Improvements in Contact Devices for Sectional Cables or Conductors for Electrically Driven Vehicles.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Sept., 1898
Complete Specification, Left, 12th June, 1899-Accepted, 12th Sept., 1899
Improvements in Contact Devices for Sectional Cables or Conductors
for Electrically Driven Vehicles.
We, ALFRED HORSWILL GIBBINGS, of 31, Pemberton Drive, Bradford, in the
County of York, Electrical Engineer, and JAMES KAY, of 100, Birch Lane,
West Bowling, Bradford, aforesaid, Wool and Waste Carder, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in contact devices used on that class
of electrically driven vehicles in which the electric cable or conductor feeding
the trolley or its equivalent is divided into sections, and its object is to obviate
sparking when the trolley or its equivalent passes over the "section insulators "
from one section to another.
For this purpose we employ movable spring or hinged bridge pieces, adjacent
to each section insulator, adapted and arranged to be brought into position by
the trolley or its equivalent to momentarily connect the adjacent sections and
make the cable continuous until the trolley has passed on to the next section. .
Dated this 10th day of September 1898.
DRACUP & NOWELL,
Patent Agents, Bradford.
Improvements in Contact Devices for Sectional Cables or Conductors
for Electrically Driven Vehicles.
We, ALFRED HORSWILL GIBBINGS, of 31, Pemberton Drive, Bradford, in the
County of York, Electrical Engineer, and JAMES KAY, of 100, Birch Lane,
West Bowling, Bradford, aforesaid, Wool and Waste Carder, 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:.
-
This invention relates to improvements in or appertaining to electric section
cables for tramways and particularly over-head cables, and its object is to
prevent sparking when the trolley passes over the section insulators from one
section to another.
To fully describe our invention reference is made to the accompanying sheet
of drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the figures.
Figure 1, represents an elevation of an ordinary section insulator fitted with
our improvements, the cable terminals are broken away in order to show the
remainder on a larger scale.

page_text: Figure 2, is an underside view of the same.
Figure 3, is a section on line a, b Figure 1.
The terminals A and B are connected in the usual way by the non-con-
ductors C and D having the supporting arms E, E fixed in the centre. The
forked end of the bridge piece F is hinged by the screw pin G to, the
terminal B and the other end F3 extends across under the cut-away portion A³
of the terminal A. The end F3 of the bridge F2 is normally held in the
position shown in Figure 2 by the spring pin H connected to it. The head H²
of the spring pin lies in the spring box J clipped to C and the spring K is
provided to bear upon the head and press the pin H outwards to the extent
required.
When the trolley of a tramcar passes onto the bridge piece it presses the
end F against the part A2 of the terminal A and by thus momentarily coupling
the two sections permits the trolley to pass from one section to the other without
breaking contact thus entirely preventing sparking.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that
what we claim is:-
The combination with a section insulator of a bridge piece adapted to connect
adjacent sections when the trolley of an electric car passes from one section to
another