US1780894A - Electric switch - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 4, 1930. KELLNER 1,780,894

ELECTRIC SWITCH Filed Jan. 21, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 4, 1930. L. KELLNER ELECTRIC SWITCH 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 21, 1926 1 w M 4 E? lllllmhu.

ulllbwrllllilll. lllllll-lll'lfirlll I fizz/@201. Low JZ ZZer. 6 M 4 M Gig/"3 Nov. 4, 1930. L. KELLNER ELECTRIC SWITCH s Sheets-Sheet s Filed Jan. 21, 1926 Patented Nov. 4, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT orrics LOUIS KELLNER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO JEFFERSON ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS nnncrnrc swrron Application filed January 21, 1926.

The invention relates to improvements in manually operable electric switches.

An important object of the invention is to provide a new and improved switch which is 5 simple and inexpensive in construction and which is certain in operation.

Another object is to provide a novel switch having a plurality of contacts constituting a circuit with two switch breaks adapted to be closed and opened simultaneously, having a fuse connected in the circuit between said breaks, and having simple means operable to close said switch and lock it in closed position.

A further object is to provide a novel looking means which will automatically lock the switch in closed position after an actuation of the switch operating means, and which, un-

less the switch is completely closed, will permit the latter to open automatically if the operating means is released.

Another object is to provide the switch with an enclosing casing having a hinged section which can be opened to give access to the fuses and the interior of the casing when the switch is open, and which is held in closed position by the switch actuator when the switch is closed.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following descrip tion taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 1 is a front view of a switch embodying the features of my invention, the front of the casing being removed to show the interior.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1, the switch being shown in its open position.

Fig. 3 is a side view on a reduced scale of the switch.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 1-& of Fig. l. I

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the switch in closed position.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of a modified form of the switch.

lVhile I have shown in the drawings and will herein describe in detail the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be un- Serial No. 82,636.

derstood that I do not thereby intend to limit the invention to the specific form disclosed, but aim to cover all modifications and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the switch is housed in a box-shaped casing preferably formed of sheet metal which comprises a rear wall 6, side walls 7 and end walls 8, and which is closed at the front by a wall 9 having a cover or section 10 hinged at 11.

A pair of parallel vertical standards 12 is mounted. in the casing. Preferably the rear edges of the standards 12 are bent outwardly to form flanges 13 which are secured to the rear wall 6 of the casing by means of screws 14. The front edges of the standards 12 are bent in to form flanges 15. Other flanges 16 are secured to the sides of stand ards 12 next to the flanges 15, and form therewith a pair of parallel spaced guideways 17.

Extending between and mounted in the upper and lower ends of the guideways 17 are two vertically spaced plates 18 and 19 respectively. These plates are adjustably secured in the guideways 17 by screws 20. A plate or slide 21 is mounted in the guideways 17 for movement between the plates 18 and 19. The plate 21 is normally held in its lower position against the plate 19 by a pair of coil springs 22. These springs are connected at their opposite ends to lugs 23 6X- tending rearwardly'from the plates 19 and 21.

.Mounted on the front of the fixed plates 18 and 19 are two sets of knife blade contacts 24 and 25 respectively. These fixed contacts are insulated from the plates 18 and 19 by suitable insulating blocks 26 and 27 on which they are secured by screws 28 and 29, and are provided with binding screws 30 and 31 for attaching electrical leads. Two sets of clip contacts 32 and 33 are secured respectively by means of screws 34 and 35 to the front of the movable slide 21 at opposite edges thereof, and are'insulated from the slide by suitable insulating blocks 36. The contacts 32 and 33 are provided with alined fuse clips 37 and 38 in which one or more fuses 39 are mounted. A guard 40 having openings 41 permitting movement of the contacts 33 therethrough is mounted on the slide 21, and extends along the ends and lower edge thereof .to pnevent any of the fuses 39'fro1n falling into the lower end of the switch casing. The contacts 32 and 33 are arranged to be moved by the slide 21 into and out of engagement with the contacts 24 and 25. These contacts thus constitute a fused circuit, and provide a double switch break there-in adapted to be opened and closed simultaneously, The circuit may come prise any desired number of independent lines, and in the present instance'l have shown each set of contacts as consisting of three contacts associated with the other contacts to form three lines, any number of which may be used.

The switch can be adapted for an unfused circuit (as shown in Fig. 6) by removing the fuse clips 37 and 38, and substituting a conducting plate 39 connecting the contacts 32 and 33. i

Means isprovided for'moving the slide 21 from its lower or open position into its upper or closed position and locking it in thelatter.

This meansicomp'rises a bifurcated lever 42 which is pivotally' mounted on a pin 43 between two lugs 44 extendingin from thefront wall 9 of the casing, and the arms of which extend inwardlythrough openings '45 in the slide 21. The lever 42 extends through a slot 46 in the wall 9, and is formed at its outer-end with an arm 47 extendin clownwardly and substantially at right angles to the body of the lever. A hand lever or actuator 48 is loosely mounted on the pin 43, and preferably is channel-shaped in part to embrace or fit over the arm 47. It will be evident that by moving the lever 48 downwardly the lever 42 will be actuated to raise the slide 21 and that the lever 48 is free to move upwardly independently of the arm 47.

:Mounted for vertical movement on the inside of the front wall 9 is a slide 49 having a pair of closely spaced side walls 50. The slide is connected through a slot 51 in the wall 9 with a vertical plate 52 extending beyond the ends of said slot. The lower edge of the plate 52 is positioned to be engaged by a heel 53 onjthe lever 48 when the latter is raised to move the slide 49 upwardly. The" slide 49 is resiliently held in its lowermost position by a coiled spring 54, the ends of which fit over a pair of pins 55 on the front wall 9 and theupper end of the slide respectively. Each side 50 of the slide 49 iscut away at its lower end to provide a cam slot 56 terminating in a locking notch 57. Extending up from the lower end of the slide. 49 and between, the sideseQ- thereof is apiate 58..

Twoupwardlyextending spaced arms 59 are formed on the lever 42 and extend along opposite sides of the cam slide 49. The arms 59 carry pins 60 extending inwardly past the edges of the sides 50 and positioned to move along the slots 56.

The'flever48 when lowered to close the switch extends across the hinged section 10, and hence prevents access to the fuses or to the switch contacts when the latter are closed.

Meansis provided for automatically trip ping the cam slide 49 to open the switch in "the event of an overload or a low voltage.

This means comprises a trip lever 61 pivotally mountedat 62 on the inside of the front wall 9. One end of the lever '61 extends across the lowerend of the cam slide 49, and the other end thereof pro ects through an 9 l 1 d opening 60 in one of-the s ne walis mounted on the side of the casing is a low voltage coil 64 having a movable plunger 65 which is adapted to drop onto the outer end ofthe lever 61 when the voltage falls below a predetermined value. also mounted on the same side of the easing, and has a movable plunger or core 6'? adapted to be moved upwardly against the rear end of a lever 68 when the load exceeds a predetermined value. The lever 68 is pivoted at 69, and extends beside the plunger 65 and over the outer end of the lever 61. The coils 64 and 66 may be connected in se ries across any two of the lines through the switch.

The switch in its open position is shown in Figs. 1. and 2. To close the switch, the lever 48 is thrown downwardly, thereby moving the pins 60 alongthe cam edges of the slots 56 into the notches 57. Movement of the pins 60 along the slots 56 raises the slide 49 to permit the notches 57 to snap into engage ment with the pins. The notches serve to lock the switch in its closed position as shown in Fig. 5. If the lever 48 is not moved a sufficient distance to bring the notches 57 and pins 60 into engagement, and is then released, the springs 22 acting through the slide 21 will reopen the switch. To open the switch after it is lockerhthe lever 48 is raised, thereby bringing the heel 53 against the plate 52to raise the slide '49. The notches are consequently separated from the pins 60, and the latter are moved rearwardly along the slots 56 by the coil springs 22. If the load becomes excessive or if the voltage drops too low, the slide 49 will be automatically raised through the lever 61 to open the switch,

I claim as my invention:

1. A swing having, in combination, a plura'lity offixed contacts, member movable between said contacts, a plurality of movable contacts on said member adapted-to be moved simultaneously into and out of engageinent with said fixed cont-acts, said fixed and movable contacts constituting a circuit with two switch breaks, a fuse connected in An overload coil '66 is :msonea said circuit between said breaks, spring means tending continuously to move said member to open said contacts, means for actuating said member to close said contacts, and spring pressed means adapted to be cammed by said actuating means into locking engagement with said actuating means when the switch is closed, said actuating means being operable to disengage said locking means.

2. A switch having, in combination, a plurality of movable and fixed contacts, an actuator for moving said movable contacts into engagement with said fixed contacts, spring means tending to move said movable contacts out of engagement with said fixed contacts, a cam slide having a slot terminating in a locking notch, means on said actuator positioned when said contacts are open to move along said slot and into said notch, and spring means tending to press said slide against said last mentioned means to hold the latter in locked position.

3. A switch having, in combination, a casing, a plurality of fixed contacts in said casing, a movable member, a plurality of movable contacts on said member adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with said fixed contacts, said fixed and movable contacts constituting a circuit with a double switch break, a fuse connected in said circuit between said breaks, a lever mounted on said casing and engaging said member to close said contacts, spring means tending to move said member in a direction to open said contacts, a cam slide mounted in said casing and having a locking notch, said cam slide having a cam surface formed thereon and adapted to direct said lever into said notch when said lever is moved to close said contacts, and spring means tending to force said cam slide against said lever.

4. A switch having, in combination, a plurality of fixed and movable contacts, means for closing said contacts, spring means tending to open said contacts, a locking member having a locking notch and a cam surface, spring means tending to hold said locking member against said first mentioned means, said first mentioned means upon being actuated being movable along said cam surface to actuate said locking member to permit engagement with said notch, and being operable to release said locking member and permit said switch to open, and means automatically operable to release said locking member.

5. A switch having, in combination, a casing having a hinged section, a support in said casing, a plurality of contacts on said support, a movable member, a plurality of contacts on said movable member, means for moving said member including an actuator adapted to lie across said hinged section in one position of said member, and means for locking said member in said position, said actuator being adapted vupon being .moved 1 away from -;sai d;section; to. release said lockg;me s. V

6. Aswitfch having,in combination, avcasting ,havin g.=.a hinged section, movable and fixed-contacts supported in said casing,-means for, closing and opening said contacts, said .means including lever overlying said hinged ,section when said contacts-are closed, and shaving. altree movement away from said secttlOll, and-.means for lockingsaid first mentioned meansin position-when said contacts are closed, said'last mentioned meansvbeing positionedto be engaged by said lever to releasesaid first mentioned means when said lever is moved from said 7 section.

.7. A switchhaving, in combination, a plurality of. fixed contacts, a -movable member .-betweensai d cont-acts,.agplurality of movable contacts on said member adaptedto-be moved simultaneously into and out of engagement with saidfixed contacts, said fixed and ,said niovablecontacts. constituting a circuit with two switch breaks, a fuse connected-insaid circuit between said breaks, spring means tending to move said .memberto open said contacts,.means for; actuating saidmember to closesaid contacts, and means for locking said memberinposition when said contacts are closed,:saidactuating means being topverable independentlyof saidmemberflco release said last mentioned means to ,permit saidspring-means vto open said switch.

8. switch having, in combination, a plurality of movable and fixed contacts, anactuator .for ,moving said. movable contacts into engagement with said fixed contacts, spring means tending to move said movable contacts out of engagement with said fixed contacts,

a locking member having a notch adapted to engage said actuator to lock the latter in position when said contacts are closed, and means on said locking member coacting with said actuator to move said member to direct said actuator into engagement with said notch, said member being operable to disengage said actuator and said notch.

9. A switch having, in combination, a casing having a hinged section, two relatively movable contacts in said casing, means for moving said contacts into engagement, said means having an arm adapted when positioned to close said contacts to lie across said hinged section, means for locking said first mentioned means in said position, and an actuator for said arm movable independently thereof away from said section to release said locking means.

10. A switch having, in combination, a movable contact, a fixed contact, an actuator for moving said contacts into engagement, spring means tending to move said contacts out of engagement, a cam slide having a slot terminating in a locking notch, means on said actuator positioned when said contacts are closed to move along said slot into said notch, and spring means for-pressing said slide against said last mentioned means to hold said actuator in locked position.

11. A switch having, in combination, a casinghaving a Wall, two relatively movable contacts in said casing, an actuator for closing said contacts, said actuator extending outwardly through said Wall, a locking member slidably mounted in said Wall and projecting from both sides thereof, said member and said actuator having means movable into interlocking engagement at the inside of said Wall when said actuator is moved to bring said contacts into engagement, spring means for urging said member into engagement with said actuator, the portion of said member external of said Wall being operable tomove said member out of locking engagement with said actuator.

: 12. A switchv having, in combination, a fixed contact, a movable support, a contact on said support movable into and out of engagement With said fixed contact, a fixed support, an actuating lever pivotally mounted on said fixed support and being operatively related to said movable support for moving said contacts into engagement, yielding means for resisting movement of said contacts into engagement, a locking member slidably mounted on said fixed support, and having a looking recess,anarm on said lever movable into said recess upon movement of said contacts into engagement, and spring means for urging said locking member against said arm.

In testimony'whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

7, LOUIS KELLNER.

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