US1294862A - Electric switch. - Google Patents

Description

E. 0. BENNETT.

ELECTRIC SWITCH. APPLICATION FILED JULY 13, I917.

1,294,862. Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

ATTORNEY INVENTOR ERNEST O. BENNETT, 0F BLTIEFIELD, WEST VIRGINIA.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

Application filed July 13, 1917. Serial No. 180,479.

'To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ERNEST, O. BENNETT,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Bluefield', in the county of Mercer and State of WVest Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric Switches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to general applications of electricity, and more especially to switches; and the object of the same is to produce an improved spring-actuated contact or pair of contacts, intended primarily to receive the blade of a knife switch. De-

tails will be found in the following specification, reference being made to the draw- 1 ings herewith where1n:-

Figure 1 is a perspective viewof a twoarm knife blade switch in open position, with its lips constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of one pair of lips.

In my experience I have cleared motor and light trouble caused by switch lips and the lips of fuses becoming loose and producing open circuits, and it is the purpose of the present invention as far as possible to avoid this contingency by constructing a switch in which it may not occur. I have illustrated the invention as applied to a two-arm knife blade switch in which B is the base, A are the arms pivoted thereto at P, I is the insulated connecting block, and H is the handle. No novelty is claimed for the'sedetails, nor do I wish to be limited strictly to this use of the invention.

As perhaps best seen in Fig. 2, each armor blade is intended to close between a pair of contacts 1 rising in substantial parallelism from a block 2 mounted at the center of a- U-shaped yoke 3 of brass or the like, which in turn is mounted on the base and connected with the wire not shown. The up er ends of the contacts are preferably de ected slightly outward into tips or lips 4 and as illustrated, but their bodies are approximatel parallel. Connected with each body eading thence outward is a rod 5 which extends loosely through a hole or opening 6 in one arm of the'yoke 3, and

uponthis rod is coiled an expansive spring 7 whose tendency of course is to press the contact inward gently. In other words, the two springs 7 bear the contacts toward each other because the inner ends of the spring press on the outer faces of the contacts and the outer ends of the springs rest on the in-' ner faces of the arms of the yoke, while the rods 5 serve as guides for the springs to prevent their disengagement. The rods may be attached to the contacts in any suitable way, but I prefer that the attachment be permanent and rigid so that the parts may not become disconnected. If now the contacts should become loose on the block'2, or the latter loose on the base of the yoke 3, no harm will be done because when the knife-arm or blade A descends between these contacts they are spread apart thereby and a reliable electrical connection results, whether the parts are tight or not.

This device may be used in oil switches, cartridge fuses, and at many other places Where an electrical contact or connection is dislired, and I reserve thebroadest use pos- S1 e.

What is claimed as new is A switch contact comprising a yoke having upstanding arms and mounted on a base, a pair of strips secured to the yoke between the arms and between which the movable member of the switch is to be inserted, a rod connected to each strip and projecting therefrom and loosely through an opening formed in the adjacent yoke-arm, and springs on said rods and bearing against the strips and ERNEST O. BENNETT.-

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