US760740A - Means for safely conducting electric currents. - Google Patents

Description

110. 760,740. P'ATENTED MAY 24', 1904.

my 1101131.. 2 SHEETS-811111111.

\rug fl :6 4Z 6 I 6 I lVz'ineJJa-s: 1 Ink/221 0)":

a. $4M I 1 wwlrrzlzwma .To an whom it may concern.-

i1 UNITED Patented May 24, 1904,]

PATENT" Q'FFICE."

' EDWARD A. -JARvIs-; oF IPOiRTRICHMONDaNEW Yoa ip f MEAN-S F RJSAFELY oo'uouoiime EL orR|o CURRENTST.

SPECIFICATION fqrmirfg part of Letters Patent No. "760,740, dated. m y 24, 1904. p v

' Application filed December-l6, 1903. Serial F0. 185,433. (No model.) i

. Be it known thatI, EDWARD A. JAavIs,a'citizen of the United Sta-tes,-and aresident of'Port following is a specification.

Richmond, in the county of Richmond and Stateof New York, haveinvented certain new and useful lmprovements inMeans for Safely ConductingElectric Currents, of which the The object of-this invention is to provide a means whereby high-potential electric cur- I rents can be conveyed along a public highway with'safety to life, also to cheapen the construction of electric railroads by doing awaywith the underground conduit, this means being an insulated conductor with special means for drawing the currentfrom the-conductor as acar or trainproceeds, it being equally well fication, Figure 1 is a cross-section taken on a line a a of F1g. 2 and lllustrates anelectrlcal f conductor incased in a conduit of'non-cond'uct ing material; and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sec; tion of aportion of a rail,showing the arrange ment of the armatures, '&c.- Fig.3 illustrates f the rail in combination with acontact-shoe of the common type, a magnet and motor circu1t b61Ilg\1nCl11(16d,-a.lSO- showing someof the armatures in contact. Fig. 4: isan end view" of Fig. 3; Fig; 5 illustrates 'the invention as applied to a metal rail,and-Fi'g. "6 is a per-' spective-viewof the general appearance of a finished rail. Fig. 7 is a modification and illustrates how the device may be applied to a contact-rail, already in place. Fig. 8 illu'strates a filler for the modification shown'in Fig.7. a

- Referring to=Fig. '1 and considering it as but oneof many ways in which the invention can be constructed,'2 represents a rail or stringpiece of-non-conducting material, such as wood,

- formed of one or more pieces. Longitudinally and preferably" in the center of the rail 2 is a slot or conduit 3, which carries an electrical conductor; 4, which may be'of any desired shape or conducting material. Transversely of the rail 2 are-cut'a desired number of slots i matures 6, of suitable matei-iaL-having flat of keeping'thearmatures out of contact from transverse movement a block of non-conductthe' slotsf5, the block to be slightly less in fwidth than the distance between the legsof the armatures 6. i

matures'is somewhat longer than the leg 9, the-purpose of this being toiinsure good contact, for the following reason: When the armature is pulled up by the magnet, thelonger leg will contact first. The shorter leg will coni tin'ue to move until arrested by the contact between'thearmature and primary conductor.

; Thispull wi-ll have theetfe'ct of givinga good contact. Uponthe top of theraihconductors I 10 are fastened, the word 5 top being-used'as descriptive of the'view only.- These conductors freceive the current from the primary conductor t through the armatures 6. l By'refer ring'toFig. 2 it will be seen that the conductors f 10 are insulated from each other at11,-this being 1 for the purpose of preventing the whole systern from being charged when contact ismade through the armatures, which would occur if the'conductor was a continuous strip. By this means only those sections which are within the scope of the contact-shoe are charged, as will appear hereinafter To still further insulate the'conductor 4, strips 12, of non-conducting 1 ma'teriaLca'n be applied to the sides of the rail 2, thereby covering the slots 5. The sections 10 may be of anydesiredlength and any desired number-of armatures. may be employed.

For the purpose of operatingthe'armatures '6 a magnetic contacting shoe 13, Fig. 3, is employed, the said shoe being included in a {motor-circuit 14-, the said motor-circuit hav- Eing connected thereto an electromagnet 15 ofthe horseshoe type, although any other type may be'used. The core 16 of the magnet is i fastened to the shoe, and the bobbins 17 17 encircle the core,- as' is common. The contactshoe is preferably a permanent magnet for reasons to be hereinafter explained.

"It will be noticed that the leg 8 of the ar ing material 7 may be inserted in the top of As is illustrated by Fig. 3, the magnet is in parallel with the motor-circuit, this being for the purpose of keeping the shoe magnet: lzed when the power is shut off from the motor. As connecting in parallel is well understood, further explanation is deemed superfluous. The ground 18 represents the returnclrcuit.

in Fig. 5 a sectional metal rail 20 is shown as having aconduit or slot 21-therein, thesaidconduit being insulated at 22, if desired, and contalning a conductor 23,supported free from contact by insulators 2 1, armatures 25 acting, as the armature 6 of Fig. 1, to convey current to the secondary conductor 26, which is in sect1OI 1S, 3.S 1n Fig. 2. The same general descriptlon applies to Figs. 1 and 5.

Fig. illustrates a rail 27, insulated by nonconducting material 28, the said material carrying a secondary contact 29 in sections, the armature 30 being somewhat different from the armatures 6 and 25. Upon the top of the rall a slotted non-conductor 33 may be placed, Flg. 8, in which slots the leg 31 of the armature 30 rests. The leg 31 is shown as tapered, with the base 32 of the taper comparatively close to the sections 29. Normally the armature 3O"will be out of contact with the conductors, the length of the leg 31 being suitable for this purpose, as illustrated.

W hen the armature is pulled up, the base 32 of the leg 31 will contact first, acting as afulcrum for the leg 31, which by continued movementwilltend to throw the leg 32 against the rail 27 ,th ereby getting a firm contact. The action of the device, briefly,'is as follows: As the car moves and the contact-shoe 13 proceeds the armatures will be pulled up by magnetic attraction, thereby closing the circuit between the primary conductor and the secondary. I

Those armatures over which the shoe is only Wlll be attracted. The others will be down. Thus. not more than two sections will be alive .at a time andthose being the ones with which the shoe is contacting, it being understood that the current whichis shunted through the magnet 15 supplies the power to obtain this attraction. When the power is shut off forthe' purpose of a stop, there will be current still in the magnet-circuit, which will hold up those armatures over which it is. Conse quently when power is needed again it is.

available. The purpose of having the contact-shoe a permanent magnet is apparent, as

in the event of, the shutting off of the power at the power-house there would be no current in the magnet-circuit and it would be imposs ble to hold up the armatures; but up to the time of the cessation of power some of the armatures would be in contact, and after the current had gone the permanent magnet would exert enough force to hold the armatures, thereby insuring current for the motor n needed.

It will be readily conceded that those sectlons with which the shoe contacts temporarily become part of the magnet. The size of the armatures will be suitable for conduction and weight sufiicient to insure their dropping as the shoe leaves them,

It is apparent from the foregoing that the rail is harmless to life, as it is impossible to get current without a powerful magnet. Therefore it is possible to lay the rail in a street and upon the surface thereof.

For the sake of clearness it may here be stated that the shoe 13, which is a permanent magnet, does not act to the detriment of the electromagnet 15 to the same extent as a nonmagnetized shoe would, as in the latter case a dead magnetic short circuit would result. Furthermore, the extent of the short circuit, even in the case of a non-magnetized shoe, would be dependent upon the amount of material lying between the two poles in proportion to the magnetic strength. As an illustration, if an iron wire was placed to connect the two poles the short circuit would hardly be noticed, while an iron bar, if large, would cause a dead short circuit. If the connectingstrip be a permanent magnet, as in this case, the-action of the electromagnet would be to increase the strength of the permanent magnet, due to the fact that the shoe was already charged and exerting at all times the same magnetic field that the electromagnet would impart to it, but not of the same strength. That a permanent magnet loses it strength shortly after the cessation of magnetic influence is well known. In other words, it will not retain all of the magnetism imparted to it, and if a more powerful magnet is brought in contact with it its strength is increased during the period of contact. Such is the object of the hereinbefore-described combination.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to cover by Letters Patent,

1. The combination of a primary conductor, a secondary conductor insulated therefrom, a motor-circuit, a collecting means contacting the secondary conductor, the said collecting means consisting of a permanent magnet, an electro horseshoe-magnet having both poles supported by the permanent magnet, the electromagnet being connected in parallel with the motor-circuit, together with means acted upon by the magnets whereby current can be conveyed from the primary to the secondary conductor thence tothc motor-circuit through the collecting means.

2. The combination of a primary conductor and a secondary conductor insulated therefrom, of means adapted to close the circuit between the two conductors, together with magnetic means acting to operate the circuitclosing means, the said magnetic means consisting of a permanent magnet having attached p of the said electromagnet.

thereto both poles of an electro horseshoemagnet whereby the permanent magnet isstrengthened during the period of excitement 3. As a source of magnetic energy, the combination of a permanent magnet, and an electro horsesh oe-magnet the said permanent magnet supporting bothpoles of the said horseshoe-magnet, whereby the permanent magnet

Images