US2850382A - Amalgam contact material - Google Patents

Amalgam contact material Download PDF

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Publication number
US2850382A
US2850382A US478091A US47809154A US2850382A US 2850382 A US2850382 A US 2850382A US 478091 A US478091 A US 478091A US 47809154 A US47809154 A US 47809154A US 2850382 A US2850382 A US 2850382A
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
contact
amalgam
mercury
relay
amalgams
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
US478091A
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Martin J Kelly
Joseph E Wallace
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.)
International Business Machines Corp
Original Assignee
International Business Machines Corp
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
Priority to NL94553D priority Critical patent/NL94553C/xx
Application filed by International Business Machines Corp filed Critical International Business Machines Corp
Priority to US478091A priority patent/US2850382A/en
Priority to US477980A priority patent/US2901580A/en
Priority to FR1143246D priority patent/FR1143246A/fr
Priority to GB36775/55A priority patent/GB816397A/en
Priority to DEJ11070A priority patent/DE1092097B/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US2850382A publication Critical patent/US2850382A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
    • H01R13/00—Details of coupling devices of the kinds covered by groups H01R12/70 or H01R24/00 - H01R33/00
    • H01R13/66—Structural association with built-in electrical component
    • H01R13/70—Structural association with built-in electrical component with built-in switch
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22C—ALLOYS
    • C22C7/00—Alloys based on mercury
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H29/00—Switches having at least one liquid contact
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H29/00—Switches having at least one liquid contact
    • H01H29/02—Details
    • H01H29/04—Contacts; Containers for liquid contacts
    • H01H29/06—Liquid contacts characterised by the material thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H50/00—Details of electromagnetic relays
    • H01H50/54—Contact arrangements

Definitions

  • Claim. (Cl. 75169) invention resides in the provision of means adapted to use mercuric amalgams as a contact material in electrical circuit making devices.
  • Liquid mercury has long been used in prior art devices as an electrical contact material. Many investigations have shown that when mercury in its pure liquid state is sealed along with contact wires in an enclosed vessel containing an inert atmosphere, a highly eflicient circuit maker is produced.
  • a property of mercury is its power to form liquid metallic solutions, or amalgams. It is this peculiar property of mercury which is of particular interest for application as an electrical circuit contact for use in air.
  • a principal object of the invention resides in a novel means using mercuric amalgams as an electrical circuit contact.
  • An object of the invention resides in the provision of a novel electrical relay.
  • Another object of the invention resides in the provision of means enabling a relay to operate its contacts with a complete absence of bounce.
  • a relay contact formulated according to the traditional methods, generally re- 'sults in a relay that cannot be safely used in electronic circuits without the use of auxiliary electrical elements for filtering out spurious impulses created by contact bounce.
  • Still another object of the invention is to provide a Wide range of amalgams that may be used as contact materials and are eminently adapted for use in electronic circuitry.
  • Yet another object of the invention resides in the provision of means for establishing a plurality of contact types.
  • Still another object of the invention resides in the provision of an amalgam contact device which continuously forces impurities and contamination away from the contact surface.
  • a feature of the invention resides in the provision of physically stable amalgams.
  • Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of amalgams which will not wet, or adhere, to non-amalgamating metals, glass or plastics.
  • Still another feature of the invention resides in the provision of amalgams which inhibit oxidization at operating temperatures.
  • Fig. 1 shows the construction of a mercuric amalgam electrical circuit making element.
  • FIG. 2 shows a matrix switch constructed according to the invention.
  • Fig. 3 illustrates an electrical circuit for the matrix switch of Fig. 2.
  • Fig. 4 is a chart showing circuit connection combinations for the circuit of Fig. 3.
  • Fig. 5 illustrates the exterior form of a relay constructed according to the principles herein outlined.
  • Fig. 6 is a top view of the relay in partial section.
  • Fig. 7 is a side view of the relay in partial section.
  • a pair of holes 12 and 13 there may be drilled a pair of holes 12 and 13.
  • a third hole 14, smaller in diameter is drilled from another side of block 11 so as to intersect with holes 12 and 13.
  • Plunger 15 is provided with an annular collar 16 which may be formed from a conductive material which preferably should be capable of being wetted by the amalgam but, on the other hand, should not amalgamate therewith.
  • 'A mercuric amalgam 17 is now introduced into holes 12 and 13, and a pair of conductors 18 and 19, having the same properties as conductor 16, are submerged in the amalgam.
  • An external circuit may be connected to conductors 18 and 19.
  • a circuit is shown by battery 20 and a load 21.
  • T he amaZgams.--T he amalgam contact The contact maker which is hereinabove described is desired to operate in air so as to obviate the inconvenient necessity of enclosing the operating parts within a vacuum or Within an inert atmosphere. Metallic mercury is incapable of being used in such a contact maker design as it would contaminate and would leak out of the port 14 thereby rendering the device useless.
  • amalgam be physically stable and such stability is found to be enhanced by the use of noble metalsamong these, gold, silver and palladium are especially suitable.
  • Mercury-gold amalgams have been compounded and it has been noted that for electrical contact purposes the following percentages of gold (by weight) may be amalgamated with mercury to form suitable contact materials.
  • the percentages of gold as an mesh powder are: 5.5%, 9.3%, 11.5%, 13.3% and 17.3%.
  • the percentages of palladium as an 80 mesh powder are: 2.55%, 3.70%, 4.56% and 6.85%.
  • Mercury-silver amalgams have been compounded and it has been noted that for electrical contact purposes the following percentages of silver (by weight) may be amalgamated with mercury to form suitable contact materials.
  • the percentages of silver as precipitated flowers are: The percentage of silver as a 40 mesh powder is: 7.20%.
  • Complementary contact materials The movable-contact shown in Fig. -1 may be termed the complementary contact. As is the case with the amalgam contact, it has been observed that care must be exercised in its choice. Certain desirable precautions may be enumerated: i
  • the material should not form surface oxide'films when used with mercury in air, and
  • the material should preferably have a high melting point.
  • relays embodying the above described invention have been made and have operated successfully up'to some 340 million cycles of operation and that these relays have been operated by using very small amounts of energy, and when so operated do not exhibit bounce characteristics on either make or break of the contacts.
  • the amalgam contact offers many possibilities in units other than relays.
  • a matrix switch of any size may be constructed.
  • Fig. 3 illustrates a switch of 16. combinations.
  • Figs. 6 and 7 show two different sections of the relay illustrated in Fig. 5.
  • the novel relay has provision for switching four sets of transfer contacts and comprises an operating coil 22 for operating an armature 23.
  • the armature 23 is spring 26 hingedly mounted upon the relay from 24 by screw means 25.
  • Fixed to the top edge of armature 23 is slotted bar 27 adapted to support at one end thereof each of four operating members 15. As explained, in connected with Fig. 1, these operating members areslidably mounted in port holes drilled in a block, which in the instant case is a part of the relay frame 24. Also cut into the relay frame are twelve round basins 28, 29 and 30 adapted to contain amalgam 31. 7
  • relay coil 22 is energized by a source, not shown, through terminals 22A to elfect a movement of the armature 23 toward the left thereby moving operating members 15 carrying thereon annular complementary contacts 16, such that each complementary contact 16 will leave basins 30 and become partially immersed in the amalgam of basins 28, to thereby switch four separate circuits 29A from terminals 30A .to terminals 28A.
  • An electrically conducting fluid consisting of an amalgarn of mercury with silver and palladium of approximately the range of 7.20 to 14.33 percentum of silver and 0.1 percentum palladium to mercury by weight.

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Contacts (AREA)
US478091A 1954-12-28 1954-12-28 Amalgam contact material Expired - Lifetime US2850382A (en)

Priority Applications (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NL94553D NL94553C (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1954-12-28
US478091A US2850382A (en) 1954-12-28 1954-12-28 Amalgam contact material
US477980A US2901580A (en) 1954-12-28 1954-12-28 Electrical contact device
FR1143246D FR1143246A (fr) 1954-12-28 1955-12-13 Dispositif de contact par amalgame
GB36775/55A GB816397A (en) 1954-12-28 1955-12-22 Contact making device for use in electrical circuits
DEJ11070A DE1092097B (de) 1954-12-28 1955-12-23 Elektrische Schaltanordnung mit Fluessigkeitskontakten und stangenfoermigen, linear verschiebbaren Schaltelementen

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US478091A US2850382A (en) 1954-12-28 1954-12-28 Amalgam contact material

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US2850382A true US2850382A (en) 1958-09-02

Family

ID=23898477

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US478091A Expired - Lifetime US2850382A (en) 1954-12-28 1954-12-28 Amalgam contact material

Country Status (5)

Country Link
US (1) US2850382A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE1092097B (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FR (1) FR1143246A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB816397A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
NL (1) NL94553C (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3179826A (en) * 1961-09-14 1965-04-20 Trott Winfield James Piezolelectric assembly
US3310436A (en) * 1965-03-30 1967-03-21 Mallory & Co Inc P R Rechargeable cell and method of making a depolarizing electrode therefor
US4311769A (en) * 1979-02-21 1982-01-19 Andreev Oleg M Mercury contact

Families Citing this family (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3316618A (en) * 1963-12-09 1967-05-02 Rca Corp Method of making connection to stacked printed circuit boards
US3503034A (en) * 1967-06-07 1970-03-24 Appleton Electric Co Contact bridging connector utilizing electrically conductive fluid
US3710196A (en) * 1970-04-27 1973-01-09 T Fifield Circuit board and method of making circuit connections
SU714533A2 (ru) * 1977-09-06 1980-02-05 Московский Ордена Трудового Красного Знамени Инженерно-Физический Институт Переключающее устройство
FR2606551B1 (fr) * 1986-11-07 1989-03-10 Arnaud D Avitaya Francois Procede de formation de contacts ohmiques sur du silicium
DE4218560C2 (de) * 1992-06-05 1994-04-21 Gustav Hahn Schalteinrichtung
DE102007023608B3 (de) * 2007-05-21 2008-09-18 Siemens Ag Schaltgerät mit Schaltanordnungen mit Flüssigkeit als leitendem Medium

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2082362A (en) * 1935-06-17 1937-06-01 James L Stevens Method of producing finely divided metallic products

Family Cites Families (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE493350C (de) * 1930-03-06 Paul Rinkel Dipl Ing Schieberschalter
DE392096C (de) * 1920-12-14 1924-03-15 Louise Paraskovich Fluessige Leiter fuer elektrische Stroeme und Verfahren zur Herstellung solcher Leiter
DE698921C (de) * 1934-11-27 1940-11-19 Inhaber Jacob Preh Regelwiderstand oder Potentiometer
DE684355C (de) * 1937-07-08 1939-11-27 Walter Baertsch Elektrischer Schalter mit Quecksilberkontakten
DE701424C (de) * 1938-03-14 1941-01-16 Ass Ouvriers Instr Precision Quecksilberschalter
CH206374A (de) * 1938-12-30 1939-07-31 Baertsch Walter Quecksilberkontaktvorrichtung.
US2258427A (en) * 1939-04-21 1941-10-07 Gen Motors Corp Electrical apparatus

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2082362A (en) * 1935-06-17 1937-06-01 James L Stevens Method of producing finely divided metallic products

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3179826A (en) * 1961-09-14 1965-04-20 Trott Winfield James Piezolelectric assembly
US3310436A (en) * 1965-03-30 1967-03-21 Mallory & Co Inc P R Rechargeable cell and method of making a depolarizing electrode therefor
US4311769A (en) * 1979-02-21 1982-01-19 Andreev Oleg M Mercury contact

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR1143246A (fr) 1957-09-27
DE1092097B (de) 1960-11-03
GB816397A (en) 1959-07-15
DE1092097C2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1961-04-27
NL94553C (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

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