US1174293A - Controller. - Google Patents

Description

J. E. SEELEY.

CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. so. 1914.

1,174,293.A Patented Mar. 7,1916.

n y JCE/77@ E. 566/6? Y [s Afa/way UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEicE.

JAMES E. SEELEY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO VULCAN COIL COM.-

' PANY, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

CONTROLLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 7,1916.

Application filed November 30, 1914. Serial No. 874,638.

To all whom t may concern A Be .it known that I, JAMES E. SEELEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles, State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Controllers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a controller apparatus or mechanism adapted particularly for use in connection with such an electrical machine as I have set forth in my application Serial No. 744,286 filed January 27, 1913; and the object of the present invention is the provision of simple and efficient means for controlling the current to such a machine, or to any other machine or device, which controller shall be simple and inexpensive in its construction and operation and shall have indefinite life under constant use.

In the types of controllers ordinarily used for high tension apparatus, the life of the contacts is comparatively short. The contacts are usually of a sliding nature, and the arcing which takes-place between the stationary contacts and the movable contact arm is destructive of the contacts in a comparatively short time. Even under the best of conditions the contacts are usually in such a state as to make relatively poor electrical connections.

In overcoming these difficulties it is my object to provide a simple and effective mechanism wherein all arcing is eliminated from the sliding contacts and wherein a make and break switch is interposed in the controller circuit and operated in such a manner as to cut off the current during the movement of the sliding contacts. This make and break switch is constructed and operated, in such a manner that arcing and the ill effects caused thereby are practically eliminated.

I have shown a preferred form of my controller mechanism in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a plan and diagram showing my controller and illustrating typical electrical connections therefor. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the controller. Fig. 3 is a section taken as indicated by line 3 3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a similar section showing the controller in another position with the make and break switch open.

In the drawings the numeral 10 designates a suitable base upon which the controller is mounted, this base being preferably of some insulating material, as vulcanized fiber. Upon this base a pair of metallic standards 11 is mounted, these standards carrying the shaft 12 in their upper ends.l A small hand wheel 13 is provided for rotating the shaft and an indicator disk 14 is provided showing the position 4of the shaft, and showing the connective conditions of the controller at any time. Mounted upon the shaft 12 I provide a drum l5 of suitable insulating material, as vulcanized fiber. In the surface of this drum I set a plurality of contacts 16 trated. In the present device I have four of these contacts 16 and they are spaced circumferentially apart one eighth of the total circumference. Each of the contacts, preferably formed by the head of a screw, reaches down through the drum 15 and makes electrical connection with the shaft 12 within the drum.

On one side of the drum I mount upon the base 10 four contact fingers 20, spaced apart so as to be each opposite one of the drum contacts 16. @n.the opposite side of the drum -I provide only three contact fingers 21 which are arranged opposite three of the drum contacts 16. These opposite sets of contact fingers press against-the drum along diametrically opposite longitudinal lines. In the position shown in Fig. 1, it will be seen that no contact 16 is engaging with any of the contact fingers 20 or 21. If the drum is rotated one eighth of a revolution in the direction indica-ted then the contact 16 which is opposite the right hand contact finger 21 in Fig. 1, will pass into engagement with the contact finger; and upon successive rotations of the drum through steps of one eighth of arevolution the next two contacts 16 to the left will successively engage with the neXt two contact fingers 21 to the left. Another successive rotation of one eighth of a revolution will bring the contact 16 which is farthest to the right in Fig. 1 into engagement with the contact finger 2O which is farthest to the right in Fig. l; and successive rotations through steps of one eighth of a revolution will bring remaining contacts 16 into successive engagement with the contact fingers 20 from right to left; until, in the last position, the contact 16 farthest to the right will be in engagement with the contact finger 2O farthest to the left. An-

vwhich are arranged on a spiral line as illusothker rotation through an eighth of a revolution will bring the apparatus back` to the position shown inF ig. 1 with none of the contacts inengagement with any of the contact lingers. This position is called the zero position, and is so indicated by the indicator disk 14, while the other successive positions are designated by the numbers l to 7 in the order named.

One end of the drum 15 is provided with longitudinal indentations 30, eight in number and spaced equally about the drum. The contacts 16 are arranged on longitudinal lines with four of these indentations 30. A pair of springs arms 31 are mounted upon the base l0 and their upper ends at 32 bear against the drum diametrically oppositely and on the same longitudinal lines of bearing as the upper ends of the contact lingers 20 and 21.V The arrangement is such that when the drum is in the position shown in Fig. 1, or is in any position in which one of the contacts 16 engages one of the contact lingers 20 kor 21, then the upper ends of the spring arms 31 will press into opposite indentations in the drum. The arrangement y is also made so that, as the drum is rotated,

the upper ends of the arms will be first forced out of the indentations before a contact has moved far enough to pass out of engagement with a contact finger; and also so that the next contact will move into engage-,-

ment with its corresponding contact finger before the ends of the spring arms drop into the nextindentation. The make and break switch comprises a pair of switch contacts 35 carried on the arms 31 opposite each other and adapted to be pressed against each other when the upper ends of the arms are pressed into the opposite indentations and to be separated from each other when theupper .endsof the arm are forced out of the inden-4 tations. The contact .faces of these contacts 35 are carefully prepared so that good contact is assured and so `as to minimize the arcing between the two contacts 35. Elimination of sliding engagementl between the two contacts 35 does much toward the elimination of arcing; Aand the quick opening and closing movement between the contacts also assists in elimination of arcing. It will be noticed that the indentations 30 and the upper ends 32 of the arms 31 4are so formed that a very slight rotation of the drum suffces to move the arms 31 and the contacts 35. In other words, when the contacts areopened, they are moved apart from each other very quickly and they are held wide apart until the drum is rotated almost to its next position, when they are quickly moved toward each other. The contacts 35 are always in the open position shown in Fig. 4 when any one of the contacts 16 are either making or breaking connection with any of the contact lingers 20 or 21. One of the spring arms 31 isfconnected, as at 36, withy35; and this make and break switch opens and closes in such manner, as hereinbefore described, as to cut the current olf from the contacts 16 while those contacts are either making or breaking connection with contact .lingers 2O or 21. In this manner all possibility of arcing at the sliding'contacts of the controller is entirely eliminated; the current is only turned on to the contacts 16 when those contacts are in good electrical engagement with the contact fingers.

In my electrical machine I use my controller as a resistance or impedance control: ler; and in a typical installation the contact fingers 20 and 21 are connected by wires45 to different sections of acoil 46, and the endof the coil is connected to a terminal wire 47.

The operation of turning the hand wheel 13 will throw the controller to successive positions which will successively cut out portions of the coil 46 from the circuit, the seventh position of the controller being that in which the minimum part of the coil is in circuit. i

In the zero position of the controller, there is no circuit made at all.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A controller, comprising a rotary drum, contacts on said drum, contact fingers adapted to be engaged by the drum contacts during rotation of the drum, and a make and break switch independent of said con-4 tacts and fingers and operated by the same rotation of the drum which engages the contacts with the fingers.

2. A controller, comprising a rotary drum i of insulating material, contacts on the drum, contact fingers adapted to" be engaged by the drum contacts during rotation, one yenol of the drum bein longitudinally grooved around vits circum erence, and a make and break switch connected with the drum contacts embodying a pair of switch contacts, and a spring arm carrying one of said contacts and adapted to move into and out of' the grooves on the drum when thedrum is revolved. v

. 3. A controller comprising a base, adrum of insulating material rotatively mounted thereon, contacts arranged in a spiral line of the face of the drum, a plurality of contact fingers on the base bearing against the drum to engage with the contacts thereon when the drum is rotated,vthe bearing points of the ngers and the relative positions of the contacts being so arranged that the different contacts will be brought into engagement with the different ingers upon rotation of the drum step by step, a series of indentations in the end of the drum spaced apart by distances equal to said step yby step lmovement of the drum, and a make and break switch embodying a pair of switch contacts and a pair of spring arms carrying said contacts and having their ends engaging the indented end of the drum.

4. vA controller comprising a base, a plurality of spaced material rotatively mounted on the base, a plurality of spaced contact fingers bearing against the drum along a longitudinal line, a plurality ofcontacts on the drum surface one opposite each finger arranged in a spiral line and spaced circumferentially by an integral portion of the circumference, one end of the drum being indented at circumferential spacings equal to the spacings of the contacts, a pair of spring arms mountedV on the base with their ends pressing diametrically oppositely against the indented end of the drum, and switch contacts carried by said spring arms opposite each other so that the contacts will press against each other when the arm ends are in opposite indentations, one of said switch contacts being electrically connected with being spaced circumferentially by the arc determined by the division of the whole circumference by the total number of contact fingers plus one, the end of the drum bein indented with indentations equal innum er to twice the number of drum contacts spaced equally around the circumference and the drum contacts being on longitudinal lines with one half the indentations, a pair of sprin arms mounted on the base and bearing diametrically oppositely against the indented part ofthe drum on the longitudinal bearing lines of the contact ingers, switch contacts carried on said arms opposite each other to be pressed against each other when the arms press into the indentations, and electrical connection between one of said switch contacts and the drum shaft. v

6. A controller, comprising a rotary drum, contacts thereon, contact fingers adapted to be engaged by the drum contacts during rotation of the drum, a make and break switch independent of the contacts and fingers and electrically connected thereto, and means whereby the make and break switch is opened and closed by virtue of the same rotation that engages the contacts with the lingers.

7. vA controller, comprising a rotary drum, contacts thereon, contact ingers adapted to be engaged by the drum contacts during rotation of the drum, a make and break switch independent of the contacts and ngers and electrically connected thereto, and means whereby the make and break switch is opened and closed by virtue of the same rotation that engages the contacts with the iingers, said means embodying a corrugated peripheral portion of the drum and switch operating members adapted to coperate therewith.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 10th day of November, 1914.

J. E. SEELEY.

Witnesses:

J AMES T. BARKELEW, ELwooD H. BARKELEW.

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