US2192710A - Repeating fuse apparatus - Google Patents

Description

March 5, 1940. e. N. LEMMON REPEATING FUSE APPARATUS Filed Dec. 14, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 6,.N. LEM/10H Wk March 5, 1940. G, LEMMQN 2,192,710

REPEATING FUSE APPARATUS Filed Dec. 14, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR GJV. LENMo/v BY rW M ATTORN EY March 5, 1940. G LEMMON 2,192,710

REPEATING FUSE APPARATUS Filed Dec. 14, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR GJMLEM MON March 5, 1940. G. N. LEMMON 2,192,710

' REPEATING FUSE APPARATUS Filed Dec. 14, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR GJMLEMMO/V jMwiwM ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 5, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT: OFFICE nma'rmo ruse msna'ms George N. Lennon, Birmingham, Ala. Application December 14, 19:0, Serial No. uaszs 10 Claims- (01. zoo-12c) This invention relates to repeating fuse apparatus, particularly of the general character described in my prior Patent No. 1,954,633, and the joint patent issued to myself and Harry E.

Knowles, No. 1,954,634, on April 10, 1934.

The particular objects of my present invention are to provide apparatus of the character described which shall have an improved latching means for the fuse holder whereby when it is forced into service position the latch will engage without danger of failing; to provide an improved protective means for the latches and for the fuse holder operating mechanism whereby they will not be affected by snow and sleet; to provide an improved assembly for actuating the fuse holders and causing them to move without possibility of failure, to service position from reserve position, and to move from service position to fuse ruptured position; and to provide an improved go cooking and trigger release mechanism for the fuse holder carriages.

In the drawings forming a part of this application,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved re- 5 peating fuse apparatus with the lower part in section along the line I-I of Fig. 3;

Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the release of the upper latch of a fuse holder upon rupture of a fuse;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of my improved ap paratus with some parts of the trippin mechanism omitted for the sake of clarity;

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view taken along the line IVIV of Fig. 3, showing the fuse holder in fuse ruptured position;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V of Fig. 3, showing one fuse holder in reserve position, and one in fuse ruptured position;

Fig. '6 is a perspective view taken from above and showing a part of the cocking and trigger release mechanism for the fuse holders removed from the housing;

Fig. '7 is a sectional view taken along the line V1I--V1I of Fi 3;

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view showing a part of the trigger release mechanism for a fuse holder;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary detail view taken along the line IXIX of Fig. 3, showing a part of a fuse 5o holder carriage with the latching means for the fuse holder in section; and

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the lower casting, showing its preferred position with respect to the horizontal when in service. 5 Referring to the drawings, my improved apparatus comprises an upper casting ill to which an electric line wire may be connected, as at H, and a lower casting l2 having means I! for connecting a line wire thereto. The castings Ill and I! are connected respectively to insulators l3 and 3 II, which latter are joined together, end to end, by means of a stud I3 and nuts I] and i3. Straps I 3 and II also are connected to the stud It by means of the nuts I! and I3, and are joined together by a bolt 23, and may serve as a means for 10 mounting the apparatus.

Electric current passes from the casting It to the casting II, or oppositely, through one of a plurality of fuses carried by fuse holders 23, 23

and 23, only one of which is in service at a time, II as is well understood. Each of the fuse holders 23, 23 and 26 comprises .a hollow tube 21 of insulating material through which is passed a fusible connector 23. On the upper end of each tube is a terminal 23, and on the lower end a I; terminal 3i, which terminals are secured in any proper manner to the tube 21.

The terminal 23 has a rearwardly extending portion 32 to which is pivotally connected a link 33. Connected to the other end of the link 33 is ll a latch and contact member 33. The latch member 33 has a forwardly extending portion 33 which, when the fusible member 23 is intact, is held in place thereby, and rests on the upper end of the holder 26, as seen in Fig. 1. Carried by so the member 33 is a clamp 31 operated by thumb screw 33, and which is adapted to bear downwardly on the upper end of the fusible member 23, as shown in the drawings. The clamp 31 serves to hold the upper end of the fusible mem- 35 ber 23 in place, while the latter holds the member 34 against movement relative to the fuse holder.

The casting II is formed with a plurality of hoods or recesses 39, corresponding to the num- 40 ber of fuses included in the assembly. Each of the hoods 33 has pivoted at its front, at 33, a latch member 31 which extends rearwardly beneath the hood, to be engaged by the latch member 33 when the fuse holder 26 is in service position. The latch member ll is normally pressed downwardly by a spring 42, and is prevented from moving with the hood 33 downwardly too far by engagement of its heel l3 forwardly of the pivot 43. when a fuse holder moves from reserve to service position, the member 34 acts to compress the spring I! and move the latch 4| out of the way and engage it after it passes. The forward pivoting of the latch 3i, and the arrangement of the spring 42, are important in that they provide a a sure latching means for the fuse holders II, 14 and 24, when they are moved to service position. As will be seen hereafter, the fuse holders move to service position very rapidly, and unless the latch member 4| moves almost instantaneously to engage the latch member 34, the fuse holder may Jump out and fail to connect.

Also carried by each of the castings I0 and extending downwardly through a slot in the hood 39 is a brush contact member 44 which, as may be seen from Fig. 1, engages the latch and contact member 84 when the fuse holder 25 is in service position. When the fusible member 28 is ruptured, it allows the member 34 to tilt upwardly and rearwardly, as may be seen in Fig. 2, so that the member 34 is no longer engaged by the latch member 4| and the fuse holder 28 then drops out of service position by gravity.

The terminal 29 is also formed with a forwardly extending portion having an opening 41 into which may be inserted a suitable insulated tool for handling the fuse holders when the apparatus is in service.

The construction of the lower casting l2 and the fuse holder operating mechanism will now be described. The lower casting I2 is formed with a continuous cover 45 upturned at its forward edge 48. With the apparatus mounted as shown in Fig. 10, with respect to the horizontal, it will be seen that any rain, snow or sleet which strikes the cover will be deflected by the lower forward edge 48 and drain to the sides and ends and will not drip down into the operating mechanism housed within the lower casting. The casting i2 is divided into compartments by end walls 49 and 5|, and partition walls 52 and 58. Mounted within each of the compartments thus formed is a carriage 54. Each of the carriages 54 is mounted upon a shaft 55 which extends through the lower casting l2. Each carriage 54 is biased toward movement in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 1, 4 and 5, by means of a spiral spring 51 which has one end secured, as may be seen in Figs. 5 and 7, to a lug 58 formed in the casting l2, and the other end secured at 58 to the carriage 54.

Each of the carriages 54 is substantially U- shaped in construction and of a size to fit within its compartment in the casting l2. Each of the carriage side walls, on the inner side, as seen in Fig. 9, is formed with ridges 6| and 52, the latter forming a recess 63 into which is mounted a hinge member, or trunnion, on the fuse holder, as may hereafter be seen.

The terminal 3| of each fuse holder is provided with a rearwardly extending portion 54 carrying a lower trunnion adapted to be engaged with the rib 52 in the recess 53, and an upper trunnion member 61 adapted to engage with the rib 6| in the side wall of the carriage 54 to prevent the fuse holder from jumping out of position when it is being moved from reserve to service position and from service position to fuse ruptured position. Also formed on the member 64 is a notch 65 adapted, when the fuse holder is in reserve position, to be engaged by a hook 69 pivotally mounted at H in the carriage 54, as may be seen in Figs. 5 and 9. The hook 59 is biased downwardly, as seen in Fig. 9, by a spring 12 mounted in a suitable opening in the hook 89, and extending through an opening in the rib 62. At the rear of the hook 69 is a boss 13 adapted, when the fuse holder is in service positon, as seen in Fig. 1, to engage the top of the casting l2 and disengage the hook from the notch 54, thereby permitting the fuse holder 25 to fall out of service position when the fusible member 25 is ruptured. The hook member 5! is also provided with a forward laterally extending ear 14, which as may be seen by reference to the fuse holder 24 in Fig. 3, when the carriage 54 is rotated counterclockwise beyond the reserve position shown in Figs. 3 and 5, engages with a pin 16 in the side wall of each compartment, thus lifting the hook 59 out of the notch 68, and thus permits the fuse holder to swing down to fuse ruptured position and be removed and replaced after being placed in reserve position.

The rearwardly extending member 54, as may be seen in Fig. 1, carries a screw 'l'l for securing the lower end of the fusible member 25. It is also provided with a suitable contact surface 18 which, when the fuse holder is in service position, is adapted to be engaged by a flexible contact II mounted in the casting I2. Also, the rearwardly extending member 54 carries a trip member 4| which is adapted to'engage with and release the carriage operating mechanism, to be described later.

Each of the carriages 54 is provided with a rearward latch engaging member 52 which, when the carriage is moved to reserve position, engages with a latch member which is pivotally mounted in each compartment. The latch member for the left hand carriage is numbered "a, that for the intermediate carriage 83b, and that for the right hand carriage "c. The carriages 54 may each be moved to reserve position against the force of the springs 51, by means of a handle 54 carrying a hook which may be engaged by a suitable tool to pull the carriage to reserve position.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 6, 7 and 8, I show the setting and tripping mechanism for the carriages 54 separate from the other parts. The trip member 53a for the left hand carriage 54, as seen in Fig. 6, is mounted upon a shaft 81 which extends from end to end through the casting l2 and is secured to said shaft. Formed integrally with the trip member 83a is a manually operable trigger 85 which extends downwardly beneath the casting, as may be seen in Fig. 7. A lug formed in the casting i2 limits the rearward movement of the trigger ll.

Mounted on the opposite end of the shaft 51, in the right hand compartment of the casting l 2, is a trip member 89, the construction of which is shown in detail in Fig. 8. The trip member 89 is pivoted at 9| to an arm 92 and is limited in its clockwise rotation on the arm 92 by means of a stop pin 93. The arm 89 is biased toward the stop pin 33 and the arm 92 is biased downwardly, as seen in Fig. 8, by means of a spring 54 which engages with the arm 88 and the upper part of the casting II. The arm 89 is in the path of movement of the trip member it provided on the lower end of the terminal II. The arrangement of the arm 89, just described, permits the trip member II, when the fuse holder is being mounted in the carriage, and moved to service position, to flex the arm 89 counter-clockwise and pass.

When the fusible member 24 is ruptured, as seen in Fig. 2, and the fuse holder 28 swing downwardly about its pivot counter-clockwise by gravity, the trip member ll then engages the arm 89, but as the arm 59 can not rotate in a clockwise direction relative to the arm 92, due to the stop pin 93, it rotates the shaft 81. It will thus be seen that if the fuse holder 28, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, starts to move counter-clockwise,

it will release the carriage 88 which is held by the stop member 83a on the opposite end of the shaft 81, which would be the left hand carriage. as seen in Fig. 3. I

The stop member 880 for the right hand carriage is formed upon a casting 88 which is mounted for rotation upon a shaft 81 mounted in the intermediate partition walls of the casting l2. Formed integrally with the casting 88 and stop member 830 is a manual trip trigger 8i and an arm 88, carrying a trip arm 88, similar to that already described. The casting 88 extends through the intermediate partition wall I8 so that its associated arm 88 is in the path of movement of the trip member 8| carried by the fuse holder 24.

Thus, movement of the fuse holder 2| in a counter-clockwise direction from service position causes the trip member 8| to engage with the arm 89 and release the right hand carriage II, as seen in Fig. 3. The stop member 831) for the intermediate carriage 5|, carrying the fuse holder 24, is formed upon a casting 88, likewise mounted upon the shaft 81, and formed integral with the stop member 83 for the intermediate carriage. The casting 88 likewise has an arm III, to which is pivoted a trip arm 88, and has formed integrally with the casting a manually operated trigger I02. The casting 88 extends through the partition wall 52 so that its arm 88 is in the path of movement of the trip member 8| carried by the fuse holder 23. Thus, when the fuse holder 23 moves from service to fuse ruptured position, the trip member 8| engages with the arm 88 of the casting 98 and moves the stop 83b out of the path of the latch 82 of the intermediate carriage, thereby permitting the intermediate carriage to move the fuse holder 24 to service position.

The operation of my improved apparatus will now be described. Assume all of the fuse holders 28, 28 and 26 removed from the apparatus for re-fusing. The fusible members 28 are put in place and clamped by means of the screws 88 and 11, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The hooks 86 on the handles 84 of the carriages 54, are next engaged, using a suitable insulated tool therefor, to pull the handles down against the force of the springs 51, until the latch engaging member 82 of each carriage engages with its associated stop member 83a, 83b, or 830. The carriages are then in reserve positions The fuse holders 23, 24 and 28 may now be mounted in place in the carriages 54. This is done by entering the trunnion 68 of the lower terminal 3| of each fuse holder, in the recess 83 formed by the ribs 82 in the side walls of each carriage. It will be observed that the carriage must be pulled down to reserve position and cooked before the fuse holder can be mounted'as just described. Otherwise, it would engage the flexible contact member 18 before the trunnions could enter the recess 83.

As so far described, the fuse holders are assumed all to be in the position of the fuse holder 23 in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Each of the fuse holders is next rotated about its trunnion 88 as an axis, until the hook 88 engages with the notch 58 on the terminal 3|, as seen in Fig. 5. Each of the fuse holders is then in reserve position, ready to be thrown to service position by the force of its associated spring 51. manually operated triggers, for example, trigger 88, is next pulled, which releases the carriage for fuse holder 23 and causes it to move to service One of the position. Just before it reaches service position, thebossliofthe hook llstrikesthe upper-part of the casting l2 and releases the hook, so that the fuse holder is carried to its final latched position, as seen in Fig. 1, by its own momentum.

Assuming now that the fusible member 28 of the holder in service position, is ruptured. The fuse holder starts to swing by gravity and the member 84 tilts rearwardly to disengage from the latch ll, as'seen in Fig. 2. Inasmuch as the hook I8 is disengaged from the notch 88, the fuse holder is free to fall down to the position of the fuse holder 28 in Fig. 3. As it moves downwardly, the trip member 8| engages the arm 88 in the left hand compartment, as seen in Fig. 3, 1

causing the stop member 88b of the intermediate carriage to move out of engagement with the latch engaging member 82, thus releasing the intermediate carriage and allowing the fuse holder :4 to be moved to service position, as just described.

When the fuse in fuse holder 28 is ruptured, it drops out of place and, striking the arm 88 in the intermediate compartment, moves the stop member 830 out of engagement withthe latch engaging member 82 in the right hand compartment, causing the fuse holder 28 to move to service position. When the fuse in fuse holder 28 is ruptured, all the fuse holders must be again refused and their carriages set to reserve position before the apparatus can again operate. It is, of course, understood that the apparatus will be inspected at regular intervals and ruptured fuses replaced so that there will be continuity of service, unless there is a sustained fault which causes a rupture of all three fuses at one time.

In describing the sequence of operation of the fuse holders I have stated, by way of illustration, that the fuse holder 23 is caused to be operated first, followed by the fuse holders 28 and 28. will be obvious from the preceding description that any one of the three fuses may be put in service position first and it will be followed in its operation by the other two.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications, without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In repeating fuse apparatus of the character described, a supporting insulator, a metallic base member attached to the said insulator, a plurality of tubular fuse holders movably mounted on the under side of the said base member, and operating mechanism for moving the fuse holders, the said base member constituting a protecting cover over all the said operating mechanism.

2. An expulsion-tube fuse device which includes two gap-spaced insulated terminals, a tube spanning the gap, and latch means upon one of said terminals to retain the tube in gap-spanning position, the said latch means comprising a stationary protecting cover and a movable member pivotaily mounted beneath the cover and with its tube-retaining portion extending inwardly from its pivotal mounting.

3. In apparatus of the character described, two rigid spaced insulated terminals one above the other, a fuse holder pivotally mounted in the lower terminal, spring actuated trigger release means for moving the fuse holder into circuit closing position with the upper terminal, and latch means carried by the upper terminal for engaging and holding the fuse holder in circuit closing position comprising a spring pressed pivoted latch inclined to the path of movement of the fuse holder, with its pivot in advance of its engaging portion relative to the fuse holder when moving to service position.

4. In apparatus of the character described, a base casting, a cover for the casting which in service is inclined to the horizontal, an upwardly turned lip on the lower edge of the casting, end walls for the casting, a fuse holder operating mechanism mounted in the casting entirely beneath the cover, and a fuse holder pivotally mounted in the carriage and swung upwardly to service position from the lower open side of the base casting.

5. In a repeating fuse apparatus, a base associated with a mounting bracket, a series of independent. spring pressed fuse holders, a latch housing mounted rigid with the base, and a series of spring responsive latches mounted under the housing with their free ends each disposed in the path of a fuse holder and in the direction of its movement to service position.

6. In a repeating fuse apparatus, a base associated with a mounting bracket, a series of independent spring pressed fuse holders, a latch housing mounted rigid with the base, the housing being designed to protect the latch means from access of water, and a series of spring actuated latches mounted under the housing with their free ends each disposed in the path of a fuse holder and in the direction of its movement to service position.

7. In a repeating fuse apparatus, a base associated with a mounting bracket, a series of independent spring pressed fuse holders, a latch means for holding said fuse holders in service position, said base being designed and adapted to overhang and shed water away from the spring mounted ends of said fuse holders, and a series of spring responsive latches mounted under the housing with their free ends each disposed in the path of a fuse holder and in the direction of its movement to service position.

8. In repeating fuse apparatus, two rigid spaced insulated terminals one above the other, a plurality of fuse holders pivotally mounted on the lower terminal, spring actuated trigger release means for moving the fuse holders successively into circuit closing pomtion with the upper terminal, and latch means carried by the upper terminal for engaging and holding the fuse holders in circuit closing position comprising spring pressed pivoted latches inclined to the path of movement of the fuse holders, with their pivots in advance of their engaging portions relative to a fuse holder moving to service position.

9. In repeating fuse apparatus, an upper rigid terminal casting, a plurality of fuse holders, said upper terminal casting having covered recesses therein for receiving the upper ends of said fuse holders, spring pressed latches located in said recesses for engaging the fuse holders, a lower rigid terminal casting, a cover over the lower casting, a plurality of spring actuated fuse holder carriages mounted for operation in the lower casting beneath the cover, means for pivotally mounting the fuse holders in said carriages, and means for successively operating the carriages to swing the fuse holder upwards and enti le the latches.

10. In a repeating fuse apparatus, a base casting, aplurality of spring actuated carriages mounted for angular movement in said casting, cooking and trigger release mechanism for each of said carriages, a fuse holder detachably mounted in each of said carriages, means on each fuse holder to actuate the trigger release of another carriage, an upper rigid casting having a plurality of recesses therein for receiving the upper ends of the fuse holders, and pivoted spring pressed latches disposed in each of said receases to engage and retain the fuse carriers when they are moved to service position, the pivots for said latches being in advance of the engaging means relative to the path of movement of the fuse holders.

ing the upper ends of the fuse holders, and pivoted spring pressed latch means disposed in each of said recesses to engage and retain the fuse carriers when they are moved to service position.

12. In repeating fuse apparatus of the character described, a base casting, a cover for the casting which in service is inclined to the horizontal, an upwardly turned lip on the lower edge of the casting, end walls for the casting, a plurality of fuse holder operating mechanisms mounted in the casting entirely beneath the cover, and a plurality of fuse holders pivotally mounted in the mechanisms to swing upwardly to service position from the lower open side of the base casting.

13. In repeating fuse apparatus of the characterv described, a base casting, a cover for the casting which in service is inclined to the horizontal, an upwardly turned lip on the lower edge of the casting, end walls for the casting, a plurality of fuse holding operating carriages mounted in the casting beneath the cover, a plurality of fuse holders pivotally mounted in the carriages to to seirvice position from the of the base casting, an upper casting insulated from the base casting, a plurality of covered recesses in the upper casting in the paths of movement of the fuse holders when position, latch engaging means on the upper ends of the fuse holders, and pivoted latches in the recesses for engaging the latch engaging means, the pivots for said latches being disposed forwardly thereof with respect to the paths of movement of the fuse holders.

14. In combination, two gap-spaced insulated bases, a plurality of tubular fuse holders movably mounted upon the first 'of said bases and movable into and out of contact with the second of said bases, a single cover for the said first base independent of the said second base, together with operating mechanism for the said fuse holders mounted wholly beneath the said cover upon the said first base.

15. In combination, in electrical fuse apparatus, two gap-spaced insulated terminals, an insulating tubular fuse container mounted on one of said terminals and movable into circuit-closing position across the said gap, automatic closing means to move the container from cpen-cir- 7 cuit towards closed-circuit position, together with means to discontinue the control of the said clos ing. means over the said container, by the time the said container has reached fully closed position.

16. In combination, in electrical fuse apparatus, two gap-spaced insulated terminals, an insulating tubular fuse container mounted on one of said terminals and movable into circuit-closing position across the said gap, spring-actuated means to initiate the motion of the container from open-circuit to closed-circuit position. and means to disconnect the spring actuated means before the container reaches closed-circuit position whereby the said motion is completed solely by the momentum of the said container.

GEORGE N. LEMMON.

Images