Improved Rail Bond for Use on Electric Railways and for like purposes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 8th Aug., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Rail Bond for Use on Electric Railways and for like
purposes.
I, EDWARD AUGUSTUS TURNER, of Suite 1410 Marquette Building, City of
Chicago, County of Cook, State of Illinois, United States of America, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of my invention of Improvements in Rail Bonds and
Connections, and in what manner the same is to be operated, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to rail bonds and has for its object to provide a new and
improved rail bond or connector. The following is a description of a form of my
connector with the various angles and inclinations enlarged for convenience of
illustration. The various features could be considerably varied at will.
Figure 1 is a view of the rail bond in position connecting the ends of the
rails;
Figure 2 is an enlarged view of one end of the bond.;
Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view through the opening in the web of the
rail when the sides of such opening are inclined;
Figure 4 is an enlarged end view of the sleeve surrounding the end of the
connecting conductor ;
Figure 5 is a cross-section on line 5-5 of Figure 4 ;.
Figure 6 shows the various parts of the bond in position in the web of the rail
ready for the final process for securing them;
Figure 7 is a view of the same after the connection has been completed.
Like letters refer to like parts throughout the several figures.
In bonding rails together the conductor connecting the rails is usually of a
much higher conductivity than the rails themselves and hence to obtain the best
results the area of the surface of contact between the conductor and the rail
should he much greater than the cross-sectional area of the conductor. The
difference between the cross-sectional area of the conductor and the surface of
contact between the conductor and the rail will of course depend upon the
difference between the conductivity of the two materials used; under the usual
conditions it is as 7 to 1. Since the web of the rail to which: this conductor is
generally connected is very thin, a large surface of contact. can only be obtained
by enlarging the end of the conductor. Heretofore it has been attempted to
obtain this large contact area by upsetting the end of the conductor and' by various
other devices. When a conductor which varies greatly in conductivity from the
rail (such as copper under the usual conditions) is used, it is very difficult to
obtain the desired amount of contact surface by this method. One object of my
invention is to assist in obtaining this large contact surface in a simple and
convenient manner.
I first enlarge each end of the conductor A so as to form a portion more or less
like the part B. This may be done by upsetting the end or in any other desirable
manner. I then provide a thimble or sleeve more or less like the part C, preferably
of the same material as the conductor, and having a more or less cone-shaped

page_text: opening C therethrough. This sleeve is preferably made from a sheet of copper
or the like having a triangular or a trapezoidal cross-section, as shown in Figure 5.
This sheet is then cut into the required lengths and rolled up so as to form a sleeve
as shown in Figure 4. This sleeve is of such size as to make the desired area of
contact with the web of the rail, and its ends may or may not be tightly secured
together. The sleeve is in the shape of the frustum of a cone and the opening D
in the web D' of the rail may also be cone-shaped if desired or required, so that
when the sleeve is driven therein a good contact between the rail and sleeve will
be secured. After the sleeve C is driven in the hole in the web of the rail the
enlarged end of the conductor is inserted in the opening in said sleeve somewhat
as shown in Figure 7. The end of the conductor is then driven tightly into the
opening in the sleeve until the desired electrical contact between the conductor
and the sleeve is secured, and its outer end batted or riveted as shown in Figure 6.
This may be easily accomplished by simple tools so that the several contacting
surfaces will be very closely and firmly brought together. The forcing of these
parts toward each other within the web, they presenting to each other inclined
surfaces, results in a more or less directly outward pressure, so that an exceedingly
firm setting of the surface of the metal sleeve against the metal of the web of the
rail is obtained. The upsetting of the ends of the enlarged portion and of the
sleeve on opposite sides of the rail web results in locking the completed fastening
against motion in either direction. The proportions of the several parts and the
angles of inclination of the several parts are as above suggested greatly exaggerated
for the purpose of illustrating the idea. The upset or enlarged portion of the rail
bond, or connector proper, need only be of such size as will be necessary to furnish
a bearing for the tool on the back of such enlarged portion, so as to permit it to be
driven in and its end upset. Such an enlargement can easily be made on the end
of the bond. The sleeve may then be of any desired size, but, of course, of sufficient
size to serve the purposes above referred to.
It will be seen that by this construction I can easily obtain any desired area of
contact. The connection between the conductor and each of the rails which it
connects is, of course, similar to that described above.
I have described these several parts in detail, but it is evident that they may be
varied in form and construction without departing from the spirit of my invention,
and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the construction herein shown and
described.
I have. described my invention as a rail bond, but, of course, the method of
effecting the union between the parts to make contact is applicable to any case
where such conductor or connection is to be used, and therefore the term rail bond
as employed by me is to be taken in such broad significance. The sleeve may be
made otherwise than as here suggested, for example, by the use of short sections of
brazed tube, which sections may be forced into shape in the press.
It will be observed that in the application of this device the sleeves are first
seated in their holes. This is done by a separate gang of men and with tools
proper for the purpose. Another gang then comes with the bond proper and
inserts the end in the sleeve and sets the parts as above indicated.
Having described the nature of my invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, I declare that what I claim is :
1. A rail bond comprising a conductor relatively small in cross sectional area,
an enlarged head at each end, said head tapered toward the extremity of the bond,
sleeves correspondingly tapered inside and adapted to be driven into holes in the
rail in one direction and to receive the enlarged ends of the bond when inserted
from the opposite direction.
2. A rail bond comprising a conductor relatively small in cross-sectional area,
an enlarged head at each end, said head tapered toward the extremity of the bond,
sleeves correspondingly tapered inside and adapted to be driven into holes in the
rail in one direction and to receive the enlarged ends of the bond when inserted

page_text: from the opposite direction, said sleeves tapered outside and the hole in the rail
correspondingly tapered to receive them.
Dated this 24th day of March 1896.
W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Iun Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.