US1596191A - Switch - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 17 1926.

v F. A. KENNEY SWITCH Filed May 28. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1mm W lllll W l mum atfoi M11 Auz'. 17 1926 F: A. KENNEY SWITCH 2 Sheets-Sheet, 2

Filed May 28, 1925 imiiiir'f Qi /M gvmnwtoc f A Keir/neg.

Patented Aug. 17, 1926.

F T FFIC WH I DEN/IVER, coLoRAno. i

Mention 1196} Kay 28, 1925. Serial No. 33,441,

This invention rel to improvements in the construction of switehesof the type used for controlling the a: ights of automobiles.

It is customary to provide automobiles with two headlights,- a-rear or tail light and sometimes a light or cowl lights. is is; of course, necessary to provide means for controllingtheselights so that they may be'turued on or of! at will and so that the intensitg of' illumination of the head'- liglhts may 'e varied.

t is the objocti of this invention to produce a switch that shall be so constructed shut it can be used so control the illumination of thercaror tail light, the perlrim light and the two headlights. This switc is so constructed that the rear or tail light andfthe parking lights can be illuminated while the headlightsare not, and which will maintain the rear light lit whenever the headlights are lit. In uddition this switch is provided with means whereby both of the headlights maybe burned at maximum intensity, or one may be dimmed while the other still burns at maximum. brillianey and which permits bothlieadlights to be dimmed at the some time.

It is a further object to produce aswitch that can be employed with ordinary single filament lamps or with lamps having double filaments or with headlights having euch two seperzrtelamps differently located;

The above and other objects that will epor as the description proceeds are obtained E; means of a. construction that will now be described in detail, reference for this urpose being bad to the acco enying wing in which the preferred embodiment of' my invention is illustrated and in which: Fig. 1 is ato planyiew of myswitch; Fig. 2 iso dmmetricel'seetion taken on line 2-2, Fig. 1;

3 is asection taken on lin e 3 -3, Fig.

2; an shows a to planview of the stationor base mem rfofthe, switch;

igr is a sectionteken online 4 4, Fig.

2, and shows a bottom; plan view of the on a icy'iewshowin the sieyable si teh rotatable mcmberwhich carries the movable Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 7--7,

i 8 is a section takenon line 8-8, Fig.3;

Fig. 9 is a section taken on line 9-9, Fig. 8; andshows a top plan view of the stationary bar member and Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing the manner in which the switch is. connected to the battery andthe several lamps.

My switch as illustratedin Figs. 1 to 6 comprises a base member 1 and a rotatable member 2, both of insulating material. A casing or cover member 3 fits over the base member I and is secured thereto by suitable means such as the screws 4. The casing 3 has a central opening surrounded by a. flange 5'. The rotatable member 2 is, circolor and of somewhat smaller diameter 7 than tho ba-sel and has a central cylindrical member 6 extending from one side. This member projects through the opening, inlthe casing. A helical compression spring 7 surrounds the flange 5- and produces force which tends'to move member 2 against the upper surface of the stationary member 1 in a manner quite apparent from Fig. 2. A handle 8-having a pointer 9 is secured to the outer end of the cylindrical member 6 by means of screws or rivets 10. The cover 3 hasthe following indicin printed, at angularly spaced intervals, on its outer surface, Park,D. D, Off, D. B. and B. )3. meaning respectively parking, dim dim, off, dim bright and brightbright. The upper surface of base member 1 is flat except that it has two depressions 11 and 12which are both located on the same diameter (Fig. 3). Secured to the upper surface of member 1 are several .arcunte contact members which I have designated by letters A, B, C and D and two contact buttons E and F. The areuate contacts A, B and G are each rovided' with an offset portion 13 which ts, into the depressions 1'1 and 12. Contacts A B and G are each held in place-by two bolts 14, while the "contacts E nndjF may be the heads of bolts likethat indicated Fry-numeral '15 in] Fig. 5. The

under side of the rotatable member 2 a straight d i-ametriccl eentactmember G held in place byiserews or rivets 16. It isailso provided [with a short contact member H, which is 'preferably located at right angles to the-contact Gene held, in placebo similar securing means 16. lVhen the parts are assembled as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, member 2 may be rotated through the medium of the handle 8 to any position desired. IVhen the member 2 is in the posi tion indicated by Off in Fig. 1, the con tact member G lies directly above the depressions 11 and 12 and does not come into contact with any of the contacts on member 1. The manner in which the switch is connected, as well as the manner in which it operates, can best be described when reference is had to the diagrammatic showing in Fig. 6 to which reference will now be more particularly had.

InFi 6 the several contact members have been shown and indicated by their respective reference characters. I have shown the various lights as well as the batteries and the connection to the switch, the battery has one pole grounded at 17 and has its other pole connected to the contact A by means of a conductor 18. The tail and parking lights 19 and 20 are connected respectively to the contacts B and C by means of conductors 21 and I have indicated the headlights by RH and LH which designate the right and left headlight respectively. Each headlight has one pole grounded at 23. The right headlight has its ungrounded pole connected to the contact D by means of a conductor 2-1 and the ungroundcd pole of the left headlight is similarly connected to the contact E by means of a wire 25. resistance element 26 forms an electrical connection between contacts C and E. Bearing in mind that the contacts G and H are connected to the movable member 2 and are fixed with respect to each other, we will now describe the operation of the switch.

Vvhen contact G is in the full line position (Fig. 6) the switch is in off position as the contact G lies directly over the depressed portions 13 and does not make electrical connection with any of the contacts on the memher 2. Let us now suppose that the contact G is moved counter clockwise to the first dotted line position. It will then make electrical connection with contacts A, B and C and current from the battery will flow through the wires 18 and 21 to the tail light 19. It will also flow through the resistance element 26 to the contact E and thence by way of the wire 25 to LH and return to the battery through ground. The left headlight will be illuminated but'will be dim. The contact H which moves whenever G does, will make connection between contacts D and E and part of the current that flows through 26 will flow through wire 24 to the right headlight and to ground. In this position, therefore, both lamps will be dimmed. lVhen the contacts G and H are moved counter clockwise to the second dotted line position which is indicated as Park the tail light and the parking lights only will be lighted, If the contact G is moved clockwise to the first dotted line posi tion, current will flow to the tail light and to both of the headlights. flows to the left headlight will flow through the resistance element 26 which will cause this headlight to be dim. The current to the right headlight will pass directly from the contact G to the contact D and this lamp will therefore be bright. hen the contact G is moved clockwise to the second dotted line position indicated by BB, both of the headlights will be bright. At this point I wish to call attention to the fact that when the switch is in position designated as DD both of the lamps are dim and the current for both lamps flows through the resistance 26. The drop of potential through 26 is greater when the switch is in DD position than when it is in DB position, as in the latter position the current for the LH only flows through the resistance. The switch therefore provides three intensities of illumination for the left hand headlight, namely, one bright and two degrees of dim. This is believed to be a novel feature and is useful for the reason that when the DD position is used the car is either standing still or is driven over well lighted roads or streets where the headlights are employed merely for the purpose of locating the position of the car. The dim bright position is employed in passing cars at night where it is merely desirable to omit objectionable glare and at the same time illuminate the road as well as possible.

Some automobiles are provided with headlights having each two lamps differently located, one of which is employed when bright light is desired and the other where a dim light is wanted, and some cars employ lamps having high and low light filaments. In order that my switch shall be suitable for controlling the lamps in either of the above cases, I have provided a switch of slightly modified construction which has been illustrated in Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10.

As the stationary and movable insulating members as well as the casing 3 are identical with those shown in Figs. 1 to 6. I have designated them by the same reference numbers. The construction is also identical except in a few minor particulars which will be pointed out. and I shall therefore not repeat the description. In the embodiment described above, the rotatable member 2 has two contacts G and II. In the modification, the contact II is omitted. The stationary member 1 has one more contact'than what is shown in Fig. 3 and'this contact has been designated by the letter P.

It will also be noted that in Fig. 9 the contacts A and B, which corres 0nd to contacts A and B in Fig. 3, are 0th on The current that to filament Y of lamg RH. Both headlights the same side of the center. It is, however, evident that exactly the same effect is pro duced whether the contacts A and 1 B are located as in Fig. 3, or as in Fig. 9. Contacts C, D, E, and F are located exactly as the corresponding contacts in Fig. 3. The headlights have been shown as each comprising a lamp having a high power filament X and a low power filament Y,

one end of each of which is connected to the ground Z. Filament Y of lamp LH is connected to the contact C by means of a conductor 27 while conductor 28 connects the corresponding end of the filamentX with the contact E. One end of filament Y of lamp RH is connected to the contact P by means of a conductor 29, while the corresponding end of the filament X is connected to contact D by means of a conductor 30.

When the contact G is in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 10, the switch is in 011' or inoperative position, as the movable contact bar G is not in electrical contact with any of the conductors on men her 1. When the connector G is rotated counterclockwise to the first dotted line position (DD) Fig. 10, it makes electrical connections with contacts A, B, C and P current will now flow from C through conductors 27 to the filament Y of the lamp LH and from contact P through conductor 29 will now be dimme If the connector G is moved to the position indicated by Park it will contact with the contact F and only the tail light 19 and parking light 20 wil be illuminated. B movin the connector G to clockwise to the first otted line position (DB) it will contact with A, B, C and D' and filament Y of LH and filament X of RH will be made luminous thereby producing a dim light from the left hand lamp and a bright light from the right hand lam If the connector G is moved still furt er in a clockwise direction, it will contact with member E as well as D and both lam s will be bright.

aving now described my invention what I claim as new is: I

1. An electric switch adapted to control a plurality of electrical circuits, said switch comprisin in combination, a stationary base mem er of insulating material having a flat surface provided with one or more depressions, electrical contacts secured to said fiat surface said contacts having portions offset to fit into said depressions, a second insulating member having a flat surface opposed to the flat surface of the first mentioned member, said second mentioned member being rotatable, with respect to the first mentioned member, about an axis lying in a plane passing through said depressions, a connector bar on the second member, means for holding said member in a predetermined relative position and resihent means for producing a force tending to move the second insulating member against the first.

2. A multiple circuit control switch comprising, in combination, a circular disk-like member of insulating material having a diametrical depression in one side, a plurality of concentrically arranged arcuate contact members secured to said member on the side which has the depressions, some of said contacts having a portion ofiset to fit said depression, a second disk-like member of insulating material mounted for rotation about the axis of the first disk, said second disk having a connector bar adapted to make electrical connection between different contacts on the first member and spring means for forcing the second member against the first member.

3. A switch, adapted to control the tail light, the parking light and the two headlights of an automobile, comprising, in combination, a substantially circular base member of insulating material having a fiat surface provided with a radial depression, a plurality of concentric arcuate contact members secured to the face of said member, each of said contacts having an offset portion adapted to fitinto said depression, a

second disk-like insulating member, means for securing said last named member to the first named member in such a manner that it may be rotated about the axis that coincides with the center of the first member, means comprising a helical spring for producing a force tending to move the second member towards the first,said second member having a connector bar secured to the surface adjacent to said first mentioned member.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

FRANK A. KENNEY.

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