Year: 1886

page_text: I, PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County
of Middlesex Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the
nature of this invention (a communication to me from abroad by Sidney Howe
Short, Electrician, and John Wellington Nesmith, Mechanical Engineer, both of
Denver, in the State of Colorado, United States of America) 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 a moving electric receptive device in continuous
circuit with a stationary conductor.
It is designed especially for the propulsion of cars on tram or railways but in
some features is as applicable to the working of any moving electric receptive
device.
The invention includes a conductor composed of sections properly insulated
and adapted to the contact of moving current gatherers, the sections being
connected by automatically closing contact pieces on said ends, and closing the
circuit by contact with each other. In combination with an insulating bar or like
device carried by a car or other vehicle, adapted to separate the circuit closers at
the ends of the sections, and thus open the circuit, and hold it open while passing,
the said bar having contact surfaces in circuit with an electric receptive device
on the car. It includes also in connection with the devices enumerated above, an
electric generator, a return wire, and as a further element the arrangement of the
sections substantially in the same line.
To clearly explain the invention reference is made to the accompanying drawings
which form part of this specification and in which-
Fig. 1 represents in diagrammatic form, the conductors in section, and return
wire in circuit with the generator with a car carrying a motor and with another
electric receptive device in said elevation and in proper relation to the line of
conductors.

page_text: Fig. 2 represents more in detail the form of the sectional conductor in connection
with the return wire and generator.
Fig. 3 illustrates the same in connection with the moving motor and car.
Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged detail views, figure 4 shows a side elevation and
figure 5 an end elevation of a section detached.
In figure 1 the sections of the main conductor are indicated by the figures 1. 2.
3, 4. 5 and 6. They are substantially in the same line with each other, and are
connected electrically by spring circuit closers C, C¹, and so on. These circuit
closers may be of various forms but make the electrical connection by contact
with the contiguous end of the next section as shown in Fig. 1, or by contact with
the spring contact piece of the next section as shown in Fig. 2. The pieces are
conveniently held in contact by their own elasticity but this is obviously not the
only means for the purpose.
When in contact with each other or with the end of the nearest section, the
current passes through the contact pieces themselves and when they are separated,
the contact is thereby broken. The line of conducting sections is in circuit with a
battery X, and a return wire R.
In Fig. 1 the spring contact piece or circuit closer is shown on one end only, of
each section and connects by overlapping the end of the next section. It is made
with a bend to the side opposite that which it touches so that the opening device
when passing may push it aside to open the circuit. The device for opening the
circuit as represented in the diagram Figure 1, is a bar I. It is carried by a car L,
which runs on the line above, on one side or beneath the conductor. The bar is
longer than any section and its front end passes the front end of a section before
the rear end of the bar leaves the rear end of the same section. The bar is of
insulating material and its ends are electrical contact pieces S, S', which are
electrically connected with the coils of an electric motor carried by the car L, to
move the same. The bar while passing a contact piece pushes and holds it aside as
shown at C (Fig. 1) and this breaks the circuit of the conductor. While this is
broken, the circuit is formed through the contacts S, S¹, to the motor on the car.
The car may go in either direction, and as it moves on from the position shown
in the left of Fig. 1, it opens the next circuit closer laps on the third section, thus
including in its length and excluding from the line, one section momentarily. But
with the exception of possible instantaneous breaks, the contact pieces S, S¹, and
motor are always in circuit with the line, and the spring returning and holding in
contact with the line keep it continuous in front and rear of the car.
The line between the terminals of the motor or other electric receptive device is
always open and the bar being of nonconducting material bears without electrical
effect on the intermediate contact piece.
On the right of Fig. 1 is represented a telegraph in like circuit. The conducting
sections are substantially in line and the bar continues to bear on them as it
passes and operates all the closers.
In Figs. 2 and 3 a modified form of conductor is shown at o, p,q and o¹, p¹ and q¹
and so on.
Their sections are channel shaped as shown in Fig. 5, and have spring
contact pieces at their ends as shown more clearly at t, t, in Fig. 4. The channels
are in line, and the bar V shown in Fig. 3 moves in the channels, but parts and
holds the contact pieces as explained, there being one on each end of each section,
and overlapping each other. The bar V has brushes at each end which are
connected by wires with the motor coils and which gather the current from the
conducting line in front and rear, while the intermediate parts of the insulating
bar keep the conductor open, thus diverting constantly through the motor or other
electric receptive device while it moves along the coil.
Fig. 5 shows an end view of the channel conductor made of suitable material
and with the spring t.
No broad claim is made to a sectional conductor having automatically acting
circuit closers with a bar carried with the electric receptive device for diverting
the current operating the circuit closers, but having now particularly described and

page_text: ascertained, the nature of the said invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that
what I claim is :-
1. In connection with a tram or railway, an electrical conductor composed of
sections having pieces on their ends forming the electrical connections between
said sections through the contact points of said pieces and adapted to close
automatically, an insulating bar carried on the car or other vehicle and longer
than any one of the sections said insulating bar being adapted to pass between the
contact pieces, and to separate them electrically during its passage between them,
and having also conducting pieces thereon which are in circuit, with an electric
receptive device, and are adapted to bear on the conductor on each,side of the
break caused by the bar when passing between the contact pieces; all substantially
as described.
2: In- connection with a tram or railway, an electrical conductor composed of
sections, having their ends adapted to automatically close the circuit, said conductor
being in circuit with an electrical generator and return wire, in combination with
an insulating bar carried by the car or other vehicle longer than any one section
and adapted to open and hold open the ends of the sections in passing said bar,
having conducting pieces thereon which are in circuit with an electric motor on the
car, whereby the current is cut out of the conductor and made to pass through the
motor; all substantially as described.
3. In connection with a tram or railway, an electrical conductor composed of
sections which are substantially in line with each other, and which have their ends
adapted to come automatically into contact with each other to close the circuit,
said conductor being in circuit with an electrical generator and return wire, in
combination with an insulating bar carried by the car or other receptacle longer
than any one of the sections, and adapted to open and hold open the ends of the
sections in passing, said bar having conducting pieces thereon, which are in circuit
with an electric motor on the car, whereby the current is cut out of the conductor
and made to pass through the motor; all substantially as described.
4. In combination with a tram or railway, an electrical conductor composed of
sections which are substantially in line with each other, and which have their ends
adapted to come automatically into contact with each other to close the circuit,
said conductor being in circuit with an electrical generator and return wire, in
combination with an insulating bar carried by the car or other receptacle longer
than any one of the sections and adapted to open and hold open the sections in
passing, said bar having conducting pieces on its end which conducting pieces are
in circuit with an electric motor on the car and are adapted for contact with the
sections of the conductor while the intermediate portions of the bar support the
ends of the sections and break the circuit between them'; all substantially as
described.
5. A conductor composed of sections having spring or other connections between
the sections which when closed form a continuous conductor in connection with
the generating device, a car or other vehicle moving on a suitable way, a trans-
lating loop for diverting the electric current from the conductor through the
electro-motor of the locomotive, or car, or vehicle, the said cloop consisting
essentially of two metal brushes or other devices of suitable conducting material
and placed at a distance apart, greater than the length of any single section of the
conductor, and connected together by means of a bar or other device consisting in
whole or in part of some suitable insulating or non-conducting material, and in
constant contact with the conductor and carried or moved along the conductor by
suitable attachments to the locomotive or car by which the circuit closers or
springs cr bridging pieces or devices connecting the sections of conductors are held
open successively from the time that the first brush enters one, until the second
brush shall have passed it, the office of the translating loop being to divert the
electric current from the conductor through the first brush by a suitable wire or
other conductor to the electromotor on the car, and thence to the last brush, a

page_text: circuit closer being always held open between the brushes by the insulating bar or
device to the two ends of which the brushes are connected; all those parts specified
being combined and operating, substantially as described.
6. In an electric tram or railway system, the combination of a single line
conductor in sections, with circuit closers between each contiguous section, with an
insulating bar, the two ends of which are attached to brushes or conducting pieces
to hold open temporarily said sections, and in connection with the electro-motor,
thereby diverting the entire current from the single line conductor through the
electro-motor of the car, the parts being arranged as described, whereby each
circuit closes automatically when the insulating bar and the rear brush shall have
passed them successively, as set forth. .
.