Improvements in Electric Railway Switches.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 15th July, 1890-Accepted, 16th Aug., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Cominunicated from abroad by WILLIAM DUMOND SWART, of 12, Amherst Street,
Nashua, County of Hillsborough, State of New Hampshire, United States of
America, Lumber Merchant.]
Improvements in Electric Railway Switches.
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 electrically operated switch especially adapted for use
in connection with street railroads where the cars are propelled by electrical power.
A permanent magnet is pivotally supported near the track beneath the surface of the
road bed its opposite ends being over contact posts which are electrically connected
with two electro magnets on opposite sides of a lever which operates the tongue of
the switch. An electro-magnet supported by the car is adapted to be lowered at will
so as to influence the said permanent magnet and cause it to turn on its pivot and
through the said electro-magnets move the lever between them and hence the switch-
tongue. The electro-magnet supported by the car may by reversing the electrical
current attract or repel the end of the pivoted permanent magnet which is being
approached and thus open or close the switch as desired.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a sectional view taken longitudinally with the track showing the
construction of my switching mechanism and a portion of a car.
Figure 2 is a plan view with the cover of the box containing the magnets,
removed.
Figure 3 is a diagram showing the operation of the electrical connections.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
A represents the road bed, B the main track, C the switch rails and D the tongue
of the switch, all of a street railway. E is a horizontal lever, pivotally secured at E¹
in an end of the box F set in the earth and provided with the cover F' slightly
below the surface of the ground. One end of this lever E is pivotally connected
by the link E with the lever G which directly operates the tongue D and the other
end extends between the electro magnets I I¹.
Thus far there is nothing new in the device. The electro magnets II' are connected
respectively with the contact posts a, a' by the wires bb', and by the wires c c¹ with
the wire d and thence to the overhead wire e which connects with the source of
electricity. K is a permanent magnet pivotally supported upon the pivot J and
provided with a central weight K' preferably integral whereby the magnet K is held
normally in a horizontal position. The pivot J is supported by the walls of the box F
and is connected by the wire with the ground wire g.
It will readily be seen that should one pole of the permanent magnet K drop and
be in contact with the contact post a as in Figures 2 and 3 an electrical circuit would
be established from the overhead wire e through wires d and c electro-magnet I wire b
contact post a permanent magnet K, pivot J and wire f to ground wire g with the
effect of waking a true electro-magnet of I and hence attracting the lever E and by
means of the intermediate mechanism, operating the switch tongue D. Should the
opposite pole of the permanent magnet K drop and be in contact with the contact
post a', an electrical circuit would be established from the overhead wire e through
wires and e', electro-magnet I', wire ', contact post a', permanent magnet K,
pivot J and wire f to ground wire g, attracting the lever E in the opposite direction
and hence turning the switch tongue in the opposite direction. Hence, attracting
either pole of the peripanent magnet and thus causing the other to drop onto the
contact post beneath it, turns the switch accordingly.

page_text: I accomplish this from the car as it passes over the permanent magnet in the
following manner. An electro-magnet, as L, is suspended from a portion of the car
near the line of the permanent magnet in any desired manner, so long as said electro-
magnet may be capable of being swung up (as in Figure 1) or down. In the
drawing it is pivotally secured to a bracket N fastened to the car h and is provided
with an arm or link O whose upper end slides in a slot P¹ in the lever P which is
adapted to be operated by the foot of the driver. It is evident that if the electro-
magnet L is dropped down into a vertical position, the permanent magnet (which is
placed very near the surface) or that end of it next the approaching car, will be
attracted hence raised, or repelled, thus lowered, according as the lowest pole of the
electro-magnet is opposite or similar and the switch-tongue thus operated accordingly
by the driver.
The current of the electro-magnet L may, of course be readily reversed by any
well known electric switching device. The electric switch-lever is shown at I
in Figure 1. In the diagramatic view shown in Figure 3 a simple switching
mechanism is shown. In this view R is a plate and S is a bar pivoted centrally
thereto and made of rubber or other non-conducting material. The broker line S¹
indicates a conductor secured to the rear side thereof. m is a trolley on the wire n
and is connected with the plate R by a wire r. t is a wire leading to the motor.
The loop u connects the contact point R¹ with one pole of the electro-magnet L and
the loop v connects the contact point R" with the other pole of the electro-magnet I..
Turning the bar S to the right or left makes the lower end of the magnet positive or
negative, with the well known effect on the permanent magnet K.
The mochanism for raising and lowering the magnet L may be varied as desired,
as may also be the switching mechanism RS. The permanent magnet K may be
placed at any point in the track most convenient and the magnet L at any point on
the car where it will most influence the permanent magnet which is of course placed
as near the surface as possible.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the sa'd 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. In an electrically operated railway switch, the combination of a magnet
pivotally placed beneath the surface of the road-bed and an electro-magnet secured
to the car in such a position as to influence the magnet beneath the surface of the
road bed as the car passes over it so as to close an electrical circuit and thereby operate
the switching mechanism, substantially as described.
Second. In an electrically operated railway switch, in combination, a permanent
magnet pivotally placed beneath the surface of the road-bed with its poles near
contact posts which are electrically, connected with two electro-magnets placed on
opposite sides of the actuating-mechanism of the tongue of the switch an electro-
magnet pivotally secured to the car and adapted to be lowered into position to
influence the permanent magnet as the car passes over it and switching mechanism to
reverse the current in said electro-magnet substantially as set forth.
Third. In an electrically operated railway switch, in combination, the permanent
imagnet K weighted at K¹ placed in the road-bed and horizontally balanced on the
pivot J which is connected by the wire f with the wire g, contact posts a, a¹,
wires bb electro-magnets I I¹ and wires e c¹ de, lover E actuating the switch tongue
mechanism, electro-magnet L secured to the car and adapted to be raised and lowered
by the driver and switching mechanism for reversing the current in said electro-
magnet, substantially as described.
Dated this 15th day of July 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.