Improvements in Conductors and Collectors for Electrically Propelled Tramway and Railway Vehicles.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 28th May, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 14th Feb., 1895-Accepted, 16th Mar.. 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Conductors and Collectors for Electrically
Propelled Tramway and Railway Vehicles.
I, FRITZ BERNHARD BEHR, of 10. Drapers Gardens, in the City of London,.
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
"My invention relates to means of connecting conductors to motors on electrically
propelled tramway and railway vehicles, the chief object of my invention being to
ensure complete protection of the conductor, and to provide against any dangerous
contacts therewith. In applying my invention to tramways, I lay along the middle
of the track a trough rail, presenting a continuous groove and at intervals somewhat
Jess than the length of the vehicle I fix in the ground contact boxes to which the
trough rail is connected.
The insulated conducting cable is contained in pipes lined with insulating
material which abut on the contact boxes, a portion.of the cable presenting itself
bare in each contact box. Under this bare portion of the conductor is fixed a
flexible diaphragm carrying on both sides of it a piece of conducting metal, both
pieces being connected together through the diaphragm. In another part of the
contact box immediately under the groove of the trough rail there is another
similar flexible diaphragm with conducting metals on it; and in the contact box
there is a lever of conducting metal extending below both diaphragms. Normally,
this lever is some distance below the metal on either diaphragm or both diaphragms,
and the metal on the diaphragm under the cable is some distance below the cable.
In this condition of the parts there can be no conduction to and through the lever
and diaphragms, and it is only when the one diaphragm is pushed down depressing
one arm of the lever, that the other diaphragm is raised to the cable by the other
arm of the lever, and that contact is then made, such that electricity can pass from
the cable to the metallic object which pushes down the diaphragm in the line of the
continuous groove, this metallic object being one of a number of conducting bars
mounted upon the car in the following manner.
On the axle boxes of the car or
on bearings on the axles is fixed in an insulated manner a frame consisting of two
parallel bars extending along each side of the car, with a number of transverse rods
connecting them. From these transverse rods are suspended a number of conducting
bars, the lower edges of which project down into the continuous groove of the
trough rail so that, as they move with the car, they push down the metal pieces on
the diaphragms thus causing the contacts to be made as above described in the
contact boxes. The conducting bars are free to slide along the transverse rods
from which they hang and on each side of each bar there is a spring which yields
when the bar is caused to move towards the one side or the other as it travels along
curves of the track. The frame carrying the transverse rods and conducting bars
is electrically connected to one terminal of the motor on the car the other terminal
being connected through the metal of the car to the wheels and rails.
In applying the invention to a railway, the trough rail presenting a groove along
the track is suitably modified or in some cases dispensed with and also those
diaphragms of the contact boxes which are under the groove may be dispensed
with, the conducting bars of the vehicle bearing directly on the exposed ends of
the contact levers."
Tidal: 90% dao at al., 1991
:
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Conductors and Collectors for Electrically
Propelled Tramway and Railway Vehicles.
1, FRITZ BERNHARD BEHR, of 10 Drapers Gardens, in the City of London,
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 means of connecting conductors to motors on electrically-
propelled tramway and railway vehicles, the chief object of my invention being to
ensure complete protection of the conductor, and to provide against any dangerous
contacts therewith, while at the same time effective electrical connection is made
from it to the electric apparatus on the vehicle, and there is no interference with
the traffic on the road, street or track of the tramway or railway.
I shall describe the construction and arrangement of conductors and collectors
according to my invention referring to the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 is a side elevation and Figure 3 is a transverse
section of the collector on the car.
Figures 4 and 5 are vertical sections, on planes at right angles to each other, of
the contact box, of which Figure 6 is a plan partly sectional.
Figure 7 is a section to an enlarged scale of part of the collector and the groove
in which it runs. Figure 7A is a section shewing a modification.
Along the middle of the track I lay a rail A of trough section presenting a
continuous groove.
At intervals somewhat less than the length of the vehicle I
fix sunk in the ground contact boxes B to which are fixed the trough rails A.
I enclose the conducting cable C within pipes preferably made of or lined with
earthenware which extend between the contact boxes B. The part of the cable
which is within each contact box is bare. Under it there is fixed at its edges a
flexible diaphragm D having on both sides of it metal pieces d d¹ metallically
connected by rivets or otherwise through the diaphragm. The contact box B has
also fixed over that part of it which is in line with the trough rail A another
flexible diaphragm E baving on its upper side a curved metal plate connected by
rivets passing through the diaphragm to a plate e below the diaphragm this plate
resting on the top of a metal piece F jointed below to the end g of a lever G.
This lever is pivotted at 9' on an insulating base, and it has an arm terminating
in a cross har g² immediately under the metal d'.
The lever G is loaded as required so as to keep it usually in the position shewn
in Figure 5, the arm under the cross bar g² resting on insulating material g³, and
the diaphragm- E being held up so that the plate e upon it is above the level of the
bottom of the groove A. In this position of the parts, which is the normal position,
the metal d is some distance below the bare part of the cable C, and the cross
bar.g² is some distance below the metal d' so that there is no electrical connection
between the cable and the lever G, and the box B being lined throughout with
insulating material there is no risk of passage of any electrical current from the
conductor to the roadway or anything upon it.
When however a bar' H travelling along the groove A comes over the metal it
depresses. this diaphragm and the arm g of the lever G raising the other arm so
that its crossbar g² lifts the diaphragm D making contact with d' and causing
contact of d with the cable C, so that a current can be transmitted from the
cable through d, d' g the lever G, its end g the piece F, the plate e and e to the
bar H.
Instead of the diaphragm D, a flexible tube D' with metal d on its underside may
he suspended in the bare part of C, as shewn in Figure 8, so that when the long

page_text: arm G rises, it causes contact of d with C. The bar H, a section of part of which
is shewn in Figure 7, is made with side checks insulated from it by insulating
material h¹, these cheeks having flanges h² projecting over, but just clear from, the
sides of the groove in A.
The bar H is one of a number of bars each of which is connected by vertical
joints to bosses that can slide along rods which are fixed across a metal
frame K. This frame is supported in an insulated manner on the axle boxes of the
car and is electrically connected to one terminal of the electro-motor, the other
terminal of which may be connected through the wheels or by rubbers to the rails.
While the successive bars H pass over the contact boxes causing contact to be
made with the cable as above described, there is through them, the rods ' and the
frame K, electrical connection from the cable to the motor in the car, and as the
contact boxes are set at a distance apart less than that of the set of bars H on
the car, the electrical connection is made at one contact box by the foremost bar H
before the last of the bars H leaves the preceding contact box. In order that
the bars H may accommodate themselves to curves they can turn horizontally on
the bosses and these bosses can slide along the rods having on each side of
them springs 2. In order to prevent vertical oscillation of the bar H each bar has
a tenon engaged in a groove of the next.
Instead of providing the special trough rail A one of the track rails may be used
for the passage of the conducting bars as shewn in Figures 8, 9, 10 and 11.
Figure 8 being a plan, Figure 9, a part side view. Figure 10 is a longitudinal
section of one of the tubular cross bars of the conducting frame K, and Figure 11
is a transverse section to an enlarged scale. Each of the conducting bars H is in
this case free to turn on a vertical stem which passes up through a slot along the
underside of the tube k within which a horizontal rod ' made in one with the
stem is free to travel to and fro, according as curves of the line require.
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. For conducting electricity to an electrically propelled vehicle, the combination
of an underground cable insulated except at intervals where there are bare parts
within successive contact boxes, in each contact box, a conducting lever, one arm
under the bare part of the cable having interposed between it and the cable
a flexible diaphragm faced on both sides with connected metal, the other arm
under a similar diaphragm presenting its upper metal facing in a trough rail, on
the vehicle an insulated frame carrying a number of conducting bars transversely
moveable between springs in the frame, their lower edges running in the trough
rail so as to make contact with the metal facings of the successive diaphragms
secondly mentioned above, substantially as described.
2. The modification according to which the conducting bars run in a trough
formed in one of the track rails, each of these bars having a vertical stem with
horizontal head sliding in a slotted tubular cross-bar of the conducting frame
substantially as described.
Dated this 6th day of February 1895.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.