Improvements in the Conduit System of Electric Railways.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Mar., 1894-Accepted, 21st Apr., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by The Lawrence ELECTRIC Co., of 13, Astor
Place, New York City, U.S.A., Manufacturers.]
Improvements in the Conduit System of Electric Railways.
I, REGINALD WALTER BARKER, of Monument Chambers, King William
Street, London, Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the saine is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
My invention relates to improvements in underground electric power systems for
cars and other vehicles, and consists first, in forming what I please to term the
working conductor or main feed wire in sections, the said sections having suitable
insulated material between them to prevent the electric current from running from
one section into the adjacent section; second, in supplying the said sections with
electricity from a continuous live wire which is insulated and encased within a
suitable tubing, or its equivalent; and third, in conveying the electricity from the
said live wire into a suitable cut-out box from which it is delivered to the auxiliary
wire as the car passes over the different sections. A suitable conveyer provided
with grooved contact wheels is employed for conveying the current from the
auxiliary wire to the current distributer of a car or other vehicle.
I will now proceed to describe my invention in detail, referring to the accom-
panying drawings forming a part of this Specification, and in which similar letters
of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of my invention showing the current conveyer
in full lines and taken on a line of Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on line y y of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation in detail showing one form of securing the insulated
material to the auxiliary wire.
A indicates a suitable main wire or conductor which is insulated and encased
within a suitable tubing A', or its equivalent. In the example shown the wire A is
located in or contiguous to an underground conduit A. The insulation A' is broken
at given points as seen at a in Fig. ; and a wire a¹ is connected with said live
wire and leads to the contact points a" in a cut-out box B, the box B being shown
within the conduit A. The mechanism contained in the cut-out box B consists of
a weighted lever b, preferably fulcrumed as at ', and having contact points 611
alapted to be brought into engagement with the contacts all as in Fig. 1. Pivoted
to the lever is a vertical rod c upon the outer end of which is a support d upon
which is secured the sectional live wire C located within the conduit A'. A
suitable stuffing box g is provided at the upper end of box B around rod c.
The current conveyer D, which is connected with a suitable current distributer
on a car (not shown) bears by means of its grooved contact wheels e upon the
sectional wire C, the contact wheels e in travelling along causing said wire to be
slightly depressed, or moved laterally or vertically; this movement of the wire
giving a suitable movement to the contacts 6' by means of the rod c, whereby
connection is made between the main wire A and the sectional wire C at the
contacts a " It will be seen by the drawings that the circuit is broken at the
end of each section of the wire C, the several sections of wire C being connected
by suitable insulation D.
It will be understood that the main live wire A is at all times thoroughly
insulated, and that the auxiliary wire C only receives the current while the car is
passing over a certain section, the current of electricity being confined at that time

page_text: to that section, and while the current conveyer D is actually in contact with that
section. This arrangement affords security against the escape of the current from
the main wire A, whereby danger of the current becoming grounded and passing
to the surface of the street is overcome.
By my invention only one section of wire C will be charged with electricity at
one time, excepting momentarily whilst the conveyer is passing over the insulation D'
and when its forward contact wheel is alone upon the adjacent section of wire,
when these two sections will both be charged with electricity. By the means just
described I avoid the dangerous sparking which would ensue if only one contact
wheel were used, by the action of such single contact wheel passing from one
section to the other. The conveyer D depresses only that section of the wire upon
which it is bearing at any time, and as soon as it has left such section, the same is
returned to its normal position by means of the weighted lever b, thereby breaking
the circuit at a 12 of each section consecutively. The insulation between the
different sections of the auxiliary wire is secured in place by screws, rivets, bolts,
or in any other suitable manner, the form shown in Fig. 3 being the one I prefer
to use.
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 a system of electric distribution, a main conductor, a contact, a connection
from the main conductor to the fixed part of said contact, a weighted lever carrying
the movable part of the contact, a sectional working conductor, a rod connecting the
moving conductor with the weighted lever, and a water tight casing enclosing
the contacts and lever, substantially as set forth.
2. The improvements in closed conduits for electric railways, substantially as and
for the purposes hereinbefore described, set forth, and illustrated in the drawings
annexed.
Dated this 13th day of March 1894.