Improvements in and relating to Electrical Railways and Tramways.
Year: 1895

page_text: .Date of Application, 19th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 20th Apr.. 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Electrical Railways and
Tramways.
We, FRED PENTZ BERGH of Edonwood Avenue, Fordham, Electrician, and
CHARLES WAKEFIELD TARBOX of Room 177 Times Building, City of New
York, Real Estate Agent, both in the County of New York and State of New
York, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
scertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to electric railways of the class in which current is
supplied to the motor on the vehicle from a conductor of electricity located in
a conduit extending along the roadway under the car. In this particular
case there is no continuous working conductor, nor is there what there may be
called a sectional conductor, but instead we use a series of exposed points which
are connected with a continuous insulated conductor by the car as it travels
along and contact is maintained with at least one of these points all the time
Our invention has
by means of a longitudinal shoe or skid carried by the car.
to do more particularly with the construction and operation of these points and
the shoe and consists of the apparatus and devices hereinafter described in detail
and pointed out in the claims.
Referring to the accompanying drawing:
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of the conduit showing the shoe and
contact devices in working position.
Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on line - of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a plan of the shoe.
Fig. 4 is a side elevation of one of the switch boxes with its cover removed.
Fig. 5 is a section on line y-y of Fig. 4.
Fig. 6 is a plan in detail of one end of the contact shoe, parts being broken out.
Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the same, but also including the slot rail of the
conduit.
Fig. 8 is a front elevation of the shoe, and
Figs. 9 and 10 are respectively side and front elevations of a portion of the shoe
showing an attachment thereto and also a modification.
Referring to the drawings by letter, A. represents the conduit which may be
any suitable shape. It is provided with the usual slot rails a, between which is
a continuous opening to admit an arm or arms from the vehicles which run upon
the tracks. B B respectively represent two main conductors thoroughly insulated
throughout their entire length and strung along either in the conduit or buried
in the earth adjacent thereto. At suitable points these conductors are tapped
by branch wires which lead to switch or contact boxes C C. One of these
main wires is the positive and the other the negative, and we prefer to use
metallic conductors on both sides of the circuit for various well understood
reasons. Our invention, however, is applicable for use with a single feed wire
and a return through the rails or ground. One of the objects of our invention
is to produce a system which is adapted for application to the present conduits
of cable railways. Such conduits are usually provided at intervals with enlarged
places or pits to accommodate the guide wheels of the cable. These pits are
usually deeper than the conduit itself and are constructed separately therefrom.

page_text: We propose to take advantage of these wheel pits by locating therein proper
supports or foundations for the switch boxes C. In this way the switch boxes
are supported entirely independent of the framework of the conduit and are not
subject to displacement when the form of the roadbed changes by the action of
frost or heavy traffic. In Fig. 1 c represents a column or foundation located in
the pit c and supporting at its upper end one of the switch boxes C. The column
may he made of masonry or iron and will be insulated from the switch box, in any
suitable manner. The switch box itself consists of two uprights dd, one of which
forms one side of the box which is completed by a cover d. The cover is bolted
in place and is suitably packed at its edges to exclude misture and air. In the
upper ends of the uprights d d' are located the bearings for a hollow shaft e which
enters the box through a stuffing box d³. Inside of the box 2 the shaft
carries an arm e¹ to which is secured a metallic plate e² adapted to swing across and
make and break contact with a metallic surface e³. The surface is electrically
connected with the branch conductor which leads to the main wire B as before
described. The plate 2 is electrically_connected with an insulated wire e which
extends through the hollow shaft e. Upon this shaft is mounted an arm f which
carries at one end a metallic roller and at the other end a weight sufficient to
normally maintain the roller in an elevated position while the weight is against a
stop The arm f is forked and between its ends the roller is mounted with
suitable insulated bushings f³. The conductor e* extends through the bushings and
is in contact with the metallic spindle upon which the wheel turns. When the
arme is upon the metallic surface es a complete circuit is established from the main
feeder to the wheel f.
We prefer to mount the switch boxes in the pits as described, and would therefore
construct our conduit in this manner if the roadbed was to be equipped entirely
new for our system, but our invention obviously is not limited to the location of the
switch boxes in pits, as they may be placed at suitable intervals in the conduit and
secured either to the bottom or sides thereof. The distance apart of the switch
boxes will be determined by the length of the car to be used. The car will carry
a contact shoe which will be substantially the same length and the switch boxes will
be arranged so that the shoe can bridge or overlap two of them at once.
The contact shoe herein described is adapted particularly for a two-wire system.
It consists in general of a frame made in three sections hinged together.
The
middle section, which is attached to the car, consists of three strips g, h, i,
respectively connected at the ends to cross pieces and k. The strips hand i
are in the same plane and are armed on their under sides by a flat metallic strip /
which is insulated from the main strip by blocks of insulating material. The
strip or bar g is located above the other two strips and serves merely to strengthen
the shoe. The cross pieces ; and have connected to them standards s which
project upward through the slot of the conduit for connection to the vehicle. At their
upper ends they are provided with grooves s' into which L-shaped brackets s²
carried by the car project. The grooves s¹ on the standards face each other, and
the brackets 2 stand loosely therein. It will be seen that the weight of the shoe is
supported by the car by means of these brackets, and that in case the car makes a
sidewise movement, as it would in running off the track, the brackets s² would slip
out laterally and thus save the shoe from injury. The shoe would merely drop
down until the shoulders rested upon the slot rails. In addition to the strip g the
frame of the middle section of the shoe consists of two rods m, m, which are
attached to the ends of the cross-pieces ; by means of vertical pins or rods passing
through the ends of pieces j and also through the ends of the pieces k. The rods m
are provided with eyes m¹ through which the rods j pass. The end sections of the
shoe are both alike. They are merely continuations of the middle section. Each
end section has strips hi and which correspond with the strips and i of
the middle section. They are hinged to the side strips of the middle section by
means of the joint indicated in Fig. 7, of which the rods form the pivots. The
strips h', ', are equipped with the metallic strips and these are electrically

page_text: connected with the strips by means of springs 1³. The extreme ends of the shoe
are inclined upward for a short distance, for a purpose which will hereinafter
appear, and this portion of the strips h' and is without a metallic contact surface.
Truss rods o pivoted at one end upon the rods j and at the other end upon studs o¹
at the extremities of the shoe are fitted to give strength to the shoe." The rods
are provided with turnbuckles for tightening them up and increasing the rigidity of
the shoe. The ends of the shoe are connected together by cross pieces p which are
fixed by pivotal pins p' so that the entire end section may swing to either side for
the purpose of passing around curves. In order that the shoe may be easily and
accurately guided, wheels are mounted at the ends upon the cross pins p. These
wheels are provided with flanges q' which run in the slot in the conduit, and they
are mounted upon a frame 92 pivoted upon a vertical pin 9³ which permits them to
turn slightly when the shoe swings. The shoe is adapted to run in either direction,
as both ends are alike. From this description it will be seen that the shoe is a very
light but strong structure and is capable of passing around curves of any radius
over which the car can travel, without binding in the conduit.
In the operation of our system, the shoe in passing along through the conduit
runs over and pushes downward the wheels f. This causes the plate e² to make
contact with the metallic surface e³ in the switch box and closes the circuit from
the main conductor through the wheelf to the metallic strip on the shoe, whence
it is taken by a flexible conductor in the usual way to the motor on the vehicle.
On passing out of the vehicle the return current passes through the other side of
the shoe and through the corresponding switch box on the other side of the
conduit. In the progress of the shoe through the conduit the wheels f first come
in contact with the inclined insulated end of the shoe and the wheel is therefore
gently moved downward until it is thrown its full stroke, when the conducting
strip runs upon it and establishes a circuit. It will therefore be seen that the
contact points in the switch box are brought fully together before the circuit is
completed, and sparking is thereby prevented. As soon as the forward wheel f¹
is fully upon the contact strip the rear wheel f' runs on to the inclined end of
the shoe and is thereby allowed to rise gently under the action of the weight at
the opposite end of the arm carrying the wheel. In this way the circuit between the
motor and the main conductors is never interrupted.
In Figs. 9 and 10 are illustrated one of the standards s provided with two
rollers t, t, one on each side, the function of which is to roll upon the slot rails of
the conduit and support the weight of the shoe, thus relieving the car to that
extent. The connection with the car would then be only sufficient to drag the
shoe along, and as shown may consist merely of a lug t¹ attached to the car and
impinging against the head of the standard.. In these figures is also illustrated
a small plow u which is attached to the forward edge of the standard and acts in
the nature of a cow-catcher to remove any obstructions which may be on the slot
rails and which might engage with and injure the standards or other parts of
the shoe.
We maintain that our system herein described is extremely simple and cheap to
construct and will necessitate but slight expense to keep in repair. The displace-
ment of one switch box does not necessarily disable the system, as the momentum
of a car will carry it past any particular box. The shoe being entirely separated
from the car, it is possible to remove and replace that without depriving the road
of the use of the car. We regard the detachable shoe as a valuable feature of our
invention.
Having now particularly described and illustrated my said invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim and desire
to secure by Letters Patent, is:
1. In a conduit electric railway system, a conduit provided with two series of
contact points connected respectively with the positive and negative sides of the
supply circuit, in combination with a contact shoe having two longitudinal

page_text: horizontal contact surfaces making contact respectively with the two series of
contact points, and each long enough to bridge at least two of said points, the
two contact surfaces being located in the same horizontal plane and the shoe
provided with hinges permitting it to bend in a horizontal direction and maintain
its two contact surfaces parallel to each other, substantially as described.
2. The switching apparatus herein described, consisting of two standards, an
arm pivoted upon a shaft having its bearings therein, with a weight at one end
and an insulated contact roller at the other, a water tight box formed upon one of
said standards, an electric switch located therein, the said shaft projecting through
a stuffing box into said water tight box and connected with the switch therein,
said shaft being hollow and the roller being electrically connected with the switch
by means of a conductor passing through the hollow shaft, as set forth.
3. In an electric railway, a slotted conduit, a moving car, a contact shoe carried
by said car and running entirely within the conduit, said shoe being constructed
in sections hinged together and adapted to swing laterally, and a roller mounted
in a pivoted frame at each end of the shoe, arranged to project into the slot of
the conduit to guide the shoe around the curves.
4. The contact shoe herein described, consisting of the main part having two
parallel strips and i with their conducting surfaces, 7, the cross pieces j and k,
the brace rods m, and the end sections having corresponding parts h¹, i,
the end sections being hinged to the middle part in the manner described.
Dated this 18th day of March 1895.
and o,
W. E. HEYS & SON,
Agents for the Applicants.