US544794A

US544794A - Frederick w

Info

Publication number: US544794A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1895-08-20
Anticipated expiration: 1912-08-20

Description

(No Model.)

F. W. RIBSS. 'TROLLEY ARM AND WIRE FINDER.

No. 544,794. Patented Aug. 20, 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK W. RIESS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TROLLEY-ARM AND WIRE-FINDER.

'SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 544,794, dated August- 20, 1895.

Application filed time 10, 1895., Serial No. 552,240. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. RIEss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Trolley-Arms and ire-Finders, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to trolley-arms and wire-finders for electric cars, and has for its object to so construct the arm as that the trolley-support and the guides or wire-finders will always be held in the same relative position to the feed-wire no matter what inclination to the horizontal the arm occupies. It is a well-known fact that the trolleyqvheel, when a car passes under low bridges or places in the railroad where the feed-Wire is located only a few feet from the top of acar, it leaves the feed-wire more frequently than on portions of the road where the said wire is 10- cated at a substantial or usual height of about twelve feet; and if any guidesor wire-finders are mounted to the trolley-arm they will, when the arm by a spring, and a chain or cord is fastened to the upper part of the arm and the pivotal support for the same, so that when the arm is depressed by passing under a low feed-wire the upper part of the arnutogether with the guards or wire-finder, maintain the same relative position to a low feed-wire as if the latter was located at its usual heighti. e., ten or twelve feet above the top of the car.

My invention further consists of wire guards or guides of novel construction mounted on the upper part of the trolley-arm to insure the engagement of the trolley-wheel with the feed-wire, and my invention further consists of the improvementshereinafter more fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

My invention will be more fully understood taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which Figure 1 is a general view of my improved two-part or knee-jointed trolley-arm provided with wire'fiuders or guards and pivotally attached to a shoe mounted on top of a car, the said knee-jointed arm being shown in position to pass under a feed-wire located at a usual height of about twelve feet above'the car. Fig- 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, showing a frame with springs to maintain the trolleyar m in elevated position. Fig. 3 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1, showing the kneejointed arm in position to pass under a feedwire located near the top of the car. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the hollow upper part of the trolley-arm having mounted therein a resilient sliding fork in which thetrolley-wheel is journaled, and showing a guard or wirefinder at each side of the upper part of the trolley-arm. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section,

partly in" elevation, of the parts shown in Fig. 8; and Fig. 6 is a top view of a portion of Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawings for a further description of my invention, a is a shoe or bed fastened to the top a of acar. a is a rotatable frame to which the lower part b of the two-part trolley-arm B is fulcrumed at b This frame may be of any suitable or preferred construction and contain any number of suitable springs or devices to hold the arm B in positiou to maintain contact between trolley-wheel e and feed-Wiref. In the pres ent instance, and as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a spring 8 is mounted between the cross-bar a of the frame a and a cross-head a slidingly mounted onv the Ways of the frame a The cross-head a is connected to the lower forked extremity b of thetrolley-arm .Bby the link of, so that when the trolleysarm B is more or less inclined to the horizontal, the spring sis more or less compressed and tendsto elevate the upper or free end of the arm B, as will be readily understood.

The trolley-arm B comprises the lower part b, having the bifurcated extremity b and the upper part of extension I), which is hinged ICO and jointed to the lower part b to form a kneejoint- 17 for a purpose to be presently described.

To the rear side of the upper part or extension b of the arm B is secured one end of a spring 3', which, with its other end, is attached near the knee-jointb to an arm 19 of the lower part b of the arm B. On the opposite or front side of the upper part b and near the top end thereof is fastened one end of a chain, cord, or other link Z, whose other end is secured to a cross-bar 0/. of the frame a Figs. 1, 2, and 3, so that the upper part or extension I) of the arm 13 is at all times maintained in substantially the same inclination, while the inclination of the part b of the arm B may range from the horizontal to almost the vertical.

The advantages of the arrangement are apparent when guards, guides, or other devices mounted on the trolley-arm are employed to insure constant contact of trolley-wheel with feed-wire, because if such guards are not kept in the same relative position to the feedwire in all positions of the trolley-arm they will be entirely useless, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

The upper part or extension I) of the arm B is hollow and formed at its uppermost end into a forked guideway 11 having slots b Figs. 4, 5, and 6.

Within the forked guideway b and extending into the hollow upper part or extension I) of the arm B is contained a sliding fork c, in which the trolley-wheel e is journaled by means of the shaft or arbor o. This arbor c is extended beyond each side of the fork c and guideway b and engages with its offset ends the slots b of the guideway b, for a purpose to be described.

At each sideof the guideway b is provided a stud h to which a lever it, having a slot h at one end, is pivoted. Adjacent to the sloth of each lever 71. is a bearing in which the outer ends of the arbor c are journaled, so that when the trolley-wheel e is forced or permitted to be thrown upward it oscillates the levers 72 about the slotted connection 5 h. On the free extremity of each lever h is hinged a guard g, which is provided with a pin 9', bearing-a-gainst the under side of the lever h, to

i prevent a swinging motion in one direction end of the lever h, to maintain the pin g incontact with the lever h, or, in other words, to

spring 3 placed around the stem 0 of the sliding fork c and-inside the bore 11 of the part b. The spring 8 is of such strength as to readily and quickly force the sliding fork c outward and the trolley-wheel 6 against the feed-wire .f as soon as the pressure with which the wheel 6 is forced against the feed-wire is smaller than the tension of the spring 8 It follows, therefore, that as soon as the wheel 12 tends to leave the wiref, through shock, jarring, swaying up and down of the wire, 850., the spring 3 forces the sliding fork c and with it the wheel 6 outward and into normal operative position with the wiref. The levers h by the upward movement of the sliding fork c and wheel 8 are oscillated about the studs b and force the guards g upward, as shown in full lines in Fig. 4. In this position the guards 9 allow the feed-wire f considerable sway sidewise as well as in vertical direction, and it is almost impossible for the feed-wire fto leave the guards g. Should the guards, or only one of them, in the running of the car strike against a cross-wire or any other obstacle or means which are necessary to hold the feed-wire f in position, they or it will easily swing backward about its pivot, as shown at y in dotted lines, and regain its former position quickly by the action of the spring 8 If the springs in the frame a has again brought the wheel 6 into proper contact with the feed-wirefand applied a pressure upon the wheel 6 to counteract the spring 5 by which the stem 6 of the sliding fork c is depressed into the bore b the levers 7r and guards g are also depressed and occupy a position as shown in dotted lines at as, Fig. 4. Should the trolley-wheel 6, however, leave the feed-wire f entirely the guards g are then thrown in position, as shown in full lines, Fig. 4, and act as a wire-finder. In such a case the trolley-arm B is operated by the rope r, and the guards g being inclined and curved from the wheel 6 outwardly, Fig. 5, serve to guide the feed-wire between them and onto the wheel 6, as will be readily understood.

It may be remarked that as each of the guards g is separately pivoted to a lever the trolley will be securely guided and guarded on curved roads, because the feed-wire is held only by cross wires or guys located 011 the outer side of the curve, and the trolley-wheel e, tending to jump to the outer side, is prevented by the guard g running continuously on the inner side of the curved wiref, while the other guard g on the other side of the curve passes under all the cross wires or guys with which it may come into contact.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A trolley-arm comprising two parts hinged together, the lower part fulcrumed to a swivel-shoe containing springs for the eleva'tion of the free or upper extremity of the two-part arm, a trolley and guards operatively mounted in the upper part of the trolbackstop for the guard, and

ley arm, a chain fastened with one end to the swivel shoe and with the other to the upper extremity of the upper part of the trolley arm, and aspring between the two parts forn1- ing the trolley-arm, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

2. A trolley-arm composed of two parts hinged together, the lower part fulcrumed to-- a swivel" shoe having devices fol-elevating the free end of the trolley-arm the upper hinged part of said .arui adapted to support a trolley-wheel, a spring between said parts constituting the trolley-armand a cord or chainattached to the upper part of the trolley-arm andthe said shoe, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. a

3. In a' trolley-arm the combinationwith a.

two-part arm, of a hollow forked guide-way formed on the upperof said parts, a slidingfork mounted in said hollow guide-way, a.trol-- ley-wheel journaled on an arbor of said sliding-fork, a spring for forcing the sliding-fork and trolley-wheel outwardly, a lever hinged to each side of the guideway by a slotted connection and pivoted to extensions of the said arbon'a wire guard pivoted to the free end of the said lever, a pin or projection on said guard to contact with the said lever to form a spring interposed between the said back-stop and the hinged end of the said lever, substantially as v and for the purposes set forth. 5

t. In a trolley-support the combination with a two-part arm, of a' gnide-wayformed in the with a two-part arm, of a guide-Way formedin the upper part of said arm,a trolley-wheel journaled to an arbor slidingly mounted in said guide-way a lever pivoted to each' end of saidarbor and hinged bya slot-ted connection to opposite sides of the guide-way, and a resilient wire-guard or wire-finder pivoted to the free end of said lever, substantially as and forthe purposesset forth.

-6. In a trolley-support the combination of an arm fulcrumed to a swivel bed,means for holding the free end thereof in an elevated position, an extension'or upper portion hinged to the free and upper extremity of the said arm and provided with a guideway, a. chain or cord secured to the swivel bed and the up per end of the said extension, a spring between said arm and extension tending to keep both iu'axial line, a sliding fork mounted in said guide-way, means for forcing the said fork out of the guideway, a trolley-wheel journaled on an arbor of the said-fork,'a lever pivoted tofeach end 'on'thesaid arbor and hinged by a slotted connection to. opposite sides-of the, guide-way, a curved wire-guard pivoted to each of the said levers, a back-stop for each of said guards and aspring between each guard and -1ever,-substantially as and for the purposes set forth. 3

v 'Z. In a trolley-support the combination ofan arm f uloru med to a bed, means for holding the free end thereof 'inan elevated position, an extension hinged to. the upper end of said arm and havinga guide-way, a chain or cord secured to the said bed and the upper end of said extensionymeahs attached to the said arm and said extension tending to force the same into axial'line, a trolley-whee jonrnaled on an-arbor sliding-ly mounted in said guide Way, a leverpivoted to each end of said arbor and hinged to opposite sides of the guide-way,

a curved guard, having a back-stop ,pivoted 1 to-the' said lever and asp'ring for normally holding the guard inaXial-line with the said lever, substantially as and for the purposes set,forth.' r

8. In a trolley-snpport, the combiuation of atrolley wheel journaled on an arbor slidingly mounted in a guide-way formed in an extension'pivotedto' a trolley-arm, levers pivoted to said arbor and hinged to opposite sides of the said guide-way, guards having back-stops pivotally secured to said 1 levers and adapted to be brought into operative position when" the arbor and wheel are forced outwardly, and springs to keep the said guards in normal position with the said levers, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have'hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK w ines.

Witnesses:

HERMALNN BORMANN, 0. 'BORMANN.