US1477807A - Trolley switch - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 18 1923.l HAH-77,807

G. W. Bom/ER TROLLEY SWITCH Filed March '25. 1922 Inventum @gorge W. Bower,

His Attomuey.

Patented Bec, l, i923.

narran sraras rarisnr carica,

GEORGE W. BOWER, OF SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY; A CORPORATION QF NEW YORK.

TROLLEY SWTCH.

Application filed March 25, 1922. Serial No. 545,804.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. Bowan, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady, State of New Yorkhhave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trolley Switches, of which the following is a speciiication.

The present invention relates to electric,

street car systems and more especially to systems of the trackless trolley type.

On account of the absence of the usual grounded track in trackless trolley systems, it is necessary to provide a double overhead trolley wire arrangement for the supply and the return sides of the power circuit respectively and to provide the car with double contact means for collecting and returning the current from and to the respective wires.

|The object of my invention is to provide improved 'switch means whereby a double contact trolley device may pass freely and quietly from a main line of double overhead wires to a branch line, or vice versa, and without danger ci short circuiting from one wire to the other.

One form of embodiment of theinvention Y is shown in the accompanying drawing, in

which Fig. 1 is an under side plan of the switch with ends of the trolley wires shown attached thereto; Fig. 2 is an isometric pera spective view thereof, and Fig. 3 is a similar view of the contact end of a current collector adapted for use in such a system.

The current collector shown in part in the drawing is the subject of another application Serial No. 516,094, tiled November 18, 1921. The contact end comprises a trausverse bar 1 on which are mounted two independent contact shoes 2 and 3 adapted to engage the under sides of the trolley wires. Between the adjacent ends of the shoes is an insulating guide bracket 4, while at their outer ends the shoes have extension lugs 5 provided with fender loops 6 and having attached thereto fiexible wires 7 and 8 which connect with the terminals of the car motor. In the trolley switch arrangement shown in the drawing, the main or through line wires a and o are assumed to be positive and negative respectively and the branch line wires 0 and d are assumed to be negative and positive respectively. In accordance with the present day practice, the main line wires a and are uninterrupted at the point of attachment of the switch.

The switch, as shown, is built up of five cross bars 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of impregnated wood or other tough insulating material and pairs of i'lat strips 1 6, 17 and 16', 17 secured edgewise to the under sides ci' the cross bars near their ends to form guide ways 11i and 15 for the fender loops on the trolley. The ends of the guide strips are bent in opposite directions to form iaring entrances to the guide ways 14 and 15. Across the middle portions oi the bars 9, 10 and 11 are two short guide strips 18 and 19. At the centers of bars 11, 12 and 13 is attached a bent guide block or frog piece 20 oi insulating material, while between it and guide strips 16 and 17 is an insulating block 21.

lhen the switch is installed the through line wires a and 25 extend across beneath the bars 9 130,13 parallel to the guide way la. rlhe switch is held positioned vertically with the lower edges of the several guide strips in substantially the operative piane oi the trolley wires by means of hanger ears 22 connecting the wires a, c and Z to the lett side bar 9 and the wire a to the right hand bar 18. lithin the bounds of the switch the several trolley wires are drawn up and secured to the under side oi the intermediate cross bars by clips 23.

ln order that the trolley head may pass the switch with a minimum impact, the switch is designed to permit the head to pass beneath it and to shift from one pair of trolley wires to the other without changing its elevation. Accordingly the guide strip 1'? has secured to its lower edge a short section oi trolley wire 2%@ which extends out a short distance beyond the outermost cross bar 9 and clipped at 25 to the upper side of ing contact.

the through trolley wire u, so that current will be supplied to either trolley contact shoe 2 or 3 through the short wire section 24e", during its passage along that side ot the switch. Similarly the guide strip 18 carries a short wire section 24?; the guide strip 19 has a section 24, and the guide strip 17 has a section 24d.

When a trolley approaches the switch from, the right, it will be directed by its guide bracket 4; in cooperation with the frog block 20, depending upon whether the vehicle is tending to go straight ahead or veering ofi to the left. In the first case the bracket 4 will pass to the farther side of the frog 20 and cause the trolley guide loop 6 to enter the guide way 14E, and in the other' case the guide bracket L will pass to the near side of the frog 2O which will cause the opposite loop 6 to enter guide way l5. When the trolley approaches the switch from the left, it iS automatically directed by one 'of the guide loops 6 passing into and 'along the corresponding guide way 14 or 15.

In order thatthere may be no chalice of short-circuiting the trolley wires at the switch, it is necessary to remove one of the wires from the area of possible `short-circuit However, since such removal operates to interrupt the flow of current to the car, it is'desirable that the removed section be made as short as possible, since it isV necessary to depend upon the momentum of the car to carry it past the dead section. By arranging to have the adjacent wires Z) and c of the main and branch lines oit' like potential, they may be extended well beyond the center of the switch without danger ot being short-circuited with wire a or b by a single contact shoe f2 or 3 coming in contact with both simultaneously.

Between the middle of the switch and the right hand end thereof, there is an area in which a single contact shoe might simultaneously engage the wire section 24 and the Wire Z) which are under different potentials and cause a short-circuit of thel system.

Accordingly the insulating block 21 is in troduced at this point and by reason oi its carrying the line wire b up out of the contact pla-ne and its bottom edge oilering an insu-A lated path for the trolley in that plane the wire b for the length of the block is effectually'shielded from contact with the trolley. The operative length of the insulating block will, of course, depend upon circumstances, but as a general proposition it is less than half the length of the switch.

The ends of the guide strips 18 and 19 are rounded and the strips 17 and 17V are overrun by the trolley wire sections 24 and 24 as shown in the dra-wing to aiiord gradual approach thereto .of the trolley.

VThe oppositeends of cross bars 9 and y13 are "provided with loops 26 whereby the switch may be suspended in the usual inanner by span wires.

`ivhile I have shown and described the best form oit' the invention known to me, l do not desire to be restricted thereto.

hat l claim as new and desire to secure by. Letters Patent of the United States,is:

1. An overhead switch for two wire trolley systems comprising aistructure for connecting and supporting main line and branch line wires insulatively and in spaced relation, andinea-ns carried by said structure for guiding a double contact trolley in its passage thereof.

2. An overhead switch for two wire trolley systems comprising a structure for connecting andY supporting main line and branch line wires insulatively and in spaced relatiornineansY for directing a double ccnf tact trolley in its approach to said switch, and means for guiding the trolley-in its pas,

sage thereof. Y

3. An overhead switch vfor. two wireV short-circuiting of wires underA derence or" 1 potential by said trolley.

4f. An overhead switch forA two wire y trolley systems comprising a structure for trolley. systems comprising a structure for Y connecting and supporting main lineV and branch line WlleS lnsulatively andan spaced relation, means for guiding a doubleV contact trolley in its passage betweenv main andbranch linewires, insulator means arranged on one of said main line `wires adjacent the point of departure. of the'branch wires to prevent contact ot the trolley therewith.

5. An overhead switch for Vtwo wire trolley Ysystems comprising a structure for connecting and supporting mainline and branch line wires insulatively and'in spacedV relation, means .for guiding a double contact trolley in its passage otsaid strllture, insulative and conductive contact tracks and surfaces on said structure arranged to permit passage of the trolleywithout change of` its elevation. Y Y

6.- An overhead switch for two wire trolley systems comprisinga structure built up ofV insulating bars and transverse guide 8. An overhead switch for two Wire in the path of the trolley and adapted at trolley systems comprising a structure built their outer ends to be connected to the main up of insulating` bars and transverse guide line and branch line Wires. 10 strips, means for attaching main line and In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set t branch line Wires to said structure above the my hand this 24th day of March, 1922.

operative path of the trolley, and Wire seotions secured to said transverse guide strips GEORGE W. BOWER.

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