US2270640A - Electric switch - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 20, 1942. F. H. ROBY 2,270,640

ELECTRIC SWITCH Filed March 4, 19159 2 Sheets-Sheet l /g/f fQ/B Jan 2O! F. H. ROBY ELECTRIC SWITCH Filed March 4, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lll- I- i1- E.' 4

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/NVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 20, 1942 ELECTRIC SWITCH Frank H. Roby, Milwaukee, Wis., assigner to Square D Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application March 4, 1939, Serial No. 259,763

(Ci. 20o-97) 6Claims.

This invention relates to an electric switch involving a plurality of contacts adapted to be sequentially engaged and disengaged with predetermined time intervals, and has for one of its objects the provision of an improved construction for such a switch which shall be of simple and economical construction while accurate in its operation.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved operating means for an electric switch of this type.

Another object of this invention is to provide in an electric switch of the above type an improved and simplified means for effecting adjustment of the position of the stationary cantacts to determine the periods between the sequential operations aforesaid.

Other objects and features of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following specication and appended drawings illustrating certain preferred embodiments of the invention in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the electric switch according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical elevational view of the electric switch according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line III-III of Figure l.

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line V-V of Figure l.

The electric switch according to the present invention comprises a supporting panel I having mounted thereon a plurality oi' relatively movable contact sets indicated generally at 2 and actuated in response to the energizatiofi of an electromagnet 3, with the timing of the actuation of the contacts in opposite directions determined by the settings of pneumatic time delay units 9 and 10. The operating parts of the time delay units 9 `and 'I0 are duplicates but disposed to work in opposite directions and only that indicated at 9 is shown in detail. This comprises a supporting plate 5 secured to posts 6 as by studs l, the posts being secured to the mounting panel l by studs 8. Upon the upper portion of the supporting plate 5 is mounted the timing unit 9 comprising a central dividing portion I having disposed therein a needle valve II and a check valve I2. `The dividing portion I0 is of general double cup shape and to its bottom portion a flexible diaphragm I3 is sealably amxed thereto by means of a rigid metallic member I4. A nut I is secured to the diaphragm I3 by being riveted through opposite disc washers I8. A rod I3 is threaded into the nut I5 and is maintained in place by a locking nut I9. A flexible diaphragm 20 is connected large indicating wheel 25 pivotally attached to the supporting plate 5 and generally centrally thereof. It is to be noted that the timing element 9 provides for dash up movement by passage of the interior iiuid through the check valve I2 and for delayed downward movement by the controlled passage of the interior uid through the needle valve II. The diaphragm I3 places the appropriate pressure or vacuum on the iiuid within its chamber to secure movement of the iluid to or from its associated chamber through the valves and the diaphragm 2l is an idle diaphragm which acts as a reservoir for this fluid and serves to seal oiI the valves from the exterior air. Secured to the pin 23 and intermediate front bearing piece 26 andthe gear teeth 24 is disposed a liber disc 21. The nber disc 21 is manipulable to rotate the pin 23 and the gear teeth 24 to move the indicating wheel 25 meshing therewith. A split spring pressed double bushing 28 holds the pin 23 and thereby the valve II in its adjusted position. Upon the lower end of the rod I3 is threaded a split attaching member 29 in which is secured a rigid insulating member 41 having mounted thereon and relatively movable with respect thereto spring biased contact elements 3l, 3| and 32. The contact surfaces of bridging elements 30 and 3| face downwardly and the contact surfaces ofthe bridging element 32 face upwardly. The contact elements 3| and 32 are oppositely disposed and are directed away from each other toward stops 34 and 35 by means of a common biasing spring 33. The contact element 30 is biased downwardly with respect to the insulating member 41 and against stop 36 by means of a compression spring 31 disposed between the contact element and a washer 3B Whose position is determined by the stop 39. As can be seen in the drawings, the contact elements 30 and 3l are engaged with their respective stationary contacts and move from their stops 38 and 35 respectively against the bias of springs 31 and 33 which maintain the contact pressure between the elements and their cooperating stationary contacts. Each of the bridging contact elements 30, 3i and 32 cooperates with a pair of spaced stationary contacts, certain of which are mounted for ready adjustment. These pairs of contact elements are mounted upon blocks 40, 4I and 42. Each of these stationary contacts includes a post 43 extending forwardly of the supporting insulating' block and having mounted a contact surface 44 disposed upon a stud 45 threaded into the post 4I and maintained in place by a lock nut 45. The arrangement thus described not only provides means for mounting the stationary contacts, but also provides for adjustment of each stationary contact individually where desired. The bottom insulating block 4II is rigidly secured to panel I and supports the bottom end of guide rods 4l whose upper ends ara rigidly secured to the panel. Two of these rods are provided, one being obscured by the member 41 as viewed in Figure 1. The contact supporting insulating blocks 4I and 42 are slidably mounted on the guide rods 4l and compresison springs 4| are provided between the blocks to bias them apart. An adjustment rod 50 extends loosely through blocks 40 and 42 and is provided at either extremity with adjusting nuts 5I and 52. The central block 4I is tied to the rod 50 by a stud 5I. With this arrangement it is seen that a means is provided for quick and easy adjustment of the position of the stationary contacts mounted on the blocks 4I and 42 merely by tightening or loosening the adjusting nuts 5I and 52 to shorten or extend the associated portion of the rod 50. In the adjustments, tightening of the adjusting nut 52 will cause the block 42 to move downwardly but will not move the rod 50, and hence will leave the central block 4I unaffected because of its attachment to the rod 50. The bottom block 40 will likewise be unaffected, being rigidly secured to the panel l. Tightening of adjusting nut 5| will cause both the central and top blocks 4I and 42 to move downwardly in response to movement of the adjusting rod 50, which will carry these two blocks with it in its movement. Opposite rotation of the nuts 5I and 52 will cause similar movements of the blocks, but in the opposite directions.

An L-shaped bracket 54 is provided near the top of panel l and a compression spring 5l is disposed between the bracket 54 and a stop 54 on member 41 to bias the member in a downward direction. Since contacts to be operated by the member 41 at the extreme of its forward movement will ordinarily not need adjustment since they simply determine the final movement of the rod to deenergize its operating circuit, these contacts are here supplied in the form of a push button switch 4 which may be of conventional form and which is disposed with relation to a striker 58 rigid with the member 41 so that the striker 58 will move the push button of this switch to disengage these contacts near the extreme upward movement of the member. Since this push button switch may be of conventional form, its internal mechanism has not been speciiically shown and is to be considered as simple additional switching contacts non-adjustable and operated at the upper extreme of the movement of the member 41. About the lower end of the member 41 is connected a guide and stop element 51 having an elongated pin portion 53 extending therefrom. This pin extends through and is guided by an insulated abutment 55 rigidly mounted upon a bracket 60 mounted on the panel. The enlarged portion of the element 51 contacts with the upper surface of the abutment 59 to determine the lower position of the member y A cylindrical actuating member 8| guided by a rigid bracket 52 is disposed beneath pin 5I and is threaded at its lower end upon a rod I4 and locked thereon by a locking nut 85. The rod 44 is connected to the operating diaphragm of the time delay unit 10 in a manner similar to that previously described for the operating diaphragm of the time delay unit 8. Disposed about the rod 84 is a compression spring Il disposed between the locking nut 55 and a lateral arm 1I of a pivotal armature 41. With this arm in its lower or deenergized position, the spring 54 il substantially free of compression. The armature is stopped in its deenergized position by means of a position limiting bracket Il. The pole face of the armature is provided with a facing sheet of brass or other non-magnetic material 5l to prevent sealing of the armature in its energized position. For actuating the armature, there is provided a stationary or ileld magnet section 12 provided with operating coil 1I which, when energized, will effect the upward rotation of the armature 51.

'I'he operation of the relay is as follows: Upon energization of the coil 13, the armature I1 will be rotated upwardly and will compress the operating spring il. This will apply a spring bias to move the operator 5| upwardly and it will move in this direction at a rate dependent upon the adjustment of the time delay unit 10. When the operator 8l contacts pin Il, the member 41 will commence to move upwardly and will operate the contacts associated therewith in the following sequence: first, the stop Il will engage the bridging contact ll to effect opening of the circuit therethrough; secondly, the stop 35 will engage bridging contact element 3| to etfect opening of the circuit therethrough; thirdly, contact element 32 will be moved into engagement with its cooperating stationary contacts to complete the circuit therethrough; and, fourthly, the striker 58 will engage the operating push button of the switch 4 to interrupt the circuit therethrough. When thereafter the coil I3 is deenergiaed either through the actual opening of the circuit through the switch 4 or in response to some other operating switch, the armature l1 will be released and moved downwardly whereupon the member 41 will start its downward movement under the combined action of gravity and biasing spring 55. In this downward movement, the speed of member 41 is controlled entirely by the setting of the time delay unit I, it being understood that in the upward movement of the member, the timing unit 9 permits the free passage of the controlling fluid through the check valve and, in the downward movement of the operator 5I, the time delay unit 1l permits the free passage of the control fluid through its check valve. In this downward movement of the member, the direction of the contacts will be reversed to that previously set forth; firstly, the striker 58 will release the operating push button of the switch 4 to close the circuit therethrough; thereafter the bridging contact 32 will be moved away from these stationary contacts in response to the engagement of the stop 34 therewith, and thereafter contacts 3i and 3l will, in that respective order, be engaged with their cooperating stationary contacts.

It is seen that in the operation of the switch there are four timing periods; first, the period from the energization of the coil 13 until the contact Il) is operated; second, the period between the operations of contacts 30 and 3l; third; the period between the operations of contacts 3l and 32; and fourth, the time between the operation of contact 32 and the operation of the switch 4. There are, of course, other timing periods which might be considered inasmuch as the time of closing of the contacts 32 is made up of the two periods involving the upward and downward movement of the rod and, similarly,I the times of opening of the contacts 30 and Il are made up o f the two components due to the raising and lowering of the switch. Considering the four basic time intervals, adjustment of these could be had in various ways, but the simplest form of adjustment will be described. The ilrst timing period, inasmuch as the stationary contacts cooperating with the bridging contact III are relatively permanently adjusted, will be determined by the adjustment of the time delay unit 10. The adjustment of this unit also transmits itself through the other timing periods, but these are otherwise adjustable whereas the rst timing period is determined solely by this adjustment and the permanent adjustment of the position of the nrst set of stationary contacts. The second timing period between the operation oi.' contacts 30 and 3| is determined by adjustment of the screw This adjustment moves both contact blocks ll and 42 and, hence, does not vary the third timing period, although it does change the fourth timing period. The third timing period is determined by adjustment of the nut 52 which moves the contact block 42 onlylto vary the time between the operation of contact 3| and contact 32. The fourth timing periodis determined by the adjustment oi' both nuts il and 52, since both of these nuts eifect movement of the contact block 42. The adjustment of the time delay unit 9 will similarly effeci; the -speed of movement of the rod in the opposite direction and determine the time interval at which the operation of the contacts occurs.

While certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been specifically disclosed, it is understood that the invention is not limited thereto as many variations will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the invention is to be given its broadest possible interpretation'within the terms of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An electric switch comprising a movable member, a plurality of contacts movable in response to movement of said member, a plurality of stationary contacts adapted to be engaged and disengaged by their reciprocable movable contacts in response to movement of said member,

-means for relatively stationarily mounting one of said stationary contacts. means for adjusting the position of others of said stationary contacts with respect to said first stationary contact but without disturbing the relation between said others of said stationary contacts, and means for adjusing at least one of said other sets of contacts without disturbing the remainder of them.

2. An electric switch comprising at least three spaced stationary contacts, movable contacts cooperating with said stationary contacts, means for successively operating said movable contacts, means for relatively permanently mounting one of said stationary contacts, means for adjusting two of said stationary contacts with respect to said one stationary contact without disturbing the spacing between said two stationary contacts, and means for adjusting one of said two stationary contacts independently of the other.

3. An electric switch comprising at least three without disturbing the position of said first and second sets of said stationary contacts.

4. An electric switch comprising a stationary insulating block, a pair of spaced stationary contacts mounted on said block, a pair of movably mounted insulating blocks with pairs of stationary contacts mounted thereon, movable bridging contact members for cooperating with said pairs of stationary contacts, means for moving said bridging contacts to successively effect cooperation thereof with their respective pairs of stationary contacts, means for adjusting the pair of movable insulating blocks as a unit with respect to the stationary block, and means for adjusting one of said movable blocks while maintaining the other stationary.

5. An electric switch comprising a reciprocable member, a plurality of electrically independent sets of contacts adapted to be successively operated by said member in its movement in opposite directions, means establishing one set of contacts in a relatively fixed relation, means adjusting the interval between said stationary set and other sets of said contacts without disturbing the interval between said other sets, `means for adjusting at least one of said other sets alone, an adjustable time delay means at each end of said member, each of said means delaying movement of said member in one direction only, an electromagnetic operator for said member comprising a ileldmagnet and a pivoted armature, spring means interposed between said pivoted armature and said member and adapted to be stressed to apply a resilient force upon said member upon energization of said eld magnet, the member moving in one direction through said resilient force under the control of one of said delay means, the other -delay means controlling the speed of movement of said member in its return movement upon deenergization of said eld magnet.

6. An electric switch comprising at least three vertically spaced sets of horizontally spaced stavertically spaced sets of horizontally spaced stationary contacts, a plurality of bridging contacts tionary contacts, a plurality of bridging contacts adapted to cooperate with said horizontally spaced stationary contacts, a vertically movable member for actuating said bridging contacts, means mounting the rst set of stationary contacts in a relatively permanent position, means for adjusting the spacing between said rst and second set of spaced stationary contacts without disturbing the space between the second and third sets of stationary contacts, and means for adjusting the said third set of stationary contacts without disturbing the position of said first and second sets of said stationary contacts, time delay means for controlling the rate of movement of said member, electromagnetic operating means including a field magnet and ia movable armature, and spring means operable by said armature to apply a resilient force effecting controlled movement of said member. FRANK H. ROBY.

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