US560513A - Robert lundell - Google Patents

Description

(No Moel.)

R. LUNDELL lVELMTRIJ RAILWAY.

Patened May `19; 17896.

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@mi/meow@ AN DREW B.GRANAM PHOTOUTHD. WASHINGTUNJJ C Nirnn STATES ROBERT LUNDELL, OF BROOKLYN, yNEV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE .JOHNSON- LUNDELL .ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,513, dated May 19, 1896. Aimplication filed December 6, 1895. Serial No. 571,217. (No model.l

T0 tZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known -that I, ROBERT LUNDELL, a citizen of the United States,residin g at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have made a new and useful Invention in Electric Railways, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that type of electric railways in which the propelling-current is taken from sectional trolley-conductors automatically connected to a main-supply conductor by the presence of a motor-car and again disconnected therefrom as the car passes on its journey, and is particularly directed to improvements upon an invention disclosed in a prior patent granted to me on the 10th day of December, 1805, and numbered 551,334.

My invention has for its objects, first, the rendering of the operation of such a system absolutely safe as regards disconnecting the sectional conductors from the main-supply conductor after a car or train has passed, and, second, the reliability of current supply when such is required to propel the car or train, and particularly the certainty of not losing the propelling-current when running at very high speeds in either direction upon the same track. These objects are accomplished by the apparatus hereinafter described,the novel and essential features being particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Referring to the drawings, Figure lis a diagrammatic view illustrating a section of a sin gle-track street-railway, eight sectional trolley or service conductors arranged in two rows parallel to a current main or supply conductor, electromagnetic switching devices and circuit connections between the sectional conductors, the switches, the main-supply conductor and the rails or return-conductor; also a diagrammatic View of a street-car, showing current-collecting devices, car-wheels, a motor, a battery, a switch, circuit connections from the current-collecting devices to the switch, the battery, and the motor, and circuit connection from the negative end of the battery to the car-axle or return-conductor. i Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic View illustrating a section of a single-track trunk-line railway equipped and operated upon the same generic principle ,as the street-railway, but differing therefromvin some important details regarding the length and location of the sectional 55 trolley-conductors, the size and, capacity of the battery and the circuit connections appertaining thereto.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, and first to Fig. l, FW represents a currentfeeder or main-supply conductor and F10 F102 F103 F104 branch feeders therefrom leading into switch-boxes (not shown on the diagram) and to non-fusible fixed contact-points Z, Z2, Z4, and Z6. All of these yconductors and parts should be extremely well insulated, inasmuch as they are alive at all times. The opposite ,contact-points Z Z3 Z5 Z'7 are connected through wires 10', 103, 105, and 107 to sectional trolleyconductors Sc', S03, Sci, and Sc?, all of which are only successively made alive when current is required to propel the car.

S02, S04, S06, and Scsare additional sectional trolley-conductors, connected by wires 102,104, 10, and 108 through low-resistance magnetcoils to the track-rails or return-conductors R and R', the arrangement being such that the magnet-coils of adjacent switch-magnets are interconnected by means of the circuits leading from each sectional trolley-conductor S02 S04, &c., to the track-rails. These interconnections serve to make the sectional conductors or rails Sc', S03, S05, and S07 alive before theyare reached by the traveling contact-shoe S, no matter in which way the car 85 be going, the importance of which will be understood by the description of operation which follows.

The contact-shoes S and S2, carried by the car, are of such length that they will bridge the spaces between two sectional conductors or rails. The contact-shoe S is connected by means of wire 10 to the lever of a switch S10, which when closed completes connection through wire 1011 to the positive pole of a battery B and through wirey 1010 to motor M, as shown. The other terminal of the motor is v connected through conductor 1012 to contactshoe S2, and the negative pole of the battery B is connected through wire 1013 directly to the car-axle and return-conductors R and R.

The operation of the apparatus shown in IOO Fig. l is as follows: Suppose that all the electromagnetic switches are open and that the motorman is just closing the switch Sie. A current will then flow from the positive pole of the battery through wire iu to switch Sw, through resistances and conductor w10, through the motor M and wire 1012 to eontactshoe S2 and hence to sectional trolley-conductor Sc, thence by wire wl through a coil around the switch-magnet M2 and also through a coil around switch-magnet M3, energizing these two magnets, and finally to track-rails R and R', car-wheels, and negative pole of the battery. The instant this current begins to flow and before the car has had time to start the switch-levers p2 and p2 will close connection between the branch feeders F202 F102 and the sectional trolley-conductors Sc3 and Ses, as shown in the drawings. Owing to the dominating electromotive force of the current feeder or main the current will now flow as follows: From current feeder or main FWr to branch feeder F102, through switclbcontaets Z2 and Z2 and wire uf to sectional trolley-conductor SC3, hence to contactshoe S and through wire 709 to switch Sw, where the curr'ent divides into two parallel circuits, one flowing through wire `w to the battery B (charging 111e same) and thence through wirew13 to caraxle and returneonductor, the other circuit being by wire wl", through the motor M, conductor 11712, contactshoe S2, sectional conductor Se", wire "uit, and through the coils of magnets M2 and M:3 in the same direction as before to track-rails R R or return-conductor. It will thus be seen that the coils of the magnets M2 and M3 are in series with the motor M and that in consequence the switch-levers p2 and p3 will remain closed as long` as the propelling-eurrent flows through conductor u'f. If the ear be moving from right to left, it will be evident at a glance that the sectional conductors Sci' and S07 are made alive in advance of the contact-shoe S; but it remains to be seen if this holds true when running in the opposite direction. Suppose the car starts from the position shown and moves to the right instead of to the left. All connections will then remain undisturbed as long as the contact-shoe S2 is still upon the sectional conductor Sci; but when the shoe S2 closes contact with sectional conductor SC2 an d finally breaks contact at Se4 the propelling-current will simply be shifted from wire ywt to wire m2. This, however, energizes magnet Ml instead of magnet M2, and magnet M2 remains undisturbed, leaving the branch feeder F202 in connection with Sci. As the shoe S' now approaches sectional conductor Sc', the lever p will have closed connection between the branch feeder Fw" and the sectional conductor Sc', thus illustrating that the system of interconnections between switch-magnets is adapted to work both ways.

Upon studying the diagram in Fig. l it will be understood that the maximum time allowed for each magnet to close is equal to the time the car takes to travel the distance between the sectional conductors SC2 and Sc. It will also be noted that the high-potential sectional conductors Sc', S03, Sc, and Scl are in direct connection with the contacts l', Z3, Z7, and I7 in the switclrboxes without any of the coils around the magnets being included in circuit, so that in case the insulation of one of these sectional conductors should become impaired, the leakage-current cannot hold the magnet closed and therefore cannot keep the conductor alive after the car has passed.

In the street-railway system just described the potential difference between the feeder and track-rails has been supposed to be abou t live hundred volts, The sectional conductors are placed in the road-bed with their upper eontactsurfaces slightly higher than the pavement and as well insulated as practica ble from the ground. To minimize leakage in wet weather they are iliade as short as possible, and to prevent any sectional conductor from bein g alive in front or after the ear they are placed at such distances apart that the platforms of the car will safely cover both the conductor which is doing service and the one which is made ready for service. The battery is supposed to be of an electromotive force amn'oxin'iating that of the line, so that it will always be fully charged and ready to do service when called upon. It may also be of such capacity as to be able to propel the car for short distances across turnouts, crossings, switches, ibc., where the electric equipment of the road-bed would present natural difficulties. The battery will thus propel the car independently of the station-current by closing the switch S u' and also another switch, (not shown in the drawings,) which switch will close a connection between wires `w32 and irl and which may also be so arranged that it will break connection between switch Suf and the contact-shoe S.

Upon examination of Fi g. 2 it will be noted that the sectionalconductors or rails are made much longer and that the conductors or rails Sc2, Sci, and Se are placed on the outside of the traek-rails, the object of so placing being to obtain additional safety against leakage from the highpotential rails Sc Sci" Sci. These rails are to be supported on good insulators, which in turn are supported on the cross-ties. Suppose, for illustration, that the dilference of potential between feeder and return rails is one thousand volts and that the locomotive shown in diagram capable of exerting a maximum power of one thousand horse-power 0r seven hundred and fifty kilowatts. Under these conditions it would of course be absurd to employ a battery to move the train. The battery in this case is there fore of a capacity sufficient to close the electromagnetic switching devices andv to keep the same closed in case the locomotive should happen to take an unusually small current. The arrangement of circuit connections is, however, su eh that after the original closing IOO TIO

the main current operates the electromagnetic switches and at the same time charges the battery.

The operation is as follows: Suppose the locomotive is at rest and that all the switches are open. Upon closing the switch Sw a current will flow from the positive pole of battery B through wire w11 to switch Sw, hence by wire w12, contact-shoe S2 to sectional conductor or rail S04, by conductor wel through a coil of magnet M2, and also through a coil of magnet M2, and nally by track-rails, car-axle, wire w12 to the negative pole of the battery. The magnets M2 and M3 are now energized and levers p2 and p2 have established connection between the branch feeders Fw2 FwS and the sectional conductors or rails S03 S05, as shown in the drawings. The current now iiows as follows: From branch feeder Fw3 by wire ws, sectional conductor or rail S05, contact-shoe S', wire wg, through the motors M, by wire w10, through starting resistances and switch Sw, where it divides itself, one part of the current flowing by way of wire w12 to shoe S2, sectional rail S04, wire wt, around both magnet-coils, as at the instant before, and, iinally, to track-rails R and R back to the generating-station. The other part of the current tlows by wire w11 through the battery B, charging the same, and by wire w13 to caraXle CNV and track-rails. To fully appreciate the automatic charge or discharge of the battery, as the case may be, it will be necessary to illustrate the operation with a few iigures. Suppose the battery B consists of five cells of large ampere capacity. The electromotive force of discharge will then be about ten volts, whereas the counter electromotive force at charging will be about 5 2.5:l2.5 volts. Assume the sum of all the resistances included in the circuit w12, contact-shoe S2, sectional conductor or rail S04, wire w4, two electromagnetic-coils M2 M3 to the negative pole of the battery B to be .05 ohms. Upon closing the switch, the battery will then send a current of 1%; 200 amperes through this circuit.

In case the current from the main-supply conductor iiowing through the motors and starting the same should happen to be two hundred amperes, no current will flow through the battery, nor will any appreciable amount of current tlow through the same until the current has increased to two hundred and fifty amperes when the electromotive force at the battery-terminals has risen to 12.5 volts; but if the motors should take about iive hundred amperes about half of this current will flow through the battery, charging the same. At the same time, if the train should run down a grade and happen to take so small a current that there is danger of not having suficient number of ampereturns around the magnets to keep them properly energized, then the battery will at once make up the difference between two hundred amperes and the current taken by the motors.

To illustrate the importance of the interconnections between the magnets, let us assume that the locomotive shown in Fig. 2 is moving from left to right at a speed of sixty miles perhour, or eighty-eight feet per second.

As the shoe S is traveling over the sectional conductor or rail S05 and shoe S2 is leaving sectional conductor or rail S06 and commencing to travel upon conductor or rail S04, the current is shifted from wire w6 to wire w4 and the magnet M2 is in condition to close its switching-leverp2; but when the shoe S leaves rail S05 the magnet M2 must be closed and conductor or rail S03 must be alive or the propelling-current would be broken at the end of rail S05. N ow, if the magnets are made to safely close in one-half a second, it follows that the distance D (see Fig. 2) must be about forty-four feet. Should the train move at still greater speeds, it will be necessary either to construct electromagnets that will operate in less than one-half second or to make the sectional rails longer, or to increase the length of the contact-shoes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. In an electric railway a system of permanent or continuous interconnections between electromagnetic switches and sectional trolleyconductors, the arrangement being such that each electromagnetic switch is given a certain time allowance to close before it is called upon to transmit the propelling-current no matter which way the car or train be moving.

2. The combination of switchoperating electromagnets with two sets of sectional trolley-conductors, the coils of said magnets being permanently in circuit between one set offsaid sectional conductors and the ground or return conductor and when energized included in series with the motor; the other set of said section al conductors being temporarily connected to a current feeder or main directly through the switch-contacts while a car is passing and wholly disconnected from the switch-operating magnets after the car has passed.

3. In an electric-railway system a current feeder or main, a series of sectional trolley-conductors, electromagnetic switches for connecting said sectional conductors to the current feeder or main in sequence asaJ car or vehicle moves over them in either direction, a battery and a motor carried by the car for operating the sWitch-electromagnets and propelling the car; said electromagnets being permanently or continuously interconnected in series relation so as to connect up the sectional conductors to the feeder before the propellingcurrent is connected in circuit with the motor, substantially as described.

4f. In an electric-railway system a current feeder or main, a series of sectional trolleyconductors, electromagnetic switches for connecting said sectional conductors to the cur- IOO IIO

conductors, permanently or continuously intereonneetedA electromagnetic switching' devices in combination with a return conductor or rail located between said rows of sectional trolley-conduetors7 substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed lny name this 1-th day of December, 1895.

ROl-EERT LUNDELT..

fitnessem C. J. KIN'rNEI-z, M. M. ROBINSON.

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