US631854A - Trolley-pole retriever. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Aug. 29, I899. D. E. LESSER.

TROLLEY POLE RETRIEVER.

(Application filed June 15, 1898.

{No Model.)

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DANIEL E. LESSER, OF WARREN, PENN SYLVANI A, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO PHILLIP G. WHEELER, OF SAME PLACE.

I'TROLLEY-POLE RETRIEVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 631,854, dated August 29, 1899.

Application filed June 15, 1898. Serial No. 683,489. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: ment of an overhead electric conductor; 3,

Be it known that I, DANIEL E. LESSER, a the trolley-pole, which is mounted in an orcitizen of the United States, residing at l/Vardinary Way on the car and is combined with ren, in the county of Warren and State of springs which tend to normally force said pole 5 Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usein an upward direction, and 4 is the trolleyful Trolley-Pole Retriever for Electric-Railwheel, which is mounted in the pole 3 to have way Cars, of which the following is a specifiunderrunning contact with the elevated concation. ductor. All these parts are ordinary in the My invention relates to means for retrievart, and with the pole I have combined a re- 1o ing the trolley-pole of electric-railway cars trieving device which tends to counteract the which commonly employa trolley having unsudden upward movement of the pole under derrunning contact with an overhead electhe influence of the springs when the trolley tric conductor and normally pressed upward slips oif the conductor due to the obstruction by a spring which when the trolley slips off offered by the switches, turnouts, crossings, 15 the conductor by crossing switches or splices or splices in the conductor.

in the wire throws the pole to a position where In the practical service of ordinary electricthe trolley or the pole or the cross-wires which railway cars it is found that the cross-wires support the conductor are liable to be broken, which support the feed-conductor are liable particularlywhen the car is running at a comto be broken by the pole or trolley striking 7o 20 paratively high speed. against the cross-wires when the trolley slips The object that I have in view is to provide off the conductor, especially when the car is a simple and inexpensive construction em traveling at a comparatively high speed, and bracing a few parts which shall present a neat frequently the trolley-wheel or the pole beappearance on the car, secure precision and come broken, as well as the cross supporting- 2 5 certainty of operation, and amplifythe extent wires. The aim of my invention is to proof vertical play of the pole cord or cable to vide a simple and inexpensive device for rerender the trolley adaptable to overhead contrieving the pole and trolley in the event of ductors which may be atvariable distances disengagement of the trolley from the confrom the track or the car adapted thereto. I ductor, and this retrieving mechanism emo WVith these ends in View my invention conbodies a drop-weight which is normally held sists in the peculiar construction andarrangeinactive by a trip-pawl that is automatically ment of parts, which will be hereinafter fully disengaged from the drop-weight on the updescribed and claimed. ward movement of the trolley-pole, thereby To enable others to understand the invenreleasing the drop-weight and permitting it 3 5 tion, Ihave illustrated the same in the accomto counteract the upward pressure of the panying drawings,forming apart of this specisprings acting against the trolley-pole. fication, and in which- My improved retriever is illustrated more Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of an particularly by Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, electric-railway car equipped with an underattention to which is now invited. This re- 4o running-trolley for contact with an overhead triever consists in part of a Vertical hollow conductor and showing my retrieving device guide-standard 6,which is externally threaded in operative relation to the car and pole. Fig. at its lower end for the purpose of screwing 2 is an elevation, on an enlarged scale, of the it into a threaded socket of a foot-block 7. retrieving device. Fig. 3 is a vertical sec- This foot-block maybe fastened on a car not 5 5 tional view of the device shown by Fig. 2. having a bumper by bolts 8, adapted to pass Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the plane inthrough a flange of the foot-block and into a dicated by the dotted line 4 4 of Fig. 3. part of the car; butI do not desire to restrict Like numerals of reference denote like and myself to fastening the guide-standard to the corresponding parts in each of the several foot-block, because it may be attached to the I00 50 figures of the drawings. car-bumper, or it may be applied against one 1 designates a portion of a car; 2, the fragside or end of the car-body, for which lastof said dog is weighted, as at 21, to throw its named purpose the hollow standard may be formed with a longitudinal flattened side 9. (See Fig. 4.) This construction of the standard provides for the firm and secure application thereof to the end of a car substantially below the roof or deck thereof, and the standard may be bolted firmly to the car to occupy the position shown by Fig. 1. The upper open end of the hollow standard is externally threaded forthe reception of a flanged inter,- nally-threaded cap 10, which is screwed to the upper end of the standard for the purpose of excluding rain and dust from entering the standard and interfering with the free sliding movement of the drop-weight therein. This cap is detachable readily from the hollow standard 'for access to the drop-weight.

The drop-weight 11 is elongated and of sufficient heaviness or ponderosity to counteract the springs that normally elevate the trolleypole for the trolley-wheel to have contactwith the conductor, and this elongated drop weight is provided with a laterally-extending arm 12, to which is connected a cable or cord 13, providedfor the adjustment and control of the trolley-pole.

The arm 12 is secured rigidly to the dropweight, and it passes through a longitudinal slot 14, which is formed in one side of the hollow guide-spindle, said slot being of sufficient length to insure the necessary vertical play of the drop-weight. The arm 12 is thus arranged to protrude and be exposed outside of the standard, thus enabling the operating cable or cord to be readily attached thereto, and this arm serves as a guide to direct the drop-weight in its vertical travel and present the notch 15 of the drop-weight in proper position for engagement by the holding-dog. The notch 15 is formed in the side of the dropweight opposite to the slot 14 in the guidestandard,and this notch has an inclined face which terminates in an abrupt shoulder 16, that lies at right angles to the longitudinal axis of said weight 11.

The dog 18 is arranged exteriorly on the guide-standard,and it is supported bya clamp or band 19. This band is fitted around the guide-standard at or above the upper terminal of the slot 14 therein, and this band or clamp has its ends extended to form short arms, between which the holding-dogis adjusted and that receive the pivotal bolt 20,which supports the dog in the clamp, or band. The dogis pivotally mounted at a point intermediate of its length in the band or clamp,and the lower end nose 22 away from the notched face of the drop-weight when the dog is released therefrom. The nose 22 of the dog is adapted to pass through a short slot 17, which is formed in the standard 6 diametrically opposite to the longitudinal slot 14. therein, and when the drop-Weight is elevated to bring the notch 15 opposite to or coincident with the slot 17 of the standard the weighted end of the dog may be drawn outwardly by hand to force the nose 22 through the slot 17 andinto the notch 15 for said nose to engage with the shoulder 16, thereby operatively connecting the counterbalanced dog with the drop-weight to sustain the latter in its raised position.

The operating cable or cord13 may be fastened securely to the protruding end of the arm 12 and the drop-weight; but to enable the retrieving device to afiord greater amplitude in the vertical adjustment of the trolley-pole, and thus adapt the latter to support the trolley wheel in operative relation to overhead cond uctors which may lie at variable distances from the track, I prefer to employ the guide-sheave 23 in connection with a cord or cable which passes under the guidesheave and is extended upwardly to the cap 10 or the upper end of the hollow standard. This guide-sheave 23 is mounted in a suitable Way on the protruding end of the drop-weight arm 12, and the cord or cable 13 is extended beneath the guide-sheave and is fastened, as at 24, tovthe cap 10 on the upper part of the standard 6. The employment of this guidesheave enables a longer cable or cord 13 to be used than when said cable or cord is attached directly to the arm 12.

In the practical service of my improvement in connection with an electric-railway car the hollow standard 6 is secured in a vertical position either to the end or to one side of the car, and the cable 13 is attached to the trolley-pole and suitably connected either to the drop-weight arm 12 or fitted beneath the guide-sheave 13 on the said arm. To adjust the retriever for service, the cord is manipulated by hand to elevate the drop-weight until the notch 15 thereof is coincident with the short slot 17 of the standard, and the holding-dog is then adjusted by hand for its nose to engage the shoulder 16. There is a permanent allowance for abundant slack in the cable 13 between its attachment to its arm 12 in the trolley-pole for the latter to have a limited vertical play without aifecting the drop-weight. In the event of the trolley-wheel slipping off the overhead conductor the springs tend to quickly elevate the pole and trolley to a vertical position; but this sudden upward movement of the trolley-pole strains the cable or cord 13 in an upward direction, thus raising the drop-weight sufficiently for the nose of the holding-dog to disengage with the shoulder 16, whereupon the weighted end of the dog retracts the nose thereof from the slot 17 of the hollow standard. The drop-weight is now free to descend in the hollow standard, and it is of sufficient weight to counteract the impelling force of the springs which control the trolley-pole,thereby positively depressing the trolley-pole and the trolley-Wheel and holding the parts out of the path of the cross-wires V be limited to the precise, form of all the parts from thence attached to a trolley-pole to provide a permanent allowance of slack, a supporting-band clamped to the standard, and a balanced detent pivoted in said band for its nose to play in the short standard-slot and engage with the shouldered weight, substantially as described. 7

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

DANIELE. LESSER.

Witnesses:

JNo. A. HAWKE, O. H. MEACHAM.

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