Improvements in and connected with Electrically Propelled Vehicles.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd May, 1892-Accepted, 4th June, 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Electrically Propelled Vehicles.
I, FRIEDRICH AUGUST HASELWANDER of Offenburg in the Grand-Duchy of
Baden and German Empire, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In starting electrically propelled vehicles in the ordinary manner, an extremely
heavy load is thrown upon the motor because of the inertia of the stationary car.
It is known that when the motor is running at its full speed, a counter electro-
motive-force is generated which is in opposition to the pressure of the alimentary
current. At low speels and at starting, this counter pressure is proportionally
lower, whilst the alimentary current has a constant pressure, consequently the
current may be so great as to burn or injure the armature coils and connections.
If it could be arranged that the armature of the motor (or the rotating part
of the motor; very quickly attained its full speed upon its current being
closed this inconvenience would cease to exist, but so long as the motor is
positively geared with the driving axles in the usual manner this cannot be
accomplished. It has been frequently attempted to start the motor with no load,
and then to put on the load gradually by means of electrical or inagnetic
clutches or couplings, but although this system possesses certain advantages,
yet it also has its inconveniences which it is the object of this invention to
remove.
According to these improvements, the motor and the driving wheels or driving
axle, are at all times positively geared with each other and no clutches couplings
or other arrangements are required for putting them into and out of gear.
To enable the motor in this case to be started at a high speed, I arrange to
take the weight off the driving axles at this moment, or to lift it or them so that
the driving wheels may be out of contact with or bear very lightly upon the
rails. The motor will thus attain its full speed immediately after its current is
switched on, and I then arrange to bring the full load gradually upon the
driving wheels or to lower them gradually into full driving contact with them.
It is obvious that this invention can be applied to vehicles having three or more
pairs of wheels. In the case of three pairs of wheels, two pairs would be running
wheels and the other pair driving wheels. I prefer to arrange
a pair of
running, and a pair of driving wheels closely together, at one end of the car
or vehicle, the other end being supported by one or two pairs of running
wheels. It will however be possible to make other arrangements of the running
and driving wheels to work successfully.
The accompanying drawings illustrate in what manner my invention may be
carried into practical effect.
Figure 1 of these drawings illustrates diagrammatically the arrangement already
referred to of a pair of running wheels r, and a pair of driving wheels at one
end of the vehicle, and a single pair of running wheels r at the other end.
In Figure 2 the arrangement of the wheels is modified, there being equal
distances between the several pairs of wheels. In this arrangement the driving
wheels would be the centre pair.
Referring to the arrangement illustrated by Figure 1, when the vehicle is at rest,
the load will be borne in about equal proportions by the running wheels r and
When the motor is started this load will become shared by transference by the
driving wheels r¹, the transfer being made gradually and by suitable devices, such
for example as those hereinafter described. In Figure 1, the load will be almost

page_text: entirely transferred from the running wheels to the driving wheels whilst the
load on the running wheels 11 will be practically constant with the same weight in
and upon the vehicle.
In the arrangement indicated by Figure 2, the driving wheels are simply lifted
almost or entirely off the rails when at rest, and are brought into driving contact
with them when the vehicle is started. In the act of starting, the whole load
which had previously been borne entirely by the running wheels and ", is
divided by the gradual transfer of a portion of it to the driving wheels. The
grip on the rails by the driving wheels which at the moment of starting is nil, is
thus brought gradually to the maximum and the car is gradually started without
risk to the motor.
The two pairs of wheels and may be arranged in a suitable bogie, or be
carried in bearings, which will allow radial motion, the axle of the running
wheel being capable of endlong motion, as is well understood and practised in
the construction of similar vehicles which may have to travel on sharp curves.
As represented by Figure 3, the pairs of wheels, are mounted in a bogie
truck or separate under-frame carrying the two spindles ab upon which the front
part of the vehicle is borne alternately. Each of the spindles is screw threaded
at its lower part where it is carried by and works in a nut firmly secured to the
truck or bogie. The under-framing of the vehicle has two inverted sockets c d
which may either or both of them rest upon the tops of the spindles a b.
The weight of one half of the vehicle and its contents may thus be borne
by one or both of the spindles ab and as these spindles are respectively above
the running and the driving axles, it follows that the weight may be borne by
either the driving or the running wheels or by both. In practice, if the spindle a
.is rotated in one direction and the spindle d in the other direction, the one spindle
will rise into the socket above it, and the other will be lowered, and the load will
be transferred from the one spindle and pair of wheels to the other. It is however
necessary to have only one of the spindles screwed and adjustable, the other
being fixed.
The spindle or spindles are rotated by any suitable means such as a chain and
chain wheels or racks and pinions and either by the driver or by a motor. The
movement may also be utilised for putting the brake on and off.
If the spindle or spindles are desired to be moved by the car motor, the
driving axle may be geared with the wheel or wheels thereon by friction gear or by
magnetic couplings.
One method of operating the spindles to transfer the load from the driving to
the running axle and wheels, is shewn by Figure 3. Here K is a hand wheel
under the control of the driver or conductor. Around the lower part of the
hand wheel shaft, the end of the chain m is wound. This chain passes around the
wheel on the spindles a and b to the latter of which the other end is secured. The
turns of the chain on the wheels are taken in opposite directions so that the
spindles do not both turn the same way, or the screw thread on one spindle may be
a right handed one, and that on the other left handed.
An arrangement for operating the spindle (the other spindle in this case being
fixed) is illustrated by Figure 4. The driving axle has two friction cones y z,
firmly fixed upon a sleeve so secured on the axis, by a fast key or otherwise, as
to be compelled to rotate therewith, but to be capable of being slided thereon.
Between these two cones there is a third friction cone a mounted firmly on the
lower end of the screwed spindle the upper end of which rests in the inverted
socket u.
Either of the friction cones y z may be put into gear with by suitable
known arrangements sliding the sleeve in one direction or the other. On starting
the vehicle, the load being on the running wheels, the friction cone y is put into
driving contact with a when the motion of the driving axle is communicated with
the spindle which thereupon rises into the socket u and takes the load which is
thereby transferred to the driving wheels, which thus gradually comes into
tractive contact with the rails and the vehicle commences to move.
On stopping,

page_text: the cone is slid into contact with a whereby the spindle is lowered and the load is
taken off the driving wheels and transferred to the running wheels thus causing the
wheels to cease driving.
Similar arrangements may also be applied to vehicles with three axles and
adjustable truck or bogie, (Figure 3) or to one having four axles and two trucks
with the same object.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tiou and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The hereinbefore described method of and means for facilitating the starting
of electrically propelled vehicles, substantially as set forth and as illustrated by the.
accompanying drawings.
D
1
A1 AD 1005
WILLIAM E. HEYS.
Agent for the Applicant.
WILLIAM E. HEYS.
Agent for the Applicant.