US1686289A - Switch - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 2, 1928.-

J. B. MILANO SWITCH Filed March 50, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR 1/0/ 111 fi M70110 ATTORNEY Oct. 2, 1928. 1,686,289

J. B. MILANQ SWITCH Filed March 30, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Jo/212 M! ((120 Patented Oct. 2, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SWITCH.

Application filed March 30, 1925. Serial No. 19,393.

This invention relates to electric switches I of the enclosed protected type, and more particularly to a switch box having a switchoperating arm extending out of said box.

One object of this invention is to provide an enclosed switch box of the above nature adapted to interchangeably receive the plug type and cartridge type of fuses.

A further object is to provide an enclosed switch box provided with a protective partition or sealing plate arranged to permit the insert-ion and removal of fuses without possibility of injury to the operator by contact with the switch mechanism.

A further object is to provide a switch box of the above nature having a quick-throw double-pole switch adapted to be swung in a single plane parallel to the base of the switch.

A further object is to provide a device of the above nature which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and manipulate, compact, ornamental, and very eflicient and durable in use.

"With these and other, objects in view, there have been illustrated on the accompanying drawings, two forms in which ,the invention may be conveniently embodied in practice.

Fig. 1 represents a perspective view of the switch box shown in open position.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal bottom sectional view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same taken along the line 33 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the fuse-holding block adapted to receive a pair of fuses of the plug type.

Fig. 5 isa side view, partly in section, of the fuse-holding block shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of another form of fuse-holding block adapted to receive a pair of fuses of the cartridge type.

Fig. 7 is a side view, partly in section, of the second form of fuse block shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the electric wiring connections of the switch box. Fig. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of one end of the switch box, showing one of the locking latches for preventing an authorized persons from tampering with the switch.

In electric light installations, it has been customary in the past to employ a plurality of separate switch boxes in each power-consuming location, i. e. an entrance switch box connected directly to the city mains, and a" switch box or fuse-holder for each different branch circuit. By means of the present invention, it is no longer necessary to employ a plurality of switch boxes, but an improved type of switch box has been produced which will not only control the current from the main line, but also will provide fuse protection and current control for each branch'circult;

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numerals denote correspond-' ing parts throughout the several views, the switch box herein illustrated comprises an outer casing 10 open at the top and having a .cover member 11 hinged to the rear of said casing. The cover member 11 is provided with a spring catch 12 adapted to resiliently 7 engage a lug 13 on the front of the casing.

In order to permit the switch to be operated from the outside of the casing, the front and rear of said casing are provided with pairs of elongated slots 14 through which an operating handle 15 is adapted to interchangeably extend.

As is clearly shown in Fig. 3, the switch and fuse mechanism is adapted to be supported upon a rectangular base 16 of any suitable insulating material, such as porcelain, said base 16 being located well within the casing walls so as to leave adequate space for the conducting wires and to provide for proper circulation of air to prevent overheating. The porcelain base 16 is provided in its top face with a pair of recesses 17 and 18 within which are fitted the bases of a pair of Z-shaped connecting members 19 and 20' respectively. The bases of said connecting members are secured in said slots 17 and 18 by bolts 21 and 22 having nuts 23 threaded on the top ends thereof, said bolts having their heads seated in recesses 22 in the bottom of the porcelain base 16.

Electric current is fed into the switch box from the-main line through a pair of conducting wires 24, and said wires 24 are joined to the Z-shaped connecting members 19 and .20 by means of binding screws 25 and 26.

The top arm 27 of each of the Z-shaped connecting members 19 and 20 is arranged parallel to the base 16 and has pivoted thereto a switch blade 28 which is constructed from a pair of metal strips 29 and 30. The strips 29 and 30 of each pair have their extremities located above and below the upper arms of said Z-shaped connecting members 19 and 20, and are joined to said members by rivets 31 having heads 32, suitable washers 33 being provided on said rivets, outside of said strips 29 and 30. The free ends 34 of the metal strips 29 and 30 are spaced apart, and are adapted to resiliently embrace the contact arms 35 of a pair of Z-shaped stationary contact members 36, respectively.

In order to strengthen the switch blades, rivets 37 are provided near the free ends thereof for rigidly uniting; the metal strips 29 and 30. The switch blades are connected to one another and caused to move in parallelism by means of a link member 38 comprising a pair of connected strips of insulating material, said link member 38 being joined to said switch blades by a pair of rivets 39.

In order to move the switch blades about their pivots, an operatinglever 40 is provided, said lever having one end 41 bifurcated for embracing an upstanding pin 42 on the central portion of the link member 38. The link-operating lever 40 is fulcrumed on a post 43 projecting up from the porcelain base 16, and said lever 40 has an enlarged apertured arm 44 for receiving the end of the switch handle 15, previously mentioned.

In order to detachably secure the handle 15 in either of its right or left hand positions relative to the base 16, said handle is provided near its inner end with a small hole for receiving a cotterpin 46. This construction is of advantage in case one side of the casing must be located in proximity to a wall or obstruction.

In order to limit the motion of the switch blades in off position, provision is made of a pair of upstanding insulating stops 47, said stops being secured in any suitable manner to the porcelain 16.

The stationary contact members 36 have flat base sections 48 seated in slots 49 and 50 formed in the porcelain base 16, said slots being located under a pair of upstanding tubular neck members 51 formed integral with said porcelain base, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

In order to form sockets for detachably receiving the forward ends of either of the forms of fuse block 52 and 105 to be hereinafter more fully described, each of said neck members 51 has a U-shaped socket or clip 53 seated therein, each of said clips 53 comprising a pair of oppositely disposed semicylindrical upper sections 54 and a flat base 55. The bases 55 of said clips are adapted to be secured to the base sections 48 of the stationary Z-shaped contact members by nuts 56 threaded on the tops of headed bolts 57, the heads of said bolts being seated in recesses 58 in the bottom of the base 16.

The bolts 56 are connected to metal strips 59 and 60 which pass rearwardly and upwardly through the porcelain base 16 and terminate in binding posts 61 and 62 respectively. The binding posts 61 and 62 are provided with binding screws 63 for attachment to a pair of conducting wires 64 and 65 leading to one of the branch circuits to be controlled by the switch.

The porcelain base 16 is secured to the bottom of the casing 10 in any suitable manner, as by means of bolts 66 and 67, the heads of said bolts being seated in recesses 66* and 67*. In order to'support the rear part of either of the fuse blocks 52 or 105, a pair of tubular neck members 68 and 69 are integrally formed in the porcelain base 16, said neck members being similar in all respects to the neck members 51, and being adapted to-similarly enclose a pair of U-shaped clips 70, said clips being similar in all respects to the U-shaped clips 53, previously described.

The clips 70 are adapted to be connected to a pair of short metallic strips 71 by means of nuts 72 screwed upon the tops of bolts 73, the latter being seated in sockets 74 in the bottomof the base member 16. The strips 71 are adapted to pass through slots in the rear of the neck members 68 and 69, respectively, and terminate in binding posts 75 seated in re cesses 76 communicating with the rear edge of the base member 16. The binding posts 75 are connected to suitable conductors 97 leading to the second of the above-mentioned branch circuits.

In order to more securely hold the strips 71 to the base 16, nuts 77 and bolts 78 are provided, the heads of said bolts being located in recesses 79 in the bottom of the base section 16.

In order to present smooth unobstructed top and bottom surfaces, the recesses 22, 66, 67?, 58, 74, and 79 of the porcelain base 16 are preferably filled up with wax or other suitable filling material.

The construction of the plug fuse block 52 for protecting the two branch circuits will now be described. This plug fuse block, as best shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, comprises a base 80 and a pair of hollow socket members 81 integral therewith, and is preferably constructed of porcelain. The socket members 81 form housings for a pair of screw shell contacts 82 adapted to receive fuse plugs 83. The bases of said fuse plugs 83 have center contacts 83 which engage the heads 84 of a pair of bolts passing through the base 80 of the fuse block 52. The bottom ends of the bolts 84 are connected to a pair of metal strips 86 by nuts 87, said nuts being located rear of the switch base 16.

The screw shell contacts 82 are insulated from the bolt heads 84 by a pair of insulating washers 89, and said shell contacts are secured to the body of the fuse block by a pair of short bolts 90 and nuts 91 screwed on said bolts, said bolts being housed in Wax filled recesses 92. The screw shells 82 are electically connected to a pair of metal strips 94 located on the other side of the fuse block from the strips 86, described above.

The strips 94 are located in recesses 95, and are provided with pointed prongs 96 similar to the prongs 88, said prongs 96 being adapted to engage in the clips 53 previously described.

It will be understood that if desired, suitable electrical measuring meters, not shown, may be located in either of the branch circuits or in the main line circuitwithin the scope of the invention.

In order to provide a locking flange to prevent removal of the fuse block 52, said block has adepressed shoulder 99 around its rectangular periphery, saidshoulder being engaged by the edges of a rectangular aperture formed in a sealing late or partition 98.

The outer edges of said sealing plate 98 are supported upon lugs 100, said lugs being pressed inwardly from the metal of the easing 10. Adjacent each of the lugs 100 and above the plate 98 is a locking latch 101 pivotally connected to the sealing plate by rivets 102, said latch having an aperture 10.2 for receiving the wire 103 of an inspectors seal 104.

When it is desired to lock the sealing plate 98 in position above the orcelain switch base 16, the latches 101 will e rotated into alinement with the pressed-out lugs 100, and the inspectors seal 104 passed through the aperture 102 of one of the lugs 101. To unlock the sealing plate, the operations just described must be reversed.

The construction of the cartridge fuse block shown in Figs. 6 and 7 will now be described.

This fuse block is designated by the numeral; 105, and has two pairs of U-shaped cartridge fuse-holding clips 106 on its top face, said clips 106 being connected at each end to a pair of ointed prongs 107 by means of bolts 108 an nuts 109 threaded upon the tops of said bolts, said prongs 107 being entirely similar to the prongs 96 of the plug fuse block 52.

By means of the above construction, it will be appieciated that the present invention provides a switch box in which either plug fuses or cartridge fuses may be employed at will.

In some installations, it'may be found de-' sirable to reverse the position of theswitch base 16 in the casing 10 Without detaching the casing from the wall. For this purpose, the walls of the casing are provided with a series of detachable circular panels or knock-outs 110 which, when removed, permit the conducting wires or conduits to enter the casing at any point desired. One advantage of this construction is that the terminals of one branch circuit may be connected to the main line, while the terminals of the other branch circuit and the original main line terminals 26 would be connected to the two branch circuits. It will be evident that this arrangement will provide fuse protection in the main line and in either one-of the branch circuits.

The switch box is so constructed that the main line and branch circuits can be connected to the switch in various ways; thus,

the main circuit or one branch circuit may be connected without fuse protection, or one branch circuit may be supplied with current directly without switch control. It will be understood, however, that various-other arrangements may be provided.

A further advantage of the present invention lies in the fact that the switch blades of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosures but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

1. In a switch box, a casing, a base of insulating material mounted in said casing, a horizontally-swinging double-pole switch on said base, means on said base for electrically connecting said' switch to the main line and to pair of branch circuits respectively, a sealing plate covering said base, a fuseholding block. of insulated material projecting up through said sealing plate. and means for connecting said fuses into one of said branch circuits.

2. In a switch box, a casing, an insulating base mounted in said casing, a horizontallyswinging double-pole single-throw switch ivotally mounted on said base, said switch having a pair of movable contacts and a pair of stationary contacts, means for connecting the movable contacts of said switch to the main line, means for connecting each of the stationary contacts toa plurality of branch circuit conductors, whereby current will be delivered simultaneously to a plurality of circuits, and means adapted to selectively extend out of said casing for operating the switch from either side of said casing.

3. In a switch box, a casing, an insulating base mounted in said casing, a double-pole single-throw switch pivotally mounted on said base, said switch having a pair of movable contacts and a pair of stationary contacts, the arms of said switch being adapted to swing in a plane parallel to said base, means for connecting the movable contacts of said switch to the main line, means for connecting each of the stationary contacts to a plurality of branch circuit conductors, whereby current will be delivered simultaneously to a plurality of circuits, and means adapted to selectively extend out of said .casing for operating the switch from either side of said casing.

4. In a switch box, av switch comprising a pair of horizontally-movable cdntacts and a pair of stationary contacts, means for connecting said movable contacts to the main line conductors, each of said stationary contacts being connected to an upstanding socket, a pair of terminal sockets spaced from said first mentioned sockets, and a fuseholding block having four depending metallic prongs arranged at the corners of a rectangle adapted to fit into said sockets for electrically joining said first mentioned sockets with said terminal sockets and for furnishing fuse protection to the branch circuit connected therewith.

5. In a switch box, a switch comprising a pair of horizontally movable contacts and a pair of stationary contacts, means for connecting said movable contacts to the main line conductors, each of said stationary contacts being connected to an upstanding socket comprising a U-shaped clip, a pair of terminal sockets spaced from said first men tioned sockets, and a fuse-holding block having four depending metallic prongs arranged at the corners of afrectangle adapted to fit into said sockets for electrically joining said first mentioned sockets with said terminal sockets and for furnishing fuse protection to the branch circuit connected therewith.

6. In a switch box, a casing, an insulating base mounted in said casing, a two-pole switch supported on saidbase, said switch having a pair of horizontally movable contacts and a pair of stationary contacts, said movable contacts being connected to the main line terminals, said stationary contacts being connected to a pair of upstanding sockets. a second pair of sockets connected to the terminals of a branch circuit, a detachable fuse-holding block having depending contacts for engaging in said sockets for electrically connecting each pair of sockets and for furnishing fuse protection to the branch circuit.

7. In a switch box, a casing, an insulating base mounted in said casing, a two-pole switch supported on said base, said switch having a pair of horizontally movable contacts and a pair of stationary contacts, said movable contacts being connected to the main line terminals, said stationary contacts being connected to a pair of upstanding sockets, a second pair of sockets arranged in alinement with said first pair of sockets and connected to the terminals of a branch circuit, a detachable fuse-holding block having depending contacts for engaging in said sockets for electrically connecting each pair of sockets and for furnishing fuse protection to the branch circuit.

8. In a switch box, a casing, an insulating base mounted in said casing, a two-pole switch supported on said base, said switch having a pair of horizontally movable contacts and a. pair of stationary contacts, said movable contacts being connected to the main line terminals, said stationary contacts being connected to a pair of upstanding sockets, a second pair of sockets connected to the terminals of a branch circuit, a detachable fuseholding block having depending contacts for engaging in said sockets for electrically connecting each pair of sockets and for furnishing fuse protection to the branch circuit, and an apertured sealing plate for holding said fuse block in position, said fuse block extending up through said sealing plate.

9. Ina switch box, a casing, an insulating base mounted in said casing, a two-pole switch supported on said base, said switch having a pair of horizontally movable contacts and a pair of stationary contacts, said movable contacts being connected to the main line terminals, said stationary contacts being connected. to a pair of upstanding sockets, a second pair of sockets connected to the terminals of a branch circuit, a detachable fuseholding block having'depending contacts for engaging in said sockets for electrically connecting each pair of sockets and for furnishing fuse protection to the branch circuit, an apertured sealing plate for holding said fuse block in position, said fuse block having a neck portion extending up through said sealing plate, and means on said casing for releasably locking said sealing plate in position.

10. In a switch box, a casing, an insulating base mounted in said casing, a two-pole switch supported on said base, said switch having a pair of horizontally movable contacts and a pair of stationary contacts, said movable contacts being connected to the main line terminals, said stationary contacts being connected to a pair of upstanding sockets, a second pair of sockets connected to the'terminals of a branch circuit, a detachable fuseholding block having depending contacts for engaging in said sockets for electricallytendmg inwardly from the walls of, said cas ing, and bein locked by a corresponding number of late ing lugs pivoted to said plate and adapted when in latched position to be engaged by means projecting from said cas 1n I1. In a switch box, a casing, an insulating base mounted in said casing, a twopole switch supported on said base, said switch having a pair of horizontally movable contacts and a pair of stationary contacts, said movable contacts being connected to the main line terminals, said stationary contacts being connected to a pair of upstandin sockets, a second pair of sockets connecte to the terminals of a branch circuit, a detachable fuse-holding block having depending contacts arranged at the corners of a rectangle for engaging in said sockets for electrically connecting each pair of sockets and for furnishing fuse protection to the branch circuit, means on said casing for releasably locking said fuse block in position, and means extending through the wall of said casing for sealing said plate in locked position.

12. In a switch box, 'a casing, an insulating base mounted in said casing, a twoole switch supported on said base, said switch having a pair of horizontally movable contacts and a pair of stationary contacts, said movable contacts being connected to the main line terminals, said stationary contacts being connected to a pair of upstanding sockets, a

second pair of sockets connected to the terminals of a branch circuit, a detachable fuseholding block having depending contacts arranged at the corners of a rectangle for engaging in said sockets for electrically connecting each pair of sockets and for furnishing fuse protection to each side of the branch circuit.

In testimony whereof, I have affixed my signature to this specification.

JOHN B. MILANO.

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