US1137908A - Centrifugal circuit-breaker. - Google Patents

Description

Patentefi May 4, 1915.

1121; niar 7 6 141i arney C. F. RUMOLD.

CENTRIFUGAL CIRCUIT BREAKER.

APPLlCATlON FILED MAR. 12,1913.

wz'i nesses wiwm/ CHRISTIAN F. RUMOLD, OF BEREA, KENTUCKY.

CENTRIFUGAL CIRCUIT-BREAKER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 4-, 1915.

Application filed March 12, 1913. Serial No. 753,872.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN F. RUM- oLo, a citizen of the United States, residing at Berea, in the county of Madison and the State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Centrifugal Circuit-Breakers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to speed controlled circuit breakers and its object is to provide a simple and economical apparatus which will be thoroughly reliable for breaking an electric circuit upon rise of speed of some element with which the electric current is associated.

The deviceis especially suitable for controlling the speed of trains or other vehicles by providing the vehicles with some kind of stopping means actuated or allowed to be actuated through the intermediary of an electric current so that this stopping means operates as soon as the speed of the vehicle reaches an undesirable rate.

My invention consistsin the parts and in the details of construction and arrangement' of parts as will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of apparatus constructed and arranged according to my invention, the circuit breaker being shown in section, and with the circuit completed; and Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the circuit breaker showing how the circuit is broken.

As shown herein, a battery 1 is included in a circuit comprising a conductor 2 leading therefrom to a contact bar 3 which forms part of the circuit breaker4. This circuit breaker comprises a hollow body 41 containing a suitable quantity of mercury or other suitable contact fluid 5 normally in engagement with the lower terminal parts of the contact bar 3 and another contact bar 6. Another conductor 9 leads from the contact bar 6 to one end of an electro-magnet coil 10 and a conductor 11 leads from the other end of said coil to the other pole of the battery 1.

The hollow body 41, which is preferably spheroidal as shown and which may be made of any suitable material, is preferably journaled to rotate about a vertical axis in bearings 42 and 43 in a stationary frame 44. An insulating sleeve 45 is fixed on the frame 44 by a bolt 46 and extends down into the hollow body 41 with the contact bars 3 and 6 extending through it and with their lower terminal parts exposed for contact with the liquid 5 and with their upper terminal parts exposed for connection to the conductors 2 and 9. A dynamo 25 has a shaft 36 with a bevel gear 39 fixed thereon and meshing with a bevel gear 40 fixed on a downward extension of the hollow body 40 coaxial therewith. The dynamo shaft 36 also has a gear 36' fixed on it and meshing with a gear 37 fixed on the shaft 38, which, as shown, is the axle of a car or other vehicle. This dynamo may be included in a circuit forming part of a system of train control which need not be herein described in detail. If the dynamo is not used the hollow body may be ope'ratively connected to the shaft 38 to be rotated directly thereby. The electro-magnet coil 10 may attract a bar 47 which may actuate any suitable means for stopping or braking the vehicle when released by the magnet coil.

It will be understood that in any instance the speed of rotation of the hollow body 41 will be proportional to the speed of rotation of the shaft 38, and, in the present example, to the speed of travel of the vehicle. Where used on different vehicles the ratio of the gearing may be varied to give the hollow body the proper speed of rotation as may be necessary in connection with vehicle wheels of different diameters. The parts are so designed that upon rise of the speed of rotation of the shaft 38 to an objectionable degree, the mercury or other liquid 5 in the hollow body 41 will be thrown by centrifugal force from its position in the bottom of the vessel as shown in Fig. 1 out toward the sides of the vessel as shown in Fig. 2, thus leaving the lower terminal parts of the contact bars disconnected electrically and opening the circuit in which the battery 1 and coil 10 are included, deenergizing the magnet and allowing the element 47 to act. As soon as the speed falls below the objectionable rate, the liquid 5 will return to its position and will maintain the electrical connection between the lower terminal parts of the bars 3 and 6 as long as the speed remains below the objectionable rate. It will also be understood that my invention is capable of association with other details of a train control apparatus which need not be here specifically shown or described, and that a dynamo may be substituted for the battery 1, or the dynamo 25, when used, may

be caused to supply the current in the circuit which the circuit breaker controls.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A centrifugal circuit breaker comprising a container, contact fluid therein, separate contact bars extending into the container to be electrically connected by said contact fluid, a sleeve supporting said contact bars and insulating them from each other, a neck on said container around said sleeve, between which and said, sleeve a closure is container alined with said sleeve and said neck, a frame, bearings in the frame for the bearing means of the container, and a sup- 8.

port on said frame for said sleeve.

CHRISTIAN F. RUMOLD.

Witnesses:

Oms. D. Lnwrs, Homes E. GROMEB.

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