US2418811A - Contact element - Google Patents

Contact element Download PDF

Info

Publication number
US2418811A
US2418811A US505536A US50553643A US2418811A US 2418811 A US2418811 A US 2418811A US 505536 A US505536 A US 505536A US 50553643 A US50553643 A US 50553643A US 2418811 A US2418811 A US 2418811A
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
contact element
finely divided
metal
carbonaceous material
sulphide
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US505536A
Inventor
Roy L Adams
Zickrick Lyall
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
General Electric Co
Original Assignee
General Electric Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by General Electric Co filed Critical General Electric Co
Priority to US505536A priority Critical patent/US2418811A/en
Priority to GB19415/44A priority patent/GB592355A/en
Priority to US608832A priority patent/US2465051A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US2418811A publication Critical patent/US2418811A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01B—CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
    • H01B1/00—Conductors or conductive bodies characterised by the conductive materials; Selection of materials as conductors
    • H01B1/04—Conductors or conductive bodies characterised by the conductive materials; Selection of materials as conductors mainly consisting of carbon-silicon compounds, carbon or silicon
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H1/00—Contacts
    • H01H1/02—Contacts characterised by the material thereof
    • H01H1/021—Composite material
    • H01H1/023—Composite material having a noble metal as the basic material

Definitions

  • An object of our invention is to provide an improved electrical contact element.
  • a further object of our invention is to provide an improved electric current collector contact element including a carbonaceous material and provided with an inorganic lubricant for the contact surface thereof.
  • a relatively movable contact element such as might be used for an electrical brush contact or a relatively movable bearing element for contact with another member, such as a rotating slip ring or commutator, will have a relatively long wearing life when it is made of a graphitic or carbonaceous material intimately combined with a metal and sulphur.
  • Different proportions of these ingredients have been found to be useful for diiferent operating conditions in connection with such contact elements, and it has been found that a contact element made of a pressed and sintered or fired mixture of finely divided powders of graphitic material with a metal of high electrical conductivity, such as copper, or silver, and sulphur or a metallic sulphide, provides a particularly desirable combination.
  • this type electrical brush contact element is preferably formed of a block of carbonaceous material such as finely divided graphite, a metal such as finely divided silver, and a metallic sulphide such as silver sulphide.
  • the sulphide may be formed during the manufacturing process by adding powdered sulphur to a mixture of graphite and powdered metal, mixing, heating, and pressing the mixture together and thereby forming a metallic sulphide mixed with graphite and metal.
  • the carbonaceous material is mixed with the metallic powder and sulphur and is pressed in a mold at to 50 tons per square inch pressure and is then heated in a reducing atmosphere, such as hydrogen, at a temperature between 650 and 700 C.
  • Another method of making this type contact element which has been found to be successful is to mix finely divided copper oxide, such as black copper oxide (CuO), with a finely divided carbonaceous material, such as graphite, to form a slurry with water, afterwhich this mixture is heated while it is being mixed until it forms a dry powder.
  • This mixture is then heated in a reducing atmosphere at a temperature between 600 and 900 C. to reduce the copper oxide, after which this powder is mixed with a finely powdered sulphur and pressed to the desired shape at a pressure of several tons per square inch and heated for several hours at a temperature between and 200 C. It is then fired in a reducing atmosphere for about four hours at a temperature between 700 and 750 C.
  • finely divided copper oxide such as black copper oxide (CuO)
  • a finely divided carbonaceous material such as graphite
  • An electrical contact element including a block formed of carbonaceous material, a metal, and a sulphide of said metal.
  • the method of making an electrical contact element including mixing finely divided carbonaceous material with finely divided copper and copper sulphide, pressing the mixture in a mold at several tons per square inch pressure, and heating it in a reducing atmosphere at a temperature between 650 and 700 C.

Landscapes

  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Composite Materials (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Powder Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Conductive Materials (AREA)
  • Motor Or Generator Current Collectors (AREA)

Description

2,4l8,ll ri 2,418,811 coNrAc'r ELEMENT Roy L. Adams and Lyall Zickrick,
Schenectady,
N. Y., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York No Drawing. Application October 8, 1943,
Serial No. 505,536 3 Claims. (Cl. 171-325) Our invention relates to contact elements and particularly to such elements as are used with electrical apparatus as current collecting brushes.
An object of our invention is to provide an improved electrical contact element.
A further object of our invention is to provide an improved electric current collector contact element including a carbonaceous material and provided with an inorganic lubricant for the contact surface thereof.
Further objects and advantages of our invention will become apparent and our invention will be better understood from the following description, and the features of novelty which characterize our invention will be pointed out in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.
It has been found that under normal atmospheric conditions with average humidity atmospheric water vapor and oxygen together provide one of the best known lubricants for the contact surfaces of carbon and metal-graphite brushes and similar bearing surfaces. It also has been found that electrical contact elements made of porous blocks of finely divided electrically conductive material such as carbon or metal-graphite brushes tend to wear away very rapidly in dry or rarefied atmospheres.
We have found that a relatively movable contact element such as might be used for an electrical brush contact or a relatively movable bearing element for contact with another member, such as a rotating slip ring or commutator, will have a relatively long wearing life when it is made of a graphitic or carbonaceous material intimately combined with a metal and sulphur. Different proportions of these ingredients have been found to be useful for diiferent operating conditions in connection with such contact elements, and it has been found that a contact element made of a pressed and sintered or fired mixture of finely divided powders of graphitic material with a metal of high electrical conductivity, such as copper, or silver, and sulphur or a metallic sulphide, provides a particularly desirable combination.
We have found that this type electrical brush contact element is preferably formed of a block of carbonaceous material such as finely divided graphite, a metal such as finely divided silver, and a metallic sulphide such as silver sulphide. In some instances, the sulphide may be formed during the manufacturing process by adding powdered sulphur to a mixture of graphite and powdered metal, mixing, heating, and pressing the mixture together and thereby forming a metallic sulphide mixed with graphite and metal. In thus making a contact element, the carbonaceous material is mixed with the metallic powder and sulphur and is pressed in a mold at to 50 tons per square inch pressure and is then heated in a reducing atmosphere, such as hydrogen, at a temperature between 650 and 700 C. Another method of making this type contact element which has been found to be successful is to mix finely divided copper oxide, such as black copper oxide (CuO), with a finely divided carbonaceous material, such as graphite, to form a slurry with water, afterwhich this mixture is heated while it is being mixed until it forms a dry powder. This mixture is then heated in a reducing atmosphere at a temperature between 600 and 900 C. to reduce the copper oxide, after which this powder is mixed with a finely powdered sulphur and pressed to the desired shape at a pressure of several tons per square inch and heated for several hours at a temperature between and 200 C. It is then fired in a reducing atmosphere for about four hours at a temperature between 700 and 750 C.
While we have described particular embodiments of our invention, modifications thereof will occur to those skilled in the art, and we desire it to be understood, therefore, that our invention is not to be limited to the particular arrangements disclosed, and we intend in the appended claims to cover all modifications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of our invention.
What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:
1. An electrical contact element including a block formed of carbonaceous material, a metal, and a sulphide of said metal.
- 2. The method of making an electrical contact element including mixing finely divided carbonaceous material with finely divided copper and copper sulphide, pressing the mixture in a mold at several tons per square inch pressure, and heating it in a reducing atmosphere at a temperature between 650 and 700 C.
3. The method of making an electrical contact element including mixing finely divided carbonaceous material with a metallic powder and a metallic sulphide, pressing the mixture in a mold at several tons per square inch pressure, and heating it in a. reducing atmosphere at a temperature between 650 and 700 C.
ROY L. ADAMS. LYALL ZICKRICK.
REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:
UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,121,960 Whitney Dec. 22, 1914 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 249,864 German Aug. 1, 1942
US505536A 1943-10-08 1943-10-08 Contact element Expired - Lifetime US2418811A (en)

Priority Applications (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US505536A US2418811A (en) 1943-10-08 1943-10-08 Contact element
GB19415/44A GB592355A (en) 1943-10-08 1944-10-09 Improvements in and relating to electric contact elements
US608832A US2465051A (en) 1943-10-08 1945-08-03 Method of making electrical contact elements

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US505536A US2418811A (en) 1943-10-08 1943-10-08 Contact element

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US2418811A true US2418811A (en) 1947-04-15

Family

ID=24010710

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US505536A Expired - Lifetime US2418811A (en) 1943-10-08 1943-10-08 Contact element

Country Status (2)

Country Link
US (1) US2418811A (en)
GB (1) GB592355A (en)

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2640944A (en) * 1949-06-04 1953-06-02 Union Carbide & Carbon Corp Electrical contact brush
US2652624A (en) * 1948-08-28 1953-09-22 Wilson H A Co Method of producing composite metal
US2760256A (en) * 1949-11-28 1956-08-28 Linwood T Richardson Electrical contacts
US2760257A (en) * 1949-12-03 1956-08-28 Cutler Hammer Inc Electrical contacts
US3120699A (en) * 1962-07-19 1964-02-11 Ferro Corp Method for producing sintered ferrous article
US3165480A (en) * 1957-12-18 1965-01-12 Union Carbide Corp Electrical contact brush
US5270504A (en) * 1991-07-22 1993-12-14 Deutsche Carbone Aktiengesellschaft Sliding contact member for high currrent densities

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE249864C (en) *
US1121960A (en) * 1910-10-12 1914-12-22 Gen Electric Molded metallic article and method of making the same.

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE249864C (en) *
US1121960A (en) * 1910-10-12 1914-12-22 Gen Electric Molded metallic article and method of making the same.

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2652624A (en) * 1948-08-28 1953-09-22 Wilson H A Co Method of producing composite metal
US2640944A (en) * 1949-06-04 1953-06-02 Union Carbide & Carbon Corp Electrical contact brush
US2760256A (en) * 1949-11-28 1956-08-28 Linwood T Richardson Electrical contacts
US2760257A (en) * 1949-12-03 1956-08-28 Cutler Hammer Inc Electrical contacts
US3165480A (en) * 1957-12-18 1965-01-12 Union Carbide Corp Electrical contact brush
US3120699A (en) * 1962-07-19 1964-02-11 Ferro Corp Method for producing sintered ferrous article
US5270504A (en) * 1991-07-22 1993-12-14 Deutsche Carbone Aktiengesellschaft Sliding contact member for high currrent densities

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB592355A (en) 1947-09-16

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US2418811A (en) Contact element
US2418812A (en) Contact element
US2736830A (en) Current-conveying brushes
US2465051A (en) Method of making electrical contact elements
AU538308B2 (en) Carbon bearing contact paste
US2418810A (en) Contact element
US4201777A (en) Carbonaceous bodies
US2411060A (en) Contact element
US3284371A (en) Electrographitic brush
US2448685A (en) Electrical contact brush
US3274304A (en) Method of making impurity-type semi-conductor electrical contacts
US2247036A (en) Electrically conductive bonded oxide composition
US2230267A (en) Bonded carbon composition
US3358166A (en) Dynamoelectric machine brush
JPH0651894B2 (en) Manufacturing method of metallic graphite brush
US4101453A (en) Sintered composition
US428742A (en) Commutator collector or block for dynamo-electric machines
US3437606A (en) Densification of boride compositions
US2022528A (en) Apparatus for sintering refractory material
US3225169A (en) Silver-refractory metal electrical contact having refractory metal carbide in the marginal layer of its active contact face
US2501321A (en) Dynamoelectric apparatus and current collector conditioning members therefor
US3455023A (en) Silver-carbon brush block and method of making same
US2739912A (en) Dynamoelectric brush and method of making same
RU217014U1 (en) Current-collecting carbon brush with anti-friction cylindrical liners
JPS5935155B2 (en) Manufacturing method of electrographite brush