Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 6th Apr., 1895
PIC Way.
I, LEONIDAS CALVIN PRESSLEY of 172 Minna Street, in the City and County
of San Francisco, State of California U.S.A., Watchmaker, 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:-
My invention relates to improvements in electric railways of that class in which
a current is carried beneath the surface of the ground and is transmitted at intervals
to the rail or conductor through which it in turn passes to the car and the motor
thereon. My invention consists in certain details of construction which will be
more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which—
Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device with parts broken away.
Figure 2 is a plan view showing a section of the tunnel and lateral passages, with
the conducting rails or wires and intermediate parts.
Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse section of the casing containing the electro
magnets and automatic switch.
The object of my invention is to convey an electrical current through insulated
and protected conductors, to transmit the current successively to short sections of
the trolley rail during the passage of a car, and to cut it off from said rail as soon
as the car has passed, by means of automatically operating devices.
A A. are the tracks of a railroad. B is a sealed main or tube parallel with the
tracks, within which extends the wire C which conveys the current of electricity.
D is a conduit having metal rails or conductors E É¹ supported within it. These
rails are made in lengths and are arranged alternately upon each side of a central
line. They overlap each other a short distance at the termination of one, and the
commencement of the other rail as is clearly shown in the drawings.
These rails or conductors are supported upon conical or umbrella shaped
insulators F made of any suitable insulating material, and having holes or sections
for the standards which support the conductors.
The outer edges of the upper part of the insulators overhang the base where
they are permanently attached, to such an extent that any moisture or water falling
upon them, will drip off without wetting the smaller part of the standard, and thus
the loss of electricity by reason of the wetting of the insulators is avoided.
The car G has the usual or any suitable motor and mechanism for transmitting
the electrical energy to drive the car wheels.
The tube or tunnel within which the rails E are disposed has a slotted opening
through the top through which the shank H extends from the car and within the
tube or tunnel it carries the trolley wheels I 1¹, each of which is adapted to travel
upon one of the rails E.
These are grooved and are mounted on a shaft of sufficient length so that one of
the wheels travels in line with one of the wires E and the other in line with the
other wire.
The opposite end of the shank H is suitably connected with the driving
mechanism upon the car, so that whenever either of the trolley wheels is in contact
with its conductor E, a current of electricity will pass through it and the shank to
the motor mechanism upon the car, and the current may be grounded through the
wheels, or, if desired, returned throngh return wire, or otherwise arranged in any
suitable or well known manner.

page_text: It will be noted that for a large portion of the time, only one trolley will be in
contact with its conductor, but as the two approach each other, they overlap or pass
one another to such a distance that both trolleys will for a short time be in contact
with the parallel portions of the conductors E E. At a point approximately
opposite the overlapping adjacent ends of each of the conductors E E¹ a channel J
extends outwardly to a point near the conductor C, and has a sufficiently large box
or chamber J' to contain electró magnets K and K¹.
L is an armature fulerumed so that it extends between these two magnets, and is
capable of swinging to one or the other whenever either is energized.
The end opposite the fulcrum point being free to move, when moved to one side,
forms contact with a conducting plate M, and through it with the main conductor C,
and when moved to the other side, forms contact with another plate N which forms
a ground for it. A wire O connects one of the rails E with the electro magnet K, and
through this with the oscillating armature L and the plate M. This plate M is
connected with the main conducting wire C so that when the armature L has been
attracted to the magnet K, it will also form contact with the plate N and will then
transmit a current of electricity from the main conductor C through the plate M,
the armature L, the electro magnet K, and the wire O to the rail E which
terminates at this point, and this rail is thus charged for the whole of its preceding
length.
The operation of the device will be as follows:-
This rail being charged when the trolley forms contact with it, at its preceding
end, the current of electricity will be transmitted through the car and motor, so
that the car will be propelled along the track.
In the present case the car is supposed to be moving from left to right. The
trolleys are shown at the left end, in Fig. 2; at the instant before they reach the
point where the rails E and E' overlap and the current which is transmitted through
them is received from the electro magnet K shown nearest the left side of the
drawing. At the instant when the trolley has moved so that the other trolley
wheel has formed contact with the conductor E' a part of the current from the
conductor E will be transmitted into the conductor E and will charge it throughout
its length, in the present case extending to the electro magnets shown at the right
end of the drawing. The current of electricity thus received by the conductor E
then passes through the conducting wire O, through the magnet K of that station,
and the magnet being thus energized attracts the armature lever L from its previous
contact with the electro magnet K'. This removes it from the ground plate N and
forms contact with the plate M, and thus makes direct connection between the
rail E' and the main conductor C so that this rail is then charged from the station
at the right and the current is temporarily received through both rails E and E'.
The car continuing its motion, the trolleys will move on until the trolley I has
left the conductor E, and it then passes over a short section E which is indepen-
dently supported in line with the conductor E. From this section E' a wire P leads
to the electro magnet K', and as the current of electricity is now being received
from the section E the current will pass through the two trolleys I and I' from E'
into E, thence through the wire P, and the electro magnet K, which thus being
energized, will attract the swinging armature L withdrawing it from the maguet K
and breaking contact with the plate M and making contact with the ground plate N,
thus cutting out the rail or conductor E from connection with the conducting wire C,
and leaving the rail E¹ to receive the current as long as the trolley I¹ is in contact
with this rail or conductor.
When the car has reached the point where the trolley I makes contact with the
rail or conductor E, shown at the right end of Fig. 2, the same operation takes
place that has previously been described the rail E* being temporarily charged from
the rail E', while the trolleys upon both rails and the swinging armature at the
farther end of this rail will be actuated to make connection with the main conductor,
and thus directly energize this rail while the rail E¹ will be cut out in the same
manner as previously described for the rail E.

page_text: The operation thus continues indefinitely as long as the car is moving and the
current is successively transmitted from one section of rail to the other, and is
correspondingly cut out from the previous section after the car has passed over it.
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 :-
1st. In an electric railway, trolley rails extending within a conduit in alternate
sections upon each side of an intermediate line, the adjacent ends of each two rails
overlapping each other a short distance, a main insulated conductor extending
parallel with the conduit within a sealed channel, contact conducting plates connected
with said conductor adjacent to the ends of each of the rails, an electro magnet
connected with the preceding rail over which the trolley is to approach and energized
by a temporary current therefrom, a movable armature attracted by said magnet
when energized, and forming contact with the conducting plate whereby a direct
current is transmitted from the conductor into the rail over which the trolley is
approaching.
2nd. In an electric railway, trolley rails fixed in alternate lengths upon each side
of an intermediate central line and slightly overlapping each other at their adjacent
ends, a trolley connection with the car having two trolley wheels in the lines of the
two alternate rails, so that they form contact alternately with one rail and the
other as the car progresses, electro magnets situated near the adjacent ends of
the alternate rails, a wire connecting the magnet with the preceding rail over which
the trolley is to approach, whereby the maguet is temporarily energized as soon as
contact is made by both trolley wheels with the overlapping ends of adjacent rails
of the preceding section, a movable armature which is attracted by the magnet when
energized, a conducting plate connected with a main electrical conductor, and with
which the armature forms contact when attracted by the magnet, whereby the
current is transmitted into the trolley rail directly from the main conductor before
the trolley has left the preceding rail.
3rd. In an electric railway, insulated trolley rails fixed within a conduit in
alternate lines, a double trolley adapted to form contact alternately with one rail
and the other, an electro magnet connected with the terminal end of each rail, nnd
a swinging armature upon which the magnet acts, adapted to form contact with the
main conductor and energize the electro magnet, as the trolley wheels pass from one
rail to the other and temporarily charge the succeeding rail by the current from
the preceding one.
4th. In an electric railway, insulated conducting rails supported in lines alternately
upon one side and the other of a central line, trolley wheels connected with the cars
and adapted to travel alternately upon one rail and the succeeding one, electro
magnets with movable armatures adapted to make connection between a main
conductor and the terminal end of each rail when energized, means for energizing
each succeeding electro magnet from the preceding rail, consisting in overlapping
said rail so that both trolleys are temporarily traveling upon the two rails, a means
for cutting out the preceding rail as soon as the succeeding one has been energized
consisting of a second electro magnet by which the swinging armature is attracted
when the second magnet is energized, a short independent rail section and a wire
connecting it with said magnet, said rail section being so disposed that when the
trolley leaves the preceding rail it passes over this independent section and through
it energizes the electro magnet whereby the armature is attracted and contact with
the conducting plate and connection with the previous rail is broken.
Dated this Fourth dar of March 1895.