US1383756A - Automatic switching apparatus for telephone-exchange systems - Google Patents

Description

J. N. REYNOLDS.

AUTOMATIC swncnma APPARATUS FOR TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-l, [9|]- 1,383,756. Patented July 5, 1921.

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AUTOMATIC SWITCHING APPARATUS FOR TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYSTEMS. APPLICATION FILED AUG-1,1917- 1,383,756. Patented y 5, 1921..

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//7 yen/0r.- Jofin A/eWbe/ry Reyna/d5 by W 1. N. REYNOLDS. AUTOMATIC .SWlTCHlNG APPARATUS FOR TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYSTEMS.

Patented July 5, 1921.

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APPL| CATION FILED AUG-1, I917- //7 WM for:

I John A m brrry Reynolds.

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UNITED STATES PATENT mg;

JOHN N. REYNOLDS, or. ennnnw rcn, coimnc'rrou'r, ASSiGNon T0 WESTERN ELEC- TRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED, on NEW YORK, n.1, A oonronA'rroN or NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC swn'c'mlvo- APPARATUS non TELEPHONE-EXCH N E SYSTEMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 5,1921.

Application filed August 1, 1917.; Serial No. 184,000. i

tems, and is a modification of the switch shown and described inan application to the same inventor, Serial No. 158,190, filed March 29th, 1917. t I t In said application, Serial No. 158,190 filed March 29th, 1917 ,thereis shown and i described a switch in which there are a pluoperation. It isthe object of this invention rality of unit layers of multiple contacts mounted in superimposed relation to each other, and brushes, each adapted to be selectively moved to the layers and. transversely to the contacts of a, selected layer.

Only two electromagnets are used in the operation of the switch, one for stepping the brushes, the other for controlling thechangeover from one'character of steppingvto the other and for controlling the release of the Switch. V H

While a switch made in accordance with the invention: of said application Serial No.

158,190 has its advantages from an operative and cost standpoint, it requires a departure from the standardform of circuits for such switches to adapt it to the present systems of to provide a switch operating on the principles above outlined, which maybe readily adapted to existing circuits with butslight" change in the wiring. Y

i In accordance withthe generalfeaturesof this invention the switch of the earlier application is modified to include a third magnet which is used forreleasing "the brushes at thetermination of a connection.

' In the drawings illustrating the invention, Figure lis a view in side elevation of a brush operating mechanism embodying features of this invention; Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view taken upon the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

3 is a sectional view taken upon the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a part of the brushoperating mechanism; and

Fig. 5 is a view showing the manner in which the apparatus embodying the features of this invention may be wired in a system Referring first to Fig. 1, the referencenumerals 5, 5 designate a plurality ofmultiple and consists in general of a plurality of longitudinally extending conductors 'insulated from each other and divided into sets. Each conductor of each set has a plurality of brush contactingsurfaces thereon, the

contacting surfaces of adjacent conductors I of the same set being longitudinally sepa ,rated from each other and the contactlng surfaces of corresponding conductors of the severalsets being in the same. transverse line of the strip.

The brush operating mechanism, which l is illustrated in detail in Figs. 1' to 1 inclu sive, is designed to move the brushes step-bystep to the several levels of multiple contact strips 5, 5 and transversely thereof to selected contacts of a strip. Asshown inthe drawings, .6, 6. designate brushes mounted upon a carriage 7 which is secured to, ashaft 8. The shaft 8 is secured to a, frame plate ,9

by members 11 and 11. Located adjacent to, V

the shaft 8 is a toothed bar 12 adapted to be engaged by a stepping pawl 14: carried by an armature 15 of a stepping magnet 20. The toothedrbar is supported by collars 21- and 22 which are-slidable upon the shaft 8. Also; slidably mounted upon the shaft 8, is a notched bar 2 1with an extension 25 adapted to engage a notch 26 .in the toothed bar 12 so as to lock thetwo bars together in the normal position of the switch.

In the first movement of th apparatus response to impulses through the stepping jmagnet 20, the pawl .14 will engage the toothed bar 12 to move said bar 12 and the notched bar 24 upwardly in steps equal in H,

in contact with'the first set of contacts of length to the distance between two successive teeth on said bar 12. Each of these steps will be equal to the vertical distance between adjacent multiple contact layers and will continue until the brushes 6, 6 have been moved into a position opposite a desired layer. At the cessation of the first series of impulses through the stepping magnet 20 a side switch magnet 30 will be caused to operate. This magnet by its armature 49 controls the operation of a side switch and the movement of the levers 46 and 50. function of theside switch is to prepare circuits at the proper times for the control of the automatic switch. An arm'85 of the side switch carries a set of brushes 36 adapted to wipe over a series of contacts 37 arranged in the arc of a circle. The arm is held under tension by a spring 38. The arm 35 is released step by step under the influence of spring 38 by an escapement mechanism con trolled by the armature 49 of the magnet 30. This e'scapement mechanism consists of a member 40, notched on both sides and fixed to the arm 35, and a pair of arms 41 and 42 pivoted on the armature pivot pin 43. These two arms tend to move together under the influence of aspring 44. The arm 35 also carries a cam 45 to control the movement of the lever 46 pivoted at 47 and normally under the tension of spring 48.

I In the normal position of the side switch the arm 42 is in engagement with the first 'tooth on the right-hand side of the member as shown. In this position the brushesare the bank 37, and the cam 45 positions the lever 46 to hold the arm 79 01" lever 50 pivoted at 52 which is normallyunder tension of spring 51, in engagement with the arm 10 of lever 46. The teeth on the member 40 of the side switch are so arranged as to cause the brush set 36 to advance one step upon the retractive movement of the armature 49.

Afterthe cessation of the first set of impulsesthrough themagnet 20 by means of which the brushes 6, 6, were raised to the desired level, there willbe an operation of the armature or the magnet 36 to cause the side switch to be advanced one step by the arms-41 and 42. This first step of the side switch causes the movement of the lever 46 by the roller 58 pressing against the cam 45. This movementof the lever 46 causes an arm 59 thereon to .move the extension 25 of notched bar 24, normally tensioned by spring 20, out of engagement with the notch 26 of the toothed bar 12, and the notched bar 24 into engagement with the latch piece 29. This releases the toothed bar 12 from the notched bar 24, looking the latter, how

ever, against. movement, so thatsubsequent' The. 1

sets of contact surfaces.

raised the extension 620i the lever 50 will be swung around the pivot 52 until it engageswith the stop 61, thereby limiting the downward movement of the armature 15 to one half of the distance of its downward movement before. The first long step of the toothed bar 12 will operate a bell-crank lever to move the brush carriage 7 in a direction at right angles to the shaft 8 and through a distance equal to the distance between two successive teeth on the bar 12. This first step of the brush carriage is sullicient to bring the brushes 6, 6 into engage- "ment with contacts in the first row of the selected strip 5. The succeeding steps of the bar, however, in response to impulses through the magnet 20, due to the extension 62 of the lever 50 being moved about the pivot 52 to higher position so as-to engage the stop 61 and rest on the under edge of the armature 15, will only be half the distance oi the'impulses of the first series and the first impulse of the second series, so that the subsequent movement of the brushes 6. 6 will be only the distance between successive A sufficient number of current impulses of the second series will be sent to move. the brushes 6, 6 into engagement with a selected set of terminals inthe strip selected by the first set of impulses. Upon the cessation'of the second series of impulses the armature of the mag net 30 will again be operated to cause the movement of the side switch one step further. The moving of the side switch to the thirdset of contacts has no further effect upon the positions of the brush-operating parts but may prepare the circuit for ringing the called subscribers line. At theend of the ringing a third energization of the magnet 30 may take place to move the wipers 86 into the fourth position and to move the arm 77 of the armature of the release magnet 74 into engagement with the lug 16 of the member 40 and the other arm 19 into engagement with the lower end of the lever 50 and the extension '71 of the plate 72. i l

.The moving of the side switch into the fourth position has no further effect on the position of the brush operating mechanism. The parts will remain in the position with the wipers inthe fourth position during the conversational period, at the end of which time the operation of disconnection will cause energization of the magnet 74. Energization of magnet 74 causes the arm 19 of the armature of the magnet 74 to'engage an extension 71 of the pivotal plate 72,. which carries a pawl 7 5 normallyadaptedto engage the teeth of the toothed bar12 to retain it in its elevated position. -The engaging of arm 19 with the extension 71 of the plate 72 causes the latter to be turned about its axis, throwing the pawl 75 out of engagement with the toothed plate 12. This will cause the toothed plate 12 to drop by gravity and cause the brush carriage 7 to move outwardly, assisted by a spring 76, to draw the brushes 6, 6 clear ofthe contact strips 5, 5.

At the instant of energization of magnet 74,- the arm 77 of the armature of'magnet 74 also engages a projecting lug 16 on the side-switch wipers 116, 117,-controlled by amember 40. This with assistance of the spring 38 swings the wipers back into normal position, allowing the lever 46 to assume its normal position aided by the spring48. The arm 19 of the armature of release mag- 1 net 74 is of sufficientwidthto engage the lower end of lever 50 so that when toothed plate 7 2 is turned about its pivot the lever 50 is also thrown out of engagement with the stop 61 and the extension 79 is again held by When the that the device is not limited to this specific Referring to Fig. 5, A may represent a calling subscribers station, the 11116; for which is connected with line switch terminals 111, 111 adapted to be engaged by movable contacts 112, 1.12. Assuming that the subscriber at A desires connection with asubscriber, say 'ata substation B, the operation will be as follows: The subscriber-A; upon removal of his receiver from the switchhook will automatically have his line connected: with the movable contacts "112, 1121n a'well known way through the operation of a line switch. Following the closure of the line switch contacts, a relay 115 will be energized over the line circuit through position 1 of selector switch 120, embodying the features of this invention. The energization of' relay 115 will cause it to openits back contact 121, and close its front contact'122 to ground, thereby completing a parallel circuit, one: limb including a slow release relay 123, the other limb including a test relay 124, the" lattercircuit including a side-switch wiper 125 in its first position. Upon energization the test relay becomes locked up over acircuitincluding. its own contact, side-switch wiper 126 in its first and second positions and a horizontal off-normal contact 127 of the selector 120. The slow releaserelay 123 upon energization opens back contact 128 3 and closes front contacts 129 and 130. After removing his receiver from the hook, the subscriber A will operate his dial in the usual manner to sendthe requisite number of impulses to move the brushes 6,6 into 0- sition to'engage contacts in the level with which switching apparatus associated with the: subscriber B may be connected. In the particular instance we will assume that contacts in the fourth level of the contact strip 5, 5 are sought, in which case four impulses will be sent from station A. These impulses .open thecircuit of the relay 115 to cause it to intermittently close its back contact 121 which completes a circuit for slow release magnet 131 in series with the stepping mag net 20 of the selector switch 120, which circuit includes side-switch wiper 132 in its first position. Relay 131, in pulling up,

closes its contact 133 to complete a circuit from ground through side-switch wiper 134 and the side-switch magnet 30. The relays 123 and 131 both being slow release will holdup during the sending of impulses,

The stepping magmet 20, however, will re spond to the impulsesresulting from the opening and closing of the contact 121 to step the toothed bar 12 and with it the notched bar 24 and brushes 6, 6 upwardly in steps of a lengthequal to the'vertical separation of the layers 5, 5. At the end of the fourth step or impulse from the station A, the relay will remain energized and open the circuitofthe relay 131 at contact 121, causing it to drop back and open the circuit ofthe sideswitch magnet30 at the contact 133. The

armature 49 of the side-switch magnet 30, in releasing steps the side-switch wipers fromth'eir firstto their second position. The movement of the side-switch wipers from their -first to their second position, swings the lever 46 about its pivot 47 releasing lever 50, unlocks toothed bar 12 from notched bar i 254, and locks notched bar 24 againstmovement by means" oflatchpiece 29. Also it places the-extension 62 of lever 50 in position so that the extension will be moved into engagement with stop 61 and under the armature 15 of stepping magnet 20. As soon as the side-switch wiper 36 is moved from 7 its first to its second position a circuit will be completed for thestepping magnet 20 which may be traced from ground through a front contact 1360f test relay 124, armature 15 of stepping magnet 20, contact 137 on said armature, side-switch wiper 132 in its second position and through the magnet 20 tobattery. This circuit will exist so long as the relay 124 is retained energized. Upon the first horizontal step of the brushes 6, 6 however, the bell crank lever 70 rotates about its pivot and the, horizontal off-normal contact 127 will be opened to transfer the holding circuit of relay 124 to the shortest brush 6 of the set which constitutes the test brush.

The first horizontal step of the brushes 6, 6 will be a long one, as hereinbefore described, and will bring said brushes into engagement with the first set of contacts 2, 3 and 4 of the layer. If any of the contacts of this set have been taken for use by another switch, there will be a ground on the. contacts 4, which will hold the relay 124 energized until the stepping magnet 20 has made another step. This stepping, operation will be continued until the brushes 6, 6 land on a set of contacts, the contact 4 of which is not grounded. When this occurs, the circuit for the test magnet 124 will be opened, which will cause it to open the stepping magnet circuit. At I the time that the side-switch wipers moved from their first to their second position, the wiper 134 completed an energizing circuit for the side-switch magnet 80 from a front contact 137 on the relay 124, which caused it to draw up its armature 49. As soon as the relay 124 becomes deenergized by reason of the brushes 6, 6 landing on idle contacts, this last traced circuit will be opened and the armature 49 will release to move all of the side-switch wipers from their second to their third position.

In their third positions, the wipers 116, 117 connect the circuit of station A with conductors 140, 141 leading to the longest and middle brushes 6, 6. This connection includes contacts 142, 142 ofa relay 143 which is energized over a circuit including the front contact 129 of the relay 123. The relay 115 is retained in bridge of the line of station A and so remains until the completion of the conversation and the subscriberA hangs up his receiver to break the clrcuit of 111511116. l/Vhen this occurs relay- 115 releases, opening the circuit of relay 128 at'contact 122, causing saidrelay 123'to release to close its back contact 128. The closure of contact 128 completes an energizing circuit for the side-switch magnet.30 which includes a side-switch'wiper 145 in its third position, an interrupting contact 149 on the. armature 49 of the side-switch magnet 30,

the winding of side-switch magnet 30 and battery. This causes the side-switch magnet 30 to pull up and-release its armature to step the wipersinto their fourth position;

In the fourth position of the side-switch wiper 145 release magnet 74 is energized over ground, back contact 128 of relay 123, side-switch wiper 145 in its fourth position,

winding of release magnet 74 to battery."

When the armature of release magnet 74 pulls up, arm 77 engages lug16 on member .40 and arm 19 engages extension 71 of piv- Oted plate 72, and lower end of lever 50, causing the side-switch wipers to be returned to normal position and toothed plate 12 and notched plate 24 to be released and returned to normal, as hereinbefore described.

. What is claimed is:

1. In an automatic switch, stationary contacts, a movable contact member, a stepping pawl for moving said contact member in two distinctly separate movements in different directions to engage said stationary contacts, means for operating said pawl, means for holding said movable contact in advanced position, and a release magnet for releasing said holding means to restore the movable contact to its normal position.

I pawl for moving said contact member in. two

distinctly separate movements in different directlons to engage said stationary contacts, means for determinmg the change-over from .one character of movement to the other,

holding means for maintaining said movable contact member in advanced position, and a release magnet for releasing said holding means to restore the movable contact to its normal position.

4. In an automatic switch, stationary contacts, a movable contact member adapted to .be moved in two distinctly separate movement into engagement with stationary contacts, a single step-by-step mechanism for transmitting the separate movements to said movable contact member, an electrically operated 'escapement switch for controlling the changeover from one character of movement to the'other, holding means for maintaining said movable contact member in its operated position, and a releasemagnet for releasing said holding means and for returning said escapement switch to normal position.

5. In an automatic switch, a longitudina'lly movable rod, acontact member carried by said rod and movable independently thereof, a toothed .member normally connected with said rod and said contact member, step-by-step, mechanism for operating said toothed member to move said rod, escapemcnt controlled mechanism for moving said rod from engagement with said toothed pawlcooperating with said toothed member,

and electrically controlled means for disengaging said holding pawl from said toothed member and returning said escapement controlled means to normal position to cause the restoration of said contact member to normal position.

6. In an automatic switch, stationary contacts, brushes cooperating therewith, a stepping pawl for advancing said brushes in two distinctly separate movements in difl'erent directions, a single electromagnet for op- 10 I erating said pawl, means for holding said brushes in advanced position, and a magnet for releasing said holding means to restore the brushes to their normal position.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe 15 my name this 30th day of July A. D., 1917.

JOHN N. REYNOLDS.

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