Safety Appliances in connection with Overhead or Exposed Con- ductors of Electrical Railways and Tramways.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Jan., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 17th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 18th Nov., 1899
Safety Appliances in connection with Overhead or Exposed Con-
ductors of Electrical Railways and Tramways.
We, SIEMENS BROTHERS & Co., LIMITED, of 12, Queen Anne's Gate, West-
minster, S.W., in the County of London, Electrical Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention (as communicated to us from abroad by
Siemens & Halske, Aktien Gesellschaft, of No. 94, Markgrafen Strasse,
Berlin, S.W., in the Empire of Germany, Electrical Engineers,) to be as
follows:-
When an electrical railway or tramway with overhead conductors is crossed
by the conductors of a low voltage installation one pole of which is put to earth,
such installation is considerably endangered when one of its conductors breaks
and happens to fall upon the conductor of the railway. For obviating such
risk, wooden, or network, or wire guards have been fitted over the railway con-
ductor, which in the case of wooden or net work guards only have the object
of preventing the contact of the weak current conductor with the railway con-
ductor, while the wire guards also have in some cases the object of rendering
such contact harmless, should it occur, this being effected by the electric con-
nection of such wires with the railway or tramway rails forming the return
conductor, so that when, on the falling of a broken low tension wire, this
touches both the railway conductor and the wire guard, the pressure in the
weak current installation will not materially exceed that of the earth current,
and will consequently have no detrimental effect. The nearer the guard wire
is placed to the railway conductor, the greater is the certainty of the falling
wire touching both of them instead of only the railway conductor.
The present invention relates to an improved arrangement whereby the dis-
tance between the guard wire and the railway conductor can be made much
smaller that heretofore and thus the security correspondingly increased.
This is effected by directly connecting the railway conductor with the guard
or safety wire by means of insulating distance pieces.
By this means also the installation is considerably simplified, as the same
transverse wire that carries the railway conductor can also serve to support the
safety wire, also the poles supporting the railway conductor are subject to a less
strain.
Furthermore, in consequence of the small distance between the railway con-
ductor and the safety wire it will in many cases be possible to apply the safety
wires in existing installations, without requiring to increase either the number
of points of support or the length of the poles, &c.
By way of example two arrangements for carrying out the above described in-
vention are shewn on the accompanying drawing.
At a small distance above the overhead railway or tramway conductor a is
arranged the safety wire d connected thereto by insulating distance pieces b, c,
and so as to be maintained at a uniform distance therefrom.

page_text: Both the conductor a and safety wire d are suspended from the same trans-
verse supporting wire e, which can also serve for electrically connecting the
safety wire with the rail f acting as return conductor, as indicated by dotted
lines.
The safety wire is of course only provided at those parts of the railway con-
ductor where the wires of a low voltage installation cross it, or is in close
proximity thereto.
The safety wire can be kept stretched to the required amount by various
means.
In Fig. 1a straining wire g is fixed at one end to the conductor a either
directly or through an insulating device and at the other end to the safety wire d
by means of an insulating connecting piece of any suitable form that will
effectually prevent the transmission of current,
In the arrangement shewn at Fig. 2, the straining of the safety wire is effected
by wires connected to the adjacent supporting poles, which wires at the same
time serve to support the end connections i of the safety wire and conductors.
On curves of the line the auxiliary wire supports and stays described in the
Specification to Patent No. 18,837 of 1891 can be utilised as the above described
safety appliance.
Although the invention has been described in connection with overhead con-
ductors, whether of wires or bars yet it will be evident that the safety wires
can also be applied with advantage to exposed conductors situated at the side
of the rails, and that instead of only one, two or more safety wires may be used.
Dated this 31st day of January 1899.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.
Safety Appliances in connection with Overhead or Exposed Con-
ductors of Electrical Railways and Tramways.
We, SIEMENS BROTHERS & Co., LIMITED, of 12, Queen Anne's Gate, West-
minster, S.W., in the County of London, Electrical Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention (as communicated to us from abroad by
Siemens & Halske, Aktien Gesellschaft, of No. 94, Markgrafen Strasse,
Berlin, S.W., in the Empire of Germany, Electrical Engineers), and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
When an electrical railway or tramway with overhead conductors is crossed
by the conductors of a low voltage installation one pole of which is put to earth,
such installation is considerably endangered when one of its conductors breaks
and happens to fall upon the conductor of the railway. For obviating such
risk, wooden, or network, or wire guards have been fitted over the railway con-
ductor, which in the case of wooden or net work guards only have the object
of preventing the contact of the weak current conductor with the railway con-
ductor, while the wire guards also have in some cases the object of rendering
such contact harmless, should it occur, this being effected by the electric con-
nection of such wires with the railway or tramway rails forming the return
conductor, so that when, on the falling of a broken low tension wire, this
touches both the railway conductor and the wire guard, the pressure in the
weak current installation will not materially exceed that of the earth current,
and will consequently have no detrimental effect. The nearer the guard wire

page_text: is placed to the railway conductor, the greater is the certainty of the falling
wire touching both of them instead of only the railway conductor.
The present invention relates to an improved arrangement whereby the dis-
tance between the guard wire and the railway conductor can be made much
smaller than heretofore and thus the security correspondingly increased
This is effected by directly connecting the railway conductor with the guard
or safety wire by means of insulating distance pieces.
By this means also the installation is considerably simplified, as the same
transverse wire that carries the railway conductor can also serve to support the
safety wire, also the poles supporting the railway conductor are subject to a less
strain.
Furthermore, in consequence of the small distance between the railway con-
ductor and the safety wire it will in many cases be possible to apply the safety
wires in existing installations, without requiring to increase either the number
of points of support or the length of the poles, &c.
By way of example two arrangements for carrying out the above described in-
vention are shewn on the accompanying drawing.
At a small distance above the overhead railway or tramway conductor a is
arranged the safety wired connected thereto by insulating distance pieces b c
and i so as to be maintained at a uniform distance therefrom.
Both the conductor a and safety wire d are suspended from the same trans-
verse supporting wire e, which can also serve for electrically connecting the
safety wire with the rail f acting as return conductor, as indicated by dotted
lines.
The safety wire is of course only provided at those parts of the railway con-
ductor where the wires of a low voltage installation cross it, or is in close
proximity thereto.
The safety wire can be kept stretched to the required amount by various
means.
In Fig. 1a straining wire g is fixed at one end to the conductor a cither
directly or through an insulating device and at the other end to the safety wire d
by means of an insulating connecting piece of any suitable form that will
effectually prevent the transmission of current.
In the arrangement shewn at Fig. 2, the straining of the safety wire is effected
by wires connected to the adjacent supporting poles, which wires at the same
time serve to support the end connections of the safety wire and conductors.
On curves of the line the auxiliary wire supports and stays described in the
Specification to Patent No. 18,837 of 1891 can be utilised as the above described
safety appliance.
Fig. 3 of the drawings shews the arrangement for this purpose, A being the
conductor of the line and S the auxiliary wire, similar to the arrangement
shewn at Fig. 1 of Specification No. 18837 of 1891.
In order to adapt the auxiliary wire S to the purposes of the present inven-
tion, the distance pieces c or struts are made of insulating material and insulat-
ing connecting pieces are interposed between the middle part of the wire S
and the ends which are secured to the conductor. The middle part of S is con-
nected by a wires to earth or to the rails. The straining wires Q are con-
nected to the middle of the insulating struts c.
Although the invention has been described in connection with overhead con-
ductors, whether of wires or bars, yet it will be evident that the safety wires
can also be applied with advantage to exposed conductors situated at the side
of the rails, and that instead of only one, two or more safety wires may be used.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is:-
1. In safety appliances in connection with overhead or exposed conductors of

page_text: electrical railways or tramways, connecting a safety wire guard to the conductor
of the railway or tramway by means of insulating connecting pieces, such safety
wire being also in conducting connection with the return conductor of the line,
substantially as described.
2. In safety appliances such as referred to in the first claim, utilising the
transverse wire supports for the conductor for connecting the safety wire with
the return conductor of the line, substantially as described.
3. In safety appliances such as referred to in the first claim, straining the
safety wire by connecting its ends by means of insulating connections, to wires
attached to the overhead conductor of the line, substantially as described with
reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings.
4. In safety appliances such as referred to in the first claim, straining and at
the same time supporting the safety wire by connecting its ends to obliquely
placed wires attached to the adjacent supporting poles for the conductor of the
line substantially as described with reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings.
Dated this 17th day of October 1899.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.