US367931A

US367931A - runels

Info

Publication number: US367931A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1887-08-09
Anticipated expiration: 1904-08-09

Description

(No Model.)

C. RUNELS.

ELECTRIC GOUPLING.

Patented Aug. 9, 1887.`

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UNITED STATES 'PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES RUN ELS, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOROF TVO-THIRDS TO HENRY RUNELS AND GEORGE W1 RAND, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 367,931, dated August 9, 1887.

Application filedMarch 31, 1886. Serial No. 197,282. (No model.) n

T @ZZ wtom, it may concern: o v Be it known that I, CHARLEs RUNELs, a citiaen of the United States, residing at Lowell,in inthe county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Couplings,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric couplings or connectors especially adapted to connect sepio arable sections of conductors, in a closed cir-y cuit and to enable said sections to be connected and disconnected without breaking the circuit, the principal use of said couplings being to unite the electrical conductors employed upon railway-trains, to operate station-indicators, or to signal from one'car to another or to the engine, and from the engine to any One of the cars of the same train.

The coupling hereinafter described iscapa- 2o ble of connecting sectional conductors in open or closed circuits, and to unite the parts of sectional conductors of two or more circuits, some of which are closed and some of which are open.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations of a coupling construeted in accordance with myinvention, the coupling being represented in Fig. 2 as turned on its axis ninety degrees from the position it 3o occupies in Fig. l; Fig. 3, a vertical central section of the coupling entire on the line x .r in Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a central vertical section of o ne of the counterparts of the coupling on the line x x in Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a section on the line y y in Fig. 6; Fig. 6, a plan of that end of veither counterpart 0f the coupling which is in contact with the otherV counterpart of the coupling when said counterparts are coupled or united; Fig. 7, a plan of the locking-plate, 4o showing the inner face thereof; Fig. 8, afvertical section of said plate on the line y y in Fig. 7. I

The coupling C consists of two counterparts, ce', which are precisely alike in all respects, and the description of one applies to the other. The body B of each counterpart is of any suitable.insulating material, as vulcanite. Through the body B extends vone or more metallic strips, b b2 b3, (threebein g shown,) 5o these strips being insulated from each other, and the outer ends of said strips being each connectedwith a separate wire or electrical conductor, rw 102 w3. Each of the counter parts is provided with as many spring-plates d d2 d3 as there are strips b b2 b3, and these 55 spring-plates are insulated from each other and from said strips, and their outer ends are connected with conductors or wires v o2 c3, which, with the wires w 'L02 w3, form complete metallic circuits through said strips, spring 6o plates, and metallic pins e e2 e, each ot' which pins is in contact with one of said strips and projects toward one of said 4spring-plates, and is in contact therewith when the counterparts of the couplingare disun-ited..

The means of connecting the conductors w wz w3 to' the strips b b2 b3 and the ,conductors'v v2 c3 to the spring-plates d d? d3 is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, each conductor being provided near its end with a collar or shoulder, s" s si, and being tapered from said collar to its end, the tapering end of each conductor being iuserted in atapering opening in one of said strips bJ b3 or spring-plates d d2 (Z3, as the case maybe, and being retained therein by 75 the locking-plate P, (shown in Figs. 7 and 8,) said locking plate being of insulating material, as vulcanite, and having as many openings p as there are conductors, and these openings p being tapering and being pressed down over the shoulders on the conductors,"as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, by an internal flange, e, in the case E, crowding the tapering points of the conductors into their seats. The case E is preferably cylindrical, as shown,and is preferably metallic,and incloses and protects from injury'the insulating material,A strips, spring plates andlocking-plates, and,not necessarily, but for convenience,is provided with removable ends or caps e, these caps being screwthreaded internally at e5 to engage a coiresponding screwthread, e, on the outside of said case, the flanges above named being on the inside of the caps ef. This construction allows the locking-plates l? to be readily removcdand replaced, and enables a sufiicient pressure to be exerted on said plate P to force the points of the conductors into their seats in the conducting-strips and spiingplates, the wires and their insulating-covering fitting the roo orifices in the ends of the caps e so loosely as to allow the caps to be turned without tu rning or twisting said wires or their coverings. For

convenience, also, theloeking-plate P is made in three parts, p/ paps, as shown in Fig. 7, be-

ing twice divided through the centers of all the holes p on each side of the center of said plate l), to allow all or some of the conductingwires to be easily removed or inserted, one dividing-line, y y, passing through the holes p, which receive the conductors ww? in, and the other dividing-line, s s, passing through the holes which receive the conductors o el n,

rlhe inner ends of the counterparts of the coupling are halved together, as shown in Figs. l and 2, atc'l--that is to to say, the coupling is divided into two equal parts by two planes, cZ c, at right angles to its axis,and bya third plane, c", passing through said axis at right angles to said first-named planes. The inner ends or ends of the strips and springplates nearest the middle of the coupling are bent or beveled toward the axial dividingplane cl of the coupling, so that when the parts of the coupling are united, as shown in Figs. l, 2, and 3, the strips of each counterpart pass between the axis of the coupling and the free ends of the spring-plates, making an electrical contact between each strip of each counterpart and the corresponding springplate of the other counterpart, and making this contact before the strips of each counterpart force the spring-plates of the other counterpart out oi' contact with the pins which connect said strips and spring-plates in the same counterpart when the counterparts are disunited, as above described.

The counterparts of the coupling or couplings, where several are used to unite the sections of sectional conductors, should all be wired alike-that is, the spri iig-plates in every counterpart should be connected to the same pole oi' the battery (or batteries, if a battery is used on more than one section of the conductors) and the comlucting-strips to the other pole of the same.

The counterparts of the coupling are held together by a spring-latch, L, secured to each counterpart and hooking over a projection, Z, on the other counterpart, the spring-latches being guided by longitudinal ribs Z, arranged on the counterparts, respectively; and said counterparts may be readily drawn apart endwiseafter lifting the spring-latches L out of engagement with the projections Z.

For convenience of illustration, suppose that lines w e iorm a telephonie circuit, that lines zo o form, with suitable instruments, an electric-lighting circuit, that lines wie form a signal-circuit or station-indicating circuit, and that the coupling be used to unite sections of these circuits upon engines and cars of a railway-train. Il" a single car is used, the circuits will be completed through a counterpart of theeoupling at the rear of the train; but if two ears are used and the counterparts of the coupling (one counterpart being carried by one ear and the other by the other car) are united, as shown in the first three figures, the

lines will then be complete through the wires w 10210 in one direction and by the returnwires o/ egel-only one of the counterparts in any case being` used at the end of the train, the wires out and the return-wires being connected in this case through the strips, pins, and spring-plates of the same colmterpart, as above described.

lt will be seen that if the dividing-plane c1 be continued through the coupling, cach counterpart will consist of two unlike halves, and that each half oi' each counterpart will be precisely like one of thehalves ofthe other counterpart, and that the counterparts when coupled have their longitudinal axes in the same straight line, and that, when properly connected, as above described, they are capable of connecting like sectional conductors, and that when uneoupled cach counterpart is capable of automatically continuing the electric connection of each section of the conduetors.

By the use ofthe coupling above described several complete independent circuits, each containing its own generator, may be united so as to be worked simultaneously without interfering with the working of any of them.

I claim as my invention-- l. An electric coupling consisting of two like counterparts, each provided with one or more conducting-strips and with one or more conducting spring-plates, each strip of cach counterpart making connection with a corresponding spring-plate of the other counterpart when said counterparts are coupled, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The coupling herein described, consisting of two counterparts, each provided with a conducting-strip having its inner end bent or beveled toward the middle of the coupling and with a conducting spring-plate, said strip being provided with a conducting-pin or contact-point, against which said spring plate rests when said counterparts are disunited, said spring-plate being adapted to be forced out of contact with said contact-point by the bent or beveled inner end of the conductingstrip of the other of said counterparts upon the uniting of said counterparts, the strip of each counterpart making connection with the spring-plate olf the other counterpart, as and for the purpose specified..

3. the electrical coupling herein described, consisting of two counterparts, substantially as described, and each provided with one or more conducting-strips having thei r inner ends bent or beveled toward the middle ofthe coupling and insulated from each other and with a corresponding number of conducting springplates insulated from each other, each of said strips being provided with a conducting-pin or contact-point, against which one of said spring-plates rests when said counterparts are disunited, but otherwise insulated from said spring-plates, said spring-plates beingadapted to be forced out of contact with said contactpoints by the adjacent beveled inner ends of IOO the strips of the other counterpart on the uniting of said counterparts, as and for the pur-4 with holes to receive said conductors, a casev surrounding said spring-plates and conducting-strips and provided with an external screwthread, anda cap having an internal screwthread to engage the screw-thread on said oase to press said locking-plate against said collar and to crowd said ends of said conductors into the holes-in said spring-plates and strips, as and for the purpose specified.

5. The combination of the conducting strips and the conductors provided near their ends with collars, a locking-plate of insulating material provided with holes to receive said collars and conductors, the holes in'said lockingplate tapering away fromV theends of said oonductors and being smaller at their smaller ends than said collars, a case surrounding said strips and provided with an external screwthread, and a cap provided with an internal screwthread adapted to engage the screwthread on said case and to press said lockingplate toward said strips, thereby bringing said ends of said conductors in contact with said strips, as and for the purpose specified.

6. The combination of the conducting-strips and the conductors provided near their ends with collars, a locking-.plate of insulating material provided with tapering holes to receive said conductors and said collars, .and divided through the middle of said holes into sections, the case containing said strips and provided with an external screw-thread, and a cap pro- .vided with an internal screw-thread to engage said thread on said case and provided with an internal iiange adapted, when said cap is screwed upon said case, to press upon said locking-plate and to force the ends of said conductors against said strips, as and for the purpose specified.

CHARLES RUNELS.

Ti tnesses:

ALBERT M. MooRE, GERTRUDE M. DAY.