US674110A

US674110A - Electric-railway system.

Info

Publication number: US674110A
Application number: US4628801A
Authority: US
Inventors: Benjamin W Tucker
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1901-02-07
Filing date: 1901-02-07
Publication date: 1901-05-14
Anticipated expiration: 1918-05-14

Description

No. 674,I|0. Patented May I4, I90I. s. w. rucKIER. ELECTRIC, RAILWAY SYSTEM. (Appn con med re'b 7 1901 3 Sheets-Sheet l.

(No Modal.)

No. 674,0. Patented May i4, I90l- B. W. TUCKER.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

(Application filed Feb. '1, 1901.)

(No Model.)v 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' |NVENT0R e/ya//zUzWIac/ier Il t ATTORNEY No. 674,IIO. Patented May I4, I90l.

B. W. TUIIKEI.

' ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(Application led Feb. 7, 1901.) (un Model.)

wlTlNEssEs: |NVENTOR m e/g/allzZ/z/laief BY O d@ u 'l j ATTORNEY www( UNIT-ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN W. TUCKER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.`

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 674,110, dated May 14, 1901.

Application filed February 7, 1901. Serial No'. 46,288. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, BENJAMIN W. TUCKER, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Railway Systems, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to certain improvements in electric traction systems, and more particularly to improvements in electric rails. The object of the invention is to provide an eiiicient electric rail adapted to embody within itself the supply and return conductors of the railway system, so that the car-motor receives its power current from the electric rail, and the return from the car-motor is also made through the electric rail, thereby avoiding the employment of the track-rails for the return, with the objectionable bonding incident to such use.

The invention consists in certain novel featicularly pointed out. and described herein-` after.

tions within the spirit and scopeof my invention,`Figure l is a plan view of a railroad track provided with one form of my electric rail.

contacts, and car-motor being shown diagrammatically. sectional view of the electric rail shown in Fig. 2. Fig-4 is a perspective view showing a part of a railroad-track .provided withanother form of electric rail within the spirit and scope of my invention, the yarrangement of car-magnet and conduits being shown diagrammatically.` Fig. l5 is a' cross-sectional view through thetrack and electric rail of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the electric rail shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a top plan View of another'form of electric rail, and'Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the rail shown in Fig. 7.

The electric vrail is secured, preferably, to the track-supports, such as cross-ties a, to which the track-rails b are secured. The electric rail is formed of a body composed 0f Referring to the accompanying drawings, which show several (among oth ers) construc- Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view through the track and electric rail, the power-genera i tor of the system, the car-magnet, the car-l Fig. 3 is an 'enlarged crossnon-conducting and non-magnetizable material having two'parallel separate top conduits c and c', closed and sealed, respectively, by

exposed sectional normally dead conductors d and CZ', located over the two separatemovable line-wires e and e', respectively,located in said conduits and electrically connected, respectively, with the positive and negative poles of the power-generator P G of the system and forming the supply and return conl ductors embedded within the electric rail.

` In Fig. 2 acar-'magnetf is shown of a sufiicient size and power to elevate both linewires'e and e into electrical contact with their respective exposed conductors'd and d-r Where such' a sinl ries contactsf andf2, traveling in engage `ment with the exposed conductors d and d', respectively, so that a contact f conducts the posed eonductord', from which it passesl to the return line-wire ef. V

vpower-current from ,the exposed conductor d, from which the power-current is conveyed to] 'the car-motor C M, the return therefrom belingmade through the contact f2 to 'the exi- If desired, a double magnet/can be'carried l kby the canas shown in Fig.`4, with its poles located over the exposed conductors d and d',

respectively. K

Any suitable arrangement of car magnet or magnets and of car-contacts .can be provided. Separate'rollers or trolley-wheels can be provided, arranged in different transverse planes, to travel on the exposed conductors of the electric rail, and, if desired, separatemag-` nets can be provided for the separate exposed conductors, and said magnets can be located in different transverse planes, so that a live will be always opposite a deadv section of the other exposed conductor.

The electric rail shown on the first sheet of the drawings is composed of a number of longitudinal sections of proper insulating material-such, for instance, as wood. Two wooden sections or stringers c2 and cs are provided in which the topk grooves are formed to receive the respective line-wires. Preferably porce- IOO sys

lain or ceramic troughs O, in sections of convenient length, will be inserted into and somewhat snugly fit the aforesaid top grooves to directly receive the line-wires, said troughs being open at the top and of substantially U shape, as illustrated. Each wooden section or body is closed at the top by its exposed sectional conductor, which is preferably in the form of an inverted-U-shaped channel-bar, fitting down on the top of the rail-body and extending down at the sides thereof. These bars are formed in short sections thoroughly insulated from each other by a suitable insulating material interposed between their ends. The two rail-bodies thus described, with their conduits, line-wires, and exposed conductors, are preferably parallel and laid side by side and secured together. The two rail-bodies are separated from each other and are clamped to the interposed insulating-strip c4, which is also preferably of wood and usually forms the central section of the completed electric rail and insulates the exposed sectional conductors from each other and extends from the cross-ties to the top surface ofthe electric rail, as shown in Fig. 3.

This central section c1 is usually recessed or rabbeted alongits sides to receive the inclined depending iianges of the two exposed cond uctors, so as to interlock with said exposed conductors d d' and hold the same down in place when the parts of the electric rail are locked together, and is also so formed as to receive a portion of the downthrust of the exposed conductors. At the outer sides of the said rail-bodies c2 and c3 I also locate insulating vlongitudinal strips, preferably of wood, c5 and c6. These strips are rabbeted or recessed at their inner faces to lit and receive the outer flanges of the exposed conductors and to interlock therewith and hold said conductors down on the rail. If desired, the said side strips c5 and c6 can be faced by angle-bars c7, having outturned bottom flanges resting on the cross-ties and receiving the heads of the spikes cs, by which the electric rail can be secured in position on the cross-ties.

I show the longitudinal sections of the electric rail rigidly clamped together by crossbolts o, passed through the parts and entirely insulated from the line-wires and exposed conductors and having end nuts at the outer faces of the angle-bars.

The line-wires e and e are composed of magnetizable material, and for this purpose I have found it advantageous to employ stiff iron wires. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that as the car-magnet passes along these iron wires will be drawn up into electrical engagement with the sections of their respective exposed sectional conductors successively and that all exposed portions of the electric rail will be dead electrically except the exposed sections immediately under the motor-car and covered and protected thereby.

The top face of the electric rail is preferably rounded transversely, about as shown.

The electric two-wire rail shown on the second sheet of the drawings illustrates the grooved rail-bodies divided centrally and longitudinally through the wire-conduit. The lower portion of each body is formed with a longitudinal passage 7i, in which one or more main feed-wires h can be placed. Suitable lateral feed branches connect the feeders and the line-wires at intervals. The two sections of each rail-body are shown set in and held together at the bottom by channel-bars h2. The longitudinal sections of the rail are otherwise formed and clamped together, as hereinbefore described.

If desired, the sectional exposed cond uctors can have lateral edge flanges cl3, projecting into the side and intermediate pieces, and thus distributing the downthrust on the various sections of the rail.

The electric rail shown in Figs. 7 and 8 consists of two non-conducting and non-magnetizable rail-bodiesvli, arranged parallel and close together on the cross-ties. Each railbody contains a movable line-wire, as heretofore described, one of which forms the positive and the other the return connection. The rail-bodies also have the exposed sectional conductors, as before described. Each exposed conductor fits the top of the railbody and depends at the sides thereof and differs in form and shape from those heretofore described. 'lhe rail-bodies are locked down to the cross-ties, and the exposed conductors are locked to the rail-bodies by suitable means. Forinstance, I show rail chairs or braces F at intervals along the same and secured to the cross-ties with wedge-shaped clamping and insulating blocks F', interposed between their upright portions and the outer sides of the double electric rail. When the chairs are spiked down, their upper portions thus cause the wedge-blocks to grip the railbodies and exposed conductor. Suitable spacing means are interposed between the railbodies, as in the constructions heretofore described, in the formation of the complete twowire electric rail. For instance, I show the interposed double chairs F2 spiked down to the cross-ties between the two rail-bodies of the complete rail and having the insulating blocks F between the upright portions thereof and the inner faces of the railbodies and their exposed conductors and locking the same, as described in connection with chairs F. The two parallel closely-arranged exposed conductors are thus separated by the necessary open space which can be filled with insulating material. The longitudinal raised portions of the two exposed conductors can be utilized to hold the car-contacts against lateral play and to guide and con fine the saine to the conductors.

In all of the figures of the drawings the upper longitudinal grooves in the rail-bodies are shown as having the non-conducting troughs C to receive the line-wires, (or feeders and lines-wires, if preferred,) and While I prefer too IIO

the employment of the trough C, I do not wish to limit the invention to their employment, since the rail-bodies are themselves non-conducting and may be formed of any suitable substance.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An electric-rail structure comprising the parallel rail-bodies each having a longitudinal groove or conduit in its upper portion, the open top ceramic troughs in said grooves or conduits, and the supply and return conductors in said troughs, combined with the normally dead exposed sectional conductors for said bodies, said bodies having downwardly-divergin g side surfaces, and said sectional conductors having downwardly-diverg-- ing longitudinal edge flanges to encompass the upper portions of said bodies; substantially as set forth.

2. An electric-rail structure comprising parallel rail-bodies each having a longitudinal groove or cond uitin its upper portion, and the supply and return conductors in said grooves or conduits, combined with the normally dead exposed conductor sections capping said bodies and having downwardlyextending side or edge flanges inclosing the upper portions of said bodies, the central section c4 between the said rail-bodies and binding against the inwardly-facing sides or flanges of the conductor-sections, strips of material extending longitudinally along the outer sides of said rail-bodies and conductor-sections, and means for holding all of said part-s together to form the rail structure, said central section and said side strips of material being rabbeted to receive and take the downthrust of the depending side flanges of said exposed conductor-sections; substantially as set forth.

3. An electric-rail structure comprising parallel rail-bodies each having a longitudinal groove or conduit in its upper portion, and the -supply and return conductors in said grooves or conduits, combined with the norm ally dead exposed sectional conductors for said bodies, n

said bodies having downwardly-diverging side surfaces, and said sectional conductors or conduits, combined with the normally dead exposed conductorsections capping ,said bodies and having downwardly-extending sides or edge flanges inclosing the upper portions of said bodies, means between the upper portions of the rail-bodies for binding against the inwardly-facing sides or flanges of the conductor-sections, strips of material extending longitudinally along the outer sides of said conductor-sections, metal plates at the outer side of said strips, and means for holding all of said'parts together to form the rail structure; substantially as set forth.

5. An electric-rail structure comprising parallel rail-bodies each having a longitudinal groove or conduit in its upper portion and each comprising the -two longitudinal stringers Whose joint is centrally and longitudinally of the wire-conduit, and the supply and return conductors in said grooves or conduits, combined with the normally dead exposed conductor-sections capping said bodies and having downwardly extending Ysides or edge anges inclosing the upper portions of said bodies, means between the upper portions of the rail-bodies for binding against the inwardly-facing sides or flanges of -the conductor-sections, strips of material extending Vlongitudinally along the outer sides of said conductor-sections, metal plates at the outer side of said strips, and means for holding all of said parts together to form the rail structure; substantially as set forth.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 2d day of February, A. D. 1901.

BENJAMIN w. TUCKER.

Witnesses:

OHAs. C. GILL, GUNDER GUNDERsoN.