Improvements in Coupling Appliances for the Electrical Conductors of Electrical Railway and Tramway Vehicles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Nov., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 14th Aug., 1900-Accepted, 6th Oct., 1900
Improvements in Coupling Appliances for the Electrical Conductors
of Electrical Railway and Tramway Vehicles.
We, SIEMENS BROTHERS & Co. LIMITED, of 12, Queen Anne's Gate, West-
minster, 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 Markgrafen Strasse No. 94, Berlin, in the Empire
of Germany, Electrical Engineers) to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved construction of coupling appliances for
the conductors of electric railway and tramway vehicles in those cases where
the electrical energy for the propulsion of the train has to be transmitted from
one vehicle to another.
In such cases it is very difficult to fulfil simultaneously all the conditions
necessary for the effectual and reliable construction of the current through the
coupling, namely good electrical contact, simplicity of coupling action, and
proof against disturbance by lateral oscillations and concussions.
According to the present invention, all these conditions are complied with
by the employment of a construction of coupling device in which the contact
is effected by one or more tongues or shoes on each car that is, or are, loosely
pivotted upon a horizontal axis, in such manner as to project in a more or less
horizontal position from the end of the car, so that when two cars are coupled
together, the contact tongue or tongues of the one car shall simply slide with
its under surface over the upper surface of the tongue or tongues of the opposite
car thereby forming an electrical contact between the two which is maintained
by the pressure of either the weight alone of the upper tongue upon the lower
one or of spring pressure or of magnetic attraction.
As during the running the surfaces of the tongues thus in contact will always
be rubbing more or less upon each other, a reliable contact free from dirt &c.
will always be insured.
The said contact tongues or shoes may be variously constructed and arranged
for carrying out the said invention.
Thus according to one arrangement a horizontal spindle carried in insulating
bearings at the end of the car and suitably connected to the longitudinal con-
ductor passing through the car, has mounted loose upon it one or more of the
said coupling tongues; preferably two or more arranged loosely side by side.
These tongues are supported in a horizontal or slightly inclined position by means
of an elbow lever mounted on the spindle, one arm of which is formed so as
to support the said tongues on the underside while the other arm bears against
a fixed stop on the insulating bracket. This lever can be moved by hand so
as to raise the tongues up on their pivot when necessary.
The front ends of the tongues being preferably made wedge-shaped, it will
be seen that when two cars are brought together for coupling, the one tongue
or set of tongues will automatically slide up over the other tongue or tongues,
and make contact as described. Or the one set of tongues can first be raised

page_text: up into an angular position for allowing the opposite set to pass under it, after
which it is lowered so as to rest upon these.
According to another modification, the contact tongues are held in their more
or less horizontal position by means of blade or other springs which are so
arranged as to be more or less strained when the tongues are moved either
upward or downward, so that when the tongues are brought together, the one
set is strained upward and the other downward, and they are thus pressed
together with a corresponding spring pressure.
According to another modification the contact tongues are arranged to operate
as electromagnets, by making them of wrought iron and providing them with
a winding which is included either in the main circuit of the conductor or in
a shunt thereof. These windings are provided with a short circuiting device
operated either by hand or automatically so that on bringing the two sets of
tongues into engagement the one set shall always be short circuited, this being
requisite for enabling the necessary magnetic attraction between the two sets to
be produced.
Dated this 18th day of November 1899.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in Coupling Appliances for the Electrical Conductors
of Electrical Railway and Tramway Vehicles.
We, SIEMENS BROTHERS & Co. LIMITED, of 12, Queen Anne's Gate, West-
minster, 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 Markgrafen Strasse No. 94, Berlin, 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:—
This invention relates to an improved construction of coupling appliances for
the conductors of electric railway and tramway vehicles in those cases where
the electrical energy for the propulsion of the train has to be transmitted from
one vehicle to another.
In such cases it is very difficult to fulfil simultaneously all the conditions
necessary for the effectual and reliable transmission of the current through the
coupling, namely good electrical contact, simplicity of coupling action, and
proof against disturbance by lateral oscillations and concussions.
According to the present invention, all these conditions are complied with
by the employment of a construction of coupling device in which the contact
is effected by one or more tongues or shoes on each car that is, or are, loosely
pivotted upon a horizontal axis, in such manner as to project in a more or less
horizontal position from the end of the car, so that when two cars are coupled
together, the contact tongue or tongues of the one car shall simply slide with
its under surface over the upper surface of the tongue or tongues of the opposite
car thereby forming an electrical contact between the two which is maintained
by the pressure of either the weight alone of the upper tongue upon the lower
one or of spring pressure or of magnetic attraction.
As during the running the surfaces of the tongues thus in contact will always
be rubbing more or less upon each other, a reliable contact free from dirt &c.
will always be insured.

page_text: The said contact tongues or shoes may be variously constructed and arranged
for carrying out the said invention.
Thus according to the arrangement shewn in elevation in Figs. 1 and 2,
plan in Fig. 3 and cross section at Fig. 4 a horizontal spindle a carried in bearings
on insulators at the end of the car cand suitably connected to the longitu-
dinal conductor f passing through the car, has mounted free upon it one or
more of the said coupling tongues d, e; preferably two or more arranged loosely
side by side. These tongues have wedge-shaped heads of the cross-section shewn
in Fig. 4 and are supported in a horizontal or slightly inclined position by
means of an elbow lever g mounted on the spindle a, one arm of which is formed
so as to support the said tongues on the underside while the other arm bears
against a fixed stop on the insulating bracket. This lever can be moved by
hand so as to raise the tongues up on their pivot when necessary.
The front ends of the tongues de being preferably made wedge-shaped it will
be seen that when two cars c are brought together for coupling, the one tongue
or set of tongues will automatically slide up over the other tongue or tongues,
and make contact as described. Or the one set of tongues can first be raised
by the aforesaid lever into an angular position (Fig. 1) for allowing the opposite
set to pass under it, after which it is lowered so as to rest upon these (Fig. 2).
The height of the heads of the tongues is so chosen that even when there is
excessive jolting of the cars the tongues which happen to be uppermost have
sufficient freedom of movement downwards. The weight of the heads keeps the
contact good notwithstanding the jolting, and more effectively so the nearer
the centre of gravity of the tongue is to the contact surface.
According to the modification, shewn in elevation and section in Figs. 5 and 6
and in plan in Fig. 7, the contact tongues de, are held in their more or less
horizontal position by means of blade springs, i, k, reinforced by auxiliary
springs l, m, which are so arranged as to be more or less strained when the
tongues are moved either upward or downward, so that when the tongues are
brought together the one set of springs is strained upward and the other down-
ward, and the tongues are thus pressed together with a corresponding spring
pressure.
According to the modification shewn in elevation in Fig. 8 and in plan in
Fig. 9 the contact tongues are arranged to operate as electromagnets.
For this purpose they are made of wrought iron and in pairs like horse-
shoes n, o pivotted as before on shafts a carried on insulators b. These pairs
of tongues are magnetised by coils p which, in the case shewn, are included,
in the main circuit, but may be in a shunt thereof. The tongues are provided
with raising levers and are limited in their downward movement by the engage-
ment of these levers with the stops has in the first example.
The exciting coils p can be short circuited by the switches s (or cut out of
circuit, if in a shunt) it being essential that one of them should be so dealt with
as owing to the exciting coils being of necessity similarly wound the simul-
taneous excitation of the same would neutralise the field.
This short circuiting or cutting out may be effected automatically, for instance,
by the movement of a self raising coupling or by the safety hook of a known
form of car coupling.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that
what we claim is:-
1. A coupling appliance for the electrical conductors of electrically propelled
trains, consisting of two or more similar, preferably wedge-shaped contact
tongues mounted free on transverse shafts attached to the ends of the cars, one,
or one set, of which tongues rests upon the other, or other set, and is kept in
rubbing contact therewith by its own weight or by springs or by magnetic
attraction, substantially as described.

page_text: 2. In a coupling appliance such as is referred to in Claim 1 contact tongues
made of magnetisable material and rendered magnetic by coils through which
the train current or a shunt therefrom passes the coils of only one of the two
coupling parts being in circuit at any one time, substantially as described.
Dated this 14th day of August 1900.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.