US2604557A

US2604557A - Article operated switch

Info

Publication number: US2604557A
Application number: US14015A
Authority: US
Inventors: Paul A Nelson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1948-03-10
Filing date: 1948-03-10
Publication date: 1952-07-22
Anticipated expiration: 1969-07-22

Description

July 22, 1952 P. A. NELSON ARTICLE OPERATED SWITCH Filed March 10, 1948 INVENTOR PAUL A. NELSON BY AT TORNEY Patented July 22, 1952 1', UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARTIC E OPERATED swrrcn Paul A. Nelson, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application March 10, 1948, Serial No. 14,015

This invention has relation to an article retaining device adapted to be especiallyuseful as an adjunct to an ordinary telephone. An object of the invention is to provide anew and'improved device, for use at the location of a telephone; equipped to containarticles, such as writlng implements' and paper, frequently employed when telephoning, in conveniently accessible position. I

*A'further object is to provide an article retainingdevice of the character as stated, whichwill incorporate a novel and improved construction and arrangement for removably supporting a writing implement, such as a pencil, in said device in such manner as to make it improbable that the writing implement after a use thereof will not be replaced in the device unless this is intentional. I

A further object is to provide in the device, a new and improved mechanism for removably supporting a writing implement, such as a pencil, adapted to be actuated upon withdrawal of the writing implement to cause an electric circuit ineluding a visible lamp of said device to be made and upon insertion of said writing implement to cause said electric circuit to be broken.

-And a further object is to provide an article retaining device wherein will be incorporated desirable and improved features and characteristics of construction novel both as individual entities of the device and in combination with eachother.

With the above objects in view, as well as others which will appear as the specification proceeds, the invention comprises the construction,

arrangement and combination of parts as now to be fully described and as hereinafter to be specifically claimed, it being understood that the disclosure herein is merely illustrative and intended in noway in a limiting sense, changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts being permissible as long as within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims which follow.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of'this specification,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an article retaining device made according to the invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view ofthe article retaining device, taken as on line 2-2 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken as on line 3--3 in Fig. 2;

"Fig. 4 is a detail'sectional view corresponding generally with the disclosure at the left upper corner of Fig. 3; and

- Fig. 5 is a wiring diagram.

2 Claims. (01. 200-52 A base housing member of thearticle retaining device is constituted as a'horizontal rectilinear member l0 providing a horizontal rectilinear compartment II open at the lower front of said device, and a body housing member is constituted as a vertical rectilinear member I2 providing forward and rearward vertical rectilinear compartments, denoted l3 and 14, respectively, of the device. The compartment 13 is comparatively smaller than the compartment I4, and a horizontal dividing wall 15, between and constituted as a part of both the base and body housing members, bounds the upper side of the horizontal compartment l I and the lower ends of the vertical compartments l3 and M. A vertical partition wall [6, between the rear of the vertical compartment l3 and the front of the vertical compartment I4, spans the distance between the side walls of the body housing member, and portions of the base housing member extend to positions beyond said body housing member side walls in the disclosure as made. A rear wall I! of the body housing member, at the rear of the vertical compartment: I4, is removable, and a front wall 18 of said body housing member, at the front of the vertical compartment 13, will be of transparent or translucent material, glass as shown.

Mechanism of the article retaining device for removably supporting a writing implement, such as a pencil, is situated in an upper portion of the forward vertical compartment l3. Spaced apart, horizontal supporting rods, indicated l9, 19, for said mechanism are situated in spaced, adjacent relation to an upper wall 20 of the body housing member l2 and extend from front to rear of the compartment 13. Rearward end portions of the rods I9, I9 are fixedly supported, as at 21,"

on the partition wall l6, and forward end portions of said rods are fixedly supported, as at 22, on the front wall I8.

Oppositely disposed, horizontal, substantially parallel insulating strips or blocks, represented 23, 23, are situated in the compartment I3 to extend at right angular relation to the supporting rods l9, l9, and said insulating strips or blocks are slidably mounted on said supporting rods. More explicitly stated, the insulating strips or blocks include transverse openings through which the supporting rods pass more or less freely, and the construction and arrangement will be such that said supporting rods'will retain said insulating strips or blocks in substantially parallel relation while they are slid relative to eachother in a manner to bemade plain. Compression coil springs 24, four as shown,upon the supporting rods IS, IS and between the insulating strips or blocks and the partition wall It and the front wall l8, respectively, exert resilient action urging said insulating strips or blocks toward each other.

An opening through the upper wall 23 of the body housing member H is in vertical alinement with midlength portions of the insulating strips or

blocks

23, 23 which are adjacent each other, and interior sides of said midlength portions are cut away, as at 26, to provide an'opening between said insulating strips or blocks in vertical alinement with the opening 25. The

construction and arrangement desirably can be such that the cut-away portions 23 providean opening which would be circular in the event the insulating strips or

blocks

23, 23 became interengaged.

The opening 25 and the opening provided by the cut-away portions 26 are adapted toreceive the advance end of the writing implement and less than that of the body of said writing implement when said insulating strips or blocks are closely adjacent each other. OrLthe upper parts of the cut-away portions 25 can be made to flare outwardly to freely receive the advanceend of a writing implement and guide it into lower parts of said cut-away portions defining an opening of diameter smaller than the writing implement when the insulating blocks or strips are close together. The construction and arrangement will be such that a writing implement, such as a pencil, of appropriate size when thrust into the vertically alined openings will cause the insulating strips or

blocks

23, 23 to be forcibly moved apart against resilient action of the compression coil springs 24 and also such that said compression coil springs will exert resilient action upon the writing implement to cause it to be removably retained by and between said insulating strips or blocks. The pressure exerted upon the writing implement desirably will be slight so that said writing implement can be readily and easily withdrawn from the device when this is intentional, and, of course, the compression coil springs will cause the insulating strips or blocks to be moved toward each other upon withdrawal of said writing implement. 7

Each of the insulating strips or blocks 23 supports a pair of spaced'apart, movable contact elements. As disclosed, the pair of movable contact elements which each insulating strip or block supports are at the opposite ends of the insu lating strip or block, and movable contact elements on the different insulating strips or blocks at the same side of the compartment l3 are in alined relation in direction longitudinally of the supporting rods I9, |9. That is, there are alined movable contact elements, designated 21 and 28, supported by the difierent insulating strips or blocks at one side of the compartment |3 and alined movable contact elements, indicated 29 and 30, supported by said diiferent insulating strips or blocks at the opposite side of said compartment 13 adapted, respectively, to become disengaged in response to insertion ofa'writing implement into the device and engaged in response to withdrawal of the writing implement.

An electric lamp suitably and conveniently supported in a lower portion of. the compart- 4 ment l3, upon the dividing wall l5 and adjacent the front wall I8, is denoted 3|, and a battery suitably and conveniently stably situated in the compartment M is represented 32.

A lead wire 33 extends from the battery 32 to the lamp 3|, a lead wire 34 extends from said lamp to the movable contact element 29, a connecting wire between said movable contact element29 and the movable contact element 21 is indicated 35, a connecting wire between the movable contact element 30 and the movable contact element 28 is represented 36, and a lead wire 31 extends from said movable contact element 28 to said battery.

A removable drawer 38, for paper, etc., is situated in the horizontal compartment 1 In Fig. 1 of the drawing, a writing implement, disclosed as a pencil A, is inserted in the device and the lamp 3| is extinguished. Upon withdrawal of the pencil, said lamp 3| will become lighted and remain lighted until the pencil is replaced. Light from the lamp, visible at the front of the transparent or translucent front wall l8, will be much more apt to call attention to the fact that a withdrawn pencil has not been replaced than would the pencil itself alone, especially when the lamp is lighted in a space otherwise dark, Stated differently, the lighted lamp will make it improbable that a user of the pencil will neglect to replace it. Of course, light furnished by the lamp can be employed to useful purposes, such, for example, as illuminating the dial of a telephone, pages of a directory, paper upon which a user may desire to write, etc.

Although the battery 32 is an especially convenient source of supply for accomplishing energization of the lamp 3|, it is to be understood that the circuit including said lamp could be supplied with electrical energy from a source in remote relation to the article retaining device.

Paper, etc., in the removable drawer 38 is conveniently accessibleat a location in front of a lower portion of the device which evidently will be illuminated when the lamp 3| is lighted.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the character described, a switch for removably supporting a switch operator including spaced apart, parallel supporting rods, a pair of parallel insulating blocks mounted upon said parallel rods in perpendicular relation thereto for relative rocking movement and movement toward and away from each other, contact elementssupported by said insulating blocks, respectively, including a set of contact elements disposed at the outer side of each of said parallel rods, the contact elements of either of which sets can be engaged to cause a circuit to be made.

and the contact elements of both of which sets are required to be disengaged to cause the circuit to be broken and resilient means actuable'upon withdrawal of the switch operator from said switch to cause said insulating blocks to be moved toward each other and contact elements of each of said sets to become engaged, said insulating blocks being adapted to be forcibly moved apart in response to insertion of said switch operator into a portion of theswitch between both the parallel rods and insulating blocks to cause said contact elements ofboth sets to become disengaged.

2. In a device of the character described, a switch for removably supporting a switch operator-including spaced apart; parallel supporting rods, a pair of insulating blocks mounted upon said insulating rods in perpendicular relation thereto for relative rocking movement and movement toward and away from each other, contact elements supported by said insulating blocks, respectively, including a set of contact elements disposed at the outer side of each of said parallel rods, the contact elements of either of which sets can be engaged to cause a circuit to be made and the contact elements of both of which sets are required to be disengaged to cause said circuit to be broken, a conductor between the contact elements upon each of said insulating blocks and resilient means upon said parallel rods engaged against base portions of exterior surfaces of the insulating blocks actuable upon withdrawal of the switch operator from said switch to cause said insulating blocks to move toward each other and the contact elements of each of said sets to become engaged, said insulating blocks being adapted to be forcibly moved apart in response to insertion of said switch operator into a portion of the switch between both the parallel rods and insulating blocks to cause the contact elements of both of said sets to become disengaged.

PAUL A. NELSON.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number