US2793273A - Electrical contact elements - Google Patents
Electrical contact elements Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US2793273A US2793273A US424352A US42435254A US2793273A US 2793273 A US2793273 A US 2793273A US 424352 A US424352 A US 424352A US 42435254 A US42435254 A US 42435254A US 2793273 A US2793273 A US 2793273A
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- contacts
- silver
- contact
- palladium
- electrical contact
- 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
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Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
- H01H1/00—Contacts
- H01H1/02—Contacts characterised by the material thereof
- H01H1/04—Co-operating contacts of different material
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
- Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10S428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
- Y10S428/922—Static electricity metal bleed-off metallic stock
- Y10S428/9265—Special properties
- Y10S428/929—Electrical contact feature
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
- Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
- Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
- Y10T428/12—All metal or with adjacent metals
- Y10T428/12493—Composite; i.e., plural, adjacent, spatially distinct metal components [e.g., layers, joint, etc.]
- Y10T428/12771—Transition metal-base component
- Y10T428/12861—Group VIII or IB metal-base component
- Y10T428/12875—Platinum group metal-base component
Definitions
- the present invention relates to electrical contact elements suitable for use in making and breaking electrical current and is concerned in particular with mated precious metal contacts.
- the invention deals with a contact assembly comprising at least a pair of cooperating precious metal contacts of which one contact element comprises essentially a palladium alloy containing from 90% to 99% palladium and from 1% to 10% ruthenium, and preferably 95.5%
- the other contact element comprises from to 99.5% silver and from 0.5% to 10% palladium, and preferably 97% silver with 3% palladium.
- the making and breaking of electrical current is accomplished by a pair of cooperating contacts, one of said contacts being a cathode and the other an anode, or one being a positive member and the other a negative member.
- the drawing shows, for example, positive member 1 secured to arm 2 and negative member 3 secured to arm 4, the positive member 1 is preferably composed of the palladiumruthenium alloy and the negative member is composed of the silver-palladium alloy. Otherwise, the contacts may be reversed.
- a contact assembly comprising at least a pair of cooperating electrical contact members of which the positive contact member consists of an alloy of from 90% to 99% palladium and 1% to 10% ruthenium, and the negative contact members consists of 90% to 99.5% silver and 0.5% to 10% palladium.
- a contact assembly comprising a pair of contact arms, a positive contact member on one of said arms and a negative contact member on the other of said arms, said contact members facing each other, said positive contact member consisting of an alloy of from 90% to 99% palladium and from 1% to 10% ruthenium, said negative contact member consisting of from 90% to 95.5% silver and 0.5% to 10% palladium.
Description
May 21, 1957 K. c. UNDERWOOD E.TAL 2,793,273
ELECTRICAL CONTACT ELEMENTS Filed April 20, 1954 IN VEN TORS KENNETH C. (IA/05R W000 AND BY/L/OBAATM L/OH/VSO/V A TTOE/VEY ELECTRICAL CONTACT ELEMENTS Kenneth C. Underwood, Glen Ridge, and Hobart M. Johnson, Plainfield, N. J., assignors to Baker & Co., Inc, Newark, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 20, 1954, Serial No. 424,352
4 Claims. (Cl. 200-166) The present invention relates to electrical contact elements suitable for use in making and breaking electrical current and is concerned in particular with mated precious metal contacts.
Electrical contacts of silver have found the widest general use, as silver has excellent electric current carrying capacity and is relatively cheap compared with other contact materials, such as platinum and the like. However, silver contacts, including fine silver contacts and silver alloy contacts suffer from the disadvantages of welding or sticking, coning and craten'ng as well as metal transfer from one contact to the other, and such disadvantages are magnified when heavy electric currents are employed, thus limiting the field of usefulness of such contact both with respect to the life and the number of possible uses and applications thereof. Attempts have, therefore, been made to improve silver and the like contacts, primarily by incorporation of other metals in one form or another, with a view to modifying the properties of such contacts and decreasing such shortcomings. Some notable success has been achieved in one direction or another but further improvements are desirable in order to expand the usefulness of electrical contacts especially in the field of circuit breakers and voltage regulators in order to increase the useful life of electrical contact elements.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the operation of precious metal contacts. It is another object of the invention to provide electrical contacts of precious metal having a longer useful life than has heretofore been associated with silver contacts. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an operating pair of precious metal contacts in particular association with each other which shall have, throughout their useful life, a high degree of reliability of operation, substantially free from welding or sticking deformation and metal transfer. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear in the description hereinafter following and the drawing forming a part hereof in which the figure illustrates a side view of a pair of cooperating electrical contacts according to the present invention.
The invention deals with a contact assembly comprising at least a pair of cooperating precious metal contacts of which one contact element comprises essentially a palladium alloy containing from 90% to 99% palladium and from 1% to 10% ruthenium, and preferably 95.5%
'nited States Patent palladium with 4.5 ruthenium. The other contact element comprises from to 99.5% silver and from 0.5% to 10% palladium, and preferably 97% silver with 3% palladium.
In operating arrangement wherein the making and breaking of electrical current is accomplished by a pair of cooperating contacts, one of said contacts being a cathode and the other an anode, or one being a positive member and the other a negative member. The drawing shows, for example, positive member 1 secured to arm 2 and negative member 3 secured to arm 4, the positive member 1 is preferably composed of the palladiumruthenium alloy and the negative member is composed of the silver-palladium alloy. Otherwise, the contacts may be reversed.
Comparative tests with conventional silver and silver alloy contacts and those of the alloys of the present invention were made on a conventional automotive voltage regulator operating with generator currents of 0.75 ampere to 1.4 amperes, and the conventional silver contacts failed because of sticking after continuous use at 432, 720, 672, 768, 792 and 1130 hours of use under the six indicated separate tests. In comparison, a pair of cooperating contact members according to this invention showed 1436, 1464, 1460 and 1560 hours of continuous use before sticking occurred.
Consequently, it is apparent that the particularly associated contacts of the present invention in a majority of instances were operative approximately twice as long as the conventional silver contacts.
What we claim is:
l. A contact assembly comprising at least a pair of cooperating electrical contact members of which the positive contact member consists of an alloy of from 90% to 99% palladium and 1% to 10% ruthenium, and the negative contact members consists of 90% to 99.5% silver and 0.5% to 10% palladium.
2. A contact assembly according to claim 1, wherein the positive contact member consists of 95.5% palladium with 4.5% ruthenium.
3. A contact assembly according to claim 1, wherein the negative contact member consists of 97% silver with 3% palladium.
4. A contact assembly comprising a pair of contact arms, a positive contact member on one of said arms and a negative contact member on the other of said arms, said contact members facing each other, said positive contact member consisting of an alloy of from 90% to 99% palladium and from 1% to 10% ruthenium, said negative contact member consisting of from 90% to 95.5% silver and 0.5% to 10% palladium.
References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,151,905 Emmert Mar. 28, 1939 2,207,292 Hensel et al. July 9, 1940 2,300,286 Gwyn Oct. 27, 1942 2,379,641 Keitel July 3, 1945 2,400,003 Hensel et a1. May 7, 1946
Claims (1)
1. A CONTACT ASSEMBLY COMPRISING AT LEAST A PAIR OF COOPERATING ELECTRICAL CONTACT MEMBERS OF WHICH THE POSITIVE CONTACT MEMBER CONSISTS OF AN ALLOY OF FROM 90% TO 99% PALLSDIUM AND 1% TO 10% RUTHENIUM, AND THE NEGATIVE CONTACT MEMBERS CONSISTS OF 90% TO 99.5% SILVER AND 0.5% TO 10% PALLADIUM.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US424352A US2793273A (en) | 1954-04-20 | 1954-04-20 | Electrical contact elements |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US424352A US2793273A (en) | 1954-04-20 | 1954-04-20 | Electrical contact elements |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US2793273A true US2793273A (en) | 1957-05-21 |
Family
ID=23682308
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US424352A Expired - Lifetime US2793273A (en) | 1954-04-20 | 1954-04-20 | Electrical contact elements |
Country Status (1)
Country | Link |
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US (1) | US2793273A (en) |
Cited By (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3086285A (en) * | 1957-11-05 | 1963-04-23 | Engelhard Ind Inc | Electrical contacts |
US3214558A (en) * | 1961-08-25 | 1965-10-26 | Siemens Ag | Contact arrangement exhibiting reduced material migration |
US3229357A (en) * | 1961-07-05 | 1966-01-18 | Schlatter Ag | Process and apparatus for manufacturing contact blades |
US3310718A (en) * | 1964-04-07 | 1967-03-21 | Nytronics Inc | Impedance element with alloy connector |
US3385799A (en) * | 1965-11-09 | 1968-05-28 | Du Pont | Metalizing compositions |
US4339644A (en) * | 1979-10-08 | 1982-07-13 | W. C. Heraeus Gmbh | Low-power electric contact |
Citations (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2151905A (en) * | 1937-09-29 | 1939-03-28 | Mallory & Co Inc P R | Electric contact combination |
US2207292A (en) * | 1939-04-25 | 1940-07-09 | Mallory & Co Inc P R | Electric contact and combination thereof |
US2300286A (en) * | 1941-05-08 | 1942-10-27 | Fansteel Metallurgical Corp | Electrical contact |
US2379641A (en) * | 1942-07-21 | 1945-07-03 | Baker & Co Inc | Electrical contact element |
US2400003A (en) * | 1943-04-16 | 1946-05-07 | Mallory & Co Inc P R | Electric contact |
-
1954
- 1954-04-20 US US424352A patent/US2793273A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Patent Citations (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2151905A (en) * | 1937-09-29 | 1939-03-28 | Mallory & Co Inc P R | Electric contact combination |
US2207292A (en) * | 1939-04-25 | 1940-07-09 | Mallory & Co Inc P R | Electric contact and combination thereof |
US2300286A (en) * | 1941-05-08 | 1942-10-27 | Fansteel Metallurgical Corp | Electrical contact |
US2379641A (en) * | 1942-07-21 | 1945-07-03 | Baker & Co Inc | Electrical contact element |
US2400003A (en) * | 1943-04-16 | 1946-05-07 | Mallory & Co Inc P R | Electric contact |
Cited By (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3086285A (en) * | 1957-11-05 | 1963-04-23 | Engelhard Ind Inc | Electrical contacts |
US3229357A (en) * | 1961-07-05 | 1966-01-18 | Schlatter Ag | Process and apparatus for manufacturing contact blades |
US3214558A (en) * | 1961-08-25 | 1965-10-26 | Siemens Ag | Contact arrangement exhibiting reduced material migration |
US3310718A (en) * | 1964-04-07 | 1967-03-21 | Nytronics Inc | Impedance element with alloy connector |
US3385799A (en) * | 1965-11-09 | 1968-05-28 | Du Pont | Metalizing compositions |
US4339644A (en) * | 1979-10-08 | 1982-07-13 | W. C. Heraeus Gmbh | Low-power electric contact |
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