Improvements in Electric Rail Brakes and Electro-magnets therefor
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Nov., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Aug., 1899-Accepted, 21st Oct., 1899
[Communicated from abroad by GESELLSCHAFT ZUR VERWERTHUNG, Elektrischer
und Magnetischer Stromkraft (System Schiemann & Kleinschmidt), Ad. Wilde
& Co., of No. 19/20 Hühnerposten, in the City of Hamburg, Germany.]
Improvements in Electric Rail Brakes and Electro-magnets therefor,
"
I, HENRY HARINGTON LEIGH, Assoc. M. Inst.C.E., Fel.Ch. Inst.P.A., F.I.Inst.,
practising as Phillips and Leigh, of No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the Administrative County of London, Engineer and Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows::
-
The present invention relates to improvements in electric rail brakes and
electro-magnets therefor.
my
The carrying into practice of the electro-magnet described in former
application No. 1140 dated January 14th, 1898 has lead to some improvements
in the construction of such electro-magnets and in their arrangement with rela-
tion to the electric motor car or its wheels respectively. These improvements
and modifications in construction and arrangement, which form the object of
the present invention, have proved themselves very advantageous particularly
when the electro-magnet or electro-magnets are employed or used to act in co-
operation with the rail or rails as a brake device.
Whilst in my former application I have shown each reel shaped piece or bobbin
and its corresponding pole shoe or pole shoes made of one single piece I now
prefer to have the reels or bobbins and the pole shoes made of separate pieces
and to arrange or mount these separate pieces i.e. the bobbins wound with wire
coils and the pole shoes alternately upon the connecting spindle passing for this
purpose through suitable holes or openings in the said pieces forming the con-
stituent parts of the electro-magnet. This separation of the pole shoes from
the reels for the wire coils affords the great advantage that these separate pole
shoes when injured or broken in case of accident can easily and readily be re-
placed by new ones without the necessity of also replacing the adjoining bobbins
or reel members with their wire coils as would be the case in the electro-magnet
of my former application.
In order to augment the lines of force of the pole shoes and to increase the
strength of the latter the said pole shoe plates may receive a suitable bulb:
shaped form and may be provided at the sides with suitable recesses into which
fit the wire coil reels so that the latter and the wire coils respectively are partly
embraced by the pole shoes, and are thus far better protected against external
influences than heretofore. The pole shoe plates are preferably made of soft
iron by casting or pressing and may have their bottom edges conveniently sloped
or inclined.
The end pieces or end pole shoes of the electro-magnet have the form of blocks
or are provided with suitable rollers. Against these blocks or rollers will strike
the car wheels when the electro-magnet is set in action for braking the motion
of the car; the said blocks or rollers will thus take up the horizontal pull or

page_text: thrust of the car engendered by the braking of the latter. The rotation of the
striking rollers caused by the friction on the car wheels may be used for operat-
ing a suitable cleaning device or fender, (rotating brush or the like).
In order to obtain a reliable and more adjustable braking action it is advisable
to arrange electro-magnets of the above described type not only between the
car wheels, as stated in my former application, but also at both ends of the
car, that is to say, in front and at the rear of the car wheels. These additional
front-and-rear-electro-magnets which may have a less number of wire coil bob-
bins and pole shoes than the electro-magnet arranged between the car wheels and
forming the main brake, serve as auxiliary or temporary brakes in case of acci-
dent. The operation of the auxiliary electro-magnets may be effected in a
similar manner to that of the main electro-magnet either by turning the brake
cylinder of the controller a step further on, or by closing the circuit otherwise,
or automatically by means of a movable buffer, fender or the like, which on
striking against an obstacle in the course of the car changes the position of a
switch lever thereby closing the circuit of the auxiliary electro-magnets. On
a sudden or instantaneous braking the auxiliary electro-magnets in consequence
of their sucking braking force prevent the car from being tilted up at the ends
and from being de-railed.
The auxiliary electro-magnets, especially when sucked down to the rails by
the magnetic force prevent any large object from passing underneath the auxi-
liary electro-magnets and therefore from being run over by the car wheels;
when not in action or sucked down to the rails they are capable of passing
over smaller objects, which would not obstruct the progress of the car whilst
being run over. The auxiliary electro-magnets form therefore at the same
time a reliable safety or fender device. The end pieces of the free ends of the
auxiliary electro-magnets may be curved up or may have any other suitable
shape or may be provided with any other safety means or fenders serving the
purpose.
In some cases however I may entirely dispense with the electro-magnets
between the car wheels and only employ electro-magnets of the described type
in front and at the rear of the car wheels without departing from the gist of
the present invention.
Improvements in Electric Rail Brakes and Electro-magnets therefor.
I, HENRY HARINGTON LEIGH, Assoc.M.Inst.C.E., Fel.Ch. Inst.P.A., F.I.Inst.,
practising as Phillips and Leigh, of No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the Administrative County of London, Engineer and Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication from the
Gesellschaft zur Verwerthung elektrischer und magnetischer Stromkraft (system
Schiemann & Kleinschmidt) Ad. Wilde & Co., of No. 19/20, Hühnerposten, in
the City of Hamburg, Germany), and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
-
The present invention relates to improvements in electric rail brakes and
electro-magnets therefor.
The carrying into practice of the electro-magnet described in my former
application No. 1140, dated January 14th, 1898, has led to some improvements
in the construction of such electro-magnets and in their arrangement with rela-

page_text: tion to the electric motor car or its wheels respectively. These improvements
and modifications in construction and arrangement, which form the object of
the present invention, have proved themselves very advantageous, particularly
when the electro-magnet or electro-magnets are employed or used to act in co-
operation with the rail or rails as a brake device.
Whilst in my former application I have shown each reel-shaped piece or bobbin
and its corresponding pole shoe or pole shoes made of one single piece, I now
prefer to have the reels or bobbins and the pole shoes made of separate pieces
and to arrange or mount these separate pieces, i.e., the bobbins wound with wire
coils and the pole shoes alternately upon the connecting spindle passing for this
purpose through suitable holes as openings in the said pieces forming the con-
stituent parts of the electro-magnet.
This separation of the pole shoes from the reels for the wire coils affords the
great advantage that these separate pole shoes when injured or broken in case
of accident can easily and readily be replaced by new ones without the necessity
of also replacing the adjoining bobbins or reel members with their wire coils,
as would be the case in the electro-magnet of my former application. The
improved modification of the brake is illustrated in the accompanying drawing
which shows one practical form of construction and in which-
Figure 1, is a side elevation of a railway car frame equipped with my im-
proved multi-polar electro-magnet: Figures 2 and 3 are detailed views of the
brake shoes; and Figure 4 is a detailed view of a bobbin or spool as fitted to
the car of my improved multi-polar electro-magnet.
Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.
In order to augment the lines of force of the pole or brake shoes p, and to
increase the strength of the latter the base plate of the shoes may receive a
suitable bulb-shaped form and at the side faces curved ribs p may be provided
into which fit the wire coil spools w, so that the latter are partly embraced by
the brake shoes 2 and are thus far better protected against external influence
than heretofore. The brake shoes are preferably made of soft iron by casting
or pressing, and may have their bottom edges conveniently sloped or inclined.
In contact with the outer flange of each of the end spools of the electro-magnet
may be secured an enlarged shoe a having segmental faces d proximate to the
wheels, between which, on each side of the car, an electro-magnet is arranged
such as shown at the rear side of the left wheel in Figure 1; or instead of these
enlarged end shoes with segmental faces, brake shoes with a fork-shaped bearing
carrying an antifriction roller c, in close proximity to the periphery of the car-
wheels, may be provided. Against these end shoes or rollers will strike the car
wheels when the electro-magnets are set in action for braking the car and they
will thus take up the horizontal pull or thrust of the car engendered by the
braking of the latter. The rotation of the striking rollers caused by the fric-
tion on the car wheels may be used in certain cases for operating a suitable
cleaning device or fender, a rotating brush or the like. In order to obtain a
reliable and more adjustable braking action, it is advisable to arrange electro-
magnets of the herein described type not only between the car wheels, but also
at both ends of the car, that is to say, in front and at the rear of the car-wheels,
as may be perceived from the drawing. The additional front-and-rear electro-
magnets which may have a less number of wire coil spools and brake, serve as
auxiliary or temporary brakes in case of accident. The operation of the auxi-
liary electro-magnets may be effected in a manner similar to that of the main
electro-magnets either by turning the brake cylinder of the controller a step
further on, or automatically by means of a movable buffer, fender or the like,
which on striking against an obstacle in the course of the car, changes the posi-
tion of a switch lever, thereby closing the circuit of the auxiliary electro-
magnets. On a sudden or instantaneous braking the auxiliary electro-magnets
in consequence of their sucking braking force prevent the car from being tilted
up at the ends and from being de-railed.

page_text: The auxiliary electro-magnets, especially when sucked down to the rails by
the magnetic force prevent any large object from passing thereunder and there-
fore from being run over by the car wheels; when not in action they are cap-
able of passing over smaller objects, which would not obstruct the progress of
the car whilst, being run over. The auxiliary electro-magnets form therefore
at the same time a reliable safety or fender device. The outer shoes of the
auxiliary electro-magnets may be suitably curved (a) or may be provided with
any appropriate safety means or fenders serving the purpose.
In some cases I may, however, entirely dispense with the electro-magnets
of the described type in front and at the rear of the car wheels, without depart-
ing from the gist of the present invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. A multi-polar electro-magnet comprising a conductive core, conductive
spools carrying the wire coils on said core, said coils wound and interconnected
to form a multi-polar electro-magnet with alternating positive and negative
poles, and brake shoes secured to the core between the flanges of said poles,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2. A multi-polar electro-magnet comprising a conductive core, conductive
spools carrying the wire coils threaded on said core, said coils wound and inter-
connected to form a multi-polar electro-magnet with alternating positive and
negative poles, brake shoes secured to the core between the flanges of said spools
and partly surrounding the latter, in combination with outer brake shoes,
secured to and partly surrounding the end spools of the electro-magnet, said
outer brake shoes having segmental faces and being provided with antifriction.
rollers, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.