US1339914A - Starting means for electric apparatus - Google Patents

Description

T. A. BARRETT.

STARTING MEANS FOR ELECTRIC APPARATUS.

APPHCATlON FILED MAR. 17, I917- Pa-tented May 11, 1920.

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,4 0mv5y TTED STATES P THOMAS A. BARRETT, 0F ENGLEWOOD, NEW? JERSEY, ASSIGIN'OIR T0 COOIPER HEWITT ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF HOBQKEN, NEW A CORPOR-ATIGN OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 11, 1920.

Application filed March 17, 1917. Serial No. 155.43%.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. BARRETT, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Englewood, county of Bergen, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Starting Means for Electric Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

One broad method widely used in commercial work for starting mercury vapor apparatus is the use of a high potential and a starting band for overcoming the starting reluctance of the apparatus. This is normally very satisfactory in those commercial types of the apparatus Where the auxiliaries, comprising the starting resistance, the series resistance, the inductance and the shifter, are mounted in close proximity to the apparatus to be started into operation.

However, in those cases in the commercial application of the apparatus where it is not possible, or desirable, to mount the auxiliary starting and operating devices in close proximity thereto, the starting of the apparatus into operation is not so satisfactory. It seems to be a fact that, in such cases, the high potential of the inductance coil which is discharged into the line is dissipated or absorbed before it reaches the terminals of the gas or vapor apparatus and consequently the apparatus does not start up. This absorption or dissipation of the accelerated potential, or kick, as it is commonly called in. the art, may be due to electrostatic capacity action, or insulation leakage, or mutual induction in the line.

In those installations where the apparatus is remotely mounted from its auxiliary devices and at varying distances, ranging from, say, (10) ten feet to (100) one hundred feet or more, I have found that when an inductance coil is inserted in the line in close proximity to the apparatus requiring to be started into operation, the kick from the inductance in the remote auxiliary is transmitted to the apparatus and the apparatus started into operation.

I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawing which shows diagrammatically the general arrangement of the circuit connections and of the auxiliary devices used in the starting and operation of a mercury vapor lamp, for example.

In the drawings I have shown such a lamp consisting of a tube or container, 1,

provided at one end with a positive electrode, 2, of iron, and a cathode, 8, of mercury, or other suitable material, at the opposite end, said electrodes being connected to line wires i and 5, which in turn are connected to a source of current (not shown). The usual starting band, located on the out side of the tube in proximity to the cathode, is shown at 6 and is connected by a wire, '2', with the leading-in conductor of the positive electrode 2.

A series resistance, 8, is inserted in the positive main 4: and an induction coil 9, is inserted in the negative main 5. Across the mains l and 5 is connected a circuit containing a starting resistance 10 and a make and break device, 11, known in the art as a shifter. In the line leading to the nega tive electrode 3 of the gas or vapor device and in close proximity thereto is an induction coil 12 having an iron core 13. T he line wires 4t and 5 are shown broken at 4 and 5 and it will be understood that the length of these two wires between the points where the starting resistance and the shifter are connected in and the terminals of the lamp may be any distance, ranging from a few feet up to one hundred feet or more, according to the conditions under which the de vices may be installed, and may conveniently take the form of a cable.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows. The current is applied to the mains T and 5 and a starting circuit is completed through the series resistance 8, the starting resistance 10, the shifter 11, and the inductance 9. The core of the inductance coil 9 bein ma netized b the flow of current therethrough attracts armature mounted on the shifter 11 and causes the shifter to break the starting circuit at that point, whereupon the high potential stored in the inductance 9 is discharged through the cable et -5 to the terminals of the vapor device 1, the inductance coil 12 by virtue of its wellknown action augmenting the discharge of the remote inductance 9, when it tends to decay, and thereby causing to be applied to the terminals 2 and 3 of the lamp 1 a potential hi 'h enough to break down the starting reluctance of the apparatus and cause it to start into operation.

It is difiicult to state with certainty the electrical operation of the above-described apparatus, but it may well be that the dis charge of the remote inductance coil 9 provides a high potential to start current oscil lating in the resonant circuit including the starting band 6, the cathode 3, the inductance coil 12, and the shifter 11. Due to the well known phenomenon of rise of potential across a condenser in a resonant circuit there is developed between the starting band and the cathode of the lamp a sufliciently high potential to start ionization or electrical conduction in the lamp.

I have shown the inductance 12 and its iron core connected in close proximity to an electrode of the vapor device 1, but it will be understood that I do not limit myself to the particular location of the coil as it may be inserted at any point in the line remote from the coil 9 and where it is found that the high potential discharge of said coil 9 tends to decay. The coil 12, however, has been found to perform satisfactorily in the position illustrated in the drawing in those :ommercial outfits where the length of the cable is in the neighborhood of one hundred feet.

In the foregoing I have described my invention in connection with the starting into operation of a mercury vapor lamp, but it will be understood that my invention is not limited to this particular kind of device, as the "invention is equally applicable to any kind of vacuum, gas, or vapor, or any kind of translating device depending upon this method of starting.

While I have shown the inductance coils 12 and 9 connected in the negative side of the circuit, these devices may be inserted in the positive main without departing from the spirit of my invention, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of starting an electric zip-- paratus requiring a high potential to start it into operation, which consists in breaking a circuit across the terminals of said device and at a point remote therefrom to cause the generation in the line of said device of a potential higher than the normal operating potential of the device, and augmenting said high potential at an intermediate point between the source of high potential and the device.

2. The combination with a translating device and means for supplying electric current thereto, of means for breaking a circuit across the terminals of said device and at a point remote therefrom to cause a high potential in the circuit of the translating device, and means also in said circuit for augmenting said high potential.

3. The combination with a translating device and a source of electric current for supplying the same, of means for breaking a circuit across the terminals of said device and at a point remote therefrom, thereby generating a high potential in the circuit of the translating device, and means for augmenting the said high potential.

4;. The combination with a translating device and a source of electric current for operating the same, means for breaking a circuit across the terminals of said device and at a point remote therefrom, thereby generating and discharging into the circuit of the translating device at one point a high potential, and means at another point in said circuit for augmenting said high potential.

The combination with an electric device requiring a high potential to start it into operation and means for supplying electric current thereto, of means in circuit with the device for breaking a circuit across the terminals of said device and at a point remote therefrom, thereby creating and discharging into said circuit a high potential, and means for preventing the dissipation of said high potential in the line.

(5. The combination with a translating device and a source of electric supply therefor of means for breaking a circuit across the terminals of said device and at a point remote therefrom, thereby generating a high potential in the circuit leading to the translating device, and means for augmenting said high potential whereby the translating device is started into operation.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 16th day of March, A. D. 1917.

THOMAS A. BARRETT.

Witness Tnos. H. BROWN.

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