Trolley wire

“ In some cases the working-conductor, or trolley wire, is suspended at one side of the track, connexion with it being made by a side-bearing trolley, but its usual place is directly over the track, as this arrangement leads to simpler and, more efficient construction of the trolleys and their accessory parts. For certain special cases, where very large currents are employed, the overhead conductor is made of bar metal or structural shapes. ”

“ By the time the engineer got the water worked out of his cylinders, the trolley was creeping up beside his tank. He saw the flash from the wire above as the car, nodding and dipping like a light boat in the wake of a ferry, shot beneath the cross-wires, and knew instantly that she was after him.
An electric car would not be ploughing through the gloom at that rate, without a ray of light, merely for the fun of the thing. A smile of contempt curled the lip of the driver as he cut the reverse-lever back to the first notch, put on the injector, and opened the throttle yet a little wider. ”

“ Their application in this direction must, therefore, go to swell the debt our civilization owes to the labors of this great investigator.
In the system of electric street-car propulsion very generally employed to-day, a single trolley wheel is employed for taking the driving current from an overhead conductor, suspended above the street. The trolley wheel is supported by a trolley pole, and is maintained in good electric contact with the trolley wire, or overhead conductor. ”

“ When a trolley car is seen coming down the street at a high rate of speed the effect upon the mind is very different. Here we see a vast amount of weight propelled at a high velocity, and yet the only source through which the power to accomplish this result is supplied is a small wire. The mystifying cause does not stop here, for if we look further into the matter we see that the energy has to pass from the trolley wire to the car through the very small contact between it and the trolley wheel. ”

“ At 6000 volts it is possible for two double sliding bows to collect sufficient current for a heavy train from a wire which is comparable in thickness to the ordinary trolley wire of a tramway.
The power distribution arrangements, it will be noticed, are very much simpler than with continuous current on the third-rail system. There are no sub-stations with rotary machinery. Power is supplied direct from the generating station to the overhead line and is transformed down by stationary plant on the train itself. ”

“ In general, it is customary to divide the working-conductor into sections of from 1000 to 5000 ft. in length, insulated from one another and fed separately through manual or automatic cut-out switches, so that an accident causing a short-circuit or break in continuity on one section will not impair the operation of others.
In ordinary street railway construction two' methods of suspending the trolley wire are in vogue. The most usual construction is to hang it from insulators attached to transverse wires running between pairs of poles set on opposite sides of the track. ”

“ When an electric current travels along a wire it loses a certain amount of power by reason of the resistance or electrical friction of the wire itself, so in order to keep the supply of current up to the proper pitch required for working the motors at all points of the line, these "feeders" are run out from the power-house, and they literally feed the trolley-wire with the current that the cars are always demanding from it. ”

“ It was not working properly, and the motorman alighted and turned the switch by hand, returned to the motor car, and proceeded. Up to the time the motor car reached the automatic switch Myers had been seen signaling for the motor car to come on. Some distance further there was a branch of the trolley system running into another entry, and the trolley wire passed over the tracks in the side entry at a distance of about 5 feet, 7 1/2 inches above the rail, making it necessary for one of ordinary height to remain seated in the car or to stoop down. ”

“ Frequently the telpher is accompanied by an attendant who manipulates it, but by dividing the trolley wire into sections any system of telpherage may be constructed to work automatically, and by switching off the current from the section in which the telpher is required to stop it can be brought to a standstill at any required point. The speed of the telpher may be readily regulated by the introduction of a resistance between any section of the line and the supply of electricity. The speed may be high, as much as 1500 ft. ”

“ When regular height is less than six feet six inches from top of rail, the lower side of trolley wire must not exceed six inches from the roof or cross-timber with hangers now in use, with hangers not to exceed twenty-five feet between centers, and the tension sufficient to keep all wires from sagging and to prevent trolley wheel from coming in contact with roof or cross-timbers. ”

“ I guess you won't step on it up there. Like the old woman: she says, 'Motorman, if I put my foot on the rail will I be electrocuted?' And he says, 'No, madam, not unless you put your other foot on the trolley wire.'"
I got up impatiently. ”

“ Except in very small tramway systems, the power is generated as high-tension alternating current, and transformed and converted at substations suitably placed in the area covered by the tramway (see Electric Power Transmission and Distribution) . The low-tension D.C. power is distributed from the substations to the trolley wire. The car rails are earthed, and provide a return path for the current. In order to minimize the flow of current to other conductors in the vicinity of the car rails, copper cables returning directly to the substation are connected to the rails at suitable intervals. ”

“ In rigging the wire only one end should be wrapped fast around a post. The other end should be hitched to a stout rope and pulley-block. Before using the trolley the rope should be hauled as taut as possible and made fast securely. Then there will be a straight tight wire and no sagging.
If enough care is used, there is no reason why a trolley swimming line cannot be set up along a river-bank or the edge of a swimming-pond. In doing this, however, boys should not depend upon their own judgment. It is best by far to engage a competent man to set the posts and rig the wires. ”

“ The operation of our ordinary electric railways is very simple: the current is taken from an overhead, side, or underneath wire, directly through the air, without the intervention of a trolley, and the fast cars, for they are no longer run in trains, make five miles a minute. The entire weight of each car being used for its own traction, it can ascend very steep grades, and can attain high speed or stop very quickly. ”

“ Less than this amount will give an inefficient brake; more will produce sliding or “ skidding “ of the wheels, producing “ flats ” on them, and also causing loss of retarding effect.
Of the numerous accessories necessary in the operation of electric railways one of the most important is the trolley. For an overhead Accessories.system this consists in general of a metallic rod or tube mounted upon the top of the car and pressed upward against the trolley wire by s rings. ”

“ An extension of the existing tramway is not practicable in many cases, because the traffic would not be sufficient to pay for the heavy outlay, and also because the road may not be of sufficient width to admit of cars running on a fixed track. The difficulty may be overcome satisfactorily by the use of trackless trolley cars. With these cars the costly business of laying a rail track is altogether avoided, only a system of overhead wires being necessary. As there is no rail to take the return current, a second overhead wire is required. ”

“ In the ordinary types the motorman sits in front, controlling the locomotive with levers and mechanical brakes placed within easy reach, but sunk as low as possible. As a rule, the motors are geared to the truck axles, either inside or outside the locomotive frame. An overhead copper wire supplies the current by contact with a grooved trolley wheel mounted on the end of the regulation trolley pole. An electric headlight is used, and the ordinary speed attained by the compact motors is from six to ten miles an hour. ”

“ Such a form of twin conductor trolley will permit the collection of a heavy current through the twin contact of the pantagraph with the two trolley wires, and should assure a sparkless collection of the current at any speed. ”

“ No locomotive shall be operated by means of a person holding and sliding upon or frequently making contact with the positive wire with any device attached to the cable as a substitute for a trolley, but these provisions shall not prohibit the operation of a locomotive by means of a cable without the use of the trolley, provided the cable be connected to and disconnected from the positive wire when the locomotive is not in motion. ”

“ At all other junctions, eleven in all, the track points are electrically operated by means of contactors on the trolley wires, and to enable trolley wheels to follow the right course, boom frogs, operated by the car trolley poles, are installed in the overhead wires. ”

“ Apart from these special extended sleepers with wire carriers attached, the line is constructed in the ordinary mariner with rails 14 lb. per yard and upward. As the electric locomotives are lighter than steam locomotives, the weight of rail required is somewhat less. The special trolley for erecting the wires along the railway line is shown in Fig. 3. This consists of an ordinary four wheeled platform wagon with ladder, and wire drum with tightening gear and clamps or grips for anchoring the trolley to the line. ”

“ Many persons have been run over by trolley cars, but this is no fault of the overhead trolley; it is due to the fact that street railroads are permitted to run cars through crowded streets at a speed that is too great for safety. Underground conduit cars running at the same speed would run over just as many people. In accusing the trolley of being dangerous it is sought to prove that the current flowing in the wire can do harm ”

“ Electrical power is supplied to single-trolley railroads principally in the form of direct current. Usually all the trolley wires of a city are so connected to the generating units as to be positive to the rails. This causes current to flow from the cars toward the power stations, the return path being made up jointly of the rails, the earth itself, actual return wires which may supplement the rails, and also all other conducting things in the earth, these being principally lead-covered cables and other pipes. ”

“ ALTHOUGH the electric railway has been introduced throughout the civilized world with the most remarkable rapidity, replacing cable as well as horse roads, there has always been a strong opposition to the use of the overhead trolley, and in some places, as, for instance, the city of Kew York, this opposition has been so strong as to prevent the introduction of the system until some other means of conveying the current to the moving cars was devised. ”

“ Once safely out of the cable car, however, at the upper terminus, we smile, and think the worst is over. It is true, we see awaiting us another innocent looking electric car by which we are to go still higher; but we are confident that nothing very terrible can be experienced in a trolley. This confidence is quickly shattered. I doubt if there is anything in the world more "hair lifting" than the road over which that car conveys its startled occupants. ”

“ The most modern of all of these aerial transportation systems is that designated 'telpherage,' whereby electricity is relied upon as an operative force. In this class of installations the overhead trolley system of the ordinary electric railway has simply been adapted to the rope railways, and by the provision of an ingenious device the electric car or telpher is enabled automatically to slacken speed when approaching a curve, resuming the normal rate of travel when the dangerous point has been passed. ”

“ Our civilization owes more to them than could be rehearsed in catalogue form within the limits of one issue of this magazine. We have nothing at present that can be employed as a satisfactory substitute for the ordinary electric railway. The underground trolley is a safe substitute, but the great expense of installation renders it available for very few localities. The overhead trolley, with two wires and no ground return, is cumbersome, vexatious, and unsightly. ”

“ Second; that owing to the lightness of construction, electric motive power, sufficient for the attainment of high speeds, can be applied to each car as an independent unit, instead of requiring a special electric or steam locomotive to haul one or more cars, thus obtaining for high speed railroads all the flexibility and advantages of the trolley system, as now employed in street passenger railroads. ”

“ Upon starting your engine, water-motor, or whatever motive-power you have, the car will run from one end of the track to the other. When it has reached the support of the trolley-line, it will stop long enough for the cord trolley to pass around the wooden wheel, and then run in the opposite direction until the other support is reached. It will thus be seen that the trolley hangs to the upper part of the cable, or trolley-line, in running one way, and to the lower part on the return run. ”

“ The two machines were running almost neck and neck now. The trolley cried, hissed, and spat fire in her mad effort to pass the locomotive. A few stray sparks went out of the engine-stack, and fell upon the roof of the racing car. At intervals of half a minute the fireman opened the furnace door; and by the flare of light from the white-hot fire-box the engine-driver could see the men on the teetering trolley,—the motor-man, the conductor, the sheriff, and his deputy. ”