Improved Means for Lighting Railway Cars by Electricity.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Lighting Railway Cars by Electricity.
I, JOHANNES KÖRNER, of 48, Neue Mainzerstrasse, Frankfort-on-the-Main, in
the Empire of Germany, Engineer and Electrician, 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 :-
My invention relates to improved means for lighting railway cars by electricity
and it consists, broadly, in providing each car with a dynamo electric machine or
generator of its own and a working circuit into which an electrical lamp or lamps
are connected. The dynamo electric machine or generator in each car is driven by
compressed air, the said air being supplied from an air pump, preferably mounted
on the locomotive and driven by the engine. From the said air pump, a main
pipe, fitted with suitable valves, feeds the compressed air to a motor of any suitable
[construction, and said motor, being worked by the compressed air, imparts motion
to the dynamo electric machine or generator.
From the main air conduit which is coupled between every two adjacent cars of
a railway train by a flexible joint, the current of compressed air is fed to the motor
of each car by means of two separate pipes, one pipe leading directly to the motor
and the other into a reservoir, where compressed air is stored in a sufficient
quantity to supply and drive the motor at times when the train is stopping or
running slowly and no or not sufficient compressed air is supplied from the air pump
through the direct conduit.
Many and expensive trials have been made before to effect the lighting of
railway cars by electric lamps, but all of these trials have been abandoned because
they proved impracticable or too expensive. By the improved means of my
invention, railway cars may be supplied with electric light at a moderate cost,
considerably cheaper than the usual gas lamps employed for lighting railway cars.
In the accompanying.drawings-
Figure 1 is a general plan of the improved means for electrically lighting
railway cars;
Figures 2 and 3 are detailed sectional views of the valves placed between the
compressed air reservoir and the main pipe and between the said reservoir and the
motor.
A, signifies an air pump or air compressing apparatus of any known construction;
the said pump is suitably mounted on the locomotive and its piston connected to
the piston rod of the cylinder B of the locomotive. Instead of working said air
compressor by the engine of the locomotive, a separate motor might be employed
and in this case the air compressor A could be carried by any other car instead of
by the locomotive.
Each car of the train to be electrically lighted has mounted at a suitable place,
for instance below the seats or in a closed chamber, a dynamo electric machine or
generator D of suitable size and a motor C to drive the same, said motor being
worked by the compressed air supplied from the compressor A. This supply of
air is effected by a main conduit E connected by flexible joints between every two
cars and provided with shut off valves F; the pressure of air for driving the
motors is preferably about 10 atmospheres.
From the said main conduit E, the compressed air is supplied to the motor C by
means of two branch pipes K and H, the pipe K leading directly to the motor C
and pipe H leading into a reservoir G, which may be conveniently arranged below
the bottom of the car, as is usual with the gas lighting apparatus generally
employed for lighting railway cars. The said reservoirs, being tested to a pressure
of 12 atmospheres, may serve as compressed air reservoirs without necessitating

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any alteration.
The said reservoir G serves to store a certain quantity of
compressed air and supply the same to the motor C at any time, when the pressure
within the supply pipe K should fall below a certain pressure.
Between the main conduit E and reservoir G, a valve L is placed in the
connecting pipe H. Said valve L, as shown in Figure 2, has a valve seat and
cone fitting into said seat; the valve stem being surrounded by a spring N which
has the tendency to force the cone closely into its seat, thereby shutting the valve
against any passage of air.
Another valve M is placed between the motor C and reservoir G, said valve M,
as shown in Figure 3, having its valve stem forced up and out of the seat by a
spring N', the tendency of said spring being to open the valve. The said
valves L, M, placed at both sides of the reservoir G have the following effect :-
As long as there is no pressure, or a low pressure in the reservoir G, the pressure
of air in the main conduit E will lift the valve cone of the valve L and the
reservoir G will become filled with compressed air. While the said reservoir is
being filled, the pressure of air existing in pipe K, I, will hold the valve M closed,
forcing the cone down into its seat, against the pressure of the spring N¹. As soon
as the pressure within the pipe K I falls below the pressure within the reservoir G,
the valve M will automatically open and supply the amount of pressure required.
When the train stops or runs slowly, so that no or but little supply of compressed
air is coming from the compressor A through conduit E, the reservoir G will
.continue to drive the motor C for a considerable length of time and the lamps in
the several cars will not be extinguished for want of supply of compressed air. The
.reservoirs G and valves L. and M also serve to keep up a uniform pressure
throughout all the conduits E H I K of the train, thus establishing a uniform rate
of speed of all the motors C and dynamos D, and, consequently, the lamps will burn
steadily without necessitating a particular regulating device.
:
The improved means for electrically lighting railway cars offer, besides a
considerable saving of cost, the great advantage of removing all danger of the car
being set on fire in case of accidents.
... 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―
The improved means for lighting railway cars by electricity, which consist in an
air compressor A, a main conduit E provided with valves and detachable couplings,
a dynamo D or generator for every car to be lighted, a motor C driven by
.compressed air for every dynamo or generator, a branch pipe K supplying
compressed air from the compressor A. through the main conduit to each of said
motors C, a reservoir G connected to each of said motors and to the main conduit,
and valves L M located respectively between each of said reservoirs G and the
main pipe, and between each of the said reservoirs G and its corresponding motor C,
the said parts being arranged substantially as and for the purposes described.
Dated this 4th day of November 1892.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.