US1413735A - Terminal box - Google Patents

Description

L. P. HYNES.

TERMINAL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED ocT.8.1919.

Patented Apr. 25, 1922, A, 2 SHEETS-SHEET-l.

L. P. HYNES.

TERMINAL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 8,1919.

1,413,735. I Patented 2122.221922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEE P. HYNES, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIG-NOR TO CONSOLIDATED CAR-HEATING' COMPANY, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TERMINAL BOX.

Application filed October 8,

To all ywhom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, LEE P. HYNEs,a citizen of the United States. of America, residing in the city of Albany, county of Albany, and State of New York, have invented .an Improvement in Terminal Boxes, of which the following is a specification. l

This invention relates to wiring appliances as used in connection with the Wiring of electrical circuits and more particularly the invent-ion relates to terminal boxes such as form parts of electrical circuits.

One of the objects of this invention 1s to provide a simple and practical terminal box having great flexibility of construction and use. Another object is to provide a terminal box in which the construction will permit o f rapid incorporation therein of a great variety of sizes of electrical appliances such as fuses or resistance units, for example, as desired, without requiring a complete rebuilding of the parts. A further object is to p rovide a terminal box con-struction in which the base or box may be of metal, and the terminals 4of insulating material and adjustable in-relative position, having the above features so embodied that effectiveness of operation, compactness of construction, and convenience and facility of installation are secured.

Other objects will be in part obvious or in part pointed out hereinafter.

It has been found' in practice that, in designing electrical circuits and lay-outs such as are found in railway cars, for instance, considerable diiliculty and confusion results in the building and designing of terminal boxes on account of the many and varied requirements of the different railways. In order to meet these requirements, which oftentimes call for various sizes Yand types of electrical appliances of which fuses and resistance units are typical, it is ordinarily necessary to maintain a large series of types of terminal boxes in which such appliances are to be mounted, it being necessary for the terminal boxes to correspond to the many styles and sizes of appliances required for installment therein. Accordingly, it is necessary to manufacture such a great variety of boxes in order to meet the varied railway specifications, such manufacture being costly and necessitating much special machinery, and tools such as jigs, templets, etc. In order, therefore, to simplify the meeting of Specification-of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 25,1922..

1919. Serial No. 329,199.

such railway specifications, and to avoid the expensive manufacture of the many types of terminal boxes, it is one of the prime objects of this invention to provide a single terminal box which can be adapted to receive the many styles and sizes of electrical units.

vIn the embodiment herein disclosed and illustrated, such a terminal box is shown adapted to receive a cartridge fuse. It is to be understood, however, that it is readily adaptable to receive electrical appliances or unitsot-her than fuses and may well be used for mounting resistance elements, for example.

The invention, accordingly, consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the structure herein described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is av plan view showing a terminal box with lid open,

Figure 2 is a side elevation, and Figure 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged plan view withcertain parts cut away to show more clearly certain features ofthe invention, and Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4.

Figure 6- is a section on the line 6-6 of Figure 4 showing details of construction of a fuse clip, and Figure 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of Figure 6.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, there is shown a terminal 4box of sheet steel construction having av bottom or base memberl() and having end faces 14, front 11, and back 11', composed preferably of a single sheet steel member made to conform to the desiredv dimensions of the box. A cover or lid 12 is attached to the back 11 by means of hinges 13. The several before-mentioned members are preferably provided with overlaps as at 10 to'facilitate their being spot-welded or riveted together. Thus also the hinges 13, upon which the cover 12 swings, are spot-welded to the back 11 and to the cover member 12. In the side members at convenient and suitable places there may be provided standard knock-outs, such as have been provided in the end faces 14,

through which may be inserted conduit members such as 15, fastened in place by means of the nuts 16 and 17. The conduit members may be of standard construction and are for the purpose of leading the conductors of an electrical circuit into the terminal box.

The base member l() is provided at each end thereof with an inwardly depressed portion 18 having provided therein a slot 19 for purposes to be hereinafter described. This construction of the bottom or base member 10 is most clearly shown in Figs. 4, 6, and 7. The bottom 10 is also provided with conveniently located holes 19 as shown in Fig. 1, through which suit-able screws, bolts, or other fastening means may be em ployed for securing the terminal box in place.

Turning now to Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, there is shown a fuse clip mounting comprising a block 2() composed of insulating material, such as porcelain, fibre or the like, and having its base formed with a slot 21 extending longitudinally of the block itself and adapted, when mounted in position in the terminal box, to receive the inwardly extending depression 18 of the base member 10. The depressed portion 18, which may extend to any desired length, coincides with the slot 21 of the porcelain block 20 and thus maintains the later in proper alignment. A

The clip mounting or block 20 is secured to the base member of the terminal box by means of a-bolt 24 and nut 25 extending' through slot 19 in the depression 18 of the bottom and through the hole 22 in the mounting 2Q. The hole 22 is counterbored at its upper end as at 23 to receive the nut 25 of the bolt. It will thus be noted that by means of this construction the block 20 may be positively secured at any desired position over the depression 18, any change in position being facilitated by the slot 19 with which the bolt 24 co-operates. It will further be'noted that the head 26 of the bolt -on the exterior side of the bottom at all times falls withinthe depression 18 and is thus maintained inside of the exterior plane of the base. The details of this construction are clearly shown in'Figs. 6 and 7.

Fuse clip 30, composed of a resilient material such as spring brass or phosphor bronze, is mounted upon a raised portion of the clip mounting or block' 20 and is secured thereto by means of a screw 29 extending through the hole 27 in y,the mounting and threaded into the base portion of the cli 30 itself. The lower extremity of the hol)e 27 is counter-bored as at 28 to receive the screw head 28 and' to maintain the screw ata safe insulating distance from the base member 10. It will be noted that the screw 29 engages also a connecting strip 31 as shown inFig. 6 and securely holds it in the desired position. This connecting strip has the general form shown in Fig. 4, being provided at its opposite end with a binding screw 32 (3c-operating with a washer 33 and with the guiding lips 34 of the connecting strip 31 to engage and fasten securely an electrical conductor, such as the wire 35.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be noted that there is provided at both ends of the base member 10 a clip 30 mounted upon a mounting block 2O such as has been hereinbefore described. The fuse clips and their associated mountings and parts will assume the relative posit-ions illustrated in this figure, in which they are shown so positioned as to receive a cartridge fuse 36 of any usual standard construction. This fuse is provided with the usual terminal contact sleeves 37 and 38 to be engaged mechanically and electrically by the clips 30 and is of the required size and tvpe. Should it be desired to provide a terminal box in which a fuse of different size is required..the clip mountings are adjusted with respect to one another by means of the bolt and slot arrangement and the fuse inserted into the clips in their new positions. In case the specifications should call for such a change of type of fuse as to call for a different diameter and therefore for different clips 30, it will be noted that such fuse clips 30 are readily detached and easily replaced by those of the size and type desired.

`While in the embodiment herein disclosed a terminal box has been shown in which only a single electrical element is mounted, this invention contemplates the use of more than one electrical unit' within the same terminal box. Such a multiple mounting of units in the same box is a frequent practical occur- .as well as others, have been achieved and in which a greatly desired flexibility of construction and ruggedness of design have been incorporated. It willl be further noted that a terminal box construction has been provided in which a great variety of sizes of electrical units may be mounted and that this advantage is gained without requiring the manufacture of a large number of ter- Ininal boxes, each corresponding to a certain definite size of electrical appliance or unit to be mounted therein.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, in combination, a metallic box having a base member, means for mechanically and electrically engaging an electrical unit, insulating ymountings on said base member for saidA means, one of said mountings being adjust- 15` ing said mountings to the side member.

3. In a device of the class described, in combination, a metallic box, mountings of insulating material disposed in said box, said mountings being adjustable toward and away from one another, securing means for said mountings attaching them to the metallic box, and clips upon said mountings for-securing an electrical device in place.

4. In a device of the cla-ss described, in combination, a metallic box having a longitudinally extending depression, said depression being provided with a slot, clips for engaging an electrical unit, insulating mountings disposed in saidbox for carrying said clips, one of said mountings being pro# vided with a slot for cooperating with said depression, and means extending through said first-mentioned slot for-fastening said mounting to said box and adjustably relative to the other. n

5. In a device of the class described, in combination, a metallic box, spring clips `for securing an electrical device in place,

mountings for said clips disposed within` the box, securing means for said mountings attaching them to the metallic box and adjustab e. with respect to one another, saidmountings being composedv of insulatingmaf terial for insulating said `clips from said securing means.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my vname to this specification this 1st day of October, 1919.

LEE-P, I-IYNES.

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