Improvements in Means for Automatically Holding Taut the Communicating or Conducting Cord or Chain of Electrically Driven Vehicles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Dec., 1896-Accepted, 23rd Jan., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Automatically Holding Taut the
Communicating or Conducting Cord or Chain of Electrically
Driven Vehicles.
1 JOSHUA ENTWISLE Manager with the Firm of E. K. Dutton & Co., Chartered
Patent Agents, of 5 John Dalton Street, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention (communicatel to ine from abroad
by Luigi Della Beffa, of Milan, Italy,) and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying drawings :-
The said invention relates to improved means for holding and maintaining
elastically taut the cord or other means extending from the trolley or other part
of electrically driven vehicles with suspended conductor.
The object of this invention is to obviate danger to persons entering and leaving
the vehicle, and to prevent them from being caught or interfered with by the cord,
which as a rule is allowed to hang loose, and so as to provide for the oscillations
and divergences of the vehicle.
According to the present invention a resilient spool or cylinder is provided, the
tendency of which is to keep automatically taut the wound on cord, line or chain,
the elastic or resilient construction of the spool or cylinder allowing the cord to be
unwound in obedience to any ordinary strain thereon, but automatically winding on
again when the abnormal strain has ceased.
The invention will be best understood by a reference to the annexed sheet of
drawings in which,
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevation partly in section of the improved elastic cord
spool or cylinder.
Fig. 2 shows the spring used in conjunction with the spool or cylinder.
Fig. 3 illustrates the application of the invention to a vehicle.
The spool h is of a cylindrical form and is carried by two supports a and b secured
to the vehicle. The support a has a round hole or socket to receive the round end
of the spindle c of the spool, while the support 6 has an oblong slot which receives
and holds the squared end d of the spindle c. Thus it will be seen that the
spindle c cannot turn in the supports and in order to prevent the spool from
becoming accidentally disengaged therefrom, a clip spring e is provided which holds
the end d of the spindle c and prevents it from shifting. To remove the spool
from the supports it is only necessary to push the spring e aside and disengage the
ends of the spindle c from the supports. By this means it is easy to lift the spool
from the supports at one end of the vehicle and place it in similar supports at the
other end, which has usually to be done when the vehicle (for example a tram or
auto-car) has completed its journey.
The spool properly so called consists of the cylindrical body h upon which the
cord is wound, the end of the cord being attached to the eye g on the cylinder h.
At the ends of the cylinder are flanges i which serve to confine the wound-on
cord. As shown in Fig. 2 one of the said end flanges carries a cylindrical case!
which contains a fusee or volute spring m. The spool is loose on its spindle c and
the inner end of the spring is fixed to the spindle, while the outer end is secured
to the interior of the case which forms a part of the spool. It will thus be

page_text: understood that when the cord is wound on the spool and the line carried up taut
any strain on the cord causes the spool to revolve against the elastic pressure of
the spring and unwind a portion of the cord, while on the removal of the strain
the spring spool automatically takes up the slack and preserves the cord taut.
Thus provision is made for oscillations and variations in the movements and running
of the vehicle.
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.
In electrically driven vehicles having a suspended conductor, the employment
of an elastic or spring spool or cylinder upon which the cord or other conducting
means is wound so as to give and take automatically while preserving the cord
taut during oscillations or divergences of the vehicle, substantially as hereinbefore
described and as illustrated.