Improvements in Mountings for the Contact Shoes of Surface Contact Railways.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Oct., 1897-Accepted, 20th Nov., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mountings for the Contact Shoes of Surface Contact
Railways.
We, THE BRITISHI THOMSON-HOUSTON COMPANY, LIMITED, of 83, Cannon Street,
in the City of London, Electrical Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention (which has been communicated to us from abroad by William B. Potter,
of Schenectady, in the County of Schenectady, State of New York, United States
of America) 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 surface contact railways, and particularly to the sliding
contacts or shoes commonly employed to take current from the surface contacts;
it has particular reference to means of supporting such devices, so that they ma
have just the proper amount of play to permit them to accommodate themselves
to the contacts, which may, and often do, vary in height, and at the same time
shall not have enough motion to interfere with the other parts of the road structure.
To accomplish these ends the shoe is by preference supported by a spring con-
nection with an intermediate support. This latter may be connected to any suitable
part of the truck frame, or it may be formed of the motors themselves. It is
preferred that the connection of the intermediate support shall be substantially
rigid at one end, the other end having a sufficient amount of play to accommodate
the usual variations in alignment of the car axles. To this intermediate support
the shoe is connected by devices having a limited amount of elasticity. For this
any proper arrangement of springs may be employed; in the drawing coil springs
are indicated with suitable set screws and levers, but other devices might be
employed. By the arrangement indicated the spring support, which should be
located near the ends of the shoes yields readily when the shoe engages with the
contact. At the same time, the substantially uniform height of the shoe above
the road structure is maintained. By lessening the blow upon the contact in this
way, not only is the life of the apparatus extended, but the noise incident to the
operation of such roads is materially decreased.
The accompanying drawings show the invention, Fig. 1 being a side elevation,
partly in section, of a shoe suitably supported according to the invention, upon
the car axles; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan of one end of the structure shown in
Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged details; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a shoe
supported from the motors according to the invention, and Fig. 6 is an enlarged
detail.
In Fig. 1, C, C¹ are the axles of the car, D, D¹ are the car wheels. Attached to
the axle C is a supporting device H, consisting of a suitably stiffened support.
formed of angle irons having braces G, G, best shown in Fig. 2. Intermediate
blocks of wood, E, E, are provided, and from these the shoe F¹ is supported.
Referring to Fig. 2, the form of the support will be understood. It is secured
to one of the blocks E, near the end of the shoe, and the attaching device by which
the spring action is obtained is best seen in Fig. 3. It consists of a lever I, pivoted
at N to the support secured to the block E, as seen in Fig. 2. The lever is also
pivoted at K to the shoe, a suitable attachment being provided. Under the other

page_text: end of the lever I is a spring L, and the set screw A is arranged to limit the
play of the lever.
In Fig. 4 is illustrated on an enlarged scale the arrangement permitting proper
play of the axles. The bolts h, h securing the support H to the axle bearing, work
in slots cut in the support H, so that the latter may move slightly to accommodate
the motion of the axle C. This same arrangement might be used with the axle C¹
but it is preferred to have the attachment to this axle rigid.
In Fig. 5 the shoe F is shown attached to the motor M by spring supports,
illustrated more fully in Fig. 6, where the equivalent parts are marked with the
same letters as in Fig. 3. The bolt K attaching the lever I to the shoe F works
in a slot. n in that lever as arranged on one motor, being an ordinary pivot on the
other, and the lever I is formed with a lug i against which the set screw A bears
to limit the action of the spring.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. A mounting for contact shoes, comprising a support substantially rigid at
one end, and having a certain play at the other, with springs between the shoe and
the support.
2. In a mounting for contact shoes, the combination of a support rigidly attached
to a part of the truck at one end, and having a lost motion connection with the
truck at the other end, with a contact shoc, and springs between the contact shoe
and the support, the springs having limiting devices preventing excessive play.
3. In a mounting for contact shoes of surface contact railways, the combination
of a support interposed between the shoe and the truck, the support being sub-
stantially rigid with its attachment to the truck at one end, and having a sliding
attachment at the other, with a contact shoe, and intermediate devices connecting
the contact shoe and the support, such intermediate devices consisting of springs
and levers having limiting devices preventing excessive play, substantially as
hereinabove set forth.
4. In a mounting for contact, shoes, the combination of an intermediate support,
a truck, a contact shoe, and the means for attaching the contact shoe to the inter-
mediate support, consisting of the lever I, pivoted at N to the intermediate support,
and at K to the contact shoe, with the spring L between the lever
and the shoe, and a set screw A for limiting the motion of the lever, substantially
as hereinabove set forth.
D 10th dose of Antahan 1807