US1951028A - Electric range time switch - Google Patents

Description

March 13, 1934. F L X 1,951,028

ELECTRIC RANGE TIME SWITCH Filed Nov. 24, 1931 Fig.3.

ELECTRIC STOVE CURRENT SOURCE lNVENTOR Frederick L101.

64: BY Hi5 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. I 13, 1934 STATS PAT NT FFICE ELECTRIC RANGE TIME SWITCH Frederick Lux, Waterbury, Conn., assignor to The Lux Clock Manufacturing Company,

9 Claims.

This invention relates to time switches, and more particularly to a timer having a clock mechanism eiiective to close or open an electric circuit at a predetermined time, and after the lapse of a further predetermined period of time,

to reverse the condition or" the circuit.

One object of this invention is to provide a time switch of the above nature comprising a novel arrangement of whereby the period of time during which the circuit will remain closed or open for operating electrical devices may be varied at will.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device of the above nature in which the timeoperated switch is locked against repeating its function of opening and closing a circuit until he device is manually reset for a further operation.

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

With these and other objects in view there has been illustrated on the accompanying drawing, one form in which the invention may be conveniently embodied in practice.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 represents a fragmentary View in front elevation of an electric range timer mechanism embodying the invention.

2 is an end View of the same.

Fig. 3 is a bottom View of the same, showing the contactor levers in the 01. position.

Fig. 4 is a view of the contactor levers as they appear in the on position.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the contactcr levers as they appear after the circuit has been again broken by the clock mechanism after the cooking period has elapsed.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the contactor levers and its associated parts.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the cooking period dial unit and associated parts.

The purpose of the present invention is to simplify the operations of setting the times for the control of an electric range.

One advantage of the present invention is that 50 the oven or other heating element or" the range may be readily controlled directly from a clock or other timing device without the use of exterior switches or other complicated mechanisms previously employed for this purpose.

Referring now to the drawing in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 indicates a front dial plate of a clock upon which the time is indicated by the usual hour hand 11 and minute hand 12. The hands 11 and 12 are rotated at the correct constant speed by any suitable power source, such as a spring driven clock movement, generally indicated by the numeral 13. 1t wfll be understood, however, that the hands and. 12 ay also be rotated by any suitable form or" electric motor unit within the spirit and. scope of the invention.

The clock movement 13 is supported by a pair or vertical front and rear frame plates 14 and 15 which are held in separated relationship by a plurality of horizontal spacing pillars 16. The rear irame plate 15 is attached to a rear mounting plate 17 which is adapted to be suitably connected to the back of a clock casing, not shown. The lower part of the dial plate 10 is provided with a fixed serving time dial l8, and a rotary cooking period dial 19, the former dial having the numerals 1 to 12 marked around the circumierence thereof in a counter-clockwise di ection, while the latter dial has the numerals 0 to 6 marked on the lower half thereof in a clockwise direction.

The dials l8 and 19 have setting shafts 20 and. .11 extending forwardly therethrough, said shafts 2-1) and 21 carrying on their front ends a pair of setting pointers 22 and 23 respectively. The setting shaits 20 and 21 extend rearwardly through the frame plates 14 and 15 and are adapted to be continuously rotated in opposite directions by a pair of gear wheels 24 and 25 secured to said shafts 20 and 21 and located between the frame plates 14 and. 15. The gear wheels 24 and 25 are adapted. to mesh with a pair of idler gears 26 and. 27 which in turn are adapted to be selectively engaged by a pair of driving gears 28 and 29. The driving gears 28 and 29 are secured to a pair of horizontal manually operated set shafts 30 and 31 which are slidably mounted in the frame plates 14 and 15. The set shafts 3G and 31 extend forwardly through the clock casing (not shown) and rave a pair of knurled hand knobs 32 and 33 attached to their forward ends.

By pushing the shafts so and 31 rearwardly until their rear ends abut against the rear mounting plate 1'? the gears 28 and 29 will be carried into mesh with the idler gears 26 and 27, respectively. When the gears 28 and 29 are thus in mesh, the set pointers 22 and 23 may be rotated by manipulation of the knurled knobs 32 and 33 to the desired switch operating times.

In order to cause the cooking period dial 19 to rotate with the serving time pointer 23, provision is made of a sleeve bushing 34 surrounding the set shaft 20 and having said dial 19 secured thereto. The sleeve bushing 34 has a pinion gear 35 attached to its rear end and is identical in size with a pinion gear 36 rigidly secured to the set shaft 21. Both of the pinion gears 35 and 36 are in mesh with a common larger intermediate idler gear 37 journaled on the forward end of a stud shaft 38 which is attached to the front frame plate 14. By means of this construction it will be obvious that the cooking period dial 19 will revolve in phase with the serving time dial pointer 23 when the knob 33 is turned.

Rigidly mounted on the setting shafts 20 and 21 between the front frame plate 14 and the dial plate 10 are a pair of cam follower discs 39 and 40 having radial lugs 41 and 42 projecting therefrom. The discs 39 and 40 are adapted to be engaged at all times by a pair of spring pressed sleeve cams 43 and 44 secured to a pair of gear wheels 45 and 46, respectively, and adapted to mesh with a common gear 47 driven by a gear train generally indicated by the numeral 47a.

The gear train 47a receives power from a main spring 48 and causes the sleeve cams 43 and 44 to make one revolution every twelve hours in the same direction. The front face 48a of each cam sleeve 43 (44) is provided with a shouldered notch 48b into which the sleeve cams 43 and 44 are adapted to snap suddenly at the desired times for actuating the switch mechanism to be described later. The sleeve cams 43 and 44 are pressed forwardly at all times against their respective lugs 41 and 42 by a pair of elongated resilient leaf springs 48c and 4803 having their upper ends rigidly secured to the front frame plate 14, as by riveting.

By means of this construction it will be seen that the sleeve cams 43 and 44 will be held in their rearmost positions while the lugs 41 and 42 are in contact with the high portions of the cam faces, but will snap forward suddenly when the notches 48b register with the lugs 41 and 42 of the cam followers 39, 40.

Switch mechanism In order to cause the voltage from a source of power 49 to be applied to and shut off from a power consuming device, such as an electric range operating relay 50, provision is made of a pair of bell-crank rocking contactor levers 51 and 52 which are pivoted upon a pair of forwardly extending flat metal brackets 53 and 54 rigidly secured to the rear frame plate 15. The contactor levers 51 and 52 are each provided with integral offset inner arms 55, 56 having insulated contacts 57 .and 58, preferably of silver, adapted to be connected to the current source 49 by a wire 59 and to the range switch operating relay by a wire 60, respectively.

The contactor levers 51 and 52 are provided with forwardly extending pointed arms 61 and 62 adapted to respectively engage with a pair of forwardly extending lugs 63 and 64 formed on the lower outside edge of each of the leaf springs 48c and 48d, as clearly shown in Fig. 6. The pointed arms 61 and 62 are connected together by a coiled tension spring 65 which tends to move the contacts 57 and 58 into contact for closing the circuit, this motion, however, being initially obstructed by the engagement of the pointed arm 61 with said lug 63 (see Fig. 3).

When the time for the beginning of the cooking period arrives, the forward motion of the sleeve cam 43 will permit the leaf spring 480 to also move forwardly carrying with it the lug 63 and permitting the coiled spring 65 to swing the contactor lever 51 about its axis for closing the circuit (see Fig. 4).

In order to open the circuit at the end of the cooking period or at the serving time, the running of the clockwork will bring the shoulder 48b of the sleeve cam 44 into registry with the lug 42 at the predetermined time. The cam 44 will thus be caused to snap forwardly and allow the silver contact 58 to be rocked away from the silver con tact 57, thus opening the circuit (see Fig. 5).

The contactor lever 51 is prevented from following the lever 52 at this time by means of a set screw 66 located in the rear frame plate 15 and adapted to abut against the rear edge of said lever 51.

In order to permit the contactor levers 51 and 52 to be returned to their initial positions as shown in Fig. 3, said levers are provided with outwardly extending slender arms 67 and 68 having enlarged heads 69 and 70 on their extremities. The heads 69 and 70 are adapted to be engaged by the gears 28 and 29 when the set shafts 30 and 31 are manually pushed rearwardly by the knobs 32 and 33. This movement will cause the pointed arms 61 and 62 to be caught behind the lugs 63, 64 on the ends of the leaf springs 48c, 48d, as shown in Fig. 3.

From this construction it is obvious that after the contactor levers 51 and 52 have caused the switch contacts 57 and 58 to automatically close and open the circuit, and are in the position shown in Fig. 5, it will be impossible for the switch to be again operated until the levers 51 and 52 have been reset into the position shown in Fig. 3 by the depression of the manual set shafts 30 and 31.

Operation In operation, assuming that it is desired to cook a meal for two hours on an electric range and have it ready to serve at 10:45 oclock. The set pointer 23 will first be rotated by pushing in the knurled knob 33 and rotating it in a counterclockwise direction until said pointer 23 indicates 10:45 oclock on the fixed serving time dial 18 (see Fig. 1). It will be understood that the rotation of the pointer 23 over the serving time dial will simultaneously rotate the movable cooking period dial 19 the same amount. The cooking period pointer 22 will next be rotated in a clockwise direction by pushing in and rotating the knurled knob 32 until said pointer 22 indicates 2 hours on the scale of the cooking period dial 19.

With the device adjusted in the above manner, the contactor levers 51 and 52 will appear in the positions shown in Fig. 3; that is with the switch contacts 57 and 58 in separated relation and with the switch open. When the hour of 8:45 arrives, the leaf spring 480 will snap forwardly away from the pointed arm 61, allowing the contactor lever 51 to rock to the position as shown in Fig. 4, thus bringing the switch contacts 57 and 58 together and completing the circuit. When the hour of 10:45 arrives, the leaf spring 48d will in a similar manner snap forwardly allowing the contact 57 to be moved away from the contact 58 to the position as shown in Fig. 5, thus breaking the circuit.

While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure 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 range timer of the class described, a timing mechanism having a clock dial, a pair of setting dials located on said clock dial, a pair of pointer carrying set shafts extending through said setting dials, one of said dials being movable and connected to rotate with the pointer of the other setting dial.

2. In a range timer of the class described, a timing mechanism having a clock dial, a pair of setting dials located on said clock dial, a pair of pointer carrying set shafts extending through said setting dials, one of said dials being movable and connected to rotate with the pointer of the other setting dial, and a switch mechanism responsive to the rotation of said shafts under the control of said timing mechanism.

3. In a range timer, a timing mechanism having a pair of setting dials, a pair of pointer carrying set shafts driven by said timing mechanism, one of which passes through each of said dials, one of said dials being stationary and serving to indicate the serving time, the other dial being movable and indicating the cooking period, said movable dial being connected to rotate with the pointer shaft of the serving time dial.

4. In a range timer, a timing mechanism having a pair of setting dials, a pair of pointer carrying set shafts driven by said timing mechanism, one of which passes through each of said dials, one of said dials being stationary and serving to indicate the serving time, the other dial being movable and indicating the cooking period, said movable dial being connected to rotate with the pointer shaft of the serving time dial, and manually operated means to set each of said shafts independently.

5. In a range timer, a timing mechanism having a pair of setting dials, a pair of pointer carrying set shafts driven by said timing mechanism, one of which passes through each of said dials, one of said dials being stationary and serving to indicate the serving time, the other dial being movable and indicating the cooking period, said movable dial being connected to rotate with the pointer shaft of the serving time dial, manually operated means to set each of said shafts independently, and a switch mechanism controlled by the rotation of said shafts to successively close and open the circuit through said range.

6. In a range timer, a timing mechanism having a pair of setting dials, a pair of pointer carrying set shafts driven by said timing mechanism, one of which passes through each of said dials, one of said dials being stationary and serving to indicate the serving time, the other dial being movable and indicating the cooking period, said movable dial being connected to rotate with the pointer shaft of the serving time dial, and means for manually setting said shafts.

7. In a time switch, a frame, a timing mechanism, a pair of slidable set shafts, a pair of spring pressed bell-crank levers pivoted in said frame and. carrying a pair of cooperating contacts on two of the arms thereof, a detent means engaging said levers for normally holding said contacts in separated relation, and means to release said detents to permit said contacts to come into electrical engagement and to thereafter separate from each other, one arm of each lever being in alinement with one of said set shafts, the sliding of which will reset said detents.

8. In a time switch, a timing mechanism, a pair of slidable set shafts, a switch including a pair of levers carrying contacts adapted to engage each other, spring means connecting said levers together, a resilient detent for holding one of said levers to keep the switch open, means under the control of said timing mechanism for releasing said detent to permit the closing of said switch, and manually operated means for resetting said detent into open circuit condition.

9. In a time switch, a timing mechanism, a pair of rotatable and longitudinally movable spring pressed cams, means operated by said timing mechanism for rotating said cams, a pair of cooperating switch contact-carrying levers under the control of said cams respectively, the rotation of one of said cams permitting the switch to close, and the rotation of the other cam subsequently causing the switch to open, the contacts of said levers being in alinement and adapted to engage each other.

FREDERICK LUX.

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