US348649A - Edwaed weston - Google Patents

Description

(N0 Mqdel.)

' E. WESTON.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING SYSTEM. No. 348,649. Patented Sept. 7, 1886.

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WITNESSES lA/VE/VIOR ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDIVARD \VESTON, OF NE\VARK, NEIV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNITED STATES ELECTRIC LIGHTING COMPANY, OF NEIV YORK, N..Y.

ELECTRIC-LIGHTING SYSTEM.

- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 348,649, dated September 7, 1886,

Serial No. 195.119. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD WEsToN, a subject of the Queenof Great Britain, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric- Lighting Systems, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of the same.

My invention is contained in and forms a part of the followingsystem: From a dynamoelectric machine provided with a current-regulator a circuit is run, which is divided up 1 into a number of branches or cross-circuits, in each of which are two or more incandescent lamps in series. Each lamp is provided with a cut-out, or a device which operates to close a short circuit around the lamp when for any reason the latter is extinguished. In each of the cross-circuits and at some convenient point, preferably near the generator, is a current indicator that shows any change in the current flowing through the circuit in which it is in- 2 eluded, or any change ofresistance therein, as-

suming a regulator to be used that tends to maintain a constant current. There is also in each branch circuit a variable resistance-- such as a plug rhecstat-,by which the resist- 0 ance of the circuit containing it may be raised when the indicator shows too much current flowing in it, or conversely. There is, further, an elec-tro-magnet in each branch circuit that acts upon an armature pivoted to vibrate be- 5 tween two adjustable contact-points. lVhen the armature comes into contact with either of these points, it closes a circuit through a second magnet, that trips or releases a re tarded or gradually-operating circuit-breaker in the branch circuit, the purpose of this being to gradually interrupt the branch circuit when the current becomes either abnormally high or abnormally low, the gradual interruption being effected by inserting a 4 5 resistance that increases up to a certain point before the actual break is made. By this means the regulator on the generator has time to act and compensate for the variation of resistance which the interruption of a branch circuit produces, so that the remaining branches '50 are not sensibly affected and the current is not abnormally or injuriously increased.

The means for gradually interrupting a branch circuit under the above-described conditions, in combination with the devices whose nature and function I have now described, form the subject of my present invention.

Referring to the drawing for a detailed description of the invention and the system to which the same is or may be applied, said 50 drawing being a diagram of the. system showing one of the branch circuits complete, A designate the generator; B, the main circuit, and C one of the branch or multiple circuits.

Of these circuits I have shown but one, as the 6 arrangement in all is alike. Another branch circuit is partially shown by the wires D D. The circuit G contains a given number of incandescent lamps, E E E, around each of which is a closed shunt," F, of high resistance, eon- 7O taining an electi'o'magnet, G. These magnets havepivoted armatures H, formed to serve as catches, that hold circuit-closing levers I, above which are contact-stops J, connected by wires K with the circuit C on one side of each lamp. A similar connection from the other side of the lamp is made by wires L, leading to the levers I. If a lamp goes out, the current that is directed through the cut-out magnet trips the lever I and closes a path of low so resistance around the lamp. This circuit is opened and the lever set by pushing up the bar M.

The generator is provided with a regulator, which is diagrammatically shown by the magnet N in the main circuit, which varies the resistance of the derived field-circuit of the generator by shifting the contact-lever P of a rheostat included in the field-circuit. This regulator operates to preserve a constant curo rent, which is divided among all the branch circuits in inverse proportion to their respective resistances. \Vhen a lamp is extinguished, therefore, the resistance is lowered, and that branch will receive too great a pro- 5 portion of current. This will be indicated by a suitable current-indicator,O,one of which is included in each branch. The proper equilibrium may then be reestablished by removing one or more of the plugs from a rheostat, R, in the branch circuit.

It is desirable to interrupt a branch circuit when the current therein is less than the normal, and particularly so when the current becomes too strong. I have therefore placed in each branch circuit an automatic circuitbreaker, and in order that the circuit may not be broken too suddenly I have so constructed these devices that they effect a gradualinterruption, so to speak, of the circuit.

This device consists of a magnet or helix, S, in the branch circuit, provided with a core, S, connected with which is a contact-lever, s, between two contact-stops, t t. An independent or a derived circuit, containing a magnet, T, is completed by the contact of lever 8 with either of the'stops t or t. \Vhen the magnet T is energized by the closing of this circuit, it sets in motion a device which inserts an increasing resistance in the branch circuit containing the lamps and magnet S, and then interrupts it entirely. By this gradual interruption of the circuit timeis afforded the regulator to reduce the current strength, so that none of the other branches are affected. Many forms of device may be utilized for this purpose. I have shown a sliding weight, V, that completes the circuit between a metal bar, V, and a row of contact-plates, WV, connected by resistancecoils in the usual manner, the sectional bar or series of plates forming an ordinary rheostat. The weight is held up by the armature of the magnetT when the latter is not energized. \Vhen the magnet becomes active, the weight is released,and, fall ing by gravity, it inserts an increasing resistance until it reaches the bottom or end of the series of plates\V, when it slides down onto one or twoinsulatingplatesX and interrupts the circuit.

It is evident in this case, if the current in any branch, as 0, becomes too strong, that the lever s will be brought into contact with the upper stop, 2!, by the movement of the core 1. In an electrical distributing system in V which the translating devices are included in series in cross or multiple circuits from the mains, the combination, with each cross-circuit, of means for adjusting its resistance and a device for automatically and gradually interrupting said circuit upon a given increase or decrease of the current passing therein, as set forth.

2. In an electric-lighting system in which the lamps are included in series in cross or multiple circuits from the mains, the combination, with each lamp, of an automatic cutout adapted to close a circuit oflow resistance around a lamp when the lamp is extinguished, an adjustable or variable resistance included in each cross or branch circuit, and a device operating to automatically and gradually in terrupt the branch circuit upon a given increase or decrease of the current passing therein, as set forth.

3. In an electric lighting system having branch or multiple circuits, the combination, in each branch,of'two or more lamps in series and cut-outs therefor, a current-indicator, a rheostat 0r adjustable resistance, and an automatic cireuit-breaker constructed and arranged in substantially the manner set forth to-gradually interrupt the branch circuit upon a given increase or decrease in the current strength, as set forth.

EDWARD \VESTON.

Witnesses:

HENRY A. BEOKMEYER, RICHARD WM. BLOEMEKE.

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