US424364A - Sylvania - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 3SheetVS-'Sheet 1. E. P. SLENT-Z & J'.v B. MGGREW ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

No. 424,364. Patented Mar. 25, 18940.-

/ f www v 9m .Tu e 4... v h s V .To w w. nW E Dm. G ovh M .A Bm M TUR owu M Z Tw mm E .L S B E u d 0 M m Patented 14211.25, 189,0.

(No Model.) r 3 sheetsshed 3.

l E. P. SLENTZ 8v J. B. MGGREW.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

10.424,364. Patented 143.1225, 1890. f

n. Param. mbuumg-pmr. wnmnghn. n. c.

UNrrnn Sterns armar runen.

EDMUND P. SLNTZ, OF IDLEVOOD, AND JAMES D. MCGREV, OF PITTSBURG, ASSIGNORS OF THREE-EIGI'ITHS TO JOHN A. SNEE, OF PITTSBURG, PENN- SYLVANIA. Y

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters 'Patent No. 424,364, dated March 25, 1890.

Application iiled August 13, 1889. Serial No. 320,604. (No model.)

To all 107mm/ t may concern: ity has to be maintained to obtain enough Beit known that. we, EDMUND P. SLENTZ and surplus power to run the cars, especially dur- JAMES B. MCGREW, residents, respectively, of ing the wet seasons of the year, when the Idlewood and Pittsburgboth in the county of conduit-trough is apt to bemore or less filled 5 Allegheny and State ot Pennsylvania, haveinwith half-melted snow or water. 55

Vented certain new and useful Improvements The object of our invention is to overcome in Electric Railways 5 and we do hereby declare this serious drawback which attaches to that that the following is a full, clear, and exact class of electric roads, and we accomplish description of the invention, which will enable this in a simple and effective manner by ren- 1o others skilled in the art to which it appertains dering the conducting-strips from which the 6o to make and use y the same, reference being car takes its powerdeadorinactivethroughhad tothe accompanying drawings,whichform out the entire length of the route, except for a part' of this speciiication, and in whicha short distance corresponding, approXi- Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view7 mately, to the length of the car, which (the i5 on a vertical plane, of our improved electric car) as it advances over the track gradually 65 railway, showing a car upon the track. Fig. and automatically shifts the active portions 2 is a plan view of the underground conduit of the conducting-strips from one section of with its appurtenances. Fig. 3 is a perspec the same to another from the beginning to tive detail view of one of the conduit-boxes the end of thet-rack and in advance of the zo and apparatus for automatically breaking line of travel. rlhis progressive rendering 7o and closing the electric circuit over a given active by sections ot' the conducting-strips distance or portion of the conduit. Fig. i is which supply the car with power for its pro a side view of the saine device or apparatus pulsion is accomplished automatically and with one side of the inclosing-boX broken mechanically by the car itself, substantially 25 away. Fig. is asimilar view of the same apas will be hereinafter more fully described. 75 paratus, but at right angles to the view shown Reference being had to the accompanying in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a bottom plan of the same. three sheets of drawings, the letter A desig- Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional view through nates the underground trough or conduit in the vertical plane indicated by the broken the middle of the track. (Shown at B.) At

3o line marked oc c in Fig. 2. Fig. S is a longia suitable distance apart, which should cor- 8o tudinal sectional view on a vertical plane respond to the length et the cars used on the through line y y in Fig. 2. Fig. 9 is a detail line, (say about sixteen feet, more or less,) are view of the circuit closing and breaking dclocated boxes O, which contain the mechanvice which forms a part of the apparatus, and ism for shifting the active sections of the con- 35 Fig. l0 is a detail view of the device for reducting-strips as the car progresses over the 85 volving the movable bearings for the circuit line. Running through these boxes, aswell as closing andbrcaking device shown in Fig. 9. through the intermediate trough-sections A,

Likeletters of reference denote correspond are the insulated line-cables D and D', susing parts in all the figures. pended from or supported upon suitablehang- 4o Our invention relates to electric railways ers or brackets E on opposite sides of the 9o of the type in which the conduit and electric troughsAand boxes O. Passinglongitudinally cables are located under ground, the workthrough the middleof thetrough-boxesarethe ing current being conveyed to the electric uninsulatedor naked conducting-stripsFand motor in thecar by means-of contact-brushes F', which are simply flat strips or bars of suit 45 at the lower ends of arms affixed to the car able inetahalso carried by but insulated from 95 and projecting down into the conduit-trough the cable-supports E, said strips F and F through a narrow slit in the covering-plate. running through the entire line of conduit In this type of conduits it has been found and boxes parallel to and betweenthe lineeXtremely difficult to prevent great waste by cables D and D.

5o leakage, so that a current of high potential- In the space between the insulated cableD roo and its corresponding naked strip F is located, 1n each of the boxes C, a vertical fixed upright or standard G, the upper end of which forms journals H for the horizontal bearing l of aV hollow cylinder or cylindrical box J closed at both ends and containing a ball or sphere K of metal. The free end of the cylinder .T is

v supported movably in the bifurcated head L of another standard M, which is, however, movable around its'own axis, its lower end being stepped loosely into a bearing N in the bottom of the box, while its upper end is inserted loosely through a guide bracket or bearing O, projecting inwardly from the adjacent side of the box, so that said standard M, with its forked head L, is free to revolve in its bearings N and O. This movable or revolving standard L M forming, as we have seen, a bearing or support for the outer end of the movable cylinder, is provided near its lower end with four arms or projections P, arranged in a horizontal plane at right angles to one another. Each of these arms consists, in the present illustration of this part of our invention, of j two plates or strips of steel or other tough and elastic metal (see Figs. G and l0) a and ZJ, the inner vends of which are fastened in the revolving standard M, while their ilarin or divergin g outer ends are bent toward and overlapping each other endwise, and c0nnected movably by a headed bolt c, fastened to one of the arms Ct and projecting through a slot CZ in the other arm b. rlhe arms a and b have placed between them at their widest part, or point of greatest divergence, a stout i spiral spring e, which acts as a buffer or cushion, as will be hereinafter described.

The upper ends of the forked head L are rounded, as shown at Z, and are also rounded or beveled on their inner sides, as shown at fm, so that when the standard M, with its forked head or saddle L, is given a quarter of a turn it will lift the free end of the cylinder up into an inclined position, as shown by the dotted lines-z'. e.. inclined from the saddle L toward the fixed bearing G. lVhen, on the other hand, the apparatus is in its normal po* sition, cylinder J will be inclined in the opposite directioinviz: the end resting in the saddle L is then the lowest point and its hinged end the highest, which position is illustrated in full line on the drawings. Vhen the cylinder is in the latter or normal position, the interior ball or sphere K will of course rest in the lowest part of the cylinder just above the saddles; but when the cylinder is tilted into the other position (shown in dotted lines) bya one-quarter revolution of the saddle then the ball will by its own gravity roll down into the other end, which is then the lowest. VVithin this end of the eylinderare placed two insulated metallic contact-plates Q and R, one of which Q is connected byan insulated wire q with the line-wire within the insulated cable D, while the other R is similarly connected by an insulated wire r with the appropriate naked.conductingstrip F. Under normal conditions, therefore, the current cannot pass from cable D into strip F, but when the cylinder is raised or tilted the ball, rolling down into that end, will rest or bear against and establish metallic connection between the two contact-plates Q and R, thus permitting the current to fiow from cable D through the wire q, contact-plate Q, ball K, plate R, and wire r to the naked strip F. The current is ,again broken or shut o the moment the free standard, a standard adapted to revolve around its own axis and provided with projecting arms or wings at its lower end, constructed as described, a bifurcated head or saddle, and a pivoted cylinder adapted to be moved or tilted in a vertical plane parallel to the sides of thebox, and provided with its appropriate contact-ball, contact-plates, and insulated wires connecting`- said plates with respectively the line-cable and the naked conducting-strip. rlhe only difference is that the position of this second cylinder with its appurtenances is reversed-4. c., both cylinders, while parallel to each other, tilt or swing in opposite directions when actuated or operated by their respective revolvingstandards M and saddles L.

Having in the foregoing described the construction of our apparatus, we shall no w proceed to explain its operation, which is as follows: Each car is provided at opposite ends with a downwardly-projecting arm or bar S, of such dimensions that it will enter and run freely in the slit inthe plate covering the conduit trough and boxes in substantially the same manner as the grip-levers used on cable cars. As the car is started along the track the forward arm S will strike the arms or wings P of the two revolving standards M M in the first box, and thereby give to each ot' these a one-quarter turn, which tilts their respective cylinders into the position shown in dotted lines, thereby closing the circuit on both sides between the pair of strips F F appertaining to the first box and its appropriate conduit-section. As these conducting-strips F and F are not continuous, but broken into lengths of appropriate size corresponding to the length or distance between the two depending arms of the cars, which are arranged endwise in close proximity to one another, as shown in Fig. l, it follows that only that particular length or section of strips F and F which appertains to that particular box is rendered active by the closing of the circuit between it and the line-cables, the connecting-strips over the remainder of the line being dead or inactive. The motor within the car is su pplicd with power from this act- IDO IIO

ufl

ive section just underneath the car by contact-brushes in the usual way, brushing against the strips, and as the car leaves the portion of track over this active section the rear arm S will in its turn strike the wings P, and thereby tilt the circuit-closing cylinders back into their normal position, thus shutting off the current from the line-cables to the conducting-strips. At the same moment the forward arm of the car will have reached and operated the apparatusin the next box, thereby rendering the next section of conducting'- strips F F active, and so on over the entire length of the line, the forward arm S opening and the rearward arm closing the circuit which renders active the appropriate pair of conducting-strips F and F appertaining to the particular length or section of track over which the car is moving and from which it is to take its power.

By constructing the operating` wings or arms P, as described, with the buffer-springs e they will receive the blows of the depending arms S without injury, and will also cause the standards M to revolve smoothlyhand easily and without jarring. By using' four of these wings upon the revolving standards instead of two, cars may be run forward or back upon the same track, as the apparatus may be operated from either side with equal facility and certainty of operation.

Ilavin thus described our invention, we claim and desire to secure by Letters Paten t of the United States l. In an electric railway, the combination, with two insulated conductors forming the electric circuit, of a series of conducting-strips, a cylinder connected with said strips and conductors and journaled at one end in a fixed support and its other end resting in a rotating support by which it is raised and lowered, a ball or sphere in said cylinder, actuated by gravity tol make electrical connection between the conductors and strips, and means by which the cylinder-support is rotated automatically, substantially as described.

2. In an electric railway, the combination, with a continuous cable and a series of broken conducting-strips, of a cylinder journaled at one end in astand ard and its other end resting in a rotating o1' revoluble support, insulated plates in the end of the cylinder in proximity to the journals, wires connected with said plates and with the cable and conductingstrips, respectively, a ball or sphere located in said cylinder and actuated by gravity to make electrical connection between the plates in the cylinder, and means, substantially as described, for revolving the cylinder-support automatically by a moving car, substantially as set forth.

3. In an electric railway, the combination, with a continuous cable and broken strips,of a cylinder journaled at one end in bearings in a fixed support, a revoluble support having a bifurcated head in which the other end of the cylinder rests, insulated plates in the interior of the cylinder, wires connecting the plates with the cable and strips, respectively, a ball or sphere in said cylinder, actuated by gravity to be brought into and out of contact with the plates to make and break electrical connection therewith, and means whereby said support is automatically rotated by the moving' car, substantially as described.

4. In an electric railway, the combination, with a continuous cable and broken strips, of a cylinder journaled at one end in a fixed support, a revoluble support having a bifurcated head in which the other end of the cylinder rests, conducting-plates in the interior of the cylinder, insulated therefrom and from each other, wires connecting said plates with the cable and strips, respectively, aball or sphere in said cylinder, actuated by gravity to make and break electric contact with said plates, and projecting arms secured to the revoluble support against which a depending rod or bar on a moving' car is adapted to strike and rotate the support, substantially as described.

5. In an electric railway, the combination, with a continuous cable, of a series of conductin g-strips with which the brushes of a car are adapted to engage, an upright having a bifurcated end, a cylinder having journals working in bearings in said bifurcated end, a revoluble support having a saddle at its upper end in which the other end of the cylinder rests, metallic insulated plates in the cylinder, wires connecting said plates, respectively, with the cable and conducting-strips, a gravity sphere in the cylinder, a series of spring-arms on the revoluble support, against which a depending bar or arm from a car is adapted to strike, substantially as described.

6. In an electric railway, the combination,

IOO

with a continuous cable and a series of conducting-strips, of a iixed support G, a cylinder J, journaled in the upper end of said support, the plates Q R in said cylinder insulated therefrom and from each other, wires q i', connecting said plates, respectively, with the cable and the strips, a sphere K in said cylinder, actuated by gravity to make and break connection with plates Q R, a revoluble support M, having a saddle L, in which the free end of the cylinder rests, a series of arms secured to support M, each consisting of two strips of metal a and Z), the inner ends IIO of which are fastened to the support M, while their flaring or diverging ends are bent toward and overlapping each other endwise and connected by a bolt c, and .a spiral spring e, interposed between the strips c l), substantially as described.

7. The combination, in an electric railway,

of a track, a ear adapted to run on said track, an underground trough situated between the rails of said track and having a narrow slit or opening, and a series of equidistant boxes, depending arms extending from the car through said slit into the trough, an insulated'cable, naked separated strips arranged in pairs at ders and actuated by gravity to make and z break electrical contact with the plates,

spring-arms on the revoluble supports, by which they are rotated by the depending arms on the ear, and electrical connections between the naked strips and the motor on the car, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing` as our own we have hereunto al'lixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

EDMUN D P. SLENTZ. JAMES B. MCGREW. \Vitnesses:

L. H. MATHEws, WM. WATSON.

Images