US1206734A - Switch. - Google Patents

Description

' BEST AVAILABLE COP.

W. A. SPALDING.

Y SWITCH.

l APPLICATION FILED MAY I6. 1.913. 1,206,734. Patented Nov. 28, 1916.l

i Rigi.

--,. f eEsTAvAaAeLEcoPQ STATES rAriiisr OFFICE.-

A'. srALDInG, or -Los ANGELES, c ALIFoRNIA;

To all it may concern:

ABei ,known'that I, WILLInrr A. Srhrin; ING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in thecounty. of Los Angeles 4i and'State fl Californiaf--have .invented a new and use 1 switch, et' which the re-110W- .'ing is a-specification.` I

This invention relates to means -for closing two separate electrical circuits, and among other objects it seeks tomakesuch provlsion that whenone. o fsaidV` electrical circuits is c losed, the closing means islocked'in posi- .tion so as to keep'said circuit closeduntil.. v

the pers'on having control 'over the `locking 'means releasesl it. It alsofhashanfinterlockf'; '.in feature such that whenone of saidele'c-f trlc'al circuits is closed, :the other' cannot-also `be closed. A fswitchsuch'as-thismay have various uses, but'I particularly contemplate using it in connection with a yoting system installedjfordeliberatiw bodies'suchas state' legislatures, etc. 'In'this ca'se, a Switch-of this'type ismounted 'at eachf;legislators desk and byclosing'one of the'elect'ricalcir- '25 cuits hev would registerv an -aye' vote on a u estion'beforethe house, whilebyclosing- .naW-Y..

y making the provisions-above s et forth',

' l30 'a legislatori's prevented from voting on bothsides, of the'ouestion-'andis also prevented "from changing yhis .vote after itis once' cast' -at`lea stso far as-the operation ofthis device is concerned.A

j *The accompanying drawingsillustrate the' Figs. 2 and 3,1through va casing inc losing the switch. Fig. `a section on .line- :vg-4%, 40 Figs. 1 and 3, through-the casing inclosing the switch. Fig. 3 lis a-top View showing a' fragment of the casing broken away so as to display 'the switch.-v

The arrangement for forming tw-oielectrical circuits which have already Abeen referred to and which are normally open, may be best seen by reference -to 'Fig The one circuit is formed by the leads '1 and 2 of the I .switch which are. electrical1y '.j connected to springs 3 and 4', respectively,-tvhic'hspr-ings are seen to' be electrically'l open' or discon-` il ed to springs 7 and 8,"respectively. The

e other of- -said circuits he would register a means shown in the form lof holding be energized is SWITCH,

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented NOV, ,28, 1916, applicati@ mea-May 16,1913. serial Nb. 768,159.

shown for springs 3 and'i, but in 3 said.

springs 7 and 8 are shown with the metallic 60 pm or closing means 9 connecting same so "as -to close the circuit formed by leads 5 'I and. -For each electrical circuit there is pro- 'vided a separate b ut identical set of closing 6'5 means andlocking and. operating mechanism for same, which will now be described.-

The'pin 9 and element 10,.Fig. 1, constitute a movable member lwhich is pivotally mounted at 1-1. The weight oi this member 7() may be sobalanced as to normally withdraw" itself into'the dotted position shown in- Fig.

"1, in which event the circuit across leadsv 5 f and'' will be open in manner similar to the .I

"circuit across leads '1 and 2, Figs. land 75 rFor` the purpose of operating the circuit closingV means, however, the same is conthrough standard 12 to push button 13. This button is'normally adapted to e2;-

tend up and beyond the aperture 14 in a 36 4vplate 15, the said plate 15A-preferably being thelegislators desk top in cases where the i switch is used for taking the legislative vote. Normally 'the balance ofmember 10 would move the push button13 up and out through .35 v v the-plate to its dotted pos1tion, as shown in 'i Fig. ,1. In this event, theg-'circuit across leads -and 6 would'be open, but when the button]s i 13Qis'depressed to Its full line position, the] pinV 9-would close said circuits-'as shown in 9o Figs. 1 and 3. When the circuit-closing means is thus closing its circuit,'locking 2;

member, such as anelectro'magnet 16 adapted to member 1 0 in closmg position. This electro'- magnet is provided with leads 17 and 18,4

master switchat the' speakersdesk. 'The electromagnets at eachllegislators desk may 10o ,be connected to the same m'astervswitch so. that the speaker, just prior to calling for a vote, may close said switch and energizejhe electromagnets 16. If the 'legislator` thenvoted bydepressing button 13, a wrought 1015 iron armature 19 which is carried byelement i 10 would be brought underzthe influence of the electromagnet substantially at the same `time whenpin 9 closed its circuit.

provided for locking the cafter the electromagnet 16 is denergized, and

this magnet would be denergized only by the Speaker opening the master switch after the vote had been fully counted and recorded.

Turning now to the closing means for the circuit across leads 1-and 2, this will be seen to. be substantially identical with that just described for the circuit across leads 5 and 6. 1t -includes a similar pin 9', `element 10, pivotal support 1l', standard 12 and push button 13. From Fig. 1, 'it Will be also seen that the circuit-closing means are so posioned relative to each other that the members 10, have intersecting paths of movement and that said paths end'ltogether atV the electromagnet 16 Vso'that when element- !O is closing its circuit andfislocked onto the electromagnet, the element 10 cannot be moved up into its closing position because of the interference which would arise between armature 19 and element 10. O11 this account the legislator' would also be stopped trom pressing button" 13 so as to cast-another vote on the question additional to and on the other, side from the vote cast by butfon 13. The button 13, for instance, may be termed the aye button, while the button l- 3 may be termed the nay button. I he Circuit 5, 6 -therefore would be the legisla- L'ors aye circuit and would include an aye amp or other suitable vote-registering instrument which isgcommon in voting systems and which forms no part of this invention,

while the circuit 1, 2 would be. thelegislators r may circuit and would contain a nay lamp or other vote-registering device.

For the purpose of reinforcing the mechamism and causing the push buttons 13 and Y 13 to travel in a positive path', the links 2O may be connected between the` stationary pin- 21v and the movable pins 22 on the Standards 12 and 12', respectively. The mechanism mayalso be inclosed within a protecting casing comprising the side walls 23, Fig.

j 2, the end wa1ls24-only oneof which is shown, Fig. l-and the bottom Awall 25..

This casing-together with the plate might be made of porcelain or other hard material, care being taken as to insulation, which l would more certainly prevent. access'to the switch parts within the casing and which would therefore make' it more certain that the voting switch could not be tampered with for the purpose of .defeating its primary)7 objects.

r eEsTAvAiLAeLE coP.

From the foregoing-detailed description, it is believed that the construction and mode of operating the switch are clear.

I claim:

1. .An electric switch comprising a casing,

l stationary contact means mounted in said casing, movable contact means for each stationary contact means disposed so as to be moved into contact with its stationary co'ntact means, said movable contact means comprising curved levers substantially as illustrated, each of said levers pizvoted at one end in said casing, lugs on each side of each of said levers disposed so -as to engage with one of said stationary contact means when being moved, each lever when contacting with its stationary contact means obstructing the path of movement of the other lever f to prevent the other leverV from contacting with its stationary contact means, and an electro-magnet ixed in said casing to con-v tact with the free end of each le er when in contacting position to lock such lever in contacting position.

2.An electric switch having two sets ofl contacts arranged so that one set will contact to the exclusion of'the other, each of'V said sets, of contacts comprising'stationary h contact means fixed in said' casing, movable .contact means comprising levers, said levers Vso as to engage with respective fixed con- 'tact means when moved, each of said levers in thecontacting position obstructing thepath of movement of the opposite lever, and 'an energized electromagnet to hold either of said movable levers in the contacting position thereby preventing a contacting movement of the opposite lever..

3. The 'combination with a casing comprising. a plate having apertures therelos through and an outer face, of an electric switch comprising two sets of contact means,

said contact .means embracing stationary contact means fixed-in said casing and mova-` ble contact means pivotally mounted in said iio easing, said movable contact' means being -`disposed so as to engage said stationary conf tact means .when moved in one direction,

push buttons operatively connected to the movable contact means and normally eX- f' i tending out through said apertures,` said push buttons when-depressed closing ythe sets of contact means and electro-magnetic means 1 for holding either set of contact means in the closed position, the depressed push button remaining belowj said/outer face in said closed position. v

4. In combination, an arrangement for making two contacts, a plate having apertures therethrough, two push buttons normally projecting through said apertures and beyond said plate, said buttons being adapted to be depressedthrough said apertures 130' and below the outer face of said plate, sta- 95 being fulcruined in said casing and disposed 1,206,784 BEST AVAILABLE copi.

tionary contact means for each of said contacts, two movable membersadapted to be moved into position to engage said stationary contact means, one of said movable members being operated by one of said zpush buttons and the other of said movable Vmembers being operated by the other of'said .push buttons, and an electro-magnet for'locking 4said members in the position where they respectively contact with said stationary contact means, 4and said movable members being so positioned relative to each other that when one makes a contact, it will obstruct the path of movement of the other to prevent the other from making' a contact;

5. In combination, a plate having apertures therethrough 'and having an outer face,

two' push buttons normally extending out through said apertures and beyond the outer face of said plate, said push buttons being adapted to be depressed through said apertures and below the outer face of said plate,

two ivotally mounted members connected -to said push buttons respectively, stationary Uopie'ift this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, byaddressing Washingtomll. c'w v contact means, one of said movable members being adapted to engage one of the stationary contact means to make one contact and the other of said movable members being adapted to engage the other of said stationary contact means to make another contact, and an electro-magnet for locking said movable members in the position where they make their respective contacts, said movable members beingso positioned relative to each other that when one is locked in its contacting position by said electro-magnet it will obstruct the path `of movement of the other movable member whereby the other movable .member is prevented from being moved to contacting position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set .my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 10th day of May, 1913.

wILLnnxa- A. sPALDING. In presence of `A I l JAMES R. ToWNsEND,

- ROBERT A.ST EPS.

the .Gommiisjsionier M Paftctnta,

iba;

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