Improvements in Contacts for Electric Railways.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 9th May, 1893-Accepted, 22nd July, 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Contacts for Electric Railways.
I WILLIAM QUISHENBERRY PREWITT, of 71, East Monroe Street Chicago in
the County of Cook, and State of Illinois, United States of America, Gentleman,
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 :—
In electric railways where trolleys are carried at the end of a shank considerable
trouble and damage to apparatus and delay in traffic ensues upon the derailment or
other accident to the car-the shank and its attached parts becoming twisted and
entangled in the slot or conduit.
The object of my invention is to preclude the possibility of these annoyances
and to this end my invention consists in providing a detachable trolley carrying
apparatus.
In the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 is a cross section of a conduit with my contact apparatus in edge
elevation.
Fig. 2 is a side view showing the apparatus in its detaching position, and
Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the form of the end of the shank.
The letter A designates the shank which may be secured to the car in any
approved manner and B, the detachable trolley or contact frame.
The body of the frame has brackets b, extending horizontally from its sides.
Upon these brackets are secured arms c, carrying yielding supports d, for the
trolleys d', which normally engage the conductors p in the roof of the conduit.
The arms c, are insulated from the brackets b, by means of non-conductors of
electricity m, interposed between the connected parts. Binding posts n, are
attached to or form a part of arms c. Extending from opposite edges of the body
of the frame are ears o, in which are pivoted latch arms or levers l. These latch
arms have projections 9, at their lower ends which limit their outward movement
and set screws r, which limit their inward movement.
Hooks h, are formed on the latch arms to engage notches i, in the edges of the
shank. The upper parts of the latch arms diverge outwardly and have rounded
T-shaped extremities 1. The latch arms are drawn towards each other and are
held with their hooks h in notches of the shank by means of springs s.
In assembling the parts, the frame A is pushed up on the shank and the inclined
surfaces t, below the notches i, acting against the upper sides of the hooks h, force
the latch arms asunder. When the hooks reach the notches, they are drawn and
held therein by the springs.
The conducting wires p' for the motor are properly insulated and passed down
through holes in the shank and their ends are detachably secured in the binding
posts n. The current from the conductors p passes through the supports d, arm c,
binding posts n, and wires pl to the motor on the car.
When a car furnished with my contact leaves the track the apparatus is pulled
up against the roof of the conduit which separates the arms l, and allows the
apparatus to fall to the floor uninjured. The derailed car may then be coupled to
another and drawn to the shed. The detached contact on the floor of the conduit
will not interfere with the passage of other cars and it may be readily removed
when desired.

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. In a contact apparatus, a shank, a contact device and an automatically
operable latch for connecting the contact device with the shank.
2. In a contact apparatus, a shank, a frame having a contact device thereon, and
a latch for holding said frame detachably engaged with the shank and adapted to
be automatically operated by contact with the conduit to release the frame,
substantially as described.
3. In a contact apparatus, a shank, a contact supporting frame detachable
thereon, a lever pivoted to said frame and constructed to engage said shank to hold
the frame in place and also constructed so as to be disengaged from the shank by
contact with the conduit, substantially as described.
4. In a contact apparatus, a shank having a notch, a contact supporting frame
detachably connected therewith, and a lever pivoted to the frame and adapted to
engage said notch to hold the frame in place and also to be released from said
notch, substantially as described.
Dated this Oth dow of Mar 1802
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.