Improvements in Electrical Apparatus for Increasing the Adhesion of the Wheels of Engines on Railway Rails, and for Removing Snow and Ice from such Rails.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electrical Apparatus for Increasing the Adhesion
of the Wheels of Engines on Railway Rails, and for Removing
Snow and Ice from such Rails.
We, ADRIEN PALAZ and VICTOR DUBOUX both of Lausanne in the Republic of
Switzerland, Engineers, 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 :-
It is a well known fact that, given the steepest gradients, the radius of the curves
of a railway, and the weight and speed with which a train is to be moved thereon,
the weight of the engine can be easily calculated with the object of giving the said
engine a sufficient amount of adhesion on the track to move the train with the given
speed. It is also known that the adhesion of an engine is calculated by multiplying
the weight of the engine, distributed upon the axles, by the coefficient of.adhesion,
the value of which varies between and .
As the resistance of the train increases proportionately to the gradient, the weight
of the engine must be also increased in order to realise a sufficient amount of
adhesion of the wheels on the track. It will be understood that there is a limit to
the weight of the engine, as otherwise the said weight would rapidly grow to
unmanageable proportions and the track would consequently be unable to bear the
strain thus thrown upon it.
With the object of overcoming the resistance on steep gradients it is necessary to
increase the adhesion of the engine on the rails without increasing its weight. This
is realized in some cases by means of toothed racks provided on the tracks of
mountain-railways and corresponding gear-wheels affixed to the engines. In the
railways as heretofore constructed according to this system the engines used thereon
have been steam-engines but this system has been found defective, the engines being
obliged to develop a power of 600 or 700 H.P. to move a heavy train to a speed of
say 12 to 15 kilometres; such power corresponds to a heating surface of about
200 square metres..
The Gothard-engines, for instance, which have 150 square metres of heat surface
have a weight of 58 tons and a tender of 25 tons; from this it appears that a steam
engine constructed for a normal rack-railway and regular working would be of an
impracticable weight.
A powerful and light motor can only be obtained in using electricity as the motor
power, the same being for instance fed to the engine by means of an electric
conductor placed along the track. The heaviest part of such an engine is the motor
and the weight of 3 or 4 such motors, realizing together a power of 700 to 800 H.P.
does not exceed, if they are well constructed, 20 or 25 tons. Therefore, if to this
weight is added some 10 tons for the weight of the carriage, it appears that the
weight of an electric engine of 700 or 800 H.P. will not exceed 30 to 35 tons; the
dead weight of the train will thus be reduced by 60 or 70 tons as compared with
that of the same train moved by a steam engine. Thus it appears that the electric
engines are the best motors which may be used on rack-railways with a large
amount of traffic.
In such railways the toothed racks may be replaced by a system of adhesion in
which such adhesion is produced by means of the electric current used as the motive
power, this system constituting the invention which forms the subject of the present
application. The said system or device allows of the engine being run at a con-
siderable speed, without danger, and without any wear of the adhesion-device, upon
railways having any gradients whatever. The said system or device is based on
the magnetic attraction which occurs between the engine and the track by means
of the electric current.

page_text: f
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in vertical longitudinal section on the line H K
of Figure 2 showing our magnetic adhesion-device adapted to the framing of an
engine having two axles.
Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a front view of the same showing the rails in section.
Figure 4 is a cross-section on the line 1 L of Figure 1, and
Figure 5 shows. a modified form of construction.
In all the figures the same letters refer to similar parts.
Between the rails B B are arranged two magnetic rails A. A parallel to the
rails BB and rigidly fixed to the same sleepers but magnetically insulated from
the rails B B by any suitable means whatever. The magnetic rails A A are made
of smooth iron or other suitable metal which may be acted upon by the magnetic
force; the said rails are preferably made of the section shown in Figures 3
and 4.
Below the frame of the engine are fixed two series of electromagnets E arranged
over the magnetic rails A A these magnets having their poles turned towards the
said rails. The engine shown in the drawing is supposed to be provided with four
magnets E but a greater or less number of such magnets may be applied according
as it is desired to produce more or less adhesion. The electro-magnets are
magnetically insulated from the metallic frame of the engine and they are excited
by means of the same electric current which operates the motor of the engine.
The magnets are secured to the engine in such a manner that the height of the
same may be regulated at will so as to augment or diminish the distance of the
poles of said magnets from the magnetic rails A A.
'
The poles G of said magnets are parallel to the surface of said magnetic rails A A
and they may be held at a distance of about 1 centimeter from the same. If the
coils of the electromagnets are calculated for instance so as to produce a magnetic
induction of say 11000 units between the core of the magnets and the rails A. A
the resulting attraction will be of about 5 kilos. for each square cm. between the
poles of the magnets and the rails A A. Now if the breadth of the latter is for
instance say 10 cms. and the length of the section of each core of the electromagnets
be say 30 cms. the result is a total attraction of 2 x 30 x 10 x 5: 3000 kgs. for
each electromagnet. If each series of electromagnets is formed of four such magnets
the total attraction will be 8 x 3000 = 24000 kgs.
= 24 tons.
=
The magnetic rails being rigidly fixed to the next track-rail and the electro-
magnets being fixed to the car of the engine the said attraction causes a direct
pressure of the motive wheels upon the track which gives an additional adhesion
corresponding to 24 tons. The electric energy spent for exciting the magnets is
very small as might be easily calculated. The coils of said magnets may be con-
nected with one another either in quantity or in tension as circumstances require.
To avoid Foucault currents in the cores of the electro-magnets and in the magnetic
rails, they may be formed of thin metallic blades electrically insulated from one
another.
The considerable amount of attraction realised according to the calculations
given above, is due to the very advantageous conditions in which the circulation of
magnetic forces from one pole of the magnets to the other one is obtained by means
of the magnetic rails. The coils of the electro maguets are suitably combined so as
to have poles of like sign placed close to one another that is to say arranged as
follows: N, S, S, N, N, Š, S, N.
But these magnets may also be arranged with their opposite poles placed close
to one another as follows: N, S, N, S, N, S, etc.
For the purpose of temporarily augmenting the magnetic action of the device,
for instance when the train starts, we may either temporarily increase the intensity
of the electric current passing through the coils of the electro-magnets, or there may
be provided supplementary coils to these magnets, the said coils being temporarily
traversed by the electric current whenever the maguetic action is to be increased,

page_text: or we may temporarily lower the cores of the magnets toward the magnetic rails so
as to lessen the distance existing between them and thus increase their magnetic
attraction to one another.
Instead of using two magnetic rails placed between the track-rails we may
arrange only one such rail or four or more of them upon the track, and part of them
may be arranged outside the ordinary rails.
Or we may use the ordinary rails as magnetic rails by choosing suitable materials
and sections for the same and placing the electro-magnets of the engine in the plane
of the wheels. Moreover we may combine both the usual track-rails arranged so
as to work as magnetic rails and one or more special magnetic rails arranged as
specified above.
Our improved adhesion device only slightly increases the power which the engine
has to furnish for the motion of the train. The resistance of the latter to traction
is not increased thereby; except by the augmentation of friction of the pivots of the
axles in their brackets.
In the above described device we have supposed the action of the magnets upon
the magnetic rails to take place without any contact between these two elements.
In Figure 5 we have shown how our invention may be carried out when contact is
established between the magnet and the magnetic rail. For this purpose we form
the core F of the magnet in the form of a spool of approximatively the same
diameter as the wheels of the engine and we place the coil E' of said magnet in the
grove of said spool as shown in Figure 5. Under the influence of the electric
current passing said coil E' the core F1 becomes magnetized so as to present in its
two halves two different polarities as shown by NS in Figure 5. The magnetic
wheel thus formed rolls upon a magnetic rail A' of corresponding breadth and is
constantly in contact with the same and the magnetic forces flow from one pole to
the other through the said rail A' as shown by the arrow in Figure 5, considerable
magnetic attraction between the engine and the track being thus realized.
In order that this device shall work effectively it is necessary that the magnetic
rails be provided with a regular and smooth surface and that such surface be always
maintained clean and free from anything that night prevent the proper working of
the device. In cold countries the snow and ice may therefore cause serious difficulties
if they remain on the track and means are therefore provided for cleaning the
same.
These means are applied beyond the usual snow-plough and brushes, and consist
in one or more thin metallic sheets, sliding on the rails and adapted to be connected
to the electric circuit of the engine so as to be heated by the passage of the electric
current to a sufficient temperature, so as to melt down the snow or ice left upon the
rails by the snow-plough and brushes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. A magnetic adhesion-device for railways composed of one or more magnetic
rails rigidly fixed to the track and of a suitable number of electro-magnets fixed to
the engine and energized by means of an electric current so that the magnetic
circuit of each magnet is closed by means of these magnetic rails and to produce a
magnetic attraction between the engine and the rails substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
2. In a magnetic adhesion-device for railways the combination of the axles of the
engine with one or more electro-magnets formed like a spool of approximately the
same diameter as the wheels, and rolling with their two edges upon a magnetic rail
fixed to the track, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
3. In a magnetic adhesion-device for railways the combination of an engine with
fixed magnets as claimed in the first claim and with rotatory magnets as claimed in
the second claim.
4. In a magnetic adhesion-device for railways the combination of the engine with

page_text: suitable metallic sheets sliding on the rails and connected to the electric circuit of
the engine so as to be heated for the purpose of melting the snow or ice lying on
the surface of the rails.
Dated this 29th day of October 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.