Improved Means applicable for use in Working Electric Railways provided with Underground Conductors.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Oct., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 5th July, 1897--Accepted, 28th Aug., 1897
ONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means applicable for use in Working Electric Railways
provided with Underground Conductors.
I, ADOLF HECKER, of 6, Wilhelmstrasse, Mülheim-on-the-Rhine, in the Kingdom
of Prussia, German Empire, Engineer, do hereby the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
The present invention relates to electric railways, in which the current is taken
from a conductor arranged in an underground conduit closed by means of hinged lids.
The hitherto known arrangements of this kind present various disadvantages, which it
is the object of the present invention to remove. According to one system, hinged
lids are employed which are provided with friction rollers on their under sides and
raised by an arched bar sliding thereunder, said har being connected to car-truck.
Apart from the heavy outlay which such covering plates envolve, the large number of
friction rollers entails diminished security in working, as it is impossible to exercise
over long distances the complete control that such complicated mechanism demands,
each individual plate or the roller thereon having from time to time to be
examined.
This inconvenience and others are avoided by the present invention.according to which
a form of hinged lid is employed that can be easily produced from iron by the rolling
process. Instead of with friction rollers, the lid is provided on its under side with a
rib extending longitudinally over the whole length of the lid or nearly so and furnished
with gently sloping ends. The lids are lifted by means of an arched piece or sledge
which is provided with a number of rollers so arranged as to come against the edge of
the lid-ribs as the car advances. Each two of said rollers which are equidistant from
the vertical centre line of the sledge have a like height and inclination. The two
lying nearest to the ends of the sledge have the deepest position, those nearer to the
centre line a somewhat higher one, and so on, the difference in the height of position
of the successive rollers corresponding to the slope of the lid-ribs, the form of which is
hereby determined. The proper position for the rollers is determined by the
inclination of the lid at any particular time or by the resulting inclination of the
edges of the lid-ribs. The height of position of the rollers is therefore so determined
that the lids of the conduit are to be little by little but constantly raised and lowered
again by the gliding of the rollers on the edges of the ribs. The lids and the sledge,
as well as the number of the rollers and their distances from each other are so
proportioned that each lid in succession is opened before the preceding one is re-closed.
The conduit therefore only remains open so long as the car requires time for travelling
across the space occupied by three lids in succession. The lifting action of the sledge
is such as to enable the hanger to pass without hindrance, whereby the constancy of
the connection between the working conductor and the car motor is secured.
Inside the sledge, but insulated therefrom, is attached the collector gliding along

page_text: the working conductor, this arrangement of the collector enabling the latter to
communicate by means of a flexible connection with the car motor.
Dated this 5th day of October 1896.
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C., Chartered Patent Agent.
Improved Means applicable for use in Working Electric Railways
provided with Underground Conductors.
I, ADOLF HECKER, of 6, Wilhelmstrasse, Mülheim-on-the-Rhine, in the German
Empire, Engineer, 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: -
The present invention relates to electric railways in which the supply conductor is
arranged in an underground conduit extending midway along the track, and more
particularly to railways of this kind wherein the underground conduit is furnished
with hinged lids which close the conduit when no car is passing, whilst the car is
provided with a lifter extending down into the conduit and so shaped as to act against
the undersides of the lids as the car is progressing and thereby lift the same, so that
the collector carried by the car for establishing electrical communication between the
supply conductor and the car motor can pass freely, the lids falling by their own
weight, after the collector has passed, and reclosing the conduit.
The main objects of the present invention are, besides others of minor value, to
enable the lifting and reclosing of the lids to take place smoothly and gradually with
a view to avoiding jerks, which is of the utmost importance considering the great
number of lids to be provided for, and to avoid torsional strains upon the lifter
and its hanger or collector.
To secure the said objects, the invention consists, on the one hand, in providing on
the undersides of the lids longitudinal ribs which project at a right-angle and extend
the whole length of same or nearly so and which have sloping ends, and, on the other
hand, in furnishing the lifter, which is of a symmetric fish-torpedo like shape, on its
side facing the lid-ribs with rollers loosely mounted on axes that are arranged on a
symmetrically curved line in such a manner that each two rollers disposed equidistantly
on either side of the vertical centre line of the lifter are on the same level, the two
nearest to the extremities of the lifter occupying the lowest level, those next occupying
a higher level, and so on; moreover, the axis of the said rollers are arranged at such
varying inclinations that the peripheries of the rollers run on the edges of the lid-ribs
in the plane of the latter, whatever position the lid may be in.
The amount of lifting depends upon the difference between the central roller and
the two extreme ones, the latter being arranged at such a level as to come against the
extremity of the rib when the lid is closed; and the relation between the slope of
the ends of the lid-ribs, the levels of the rollers, as also the inclinations of the axes of
the latter, and their distance from each other are determined by the length of the
lids and the extent of lift required, as will be readily understood by those skilled in
the art.
The annexed drawings illustrate the preferred mode of carrying out my invention.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section taken through a portion of the conduit and looking in
the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, the upper part of the hanger being broken away.
Fig. 2 is a transverse section on line 2-2 in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a plan.
kis the underground conduit, a the supply conductor, and i one of the conductor

page_text: supports; d', d, da, d, ds are five succeedling lids of the conduit. These lids may be
of any convenient length but of such a width as to completely cover the opening of
the conduit when in the closed position. All the lids are attached to the same side
of the conduit by means of hinges do, the upper edge of the opposite side of the
conduit being recessed as indicated by the reference letter in order to receive the
outer edges of the lids, so that when the latter are closed they do not project above
the level of the street. At some distance from this outer edge each lid is provided
with a depending longitudinal rib which extends along the whole length of the lid.
As shown in the example, the ends of the ribs are formed with a gentle slope, a form
somewhat resembling a flat trapezoid having the outer ends rounded resulting.
8 is the lifter connected to the car truck (not shown in the drawing) by the
hanger v, which is so arranged as to move close to the upper end of that side of the
conduit which receives the free ends of the lids.
In the side of the lifter which faces the lid-ribs are mounted rollers 1, 2, 2, 22, 23,
73, 3, etc., so as to turn loosely about their axes. As will be seen one roller is placed
in the vertical centre line of the lifter, whilst those following to the right and to the
left, of which, in the drawing, there are four at each side, are so arranged as to form
pairs respectively 11, 2, 3, 24, the rollers of each pair being equidistant from
the central roller r, and starting from the latter, each succeeding pair of rollers
occupies a lower level. That is to say, the central roller r occupies the highest level,
whilst the level of each succeeding pair is lower, as the extremities of the lifter are
approached, the pair mounted at the extremities occupying the lowest level. As the
end will meet and abandon the rib of the lid when the former is in the vertical position
or is reassuming such position, those rollers have to be mounted on horizontal axes.
From the fact that by the lifting of the lid the rib of the same is progressively turned
from the vertical to the horizontal plane, it follows that, in order to enable the
succeeding rollers to meet the rib-edge as much as possible in the direction of the line
of projection of the lid, the axes of said rollers are inclined; the degree of inclination
being greater the nearer they are placed to the vertical centre line of the lifter. I
prefer to so proportion the lids, the lifter, the number of rollers, and their distance
from each other that, while at any point of the track a lid is fully opened for allowing
the passage of the hanger and collector, the succeeding lid is being lifted and the
preceding one returning to closing position. Thus, in Fig. 1, the lid d is fully
opened by the action of the roller r, whilst the right hand slope of the rib of lid d' is
in contact with the left hand roller whereby the lid is allowed to sink, and the
right hand roller acts against the left hand slope of the rib of lid d' and causes the
latter to rise. As the car progresses in the direction of the arrow, the roller meets
the right hand slope of the rib of lid d and the latter begins to descend coming
against the left hand roller r, whilst the right hand roller meets the left hand
slope of the rib of lid d' and causes the latter to rise further, and the left hand
roller leaves the right hand slope of the rib of lid d, the latter being received by the
left hand roller which allows said lid to sink to a lower level; and so on, until the
lid is reclosed, the lid d fully opened, and the lid d in the position occupied in
Fig. 1 by the lid d'.
c is the collector sliding on the conductor a and establishing electrical communi-
cation between the latter and the car motor. The collector is supposed to be pivoted
through the agency of a link to the interior of the lifter which is hollow, the inner
end of the link being connected with one of the motor terminals for instance by
means of a flexible cable.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would observe that I am
aware that it is old to use in electric railways underground conduits provided with
hinged lids in combination with a lifter connected to the car, the lifter consisting of
an arched bar and the lids being furnished with friction rollers on their undersides,
but what I claim is :-
In an electric railway having an underground conduit provided with hinged lide

page_text: and an arched lifter connected to the car, the employment of a longitudinal rib
depending perpendicularly from the underside of each lid in conjunction with rollers
loosely mounted on the lifter, arranged and operating substantially as and for the
purpose specified. .
Dated this 5th day of July 1897.
For the Applicant,
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C., Chartered Patent Agent.