SecuFIC Railways.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 29th June, 1899 —Accepted, 12th Aug., 1899
SecuFIC Railways.
A communication from FRED HARRIS DANIELS, of Worcester, County of Wor-
cester, State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Gentleman.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 111, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
―
The rail-bond in which this invention is comprised is designed with more
particular reference to its use on electric railways and is of that type in which
the bond proper or connector between the two terminals consists of strands of
copper wire twisted together or, in other words, copper-wire rope or cable.
The characteristic of this improved rail-bond is that the wire-rope connector
at a point between its ends or the terminals bulges or is enlarged in size and has
its strands loosened and spread apart. This structural feature of the bond has
the advantage, among other things no only of enhancing the flexibility of the
hond, but of giving it the capacity to elongate or contract quite sufficiently to
compensate for any expansion and contraction in the rails which it connects.
To enable those skilled in the art to understand and use the invention, I
will now proceed to describe the manner in which the same is or may be carried
into effect by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a view of the complete rail-bond embodying this invention in its
preferred form.
Figure 2 is a view of the section of wire rope or cable which forms the con-
nector, showing the bulged and spread-apart portion of its strands before the
section is flattened.
The particular rail-bond which I have selected to illustrate this invention is
one made in accordance with my prior Specification of Letters Patent No. 4824
of 1897-that is to say, having a flexible body portion 8, combined with terminals
or ends 7, made separate therefrom and secured or welded thereto by pressure,
so as to be substantially integral therewith, although the improvements may be
applied also to rail-bonds in which the terminals are otherwise formed and
secured to the wire rope or cable connector.
In order to carry out this invention, a section of copper-wire rope or cable cut
to proper length, is taken and at a point between its ends, preferably about
midway its length, I spread apart and loosen up the strands, giving the rope a
bulged formation and enlarged diameter or size at this point, as indicated at a,
Fig. 2, which shows the wire-cable section after it has been thus formed. The
local enlargement of the wire-cable section and the loosening and spreading apart
of the wire strands consequent thereon can be effected in various ways--as, for
example, by upsetting-it, which is the way in which I prefer to obtain the result.
The wire section may be upset at more than one point between its ends, if
lesired; but for practical purposes and for ordinary uses it will be sufficient to
apset it at one point only. The wire rope or cable section thus formed is then

page_text: provided with suitable terminals, for which purpose I prefer to proceed as set
forth in the specification hereinbefore referred to, the wire-rope section being put
into terminals 7 and then by very heavy pressure under proper conditions welded
into said terminals and the enlarged portion a, flattened along with the body of
the rope S, all at the same time and in the proper press, forming the finished
rail-bond shown in Fig. 1. The result is a rail-bond in which the wire connector
has marked flexibility sidewise in both directions and ample capacity to elongate
and contract, so as to compensate for any expansion and contraction of the rails
which it connects.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what
manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is:-
-
1. A rail-bond in which the body portion is made of wire rope or cable which
at a point between the terminals or ends is bulged or enlarged and has its strands
loosened up and spread apart, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore
set forth.
2. A rail-bond in which the terminals are combined with a flattened wire rope
or cable connector enlarged or bulged at a point between its ends so as to
spread apart and loosen up the several strands, said enlarged portion being also
flattened with its strands in their spread-apart condition, substantially as and
for the purposes herein before set forth.
Dated thi 20th If I 1000
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.