US1142577A - Drip-pan alarm. - Google Patents

Description

M. JACOBSON.

DRIP PAN ALARM.

APPLICATIOIN FILED SEPT. 11, I914.

1,142,577, I Patented June 8, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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M. JACOBSON.

DRIP PAN ALARM.

APPLICATION FILED sen. II. I9I4.

Patented J 11110 8, 1915.

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MONUS JACOBSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DRIP-PAN ALARM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 8, 1915.

Application filed September 17, 1914. Serial No. 862,167.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MONUS JACOBSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Yorlnboi'ough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Drip-Pan Alarm, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a refrigerator, or ice'box appliances, and has particular reference to drip pans for such devices.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide an audible alarm for a drip pan, which will serve to announce to the occupants of the house the fact that the drip pan is full or nearly full of water; whereby the likelihood of flooding the floor of a building will be practically eliminated.

A further object of the invention is to provide a drip pan having associated therewith as a permanent part audible alarm devices, and furthermore, I provide novel means for adjusting the devices so as to cause the alarm to sound according to the variations in a possible depth of water.

A further object is to provide a novel and efficient means to break the circuit of alarm mechanism simultaneously with the grasping of the pan handle while withdrawing it from the refrigerator.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention are carried out in a perfect manner by the devices hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective View of one form of my invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section corresponding to the line 22 of Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the central portion of the device; Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section on the line H of Fig. 2, but omitting the float and bridge members; Figs. 5 and 6 are details of modifications described below; and Fig. 7 is a diagram of the bell and electrical connec tions in circuit therewith.

The several parts of the device may be made of any suitable materials and the relative sizes and proportions thereof may be varied to a considerable extent, without departing from the spirit of the invention hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I show a pan or receptacle 10 of any suitable form in plan view, and of a depth suitable for the location below a refrigerator or the like, to receive the drip water. At the front or side wall 11 of the pan I arrange the handle 12, preferably of a rigid nature, and secured permanently to said front wall. The primary purpose of this handle is to facilitate the manipulation of the pan. A secondary purpose of the handle is to control the action of the alarm, as will be fully described below.

Located at any convenient place, as for example upon the inner side of one side wall 13 of the pan is a casing 14:, in which is housed some suitable audible alarm device shown herein and to be referred to hereafter as a bell 15. This bell may be of the well-known electrically controlled type.

At 16 I show a wire leading to the bell from the battery 17, which may be conveniently located in a casing 18 on the opposite side wall 19 of the pan. Each of the casings 1 and 18 may be provided with a door or shutter 20, through or by which access to the interior of the same may be had from the outside of the pan. These casings with theiralarm parts will be understood, therefore, to be carried as a rigid or per manent part of the pan construction. The walls of the casings on the inside of the pan are made waterproof, and hence there is no interference with the operation of the bell by reason of the water within the pan.

Any suitable means may be provided within the pan and acted upon automatically by the water as it fills up or rises within the pan to complete the circuit between the battery and the bell to cause the bell to ring when the water reaches a certain predetermined depth. In the preferred embodiment of the invention this means for completing the circuit includes a bridge 21 extending along the middle portion of the inside of the pan between two casings 1 1 and 18. This bridge when made of metal may constitute a ground for the circuit in connection with the casing 14. As indicated in Fig. 1 in full and dotted lines, the bridge is adapted because of its construction to be bent up or down in the middle as may be de sired, to determine the point at which it becomes e'lfective; in other words, if it is desired to cause the alarm to sound at a lower level of water, the bridge is bent downwardly accordingly as indicated in the dotted lines. Cooperating with the bridge is a float 22 of any suitable light buoyant construction, the same being herein inclicated as carried on the inner end of a rigid arm 23 pivoted at 24, adjacent the upper edge of the front wall 11. This float carries a metallic contact point 25 which is adapted to strike the under surface of the bridge when the predetermined depth of water in the pan is reached. A circuit wire 26 leads from th battery along the front wall of the pan, and thence along the arm 23 to the contact point 25 where it is connected. I refer to form the arm 23 hollow and thread the branch wire 26 through the center thereof, as shown at Fig. 2. It will be apparent, therefore, that when the float is lifted to complete the circuit through the contact point 25 and brid e 21, the bell 15 will ring and will continue ringing until the at tendant comes to empty the pan.

Obviously when the attendant appears to empty the pan, it will be unnecessary and ordinarily undesirable for the bell to continue ringing, hence I provide a means whereby the moment the attendant grasps the handle 12 to withdraw the pan the circuit will be broken. The means I employ for this purpose comprises a member 27 projecting downwardly within the space be tween the handle 12 and the pan, and pivoted at 28 adjacent the upper edge of the pan. This member is in the nature of a bell crank lever, whose opposite or inner end 29 is adapted to bear downwardly upon the top of the arm 23, throwing the arm and float downwardly far enough to remove the contact point from the bridge when the pressure is applied to the handle to remove the pan. The outer end of the member 27 is the heavier, and normally does not interfere with the intended operation of the float arm. The member 27 is preferably made of bendable or flexible material, whereby its precise shape may be varied in accordance with the vertical adjustment of the bridge 21, or the equivalent contact member, with respect to the desired depth of water.

The bridge instead of being made of a simple one-piece construction may have connected thereto an adjustable screw 30 adapted to project downwardly for coiiperation with the contact point 25. This would obviate the necessity of bending or distorting Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,

the bridge. Another modification of the bridge mechanism is shown in Fig. 6, in which the main portion thereof 21 is made of fiber or some other non-conductor, and to the lower surface of the bridge is arranged a bridge 21, the same comprising a comparatively short metallic plate adapted to span the space between two contact points 25, to which the circuit wires 26 and 26 are connected in a manner substantially similar to the manner of connecting the single wire 26 to the single contact 25 previously described. In this adaptation of the invention, the wires are intended to make the electrical circuit, and the pan does not constitute a ground between the bell and the battery.

I claim:

1. In a float operated circuit closer for drip pans, a float, connections between the float and the pan to close a circuit when the float is lifted, and means made operative coincidentally with the grasping of the pan to remove it to break the circuit.

2. In a float operated circuit closer for drip pans, a pan, a float within the pan, means carried by the float to complete a circuit in connection with that part of the circuit included in the pan, and a member car ried by the pan and movably related to the float whereby when the pan is withdrawn the circuit will be broken.

3. In a float operated circuit closer for drip pans, a float, means carried by the float to close a circuit when the float is lifted, and a bell crank lever pivoted adjacent the top of the pan, one arm of the bell crank coiiperating with the float and the other arm of the bell crank extending downwardly on the outside of the pan adjacent the handle there of whereby when the handle is grasped the bell crank will be swung on its pivot causing the float to move downwardly breaking the circuit.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MONUS JACOBS'ON.

lVitnesses:

GEO. L. BEELER, PHILIP D. RoLLI-IAUS.

by addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents.

Washington, I); G.

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