Improvements relating to Electric Railways and Tramways on a Road Contact System.
Year: 1899

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by The ELEKTRIZITATS-AKTIENGESELLSCILAFT,
vormals SCHUCKERT AND COMPANY, Manufacturers, of Nürnberg, Germany.]
Improvements relating to Electric Railways and Tramways on a
Road Contact System.
I, JASPER WETTER, Ohartered Patent Agent, of 37 and 39, Essex Street,
Strand, in the County of London, 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 to a system of electric railways with sectional conductors
and relays, in which the sectional conductors are switched on and off by means
of relays controlled by the passing vehicle, and in which the relays may be
reversed in groups according to the direction in which the vehicle is desired to
move, this reversal being effected either by hand or automatically.
The accompanying diagram represents a system embodying the present inven-
tion and serves to explain the same.
Each surface contact or sectional conductor 1, 2, 3, ...
is connected
with a controlling apparatus, a series of which is arranged along the line of
rails in the known manner and enclosed in suitable contact boxes,
Such a controlling apparatus chiefly comprises a contact lever (7 to 12)
adapted to connect the surface contact with the feeder main 31, and two exciting
coils or controlling magnets, one of which (13 to 18) serves to lift the contact
lever, while the other (19 to 24) serves to draw it off. In each section the lifting
coil or coil for making contact is connected with the draw-off or contact-breaking
coil of the immediately precoding and of the immediately succeeding relay.
Each draw-off magnet has two windings, one of them (19 to 24) is connected.
with the contact making winding of the relay lying in front, and the other (25
to 30) is connected with the contact making winding of the relay lying at the
rear. For instance the contact making coil 16 belonging to the road contact 4
is connected with the upper draw-off coil 23 of the section 5 and with lower
draw-off coil 27 of the section 3, and the upper draw-off coil 22 of the section 4
is connected with the contact making coil 15 of the section 3 in front, while the
lower draw-off coil 28 is connected with the contact making coil 17 of the section 5
at the rear. The coils of the draw-off magnets are connected in groups with
contact pieces 32 and 33, or 34 and 35, arranged symmetrically to each other,
and adapted to be closed by means of levers 36, 37, acting simultaneously on
all the contacts situated on the same side, which levers can be reversed according
to the direction in which the vehicle is desired to move, by means of electro-
magnets (38 to 41) situated near the end of the group of relays.
To explain the working of the system described above, I will assume, that
CD... 077

page_text: the skate or current collector 42 of the car is situated on the contact stud 5,
and that it is desired to run in the direction indicated by the arrow. For the
first starting of the car the current of an accumulator mounted on the car is
employed in the well-known manner. This battery current flows through the
skate 42, contact stud 5, magnet coil 17, magnet coil 24 and the corresponding
contact of the group 35 into the switch lever 37, and thence to the return rail or to
earth. The coil 17 is thereby caused to attract the contact lever 11, so as to connect
the feeder main 31 with the sectional conductor 5 and the carriage may commence
to run in the direction of the arrow. As soon as the skate touches the contact
stud situated immediately in front of the carriage (in the direction in which the
latter runs), the relay belonging to that stud will be excited, so as to close
the circuit, while the draw-off coil belonging to the section which lias just been
left by the skate but is still covered by the carriage, is excited by a shunt of the
apparatus in front, so as to draw off the contact lever and switch off the sectional
conductor.
'
1
It should be observed, that for the direction of running indicated by the arrow,
the multiple switch levers 36 and 37 touch the series of contacts 33 and 35 respec-
tively. The reversal takes place automatically, no matter in which direction
the carriage is running, as soon as the skate has touched the last of the contact
studs or sectional conductors belonging to a group and connected with the relay
of the said group.
Supposing the carriage stands with its skate on contact stud 5 and runs in
the direction of the arrow, that is to the left, it will next touch the contact
stud 4 and close the circuit which reverses the multiple switch lever 36, but the
current continues to flow through the switch lever 37 of the preceding group;
it is only, when the skate arrives on contact stud 2, that the working current
will flow through the multiple switch lever 36 situated under the same."
When the carriage is once running in a given direction which it has to
maintain, the reversal of the multiple switch lever, or of the group of sectional
conductors belonging to the same, takes place automatically, as mentioned above.
If, however, it be desired to change the direction when the carriage is in motion,
for instance in case of an accident. the multiple switch levers are reversed by
hand, by turning suitable switches 43, 44, arranged at convenient distances
along the line of rails, and adapted to control the electro-magnets 38 to 41,
which for this purpose are provided with double windings, as shown by the
drawing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a road contact and relay system of electric railways or tramways in
which the controlling apparatus belonging to each road contact has two separate
exciting coils for drawing on and off the contact lever serving to make and
break the working circuit, the method of connecting the electric circuits having
the distinctive feature, that the draw-on or circuit-closing coil of each relay
is situated in a shunt of the working circuit and connected with the draw-off
or circuit-breaking coil of the immediately preceding and the immediately
succeeding controlling apparatus, and that the draw-off magnets have double
windings, connected at one end with the draw-on coils of the adjoining
controlling appliances, and at the other end with the fixed contact pieces arranged
in groups symmetrically to each other and controlled by multiple switch lovers,
substantially as described.
2. In a road contact and relay system of electric railways. or tramways of the
type described, a series of sectional relays arranged together in groups and
provided with multiple switches adapted to be reversed either automatically by
separate electro-magnets excited by the end relays of the respective groups,
for maintaining the run in the desired direction, or by hand by means of switch

page_text: levers arranged along the line of rails, for changing the direction of the car,
Bubstantially as described.
3. A road contact and relay system of electric railways or tramways constructed
and adapted to be operated substantially as described.
Dated this 10th day of July 1899.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
Agents, 37 and 37, Essex Street, Strand, London.