US2225032A - Thermionic relay - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 17, 1940. v. E. CARBONARA THERMIONIC RELAY 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 15, 1938 INVENTOR VICTOR E. CARBON/WA Jul. ATTORNEY Dec. 17, 1940. v. E. CARBONARA 2,225,032

THERMIONIC RELAY Filed Oct. 13, 193B 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR MFQ?ICAR&WWMM

BY W

M ATTORNEY Dec. 17, 1940. v. E. CARBONARA THERMIONIC RELAY Filed Oct. 15, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 AM ATTORNEY Dec. 17, 1 40. v. E. CARBONARA THERMIONIG RELAY Filed Oct. 13, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR V/CTOI? E. CARBON/MA BY M ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 17, 1940 UNITED STATES 'rnsnmoruc namv Victor E. Carbonara, Rockvllle Centre, N. I, as-

signor to Paul Kollsman, Elmlmrst, N. Y.

Application October 13, 1938, Serial No. 234,801 '5 Claims. 01. 250-215) This invention relates to thermionic relays, more particularly to a relay for the remote transmission of movements or positional indications. As used in the description, the term thermionic 5 relay is understood as including relays oi the high vacuum tube type as well as relays of the gas tube type. As is well known in the art, the flow of emission from the cathode of a relay of the high vacuum type consists primarily of elec- 1 trons while the emission from the cathode of a relay of the gas tube type consists primarily of ions.

It isan object of this invention to provide a transmitting relay capable of producing electrical impulses in response to a positional or rotary impulse without exerting a reaction on a source of movement connected to the relay, such as a measuring instrument operating the relay.

It is thus an object of this invention to provide a transmitter for use in connection with instruments capable of producing only an extremely weak torque such as electrical measuring instruments, compasses, gyroscopes or other p0- sitional instruments the proper operation of which would be impaired if an appreciable load were put on the same.

According to the invention a thermionic relay is provided having a cathode, a plurality of anodes positioned to receive a flow of emission ed for rotation relatively to the cathode and arranged to control the flow of emission between cathode and the respective anodes.

Thus electrical impulses are created capable of operating at a distance a repeater instrument of any suitable type, for example, of the form shown and described in the co-pending application of Paul Kollsman, Serial No. 189,816, filed February 10, 1938.

It is a further object of the invention to provide in a thermionic relay a control electrode mounted for complete rotations relatively to a cathode and arranged to control an emission from the cathode to a plurality of anodes.

Further aims, objects and advantages of this invention will appear from a consideration of the following description and the accompanying drawings showing for purely illustrative purposes embodiments of this invention. It is to be understood, however, that the description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

55 Figure 1 shows a transmitting relay 0! the Gil from said cathode and a control -electrodemounthigh vacuum type connected to two repeaters, the relay being shown in sectional elevation. In this section the repeaters and connections are shown in form. 5

Figure2isaplanvlewortherelayshownin Figure 1, asection belngtaken online 2-2.

Figure3isaplanvlewoftherelayshownin Figure 1, a. sectinnbeingialrenon line 3-4.

Figure 4 shows in sectional elevation a relay in of the gas tube type.

Figure 5 is a wiring diagram illustrating a mannerofarelayofthetypeshown in Figure 1 with a repeater instrument.

Figurefiisawiringilimtratinga manner of connecting a. relay of the type shown in Figure 4 with a repeater instrument.

Inl 'lgureladevieeforactimtingatransmitter according to this invention is shown as being a permanent magnet ll secured to a shaft ll whichmaybeconnectedto asource ofmovement such as a instrument, a compass or the like, the source of movement being not illustrated.

The thermionic relay is illustrated as having an evacuated envelope or gins bulb l2 moimted on abase i3 andhavingastem ll terminating in a press orseal l5. Upon the seal ii there ismounted a cathode shown in the illustrated form as including an electrical heating element I6 surrounded by an insulating core i! preferably of ceramic 'materialand carrying an emitting cathode sleeve ll to which a lead I! is connected.

Radially and preferably symmetrically spaced around the cathode are a plurality of anodes, in theillustrated embodiment, tour in number and shown at 2|, 2|, 22 and 23, anode 2! being not visible in the sectional illustration of Figure l. Leads 24, 25, 2 and 21 are connected to the re- 0 spective anodes. All of the leads passing through the seal of the stem are tightly secured therein, as is well known in the art.

A control electrode in the illustrated embodiment, shown as positioned within the envelope and mounted on a shaft 23 carried in bearings 30 and 3|. Means are provided for rotating the control electrode relatively to the cathode or anodes. In the illustrated embodiment the means consist of an armature 32 of magnetic material. The armature may consist of a permanent magnet assuming a definite positional relation with respect to the controlling magnet H! or other rotatable magnetic field provided for acting on the armature.

The bearings 30 and 3| are mounted on a metallic frame consisting of members 33 and 34, the member 34 being supported by the seal E5 or the stem and connected to an outgoing lead 35. To insure an intimate contact between the rotatable control electrode and the supporting frame 33 and 34, a contact spring 35 may be provided connected to a lug 31 of the frame and bearing on the shaft .29 of the electrode.

It is preferable that the armature 32 be so positioned relatively to the controlling magnetic field that in addition to the positional actuation of the armature a slight force is exerted on the armature in an axial direction relieving the thrust on the bearings and reducing the friction thereof.

The control electrode may be connected in a circuit to act as a shielding electrode or as a grid depending upon the potential bias applied to the same.

In the illustrated embodiment the control electrode is of cylindrical form movable in a path between the cathode and the anodes. A portion of the cylindrical electrode is shown as being cut away in a plane inclined to the axis of rotation.

Accordingly, in the position shown in Figure 1, the control electrode will block substantially all of the path between the cathode and the anode 20. A maximum flow will pass from the cathode to the opposite electrode 22 while electrodes 2! and 23 may be assumed as receiving substantially one half of the maximum flow.

There are accordingly four positions between the control electrode and the anodes in which one anode receives a maximum flow of emission, the opposite anode receives a minimum flow, while the remaining anodes receive a flow having a value between the maximum and the minimum.

There are also four positions each diifering by 45 from the previously described positions in which two adjacent electrodes receive an approximately equal flow constituting the major part of the total flow while the remaining two electrodes receive equal amounts of the minor portion of the total flow.

In positions other than those above described the magnitude of the flows between the cathode and the individual anodes varies between a maximum and a minimum depending on the relative position of the control electrode and the anodes.

A plurality of repeaters may be connected to the relay. In Figure 1 two repeaters of a form disclosed in the co-pending application, Serial No. 189,816 are shown, each repeater having field coils, the magnetic axes of which are disposed at an angle relatively to each other. If it is desired equiangularly to repeat the positional or rotary impulses introduced at the relay, the field coils may be arranged in a positional arrangement corresponding to that of the anodes.

In the illustrated embodiment each repeater is provided with four field coils 36, 31, 38 and 39, two of which are combined to form pairs. This may be conveniently accomplished by winding the coils in a bifilar manner to insure that both coils have identical electrical and magnetic properties. Coils 36 and 31 are thus combined to form one pair while coils 38 and 39 are combined to form a second pair. Only for purpose of illustration the coils are shown as being wound one on top of the other in Figure 1.

A rotatable armature preferably of magnetic type is mounted for rotation in response to the direction of the magnetic field set up by the field coils. In the illustrated form the armature is of electro-magnetic type comprising a rotatable shaft 40 carrying pole pieces 4| and 42 at opposite ends thus forming a Z-shaped structure. An instrument to be actuated in response to the rotations of the shaft may be connected to the shaft in any suitable manner. In the illustrated form a pointer 43 is shown which may be readable relatively to a graduated scale (not illustrated). An exciting coil 44 is provided to excite or energize the armature, the exciting coil being connected to a source of electrical energy 45 through leads 46 and 41.

The source of electrical energy may be a source of direct as well as alternating current. If direct current is used the polarity of the source should preferably be as indicated in the drawings. The device, however, operates equally well on alternating current because of the rectifying properties of the relay which thus result in a suppression of a half cycle of the alternating current.

One end of the field coils is connected to one terminal of the source of electrical energy preferably the positive terminal, the other end of the coils being connected to the respective anodes. In the illustrated example a lead 48 connects field coil 36 with anode 23. coil 31 to the anode 2! while further leads 5B and 5i are provided to connect field coils 38 and 39 with anodes 22 and 20 respectively.

A resistance 52 may be provided for reducing the voltage of the source of electrical energy 45 for the heating element [6.

A separate source of potential 53 in series with a further resistance 54 is shown to apply a bias to the control element 28. If a positive bias is applied to the control electrode the electrode will act as a grid augmenting the flow of electrons from the cathode. If a negative bias is given to the control electrode the electrode will act as a shield suppressing a portion of the flow emitted from the cathode.

The operation of the device is as follows:

In the illustrated position the anodes 2i and 23 receive practically equal portions of the flow of emission setting up currents of equal magnitude in coils 38 and 37. The coils are connected in such a manner that the current flows through the coils in opposite direction. The magnetic fields of coils 36 and 31 accordingly oppose and neutralize each other. A maximum flow of emission is received by anode 22 causing field coil 38 to set up a magnetic field of maximum strength. This field is opposed by a very weak field, if any, set up by the coil 39 energized from the shielded anode 20. The predominating magnetic field set up by coil 38 has a substantially horizontal direction in the illustrated embodiment causing the armature 4| to assume the position shown in the drawings.

If the control electrode is rotated relatively to the anodes it becomes easily apparent that the residual magnetic field acting on the armature of the repeater will equally change its direction causing the armature precisely to repeat the movement introduced at the transmitting,- relay. Assuming, for example, that the control electrode A lead 49 connects field be rotated in a direction gradually to cover anode 2| and to uncover anode 23, it appears that the field set up by coil 31 will be strengthened while the field set up by coil 36 will be weakened whereby the armature is caused to rotate a corresponding amount into alignment with the new direction of the magnetic field.

A modified form of the invention applied to a relay of the gas tube type is illustrated in Figures 4 and 6. The structure of the relay corresponds to that of the relay shown in Figure 1 with the exception of an additional electgode generally called cathanode provided within the gas filled envelope II. The cathanode is shown at 55 having a lead 56 passing through the seal l5. While normally in a gas filled tube the anode current cannot be completely controlled by the grid which becomes emersed in a highly ionized space, where the electron space charge is essentially neutralized by the positive ions, a control of the flow of emission is well possible in a tube of the form shown in Figure 4, where the "cathanode acts as an anode for the discharge from the cathode I8, but as cathode for the amplifying section of the tube including the electrodes 55 and 28 and anodes 2|, 2|, 22 and 23. As shown in Figures 6 a positive bias is applied to the cathanode 55 with respect to the cathode l8, a battery 51 being shown for this purpose. The control electrode 28 is maintained more negative than the cathanode by virtuewf being connected to the cathode.

The advantages of a relay of the gas tube type over a relay of the high vacuum type is the greater power obtainable from a gas tube as compared to the power obtainable from a high vacuum tube of approximately equal size. Aside from the structural diflerences of the relay shown in Figure 6, the operation of the transmission system illustrated in Figure 6 corresponds with all other respects to the form of the invention shown in Figure 5. Obviously the present invention is not restricted to the particular embodiments herein shown and described. Other forms of repeaters may be used, for example, or other means for rotatin the control electrode with respect to the anodes be employed than the means illustrated.

What is claimed is:

1. A relay comprising a central cylindrical cathode; a plurality of anodes radially spaced from said cathode: a cylindrical control electrode having a portion cut away at an angle to the axis of rotation and mounted for full rotation between said cathode and said anodes; means for rotating said control electrode relatively to said anodes; and a sealed evacuated envelope enclosing said cathode, anodes, and control electrode.

2. A relay comprising a sealed evacuated envelope enclosing a central cathode; a plurality of anodes radially spaced from said cathode; a cylindrical control electrode mounted for full rotation between said cathode and said anodes and having a portion cut away at an angle to the axis of rotation; and an armature of magnetic material connected to said electrode for causing said electrode to follow a rotating magnetic field external to said envelope.

3. A relay comprising a cathode; a plurality of anodes; a cathanode positioned between said cathode and said anodes; a control electrode mounted for full rotation in a path between said cathanode and said anodes; means for rotatin said control electrode relatively to said anodes; and a sealed envelope containing a charge of gas and enclosing said cathode, anodes, cathanode, and control electrode.

4. A relay comprising a central cylindrical cathode; a plurality of anodes radially spaced from said cathode; a cylindrical cathanode between said cathode and said anodes; a control electrode mounted for full rotation in a path between said cathanode and said anodes; means for rotating said control electrode relatively to said anodes; and a sealed envelope containing a charge of gas and enclosing said cathode, anodes, cathanode, and control electrode.

5. A relay comprising a cathode; a plurality of anodes surrounding said cathode; a semicylindrical control electrode mounted for full rotation in a path between said cathode and said anodes; said control electrode having a portion non-pervious to electrons and an open portion, the nonpervious portion forming a continuous, uninterrupted part of its circumference, the open portion constituting the continuous remainder of its circumference; a sealed evacuated envelope enclosing said cathode, anodes, and control electrode; and means for rotating said control electrode relatively to said anodes.

VICTOR E. CARBONARA.

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