US2343442A - Telephone substation apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Mardl 7, 1944- E. BERTALAN EIAL 2,343,442

' A TELEPHONE SUBSTATION APPARATUS Filed Jan. '7, 1943 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 W? 22 1 4 F '4 5P 4 4 49,40

E BEETALHN D. M 72 6/4127- HTTOENH.

Patented Mar. 7, 1944 TELEPHONE SUBSTATION APPARATUS Edward Bertalan, Glen Arm, and Dawson M. Taggart, Ruxton, Md., assignors to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 7, 1943, Serial No. 471,550

10 Claims.

This invention relates to telephone substation apparatus, and more particularly to hand telephone mountings.

Hand telephone substations usually comprise a casing containing the necessary switching elements, a, hand telephone removably supported in some manner on the casing, and a cord connecting the hand telephone and switching elements. A retractile type cord is often used, which is made in the form of a helix. It. has been found that if proper care is not taken the cord will twist or kink and satisfactory swivel elements have been designed to overcome this kinking and to allow free rotation of the cord.

However, in' overcoming this problem there.

sometimes has resulted undue wear on the contact elements and conversational disturbances occur occasionally due to the movement of the contact elements while a phone call is being made.

The object of this invention is to produce new and improved hand telephone mountings in which undue wear and conversational disturbances are eliminated.

In one embodiment of this invention a hand telephone substation mounting is provided which comprises a casing, a rotatable contact element within the casing, a pivoted switch assembly coacting therewith, a hand telephone resting upon a switching lever which is pivotally secured within said casing, a cord connectin the hand telephone and the rotatable element, and a detent to prevent free rotation of the rotatable contact element at predetermined intervals.

, This invention will be understood clearly from the following detailed description and the accompanyin drawings, in which Fig. l is a front view, partly in section, of a device embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; a

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line i4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail view, showing certain contact elements and a locking device formingpart of the apparatus, and

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 5.

Referring now to the drawings, the telephone substation mounting shown in Fig. 1 comprises a casing it in which is housed a substation switching mechanism connected by a cord II to a'hand telephone I2, which is supported by a receiver portion I4 thereof on a receiver hook I3. I

The substation switching mechanism, as shown in Fig. 2, comprises a top plate It having a vertical side plate It made integral therewith. Secured to the plate It are blocks I I and it, which have bores 20 and 2| therein to seat bearings 22 and 23, respectively. A shaft 25 extends through the blocks I and I8 in bores 26 and 21, respectively, and may rotate within the bearings 22 and 23. A nut I9, on a threaded portion 24 of the shaft 25, correctly positions the shaft within the blocks and the bearings, and holds it therein.

As shown in Fig. 5, the shaft 25 comprises a base portion 21, having screws 28-28 threaded therein. The screws 28-23 connect terminals 29-23 (Fig. 2) fastened on the ends of the individual wires of which the cord H is constructed, to wires 30-30 which are positioned within bores El-3| (Fig. 2) formed in the shaft 25. Contact rings 33-33, secured to the shaft 25, are connected to the opposite ends of the wires 30-30. A switch assembly 35 (Fig. 2), secured to the block I8, has'elongated spring contacts 34-34 protruding therefrom. The resiliency oi the spring contacts 34-34 tends to cause them to engage the contact rings33-33. Wires 31-31 (Fig. 3') leading to an outside electrical circuit (not shown) are secured to the switch assembly 35. Thus, an electrical circuit may be completed through the wires 31-31, the spring contacts 34-34, the contact rings 33-33, the wires 30-35), and through the cord II to the hand telephone I2. A cover 38 (Fig. 2) is-fastened to the base 2'1 to protect the parts associated therewith.

Extending from the top plate I5 is a depending lug 39 (Fig. 3) made integral with the plate and a rod 49 is mounted in the lug 39 and the vertical plate I5, about which a switching lever ti pivots (Fig. l). The switching lever 4| comprises the receiver hook I3 formed at one end and two arms 42 and 43 (Fig. 2) formed at the other end. One end of a sprin 44 is fastened to the arm 42 and the other end of the spring engages the head of a'lug 45 secured to the plate I8. The spring 44 causes the switching lever 4! to rotate in a clockwisedirection (as seen in Fig. 1) when the hand telephone I2 is not suspended from the receiver hook I3. The weight of the hand telephone is sufficient to overcome the'tension of the sprin 44 and when the hand telephone is placed upon the receiver hook the switching lever is rotated in a counterclockwise direction until a stop 46 formed on the arm 42 engages the top plate l5.

The arm 43, forming part of the switching lever 4|, has a detent 41 secured thereon by screws 4848 (Fig. 3). When the arm 43 is lowered the detent 41 engages a toothed wheel 50, which is secured on the shaft 25 and rotates therewith.

An arm 52 (Fig. 1) depends from the. arm 42 in proximity to a lever 53 (Fig. 4) rotatably mounted on a rod 54 secured within the block I8. When the receiver I4 is in place on the hook l3, the arm 52 exerts pressure on the lever 53. A lug 55, forming part of the-lever 53, actuates a U-shaped rod 56, which extends into bores 5|-5'| formed within the block l8. An'insulating sleeve 58, positioned on the U-shaped rod 56, pushes the contact springs 34,-34 from their position against the contact rings 3333, as seen in Fig. 2, to the position seen in dotted lines in Fig. 5, thus breaking the electrical circuit. Nonconducting spacers 60-60 prevent the contact springs 34-34 from engaging each other, and so prevent short circuiting.

The operation of the device is as follows: When the receiver I4 is placed on the receiver hook l3, the weight of the hand telephone I! overcomes the tension of the spring 44, and the switching lever 4| pivots in a counterclockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 1. The depending arm 52, on the arm 42 of the switching lever 4|, exerts' pressure against the lever 53, as seen in Fig. 4, rotating the lever in a counterclockwise direction. The lug 55 moves in a counterclockwise direction, causing the U-shaped rod 56 and the insulated sleeve 58 thereon to move forward and overcome the resiliency of the spring contacts34-34. The spring contacts 34-34 are thu forced from their position of establishing contact with the rings 3333, and the electrical contact is broken.

The arm 43 of the switching lever 4| pivots" on the rod 40 in a clockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 3, raising the detent 41 with it." The detent 41 is thus disengaged from the teeth "of the wheel 50, allowing free rota ion of the shaft 25 and the members thereon. The cord l is, therefore, free to turn and to unkink itself.

When the hand telephone I2 is removed from the hook l3 the switching lever 4| will pivot in a clockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 1, under the, tension of, the spring 44, and the depending arm 52 of the arm 42 will no longer exert any pressure on the lever 53 (Fig. 4). The resiliency of the spring contacts 34-34 will move them into contact with the contact rings 33-33, since there L is no pressure exerted on the U-shaped rod 56 by the lug 55. The spring contacts 3434 push against the insulating sleeve 58, forcing the U- shaped rod 56 toward the block |8, whereupon one end of the U -shaped rod 56 pushes against,

the lug 55, rotating the lug and the lever 53.

At the same time the switching arm 4| 'will move in a counterclockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 3, carrying the detent 41 downwardly into engagement with the teeth of the wheel 50. As

a result the wheel 5|J will be locked in place, and any rotation ofthe shaft 25 which might otherwise occur because of kinks in the cord I is prevented. This prevents undue wear of the contacts and eliminates any conversational distur-bances caused by moving-electrical contacts while therein without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Obviously. devices embodying this invention could be used in conjunction with any telephone handset mounting which contains a rotatable element.

What is claimed is:

1. In a telephone substation apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting including a receiver hook and a cord to connect said hand telephone with said telephone mounting, means to allow unkinking of said cord comprising a freely rotatable member, and means to hold said freely rotatable member stationary when said receiver hook is elevated.

2. In a telephone substation apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting including a receiver hook and a cord to connect said hand telephone with said telephone mounting; means to allow unkinking of said cord comprising a freely rotatable member and means to hold said freely rotatable member stationary at predetermined'intervals through a change of elevation of said receiver hook.

3. In a telephone substation apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting including a receiver hook and a cord to connect said hand telephone with said telephone mounting, means to allow unkinking of said cord comprising a member freely rotatable when said hand telephone is in place in said receiver hook, and means to hold said freely rotatable member stationary when said hand telephone is removed from said receiver hook. I

4. In a telephone substation apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting including a receiver hook and a cord to connect said hand telephone with said telephone mounting, means to allow unkinklng of said cord comprising a. freely rotatable member having a toothed wheel thereon, and means to engage said toothed 'wheel to hold said freely rotatable member stationary when said receiver hook is elevated.

5. In a telephone substation apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting, and a cord to connect said hand telephone to said telephone mounting, means to allow unkinking of said cord comprising a freely rotatable member having a toothed wheel thereon, and a detent to engage said toothed wheel to hold said freely rotatable member stationary at predetermined intervals.

6. In a telephone substation apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting including'a receiver hook, and a cord to connect said hand telephone to said telephone mounting, means to allow unkinking of said cord comprising a member having a toothed wheel thereon which member is freely rotatable when said hand telephone is in place on said receiver hook, and a detent to engage said toothed wheel to hold said rotatable member stationary when said hand telephone is removed from said receiver hook.

'7. In a telephone substation apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting including a switching lever formed with a receiver hook at one end thereof and having a spring connected to the opposite end thereof, the tension of which spring holds said receiver hook in an elevated position when said hand telephone is off said receiver hook, and a cord to connect said hand telephone with said telephone mounting,

meansto allow unkinking of said cord comprising a rotatable member having a toothed wheel thereon, and a detent associated with said switching lever to engage with'said toothed wheel at we determined intervals to hold said rotatable member stationary.

8. In a telephone substation apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting including a switching lever formed with areceiver hook at one end thereof and having a spring connected to the opposite end thereof, the tension of which spring holds said receiver hook in an elevated position when said hand telephone is ofi said receiver hook, and a cord to connect said hand telephone with said telephone mounting, means to allow unkinking of said cord comprising a rotatable member having a toothed wheel thereon, and means associated with said switch-- ing lever to engage said toothed wheel at predetermined intervals to hold said rotatable member stationary.

9. In a telephone apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting including a switching lever formed with a receiver hook at one end thereof and having a spring connected to the opposite end thereof, the tension of which spring holds said receiver hook in an elevated position when said hand telephone is off said receiver hook, and a cord to connect said hand telephone with said telephone mounting, means to allow unkinking of said cord comprising ,a rotatable member, and means associated with said switching lever to hold said rotatable member stationary at predetermined intervals.

'10. In a telephone apparatus including a hand telephone, a telephone mounting including a pivoted switching lever formed with a receiver hook at one end thereof and having a spring connected to the opposite end thereof, the tension of which spring holds said receiver hook in an elevated position when said hand telephone is off said receiver hook, and a cord to connect said hand telephone with said telephone mounting, means to 'allow unkinking of said cord comprising a member positioned within said telephone mounting and having a toothed wheel rigidly mounted thereon adjacent to said switching lever, which member is freely rotatable when said hand telephone is in place on said receiver hook, and a detent carried by said switching lever adapted to engage said toothed wheel to hold said rotatable member stationary when said hand telephone is removed from said receiver hook.

EDWARD BERTALAN, DAWSON M. TAGGART.

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