Improvements in or connected with the Brush Contacts of Electric Railways.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 25th Jan., 1890-Accepted, 1st Mar., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with the Brush Contacts of Electric
Railways.
I, GEORGE EDWARD VAUGHAN, of No. 57 Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, which has
been communicated to me from abroad by Samuel Trott, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to
be as follows:-
The invention relates to improvements in or connected with the brush contacts
of electric railways and has for its objects to more effectually insulate the conductors
connected with the contact brushes, to protect them from injury and to provide an
efficient carrier for the conductors and contact brushes.
For this purpose, I encase each of the conductors in insulating material and at the
point where the brush is attached to its holder, I cause the insulating material to
spread out into the form of a hood in order to protect the brush from falling
moisture, the brush being arranged vertically to make contact with the upper surface
of the conducting rail.
The two insulated conductors I enclose within a carrier which travels in the
opening or slot of the conduit and I thus protect them from injury by contact
with the conduit or any obstruction or foreign matter which may have collected in
such opening or slot.
The carrier, is formed of two comparatively thin plates which clamp the insulated
conductors between them, such plates receiving between them at each end thereof
and being screwed to a thick vertical plate which acts as a plough or clearer and these
several plates are securely connected together by means of two solid horizontal
plates disposed at each side of the upper part of the carrier and firmly connected.
by means of bolts passing therethrough and through the end plates.
The carrier is supported from the car by means of a swivel at each end thereof
consisting of a frame or box flexibly connected by its upper end with the car and
provided at its lower end with a hole or opening to receive a spindle rising
vertically from the carrier and formed at its upper end with a screw thread to
receive a nut which acts to compress a spring coiled around the spindle within
the frame or box and taking an abutment against the bottom thereof, a suitable
cross head or follower being interposed between the nut and the spring to steady
and guide the upper part of the spindle.
This device: constitutes an elastic connection between the car and the carrier and
enables the brushes to be readily adjusted in relation to the conducting rails.
In order to obviate the difficulty of maintaining the contact of the brushes with
the conducting rails at crossings, I employ two or more carriers and corresponding
parts and I connect such carriers at their ends by flexible joints in order to enable
them readily to follow the undulations and curvature of the conducting rails.
When employing my invention in connection with an electric railway wherein only
one conducting rail and co-acting contact brush are employed and the circuit is
completed through the conduit, the contact brush will naturally travel beneath
the slot or opening of the conduit and therefore the simple hood hereinbefore
described would direct falling moisture upon the conducting rail.
In order to obviate this defect I form those sides of the hood which cross the
conducting rail, with lipped edges, gutters or deflectors by which means the falling
moisture will be deposited upon each side of and clear of the conducting rail.
Dated this 29th day of April 1889.
VAUGHAN & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with the Brush Contacts of Electric
Railways.
I, GEORGE EDWARD VAUGHAN, of No. 57, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, which has
been communicated to me from abroad by Samuel Trott, of Halifax, Nova Scotia,
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 improvements in or connected with the brush contacts of
electric railways, and has for its objects to more effectually insulate the conductors
connected with the contact brushes, to protect them from injury by abrasion, to
protect them from falling moisture, and to provide an efficient carrier for the
conductors and contact brushes.
For this purpose, I encase each of the conductors in insulating material, and at the
point where the brush is attached to its holder, I cause the insulating material to
spread out into the form of a hood in order to protect the brush from falling moisture,
the brush being arranged vertically to make contact with the upper surface of the
conducting rail.
The two insulated conductors I enclose within a carrier which travels in the
opening or slot of the conduit, and I thus protect them from injury by contact with
the conduit or any obstruction or foreign matter which may have collected in such
opening or slot.
The carrier is formed of two comparatively thin plates which clamp the insulated
conductors between them, such plates receiving between them, at each end thereof,
and being screwed to a thick vertical plate which acts as a plough or clearer, and
these several plates are securely connected together by means of two solid horizontal
plates, disposed at each side of the upper part of the carrier, and firmly connected by.
means of bolts passing therethrough and through the end plates.
The carrier is supported from the car by means of a spring device at each end
thereof consisting of a frame or box flexibly connected by its upper end with the car
and provided at its lower end with a hole or opening to receive a spindle rising
vertically from the carrier and formed at its upper end with a screw thread to receive
a nut which acts to compress a spring coiled around the spindle within the frame or
box and taking an abutment against the bottom thereof, a suitable cross head or
follower being interposed between the nut and the spring to steady and guide the
upper part of the spindle.
This device constitutes an elastic connection between the car and the carrier and
enables the brushes to be readily adjusted in relation to the conducting rails.
:
In order to obviate the difficulty of maintaining the contact of the brushes with the
conducting rails at crossings, I employ two or more carriers and corresponding parts,
and I connect such carriers at their heads by flexible joints in order to enable them
readily to follow the undulations and curvature of the conducting rails.
1 sometimes form those sides of the hood which cross the conducting rail with
lipped edges, gutters or deflectors by which means the falling moisture will be
deposited upon each side of, and clear of the conducting rail.
And in order that the said invention may be more clearly understood, and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the accompanying drawings, more fully
to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1. is a transverse section of the conduit of an electric railway provided with
two conducting rails and having applied thereto two contact brushes and connected
parts constructed and arranged according to this invention.
Figure 2. is a side view of the brushes and their carrier separately.

page_text: Figure 4. is a transverse section illustrating the application of the invention to a
single rail elevated railway or other similar structure, and
Figure 5. is a side view of the protecting hood for the contact brush, the edges of
the hood being shown lipped.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.
a. represents the conduit of an electric ralway, b. represents the insulators for
supporting the conducting rails, and c. represents the conducting rails all of which
parts form the subject of prior Letters Patent granted to me, dated 4th day of
May 1888, No. 6680.
According to the present invention, each of the conducting wires d. of the con-
ductors d* is encased in insulating material d and at the point where the brush d³
is attached to its holder, the insulating material d' is spread out into the form of a
hood din order to protect the brush d³ from falling moisture, each brush being
arranged vertically beneath its hood d² to make contact with the upper surface of the
corresponding conducting rail c.
>
The two insulated conductors d* are enclosed within a carrier e* which travels in
the opening or slot a¹ of the conduit a. and the insulated covering d' of the con-
ducting wires d is thus protected from injury by contact with the conduit a. or any
obstruction or foreign matter which may have collected in such opening or slot a¹.
The carrier e* is formed of two comparatively thin metal plates e. which clamp
the insulated conductors d* between thein and protect them from abrasion by contact
with the conduit and between such plates e. at each end thereof, are placed thick
vertical plates e¹ which act as ploughs or clearers as is well understood and these
several plates e. e¹ are securely connected together by means of two solid horizontal
plates e disposed one at each side of the upper part of the carrier e* and firmly
connected together by means of bolts e³ passing therethrough, and through the end.
plates e'.
The carrier e* is supported from the car by means of a spring device f* at cach
end thereof, and consisting of a frame or box f flexibly connected at its upper end
with the car by means of an eye f1 and provided at its lower end with a hole or
opening f² to receive a spindle e rising vertically from the carrier e* and formed
at its upper end with a screw thread to receive a nut f³ which acts to compress a
spring within the frame or box and takes an abutment against the bottom
thereof, a suitable crosshead or follower guided by the frame f and formed with
a hole for the spindle e* to pass through being interposed between the nut f³ and the
spring to steady and guide the spindle e¹.
The device f✶ constitutes an elastic connection between the car and the carrier e*
and enables the brushes d³ to be readily adjusted in relation to the conducting
rails c.
In order to obviate the difficulty hitherto experienced in maintaining the contact
of the brushes d³ with the conducting rails c. at crossings, two or more carriers e*
and corresponding parts are employed and such carriers e* are connected together
at their ends by means of flexible joints e and they are thus enabled readily to follow
the undulations and curvature of the conducting rails c.
When employing this invention in connection with an electric railway wherein only
one conducting rail c. and co-acting contact brush d³ are employed as represented
at Figure 4, the circuit is completed through the conduit or otherwise in any known
and convenient manner. The contact brush d³ which will naturally travel beneath
the slot or opening a¹ of the conduit a. and the simple hood d² hereinbefore described
would direct falling moisture upon the conducting rail c. and, when desired, in order
to obviate this defect, those sides of the hood d³ which are at right angles to the
conducting rail c. are formed with lipped edges, gutters, or deflectors d³, by which
means the falling moisture will be deposited upon each side of, and clear of the
conducting rail c.
In this Figure, the conduit a. consists of a casing for the protection of the
rail,

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
'I claim is :-
1. In or in connection with the brush contact of an electric railway, covering the
conducting wires d. with insulating material d' spread out over the brushes d³ in
order to form a hood d² for their protection, substantially as herein shown and
described.
2. In or in connection with the brush contact of an electric railway, the employment
of a carrier e* consisting of two thin side plates e. clamping the conductors d*, two
vertical end plates e¹ fitting between the same and two horizontal plates e² bolted
together and to the other parts, such carrier e* being supported by the car, all in
manner substantially as herein shown and described and for the purpose stated.
3. In or in connection with the brush contact of an electric railway, the employment
of a carrier e* for the conductors d* or brushes d³, such carrier e enclosing and
protecting the conductors d* and travelling in the opening or slot al of the conduit a,
and being connected with the car by means of several spring devices f* each con-
sisting of a box or frame f. hinged to the car and embracing a spindle e rising from
the carrier e* such spindle being encircled by a coiled spring and steadied by a
crosshead and threaded to receive and adjusting nut fall in manner substantially
as herein shown and described, and for the purpose stated.
Dated this 25th day of January 1890.
VAUGHAN & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.