Improvements in Rail Joints for Electric Railways.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Jan., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 16th Sept., 1898-Accepted, 22nd Oct.,
1898
Improvements in Rail Joints for Electric Railways.
I, MAX BARSCHALL, of 45, Wilhelmstrasse, Berlin, in the Empire of Germany,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows;-
1
The invention relates to rail joints for that kind of electric railways in which the
track is used as a return line for the current. In these railways the so-called
electric bond between the subsequent rails consists in a separate conductor joining
the ends of the rails. The conductor is usually carried around the fish-plate, but
it has been suggested to make it considerably shorter and to better secure it against
injuries and theft by placing it between the web of the rails and the outer fish-
plate. In this case the fish-plate, to make room for the reception of the conductor,
has an outwardly curved cross section, so that it is no longer capable to fulfil
its principal purpose, which consists in transferring the load from the end of one
rail to the end of the other, for the evident reason that it is bent down by vertical
stress.
According to the present invention the afore described advantageous position
of the conductor may be realized without weakening the mechanical rail joint,
which in the contrary is strengthened and otherwise improved. To attain this
object the outer fish-plate is replaced by an auxiliary rail fixed on the sleepers
which are next to the rail joint as described in Letters Patent No. 18524 dated
Nov. 17, 1890, and No. 9639, dated May 20, 1892. The cavity between heads,
webs and feet of the rails presents a sufficient space for the conductor even in the
case where this cavity is partly filled up by an intermediate fish-plate, which is
in contact with the head and foot of the track rail ends as well as of the auxiliary
rail.
1900
(Signed) JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.
I, MAX BARSCHALL, of 45, Wilhelmstrasse, Berlin, in the Empire of Germany,
Merchant, 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 invention relates to rail joints for that kind of electric railways in which the
track is used as a return line for the current. In these railways the so-called

page_text: electric bond between the subsequent rails consists in a separate conductor joining
the ends of the rails. The conductor is usually carried around the fish-plate, but
it has been suggested to make it considerably shorter and to better secure it against
injuries and theft by placing it between the web of the rails and the outer fish-
plate. In this case the fish-plate, to make room for the reception of the conductor,
has an outwardly curved cross section, so that it is no longer capable to fulfil
its principal purpose, which consists in transferring the load from one end of the
rail to the end of the other, for the evident reason that it is bent down by vertical
stress.
According to the present invention the afore described advantageous position
of the conductor may be realized without weakening the mechanical rail joint,
which in the contrary is strengthened and otherwise improved. To attain this
object the outer fish-plate is replaced by an auxiliary rail fixed on the sleepers
which are next to the rail joint as described in Letters Patents No. 18524, dated
Nov. 17, 1890, and No. 9639, dated May 20, 1892. The cavity between heads,
webs and feet of the rails presents a sufficient space for the conductor even in the
case where this cavity is partly filled up by an intermediate fish-plate, which is
in contact with the head and foot of the track rail ends as well as of the auxiliary
1ail.
In the annexed drawing, which represents an example of such a rail joint,
Fig. 1 is a cross-section of the rail joint.
Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the joint, the section being taken along the
Jine 22 in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1.
In the example of such a rail joint shown in the drawing the ends of the track
rails a at one side and the auxiliary rail at the other side include a space c
which is open at both ends and filled up by the intermediate fish-plate d only to
such an extent that the electric conductor e may be placed in the same space.
Each end of this conductor is shown as being incorporated into the web of the track
rail end at a point between the holes fo and f¹ for the screw-bolts.
Where it is admissible to take less care as to preserving the resistance of the
track rail end, it will be preferable to place the connection between each end of the
conductor and the rail web between the hole fo and the extreme end of the rail.
To secure a sufficient space for a conductor of a large cross section without
weakening the cross section of the intermediate fish-plated, the said conductor e
may be bifurcated, one branch being placed in the space between the intermediate
fish-plated and the auxiliary rail band the other branch between the intermediate
fish-plate and the track rails as shown. In this case the outer branch is carried
through holes in the web of the intermediate fish-plate.
said
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
my
I claim is;
1. In an electric railway track having auxiliary rails substituted for the outer
fish-plates, a conductor connecting both jointed track rails and placed in the space
between the track rails and the auxiliary rail, essentially as described.
2. In the arrangement claimed in Claim 1, the addition of an intermediate fish-
plate also placed in the space between the track rails and the auxiliary rail and
shaped so as not to interfere with the conductor, essentially as described.
3. The general arrangement of a rail joint for electric railway tracks as shown.
Dated this 16th day of September 1898.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.