MENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS." IMPROV
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Percy Ruskin Allen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th May 1881.
PERCY RUSKIN ALLEN, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey.
MENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS."
IMPROVE-
This Invention has for object improvements in couplings for electrical conductors.
To connect or couple the wires or cables used as conductors of electricity for
intercommunication or electric illumination or other purposes in railway trains I
adapt existing air, vacuum, hydraulic, or other brake couplings on railway trains
to serve as or to carry the contact points or terminals of the electrical conductor
attached to each carriage, the contact being made by the bodies of the couplings
themselves, or by plungers, fingers, springs, or other devices, either in electrical
connection with or insulators from the coupling. In order that the contacts may
be kept constantly clean and free from dirt I provide in connection with the contact
pieces cleaning or scouring devices, so arranged as to be brought into operation by
the act of coupling. Various substances may be used in carrying out this part of
my Invention, such as, for examples, emery composition or bath brick, or other
grinding, cutting, or cleaning material or surface.
In one form of my apparatus as combined with a Westinghouse air brake coupling
I attach to or form on one or both halves of the coupling a box or case, in which is
a cylinder containing a contact plunger, which has a slight end wise motion, and is
pressed outwards by a spring. Near and parallel to the abovementioned cylinder
is a cylinder which presents a grinding, cutting, or cleaning surface, such as above
referred to, over which the opposite contact plunger grinds or scrapes every time
the coupling is connected or disconnected, whereby the ends or faces of the contact
pieces are kept continually clean, so as to offer no surface electrical resistance. The
conductors or cables may be laid or carried along the hose pipes, and are in electrical
connection with the plungers in the boxes or cases.
When my Invention is used in connection with a Clayton coupling the details
of its arrangement must be slightly modified, so that the grinding, scraping, or

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page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Percy Ruskin Allen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th November 1881.
PERCY RUSKIN ALLEN, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey. " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COUPLINGS FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS."
This Invention has for object improvements in couplings for electrical conductors.
To connect or couple the wires or cables used as conductors of electricity for inter-
communication or electrical illumination or other purposes in railway trains I
adapt existing air, vacuum, hydraulic, or other brake couplings on railway trains
to serve as or to carry the contact points or terminals of the electrical conductor
attached to each carriage, the contact being made by the bodies of the couplings
themselves, or by plungers, fingers, springs, or other devices, either in electrical
connection with or insulated from the coupling. In order that the contacts may
be kept constantly clean and free from dirt I provide in connection with the contact
pieces cleaning or scouring devices so arranged as to be brought into operation by
the act of coupling. Various substances may be used in carrying out this part of
my Invention, such as, for examples, emery composition or bath brick, or other
grinding, cutting, or cleaning material or surface.
In one form of my apparatus as combined to a Westinghouse air brake coupling
I attach to or form on one or both halves of the coupling a box or case, in which
is a cylinder containing a contact plunger, which has a slight end wise motion, and
is pressed outwards by a spring. Near and parallel to the above mentioned cylinder
is a cylinder which presents a grinding, cutting, or cleaning surface, such as above
referred to, over which the opposite contact plunger grinds or scrapes every time
the coupling is connected or disconnected, whereby the ends or faces of the contact
pieces are kept continually clean, so as to offer no surface electrical resistance. The
conductors or cables may be laid or carried along the hose pipes, and are in
electrical connection with the plungers in the boxes or cases.
When my Invention is used in connection with a Clayton coupling, the details
of its arrangement must be slightly modified, so that the grinding, scraping, or
cutting action may take place during the oscillatory or vibratory action that
ensues during the operation of connecting and disconnecting the coupling.
It will be evident that my Invention may be variously modified according to
the forms of the couplings, such as those used in the Smith, Eames, and other
brakes, and the circumstances under which it is to be employed. When the
current traverses the body of the coupling and the contact is made between the
two parts thereof I provide for the cleaning of the surfaces by cylinders, discs, or
pieces of grinding or cleaning material attached to or let into the body of the
coupling in any suitable and convenient positions.
In cases where a return wire is employed and there is only one hose pipe at each
end of the carriage I duplicate my arrangement and employ two sets of contact
apparatus on each coupling. I also when required arrange the hooks upon which
the couplings are suspended at the end of the train, or at the end of the carriage
when it is detached from the train, so that the two conductors when two are
employed are short circuited, or the single conductor when one only is used is
connected to the earth wire.
According to another arrangement I connect electrical conductors by a hook
coupling. This coupling has male and female parts; the male part consists of a
tube containing a plunger forced outwards by a spring, and has two trunnions
which lie in two hooks in the female part, and are forced into intimate contact
with the hooks by the pressure of the spring against the plunger which abuts into

page_text: trains or elsewhere.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figs. 1 and 2 are elevation and plan respectively of an electrical connection with
the Westinghouse brake coupling, and Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views to a larger
scale of the same. In this arrangement the electrical contact is made by a pair of
plungers B, B, which are in connection with the conductors C, C, extending along
the train, and which when the brake coupling are locked in place the plungers are
pressed hard together by means of spiral springs D. With each half of the brake
coupling there is one of these plungers and also a piece of cleaning or scouring
material A. In the act of locking the brake coupling together each half turns a
portion of a revolution on the other as is well understood, and the plunger B, B,
before coming into contact are thus caused to pass over the cleaning or scouring
material A, A, and thus the dirt, tarnish, oxide, etc., are removed and a good
electrical connection ensured. The cleaning or scouring material may be of any
desired nature, such as a mixture of emery and india rubber, pumice stone, emery,
Where
glass, or sand paper, or may be a roughened metallic file-like surface.
necessary a fibrous substance or form of brush may also be used in connection
with the cleaning material, so that after the plunger has passed over the cleaning
material it will come in. contact with the fibre or brush and have any loose particles
of dirt or metallic dust removed, but with ordinary currents of electricity the
passage over the cleaning material will be enough. The contact pieces and cleaning
surfaces may be disposed in various ways either in the interior or exterior of the
brake coupling. The brake couplings may be fitted with either one or more
electrical connections of this kind, so that contact between portions of either one or
more electrical conductors on a train may be made in this manner.
In Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, the coupling is shewn arranged for one conductor only, but
in Figs. 5 and 6 an arrangement for two contacts B and B is shewn. In this case
the contact pieces in each half of the coupling are placed side by side but insulated
from one another, and are pressed outwards by a spring or springs, and before
coming into contact pass over the cleaning or scouring material or surface in the
same manner as in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4. In the arrangement, Figs. 7 and 8, the
coupling is of the form used with Smith's vacuum brake. In this arrangement, as
in the Westinghouse, each half of the brake coupling is turned a portion of a
revolution on the other in the act of locking, but in some arrangements of brake
couplings the parts do not turn on one another, but come together face to face; the
Clayton vacuum brake coupling used in the arrangement shown in Figs. 9, 10, and 11,
and again in Figs. 12, 13, & 14 is an example of such. In Figs. 9, 10, and 11, the
contact pieces are shown at the ends of curved springs E, E, which are fixed to but
insulated from the couplings, and which are in connection with the conductors C, C,
extending along the carriages. The outer extremities of these springs are also
provided with pieces of cleaning material A, A, and in the act of putting the
coupling together the contact pieces B, B, are caused to pass over the cleaning or
scouring material or surface before meeting, the spring having sufficient elasticity
to ensure a good contact. Another arrangement with, as already stated, the same
form of coupling is shown in Figs. 12, 13, and 14. In this case the contact pieces B, B,
are placed at the ends of small levers F, F, which turn on studs or pins G, G, in
the interior of the coupling; the shorter ends of these levers are enlarged and
rounded, and from spiral spring E, E, attached to the longer ends derive a tendency
to outward movement. These springs are placed diagonally, so that besides pulling
the longer arms of the levers backwards they also tend to draw them sideways, so
that the contact pieces B, B, press against the cleaning or scouring material or
surface and form a good contact when opposite one another.
When the couplings
are apart the pull of the spring causes the rounded ends of the levers to project

page_text: somewhat forward, but when the couplings are put together the rounded ends come
in contact, which causes the longer arms of the levers to move across the cleaning
or scouring material or surface A, A, into contact with one another. Other
arrangements may be employed so long as there be used a separate contact piece in
connection with brake couplings of railway trains for forming electrical connections
between different portions of the train, these contact pieces being arranged in
connection with cleaning or scouring material or surfaces, so that in the act of
making the brake connection the contact pieces are first cleaned, then brought into
and coupled in electrical connection. This electrical connection may be used in
electrical conductors for electric lighting, electrical intercommunication in trains,
for electrically actuating air vacuum, hydraulic or other brakes, and for other purposes
where it may be desired to form an electrical connection between different portions
of the train. Figs. 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 show an arrangement of automatic coupling
for joining cables and conductors together, and to terminals. The coupling is made in
two portions; the male part consists of a cylinder H which has two studs or
trunnions I, I, formed on it near the end; a plunger K with a rounded end slides
in the interior of this cylinder, and is pressed outwards by a spiral spring L acting
on its base; the conductor or cable C is soldered or otherwise attached to the other
end of the cylinder. The other conductor to be joined is soldered into a similar
cylinder H, which instead of trunnions has two hooks M, M, that project and
embrace the trunnions I, I, of the male portion when the couplings are placed
together. The end of the female portion is slightly hollowed at N to receive the
end of the plunger K. Figs. 19, 20, and 21 show this form of coupling applied for
joining cables; and Figs. 17 and 18 shew it arranged as a terminal in a lamp or
machine, but the action is substantially the same. To form the connection the
male portion of the coupling is pressed at an angle against the female portion in
the position shown in the dotted line x, x, in Fig. 20, so that the plunger presses
against the recess at the end of the female portion and compresses the spring
sufficiently to permit the trunnions to pass under the ends of the hooks. If the
couplings are then released the spring expands and forces the trunnions against the
books. To disconnect the two parts of the coupling the action is reversed.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which it is to be or may be performed, I would have it understood that what I
consider to be novel and original and therefore claim as secured to me under the
Letters Patent hereinbefore in part recited is,―
1. Coupling or holding together by a brake coupling devices for establishing
electrical contact or connection between cables or electrical conductors, the arrange-
ment being such that the electrical contact or connection is established in the act
of making the brake connection or securing together the parts of the brake coupling,
substantially as described.
2. In a coupling such that in the act of making a brake connection or securing
together the parts of the coupling electrical contact or connection is established
between cables or electrical conductors, the application and use of cleaning devices
or surfaces for cleaning or scouring the electrical contact making surfaces so
arranged in combination with the coupling as to be brought into operation in and
by the act of making or unmaking the brake connection, or connecting or discon-
necting the parts of the coupling, substantially as described.
3. The combined arrangement of coupling with contact plungers and cleaning or
scouring surfaces, substantially as described, with reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4
of the Drawings.
4. The combined arrangement of coupling with duplicate sets of contact plungers
and cleaning or scouring surfaces, substantially as described, with reference to
Figs. 5 and 6, of the Drawings.
5. The combined arrangement of coupling with contact springs and cleaning or
scouring surfaces, substantially as described, with reference to Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10,
& 11 of the Drawings.
6. The combined arrangement of coupling with contact levers or fingers an I

page_text: cleaning or scouring surfaces, substantially as described, with reference to Figs. 12,
13 and 14, of the Drawings.
7. The use for coupling electrical cables or conductors to one another, of a
coupling formed of male and female parts, substantially as described with reference
to Fig. 19, 20, and 21, of the Drawings.
8. The use for coupling electrical cables or conductors to terminals, of a coupling
formed of male and female parts, substantially as described, with reference to
Figs. 17 and 18 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Percy Ruskin Allen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
PERCY RUSKIN ALLEN. (L.S.)