GB1113837A - Improvements relating to vacuum switch contacts - Google Patents

Abstract

1,113,837. Vacuum switch contacts. ASSOCIATED ELECTRICAL INDUSTRIES Ltd. 27 April, 1967 [25 April, 1966], No. 18024/66. Heading H1N. One or both contacts 1 of a vacuum switch are formed by a plurality of contact elements 3 each forming a sector of an annular contact surface and being supported on a resilient finger 9, the resilient fingers being spaced apart in a ring beneath the contact elements and being inclined to the plane of the annular surface. The arrangement permits relative movement of the elements to allow for surface irregularities. The elements 3 may be of or surfaced with a copper-bismuth alloy and the fingers 9 of molybdenum. The fingers 9 are cast into a copper base (7) either at the desired angle or perpendicularly and then bent over to the desired angles (Figs. 3, 4 respectively, not shown). The fingers 9 may be formed by pins of molybdenum or pins, rods or strips of iron or nickel. If both contacts are as described then their fingers should be inclined in opposite directions. Alternatively one such contact may co-operate with one contact as described in Specification 997,384 or Specification 1,100,259.