Improvements in and relating to Electric Railways on a Sectional Conductor System.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Oct., 1897-Accepted, 18th Dec., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Electric Railways on a Sectional
Conductor System.
We EBEN CLINCH CROCKER, electrician, and EDWIN CHAPIN HOWE, manufacturer,
citizens of the United States of America, residing respectively at 39 Harriet street
and 447 Fairfield Avenue, in the City of Bridgeport, county of Fairfield and State of
Connecticut, United States of America, 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:-.
Our invention relates to electric railways, and has for its object to provide a
construction which will permit cars to run in either direction, is economical, and is
absolutely safe in that all of the rails are dead with the exception of those
immediately occupied by the car.
Referring to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this application-
Figure 1 is a plan of our improvement, the sectional conductor and the supply
conductor being shown on opposite sides of the magnets for the purpose of a better
understanding of our invention, although in practice they would preferably occupy
locations respectively above and below such magnets;
Figure 2 is a detail enlarged plan of two pairs of oppositely arranged magnets in
each series, and showing particularly the construction and arrangement of the
armature and switches, whereby the branch circuits are closed and opened and the
shunt devices operated, and
Figure 3 a sectional elevation of the construction shown at Figure 2.
Similar numbers and letters of reference denote like parts in the several figures of
the drawings.
Our improvement is identified with electrical railways which employ insulated third
rail sections for collecting the power, a power collector carried by the car and traveling
on these sections, and a supply conductor which is connected with and disconnected
from these insulated sections at the proper times whereby the current is supplied to
the car and the sections cut out as fast as the car passes them, a return current
being of course effected through the usual bonded rails on which the car wheels
travel.
I is the supply conductor which furnishes the power, and 2 the insulated third rail
sections.
We employ two series of magnets, one series composed of pairs of magnets
denoted by the letters a a¹, while the other series is composed of pairs of magnets
denoted by the letters b, 61, these pairs being arranged opposite each other through
the series.
3 are rods supported in any suitable manner so as to be capable of free longitudinal
sliding movements, in the present instance these rods being supported within the
yokes 4 which hold the magnets. 5 are armatures secured to these rods within the
magnetic fields of opposite pairs of magnets in each series, so that said armatures may
be attracted by the magnets a, a, or the magnets b, b¹. 6, 7, 8, are three insulated
witches carried at one extremity of each of these rods 3, and c, c¹, d, d', and e, e¹, are
hree pairs of insulated contacts supported on the boxes 9, which house the magnets.
The switches 6, 7, 8, are mounted on top of levers 10 pivoted to the boxes 9 and the

page_text: rods 3 are loosely connected to these levers so that it will be clear that the longitudinal
movements of these rods will cause the levers to swing back and forth, whereby the
switches are engaged with or disengaged from the contacts c, c¹, d, d¹, and e, e¹, for
the purpose presently explained.
The other extremities of these rods are loosely connected with levers 11 pivoted to
the boxes 9, which levers carry at their upper ends insulated switches 12, 13, which
are engaged with and disengaged from the insulated contacts f, f, and g, g³, supported
by said boxes when the rods are moved to and fro longitudinally for the purpose
presently explained.
The magnets a, a¹, are connected up in pairs composed of single magnets
selected from the first and last of five consecutive sets of these magnets a, a¹,
with pairs of the other series of magnets composed of single magnets
selected from the second and fourth pairs of the magnets b, b¹, intervening between
the magnets selected in the first mentioned series, so as to form various branch
circuits along the line, each circuit comprising four single magnets.
For instance, referring to Figure 1 of the drawings and counting near the left of
the illustration, the first magnet lettered a is connected with the second magnet
lettered b the circuit then continuing and taking in successively the fourth magnet b¹
and the fifth magnet a¹, this circuit being broken at the contact points d, d', so that
it will be clear that single magnets selected from the first and last pairs of five
consecutive sets the of magnets a, a, are connected up in circuit with single magnets
selected from the second and fourth pairs of the magnets b, b' intervening between
the magnets selected in the series a, a¹.
The terminals of these circuits have connection respectively with the supply
couductor 1 and the insulated sections 2, and it will be clear that all the wiring in
the various branch circuits is progressive, starting from the supply conductor and
ending with these insulated sections.
14 is the power collector which is of any ordinary construction and is carried by
the car, and it will be observed that the insulated section on which this collector rests
is in a closed circuit, the power being taken at the point a from the supply conductor
and communicated at the point y to this section.
.
It will also be clear that the three middle armatures 5 in the illustration of Figure 1
have been attracted by the series 6 b¹, of the magnets, so that the switches operated
by these armatures have closed the circuits at the three sets of contact
points c, c, d, d¹, and e, e¹, the middle one of these armatures having been operated
to complete the circuit which is closed by the power collector while the two outer
armatures have operated to complete the circuits, which include respectively the
insulated sections immediately succeeding and preceding the section on which this
power collector rests.
It will therefore be clear that a car may be run in either direction, since the branch
circuits on either side of the circuit closed by the power collector will be closed the
moment such collector comes in contact with them.
Referring again to Figure 1, and taking for example the branch circuit from the
point to the point y, the first magnet a which is energized (the second magnet a
from the left of the illustration) will attract the armature 5 and effect the breaking
of the branch circuit between the supply conductor and the fourth sectional
conductor 2, while the energizing of the intervening magnets 6, 61, in the other series
of magnets will attract the armatures and effect the completion of the branch circuits
which include the fifth and seventh sectional conductors 2 respectively. Neither of
the magnets b, b¹ intermediate of these intervening pairs of magnets b, b¹ will be
energized since these magnets are not now in closed circuit, but the armature will
remain against these magnets in the position shown in the drawings until it is
withdrawn by the action of the opposing pair of magnets.
From the foregoing description it will be clear that the various branch circuits
include one pair of selected magnets of one series and a pair of intervening selected
magnets of the other series, and that d, d', are the points at which these circuits are
opened and closed by the action of the switches carried by the armature rods.

page_text: In an electric railway system like that heretofore described the magnet coils not
only afford great resistance to the current used, but also these coils are liable to
become burned out by the current, since the wires composing the coils are necessarily
quite small. In view of these facts, and for the reason that the sole function performed
by the magnets is the operation of the armatures to control the switches in making
and breaking the various circuits, we have provided automatically operated shunt
devices whereby the current is deflected from the magnets as soon as the latter have
*performed their function and is directed in practically a straight line between the
supply conductor and the insulated sections.
We have illustrated a preferred style of shunt device, which we have heretofore
described, but we do not wish to be limited to any construction of such device, since any
ordinary switch or shunt will answer the purposes of our invention in this respect..
The contacts C, c' and e, e¹are tapped into connection with the coil wires of the
magnets b, b', so that as soon as the switches 6 and 8 are engaged with these contacts
after the armatures have performed their function, the current instead of passing
through the coils of the magnets will seek the shortest route and will pass
through the shunting wires.
Likewise, the contacts f, f¹ and g, g¹, and the switches 12, 13, are provided, the
contacts being tapped in connection with the coils of the magnets a, a¹, so that as
soon as these magnets have performed their function the current will be shunted
from their coils.
These shunt devices are preferably located near each couplet of the series of
magnets throughout the various branch circuits, but of course if it is not deemed
necessary to cut out all the magnets, fewer shunts may be employed, and we therefore
do not wish to be limited in this respect, the gist of our invention in this respect
resting on the broad idea of providing shunt devices automatically operated by the
armatures for cutting out the magnet coils as soon as the latter have performed their
function, and conducting the current in practically a direct line between the supply
conductor and the several insulated sections.
If desired, these oppositely arranged pairs of magnets may be supplanted by single
magnets having double coils or windings insulated from each other, but we prefer the
construction shown herein, since the insulation is apt to wear so that the double coils
are no longer properly insulated from each other, and this would of course destroy
the efficiency of the magnets in this particular connection.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In an electric railway system which comprises a supply conductor, insulated
third rail sections, and a power collector carried by the car, the two series of magnets
each series comprising pairs of separate magnets arranged opposite each other,
single magnets selected from the first and last of five consecutive pairs of magnets in
one series being connected in circuit with single inagnets selected from the second
and fourth couplets of the other series intervening between the magnets first selected,
whereby branch circuits are formed, and connections with said conductor and
sections through intermediate circuit closers and breakers operated by said magnets,
whereby the section having contact with the collector is in closed circuit while the
sections immediately succeeding and preceding are in circuits capable of being closed
by the collector, substantially as set forth.
2. In an electric railway system which comprises a supply conductor, insulated
third rail sections, and a power collector carried by the car, the two series of magnets
each series comprising pairs of separate magnets arranged opposite each other,
single magnets selected from the first and last of five consecutive couplets of one
series being connected in circuit with single magnets selected from the intervening
second and fourth couplets of the other series, whereby branch circuits are formed,
connections with said conductor and section through intermediate circuit closers
and breakers operated by said magnets whereby the section having contact with the

page_text: collector is in closed circuit while the sections immediately succeeding and preceding
are in circuits capable of being closed by the collector, and shunt devices tapped into
connection with the coils of said magnets and automatically operated by said circuit
closers and breakers, whereby the current is shunted from said magnets after the
latter have performed their function and is directed in practically a straight course
between the supply conductor and the various insulated sections, substantially as set
forth.
3. In an electric railway system which comprises a supply conductor, a third rail
consisting of insulated sections, and a power collector carried by the car, the two
series of magnets horizontally disposed opposite to each other, said magnets being
connected in separate branch circuits whose terminals are respectively connected
with the supply conductor and through switches with the various sections, said
switches being operated by the magnets to open and close said circuits as the power
collector comes in contact with the various sections, substantially as set forth.
TO SITO DO
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C. Patent Agents.
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C. Patent Agents.