Improvements in Junctions or Couplers for Electrical Conductors.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 25th July, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Apr., 1890-Accepted, 14th June. 1800
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Junctions or Couplers for Electrical Conductors.
I, ERNEST RICHARD DOLBY, of No. 2 Great George Street, Westminster S.W. in
the County of Middlesex Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
To effect improvements in junctions or couplers used for connecting two or more
electrical conductors together, and more particularly for those used in railway trains
either for forming the connections between the vehicles of conductors used for
lighting or for braking or for both. For this purpose I form one or more parts or
all the parts of the couplers so that a current of electricity may be passed round them
or through them in order to magnetize such part or parts which will be made of ome
magnetizable material; the object being to cause the parts of the coupler to be
attracted to one another & so cause a grip and at the same time by such pressure to
make good contact for the passage of the current or currents through the conductors
thus joined together. The current which I pass round or through the part or parts of
the junction or coupler may be obtained from the current flowing in the conductors to
be joined by the junction (either the whole or part of such current being so used) or
the magnetizing current or currents may be obtained from some separate & well known
source or sources.
I do not limit the use of such couplers to railway trains as it is obvious that they
may be used in many other situations and for many different purposes.
I am well aware that the principle of magnetization of which I speak is not new
but what I claim is the application of this principle in such a manner as to magnetize
one or more parts or the whole of a junction or coupler used for connecting electrical
conductors together and by such means to obtain a proper and efficient closing or
tightening of the same.
DL 1
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Junctions or Couplers for Electrical Conductors.
I, ERNEST RICHARD DOLBY of 2 Great George Street Westminster in the County
of Middlesex, 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 improvement is for the purpose of enabling two or more electrical conductors
to be more easily coupled together and more especially for the purpose of connecting
together between the vehicles the conductors used in railway trains for lighting,
braking, communication or similar uses. For this purpose I form the couplers in two
parts and so arrange either one or both of these parts that a current of electricity may
be passed round or through in such a way as to magnetize the part or parts of which
a portion or the whole is made of some magnetizable and readily demagnetizable
material; the object being to cause the parts of the coupler to be attracted to one
another and cause a grip and at the same time by such pressure to make good contact
for the passage of the current or currents through the conductors thus joined together.
The current which I pass round or through the part or parts of the junction or
coupler may be obtained from the current flowing in the conductors to be joined by
the coupler (either the whole or part of such current being so used) or the magnetizing
current or currents may be obtained from some separate and well known source.
will now describe the accompanying drawings in order to more fully explain my
1 Prine 621

page_text: invention. Fig. 1. is an end elevation of one half of the coupler looking at the part
which joins the other half. Fig. 2 is a plan half in section and Fig. 3 an elevation
of the other end. Fig. 4 shews the two halves of the coupler joined together.
Similar letters refer to similar parts in all the figures.
a is the casing, made preferably of cast iron, b is a plug of some insulating material,
such as vulcanite held in place by screws, b, and bored to receive the sockets c made
of gun metal or other suitable material which are drilled to receive the ends of the
conductors d, Fig. 4. At the other end the sockets c are bored to receive the plugs e
which are pressed out by the spiral springs; a plate of vulcanite or other insulating
-material-g fixed-to the casing a by-screws-b prevents the plugs e from being pressed
too far out, i is a coil of insulated wire through which a current of electricity is passed
and magnetizes the face of the casing a causing it to attract the similar face of the
other half coupler through which either no current is flowing in the coil or if a current
be flowing passing round in the reverse direction to that in the other half; so that
the two halves may be of opposite polarity; k is an indiarubber ring to keep rain
water from reaching the contact plugs e when the two halves of the coupler are
joined is a pin, preferably split as shown which enters a hole in the other half
coupler, m is a hole into which a similar pin on the other half enters. It is desirable
in most cases that the two halves of the couplers should be exact duplicates of one
another in this case the polarity of each would be the same and the two halves would
repel one another it is therefore advisable to arrange a small switch or button on the
casing a so that the circuit in one coil may be broken; that half of the coupler would
then act as an armature to the other half. In Fig. 4 the part o represents insulation
which is cut away elsewhere to shew the cable.
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
Firstly. The use of an electric current for the purpose of magnetizing one or
both halves of an electric coupler to produce a good contact substantially as set
forth.
Secondly. The general construction of an electrical coupler as described for the
purpose of enabling an electric current to be passed round or through it substantially
as described.