US PATENT SUBCLASS 238 / 14.05
ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS

Current as of: June, 1999
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238 /   HD   RAILWAYS: SURFACE TRACK

14.05ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS {9}
14.2  DF  .~> From rail to noncontiguous rail or other object
14.3  DF  .~> Special rail
14.4  DF  .~> Combined rail joint or support {2}
14.8  DF  .~> Dowel pin or inserted key type
14.9  DF  .~> Protected bond
14.1  DF  .~> Plural or laminated bond {1}
14.12  DF  .~> Rail bond forms
14.13  DF  .~> Rail-head attached
14.14  DF  .~> Rail-base or flange attached {1}

DEFINITION

Classification: 238/14.05

Joints, couplings, rail-bonds, connector devices and other means for electrically connecting a railway rail or other surface track element to another rail or to some other stationary device or object.

(1) Note. A "rail-bond" as used herein is any connecting link, wire, cable, rod, bar, or the like, of conducting material, either rigid or flexible, having terminal portions designed for attachment to adjacent rail sections for the purpose of electrically connecting such sections.

(2) Note. For electrical connection features associated or designed for use with portable track, see the Search This Class, Subclass, notes below.

(3) Note. Mere mechanical joints designed to join two railway rails together in aligning relation for maintenance of the continuity of the track are in another subclass, even though such joints, when made of metal, inherently serve to electrically connect the rails (see Search This Class, Subclass below for specific cite). When such mechanical joints are provided with additional claimed features designed primarily to improve the conducting path between the rails, they will be placed in this class, subclass 14.4, or indented subclasses, and cross-referenced to the appropriate subclass for the mechanical joint.

(4) Note. For electrical connectors in general see Search Class notes below.

(5) Note. For electrical connection devices specially designed for transmitting electricity from a rail or other element to a vehicle or other moving object, see Search Class notes below.

(6) Note. Mere joints or couplings between wires, rods, bars and the like, or between such elements and a base, plate of head, are in Class 403, Joints and Connections. However, where one of the elements or such a joint or coupling is a railway rail or other surface track element, the following

line will determine the placement of patents as between Classes 238 and 403; where the rail or other surface track element is included broadly, as by name only, with no further limitation distinguishing the same from plates, bars, etc., in general, classification is in Class 403, subclasses 230+; the following are considered to distinguish rail-bond joints from the joints classifiable in Class 403 and to cause classification in Class 238:

(a) an electrical limitation to the effect that the joint or coupling is electrically conductive or that the parts connected are electric conductors;

(b)

significant structure of the rail-bond body other than the terminal or attaching portions;

(c)

inclusions, broadly or specifically, of the particular portion of the rail to which the bond is attached, as, for example, the head or tread portion or the base or flange portion, excepting that the mere limitation that the bond is secured to the "web" of the rail will not prevent classification in Class 403;

(d)

all plural-joint features, regardless of breadth, e.g., inclusion of both rails or both of the bond terminals;

(e)

all other features specialized to rail-bed or surface track installations or pertaining to vehicular travel over the rails.

(7) Note. For methods of making rail-bonds and/or for attaching them to the rails, see the appropriate method classes, especially those in the Search Class notes below.

SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:

10+, for electrical connection features associated or designed for use with portable track. 14.4+, for mechanical joints provided with additional claimed features designed primarily to improve the conducting path between the rails (see (3) Note above).

151+, for mere mechanical joints designed to join two railway rails together in aligning relation for maintenance of the continuity of the track are in this class, subclass even though such joints, when made of metal, inherently serve to

electrically connect the rails.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS

29, Metal Working,

505+, (see (7) note above).

191, Electricity: Transmission to Vehicles.or electrical connection devices specially designed for transmitting electricity from a rail or other element to a vehicle or other moving object (see (5) Note).

219, Electric Heating,

53+, (see (7) note above).

228, Metal Fusion Bonding, appropriate subclasses (see (7) note above).

403, Joints and Connections, for mere joints or couplings between wires, rods, bars and the like, or between such elements and a base, plate of head;

230+, where the rail or other surface track element is included broadly, as by name only, with no further limitation distinguishing the same from plates, bars, etc. (also see (6) Note above). 439, Electrical Connectors, appropriate subclasses for electrical connectors in general (see (4) Note above.