US610406A

US610406A - Henry lyon

Info

Publication number: US610406A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1898-09-06
Anticipated expiration: 1915-09-06

Description

N0. 6|0,406. Patented Sept. 6, I898. H. LYON;

RESISTANCE AND CONTACT APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC CURRENTS.

(Application filed July 6, 1898.)

(No Model.)

WITNESSES! NVENTOR fimw 'a HENRY LYON W/ BY $4M H I S HTTORNEYS- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY LYON, OF GLASGOTV, SCOTLAND, ASSIGLTOR OF ONEIIALF TO THE D. STETVART & COMPANY, LIMITED, OF SAME PLACE.

RESISTANCE AND CONTACT APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC CURRENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 610,406, dated september 6, 1898. Application filed July 6,1898. Serial No. 685,279. (No modeLl To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY LYON, a subject of the Queen of Great Britainand Ireland, and a resident of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, Scotland, have invented certain Improvements in Resistance and Contact Apparatus for Electric Currents, (for which I have applied for British Patent No. 28,859, dated December 7, 1897,) of which the following is a specification.

My said invention comprises new and im proved arrangements of resistance and contact apparatus for electric currents which may be combined with various combinations of switch or plug apparatus for conjointly controlling a number of different conductors or leads. The arrangement forms compact and easily-manipulated apparatus for various purposes-as, for example, forcontrolling colored and uncolored lights for scenic effects in a theater.-

My improved arrangements are shown on an accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 being a plan, Fig. 2 a transverse vertical section, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal vertical section.

As shown in the drawings, there is a double row of jars A, of earthenware or other suitable material, arranged in pairs opposite each other. In the bottom of each jar A there is a conical metal cup B, connected through the bottom with an external metal conductor 0, which is connected to the conductor of the main electric supply. In each jarA there is a metal cone D, which is suspended by a nonconducting cord E, passing around an overhead pulley F on a shaft G and down to the cone D of the opposite jar A. Each pulley F has a tubular center H, which is formed with a projection J. This projection J has screwed into it a handle K, the end of which can be made to bear on the shaft G, so as to fix the pulley F in any desired position on the shaft. The shaft Gr may be turned by means of a worm and worm-wheel L or other gearing for moving the cones D of all the jars A simultaneously, while on unscrewing the handle K for any pulleyF that pulley can be moved independently of the others when desired. The cones D are each connected by flexible coils of wire M to terminals N on a board P,

placed aboye the jars A, and from which board brackets Q extend upward to carry the overhead shaft G.

To prevent confusion in the drawings, conductors R are shown as being led only from the terminals N of the four jars A at the lefthand side of Fig. 1 to four groups of switches or blocks S for contact-plugs, each group of which may be supposed to control three lights of diiferent colors, for example. It is to be understood that the other jars A may be similarly connected to other switches or plug blocks and that there may be only two or any number of pairs of jars.

IVater or other suitable feebly-conducting liquid, such as a solution of a salt of the same metal as that of which the cups B and cones D are made, is put in each jar A, so that its upper surface is at a suitable height above the cups. The liquid in the series of jars A may be made to have the same level in all of them or in any portion of them by means of pipes T, with stop-cocks U, connecting their bottoms, and in connection with such pipes T there may be fitted glass gage-tubes V to show the height of the liquid in the jars.

TVhen the cones D are all entirely above the liquid, as shown, all the circuits are broken. On turning the shaft G by the worm and worm-wheel L or on moving any one of the pulleys F by its actuating-handle K, all as hereinbefore described, so as to lower the cone or cones D on one side, the point of each cone being lowered first makes contact with the liquid, (without sparking,) and the resistance of the liquid gradually diminishes as the cone descends until it makes complete contact with its cup B. If any cone D is stopped short of its cup B, the electric current will experience resistance corresponding to the depth of liquid still between it and the cup.

By the hereinbefore-described arrangement of resistance and contact apparatus and combination of switches any desired combination of colored and uneolored lights for scenic effects in a theater may be easily and expeditiously effected.

A single pair of jars A, such as shown in Fig. 2, may be used in some cases for in effect switching a current from a main con" ductor O onto one or other of two other conductors. direction one cone D is raised and the other lowered, and as either cone descends or rises through the liquid the strength of the current passing is altered very gradually.

WVhat I claim as my invention is 1. 1n electric contact and resistance appa ratus, combining two jars partly filled with a resistance liquid, and having at the bottom metal cups connected to a main conductor, with two cones, one in each jar, suspended from opposite sides of a pulley the turning of which raises one cone and lowers the other, the cones being connected by wire coils to separate conductors, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. The combination comprising two or more pairs of jars, each jar being partly filled with a resistance liquid and having at the bottom a metal cup connected to a main conductor, also, a horizontal shaft extending above the As the pulley F is turned in either jars and along midway between the individual jars of the several pairs, the said shaft having on it pulleys, one for each pair of jars, also suspended from each side of each pulley a metalcone which by the turning of the pulley descends or rises in each jar, the cones being connected to separate conductors, also, a handle fitted to each pulley with means for fixing and loosening the pulley on the shaft, and also means for turning the shaft and thereby simultaneously turning all the pulleys on the shaft or as many as are fixed thereon, all substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY LYON.

Witn esses:

EDMUND HUNT, GEORGE PATTERSON.