US1906080A - Switch and fuse mounting - Google Patents

Description

A ril 25, 1933.

T. E. MURRAY, JR

SWITCH AND FUSE MOUNTING Filed Sept. 25 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet l 77700705 Z: Man" April 25, 1933. E M RRA JR 1,906,080

SWITCH AND FUSE MOUNTING Filed Sept. 25, 1925 5 Sheets-Shet 2 Ewuemtoz nomcUEM/rrg/J' April 25, 1933. T, MURRAY JR 1,906,080

SWITCH AND FUSE MOUNTING Filed Sept 25, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 awwamto'c Patented Apr. 2 5, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE THOMAS E. MURRAY, JR., OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO METROPOLITAN I DEVICE CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK SWITCH AND FUSE MOUNTING Application filed September 25, 1925. Serial No. 58,612.

The invention aims to provide improvements applicable particularly to service entrance boxes and mechanism.

Fig. 1 is a plan of one arrangement, omitting the switch operating lever and connections and the box cover;

Figs. 2 and 3 are similar plans of alternative arrangements;

I Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the apparatus of Fig. 3 complete with the box closed.

Figs. 5 and 6 are figures similar to Figs. 1 and 3, illustrating modifications.

Referring first to Fig. 4, the box has a cover 11 hinged at one end with a raised portion 12 in the center to accommodate the switch connections inside. The cover has an opening through which projects upwardly an apertured locking car 13 at one end of the box. An operating arm 14 is located at one side of the box on the end of a shaft 15 which passes into the box and carries the connection to the switch blade or blades. These parts are illustrated in more detail in my previous Patent No. 1,559,580, November 3, 1925.

The side of the box has a lug 16 which limits the upward swing of the switch operating arm 14. This arm is welded or soldered to a cap 17 which fits over certain fuse sockets hereinafter referred to. These are for the customers fuses. The arm 14 must be lifted to open the switch within the box before access can be had by the customer to these fuses; this for the sake of safety and also to prevent theft of current.

The invention is particularly useful in connection with entrance service switches and boxes of this character; but it may be applied to various other uses and other arrangements of terminals, switches, and so forth, than those herein described.

Referring to Fig. 1, the line wires a, b and 0 enter through one of the side walls of the box, 6 being the neutral of a three-wire system. The wires (1 and 0 are connected respectively to binding posts 18 mounted on separate porcelain plates or supports 19 which are fastened on the bottom of the box. From the binding post 18 connections lead to a terminal 20 of a switch 21, the opposite terminal 22 of which is connected to one terminal of a company fuse socket 23 of which the other terminal is connected to a binding post 24 which leads by a wire 25 to one of the coils 26 of the meter. From this coil a wire 27 leads to a terminal 28 of a second switch blade 29 the opposite terminal 30 of which is connected to one terminal of an outside customers fuse socket 81. The opposite terminal of this socket is connected to a binding post 32 which is connected to the outgoing wire d of the load circuit. The opposite block 19 is identical with that above described and carries the same switch and fuse connections whereby the current passes from the line wire 0 through switches and fuses and through the meter coil 33 to the second wire 6 of the load circuit. The neutral wire 6 passes through continuously.

The apparatus thus described is an improvement on the mechanism of my prior application referred to above and on standard mechanisms of this general character in that the present insulating support for the various devices is made up of separate units, which can be placed in various locations in the box without interfering with the operation of the switches or with the connections to the meter. In this way the a paratus can be adapted to various locations shifting in one Way or another the relative positions of the two supports with their separate groups of devices.

For example, Fig. 2 shows an alternative arrangement of devices identical with those of Fig. 1 and mounted on blocks of the same design. The blocks can be arranged as rights and lofts, as in Fig. 1, or can be identical as in Fig. 2. In either case they are substantially the same. For example, the block in the upper part of Fig. 2 could be substituted by that at the left of Fig. 1 by merely inverting it.

Fig. 2 shows the two blocks 19 arranged along the same longitudinal side of the box so that the customers fuse sockets 31 are located at the same side. This is useful for locations where the box cannot be made accessible at both sides or where economy of lateral space is desired. It will be observed that the electrical connections are the same in Fig. 2 as in 1. The box of Fig. 1, however, is shorter than the box all of Fig. 2. The connections from the switch blades to the outside operating lever will, of course, be different in the two cases in order to adapt them to the different relative positions of the switches in the two figures. These connections, however, may be made in a variety of known ways and constitute no specific part of the present invention.

In each case the supports 19 of insulating material have integral extensions which terminate in the upwardly extending sockets 31 of usual shape to receive threaded fuses. And the switch operating ZIIIHS Il: in each case have caps sin'iilar to 17 (Fig. 4) which prevent access to or removal of the customers fuse until the switches have been opened.

An advantage in the production of separate units. (insulating support carrying switch and fuse devices) is that two of them may be put in a box to provide a threewire system control, as in Figs. 1 and 2 and that they may be used singly to control a two-wire system. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig. 3. The line wires are shown at f and 5/. The load branched into two circuits iz-j and lcZ respectively. The block 19 is substantially like those of Fig. l and carries similar terminals and switches leading finally by a wire to the main and supplementary coils 36 and 37 of the meter. The circuit wire 27 connects through the switch 29 to the terminal 30. A plate 38 connects the latter to a cross-plate 39 which connects with the terminals of the two fuse sockets 3 a and 31 The opposite terminal of the former connects through a binding post 40 with the wire is of circuit No. and the other terminal of the second socket connects through a terminal 41 with the wire j of load circuit No. 1. In this case the lat eral extension a2 of the insulating support which projects through the side wall of the box is made wider than the corresponding extension 35 of the other figures, and carries two sockets as explained because two load circuits are to be provided. If there were a single load circuit then the extension would be as in the other figures with a single fuse terminal connected directly to the switch terminal 30.

The switch 21 (or the two switches 21 in the three-wire systems of Figs. 1 and 2) is the main switch of the circuit and alone is operated from the outside when the box is covered. It is the only switch which is opened when it is desired to open the house circuit to insert customers fuses and for similar purposes. It will be observed that the connections from the line wires and the posts 18 pass by way of wires 43 to the terminal 20 l which is located at the free end of the switch blade 21, the circuit being completed by a connector if from the hinge terminal 22 of the switch to the company fuse 23. \Vhen the switch 21 is open, therefore, its blade is dead, being connected only to the load side; and there is no danger of establishing a circuit by contact of its free end with any part of the casing or other mechanism. The parts are so arranged also that the opening of the switch 21 kills all the fuses in its circuit; the company fuse and also the customer's fuse 31 (or and 31" in Fig. The switch blade 29 is lifted only when the box cover is opened and the meter is being tested.

It is preferable, instead of having the load wires pass from the customers fuses back into the box as in Figs. 1 to 3, to arrange them as in Figs. 5 and 6. In Fig. 5 the block 35 is extended to carry a terminal binding post 32 from which the load wire (Z is carried out without reentering the box as in Fig. 1. The same arrangement is repeated on the opposite side. For Fig. 2 the block and connections would be the same as at the right-hand side of Fig. 5.

Fig. 6 shows the two-wire arrangement of Fig. similarly modified. The block 42 is extended to carry the two binding posts l and i1 from which the load wires L and j are carried out without re-entering the box. Also from the binding post 45 a conductor 46 is carried to a post 47 on the extension of the block, and the two wires 6 and h of the load circuits are carried directly out. The block 42 is carried in a. separate casing 48 alongside the main box, which would have the usual cover. This cover may be connected to the switch operating lever ll as in Fig. l. Or, for all the constructions illustrated, the cover may be free from the switch operating lever. In fact, the outside fuses may be uncovered.

Various other modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departure from the principle of the invention as defined in the following claims.

lVhat I claim is:

1. The combination with a metal box having a cover, of a plurality of electric circuit connections, a separate supportof insulating material for each set of circuit connections adapted to carry switch and fuse devices within said box, each of said supports having a lateral extension adpted to project through an outer wall of the box and to carry fuse sockets in circuit with the terminals within the box.

2. The combination of a metal box having a cover, of a support of insulating material within said box carrying switch mechanism and having a lateral extension projecting through an opening in an outer wall of said box and carrying a fuse socket, a connection from said fuse socket to said switch mechanism and a terminal also outside the box and connected to a terminal of said fuse socket, so that a wire can be carried from the fuse socket without re-entering the box.

3. A switch apparatus for electric circuits of the type described which comprises a metal box having a cover and havlng inlet connections for line wires, a switch for each electric circuit of said line wires, meter circuit connections for each of said circuits,

separately maintained supports of insu1at-' ing material, one for each of said switches, and fuse sockets for each support, one of said fuses of each support being accessible from the interior of said box and the other being accessible from the exterior of said box.

4. A switch and fuse apparatus for electric circuits which comprises a metal box having a cover, an insulating fuse and switch supporting base in said box having a fuse socket supporting part projecting to the exterior of said box, a customer fuse socket on said exterior projecting part of said base, a company fuse socket on said base within said box, a line wire terminal on said base within said box, a switch between said line terminal and said company fuse socket and having the switch blade connected to said socket, and connections comprisin a meter and a switch from said company use to said customer fuse.

5. A switch and fuse apparatus for electric circuits which comprises a metal box having a cover, an insulating fuse and switch supporting base in said box, a customer fuse socket accessible from the exterior of said box, a company fuse on said base within said box, a line wire terminal on said base within said box, a switch between said line terminal and said company fuse socket and having the switch blade connected to said socket, and connections comprising a meter and a switch from said company fuse to said customer fuse.

6. A switch and fuse apparatus for electric circuits which comprises a metal box having a cover, an insulating fuse and switch supporting base in said box, a customer fuse socket accessible from the exterior of said box, a company fuse on said base within said box, a line wire terminal on said base within said box, aswitch between said line terminal and said company fuse socket and having the switch blade connected to said socket, and connections from said company fuse to said customer fuse.

7. A switch and fuse apparatus for electric circuits which comprises an insulating fuse and switch sup-porting base, a company fuse socket on said base, a customer fuse socket on said base, a line terminal on said base, a switch between said line terminal and said company fuse socket, connections from said company fuse socket to said customer fuse socket, said connections comprising me- THOMAS E. MURRAY, JR.

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