US379501A

US379501A - irving kinney

Info

Publication number: US379501A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1888-03-13
Anticipated expiration: 1905-03-13

Description

l w m m w (No ModeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

I. W. BRANN & G. I. KINNEY. SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT AND' MOTOR CIRCUITS.

Patented Mar. 13

,(No'ModeL),

2 Sheet sSheet 2. P. W. BRANN: & G. I. KINNEY. SWITCH FOR BLEOTR IG LIGHT AND MOTOR CIRCUITS. No. 379,501.

v Patented Mar. 13

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I jWdmM L- I I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK W. BRANN AND G. IRVING KINNEY, OF SA1\ FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC-LIGHT AND MOTOR CIRCUITS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,501Idated March 13, 1888.

Application filed November 14, 1 887. Serial No. 255,172. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FREDERICK W. BRANN and G. IRVING KINNEY, citizens of the United States, residing in the city and county ofv San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Switches for Electric-Light and Motor Circuits; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of our said invention, reference being had to the drawings that accompany and form a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in switches for electriclight and motor circuits; and it consists in a certain novel construction of switch-lever, contact-springs, and circuitclosers, and in an improved case or box with binding-posts, conductors, and contactsprings, as hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

The following description explains the nature of our said improvements and the mannor in which we have constructed, combined, and applied the same in carrying out our invention, the accompanying drawings being referred to by figures and letters.

Figure 1 is a front View of our improved switch set up for operation and adapted to control a motor and an electric-light supply-circuit, or a day and a night line, in a single-service circuit. Fig. 2 is a top view of the box. Fig. 3 is a section taken through the line a: m, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a front view of the switch with the lever set to throw the night-lineinto circuit. Fig. 5 is a similar view with the lever set to the opposite side. Figs. 6 and 6 show a novel construction of slot-cover. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the switch-lever, contactsprings, and circuit-closer arranged for a single-point switch. Fig. 8 is a side view of the switch-lever, partly in section. Fig. 9 is a top view of the lever. Fig. 10 is a back or end view of the switch-lever and contact-points with the circuit-closer raised. Fig. 11 is a top view of the circuit-closer.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawlngs.

A is the case or box, with a lid, A that is either fastened down by screws or may. be hinged and-furnished with a lock.

B l3 are binding-posts fixed in the sides or rim of the box,with electric connection on the inside with conducting-tapes E F. The wires W WV fastened in these posts, are those of The binding-posts are insulated by setting the plates H,of insulating fiber,under the posts and fitting tubular bushings I into the holes in the rim of the box around the screws 1). In this improved switchbox the wires of the service-circuit and the line or lines to be controlled are perfectly connected and readily disconnected, and the complete insulation of the box is insured, as the connections are all on the outside. By this construction it is impossible to open a circuit within the box.

The switch-lever R moves in an are on the center stud, a, fixed in the back of the box, and has the handle It", extending through the slot A in the front. The slide R is fixed on the handle inside the box to cover the slot. It moves with the lever-handle and keeps the slot closed to exclude dust and other matter when the box may be set in exposed situations.

Figs. 6, 6" illustrate a construction of sliding cover applied on the outside for the same purpose and attached to the handle to be moved with it. The plate It, forming this cover, swings on the center screw, 1", to either side,as the handle is moved,and covers the slot in all positions of the lever, except when the switch is thrown off. This position shown in Fig. 6) leaves the slot open, and the interior of the switch-box can be inspected at such time. The plate has a forked piece, T to straddle and slide on the center screw, and an aperture r for the handle.

The lever B has two conductors, S S insulated from each other by being fixed, one, S,

U to engage with the machine.

on and along the top or upper face of the lever from the pivot end to the head B and the other, S upon the back or under side of the lever in the same manner. These conductingstrips are carried over the ends of the segment head It, as shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, but have no electric connection with each other. At the pivot end of the lever the conductor S is connected with the terminal of the conducting strip E by being set directly against it, and in all movements and positions of the lever this connection is complete and constant. The two surfaces are in close contact and kept bright by rubbing against each other. The bottom conductor, S in the same manner connects with the other terminal, F.

T is a circuit-closer, consisting of the arm T carrying the are T on the end and fixed to the tail It of the switch-lever. The are is of suitable length to connect the two conducting-strips E F and make a short circuit between them when the lever is set on the center, or midway between the two switchpoints, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. In this position the service-circuit is cut off; but in either of the other two positions the arc is brought in electric contact with one conducting-strip, E or F, but not with the other, as the inner end of the are will then clear the other conductor. The circuit is also closed through the lever when it stands on the center by the fixed circuit-closer T, composed of a curved strip fixed on the bottom of the box for the head of the lever to ride on, and of suitable length to bridge the space between the two conducting-surfaces S and S on the under side of the head RE This circuitcloser connects the two conductors S and S only as the lever stands on the center.

L M are the contact-springs forming the terminals of the positive conducting-strip G and the negative conducting-strip G i They are set at such distance apart that the end Y of the head R shall rest in contact with the spring L, and the other end, Y in the spring M, when the lever is thrown over to connect the service-circuit and the line to be used. In the other position of the lever the circuit of the line W W" is closed by the cir' cuit-closer K. This closer is a spring connected at one end to the conducting-strip G, but free at the other end to be thrown up from contact with the point M provided on the other conductor, G, the spring being of suitable length to bridge the space between the two conductors.

The switclrlever is caused to raise the circuit-closer when making the switch, and to hold it out of working contact as long as the circuit is established through the switchlever, by forming an incline, a, on the block R on which the handle is fixed, and having a curved lip, 7t, on the side of the spring K The form and arrangement of these parts are such that the incline strikes under the lip and raises the spring, which rides upon the incline when the switch-lever is thrown into the point; but in the contrary movement as the lever is drawn away the incline allows the spring to fall back into position and close the circuit between the two terminals of the line.

It will be noticed that both this last-described circuit-closer and that of the main or service circuit, either in being broken or in being brought into play, are so arranged and operated that they are not thrown out oi action until the circuit is established through the switch-lever, and in like manner in the contrary movement of the lever they are made to close the circuit before the lever is withdrawn from the switch-points, so that the cireuit in the branch line, and in the service-circuit as well, is never broken.

The construction of switch -boX given in Figs. 1 to 6 in the drawings is intended to control two lines that are supplied from one service-circuitsuch as a day-line-to operate motors, or where a light is to be supplied in the day-line and a line to be connected 1n the night-time, or when the other line is not to be used.

The arrangement of the parts shown in Figs. 7 and 9 will serve for a single-point switch.

An additional number of points can be controlled by duplicating the switch-lever and arranging the two levers and the required number of points in the one box, each switchlever having its handle projecting through the front of the box in its own slot.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A switch-box for electric circuits, consisting of a suitable box or case having insulated binding-posts on the outside for connecting the wires of the main or service circuit and of the branch or line to be controlled, a switchlever connected by conductors, as E F, 011 the inside with the binding-posts of one set of wires, and contact-points, as L M, connected with the other set of binding-posts by conductors, as G G*, substantially as hereinbefore described.

2. In a switch-box for electric circuits, a

switch-lever having separated conductors, as

S and 8*, in combination with conductors, as E F, a circuit-closer, T, switch-points, as L M, that are the terminals of a service'circuit, or a circuit to be supplied, and a circuit-closer, as K, at such points, which is adapted to engage with and be held up by the lever when the end thereof is set to the points, substantially as herein described.

3. The combination of the switchpoints L M, a circuit-closer, K, the conducting-strips E F, and the switch-lever It, having conducting-surfaces S S*, in electric connection with the conducting-strips, the head R at which said conductors S S terminate, a circuit closer, T, at the tail end, and the block with an incline which is adapted to engage with and throw up the circuit-closing spring.

S 8*, which are electrically insulated from each 4. In a switch for electric circuits, the combination of the two conductors E F and the swinging switch-lever R,having conducting-surfaces the lever, and conductors, as G G having contact-points, as L M, substantially as described.

'6. The combination, with the box having a 20 curved slot, and the handle R playing in said slot, of the oscillating slot-cover consisting of the plate formed of two segments, as described, having the forked piece T to engage the guidescrew T and the aperture r for the handle, 25 as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing we have hereunto set our hands and seals.

FREDERICK w. BRANN. Ls c. IRVING KINNEY. L s.]

Witnesses:

CHAS. E. KELLY, O. W. M. SMITH.