Seventh In an electric subway, the combination of the longitudinally grooved
timber A, the insulating lining C covering the bottom and side walls of the groove
and provided with a series of separate supporting pieces C, of insulating material
arranged above the bottom of the groove and. a conductor F bearing at intervals on
the upper surfaces of the said pieces, substantially as described.
Eighth In an electrical subway, the timbers A, grooved longitudinally said grooves
being lined with an insulating material formed in sections and provided with supporting
pieces C¹ crossing said groove each piece being adapted to receive and support the
cable or electrical conductor, substantially as described.
Ninth In an electrical subway the combination with the grooved timbers A of the
sectional glass lining C, having at intervals apertures c and the supporting pieces Cl
set in said apertures and having notches adapted to receive, the conductor, said
pieces having their ends abutting against the walls of the groove, in the timber A,
substantially as described.
Dated shis 97th day of November 1888
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.