US658792A - Circuit making and breaking device. - Google Patents

Description

No. 658,792. Patented Oct. 2, I900. P. M. LINCOLN.

CIRCUIT MAKING AND BREAKING DEVICE.

(Application filed Oct. 19, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 658,792. Patented Oct. 2, I900; P. M. LINCOLN.

CIRCUIT MAKING ANDv BREAKING DEVICE.

(Application filed Oct. 19, 1898.)

(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL M. LINCOLN, OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEYV YORK.

CIRCUIT MAKING AND BREAKING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 658,792, dated October 2, 1900.

" Application filed October 19, 1898. Serial. No. 694,022. \No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PAUL M. LINCOLN,a citizen of the United States, residing in Niagara Falls, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Circuit Making and Breaking Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for making and breaking electrical circuits; and it has for its object to provide an inexpensive and efficient device which shall operate to automatically make and break an electrical circuit at approximately regular intervals of time.

I My invention is designed for such auto matic and regular operation as will insure an opencircuit condition during intervals of time the length of which will be predetermined and a closed-circuit condition of only su'liicient duration to enable the circuit-opening force to act. It will be understood, however, that the circuit may be kept closed during periods of greater or less length by means of suitable looking or retarding devices, if desired.

My invention was primarily designed for use in connection with electromagnets employed for effecting longitudinal reciprocating movements of armature shafts of electrical machines in order to insure uniformity of wear of the commutator cylinder and brushes, and for convenience it will be illustrated and described in such relations. I desire it to be understood, however, that the invention is of more general application, and, in fact, that it is not limited to use with any specific machines or apparatus.

It will be obvious to any one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains that the device will be operative and useful in any electric circuit the opening and closing of which antomaticallyat predetermined intervals is an object to be desired.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view showing the circuit making and breaking device in front elevation and a rotary transformerin side elevation connected thereto. Figv 2 is a view, partially in side eleva tion and partially in longitudinal section, of the circuit making and breaking device shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a modified form of circuit makingand breaking device, a portion intermediate the ends being broken away. Fig. 4 is a view, partiallyin side elevation and partially in longitudinal section, of the device shown in Fig. 3, a portion of the same intermediate its ends being broken away.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, 1 is a base plate or slab of suitable non-conducting material provided with a pair of binding-posts 2 and 3 and with suitable wiring either concealed in the body of the base-plate or located at its back, such wiring being indicated by broken lines. Mounted upon the front of the base-plate 1 in suitable supporting standards or brackets 4. is a solenoid 5, the core 6 of which is provided with a downwardly-project-ing rod or stem '7. The rod or stem 7 is provided near its lower end with a perforated piston S and at its extreme end with a head 9. A plate 10 is mounted upon the stem to slide freely thereon between the piston and the head 9. The piston S is located in an open-top cylinder 11, which is rigidly mounted in suitable brackets or standards 12 on the base-plate 1. This cylinder 11 will preferably be partially filled with a suitable liquid in order that it may cooperate with the piston 8 to serve as a dashpot in a well-known manner. Provision for a limited flow of liquid from the space below to the space above the piston 8 when the piston is descending and the piston-perforations are covered by the plate 10 is made by means of a passage 13, a movable sleeve 14E being also provided in order to regulate the amount of such flow by partially covering the outlet of passage 13, if desired. I make no claim to novelty in the dash-pot construction, it being illustrated and described as merely indicative of any suitable known form of movementretarding device. One terminal of the solenoid 5 is connected to the binding-post 3, and the other terminal is connected to the standard 15, having a pivot-pin 16, on which is mounted an arm 17. One end of this arm 17 is provided with a socket 18, in which is located a carbon pencil 19, the length of the arm being such that when in its horizontal position, as indicatedin Fig. l, the lower end of the pencil will be in contact with a similar carbon pencil 20, held in a stationary socket 21, the latter being electrically connected to binding-post 2. The other end of the arm 17, extending in the opposite direction from the pivoted pin 16, is screw-threaded and provided with a thumb-nut 22 to serve as an adjustable counterbalance. Directly over the pivot-pin 16 the arm 17 is provided with a weight 23, that serves when the arm is in the position shown in Fig. 1 to hold it in that position provided that no force other than gravity is exerted upon the arm to turn it upon its pivot. This weight 23 serves also to hold the arm 17 in its dotted-line position against the stop 23 and tends to move the arm to that position when it has been raised sufficiently to carry the weight over the dead-center. "he arm 17 is provided between the weight 23 and the carbon pencil 18 with a suitable opening through which projects the stem 7, the latter being provided with two adjustable collars 24; and 25, one of which is above and the other below the arm. These collars serve, respectively, to enthe upper and lower sides of the arm and so move it as to open and close the circuit. 7 I

is kept open and closed may obviously be adjusted by suitably adjusting the collars longitudinally on the stem. The rotary transformer 26, which is shown merely to indicate one practical use for the circuit making and breaking device,is so constructed thatits shaft 27, on which are mounted the armature, commutator-cylinder, and contact-rings, is free to move longitudinally sufiiciently to insure contact of the brushes with all portions of the cooperating rotary elements longitudinally,so as to equalize the wear thereon. In order to insure this longitudinal reciprocatory movement, an electroinagnet 28 is mounted on the frame adjacent to one end of the shaft, one terminal of the coil 29 of which is connected to the positive brushes, the other terminal being connected to the binding-post 2 of the circuit making and breaking device, and the other binding-post 3 being connected to the negative brushes of the transformer. Assuming that the several parts are in the positions indicated in the drawings and that the rotary transformer 26 is in operation a current will be sent through the magnet-coil 29 to the binding-post 2 through the carbon contact- pencils 20 and 19, the arm 17, its pivot-pin 16 and standard 15, the solenoid 5, and binding-post 3, back to the negative brushes. This current will energize the solenoid, which will in turn instantly raise its core until the collar 25 strikes the arm 17 and moves the pencil 19 away from pencil 20. Since the dash-pot piston 8 is perforated and the plate 10 is free to slide on the stem, the resistance of the dash-pot to the lifting of the solenoid-core is very slight. The action of the electroinagnet 28 will be obviously such as to exert a sudden pull upon the shaft of the rotary transformer, this action ceasing the instant the circuit is opened. As soon as the pull ceases ne time-intervals during which the circuit the shaft will recede in the opposite d i reciion, and a longitudinal movement back and forth will therefore result. Since this reciprocatory movement gradually grows less, it would cease altogether if a force were not again exerted to pull the shaft in the one direction or in the other. This force will be exerted at the proper time by reason of the fact that the solenoid-core will begin to descend by the action of gravity as soon as the circuit is opened, this movement being slow on account of the action of the dash-pot. As the core descends the collar 24 comes into engagement with the arm 17 and moves it and its carbon pencil downward until the latter comes again into engagement with the stationary pencil, when the action above described will be repeated.

As has already been indicated, the length of time during which the circuit remains open may be regulated by a proper adjustment of the sleeve 1% on the stem 7, so as to cover or uncover to a greater or less extent the upper end of passage 13.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 1-, the baseplate 1, liinding-posts 2 and 3, and the wiring are substantially the same as in the construction already described. In this form, however, the bindingpost 3 is connected to a cup or tube 30, filled or partially filled with morcury, into which projects a stem 31, provided with a collar or enlargement 32. This stem 31 projects through a suitable opening in the lever 17 and is provided at its upper end with a head 33 of magnetizable material. A stem 34: projects upward from the solenoid-core 6 and is rigidly fastened to the cylinder 14 of a dash-pot, which cylinder is of conducting material and obviously moves with the core of the solenoid. The construction of the dashpot piston 8 and its stem 7 may be the same as already described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2, except that they are stationary. The sleeve 13 for varying the degree of movement retardation may be the same in structure and mode of operation as the sleeve 13. Mounted upon the base-plate 1, adjacent to the dash-pot, is a cup or tube 35, of suitable conducting material and filled or partially filled with mercury, a terminal rod or strip 36 being mechanically and electrically connected to the dash-pot cylinder let and projecting at one end into the mercury in the tube. The operation of this form of the device is as follows: Assuming that the parts are in the positions indicated in the drawings, current will pass from the source (not shown) to the binding-post 2, thence to and through the stationary contact-terminal 20, the movable terminal 19, the arm 17, pivot-pin 16, and standard 15, the solenoid 5, the mercury cup ortube 35, the rod or strip 36, the dash-pot cylinder 14, the stem 34-, and solenoid-core 6, the head 33, stem 31, mercury and cup 30, to binding-post 3 and out. The solenoid-core being raised by the action of the coil will carry with it the stem 31, by reason of the fact that the head 33 is magnetized until the collar or enlargement 32 strikes the arm 17 and tilts it on its pivot 16, so as to separate the carbon pencils 19 and 20. As soon as this separation takes place the core 6 will be demagnetized to a sufficient extent to drop the head 33 into the position shown in the drawings, and the arm 17 will also assume the position shown in the drawings. The circuit will not be closed, however, since the counterbalance is not adjusted to hold the arm in open position until the solenoid-core has moved downward sufficiently to again come into engagement with the head 33 on the stem 31, this downward movement obviously being slow by reason of the action of the dash-pot.

While the construction just described is not as simple as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it eflfects the same result and in substantially the same way, except that the circuit is closed by the engagement of the lower end of the solenoid-core with the top of the head 33 of stem 31, instead of being closed by means of the circuit-interrupting carbon-pencils.

While I have shown and described specific apparatus for practicing my invention, I desire it to be understood that the number, form, and relative location of parts may be varied to suit the ideas of the designer or manufacturer without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence I do not desire or intend to limit my claims in this or other particulars any further than may be necessary by reason of the state of the art. It will also be understood that an electromagnet having a stationary core and a movable armature may be used in lieu of the solenoid and movable core shown and that the device supplied with interrupted current may be in shunt instead of in series with the source of current and the circuitbreaking coil.

I claim as my invention- J p 1. In a circuit opening and closing device for electric circuits, the combination with a stationary terminal, of a cooperating movable terminal, a solenoid and a core therefor, a rod or stem provided with tripping projections on opposite sides of said movable terminal and movable with said core, and means for retarding the outward or downward move ment of said rod orstem.

2. In acircuit opening and closing device, the combination with a stationary carbon terminal, of a pivoted, normally-horizontal arm having 'a cooperating carbon terminal and means for holding said arm normally in either open or closed position, a solenoid, a core for said solenoid having a stem provided with two projections for respectively moving the pivoted arm to its open and to its closed position, and a dash-pot having one of its members connected to said stem whereby the circuit-closing movement of the core and stem is retarded.

3. In a circuit opening and closing device, the combination with a stationary terminal, of a horizontal, pivoted arm having a cooperating terminal at one end and a weight at or near the other end, a magnet-coil, a movable core or armature actuated by said coil when energized, a rod or stem having projections adapted to engage said arm, and means connected to the rod or stem for retarding its movement in one direction.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this l3th day of October, 1898.

PAUL M. LINCOLN.

Witnesses:

JASON A. JOHNSON, JAMES L. LAFFERTY.

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