Improvements in or appertaining to Electric Railways.
Year: 1891

page_text: Improvements in or appertaining to Electric Railways.
A communication from abroad by CHARLES KNOX HARDING, of Atlantic, in the
County of Cass and State of Iowa, United States of America.
I WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil 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 relates, generally, to electric railways, and more particularly to
underground conductors therefor, and to the manner of operating the circuit
between the same, and the devices upon the car which are to be operated
thereby.
The invention will first be described, and then more particularly pointed out in
the claims.
Like letters refer to the same parts in the several figures of the drawings, in
which-
Figure 1 is a side view of a truck carrying the usual electrical devices, a certain
attachment which is employed, and a portion or section of a track and a main
conductor.
Figure 2 is a plan view of a section of a track including a crossing and two of the
casings containing the circuit completing devices, together with one of the shoes,
and an indication of the collector in dotted lines.
Figures 3 and 4 are views in side elevation of the casing (with one side of the
casing removed) and its enclosed mechanism, but respectively indicating the cover
closed and the mechanism inactive, and the cover open and the mechanism active.
Figures 5 and 6 are respectively cross sections on the line X X of Figures 3
and 4.
Figure 7 is a perspective view of the improved shoe.
Figure 8 is a plan view of the cover of the box, with a part broken away.
Figure 9 is a vertical cross sectional view of the same, showing the locking
arrangement.
Figure 10 is similar to Figure 9, except that the shoe is shown in place in the
act of unlocking the cover, and,
Figure 11 is a detail view.
The main idea of the present, invention is to provide a subterranean conductor
for an electric railway which will have thorough insulation and at the same time
will be concealed from view and be secured from outside interference, and yet will
afford ample and easy provision for connection with the car and its electric motor.
Generally speaking, these ends are accomplished by carrying a covered wire
adjacent to a rail and through a series of normally closed casings or boxes in which
electrical contact is made with the main conductor by means of a circuit completer,
whose opposite ends may be projected simultaneously into contact with a bared
portion of or a branch from the main conductor, and with a current collector
or contact upon the car. Provision is also made for additionally protecting the
main conductor, contact, or branch from water or moisture by encasing the same in
an inverted cup or bell or similar device. A sliding cover is provided to normally
close the aperture in the casing through which the current completer is to be
projected, and the car carries a short shoe which operates the cover, and indirectly,
through other mechanism, moves the circuit completer into and out of contact.
It is obvious that many variations may be made in the details of the invention

page_text: without departing from its spirit, and this invention is not to be understood as
limited to the specific construction which will now be described as an illustration of
the best manner yet devised by my correspondent of carrying out the general plan
of the invention.
Adjacent to the rails R R, preferably between the same and near one of them,
are arranged two or more boxes or casings B B,, which may be made of cast iron or
other suitable material, and the main portions of which are designed to be placed
below the level of the track. These boxes are placed at any convenient distances
apart, and enclose certain mechanism which will be hereinafter described.
Practically parallel with the rails and adjacent to the inside of one of them
is. arranged a main conductor M, which has an insulating covering and passes
through the boxes B B, preferably near one corner hereof, as is shown in the
drawings. The corner through which the main conductor passes may be divided
by suitable partitions from the rest of the box and filled with insulating substances
surrounding the conductor, as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings. The
slide bar D is arranged to move freely in the vertical guides G G, which are
arranged in the box,, and has connected with its lower end a piston working
in a cylinder supported upon the floor of the box, thus constituting a dash pot.
Of course this dash pot is provided with a groove or aperture to permit the air to
slowly escape in the usual manner. A spiral or other spring E has one of its ends
connected to the slide and the other end to the top C, and consequently there is a
constant tendency for the slide to move upward, but this tendency is normally
overcome by the pressure of the long arm of the elbow lever L upon a stud or pin
attached to the side of the slide, the short arm of such elbow lever being normally
pressed upward by the arm I which is affixed to the sliding portion of the cover,
and is caused to press upon the lower end of the short branch of the lever by
the action of a spiral spring F, the two terminals of which are respectively affixed
to the arm I and to the inside of the box. Pivoted in suitable brackets attached
to the cover is a lever H, one end of which is preferably weighted and the other
end formed as a hook.
Upon the side of the arm I is a pin N, with which the hooked end of the lever
engages, and the hook is bevelled in one direction to permit the pin to pass freely
over it when it is moving in the direction of such bevel. Secured to one side of the
slide bar, but insulated therefrom is what is designated as the circuit-completing
device.' It is marked by the letter P, and is formed of the J-shaped rod,
which may have a contact. brush at its upper end and a platinum or other contact
point at its lower upturned end. Arranged within an inverted bell or cup Q
are contact springs W, which are electrically connected with the main conductor.
In place of the contact springs, any other form of electrode may be employed
at this point. It is manifest that by enclosing the contact spring or other
electrode within the bell the contained air will prevent water from rising to
such contacts and injuring them. In other words, the cup, acts on the diving
bell principle. The top C is provided with an opening therethrough, and arranged
to move in suitable ways formed upon said top is a movable cover O. In order to
prevent children and meddlers from interfering with this opening, the cover
is preferably provided with an automatic lock of any suitable construction.
A convenient form of lock is illustrated in Figures 8, 9 and 10 of the drawings.
This lock, which is shown, consists of a spring acted lug V, one side of which
is rectangular and abrupt in contour, and the other side of which is bevelled toward
the outer side of the box. The under side of the cover is provided with a recess
for this lug or bolt, and with a groove extending from the recess to the outer
extremity of the cover, in which groove is placed a strip W, which latter at
its outer end is wedge shaped, as is shown, and has its inner end bevelled to
correspond with and rest against the bevelled side of the lug.
Secured to the under side and near one end of the truck pivotally by parallel bars
is a shoe S, which is preferably constructed as shown in Figure 7, in which one end
of the shoe, as shown, is bevelled, and has a thin flange or extension St. Secured

page_text: also to the under side of the truck and in the vicinity of the track is a current
collector or contact K which may be made of any suitable conducting material and
shape, and is electrically connected to the current controlling devices and the
electrical motor thereon, and thence to the ground or return conductor in the
usual manner.
The operation of the parts bereinbefore mentioned will now be described. The
main conductor is thoroughly insulated, and has no portion exposed outside of the
box. Within the box the contact between the main conductor and the lower end
of the circuit completing device is made within the bell near the upper end thereof,
whereby all water which may arise within the bell is excluded from approaching
the exposed electrodes. By this manner of doubly protecting the exposed portions
of the electrical conductors, leakage is to a great extent avoided and such perfect
insulation attained that a current of greater voltage may be employed. Normally
the circuit completing device is contained completely within the box or casing, and the
circuit between the main conductor and this connecting device is broken. Moreover,
the hole in the top of the box is covered and the cover is locked in position. When,
however, a car carrying a shoe passes over these boxes, the shoe presses against the
bevelled outer end of the cover and slides the latter along so as to uncover the
opening, the lug or bolt being withdrawn by the flange of the shoe, causing the
strip W to depress the lug or bolt. The cover, in uncovering the hole in the top of
the box, carries with it the arm I and relieves the elbow lever from the pressure of
such arm, whereupon the spring E throws the sliding bar D upward and the latter
carries with it the circuit completing device P, and thus makes the contact between
the lower end of the latter and the branch of the main conductor, and at the same
time between the brush upon the upper end of such circuit completer and the
current collector upon the car. The shoe, however, is made quite short, so as to
adapt it to round curves, and therefore the electrical circuit between the main
conductor and the car would be maintained only for the instant during which the
shoe was acting upon the cover if no other provision were made, but, as the cover is
moved by the shoe, the pin N on the bent bar I slides over the curved and bent end
of the lever H and is caught by the hook upon the latter, and thus the cover is held
open and the brush in contact with the current collector as long as the latter is over
the said brush. When the current collector passes beyond the brush, the spring E
carries the sliding bar a little farther up and causes the same to strike a pin Z,
which is arranged upon the side of the lever H, near the weighted end thereof,
and causes the hooked end of such lever to become disengaged from the pin and the
bar I, and consequently the spring F, which is more powerful than the spring E,
exerts its force so as to cause the cover to close the opening and cause the elbow
lever L to depress the circuit completer. Of course the current collector normally
must be long enough so as to extend over the second box before it passes beyond the
first box.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In electric railways, the combination of an insulated main conductor, a series
of stationary main conductor contacts or electrodes protected in insulated cups,
electrically propelled vehicles having current collectors carried thereunder, and a
movable circuit completing device normally insulated from the main supply
conductor, but adapted to contact with the main conductor, substantially as
described.
2. In electric railways, the combination of an insulated main conductor, a series
of casings having openings through the same, movable covers for such openings,
stationary main conductor contacts located in the top of insulating cups within said
casings and held out of contact with the main conductor electrode by mechanism
controlled by said cover, but adapted when released to move the contact with the
main conductor electrode and the current collector on an electrically propelled

page_text: vehicle simultaneously, and a device carried by the cars for removing said covers
and allowing the circuit completing device to operate, substantially as described,
and for the purpose set forth.
3. In electric railways, the combination of an insulated main conductor, main
conductor contacts located in a series of boxes or casings having portions with sliding
covers for same, circuit completing devices normally retained in said casings and
controlled by mechanism operated by said covers, a car having an electric motor
and carrying a current collector thereunder connected therewith, and a device for
removing the covers, consisting of a short shoe adapted to follow the groove of one
of the track rails and a catch for retaining the cover in an open position while the
car is passing and adapted to be released by the circuit completing device after
the current collector has passed, substantially as shown and described, and for the
purpose set forth.
4. In electric railways, the combination of an insulated main conductor, a casing
having an open portion, a spring pressed circuit completing device normally contained
in such casing, a detent for restraining such circuit completer, a car provided with
an electric motor, a contact, and also a device for opening the cover and releasing
the detent, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
રી
5. In electric railways, the combination of an insulated main conductor, a
casing having an open portion, a movable cover for such open portion,
spring projected completing device normally contained in such casing,
an elbow lever, one end of which rests upon the projection upon the circuit
completer, and a bent arm secured to the movable cover and normally pressing
upward the shorter arm of the elbow lever, a car having an electric motor, a contact,
and also a device for removing the cover from the opening, and thereby releasing
the circuit completer and permitting the same to be projected into the path of the
contact upon the car, substantially as shown and described.
6. In electrical railways, the combination of an insulated main conductor, a
casing having an open portion, a movable cover for such open portion, a spring
pressed circuit completing device normally contained within such casing, an elbow
lever having one arm resting upon and serving to depress the circuit completer, a
bent arm secured to the cover, and a spring for normally forcing the same against
the shorter arm of the elbow lever, a weighted lever having a hook at one end for
engaging a pin upon the bent arm, and a lug or stud upon its side arranged in the
path of the circuit completer, a car having an electric motor and current collector
or contact extending thereunder and serving to limit the extent of the stroke of the
circuit completer, and a short shoe suspended so as to strike and operate the movable
cover, substantially as shown and described.
7. In electric railways, the combination of an insulated main conductor, a casing
having an open portion, a movable cover, a lock for the same, a circuit completer
normally contained within such casing, a car having an electric motor, a current
collector or contact, and also a device for releasing the lock and moving the cover
from the opening, substantially as shown 'and described.
8. In electric railways, the combination of a casing and an insulated main
conductor having its exposed electrode or contact within a reversed bell or cup
loated within the casing, and a J-shaped circuit completer having one end adapted
to contact with the electrodes within the bell or cup and the other end designed to
contact with the current collector on the car, substantially as shown and described.
9. In an electric system, the combination of an insulated main conductor, a series
of casings having open portions, circuit completing devices normally contained
within the casings, and a car having current collectors at least equal in length to the
distance between two of the casings, and said car also carrying a short shoe for
removing the covers from the opening in said casings, substantially as shown and
described.
'10. In electric railways, the combination of an insulated main conductor, a main
conductor contact or electrode insulated and protected in the top of an insulated
"cup, a car-having an electric motor and a current collector, a circuit- completing

page_text: device, and means for projecting it simultaneously into contact with the current
collector and the main conductor contact or electrode, substantially as described.
11. In electric railways, an insulated main conductor provided with contact
portions or electrodes protected in enclosed casings or boxes, an electrically propelled
vehicle carrying a current collector of a length at least equal to the distance between
the casings or boxes, a circuit completing device normally contained in the latter,
and mechanism including a cushion for preventing the noise and jar and the too
rapid operation of the parts, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 29th day of May 1891.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.