Improvements in Conduits for Electric Conductors and in Means for Collecting the Current from the Conductors.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Sept., 1890-Accepted, 25th Oct., 1890
[Communicated from abroad by HERBERT N. CURTIS, of 115, Broadway, New York,
United States of America.]
Improvements in Conduits for Electric Conductors and in Means for
Collecting the Current from the Conductors.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 an electric conduit for street railways and analogous uses,
the object being to maintain a practically closed conduit while affording means for
making connection between a travolling conductor outside, and stationary conductor
inside.
The conduit is shown as made double containing wires leading from both terminals
of the generator of electricity but it is obvious that the same construction might be
employed where connection was to be made from the inside of the conduit with only
one conductor, the other connection being made at the wheels of the vehicle and the
rails or otherwise.
The invention is embodied in a conduit which may be made of any suitable material
and has a narrow longitudinal slit or opening in its upper surface which constitutes a
portion of the roadway over which the vehicles travol and contains a current supplying
conductor suitably supported in the conduit bolow the said slit and the said invention
consists mainly in the combination with such a structure of a flexible conduit slit
cover contained within the conduit and normally pressed upward against the inner
surface of the top thereof, so as to close the slit from bolow.
The said flexible cover is composed partly of conducting material, which is engaged
by the external travelling conductor and pressed down into contact with the current
supplied conductor below as the vehicle travels along so as to transmit the current
from the internal to the external conductor, and said flexible strip is provided with
strips of yielding insulating material, preferably soft rubber, which perform both the
function of insulating the strip from the conduit, and also that of a gasket or packing
to make a water tight joint with the walls of the conduit at the edges of the slit.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of an electric conduit embodying this
invention.
Figure 2 a longitudinal section thereof on line a, a Figure 1, the arrows at the
section lines in all of the figures indicating the direction from which the corresponding
sectional views are projected.
Figure 3 a longitudinal section on line y, y Figure 1.
Figure 4 a plan view of the conduit on a smaller scale.
Figure 5 a sectional elevation of a portion of the conduit and vehicle.
Figure 6 a transverse vertical section showing a modified construction of the con-
duit, the two parts of the double conduit in this case being slightly different in
construction from one another.
Figure 7 a longitudinal section on line 2 Figure 6.
Figure 8 a longitudinal section on line & Figure 6.
sida alovation of the trolley and

page_text: provided with narrow longitudinal slits a over the conductors b,, the portion of
said top between the slits being shown in this instance as a piece of angle iron a
provided with suitable brackets for supporting the main conductors,
rest on substantially rigid beams extending from one bracket to the next and are
suitably insulated from the walls of the conduit.
which
In order to retain the slits of the conduit normally closed while providing for
making a connection from the internal conductors to external conductors or trolly
wheels (see Figures 2, 9 and 10) the said conduit contains longitudinal flexible
strips or conduit covers each composed of a piece of conducting material d and pads
or strips d² of insulating material, soft rubber being desirable on account of its yielding
and flexible nature, said strips being mounted on yielding supports which press thein
upward against the top wall of the conduit and into the slot-thereof.
In order to make the entire cover more flexible the conducting strips d, may be made
discontinuous, as shown and as there is no need of electrical continuity (that being
undesirable rather than desirable) the space between the onds of said conducting
portions of the cover may be filled with strips d of the yielding insulating material.
The yielding supports for the conduit eover are shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 as
consisting of blocks of insulating material with which the con lucting portion of the
cover are connected from point to point the said blocks being presseri upwards by
springs sons, to hold the cover firmly seated against the inside of the top of the
conduit which is preferably bevelled or inclined from the edges of the slit as shown,
50 ns to make a better joint with the flexible cover strip in which the strips d' of
insulating material both serve as an insulator to prevent the current from getting to
the walls of the conduit and also as a parking or gasket so as to make the cover
water tight when closed.
In the construction shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 both covers are connected with
the same carrier blocks e which with their springs work in recesses aº in the central
web a¹.
Guido pins are provided for the carrier blocks to prevent them from being
thrown out of position in their upward and downward movement and insure that the
conducting portion of said covers will come into proper engagement with the enclosed
conductors and that the covers will properly seat themselves in the conduit slit when
they are returned,
The trolley wheels bear upon the conduit cover with sufficient pressure to overcome
the yielding supports for the latter and press the said strips down on to the enclosed
conductors, when the portions d of said strips afford an electrical connection
from the said enclosed conductors to the trolleys or other travelling conductors that
engage therewith.
In the construction shown in Figures 6, 7 and 8 the conduit is of slightly different
shape from that shown in Figure 1, the central web has no opening through it and
each cover strip is supported independently of the other, otherwise the construction
and mode of operation is substantially the same and the same lettering is used.
A pair of supporting springs, are used for each cover strip as shown in Figure 6,
and in the construction shown at the left hand in said figure, and in Figure 8, the
conducting portion d is a thin vertical strip enclosed between heavier cheeks of the
insulating material than in the other constructions, that shown in the right of
Figure 6, and in Figure 7, having the conducting portion of the cover channel
shaped the same as in Figure 1.
01
The trolley wheels, are supported in forked frames ², pivoted at c³ upon a
swivelled piece capable of longitudinal and swivelling movement upon a suitable
standard rigidly connected with the car or vehicle as shown in Figure 5.
The trolley wheel frame e is offset with relation to the swivel piece as shown in
Figures 5 and 9, and is acted upon by a stiff spring e, which enables it to yield
vertically to a slight extent, the said offset in its frame causing the wheel to trail
and enabling it to turn with relation to the body of the vehicle so as to keep on the
conducting portion of the cover as the vehicle passes around curves etc.
The swivel piece is longitudinally movable on its supporting standard c³, so that

page_text: the trolley may be raised wholly above the top of the conduit and road hed when
desired, said swivel piece being shown as operated by a lever c connected with a
collar working in an annular groove around the swivel piece so that it controls its
position longitudinally on the standard without intorfering with its rotary movement
thereon.
The lever has a suitable operating handle shown in this instance as placed inside
the car by which it may be moved to raise and lower the trolley when required.
The vehicle is provided with a brush or cleaning device i journalled at the ond of
a hanger, supported from the axles of the vehicle and driven by a belt ³ passing
over pulleys on the vehicle axle and brush shaft axle respectively.
The brush at the rear end of the vehicle may be removed from the conduit, the
supporting hangers being shown as provided with chains m for raising and lowering
the said chains each co-operating with a hook or support m², on the car.
The electric connections from the trolley to the motor on the car or other apparatus
to be supplied by the current may be of any suitable or usual construction, as these
devices form no part of the present invention, and when the track rails are used as
the return circuit, it will be necessary to use but one trolley wheel and the conduit
appliances cooperating therewith.
The conduit may be provided with the usual means for draining the same so that
any water which may enter when the cover is open will ensily pass off.
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 :-
First. An electric conduit provided with a longitudinal slit in its top, and an
enclosed conductor, combined with a flexible cover for said slit comprising a conducting
portion that makes contact with an external conductor extended into the slit and is
pressed thereby into contact with the enclosed conductor substantially as described.
Second. An electric conduit provided with a longitudinal slit in its top, and an
enclosed conductor, combined with a flexible cover composed of a conducting strip
beneath the opening and above the enclosed conductor, and strips of insulating material
that seat against the inside of the walls of the conduit at the edges of the slit,
substantially as described.
Third. An electric conduit provided with a longitudinal slit in its top, and an
enclosed conductor, combined with a flexible cover for said slit comprising a conducting
portion that makes contact with an external conductor extended into the slit and is
pressed thereby into contact with the enclosed conductor; carrying blocks connected
with the cover from point to point, and yielding upwardly-pressing supports for said
carrying blocks, substantially as described.
Fourth. An electric conduit provided with a longitudinal slit in its top, and an
enclosed conductor, combined with a flexible cover strip for said slit, comprising a
conducting portion that makes contact with an external conductor extended into the
slit and is pressed thereby into contact with the enclosed conductor, and yielding
upwardly-pressing supports for said strips, and guides upon which the said strip is
movable towards and from the slitted portion of the conduit, substantially as
described.
Fifth. An electric conduit provided with a longitudinal slit in its top and an
enclosed conductor combined with a flexible cover for said slit comprising a conducting
portion that makes contact with an external conductor extended into the slit, and is
pressed thereby into contact with the enclosed conductor, and a trolley wheel and a
support therefor, swivelled on said standard connected with the vehicle and vertically
movable on said standard, substantially as described.
Dated 12.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.