US1133783A - Controller for lighting-circuits of dynamo-battery equipments. - Google Patents

Description

I v. G. APPLE. CONTROLLER FOR LIGHTING CIRCUITS OF DYNAMO BATTERY EQUIPMENTS. ARPLIOATION FILED MAY 19, 1914.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

V. G. APPLE. CIRCUITS 0P DYNAMO BATTE RY EQ UIPMENTS.

CONTROLLER FOR LIGHTING APPLIOATION FILED MAYIQ, 1914:

. Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

UNITED erarns Parana canton.

j vmonn'r G. APPLE, or DAYTON, OHIO, assrelvon TO rne APPLE ntnornro COMPANY,

or DAYTON, onro, A oonronn'rron or 01110.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

Application filed May 19, 191%. Serial No. 839,578.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Vrxcuxr G. APPLE,

v a citizen of the United States, residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Controllers for Lighting-Circuits of Dynamo-Battery Equipments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in controllers for the lighting circuits of dynamo battery equipments, such as used on automobiles, motor boats and the like.

More particularly the invention relates to the controller together with a casing which incloses the battery dynamo regulating apparatus, the controller drum and contacts, as Well as an indicating device for inform ingthe operator as to conditions prevailing in his dynamo battery circ'uitQ One of the objects of my ihvention is to provide a lighting circuit controller which shall be operable from the dash or instrument board of an automobile, and when the operating key is removed, leave the dash or board smooth and free from projecting parts. v 7

Another object of my invention is to provide a lighting circuit controller, regulating apparatus, connections therefor, together with an indicating device all mounted at the rear of the face of the dash so as not to project from the front surface and inclosed in a compact watertight casing, a part of which is readily removable for inspection.-

Another object of my invention .is to provide a casing of the character described, formed as to its major part of a unitary piece of insulating material such as bakelite,

which shall support the apparatus and form side and bottom walls from which the terminals extend.

Another object of my invention is to provide a simplified system of wiring for such controller in which the terminals extending from the right side of the casing are all adapted for connection to apparatus positioned on the right hand side of the longi- 'tudinal axis of the car, all terminals extending to the left side of the casing lead to apparatus positioned on the left side of the car, and the contacts extending from the bottom are adapted to make connection with the battery and dynamo, thereby greatly In the drawings: Figure l is a rear view of'the controller with cover and end plate removed. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front view of the controller parts which are visible from the front face of the board upon which they are mounted. Fig. at is a vertical, sectional view on the line ll of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a perspective View of the unitary controller base and supporting casing. Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of the wiring connections extending from the various transmitting devices to the sides and bottom of the controller casing.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 10 indicates a dash or instrument board of a motor car, motor boat, or the like, to which the controller unit is to be attached. In work of this nature it is very desirable to have the front or exposed face of the instrument hoard comparatively free from projecting parts in order to give a neat and attractive appearance and l have therefore so arranged the parts as to position the controller casing and its appurtenant apparatus at the rear of the face of the board concealed from view, with only a flat plate 11 exposed on the front face of the board. This flat plate 11 is of ovate form carrying at its upper end the face 12 of the battery dynamo indicator, and at its lower end a circular dial l3 pierced by an axial opening 14, through which extends the controller 0per ating spindle.

In the particular embodiment of my invention illustrated and described I have provided six different controller positions whereby the head lights, side lights, and tail light may be given various relations to the battery dynamo circuits. \Vhen the operating handle or knob 16 carried by the spindle 15 is positioned with its pointer end 17 extending vertically upward the controller will he in off position and all lights will be extinguished. When moved to the left one notch the head lights, side lights and tail light will receive full current. When moved to the second position to the left the head lights, side lights and tall light will be in circuit, the head lights belng 1n series and therefore reduced in brilliancy; When moved to a position where the pointer is downward, the head lights and tail light are in circuit with the head lights in series. When swung still farther in a counter clockwise direction into the fourth position the head lights and tail light will be in circult giving full candle power. When moved into the fifth and last position the side lights and tail light alone will be in circui The battery-dynamo indicator 12 at the upper portion of the plate 11 is siimlar to that illustrated and described in the pending application filed by Gordon B. Sayre and myself, October 6, 1913, Serial Number 793,526, and entitled Indicators. The indicator casing 12 is of disk like form and carries at its rear face a hollow projector 12 shdable within the opening in the collar 18 which projects from the face of the base 18. A set screw 18 takes through the collar 18 and locks the hollow projection 12 in any desired position, depending on the thickness of the dash or instrument board 10.

21. The side walls extend Upon the rear face of the instrument board is mounted'the controller casing which incloses thecontroller as well as the battery dynamo regulating instrumentalities. This casing comprises a base panel or wall 18 having formed integral therewith the bottom wall 19 and two side walls 20 and vertically a dis tance somewhat less, than half of the vertical height of the rear wall 18. This portion of. the casing is formed from bakelite or similar insulating material pressed into the proper shape as indicated in Fig. 5. Screws 22 extending through from the front of theplate 11 into the rear wall 18 of the casing, secureboth the plate and casing in position upon the instrument board 10.

The controller drum 23, made of fiber or similar insulating material, is carried upon the shaft 24 journaled at its rear end in an opening 25' in the wall 18 and at its other end in an opening. 26 in the plate 27 which Plates 30, 31, and 32,

is secured over the front face of the walls 19, 20 and 21.by the screws 28. The rear end of the shaft 24 is reduced in'diameter and provided with apin 29 to receive the hollow slotted shank of the spindle 15.

cut to shape as indicated in Fig. 6, are positioned around the periphery of the controller drum for making the proper connections between the battery dynamo circuit and the various translating instrumentalities. The upper inner' faces of the side walls 20 and 21 are horizontally slotted as at 33, 34 to receive the bases of the two contact fingers 35, 36, 37, 38'

the screws 40-41 for making the connection to be hereinafter described. The spring finger engages at the rear end of the controller drum with a series of indentations 45 in the plate 30 which are in the present instance six in number, thereby insuring proper positioning of the controller drumfor the six different circuit arrangements provided. the controller on its lower side at the end opposite to that engaged by the finger 45 and is secured to the wall 21 by means of the bolt 48. In Fig. 5 I have indicated the openings in the casing through which extend the various screws for holding the spring contact fingers in place, by applying the exponent prime to the numerals indicating the screws, thus for example the screw 39 takes through the opening 39 and thescrew 48 takes through the'opening 48'.

The binding posts 39, 40, 41, :42, 43' and 46 are arranged in thevertical walls 20 and 21 on a horizontal line adjacent the upper edges. A companion set of terminals 46 41 and 43 are positioned in the wall 20 on a horizontal line below that upon which the companion terminals are positioned and similarly in'the other wall 21 a companion set of terminals 39*, 40*, and 48 are positioned. The terminal 48 connected with spring finger 47 is likewise connected with the terminals 40, 39*, 46, and 41" the medium of the metallic strip 49. A second strip 50 connects the terminal 46 with terminal 43*.

Upon the bottom wall 19 of arranged the five battery and dynamo terminals as indicated in Fig. 6. The two battery terminals 51, 52, are positioned at the corners of the bottom 19 adjacent the instrument board 10, whereas the three dynamo terminals are positioned with one, 53, at the center,'and the other two, 54, at the outer corners. A short resistance coil R connects terminal 55 with terminal 53 and a strip 56 connects terminal 51 with terminal 54. Wires 57, 58, 59, and 60 extend from terminals, 51, 53, 55, and 52', upward to the two relay magnets 61 and 61 carried on the upper end of the wall 18. As in my Patent 'No. 1,070,657 entitled Controlling switch, issued August 19th, 1913, these two relay magnets serve to regulate the relationship between the dynamo and battery. The re- A sixth finger 47 engages with through the casing are" messes lay magnet 61 provides an automatic means for cutting the dynamo into circuit with the storage batteries at the time when the electro-motor force, of the dynamo equals or exceeds that of the batteries. The other relay magnet 61 serves as a means for decreasing the electro-motive force, at a given speed of the dynamo, when the storage batteries have been partially or completely charged thereby automatically decreasing the current supplied to the batteries when they no longer require the full current that can be produced by the dynamo. The armature (32 of the magnet 61 which throws the dynamo on or oil the line is connected to one end of a lever 3 pivoted on the pin 64. The other endof the lever 63 extends through the hollow projection 12 and is connected to the movable part of the indicator 12. This particular indicator 12, when the dynamo is in circuit, reads On and when out of circuit reads Off as illustrated in Fig. 3, and is described and claimed in my copending application before referred to.

In the wiring diagram Fig. 6 1 have not indicated the connections with the relay magnets 61 and 61 as this wiring arrangement has already been shown in my issued patent. I have therefore indicated them diagrammatically showing the wire 57 extending from the terminal 51 as running into the coil 61 and coming out on the lead wire 65. which in turn is connected to terminal 43 This suiliciently illustrates the circuit of the controller and enables one to follow the path of the current when the battery is serving as a source of supply.

It will be noted, particularly in Fig. 6 that the wiring terminals for connectingthe controller with the battery, dynamo and various translating instrumentalities, are so arranged that the contacts for the dynamo and batteries a re symmetrically positioned upon the lower wall or base 19 of the casing, the contacts for the tail light,-side lights and head light H" are positioned upon one side 21 whereas the connections for the horn side lights and head. light H are positioned upon the wall 20. This symmetrical arrangement of terminals permits one who is not particularly versed in electrical matte s to readily connect up the system as all of the terminals from one side wall extend to instruinentalities' positioned at that side of the car and the contacts on the other side extend to the instrui'nentalities positioned on arrange mot and wiring up of a car.

in mounting the controller it is necessary to make but two holes in the, instrument board. 12 of a diameter equal to the indicator l2 and 1% to receive the end of controller shaft 24.

A metallic hood extends over the tops of the magnetsfil and 61 contacting with he outer edges of the Vertical Wallis and extends down over the upper edges of the wallsQO and 21, thus entirely closing'the various instrumentalities and protectlng them from dust and the weather.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A controller for the lighting circuit of an automobile dynamo-battery system comprising, a casing having side walls and a bottom wall; a controller drum and contacts within said casing; terminals carried by one sidewall of the casing for connection with the lights on one side of the automobile; terminals on the other side wall of the casing for connection with the lights on the other side of the automobile; and terminals on the bottom wall for connection with the battery and dynamo.

2. A controller, adapted to be Carried at the rear face of an instrument board; a controller drum therein; means on the front face of the instrument board for operating the controller drum; an indicator with a face approximately flush with the front face of the board and positioned within an opening therein; a rearward extension on said indicator; and means carried by the casing for adjustably securing the rearward extension thereto.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a casing adapted to be secured to the rear face of an instrument board; an indicator positioned within an opening in the board with its face approximately fiush with the front face of the board; an extension carried by the indicator extending rearwardly through an opening in the casing; and means on the casing for adjustably securing the extension thereto to compensate for the varying thickness of such boards.

4:. A controller for the lighting circuit of an automobile dynamo battery system comprising a casing adapted to be secured to the rear face of an instrument board; an indicator plate positioned on the front face of the casing; means securing both the plate and casing to the board; an indicator device registering with an opening in the plate and positioned within an opening in the board with its face approximately flush with the front face of the board; means carried by L the casing responsive to changes in the bat the other side of the car. This eliminates i any crossing of the wiring outside of the controllzr casingQand greatly simplifies the terry-dynamo circuit for operating the indicater, an extension on the indicator extending rearwardly through an opening in the casing and adapted to receive a part of said indicator operating means; and means carried by the casing for adjustably securing the said extension thereto.

5. A controller comprising a casing hav ing integral rear and side walls forfiiedi' f in the side Walls and journaled at one end in the rear wall; a plate covering the front end of the side walls, the front end of the controller drum bein journaled therein; and a detachable h00 overlying the edges of'the rear and side walls and completing the inclosure.

7. A controller for the fighting circuit of copies of this patent mly be obtained tor flve cents each. by addressing the walhing'ton, D. 0.

I bottom an automobile dynamo-battery system comprising, acasing having side walls and a wall; a-plurality of switches within said casing; terminals carried by one side wall of-th'e casing for connection with the lights on one side of the automobile; terminals on the other side wall of the casing for connectionwith the lights on the other the bottom wall for tery and dynamo.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

VINCENT G. APPLE. In the presence of- E. V. MARTIN, M. N. OCoNNoR.

Commissioner of Patents,

connection with the batside of the automobile; and terminals on

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