IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING ELECTRICAL TRACTION TO PLEASURE SPORTING AND BUSINESS PURPOSES
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 19th June, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 24th Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 21st Dec.. 1888
and Business Purposes.
:
I, CHARLES BARNARD BURDON 98 Great Brook Street Birmingham in the
County of Warwick Electrical Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this
invention IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING ELECTRICAL TRACTION TO PLEASURE SPORTING
AND BUSINESS PURPOSES to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object the propulsion of Horses of Wood metal or
other material, Cars or Vehicles of any shape, also of Wood Metal or other
material, mainly for purposes of amusement by means of electricity running free
on tracks of any size shape or configuration, such Horses, Cars or Vehicles, to be
steered in any direction as required. In carrying my invention into practice I cause
to be constructed a wooden or other track or course of suitable width length and
form. On the surface of this track or course I cause to be laid strips of metal
preferably copper of suitable width to convey the Electric current. I leave sufficient
space between each strip to prevent what is known as short circuiting and 1 connect
each strip alternately with the positive and negative poles of a dynamo machine.
The Horses Cars or Vehicles run over this track or course on wheels geared to an
Electro Motor carried in or upon such Horses Cars or Vehicles. The Electric current
is conveyed along the strips of Metal from the Dynamo to the Motor preferably by
wire Brushes. By varying the distance of these brushes apart it becomes more or
less difficult for the rider or passenger to steer so as to keep the Horse Car or Vehicle
on opposite strips at one and the same time I control the speed of the said Horses
Cars or Vehicles by the insertion of variable resistances.
Dated this Sixteenth day of June 1888.
CHARLES BARNARD BURDON.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Applying Electrical Traction to Pleasure, Sporting
and Business Purposes.
I, CHARLES BARNARD BURDON, of 98 Great Brook Street, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
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 has for its object the electro-propulsion in the improved manner
hereinafter described of horse or animal figures and vehicles of all kinds (hereinafter
respectively referred to under the terms "horse" and "vehicle") intended to be
ridden on or in and steered by one or more persons and running freely on tracks
'specially prepared therefor as hereinafter described mainly for purposes of amusement
but also for other purposes.
The horses and vehicles may be made, of wood, metal or other suitable material and
of any required shape and size, the horses being preferably constructed to carry one
person and the vehicles being constructed to carry one or more persons.
In carrying the Invention into practice, I construct a suitable course on which the
horses or vehicles or both are to run in such a manner as that they can be steered
thereon at the riders' pleasure, the horses and vehicles having no mechanical
attachment to the track and resting thereon by gravity alone.
The course may be made of any desired width and length and of any desired
conformation as regards its plan and elevation, for example it may be made straight,
oblong or circular in plan, and horizontal or of any desired curvilinear form (as in a
switchback railroad) in elevation. It may be constructed of wood or of any other
suitable material, covered with wood or other good non-conductor of electricity;
On and practically flush with the non-conducting flooring and throughont the length
of the course I secure in any suitable manner any convenient even number of strips
of metal of suitable width in parallel series, the alternate strips say the first, third
and other odd numbers being in electrical connection with one (say the negative)
pole of a dynamo electric machine or other suitable source of electric action, and the
other alternate strips, the second, fourth and other even numbers being in similar
connection with the positive pole of the dynamo machine, sufficient space being left
between the adjacent strips to prevent short-circuiting.
The horses and vehicles are adapted to carry within or upon them at any suitable
part an electro-motor of any suitable construction and are adapted to rest on and to
run over the course by being fitted in any suitable manner with front driving wheels
and with a rear travelling and steering wheel, the axle of the former of which is
geared by a chain and chain wheels on the said axle and shaft or spindle of the motor
with the latter and is caused to be revolved thereby when effecting the desired
propulsion of the horse or vehicle, and the latter of which wheels is under the control
of the rider and serves for the purpose of steering the horse or vehicle over the track
as desired. The electro-motor carried by the horse or vehicle is operated by being

page_text: placed in electrical connnection with the dynamo or other source of electric action by
adjustable wire brushes also carried by the horse or vehicle and which are caused by
the weight of the horse or vehicle and of the rider thereof to be borne more or less
into contact with adjacent conducting strips of the course hereinbefore referred to,
thus completing the circuit from the one pole to the other of the dynamo electric
machine through the said adjacent conducting strips and the electro-motor and
connected brushes resting on such conducting strips.
The brushes are adjustably applied on a supporting spindle carried by the horse or
vehicle so that the distance between them may be varied, with the object and effect of.
rendering it more or less difficult for the rider to steer so as to keep the brushes
respectively on a positive and on a negative strip without which his progress is
arrested, and if, in an electrical race over the course, the riders are more or less
successful their progress will also vary accordingly.
When the brushes are at the proper distance apart they will press respectively on
the centres of adjacent positive and negative conducting strips of the course, when
the aforesaid circuit will be complete. If, however, they are placed nearer together,
then, while one brush is pressing on the one strip, the other brush will be over the
space between such adjacent strips, and so the motor will receive no current, and the
rider will require to alight to reset his horse or vehicle on the course; which, if other
riders are proceeding aright will be a source of satisfaction to them and of amusement
to the bystanders. It will consequently be a tax on the rider's skill so to steer the
horse or vehicle as to cause the brushes to keep in contact with adjacent oppositely
electrified strips at the same time.
In order to control the speed of the horse or vehicle I cause the current previously
to entering the said motor to pass through a rheostat or resistance coil in which the
resistance can be varied by moving an arm over contact pieces as distinguished from
the method of so doing by inserting plugs. This arm I put in mechanical connection
with the saddle of the horse or floor of the vehicle by suitable springs so that when
any person sits on the said saddle or enters the said vehicle the said arm moves more
or less according to the weight of the person and by so proportionately varying the
resistance makes the current received by the electro-motor proportional to the weight
being carried. According to another modification I cause this arm to be moved by a
centrifugal governor (similar in principle of construction to that employed on a
steam-engine), which can be worked by hand or can be connected to the driving
wheels of the horse or vehicle so that it shall automatically control the speed thereof
by varying the supply of electricity.
The horse or vehicle is also fitted in a suitable manner with a switch by which the
electric circuit may be completed (supposing the brushes to be on adjacent conducting
strips) and broken by the riders so that the horse or vehicle can be started and
stopped at the will of the riders.
The horse or vehicle is also provided with suitable means of steering it in any
direction as required. This is preferably affected in the case of a horse by placing
the reins and in the case of a vehicle by placing other holding parts in connection
with the rear or steering wheel by means of a flexible cord guided by conveniently
arranged pulleys and connected to a tiller or cross piece on a spindle supported by
cross bars (carried by the horse or vehicle) and supporting the steering wheel, the
movements of which and consequent direction of motion of the horse or vehicle are
controlled accordingly as the reins or said holding parts are pulled the one way or
the other.
Should it be desired to keep the horses or vehicles on the course with the brushes
in constant contact with the said conducting strips, then suitable rails may also be
laid on or let into the course and the travelling wheels of the horses or vehicles may
be flanged or otherwise constructed so as to keep in engagement therewith, or raised
rails may be erected along the course in such a manner as to come say between the
legs of the horse longitudinally of and immediately under the body at which parts
guiding wheels may be applied so as to engage with the said rails and in such a
modification of the Invention elevated electric conductors may also be used.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is―
°
1. The propulsion of "horses "intended to be ridden on, by means of an electro-
motor carried thereby and operated by an electric current conducted along the
courses or tracks along which such horses run, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
*
2. The propulsion of "horses" and "vehicles" intended to be ridden on and
steered by the rider or riders by means of an electro-motor carried thereby and
operated by an electric current conducted along courses or tracks of the nature
herein before indicated, along which such horses or vehicles run and on which they
can freely move from side to side at the riders pleasure in one case, and on fixed
tracks or with flanged wheels in another case, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
3. The controlling and regulating of the current in the electro-motor carried by
the horse or vehicle in the manner hereinbefore described so that the current is
caused to be proportional to the weight to be carried substantially as herein before
described.
Dated this 24th day of October 1888.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.