Railways – Car-carried propulsion system – Electric
Patent
1993-06-29
1994-12-20
Le, Mark T.
Railways
Car-carried propulsion system
Electric
191 45R, 295 91, 295 43, 246255, A63H 1900
Patent
active
053737911
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a toy wheel, which is preferably intended for an electrical toy or model train where the wheel can collect electrical current from an electrically conducting rail.
In electrically driven toy or model trains it is a problem to obtain good electrical contact between rail and wheel and also a high fraction between rail and wheel. The electrical contact is necessary to ensure continuous operation of the train, and the high friction is necessary to obtain a reasonably high tractive force for the train.
It has previously been proposed to solve the problem by equipping the train with special drive wheels having the necessary friction while other wheels ensure the electrical connection with the rail body. Such a structure is known e.g. from GB 2 176 124 A. The friction on the special drive wheels is usually obtained by providing the metal wheel with a groove in which a so-called adherence ring of elastic material, e.g. rubber, is embedded. This solution has the drawback that owing to short, dead sections on the rail body, the train must necessarily have at least two sets of electrically conducting wheels, which together with the drive wheels results in a total of three sets of wheels.
DE 31 33 560 discloses wheels where the adherence rings are made of a conducting, elastic material; but the conductivity of such materials is considerably inferior to that of metal so that sufficiently good electrical contact between rail and wheel cannot be obtained.
DE 33 00 072 provides wheels which are coated with a conducting layer of high friction, e.g. a layer of hard metal dust or diamond particles. The drawback of this solution is both that it is a cumbersome process to apply the coating, and that the friction obtained is still considerably inferior to the one obtainable with traditional adherence rings.
Current transmission by means of the rolling face of the wheels moreover has the general drawback that it causes spark formation and radio noise owing to obliquities, irregularities and the like, which result in unstable contact. Further, the .spark formation per se involves dirtying of both rails and wheels, which gradually makes the problem worse.
The invention provides a wheel which enables good electrical contact while having a high friction. The wheel moreover has a self-cleaning effect, so that dirtying of rails and wheels is prevented.
This is achieved according to the invention in that the wheel comprises a carrying par% with a rolling face and an electrically conducting part arranged axially at one side of the rolling face. The electrically conducting part extends radially outside the rolling face and is elastically movable and spring-loaded in a direction toward the rolling face. When the electrically conducting part is made elastically movable and spring-loaded, as mentioned, certain current collection will be obtained because this part is constantly pressed against the conductor rail, and also a self-cleaning effect preventing dirtying of wheel and rail.
When, as described in claim 2, the rolling face of the wheel is given a surface with a high coefficient of friction, high tractive force of the train is obtained in addition to the certain current collection.
The electrically conducting part may expediently be formed as a cone-shaped flange, as mentioned in claim 3. This entails that the wheel has a great resemblance to a normal railway wheel.
As stated in claim 4, the spring-loading may be established by providing one or more spring bodies on a bracket which are adapted to press the electrically conducting part resiliently against the carrying part. This is particularly advantageous when the said spring bodies are moreover incorporated in an electrical current path from the electrically conducting part to the current consumers of the train, e.g. a motor, as stated in claim 5.
As stated in claim 6, the carrying part and the electrically conducting part may be retained against mutual rotation.
This may take place, as stated in claim 7, in that the carrying part has holding pins adapted to en
REFERENCES:
patent: 717340 (1902-12-01), Cadmus
patent: 1754995 (1930-04-01), Galligan
patent: 1830879 (1931-11-01), Michelin
patent: 2079525 (1937-05-01), Place
patent: 2462073 (1949-02-01), Daughton
patent: 2687304 (1954-08-01), Northrop et al.
patent: 4665833 (1987-05-01), Fleishman et al.
Bach Erik
Mikkelsen Kaj S.
Interlego A.G.
Le Mark T.
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