Patent ID: 8348035

Claim:
A current collector for a rail vehicle, the current collector being adapted to travel along a power rail that transmit electric energy to the rail vehicle via the current collector, and the current collector comprising: a contact shoe device including an upper sliding contact surface and a lower sliding contact surface, the upper sliding contact surface for forming a sliding contact with an upper contact surface of said power rail, and the lower contact surface for forming a sliding contact with a lower contact surface of said power rail; and a pressing-on device attached to the contact shoe device and allowing the contact shoe device to move between an upper sliding contact position and a lower sliding contact position; wherein the pressing-on device applies a pressing-on force to the contact shoe device in a first direction, when the contact shoe device is in the upper sliding contact position, and applies a pressing-on force to the contact shoe device in a second direction, when the contact shoe device is in the lower sliding contact position; the pressing-on force applied in the first direction forms the sliding contact between the upper sliding contact surface of the contact shoe device and the upper contact surface of the power rail; and the pressing-on force applied in the second direction forms the sliding contact between the lower sliding contact surface of the contact shoe device and the lower contact surface of the power rail.