US300168A - Electric an-nunciator and circuit - Google Patents

Description

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T. N. VAIL.

ELECTRIC ANNUNGIATOR AND GIEGUIT.

Patented June 10, 1884.

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T. N; VAIL. BLEOTRIO ANNUNGIATOR AND CIRCUIT. No. 300,168. Patented June 10, 1884.

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TINTTE STATES PATENT Fries.

THEODORE N. VAIL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRIC AN'NUNClATOR AND CIRCUIT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 300,168, dated June 10, 1884.

Application filed January 30, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: r

Be it known that I, THEO. N. VAIL, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Electric Annunciators and Gircuits, of which the following is a specificacentral-office apparatus of a telephoneexchange; and the object of the said invention is to provide an annunciator or call-indicating device which, when actuated by the manipulation of an operator at a distant station to drop a tag or shutter and give the signal, is capable of being reset through the instrumentality of electricity, and to furnish,1noreover, a suitable and convenient arrangement of apparatus and circuit-closers, whereby the act of electrically resetting the said annunciator may be accomplished by a person at a distance therefrom, either automatically by the act of connecting anytwo lines together, or by an independent manual operation. By this invention I am, for example, enabled to place the signalingannunciators in a telephoneexchange so high as to be out of reach, and thereby greatly economize space, or I may accomplish what without my invention is unattainable-i. 0., place the annunciators in a part of the room distant from the switch-board operator, yet retaining them under his control.

For the attainment of these purposes my invention consists in the following devices and combinations: first, an annunciator capable. of responding to the changing electrical condition of a main circuit and of giving an absolute drop-signal, and furthermore provided with resting devices actuated by an electromagnet in a local circuit; second, the said annunciator, or an instrument substantially equivalent thereto, combined with a main circuit and alocal circuit, one of the said circuits including the signal-giving and the other the signal-setting Ina Jnet; third, thecon'venient arrangement of th, said signal-giving and resetting instrumentalities and the said main and local circuits with reference to a switch board for connecting any two main circuits together, and two suitable circuit-closers for.

nunciator for use as a clearing-out signal. Fig. 4 is a diagram of the switch-board connections of a single line and the electrical circuits for the annunciators, showing the automatic operation of the resetting device. Fig. 5 shows the main and local circuits complete and automatic and manual circuit -,closers therefor; Fig. 6 is a longitudinal'section of a connectingplug adapted for use in connection with the annunciator-circuit.

Referring now to Figs. '1 and 2, M is an .annunciator electromagnet, mounted upon a base, B, and provided with an armature, A, of the usual pattern, said armature being pivoted at f, and normally retracted from the cores 1) of the magnet by the spiral spring s.

By the pawl or hook detent h the drop signal or tag is held in place when the circuit is at rest and no electricity is passing therethrough. The said drop-signal turns freely upon its pivot 19, and when released by the pawl h falls by gravitation upon the stop B, as shown in Fig. 2. It is furnished with a lever-extension, L, projecting'rearward below the base of the actuatingmagnet. The electro-magnet is, as shown, connected in a main-line or sig naling circuit, l, extending from any desired point. An auxiliary electro-magnet, M, which may be, but is not necessarily, mounted on the same base B, is adapted by its terminal wires 0 c to be included in aseparate and independent circuit, and has an armature, A, furnished with a long extension, L, engaged with the heel or lever extension of the dropsignal D. The armature A of the auxiliary magnet is. pivoted at f, and the heel L of the drop-signal serves as alimiting-stop therefor.

IOO

. as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The auxiliarymag- When connected for operationthe electroniagnet M in the signaling-circuit and the electro-magnet Min the setting-eircuit-it is apparent that if an electric current of sufiicient strength he passed through the circuitwires Z, and consequently through the helices of the magnet M, the said magnet will become energized and attract the armature A to its core 2), releasing the drop D, which then falls onto the stop B. I

Prior to my invention it has been proposed to reset the drop-signal by means of an auxiliary magnet, In the apparatus devised for that purpose the drop has been placed at the end of a long pivoted lever upheld by a hook at the end of the armature of the first magnet. The armature of the auxiliary magnet is attached to the short arm of the lever, the long arm of which terminates in the tag or shutter. Such apparatus is heavy and not suificiently delicate to insure certainty of operation. The weight of the drop-lever upon the armature-hook resists the attraction of the magnet and necessitates a strong impulse to release it. The apparatus herein described islighter and easier to operate and reset. The elevation of the armature A,under the attractive influence of the cores 1), causes a sharp and powerful depression of the lever end L, and this, engaging with the heel or extension lever L, acts thereon and lifts the signal over the pawl h, thus resetting the drop and placing it in readiness for another call.

Fig. 3 shows the lines connected through a flexible conductor with two plug ends, the ends being inserted in the two line-circuits. In the drawings the line or main-circuit wire Z, after passing through the signaling-helices M, continues to the segmental plate 1 of the plug-socket E, from which it is continued through any other desired apparatus to earth,

nets M are in the circuit of a local battery, L B, from which one wire, 0, leads to the said electro-magnet, and another, 5, to the segmental plate 4 of the plug-socket. From the opposite plate, 3, a wire, 0, leads to the other side of the electro-magnet.

The plug which I preferably use is of the description shown in Fig. 6. The figure is a longitudinal section, and shows the construction. The shank and handle H may be of any suitable nonconducting substance, while a semicircular metal plate, d, electrically connected with the cord-conductor, is let into the upper part of the shank to make contact with the line-segment, and a small metal plate, m, is let into the small or lower end, the sole use of the latter being to make a temporary union between the local-circuit sectional plates 3 and 4 while the plug is being inserted, and thus to close the circuit for an instant, permitting it again to be opened as soon as the plug is fully entered into the socket. When a call is received and two lines are thereupon united by means of the plugs P and the connectingcord 0, the act of inserting each plug will, by

bridging momentarily the space between the plates 3 and 4 and closing the circuit, cause the electro-magnet M to actuate its armature and raise the drop-signah'; The original signaling-annunciator may then be used as a ring-off signal. These connections are all shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and I have introduced'them into Fig. 3 only to show that by my invention the original calling-annunciator may be,when reset automatically by the insertion of the connecting-plug, readily used as a disconnecting-annunciator also.

Fig. 4 shows my :annunciator and setting device worked in conjunction with a multiple switch-board, or one in which the same line has a plug-socket at several diiferent places. The main line Z, after passing through the annunciator-helix, continues to the segment 1 of the plug-socket E of the first switchboard, thence by spring-jack t to segment 2 of the same board, and by wire Z to the seg ments of the nextboard, and so on allthrough all of the switch-boards to the last, from which it passes to its earth-terminal G. From the local battery L B a wire, 5, is led branching by wires 6 to segment 4 of each plug-socket, at each of which the circuit is normally open. From the other pole of the battery a wire, 0, leads to the resetting electro-magnet M, and from the said magnet a return-wire, 0', leads, by branches 7, to the segment 3 of each of the plug-sockets of that line. The local circuit may be made operative by the insertion of the plug, as already described. It is not necessary to connect the battery L B to earth bywire w, as shown; but in practice this is done, as I am enabled thereby to use the same battery for other purposes and with earth re-' turn-circuits. I have shown in this figure the arrangement for but one main line; but it will be at once understood by those skilled in the art that many other main lines may be similarly connected, and that one local battery may serve an unlimited number of resetting-mag nets. fers only in degree from that shown in Fig. 4, and includes a manual circuit-closer and also the distant signaling device.

Although I have so far described this annunciator as operated in conjunction with tele phone systems, it is applicable to signalingeircuits of any character and length.

In Fig. 5, z is the signal-transmitting, and

The main X the signal-receiving, station. line Z, as hereinbefore described, after passing through the annunciator-helix M, passes on to the plug-socket segments, and then to the earth G; or, if the circuit is continuously metallic, the return is made, via wire Z, to the signaling-station Z. At Z the circuit is provided with appliances whereby the current from a suitable source of electricity may be directed over it to actuate the signal at X. In the drawing I show a battery, M B, and a key, 70. The batteryat one end is connected with the key-anvil Z, and atthe-other pole is either united to a ground-wire, G, or connected with The arrangement shown in Fig. 5 dif- IIO . ground wire.

the return-wirel. In either contingency its circuit is normally open, and may be closed onto the line by the depression of the key.

When the key is at rest, it presses upward against its back limiting-screw, and then holds the main circuit closed round the battery by wire 9, which branches from the return or In addition to the segmental plates 3 and 4, at which the local circuit at the receiving station is open, I provide a branch wire, 8, from the wire 0, which leads to the key-anvil a, and a similar branch, 10, leading from the battery-wire 6, and terminating in a key or press-button circuit-closer, K. By means of this key I am enabled to reset the annunciator if it be dropped a second time while the plug is in place.

Having now fully described my annunciator and its circuit arrangements, I claim- 1. An electric annunciator consisting, substantially as herei'nbefore described,of an electro-magnet for a signaling-circuit, an armature therefor,and a drop-signal with lever-extension controlled by said armature, the electromagnet being adapted, when energized, to attract the armature and release the drop-signal, with an auxiliary electro-magnet adapted for .inclusion in an independent circuit, an armature and lever therefor, said lever bearing upon and controlling the lever-extension of the drop-signal, whereby the said drop-signal may be replaced by the attractive power of the auxiliary magnet exerted through its armature and lever.

2. In a telephone'exchange system, the combination of two or more main lines, a switchboard, connecting devices for connecting any two lines together on said'switch-board, an

annunciator for each line, a localnormallyopen battery-circuit, and an auxiliary electromagnet therein adapted on the closing of its circuit to attract "its armature, and thereby reset said annunciator, said battery-circuit being connected with said switch-board,subst antially as described, whereby the act of connecting any two lines together by means of said connecting devices simultaneously closes said circuit, as set forth.

3. Ihe combination of the main lines, an-

nunciators, switch-board,. connecting devices,

such as switch-plugs, and resetting electromagnet in a normally-open circuit connected with said switch-board, whereby the insertion of the switch-plug in its socket to make a connection between two lines momentarily closes said circuit long enough to energize said magnet and reset the annunciator, substantially as described.

4. In a telephone switch-board, the combination of plug-sockets and connecting-plugs adapted to be inserted in the said s0ckets,with a local circuit normally open at each plugsocket, and including a battery and electromagnet, the said electro-magnet being attached ing the said local circuit, for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specificatiomin the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 17th day of January, 1884.

THEO. N. VAIL.

\Vitnesses Trros. D. LOOKWOOD, GEO. WILLIs PIERCE.

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