US445674A - Electric railway - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) l

R. M. HUNTER. ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

No. 445,674 Patented P61. s, 1891..

wlTNESSE5: FIG? 3 INYSMTOR:

MQW M? M/w W trier..

RUDOLPH M. HUNTER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE*THOMSON-HOUSTON ELECTRIC COMPANY,

OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 445,674, dated February 3, 1891.

Application led January 14, 1889. Serial No. 296,292. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern,.-

' Be it known that I, RUDOLPH M. HUNTER, of the city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Road-Bed Structures and Current-Collecting Devices, (Case 79,) of which the following is a specication.

My invention has reference to electric rail- Ways; and it consists of certain improvements, all of which are fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, which form part thereof.

My invention relates, particularly, to the road-bed structure and the collectors on the car, which Work in connection with the conduit and conductors. Considered generically, my invention consists in locating the conduit, in Which is housed one or more electric conductors, outside of the track and preferably close to one of the rails. The currentcollector is carried by the car upon the outside of the wheel-base, so as to depend into the conduit and make connection with the conductor. The collector is preferably supported from the axle box or boxes directly or indirectly, or may be supported by a frame supported from the axles independently of the car-body, which latter rests upon springs. In practice the conduit could be located at the highest part of the street or in the space between the tracks, and thus avoid the excessive quantities of surface water Which usually run in the road between the rails ot' the track. The conduit may be formed in any suitable manner, either as part of the roadbed structure or as a separate conduit secured in fixed relation with the rail to which it is adjacent.

In the drawings, Figure l is a cross-section of a railway and car embodying niyilnprovements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of same With the conduit cut away, and 3 is a crosssection of a road-bed and truck of amodiiied form of my invention.

D is the car or Vehicle or truck, and has the axles F, provided with wheels f, which axles are received in axle-boxes F in the usual Way. The car-frame D rests upon said boxes F through the mediation of springs.

H is the electric motor, and is supported upon a frame G, carried by the axles in any suitable manner.

U are the rails of the road-bed and are supported upon cross-ties or frames C.

A is a conduit arranged upon the outside of the track-rails and preferably close to the outer edge of the rail. In Fig. l this conduit is formed in conjunction with the rail by arranging a longitudinal Stringer V upon the cross-ties C outside of the rails and placinga plate or slot iron K upon its upper edge, so as to form a slot 7.; between said plate and rail U. lVithin the conduit are the two conductors B B, one of which is for positive current and the other for negative current received from the generator Z2.

L L are tWo collectors depending from the axle-boxes F and adapted to have lateral movement by being loosely guided by pins Z in the bottom of the axle-boxes. Springs l are employed to cause the collector to run close to the edge of the plate or slot iron K; but such springs may be dispensed with, if desired. It is evident that Vby making the guides loose iits the collector Would have provision for slight rotary motion on a vertical axis. These collectors are provided with contacts a, which run in contact with the conductors B and supply current to the niotor H by the motor-circuit N, which is provided With a suitable regulator M. The inotor may be mechanically connected With the axles in any suitable and Well-known inannen.

As shown in Fig. 2,'there are two collectors, one under each axle-box, and While one is designed to collect current of one polarity and the other to collect current of the other polarity, yet it is evident that each collector may collect current from both conductors B by the addition of the second contacts indicated in dotted lines. These collectors are arranged ina vertical line through the axle and Wheel, and thus are not shifted when the vehicle is turning corners. The provision for lateral movement is to compensate for irregularities in the line of the slot.

In the modified form of my invention shown in Fig. 3 wc have the usual road-bed structure of a street-railway with the conduit A formed separate and secured to the crossties c.

Il B are the conductors, as before, and are insulated from the sides of the conduit, which is shown as of metal.

K I( are the top plates or overhanging ledges of the conduit and Y form the slot. This conduit may be constructed in any de sirable manner, and for rigidity should be sccured to the rail U by tics T, arranged at intervals. In this iigure the collector L is shown as pivoted on a vertical axis at g to a laterally-movable frame G', supported by the frame G on the axles. By this means the collector may be arranged between the axles. The provision for self-adjnstment in this case is practically no greater than that shown in Figs. land 2.

I do not limit myself to the details of construction, as the various parts or devices may vbe modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Any matters set out in this application but not claimed therein are not dedicated to the public, but form subject-mattei' of my application, Serial No. 204,583, of 1886.

IIaving now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Iletters Patent, is-

I. In an electric railway, the combination of a stationary source of electric supply, bared working-conductors extending along the path of the vehicle, an electrically-propelled vehicle, and depending collectors to receive electricity from said bared conductors, supported by the axle-box of the vehicle, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In an electric railway, the combination of a stationary source of electric supply, bared working-concluctors extending along the path of the vehicle, an electrical]y-propelled vehicle, and depending collectors to receive electricity from said bared conductors, supported by the axle-box of the vehicle and arranged upon the outside of the wheels, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In an electric railway, the combination of a stationary source of electric supply, bared workin g-conductors extendin g along the path of the vehicle, an electrically-propelled vehicle, and depending` collectors to receive electricity from said bared conductors, supported by the axle-box of the vehicle, arranged upon the outside of the wheels and inline with their tread upon the rails or in a vertical line through the axles, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination of the track-rails of a railway with an electric conduit arranged upon the outside of the track and close to or adjacent to one rail thereof, and an insulated working-con ductor contained within said conduit.

5. The combination of the track-rails of a railway with an electric conduit arranged upon the outside of the track and close to or adjacent to one rail thereof, and a positive and negative insulated working-conductor contained within said conduit.

ti. The combination of the track-rails of a railway with an electric conduit arranged upon the outside of the track and close to or adjacent to one rail thereof, an insulated working-conductor contained within said conduit, a traveling vehicle, and a current-collecting device arranged outside of the wheel-base of said vehicle and depending into the conduit for making connection with the working-conductor.

7. The combination of the track-rails of a railway with an electric conduit arranged upon the outside of the track and close to or adjacent to one rail thereof, and positive and negative insulated working-conductors contained within said conduit, a traveling vehicle, and two current-collectors carried therebyT and arranged upon the outside of the wheelbase, one in advance of the other, and depending` into the conduit for making connection with the working-conductors.

S. The combination of a railway-track with a conduit arranged upon the outside thereof and a working-conductor housed therein and insulated therefrom.

9. The combination of a railwayftrack with a conduit arranged upon the outside thereof and a working-conductor housed therein and insulated therefrom, and common supporting cross-ties for both the rails and conduit.

l0. The combination of a railway, a conduit arranged outside of the track, an insulated working-conductor housed within said conduit, and connections between the track structure and conduit, whereby they are maintained in relatively fixed positions.

ll. In an electric railway, the combination of a traveling vehicle, a stationary source of electric supply, a bared working-conductor extending along the pat-h of the Vehicle, and a current-collector device of less width than the diameter of the wheel and supported immediately outside of the wheel of the vehicle.

l2. The combination of the track-rails of a railway with an electric slotted conduit arranged. upou the outside of the track and close to or adjacent to one rail thereof, and positive and negative bared conductors contained within the conduit and consisting of longitudinal bars having vertical or substantially vertical faces exposed to a vertical plane extending through the slot.

In testimony of which inventionI hereunto set my hand.

RUDOLPH M. HUNTER.

lVitnesses:

ERNEST HOWARD HUNTER, E. M. BRECKINREED.

IOO

IIO

IZO

Images