US886319A - Support for electric contact-shoes. - Google Patents

Description

No. 886,319. PATENTED APR. 28;1'908.

E. w. PARNHAM.

SUPPORT FOR ELECTRIC CONTACT SHOES. APPLIoATIoN PILEDMJG. 2, 1905.

UNITED sTATgns PATENT FFIGE.

tO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG'NOR TO ALLEN Gr. MILLS, OF CHICAGO,

ILLINOIS.

SUPPORT FOR ELECTRIC CONTACT-SHOES.

No. s863319.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ED WILSON FAnNi-IAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Supports for Electric Contact-Shoes, of which the following is a speciication.

This invention relates to means for making electrical connection between a car and an electric contact rail, and it has for its object the provision of means for keeping the face of the contact shoe in close contact with and substantially parallel with the contact face of the rail. The shoe herein shown is adapted to make contact with an under-running (that is to say, an inverted) contact rail, and the means for attaining the obj ect mentioned is arranged to keep the shoe in a substantially horizontal position at all times, whereby a large collecting surface is always presented to the rail` The invention also relates to the various features of improvement hereinafter pointed out.

In the accom anying drawings, Figure 1 is a view of an e ectric contact shoe, showin its operative relation to the contact rail, an illustrating the means for supporting the shoe from one of the trucks of a railway car. Fig. 2 is an elevation of said shoe and its su porting means viewed from the side of tllie car-truck.

The supporting means for the contact shoe may be attached to the car-truck in any suitable manner. I have herein shown only a portion of the attaching means, namely, a Wooden bar a. To this bar is firmly secured a hanger 1 by means of bolts 2 passing through said bar and hanger. A pair of bearing ears 3 is provided at the lower end of said hanger, and at a point above said bearing ears 3 is a similar pair of bearing ears 4, said pairs of ears respectively supporting pivot rods or shafts 5 and 6. Upon these shafts are mounted arms 7 and 8 of equal length and having bifurcated outer ends, said outer ends bein pivotally connected with the opposite ends of a link 9 by means of bearing studs. 10 on said link. It will thus be seen that the link 9, though free to move vertically, will always remain parallel with a line joining the axes of the shafts 5 and 6. An arm 11 is formed integral with the lower end of the link 9 and extends horizontally out- Specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 2, 19U5.

Patented April 28, 1908.

Serial No. 272,370.

ward from the car-truck, its outer end being widened to form the contact shoe 12. The link 9 and shoe 12 are yieldingly supported upon two coiled sprin s 13 seated at their lower ends upon a shel' 14 formed upon the hanger 1, their upper ends engaging and bearing a `ainst nuts 15 turned upon the ends of a U-bo t 16, the middle portion of which U-bolt lies beneath and supports the arm 7 Said metal portion of the U-bolt en ages a notch 17 in the arm 7, and the legs of t ie bolt extend upward through suitable openings 18 in the shelf 14. The nuts 15 are adjustably locked upon Athe upper ends of the U-bolt by means of cotter pins 19 passing through said bolt and engaging notches 2O formed in washers 21. Stop lugs 22 on the hub of the arm 7 are adapted to engage shoulders 23 formed on the hanger 1 to limit the pivotal movement of said arm and, consequently, the vertical movement of the contact shoe 12 in either direction.

The contact rail which may be of any ori dinary or preferred construction, is supported with its contact face in position to be engaged by the upper indicated in Fig. l.

YWires 24 are connected with the link 9 at 25 and extend to a suitably apertured lug 26, whence the current is conveyed to the circuit upon the car by means of the wire 27.

In use, the upper face of the contact shoe l2 will remain substantially parallel with the contact face of the rail even though the car-truck should move vertically to some eX- tent. The link 9, being carried by two paral lel pivoted arms 7 and 8 of equal length, will always remain parallel with a line joining the axes of the pivots for said arms; hence, the contact shoe 12 carried by said link will always remain horizontal, though free to yield vertically to accommodate itself to movements of the car-truck or inequalities in the contact rail. Good electrical contact will therefore be maintained at all times between the shoe 12 and the rail It is clear that the contact shoe and its supporting hanger may be attached to the cartruck in other ways than that herein shown; that various kinds of yielding sup orts for the shoe may be substituted for t at illustrated in the drawings; and that the embodiment herein shown may be modified in various ways without departing from lthe spirit and scope of the invention. I thereside of the contact shoe 12, as

fore desire to have it understood that I do not Wish to limit myself to the precise details herein set forth.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a support for electric contact shoes; in combination, a hanger adapted to be secured to the car and comprising a shelf; two parallel arms of equal length pivoted at one of their ends to said hanger; a link connecting the op osite ends oi said arms; a substantially orizontal shoe-supporting arm connected with said link; a U-loolt, the middle portion oi' which extends under and supports one of said parallel pivoted arms; and two springs seated upon said shelf and each surrounding one arm of said bolt and bearing against one end of its bolt-arnr 2. In a support for electric contact shoes, in combination, a hanger adapted to he secured to the car; and means carried loy said hanger for yieldingly holding a contact shoe upward into contact with an inverted third rail, said means comprising two parallel arms of equal length pivoted at one of their ends to said hanger and extending in a plane at right angles with the third rail; a link conneeting the opposite ends oi' said arms; a substantially horizontal shoe-supporting arm connected with said link; and means for yieldingly pressing said shoe-supporting arm upward.

3. In a support for electric contact shoes, in combination, a hanger provided at its u per end with attachingmeans; bearings intl e lower portion. of said hanger; two arms of equal length having means at one end for pivotally supporting them in said bearings; a link connecting the op )osite ends of said arms, said link being substantiallyT the saine length as the distance between said hearings; a shell on said hanger; a coiled spring seated on said shelf and`eonnected with one of said arms and tending to swing said arn'is upwardly; and a shoe-supporting arm connected with said link.

ED WILSON FARNHAM.

Witnesses:

H. B. SCHNEIDER, C. W. FARNHAM, Jr.

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