Improvements in Conductors for Electric Railways and the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Feb., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 26th Nov., 1897-Accepted, 19th Feb., 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Conductors for Electric Railways and the like.
I, WILLIAM WOOD, Power Station, St. Georges, Bristol, Chief Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of my invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in the methods of forming junctions with
electric conductors such as wires, rods, tapes, that are used to convey electricity
to form the circuit to trolleys used for electric traction and the like purposes, and
is suitable to overhead conductors or with modifications to conductors laid in conduits,
for the sake of brevity hereafter in these presents I shall refer to such wires, rods,
or tapes as conductor or conductors as the sense requires.
Hitherto the methods of forming junctions with electric conductors have been
faulty in as much as the trolley wheels have no positive guide when passing over
what will hereinafter in these presents be called the "junction piece or frog."
I carry my invention into practice in manner as follows:-
I form a plate of any suitable metal or material, and for clearness of description
hereinafter one side of the plate will be termed the ground side that is the side
towards or next to the ground, and the other side of the plate will be termed the
sky side that is the side towards the sky.
By preference both sides of the plates are channelled in such a way that the
depression on one side of the plate corresponds to a raised part on the other side
of the plate somewhat in the same manner as metal is corrugated but it must be
clearly understood I do not confine myself to this method of making the junction
piece but only adopt it for lightness.
The channels are arranged as follows-and for ease of description I will suppose
there is one conductor on the one end of the frog, and two conductors on the other
end of the frog, but it is distinctly to be understood that the device can be made
suitable for one or any number of conductors at either end of the frog.
The end of the frog on which the one conductor receiver, such conductor receiver
will be hereinafter described is fixed, is on a V shaped piece, and the apex of the
V points between the double apices of two inverted ✓ shaped pieces, whose
adjacent lines intersect each other.
The lines of all the V shaped pieces correspond to depressions in the frog, and in
these depressions the flanges of the trolley wheel runs.
The conductor receivers hereinbefore referred to may be tubular or semi-tubular
and of any desired section.
Into the tubular portion is laid the conductor, towards the end of the conductor
receiver nearest the apices of the V shaped pieces is formed a hole through which
the end of the conductor is passed, until it comes through the hole to the sky side
of the frog, and to which side it is fixed by soldering or other suitable methods.
The V pieces if required may be made moveable so as to extend their scope for
switching purposes or alternatively the V pieces may be fixed, and the frog moved,
or there may be a combination of both the aforesaid movements of the V pieces
and the frog.
The method for using this device is as follows--Supposing their is a branch line

page_text: from a main conductor, the main line conductors are fixed in the conductor receivers
of the single V piece, and one of the double intersecting pieces, and the branch line
conductor is fixed to the other of the double intersecting V pieces. It will thus
be readily understood that a trolley wheel coming along the main line conductor
will be guided by means of the depressions from the conductor receiver fixed to
the V piece of the double intersecting ✓ pieces to the conductor receiver fixed to
the single V piece at the other end of the frog and in like manner a trolley wheel
coming along the branch line conductor will be guided by means of the depressions
from the conductor receiver fixed to the other V piece of the double intersecting
V pieces to the conductor receiver fixed to the single V piece; as before said this
arrangement of V pieces can be multiplied as required.
Dated this 25th day of February 1897.
W. M. LLEWELLIN, C.E.,
15, King Square, Bristol, Agent for Applicant.
I, WILLIAM WOOD, of the Power Station, St. George, Bristol, 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:-
My invention relates to an improved method of forming the connections of electric
conductors at such points as junctions and the like, where wires cross each other,
and separate from the main wires or return thereto, so that the trolley wheels used
in electric traction may readily be directed to their prescribed wires on the branch
or main lines.
Hitherto the methods of making these connections have been defective as no
reliable guide has been provided that will ensure the wheel finding its own wire
on leaving the frog or plate, and frequently a delay is occasioned by the trolley
having to be adjusted to its wire.
To remedy this defect, I make the frog with grooves on the under side, in which
the flanges of the trolley wheels may engage immediately the annular groove in
the wheel leaves the wire or casing provided for its reception, and by a simple
arrangement of points and levers as hereinafter described, I ensure the passage
of the wheel from a wire at one end of the frog to its prescribed wire at the other
end.
My invention will be more fully described in connection with the accompanying
three sheets of drawings, of which Sheet 1 illustrates a frog prepared with grooves
for the passage of trolley wheels from either of two wires to a single wire; Sheet 2
illustrates a frog similarly constructed, but for the passage of the wheel from one
wire to either of two wires, a switching appliance being provided to direct the
wheel to the prescribed wire; and Sheet 3 shows a crossing plate for use at
junctions where two wires cross each other.
On Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a section and elevation of a frog with the wires inserted
and attached thereto; Fig. 2 is a plan of the upper or sky side of a frog with holes
pierced therein and receivers at either end to guide and secure the wires to the
frog Fig. 3 is a plan of the under or ground side of the frog, showing the grooves
in which the flanges of the wheels engage: Fig. 4 is an elevation of the frog at
its narrow end, and Fig. 5 is an elevation, partly in section of the wide end, both
figures indicating means for fastening the wires in the receivers, and grooves for
the flanges of the wheels on each side of the wires. On Sheet 2, Figures 6 to 9

page_text: are similar to those on Sheet 1, the only difference being the addition of a weighted
lever on the upper side of the frog and recesses in the bed of the frog in which
wedge blocks suspended from the lever alternately direct the flanges of the wheel
into the required grooves. Fig. 10 is a transverse section showing fuller details
of the wedge blocks and lever. On Sheet 3, Fig. 11 is a section of a crossing plate,
with the wires inserted in channels at the top of the plate and receivers in the
under part; Fig. 12 is a plan of the upper part of the plate ready to receive the
crossing wires, and means for securing the wires to the plate: Fig. 13 is a plan
of the under side of the plate with receivers as already described for the wires at
the ends of the plate, the wires are shown inserted therein, and grooves extend from
one end to the other, so arranged that the facing points will not interfere with the
direct course of the wheel and flanges; and Fig. 14 is an end elevation showing
the means by which the wires are secured to the plate.
In Figs.
to 5, A is an ordinary frog or plate to which the wires C, D, and E
are attached in the usual manner through apertures a made in the plate and the
receiver B, grooves having been made in the frog for their partial enclosure;
C, D, and E represent the places where the respective wires C, D, and E first
engage in the receivers; grooves G, preferably V shaped, are made on each side
of the receivers of suitable depth to receive and control the flanges of the trolley
wheels, these grooves are made parallel to the receivers at each end until they meet
the grooves parallel to the receiver at the other end, and as the wheel flanges
pass along these grooves from either C or D' they will be free of the facing point F,
as the outside flange in either case will be controlled by the outer groove, and
thus the wheel will pass with accuracy into the grooves G in the other end;
immediately the annular groove in the wheel leaves the wires or receivers, the
flanges rise into the grooves G and engage therein, the lines of contact are shown
by broken lines in Fig. 3. The end elevations (Figs. 4 and 5) show details of
construction that need no further description.
On Sheet 2, the figures are similar to those on Sheet 1, and are similarly lettered,
except the wires and their entrances to the receivers, the construction of the frog
and the grooves therein being identical; but as the trolley wheel proceeds in the
direction of the arrow along H¹, it is necessary to provide means for switching it
to either of the two wires I or J that may be desired, wedge shaped apertures K
are therefore made at the meeting of the grooves, as shown in Fig. 8, to receive
cone shaped blocks L suspended by plugs from a weighted lever M on the upper
part of the frog; from the construction of the lever and the position of the blocks,
one on each side of the fulcrum, one of the apertures will always be blocked; one
block L which is shaped to fit loosely in its aperture, is shown down in Fig. 8,
consequently the outer groove leading to J¹ is blocked and the wheel is diverted
to I, similarly, this block being raised and the other lowered to fill the other
aperture, the wheel will be diverted to J¹. On the upper side of the frog, a
fulcrum N supports a crank lever M, at the end of which is a weight O to keep
the lever and blocks attached thereto normally in one position, the blocks are sus-
pended from the lever at equal distances from the fulcrum, and in the position
shown in the several figures, one block obstructs the entrance to a groove while
the other is raised out of contact: By a wire or cord attached to the vertical arm P,
the lever is actuated to pull it over and reverse the positions of the blocks in relation
to their respective apertures.
The weighted lever being automatic, and normally keeping the same block always
in its aperture, it will be arranged so that the passage to the wire over which the
trolley wheel most frequently passes shall be normally open, the other being opened
by an attendant to let the trolley wheel of a car pass the frog, and on releasing
the mechanism provided, it will automatically return to its original position. The
lever P may be actuated and the switching performed by an insulated wire or by
other suitable mechanical means.
Figs. 11 to 14 show a modification of the method already described, which is
necessary where two wires cross each other, instead of one branching off from the

page_text: other: A crossing plate Q is made as shown, with recesses V on the upper side
to receive the wires R and S; these recesses are deepened at each end to form
receivers B in which the wires are placed and fastened by screw clips as shown in
Figs. 11 and 14; on each side of the receivers and parallel with the wires, grooves G
are made from one end of the plate to the other, the wheel runs on the wire and
receiver, the groove of the trolley wheel being still in contact, but immediately
the wheel leaves the receiver, the flanges of the wheel bear on the frog in the
grooves for the distance shown by broken lines in Fig. 13, and thus either by the
groove of the wheel being guided by the receivers or the flanges controlled by
the grooves in the frog, the trolley is accurately guided to the receiver and wire at
the other end of the plate: the various facing points caused by the intersection
of the grooves not being opposite to each other, they do not meet both flanges at the
same instant, therefore one of them is always controlled by the grooves in the
frog while passing, which keeps the wheel in its prescribed path.
In the foregoing description, the invention is shown as applied to overhead wires
for traction purposes, but with slight modifications, such as would be apparent to
an electrical engineer, it may be used for wires, rods, or tapes laid in conduits or the
like.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In junction plates or frogs for the reception of wires on which trolley wheels
are employed in electric traction, forming grooves in the frogs for the reception
and control of the wheel flanges immediately the annular groove in the wheel
leaves the receiver or wire, facing points or openings in the grooves being formed
to admit of the flanges taking their prescribed direction, thus ensuring accuracy
in the passage of the wheel from a wire at one end to its corresponding wire at the
other, substantially as herein described and shown.
2. In a junction plate with receivers and grooves as described, the provision of
a switching appliance for dropping and keeping one or the other of a pair of wedge
blocks in the apertures respectively provided for their reception, whereby the
wheel may be diverted in the direction required, substantially as described and
illustrated in Figs. 6 to 10 of the drawings.
3. At crossing junctions, the provision of plates as described with receivers at the
ends for the wires and grooves at each side following the direction of the wires to
guide the trolley wheels smoothly over the crossing, the wires passing one over
the other on the top and fastened in position at the ends in the manner shown,
all substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 25th day of November 1897.