US677741A - Means for supporting and manipulating contact-shoes of electrically-propelled railway-cars. - Google Patents

Description

m B .W u d e t n B a s a m K I.- A W E! L & s Q m s A Bu 6 "m M 7 7 6 0 N MEANS FOR SUPPORTING AND MAMPULAHNG CONTACT SHOES 0F ELEGTBICALLY PROPELLED RAILWAY CABS.

(Application filed Feb. 21, 1801) y (lo llodal.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

Rms PETERS ca. momumq. wuummtm o c Patented July 2, I90l. H. c. HASTINGS & L. E. WALKINS. nuns Fun suvron'rma AND MANIPULYATING CONTACT-SHOES or ELECTRIGALLY Pnursuzo RAILWAY cAns.

( Application filed Feb. 21. 1901.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT O. HASTINGS AND LOUIS E. WALKINS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSA- OHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO HENRY A. CHAPIN, OF SAME PLACE.

MEANS FOR SUPPORTING AND MANIPULATING CONTACT-SHOES OF ELECTRlCALLY-PROPELLED RAILWAY- CARS.

SIEGIEIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 677,741, dated July 2, 1901.

Application filed February 21, 1901. Serial No. 48,224. (No model.) I

To to whom it may concern: axle-boxes of a car-truck and of a portion of Be it known that we, HERBERT O. HASTINGS the third rail and the superposed cover thereandLOUISEWALKINS, citizens of the United over and of the supporting-bracket thereof States, residing at Springfield, in the county and the sleeper on which said bracket is supof Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have ported. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of a invented, jointly, new and useful Improvemodified construction of the shoe-supporting ments in Means for Supporting and Manipuarm and its connect-ion for attachment to a lating the Contact-Shoes of Electrically-Procar and illustrates the position of the shoe polled Railway-Oars, of which the following thereon.

1c is a specification- Referring to the drawings, 2 indicates the This invention relates to third-rail railroad bracket forming the support of the third rail systems, and pertains to connections between 4 of the railroad system herein referred to. a car of such a system and the third rail there- Said third rail is shown in position under the 0f, the object being to provide an improved curved extremity of said bracket, and a part I 5 construction of shoe-supporting devices beof said rail is also shown in Fig. 2. 5 inditween said car and the third rail whereby the cates an inverted trough-like covering of sheet manipulation of the shoe for connecting the metal, preferably attached to said bracket 2 same with and disconnecting the shoe from by bolts, as indicated in Fig. 1. In said Fig. the third rail is greatly facilitated and for dis- 1, 7 indicates the usual tie-bar, which extends 2o posing of said shoe and its supporting devices between the pedestals of the axle-boxes 8 of conveniently against the side of the car when a car-truck, and is shown in this figure as not in contact with the third rail; and the inbolted to the lower portion of the axle-box by vention consists in the peculiar construction the requisite number of bolts 9. Hingeand arrangement of the shoe-supporting arm brackets 10 for the shoe-arm carrier 10 are 25 and the connections of the latter carried on bolted by bolts 13 to said tie-bar 7, and said a car and means for locking said arm and carrierlO isattached to said hinge-bracketlO shoe in operative position and for unlocking by the pintle 20. Extending in opposite directhe same, whereby they are removed from untions from the sides of said shoe-arm carrier der and away from the third rail in substan 10 are handles 11, which in practice are cov 3o tially the plane of the contact-surface thereered with suitable insulating material,- and 8c of and disposed of as aforesaid. said handle serves for swinging the shoe-arm In the drawings forming part of this speci 12 and the shoe 17 thereon upwardly, as indification, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing cated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and for returna portion of a car-wheel, a section .of a rail ing the shoe 17 to adownward position when 5 thereunder, a car-axle box in side elevation, tobe again connected with the third rail 4. shoe-supporting devices, and a shoe thereon Said shoe is bolted to the arm 12 in the manconnected indirectly with said axle-box. This ner illustrated. On said hinge-bracket 10 is figure also illustrates a third-rail-supporting a fixed segment 16, which serves in connecbracket, showing said rail in section supporttion with a bolt 18 to hold the said shoe-arm 40 ed thereunder, said vbracket being shown in carrier 10 in different positions, as described 0 side elevation, the position'of the said shoe below. This bolt 18, one end of which (when andshoe-supporting devices when disconthe shoe and the arm are in the positions nected from the third rail being indicated in shown in Fig.1 for operative action with the this figure in dotted lines. Fig. 1 is a secthird rail 4) has its upper extremity reaching 45 tional view of the shoe-arm support of Fig. 1, under the lower edge of said segment 16, therea side elevation of said arm therein, and an by holds that arm from upward movement end view of the shoe on said arm. Fig. 2 is when the shoe 17 and its arm 12 are moved a plan view of the shoe, the shoe-carrying (10- toward the car to disconnect the two from vices, and the connection between'a section the third rail. Upon moving the shoe, as last 50 of a tie-bar extending in practice between the described, the set-screw 19, having a wrench- I'oo handle fixed thereon, as shown, is turned to free said arm from said carrier 10 and to permit the arm and the shoe to be moved away from said third rail 4 rearwardly, more or less, as illustrated in Fig. 1, thereby bringing said shoe 17 and its arm 12 to a position free from the said third rail, which permits them to be swung upwardly, as aforesaid. A rearwardly-extending arm 22 is provided on said shoe-arm carrier 10, which arm 22 extends under the part of said hinge-bracket 10, as shown in Fig. 1, and'between said arm 22 and said hinge part 10 is a spiral spring 21, which acts normally to swing thethirdrail contact-shoe 17 against the third rail, thereby holding said shoe in proper electric contact therewith. For the purpose of holding said spring in position on said arm 22a bolt 15, having a head on its lower end, restin g on the upper side of said last-named arm, has a shank passing upwardly through said spring 21 and through the parts beneath the tie-bar 7 and through the flange of the lat ter, as shown, and has a nut thereon, as shown, near its upper end, which prevents said spring and bolt from displacement when the arm 22 shall be swung downwardly from under said spring in carrying the shoe-supporting parts upward to the position indicated, as aforesaid, in Fig. 1.

14 indicates suitable insulating material between said tie-bar 7 and the part of said hinge-bracket 10 which is held under said tie-bar, as before described.

An electric connection tis shown in Fig. 1, which forms part of a line between any suitable source of electricity and the arm 12 and its shoe 17 and the devices supporting said arm. Said arm may have suitable insulating material applied to that part of the same which is grasped for movingthe same within the armcarrier 10*. The handle of the set-screw 19 and the head of the bolt 18 are in practice protected by insulating-covering also.

The operation of the above-desciibed shoesupporting devices in separating said shoe from the third rail 4 and removing it from under the same and for replacing the -shoe in operative position under said third rail, as in Fig. 1, is as follows: The set-screw 19 is unscrewed, thereby leaving the shoe-arm 12 thereunder free to be moved, together with the shoe 17, from under said third rail toward the axle-box 8, and then by drawing the bolt 18, so that its inner extremity shall be beyond the periphery of the outer border of the segment 16, said arm and shoe may be swung upwardly to the positions indicated substantially by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, said bolt 18 when said arm and shoe are in said upward position becoming automatically engaged by one end with the upper edge of said segment 16, thereby holding said part in the upward position referred to. To replace said shoe beneath and in contact with the third rail 4, the said bolt 18 is Withdrawn from engagement with said segment 16, the shoe-arm 12 is carried sufieiently far into th'e's'hoe-arni carrier 10 to allow the end thereof to swing downwardly clear of the side of the bracket 2, which adjoins the car, and the last-movement is followed by drawing the shoe-arm 12 out fromits carrier sufficiently to bring said shoe to the position under the third rail 4, (indicated in Fig. 1,) after which said setscrew 19 is screwed again against the arm 12, thereby locking the latter to the shoe-arm carrier and holding the parts in operative position for proper electric connection between the car and said third rail. It is obvious that by the described retirement of the said shoe from under the third rail toward the car such a complete separation of said shoe and rail is effected as leaves the car free from electromotor action without swinging the shoe upward, as aforesaid.

The modified construction shown in Fig. 3 provides for the connection of the shoe-arm there shown and indicated by 12 with the under side of the carrier 10 by said set-screw 19, the under side of said shoe-arm carrier in this instance being received in a groove on the upper face of said shoe-arm 12, whereby the shoe-carrying end of said arm is held against lateral motion, but may slide under said shoe-arm carrier back and forth, as above described, for changing the position of said shoe relative to the third rail 4, as above set forth. The said shoe-arm carrier and arm in this instance are locked together by a bolt 19*, passing upwardly through a slot 23 in said shoe-arm 12 and through the end of said shoe-arm carrier 10 and there secured by a nut on which is a handle, as shown. For the purpose of conveniently shifting the position of said shoe 17, as above described, expeditiously it is preferred that the nut shown in Fig. 3 on the bolt 19, which looks the two parts there shown together, shall have a permanent handle thereon,which is permanently in position for use.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim,and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent of the United States, is-- 1. In an electric-railway system comprising a suspended third rail, presenting its under surface for shoe-contact, a shoe for electrical contact with said under surface of said rail, and means connecting said shoe with a car, whereby said shoe is maintained in operative contact with said under railsurface, and means whereby the same may be moved hori zontally from under said rail toward said car,

'whereby said shoe is moved in substantially a right line from said car to a contact position under said rail and is withdrawn therefrom, and means for locking said arm and shoe in either of said two positions, substantially as described.

3. In an electric-railway system of the class described, an arm carrying the contact-shoe of the third rail, a swinging arm-carrier pivotally connected to the side of a car, means for slidingly connecting said arm and carrier, a segmental projection on a fixed part of said pivot connections adjoining the car, and a sliding bolt on said carrier engaging said projection and retaining said carrier, supporting-arm,and shoe, in upwardly or downwardly swung positions, substantially as described.

4:. In an electric-railway system comprising a suspended third rail, a shoe forelectrical contact with the under side of said rail, and means connecting said shoe with a car whereby said shoe is maintained in operative contact with said rail, and whereby the same may be moved from under said rail and swung upward to a position opposite the side of said car, and means whereby said shoe may be supported in said removed position, substantially as described.

HERBERT C. HASTINGS. LOUIS E. WALKINS.

Witnesses:

H. A. OHAPIN, K. I. OLEMoNs.

Images