US2896045A

US2896045A - Relay with clamp-contact assembly

Info

Publication number: US2896045A
Application number: US695326A
Authority: US
Inventors: Brunicardi Daniel
Original assignee: American Nat Bank; Trust Company Of Chicago
Current assignee: American National Bank Nebraska
Priority date: 1957-11-08
Filing date: 1957-11-08
Publication date: 1959-07-21
Anticipated expiration: 1976-07-21

Description

July 21, 1959 D. ABRUucARl-.n 2,896,045

RELAY WITH CLAMP-CONTACT ASSEMBLY Filed Nov. e, 1957 United States Patent O RELAY WITH CLAMP-CONTACT ASSEMBLY Daniel Brunicardi, Wood Dale, Ill., assigner to Raymond T. Moloney, Chicago, lll.;A American National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, executor of said Raymond T. Moloney, deceased Application November 8, 1957, Serial No. 695,326

1 Claim. (Cl. 200-87) This invention relates to electromagnetic relays and particularly to the provision of means for mounting movable contacts on the armature for expeditious and economical manufacture.

In its more detailed aspects, the novel contact mounting means or assembly comprises a stack of insulating wafers between which the contacts are gripped, together with a spring clamp of certain shape adapted to straddle the stack and clamp the same against the top face of an armature plate, with certain interlocking formations on the clamp and armature coacting to effect a secure assembly capable of withstanding a considerable amount of abuse.

It is a further object to provide an armature-borne contact assembly means of simple and economical character making possible quick detachment of the movable contact members for replacement or rearrangement.

Additional objects and aspects of utility and novelty relate to details of the construction and operation of the device described hereinafter in view of the annexed drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a relay embodying the new armature-borne contact assembly;

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective of the armature contact assembly;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the nelay of Fig. 1 with parts shown in elevation;

Fig. 4 is a cross section through the contact assembly looking along lines 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. l shows a form of relay to which the contact assembly is suitably adapted, the same consisting of a frame stamping having a forward lug 11 to which is riveted at 12 an insulating panel 13 having atixed thereto certain stationary contacts 14.

On the opposite side of the frame (see also Fig. 3) is an upstanding wall 15 slotted on its top edge to seat a rockable armature plate 16.

Armature 16 is slotted as at 17 to receive the hooked nose 18A of a spring retaining clip 18 riveted as at 19 on said wall; and a traction spring 20 is hooked at one end around the rim of said slot, and at the opposite end, onto a lug 18B of the spring clip, whereby the armature is raised to its normal position of rest above the core plug 22 (Fig. 3) of the electromagnetic coil or bobbin 23 seated on the bight of the frame piece.

Referring mainly to Fig. 3, the clip-mounted, armature-borne contact assembly consists of a desired number of elongated spring-contact blades 30 of the shape shown in Fig. 2, pierced with mounting holes 31 at a xed end, and tted with suitable contact points 32 at their free ends.

The pierced ends of the contact blades are disposed between pairs of insulating wafers 34 having bosses 35 on one face and matching recesses 36 on their opposite faces, all adapted to register with the punches 31, such that when the blades 30 and wafers 34 are assembled in 2,896,045 Patented July 21, 1959 ICC a stack, as in Figs. l and 3, the bosses 35 tit into blade holes 31 and into the complementary recesses 36 so that the blades and stack of wafers form an interlocked set.

As seen in Fig. 2, the armature 16 is also provided with sets of boss-receiving recesses 16X, by means of which the contact stack or assembly is registered in position on the top face of the armature itself.

Means for securing the contact stack or assembly on the top of the armature comprises a U-shaped clamp strap 40 of spring metal, such as Phosphor bronze, having a depressed face 41 constituting a pressure face located in the middle of the bight of the strap. The free end of each side arm of the strap is turned back to provide a hook 42, the ends of these hooks respectively iitting into an undercut or depression 16X (Fig. 4) on the underside of the armature plate.

It will be apparent that the entire switch stack can be assembled with, or removed from, the armature at any time in the manufacture of the relay or subsequently, and that manufacturing costs in general can be reduced for relays of the class described by having the movable contact assembly seated and removably interlocked on the top face of the armature in counter balance with the loading spring and the retaining latch spring means 18 of the armature.

In the stack it is preferable that the uppermost plate 34X be of metal to afford a firm pressure surface.

The stack type switch assembly comprising at spring blades xed at one end in a stack of thin, insulating wafers is a well-known construction, and some types of relay (eg. telephone relays) have been known to employ clamps to secure stationary contacts in operative position on a frame.

The present disclosures provide a simple relay of the type in lwhich some of the contacts are carried on the top face of a plate type armature in a relation of counterbalance to a normal spring by a simple means which, except for the addition of the interlocking formations, requires little departure from conventional switch stack constructions and methods; and no critical change in armature construction beyond providing interlock means for the contacts on one face of the plate, and for the removable clamp strap on the opposite face of the armature plate, all without interference with the otherwise normal disposition and operation of the armature.

In this manner there has been provided a cheap relay suited to expeditious production and having a feature of easily removable or changeable contacts which, save for the simple exceptions noted above, do not depart objectionably from conventional stack switch practices.

I claim:

In a relay of the type having a at armature plate mounted on a fulcrum near one end thereof to rock in a sense normal to the magnetic axis through a pole of an electromagnet disposed at one side of said plate; a removable contact assembly borne by said armatune and comprising at least one elongated contact member carried at one end between at least two insulating plates which are seated on said armature plate at that particular side of said fulcrum which is toward said magnetic axis so that the weight of said contact assembly acts in a direction to rock said armature toward said electromagnet pole; spring means acting on said armature plate at an opposite side of said fulcrum from said particular side to rock the armature to a normal position oppositely from the effort of the weight of said contact assembly; and means for removably securing said contact assembly on the armature and comprising a U-shaped flat spring strap straddling said insulating plates with the respective ends of the opposite side arms of said strap turned back to form wide hooks and passing around the side margins of said armature plate and locking respectively by spring action in elongated slots formed on the underside of said armature plate respectively adjacent said margins thereof, said slots having a length and Width substan- 5 tially the same as the Width and thickness of the ends of said hooks to intert closely With the latter and prevent shifting movement of the strap relative to the armature, together with cooperating boss and protuberance means on the arrnature and insulating plates to further 10 prevent shifting of the latter.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Livingston Mar. 24, 1942 Obszarny June 3, 1947 Wilson May 24, 1949 Jorgensen Oct. 16, 1951 Harrison Aug. 26, 1952 Bogue et al Feb. 21, 1956 Peek July 23, 1957 Sauer Mar. 4, 1958