Improvements in Apparatus for Propelling Vehicles by Electricity and for Protecting Electric Conductors.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Feb., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 13th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 14th Feb., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Propelling Vehicles by Electricity
and for Protecting Electric Conductors.
1, FRANK WYNNE, of 9 Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In the Specifications of Letters Patent granted to me dated respectively
17 January 1887 No. 747; and 1st December 1887 No. 16537 there are described
various arrangements of apparatus for propelling vehicles on a road, each arrange-
ment comprising an insulated main conductor of electricity, a series of road
contacts in the form of studs, plates or rails distributed apart along the road and
normally disconnected from the main conductor, and a series of contact making
devices, the arrangement being such that the contact making devices will, as the
vehicle travels, consecutively and automatically make temporary electrical con-
nection between successive contacts and the main conductor so as to close the car
motor circuit in a progressive manner.
Now my present invention has reference to further improvements in apparatus of
the kind referred to and relates to (a) an improved construction and arrangement
of road contacts; (b) to an improved construction of contact box; (c) to improved
constructions of contact making devices for temporarily connecting the road contacts
to the main conductor; (d) to improved means for remaking and maintaining the
car motor circuit after the same has been broken; and (e) to an improved means for
protecting main conductors of electricity.
The road contacts instead of being made either in the form of studs or in the
form of straight plates or rails arranged transversely or longitudinally of the road,
as heretofore, are, according to my present invention, each made in the form of a
crenellated or corrugated plate or rail arranged longitudinally of the road over
which vehicles are to be electrically propelled. By this construction the adjacent
ends of successive.lengths or sections of road contacts can be placed at a sufficient
distance apart, in a transverse direction to ensure the requisite insulation between
them whilst keeping the alignment of successive crenellated or corrugated contact
plates true, and without necessitating any gap between them in a longitudinal
direction. Such road contacts also offer practically no obstruction to the passage
across and over them of the wheels of vehicles, and they will afford a good foot-
hold for horses. Further by the construction of road contacts in a crenellated form
I ensure a better bonding or interlocking of the wooden or other road setts both
with one another and with the road contacts, than can be obtained with road contacts
in the form of straight plates or rails which injuriously affect the bonding of the
setts. This is a feature of considerable practical importance. The same advantages
are obtained when an asphalt pavement is used by making each road contact
simply as a corrugated plate or rail with rounded corners and not necessarily with
square corners as for the contacts to be used with pavement setts.
My improved road contacts can be made of various lengths to suit the require-
ments of various roads and convenience of manufacture.
Each contact making device is according to this invention, enclosed in a contact
box the top and sides of which are made removable from the bottom and act after
the manner of a diving bell to prevent water rising to any considerable height
within the box and interfering with the bare electrical connections.therein.
In one arrangement of contact making. device according to this invention; the core

page_text: and solenoid constituting the electro magnet thereof are carried by the removable
top and sides of the contact box. The armature or contact making device proper
is arranged below the electro magnet and is capable of vertical movement being
guided by a rod that is secured to the armature and works within a bearing or guide
in the magnet core. This armature is moved into its closed position by the electro
magnet and into its open position by gravity.
The various connections for placing a road contact in connection with the main
conductor through the solenoid of its contact making device and for placing the
next forward solenoid and road contact in connection with the main conductor for
the purpose set forth in my said former Specifications, are made by spring contacts
carried by the armature and acting in conjunction with other contacts within
the box and which may be carried by the electro magnet. In another arrange-
ment the armature is arranged above the electro magnet which has two cores
cast in one with a base or yoke that may constitute the bottom of the contact
box. The armature is moved into its closed and open positions by the electro
magnet and gravity respectively as in the previous arrangement.
For remaking the circuit between a road contact and the insulated main
conductor in the event of accidental disturbance as for instance by reason of the
car leaving the rails, or when the connection has been otherwise accidentally or
intentionally broken, I provide the vehicle to be propelled with a secondary
battery, the current from which can be used for closing the armature of a contact
making device. I use the current to excite a magnet (hereinafter called the
exciting magnet) carried by the vehicle and capable of being applied temporarily
over the top of the contact box containing the armature to be closed. By this
means magnetic polarity can be induced in the core of the electro magnet within
the box and the armature thereof closed. The exciting magnet should be placed
above the box so as to be directly over the electro magnet therein, if the armature
thereof be arranged below the electro magnet. When the armature is above
the electro magnet, the magnetic base or yoke carrying the core or cores may
be formed with an upward extension or false core whereby the magnetic circuit
of the exciting magnet can be directed through the armature to be attracted and
closed. The top and sides of the contact box should in these cases be of non-
magnetic material, or of material that is only slightly magnetic as for example
manganese steel.
I sometimes develope the principle of the diving bell, hereinbefore mentioned in
connection with the construction of contact boxes, for protecting charged electrical
bodies having air or other gas insulation, from the contact of water, and apply it to
conductors which carry the current for working a tram or other line, or for
general electric lighting or power purposes. For this purpose I employ inverted
troughs or boxes of suitable cross section and convenient length. In these boxes
and in the upper part of the air tight portion thereof I place the conductors which
may be bare and are supported on covered insulating U shaped junction pieces
which enclose similarly shaped conductors. The conductors may be further
supported by spaced insulators.
0
It will be seen that so long as the inverted troughs or boxes remain air-tight
water cannot rise within them sufficiently high to make contact with the bare
conductors therein.
Where laid along an incline the boxes will be laid level, and the U pieces made
with unequal legs, so as to allow of the troughs or boxes being laid step-wise to
follow the general inclination of the line.
The U pieces may advantageously be made as tubes of earthenware or porcelain
of a semicircular form so that they can be strung on to the conductor, and then
filled up with insulating oil. Sometimes I make the U pieces each in the form of
a segment of a circle, which I string on to the copper conductor and then cement a
length of straight tube on to it. By this means and by making the conductor in
lengths each including a straight piece, and a piece in the shape of a segment of a

page_text: circle, I can arrange to have only one joint to each conductor for each inverted
trough or box.
Dated this 15th day of February 1890.
W. LLOYD WISE,
Per J. G. S.,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Propelling Vehicles by Electricity
and for Protecting Electric Conductors.
I, FRANK WYNNE, of 9, Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, England,
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 :-
This invention has reference to improvements in apparatus for propelling
vehicles by electricity of the kind described in the Specifications of former Letters
Patent granted to me dated respectively 17 January 1887, No. 747, and
1st December 1887 No. 16537 and to apparatus for protecting conductors of
electricity.
According to this invention, the road contacts instead of being made either in
the form of studs, or in the form of straight plates or rails arranged transversely or
longitudinally of the road as described in my said former Specifications, are each
made in the form either of a crenellated plate 1 as shewn in plan in Fig. 1, of the
accompanying drawings, or in the form of a corrugated plate 1* as shewn in plan
in Fig. 2, the plates in each case being set vertically and arranged longitudinally of
the road over which vehicles are to be electrically propelled. By this construction
the adjacent ends of successive lengths or sections of road contacts can be placed
at a sufficient distance apart, in a transverse direction as indicated at 2, (Figs. 1
and 2) to ensure the requisite insulation between them, whilst keeping the align-
ment of successive crenellated or corrugated contact plates true, and without
necessitating any gap between them in a longitudinal direction. Such road con-
tacts also offer practically no obstruction to the passage across and over them of
the wheels of vehicles, and they afford a good foothold for horses. Further by the
construction of road contacts 1 in a crenellated form (Fig. 1) I ensure a better
bonding or interlocking of the wooden or other road setts 3 both with one another
and with the road contacts, than can be obtained with road contacts in the form of
straight plates or rails as heretofore used, and which injuriously affect the bonding
of the road pavement setts. This is a feature of considerable practical importance.
When an asphalt pavement 4 is used, each road contact can for the same purpose
be made simply as a corrugated plate or rail having rounded corners as shewn in
Fig. 2 and not necessarily with square corners as for the contacts to be used with
pavement setts.
My improved road contacts can be made of various lengths to suit the require-
ments of various roads and convenience of manufacture.
In Figs. 1 and 2, which are plan views of part of a roadway with my improved
road contacts, 5, 5, represents tram rails; 6, 6 contact boxes; and 7, 7 conductors
each connecting a road contact with the solenoid of the contact making device in
the corresponding contact box. 8 is the insulated main conductor of electricity
which can be laid beneath the surface of the roadway, and in connection with which
the several road contacts are placed in a consecutive or progressive manner as
hereinafter described.
Each contact making device is according to this invention, enclosed in a contact
protecting box 6 of the form shewn in vertical section in Fig. 3 embedded in the
roadway so, that its top is level or approximately level with the surface of the
adjoining portions of the pavement or roadway 3 and so as to form a part of the

page_text: pavement or road surface. The cover 9 and sides 9" of the box are made in one piece
or connected together so as to form an air tight box that is removable from the
bottom 10 and will act after the manner of a diving bell to prevent water that may
enter the box between the bottom and side walls, rising to any considerable height
within the box and interfering with the bare electrical connections therein. As
will be seen the box is made without external flanges or projections of any kind so
that it can be readily lifted without disturbing the pavement or roadway, and can
be afterwards readily replaced.
It may be fitted with a hinged ring or equivalent device to facilitate its being
handled. The bottom 10 may be of metal or wood, or it may be of other suitable
material, for example concrete, forming part of the roadway as shewn in Fig. 9.
Each contact making device according to one construction comprises a solenoid 11
wound upon a core 12 to form an electro-magnet carried by a non-magnetic support 11ª;
an armature 13 carried by a lever 14 pivoted at 14" and provided with an extension
or counter weight 15; a contact piece 16, preferably of carbon carried by lever 14;
and spring contact 17 and 18. I prefer to insulate the contact piece 16 from the
lever 14 so that this lever need not be insulated. The solenoid is connected to
contact 17 and to a road contact 1 ; and contact 18 is connected with the main con-
ductor 8 all as shewn diagrammatically in Fig. 4. The arrangement is such that
when the armature 13 is attracted by the electro-magnet, the contact piece 16 will
bear against both contacts 17 and 18 and place them in electrical connection, but
when the armature ceases to be attracted by the magnet the contact piece 16 will
automatically descend by gravity and break electrical connection between these
contacts.
19 is an auxiliary conductor that connects the contact piece 16 of one contact box
with one end of the solenoid in the next succeeding forward contact box. The
conductor 19 may be connected either directly to the contact piece 16 when this is
insulated from the lever 14, or indirectly through the lever or the lever and its
pivot 14".
The bottom of the contact box is formed with an opening for the
passage of the several conductors.
Fig. 5 illustrates diagrammatically a modified construction of contact making
device in which the armature 13 is above the electro-magnet which may have two
cores 12, one only of which can be seen in the drawings, cast in one with a
base or yoke 10 that constitutes part of the bottom 10 of the contact box. The
bottom 10 is formed with an opening at 10b for the passage of the several conductors
as shewn, this opening being closed by any suitable material. Fig. 6 shews in end
view the arrangement of the contact piece 16 and spring contacts 17 and 18.
The operation of the contact making device is as follows reference being had to
the diagrammatic Fig. 7. When an armature 13 is attracted by its polarized
magnet, its contact piece 16 will connect the contacts 17 and 18 and place the
corresponding road contact 1 in connection with the main conductor 8 through the
solenoid 11 and the magnet will remain polarized and the armature 13 be held in
the closed position so long as the car contact on the vehicle is in contact with the
road contact 1 and the circuit of the car motor 21 is completed. The next forward
road contact 1" and solenoid 11" will also be connected by the contact piece 16 with
the main conductor 8, by the auxiliary conductor 19, so that when the car contact
reaches the new forward road contact 1" the circuit of the solenoid 11ª will be
completed through the car motor circuit and earth E, or a metallic return
conductor. The electro-magnet above the armature 13 will thus become
polarized, and will operate this armature, and the contact piece 16ª, which
will then place the solenoid 11 in connection with the main conductor by
the contacts 17, 18", and will also place the next forward road contact and solenoid
in connection with the main conductor through the auxiliary conductor 19". Thus
as the vehicle moves forward, its motor circuit will be progressively completed by
the contact making devices acting in a consecutive manner. After the car contact
passes a road contact, the circuit of the corresponding solenoid will be broken and
the armature and contact piece will be caused by gravity to break connection with

page_text: the main conductor.' Thus these devices will, after the passage of the car contact,
cease to act in a consecutive manner. The initial excitation of one of the electro-
magnets to complete the car motor circuit at starting, can be effected by the arrange-
ment hereinafter described.
For remaking, and where convenient for maintaining the circuit between the
road contacts and the insulated main conductor in the event of accidental
disturbance, as for instance by reason of the vehicle having previously left the rails,
or when the connection has been otherwise accidentally or intentionally broken, the
vehicle to be propelled is provided preferably with a secondary battery, the
current from which can be used indirectly for closing the armature of one of the
contact making devices. For this purpose the current is caused to excite a
magnet 22 (Fig. 8) (hereinafter called the exciting magnet) that carried by the
vehicle and is capable of being applied temporarily over the top of the contact box
containing the armature to be closed. By this means magnetic polarity can be
induced in the core 12 of the electro-magnet within the box 6 and the armature 13
moved into the closed attitude. To increase the magnetic effect of the exciting
magnet, a plate or block 23 of magnetic material is placed in proximity to the
end 15 of the lever 14 which, as well as the lever itself, is also made of magnetic
material and acts as an armature to 23 which is extended so as to terminate in or
near the surface of the roadway, and serves to conduct the magnetism from the
exciting magnet 22 to the end opposite to 15 which acts as an armature thereto and
is drawn down, the armature 13 being at the same time lifted by the core 12. The
magnetic circuit is represented by the path N S, 23, 15, 14, 13 and 12.
The extended part of plate 23, may with advantage be also a road contact, or it
may be one of the carrying rails as shewn in Fig. 9. The cover 9 (Figs. 8 and 9)
of the contact box should in each of these cases be of non-magnetic material, or of
material that is only slightly magnetic such as for example manganese steel, and
the contact piece 16 must be insulated from the lever 14.
I sometimes develope the principle of the diving bell, hereinbefore described with
reference to Fig. 3, in connection with the construction of contact boxes for pro-
tecting charged electrical bodies having air or other gas insulation, from the contact
of water, and apply it to conductors which carry the current for working a tram or
other line, or for general electric lighting or power purposes, and I find a
particularly convenient application of it to the junction boxes of electric lighting
mains. For this purpose I employ inverted metal troughs or boxes 28 of suitable
cross section and convenient lengths as shewn in longitudinal section in Fig. 10 and
in cross section in Fig. 11 and which are air tight down to the level, c. In these
boxes and in the upper part of the air tight portion thereof, I place the electric
conductors 8. These conductors may be bare and are supported on insulating
shaped junction pieces 29 which enclose similarly shaped conductors 8* each of
which extends from the interior of one trough or box, to the interior of the next
adjacent one. These junction pieces may be partly embedded within the base 30,
which can be of concrete, and over which the boxes or troughs each fit as shewn in
Fig. 11. The electric conductors may be further supported from the base 30 by
spaced insulators 31. With this construction it will be seen that so long as the
inverted troughs or boxes remain air tight, water cannot rise within them sufficiently
high to make contact with the bare conductors therein. Fig. 11 is a vertical
section in which two junction pieces 29 enclosing conductors 8* are used to connect
the conductors in adjacant troughs or boxes 28, the adjacent ends of the two junction
pieces being enclosed within an air tight contact protecting box 9* that can be
readily lifted from its place when desired, and the top of which is level, or approxi-
mately so,
with the surface of the road pavement of which it is arranged to form
a part.
'
Where laid along an incline, the troughs or boxes 28 will be laid level, and the
junction pieces 29 will be made with unequal legs, as shewn in Fig. 12, so as to
allow of the troughs or boxes 28 being laid stepwise to follow the general
inclination of the line.

page_text: .
The junction pieces 29 may advantageously be made as tubes of earthenware or
porcelain of a semi-circular form as shewn in Figs. 10 and 12 so that they can be
strung onto the similarly shaped conductors 8* and the intervening space be then
filled up with insulating oil. Sometimes I make the junction pieces 29 each in the
form of a circular arc which I string onto the bent end of the copper conductor,
and then where necessary cement a length of straight tube 29* (Fig. 12), made
in parts, onto it. By making the conductor in lengths each including a straight
piece and a piece in the shape of a circular arc (Fig. 10), one joint only viz. (z)
between two conductors will be needed for each trough or box.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I claim
as my improvements in apparatus for propelling vehicles by electricity and for
protecting conductors of electricity
1. The road contacts 1 (Fig. 1) in the form of crenellated plates or rails arranged
longitudinally of the road as and for the purposes set forth.
2. The modified road contacts 1* (Fig. 2) in the form of corrugated plates or
rails arranged longitudinally of the road as and for the purposes set forth.
3. The arrangement of road contacts such as referred to in Claims 1 and 2 in the
manner described and shewn whereby the requisite insulation is obtained between
them without any gap in a longitudinal direction as set forth.
4. For protecting bare electrical contacts or connections the construction of the
road where required with a contact protecting box arranged with its hermetically
closed upper part level or approximately level with the surface of the adjoining
portions of the pavement or road and so as to form a part of the pavement or road
surface, the box being without external projections below the road surface so as to
be readily lifted and serving after the manner of a diving bell to prevent water
rising to any considerable height within it thereby preventing access of water to
the bare electrical connections therein, substantially as hereinbefore described and
shewn.
5. The combination and arrangement of parts comprising the electro-
magnet 11-12, the armature 13 arranged below the magnet and adapted to
operate the contact niece 16, the contacts 17 and 18, the contact protecting
box, and the several conductors for placing a road contact in connection with
the main conductor when the said armature is moved into its closed attitude, sub-
stantially as hereinabove described with reference to Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings
annexed.
6. The modification shewn in Figs. 5 and 6 in which the electro-magnet has its
core or cores 12 cast in one with the bottom of the contact protecting box, and the
pivoted armature 13 is arranged above the magnet.
7. In a contact making device of the kind referred to in Claim 5, a plate or mass
of magnetic material arranged in proximity to an armature carried by the lever
that carries the armature of the electro-magnet 11-12 and provided with an
extension that terminates at or near the surface of the roadway over which
vehicles are to be propelled, the arrangement being such, that the magnetic circuit
of an external exciting magnet can be closed substantially as hereinbefore set forth
for the purpose specified.
8. The arrangement of contact making device with the extended plate 23 of
magnetic material herein before described with reference to Fig. 8 of the drawings
annexed, or modified as in Fig. 9, according to which a road contact or one of the
carrying rails serves as the magnetic extension.
9. The herein described arrangement for insulating lengths of bare conductors of
electricity consisting of inverted air-tight troughs or boxes 28 that enclose the
conductors and contine a body of air that prevents water rising sufficiently within
the troughs to reach the conductors, the conductors within two adjacent troughs
being connected by a bent insulated length of conductor 8* that passes from one
trough to the other dips below the protecting body of insulating air and is, for its

page_text: short length, effectually insulated as explained with reference to Figs. 10, 11 and 12
of the drawings or modified as in Fig. 11.
Dated this 13th day of December 1890.
W. LLOYD WISE,
Per F. J. Brougham,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.