US438394A

US438394A - Thermal cut-out

Info

Publication number: US438394A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1890-10-14
Anticipated expiration: 1907-10-14

Description

`(No Model.) 2 Skeets-Sheet l.

W. R. WHITE. THERMAL CUT-OUT.

Patented Oct. 14, 1890.

No. 438,3-94. DW?

INVENTORI WITNESSES: WM

No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. R. WHITE. THERMAL CUT-OUT.

Patented Oct. 14, 1890.

lNvENTOR;

l WITN sags.- /wy W .Hflorney .UNITED STATE-js WLLIAM V'R4 WHITE, on

.llo'it known tlmtl, XVILLIAM citizen of the United States, residing at I Iart- Vvented .certzii-n- Iniprovamente in Atoina-tie CuteQuls for Grounded or Defective Lowfollowing is e specification. A i

; f My invention relates to that classA ofdevices e` designed to detect swelled groundings, in

conduetors carrying'high-tension eurente 'of electricity, sjuch as electric-lighting and-m01 tor cnrrents.".'

provide asilnplend eeetivedeviee whereby L w.11e n suchl groundingorf orosng oo enrsf-the Aell'ngh-tension current willfinstan'tlyeut out or breuk the telephone lor other low-'tension eirleuri-,and in' part, also'to'eonndv an larin si- '43,5 -enabled to; -repairthepircnitat once. rSuch ons.accidentsjo'ieiegraphwperatoxjs and line- 'inem aswell as to pergons rising the telephone,

y rnd the insular-ifm'. of' thehghltension con` doctors becomes impaired and worn away by In the drawii1gs, ]"igu'rc 1 is :l side elevar' tion of thev more approved formofiny device."

Fig. 2 is o. sido elevation, similar to Fig.' 1, 45 illustrating :inother embodiment of myin- "'veantion, which will be hereinafter described. Fig. 3 1s a plan of the device shown in Fig. 2.. side elevation', simil-lrto' Figs. 1

Y ,wg- -1 is a u, end 2, illustratinggzinother embodiment of '17, grrmy i,rlv'nltioii.-v

" f .A aSRnoI-lrcerronlfor'mmg pm @fu/enfermar no'. 438,394, me october 14,1890; 'Appiipitioineannmy 1o, raso.'4 einen 336.693. kunnen i f R." Wenen z -ford, Hertford county, Connecticut, have ini ensoz ElectricelCondlotorSof which the electric low-tension 'eircuits-SnchQas Atele, .Xiaoalgronnd-plate E,

crossing of .thecondnctore of "suclieireuits by- ,L iin1taneously,'s o tlmttllieI attendant. or oper-A Iator may beimmediately warned, and thus grounding orerogsing often gives rise tov seriehpeeially in lergoifciriee wher'e the various- 3o wires become netted'and massed together,A

' the cheng and snnyi'ngof the wi'reSi.` Many lseriousv accidents have been caused by thizsV Athe casing inelosing the device a PATENT Greece,

All of. these view s ,zn-e of.A nj Somevrhiit din- -graphie' character-.f v

In tliedrawirigis, lA endif ere,trio metallic posts or brackets, preferably mounted on' n base Z of wood and connected, res.pfsaetively,l with the lineeondnctore @and bolt` n' lowtension eircl1it,snclias a telephone or tele- ."grnph cireuit, the vconductor n., iii-the cese of atelephone-circnit, lendingfthrongh i ein Qlatotloeated ot'he'ins'trnment,.indicated by and -the eondnctor (l leadingto the street-line end onto `the central,

lvlll'e'ie it also 'terminztes in a ground-plete l,

the earth ,between lhese. plates E forming the return-eondnctorin the riginal manner.'-

' post A is pivoted e lever C;'prefernbly-couneeted Lhereto'bye. coiled copper Wire c in lthe nature of a spring, which Serveslto'provide *a positive' electrical connection'between post A und llever C/,eliunt- 'ing Athe vcurrent around the joint or pivot, VWhere it might otherwise be broken.

l,Between thefree end f the lever C and the head of the postB is stretched e fine strip er wire D of" copper or other easily-fusible metal, secured at its ends liv means of screws d d, set, respeetively, in the free end of lever C andthe head of post B.`

In lorder to assure the breaking of the eircuit imniediately'on the'crossing of the line- 'condnctor by an electric-light or other hightenslon conductor, and'1 to break the arc formed between the terminals C and i3 at the instant'. the circuit is broken, and to prevent spnrking'betweensaid terminals, l mennL in pivoted purtition or shutter E of some snit-fable non-conducting material, as glass,-poreelain, dsc., prei "erably equal in Width and height to these nelosingfcase, said shut- 9o dimensions of -the ter being so arranged that its free end beers on' the conductor D, und in ense this' condoctor shouldfsoflen under elle .llnenee ef thehigh-tenslion current and noi-"ee :zei-nelly brokenhy fusion the weight of Lheshulter E bearing thereon will serve to break it, thus opening 'theLbireuit Lover @being now rc Ileased', falls'by'xits Aweight, and the shutter,`

fulleessuming the vertieal now unsupported,

posit-ion seen in dottedlines in Fig. l,`thne 'of shutter E', as before described. The conductor being thus broken and the terminals of the circuit insulated from one another, no current can pass through the line, and hence there can be rio-shock received by a person at the telephcneor other instrument, and in case the device is'within a loop or short circuit of a high-tension by a low-tension conductor the lineman repairing the circuit cannot receive a. shock, as the short circuit will be' broken at once.

In order that the subscriber or attendant may be warned immediately of the break in the circuit, I prefer to provide an audible signal of any kind, that the fault may be' detected and the circuit repaired, and in the accompanyingdrawings I have shown two of these audible signais-e-namely, that of Fig. 1,

adapted foradevice to be mounted within the' casing of a telcphone-instrument at the subscribers end, and thedevice of Fig. 2, adapted for a central telephonelstation or large telegraph-line station.

In Fig. l I have shownagong I, of any suitable kind, mounted on the base Z under the end of thc pivoted lever C, whereby when the conductor Dvis-broken the said lever C, falling on the gong, willsound tbc same and warn the subscriber. In Fig. 2 I have shown an arrangement in all respects similargto that shown in Fig. l but varying slightly in the f orm of some of the parts.. For instance, in the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 the pivoted shutter E of thc device of Fig. 1 is replaced by a stationary or non-falling shutter E, fixed to the base- Z and provided with apertures e' for the passage of the conductor D. This shutter performs the samer-function as the pivoted shutter of Fig. 1, eicept that it exerts' no strain on' the conductor D. However, this pressure of'the shutter on the conductoris not ot great Aimportance, as a very moderateincrease in tension of 'the passing current will suice to fuse the line wire that will be usually ,employed.' The shutter E of Fig. 2 prevents sparking'between 'the terminals of the broken circuit, inasmuch as the aperture e is very small and does not permit of -the-passage of a current f air suicient to admit of-such sparking.

In Fig. 2 I have shown an arrangement wherein an electric bell I is substituted for .the mechanical gongI. (Shown in Fig. 1.) In thisview the. lever C is provided with a serica of teeth or serrations c' on its under side, fwhich when the lever falls, wire D bcing severed, engage with a. series of serrations g on a contact-piece G, arranged dir( Jtly un der said lever. From the'v contact-p ece G a -wire f leads to the coil of an electro'magnet F. In one of the arms of this magnet at F is pivoted an armature-lever l-I, bearing an armature Il. A small leaf-spring h, secured to the magnet,'hold s' the armature raised just above the other arm or polcF2 of 'nagnet F.

On the upper face of the armatnrelever H :is a small pin or conej of insulating: material, which, when the armature is upheld by the spring h,`presses apart two spring fingers l-Z which latter form the terminals of an electric bell-circuit,als0includingageneratorm. Now when lever C falls to the positionscen in dotted lines in Fig. 2 the current will dow from wire a through-post A, lever C, contact-piece G, wiref, andcoil o f magnet F to wire z', leading to the ground or to the other terminal of geuerator X. The passage of this current through the coil of magnet F will draw down the arma turc H', thus withdrawing the insulating finger or pin j from between the spring arms or lfingers l Z,. which immediately close together, ,thuscompletingthe bell-circuit of which they are' terminals. l throwing it back the bell-circuit By lifting the lever lH and may be. broken and the bell stopped.

In Fig. 3,which is a plan of-th'e device shown in Fig. 2, I have shown thearrangcment preferred for use in a central telephonestation or largetelegraplrstation, where many lines of conductors center. This consists of a seriesof levers C, mounted inp'osts A and provided with conductors D, stretched to posts B, each Set 0f parts bcinginsulated from the others. Each lever and set of posts, corresponds to'a circuit, and are in the same,'s-othat the fusing or breaking of the alternated'conductor Din either circuit breaks thatpartic- .ular circuit, as will be readily understood' from the preceding description. In. this arrangement; however, only' one contact-piece G is employed, so that when either of the levers C falls the circuit through the coils o f the magnet F will be made and" the bell sounded. This will warn the attendant of the defect, and by looking over the several levers C he will be able to determine just what :i rcuit is open a'nd to make repairs at once. ,In

' this construction but one shutter or partiti in E.is used, which is in the nature of a long' strip provided with apertures e-one for eac4 h conductor D-and secured tothe base Z botween the lever C-and post B.

In Fig. 4 I have shown yet another arrange ment of the bell-circuit,which I will now describe. In this arrangement the construction is the same as that seen in Fig. 2, except that the contact-piece G, the magnet F, and the connecting-wires are dispensed with-,and the insulating finger or pin j is mounted directly on the lever C, and when tho lever falls is ivithdmwu from between the spring-arms l l in the same manner as the pin on the armaturc-lover II in tho arrangement shown in IOC ros

Fig. 2. The arrangement is the same, except that the electro-magnet and its circuit are omitted.

It will be observed that in all these constructions the lever C is held extended by the mechanical tensionv of the attenuated ccnductor D, and tlie strain imposed by this conductor is resisted insome degree by the coiled wire c. Hence the forces tending to rupture the conductor D when it is weakened by the heat generated are the spring c, weight of lever C, and( the auxiliary weight of the shutter E when employed. Itmay happen in some eases that the heat generated in the conductor D by the high-tension current will not suice to actually fuse it instantly, in which case it will still be too much weakened to resist the forces tending to rupture it.

It will be obvious that my invention may be considerablyl modified without materially departing from the principles involved, and I do not wish to belimited to the precise constructions and arrangements shown for accomplishing the results specified. Nor do I wish to limit myself to theuse of au audible signal, as it is obvious that the devicefwill be perfectly operative without such an element; but I prefer to employ such Ya signal.

Having thus described my invention, I claim vv l. In a eutfout for electric circuits, the combination, with the terminals of a low-tension circuit, of an attenuated fusible conductor completing the circuit between said terminais and a shutter of non-conducting material sustained by said fusible conductor, whereby when the latter is weakened by heat said shutter tends to insure its rupture and to insulate the circuibterminal's from one another, substantially as set forth.

2. In a cut-out for electriecxrcuits, the combination,with the posts Aand B, formingthe terminals of a low-tension circuit, of a lever pivotally attached to one of said posts, an at.

tenuated fusible conductor extending from 45 the free end of said lever to the other post, whereby the lever is upheld and a pivoted shutter of non-conducting material above said conductor, the free end of same supported by said conductor, substantially as set 5o forth.

3. In a cutout for electric circuits, the combinatiou,l with the terminals of the line-condoctors of a low-tension circuit, of the pivoted lever C in said circuit, the attenuated 55 fusible conductor D, completing the circuit between the lever C and one of said terminals, and an audible signal sounded by the fall of said lever, substantially as set forth.

4. In a cut-out for electric circuits, thc com- 6o bination, with the terminal posts of a low-teusion circuit, the lever C, pivotally attached toone of said posts, and the attenuated fusible conductor D, extending from the free end of said lever to the other` terminal post, of the 6 5 contactpiece G, arranged under said lever C, an electric circuit including a generator and an electro-magnet F, of which circuit lever C and contact-piece G form the terminals, the

armature and armature-lever of said magnet 7o provided with a pin of insulating material, and the electric belland its circuit including a generator, the terminals of the bell-circuit l being normally separated by said pin and adapted to contact upon its withdrawal, sub- 7 5 stantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

VILLIAM R. lVllI'lE.

iVitnesscs:

CLARKsoN N. FowLER, PHILIP SMYTH.