US663750A - Electric contact or current-taking device. - Google Patents

Description

No. 663,750. Patented Dec. Il, |900.

E. GREIL & E. AUDIGER.

ELECTRIC CONTACT 0R CURRENT TAKING DEVICE.

(Application filed Jan. 1o, 1900. (nu Model.) 2 sheets-sheet No. 663,750. A Patented Deuil, |900. E. GRE-IL &. E. AUDiGEH.

ELECTRIC'GONTACT 0R CURRENT TAKING DEVICE.

(Application led Jan. 10, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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. vices in accordance with our invention.

ERNEST GREII. AND EMILE UDIGER, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR'S TO THE ELECTRIC LIGHTING BOARDS, LIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.v

ELECTRIC CONTACT OR CURRENT-TAKING EViC.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters latent No. 663,750, dated December il, IQO. v

ances, and more especially those intended foi" illuminating purposes.

` If we consider, for example, the case of appliances of the form of candlesticks or candelabra placed upona table, it has hitherto been necessary with the means usually employed for taking the electric current to conduct to the foot of the appliancea small cable,

. which is frequently the cause of much inconvenience, as it encumbers the piece of furni- -ture upon which the appliance rests and renders this latter liable to be upset. Our invention serves to obviate this defect. In accordance therewith we connect the electric conductor not with the illuminating device, but'with the piece of furniture itself, and we adapt in one or more positions upon such piece of furniture contacts or current-taking de- We will now describe the said current-taking device, which possesses the advantage or' not presenting either a projection or a cavity when arranged in position.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents in cross-section and in plan a porl tion of a table upon which is mounted the lixed part of our device. Fig. 2 shows in section and in external elevation the intermediate movable part, which is arranged between the said fixed part and a third piece which forms part of the illuminating device. Eig. l represents the third part in plan and in section. Fig. 4 shows in section the whole ofthe various parts when the appliance is arranged in an operative condition. Fig. 5 represents a table arranged in accordance with our invention having adjacent conducting masses in parallel strips or bands. Fig. G represents a table with superposed conducting masses. Fig. 7 shows in section a current-taking de- Application led January 10, 1900. Serial No. 979. (No model.)

viceintended to be employed with superposed conducting masses.

The lined part, Fig. l, rigidly attached to the table or other piece of furniture, consists of a block a of insulating material-=such as wood ebbnite, or the like-in which are embedded two conducting pieces or masses b 19,' constituted, in the manner of the brushes ein-- ployed in electrical apparatus, by means of a large number of metallic wires arranged in juxtaposition. This block is embedded in the piece of furniturein such a manner as to .be flush with the upper surface thereof, as

are also the masses or conducting pieces b b; These latter are connected by their lower porvtions at c o with the electric conductors by means of flexible wires. The piece thus constituted is and remains embedded in the piece of furniture and may be concealed by acloth or cover placed upon this latter. In the two masses or brushes Z1' b two' points d cl, which are rigidly connected with a small cylinder e, of insulating material, are adapted to enter. One of these points is in metallic connection with a strip of nietalf, arranged at the bottom of a cavity g,'formed in the base of the cylinder opposite to that in which the points are situated. The other point communicates with a band of metal h, arranged upon the cylindrical surface of the block. When this cylinder is placed upon the block o, the said points d d being engaged in the brushes, it projects from the table, and it is upon it that the base of the appliance is engaged. In this base is fitted the part which forms the third piece `of our device above referred to. This latter is formed of a blocks', comprising a recess supplied with a metallic partitionj and in which the cylinder e may be maintained by friction. At the bottom of this recess` is provided a projecting metallic part c, one portion of which, l, is adapted to enter within the other and is acted upon by a spring. The metal partitionj` is in coinmunication by means of a conductor with one jecting metallic part it is connected with the other pole. y

When it is desired to render the apparatus operative', the cylinder e is placed upon the of the poles of the lamp, Whilethe said profixed part d, the points d d being engaged in the metallic masses bb. Then upon this cylinder is engaged the foot of the apparatus provided with the part t', in whose recess the cylinder-is adapted to enter, as already explained.

The current passes fron* the masses b b to the points d d, and from these latter itpasses, on the one hand, to the partition j along a hand h and, on the other hand, to the projecting metallic part 7c by way of the metallic partf and then proceeds to the lamp through the conductors of the apparatus. This method entirely obviates the necessity for the presence of cond noting-wires upon Vthe furniture, and to all appearance the illuminating appliance is merely placed thereon. Of course several such'devices may be provided upon the same piece of furniture for the purpose of enabling several appliances to be arranged upon it or of enabling` the position of the said appliances to be changed.

XVe would point out that we do not in any way confine ourselves to the device described. For example, We may make the masses b b of v arious shapes. Thus, for instance, they may consist of two parallel bands of a certain length, of two concentric circles,"&.c.,

thus enabling the appliance to he arrangedupon any point in the length of the bands or concentric circles. It should be remarked that in certain cases the points d d may'form part of the lamp-base itself.

A table arranged in such a manner as to permit of a lamp or the like being placed upon any point of the same has formed in its surface grooves, within which are lodged metallic cubes b or ,elsebands of conducting metal, as above stated. Upon the surface of the table thus provided are arranged a sheet of asbestos 'm and a sheet of india-rubber n. The connections with the cables or bands b are eected in any suitable manner. It will of course be understood that at the extremities of the table the section of the conduct-- ingbands are covered with an insulatingsheet. We are thus able to arrange the conducting masses J b in the form of superposed bands or sheets separated by an insulatinglayer 0, Fig. 6. In this case the points d d would be of unequal lengths, and the longer point should be covered. by an insulatingsheath p at that portion of it which is in the thickness of the first conducting-sheet. This arrangement vmay be applied to partitions, floors, or the like, and covers may be made which may merely be placed upon the table if it is desired that this latter should remain intact.

We would point out that the points d d might be` adapted directly to the base of the I vincandescent lamp which itisdesired to place tablishment of luminous letters or signs, cspecially for advertising purposes. We also reserve the rightl to constitute the metallic masses intended for the reception of the points in various manners, enabling electrical communication with the points and their penetration. They may consist of metallic wires, thin metal sheets', lead shot, sheet-tin, plumbago, &c. The points need not necessarily belxed to a separate part e, but maybe adapted directly to the appliance. In certain cases this would constitute a simplification of the device.

In certain circumstances theinvention may be simplified by mounting the lamp directly upon a socket which is rigidly connected with a suitable part. This extremely simple arrangement may be useful in cert-ain applica-A tions of ourinvention where decorative effect is not an object. 4

Vhat we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

v 1. The combination of a plurality of electric parallel conducting-bands laid in the grooyes of a table or other support and connected alternately to the positive and negative poles of an electric generator, an insulating-block, a pair of conducting projections` mounted on separated portions of saidblock,`

a socket-piece in the base of a translating device adapted to receive said block and contacts on said socket-piece adapted to engage said plates and connected tothe conductors leading to said translating device.

3. The combination with a plurality of electric contacts connected respectively with the positive and negative poles of an electric generator, and mounted in a table or other suitable support, of an insulating-block having conducting projections thereon adapted to 'penetrate said contacts, contact-plates, one embracing saidV block and the other seated in a recess in the upper end thereof, a socketpiecel in the base of a translating device adapted to receive said block, an annular contact on said socket-piece connected with one of the conductors leading to said translating device and adapted to engage `the contact-plate embracing said block, and a yieldingly-mountedcontact on said socket-piece connected with the other conductor leading to said vtranslating device and adapted to en- IIO gage the contact-plate seated in the recess in said block.

tric contacts connected respectively with the positive and negative poles of an electric generator, mounted one above the other in a table or other support and separated by a layer 5 of insulating material, -and a layer-of easilypenetrable 'insulating material on the top of said table or support above said contacts, of

a circuit-closing device having projections thereon terminating at dierent levels, and xo adapted to .be inserted through said layer of penetrable insulating materiaLto respectively engage said contacts, and insulating material on one of said projections, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof We have signed our r5 names to this specication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNEST GREIL. EMILE AUDIGrER.l Witnesses:

GUsTAvE DUMONT, EDWARD P. MAGLEAN.

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