Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Sept., 1886.
Complete Left, 10th June, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 12th July, 1887.
I HENRY BARCROFT of The Glen Newry in the County of Armagh in Ireland,
Director of the Bessbrook and Newry Tramway Company do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The object of my invention is to provide a collector or brush that will maintain a
constant contact with the electrical conductor and will pass obstructions or inequalities
without injury or interruption of the current.
Instead of employing springs as heretofore practised I attach an arm of metal by
a hinge or free joint to the carriage by means of a bracket or other convenient
connection. The arm rests on the charged rail and maintains its contact therewith
longitudinally by its own weight, the range of its motion on the hinge or joint being
regulated by stops or pins.
And in order to obviate the effect of any ice, dirt or other obstruction collected on
the rail and disturbing the contact of the collector or brush with it transversely I
arrange the arm by means of a second hinge or joint or of a universal joint or other
appropriate contrivance so as to cant or dip at one side thereby forming an angle with
and touching one of the edges of the charged rail.
D1 L
out
HYNDMAN & DICKSON,
Agents for Applicant.

page_text: 1 HENRY BARCROFT of The Glen, Newry in the County of Armagh in Ireland,
Director of the Bessbrook and Newry Tramway Company do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to provide a collector or brush that will maintain a
constant contact with the electrical conductor and will pass obstructions, unevenness
or inequalities upon or in the rails without injury to itself and without disturbing or
interrupting the Electrical Current.
For this purpose, instead of employing springs as heretofore practised, I attach an
arm of metal by a hinge or free joint to the carriage by means of a bracket or other
convenient connection. The Arm rests on the charged rail and, by its own weight,
maintains its contact therewith longitudinally, the range of its motion on the hinge or
joint being regulated by stops or pins or by a chain.
And in order to obviate the effect of any ice, dirt or other obstruction collected or
deposited upon the rail and having a tendency to disturb or interrupt the contact of
the collector or brush with it transversely, I arrange the arm, under such exceptional
circumstances, by means of a second hinge or joint or of an universal joint or other
appropriate contrivance, so as to cant or dip at one side, thereby forming an angle
with and touching one of the edges of the charged rail.
I construct the collector or brush which I have described preferably of steel of a
high degree of conductivity and, where it is to be used under the conductor, I extend
the arm and furnish it with a counterpoise for the purpose of maintaining the contact
between them.
The hinge or joint which I prefer is formed by a round pin or bolt of steel, copper
or other conducting material fixed in the arm and moving in an eye or socket at the
end of the bracket.
To the end of this pin or bolt, the cable or wire carrying the current is, by
preference, attached-the least resistance being by this means opposed to the passage of
the current and the cable or wire thus assisting the contact pressure of the arm upon
the conductor.
And in order that the principle of action of my said invention may be more fully
understood I shall now proceed to refer to the Sheet of drawings hereunto annexed
the same letters of reference indicating the same or corresponding parts throughout
all the figures but I desire to explain that such drawings are only illustrative of such
principle, inasmuch as the form of the collector must vary according to the position
of the conductor relatively to the locomotive and also according to the form of the
conductor.

page_text: Fig. I represents two arms of metal jointed or hinged by pins or bolts upon a
bracket attached to the frame of a tram carriage and
Fig. II represents a single arm of metal similarly provided.
A, A are the collectors or brushes consisting of arms of metal; B, B are pins or
bolts and sockets by which such collectors or brushes, A, A are jointed or hinged to a
bracket, C, attached by D to the frame of a tram carriage; E is a counterpoise upon
an extended part of the arm A, and F is the charged rail or conductor.
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. The use in Electrical locomotives of adjustable collectors or brushes constructed
and employed substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described
and shewn in the drawings hereunto annexed.
2. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting my improved self
adjusting Electrical collector or brush constructed and employed substantially in the
manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described and set forth and illustrated in
the drawings hereunto annexed.
HYNDMAN & DICKSON,
6, Waring Street, Belfast,
Agents for Applicant.