US697007A

US697007A - Controlling arc-lamps.

Info

Publication number: US697007A
Authority: US
Inventors: Eustace Oxley
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1900-08-25
Filing date: 1900-08-25
Publication date: 1902-04-08
Anticipated expiration: 1919-04-08

Description

No. 697,007. Patented Apr. 8, I902.

E. OXLEY.

CONTROLLING ARC LAMPS.

(Application filed Aug. 25, 1900.)

(No Model.)

t-ll Witnesses Inventor.

Eustace 0x165,

: for an unlimited service.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EUST'AOE OXIJEY, OF BROOKLYN, NEWV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CONTROLLING ARC-LAMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent- N 0. 697,007, dated April 8, 1902.

Application filed August 25,1900. Serial No. 28,006. (No model.)

To (all whom it play concern:

Be it known that I, EUSTACE OXLEY, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Brooklyn, in the State of 5 New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Controlling Arc-Lamps, (Case No. 1,223,) of which the following is a specification.

In lighting by arc-lamps it is frequently d e- IO sirable to operate some of the arc-lamps in the distribution-circuit for determinate periods only, and in cases where such a use is practicable the consumer desires a charge rate less than that made by the supply company For example, a merchant may desire the use of certain arclamps in his store or other place of business only for a few hours in the evening, or sometimes constant-potential lamps are supplied from a low-tension mixed distribution system for street-lighting, and it is necessary to burn the arc-lamps only at certain hours, and in such systems it is sometimes greatly to the advantage of the supply company to furnish current for arc-lamps of this type, since they may burn at a time when there is a dip in the load curve, and the eiiiciency of the system may therefore be increased. Methods have been proposed for controlling the operation of arc-lamps for such purposes. In some extra conductors are employed to cut in and out the lamps at specified times; but a serious objection to this is the additional conductor or conductors required,increasing both the expense of installation and the liability of the system to get out of order. Others employ eight-day clocks to govern the lampswitches. This is also expensive and liable to be uncertain. I have provided an organination by which the same results may be accomplished without the employment of extra conductors and which will permit the control of the lamps from the central station or other desired point in the system. I effect this resuit by electromagnetically controlling the lamps over a circuit formed of the supplywires themselves, the operation of a controlling device at the central station or other point of control being all that is needed to insure the kindling or extinguishment of the lamps. In a three-wire distributing system the result may conveniently be effected by providing a switch at the central station by which one of the potential-wires may be grounded, a grounded electromaguet at the point where the lamps are employed being thereby put into circuit and acting to out in the lamp. In a two-wire system the organization would be exactly the same.

The invention also embodies various fea- 6o tures, the novelty of which will be hereinafter pointed out and which will be definitely indicated in theappended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate diagrammatically a system embodying my improvements, Figure 1 shows the application to a three-wire low-potential direct-current system, and Fig. 2 to a two-wire system, such as that employed in the operation of electric railways where the return'circuit is insu- 7o lated.

1, 2, and 3 in Fig. 1 represent the three wires of a direct-current-supply system, which may be employed to operate the usual mixed types of translating devices supplied with energy from such circuits. These maybe motors, incande'scent electric lamps, inclosed-arc lamps, and other types of electric apparatus.

t represents a constant-potential arc-lamp, the circuit of which may be controlled by a switch actuated by an electromagnet 5, connected in a ground branch 6, leading from one of the wires, say, to the neutral wire 2 of the distributing system. The switch may be of any satisfactory construction, but should be organized so that with continuous operation the circuit may at any time be opened and closed with certainty by the operation of the controlling-switch at the central station.

I have shown in the drawings a revolving type of switch, in which a drum or disk is provided at equal circumferential positions with strips of insulation embedded in its rim, the contact-spring 7 being set so as to bear upon the periphery. The axis upon which the disk is 5 mounted carries a fixed ratchet-wheel 8,which is engaged by a pawl carried by the lever on which the armature of the electromagnet 5 is mounted. A spring or other retractile agent and a set-screw or back-stop, as indicated in Fig. 1, are provided to limit the movement of the armature. In conductive relation to the metallic'disk'is an'elastic contact 9, bearing on its shaft a contact which connects with one terminal of the lamp. Theother' terminal of the lamp and the brush 7 lead to'two mains of different potential, as2 and At the cen tral station I provide a switch 10, the pivot of which is gronnd'ed,as by the Wire 11,and which may be brought into engagement with the contact 12, connecting with one of the potential wires of the system. Thus when, the switch is closed oneof the wires, as 3, isgrounded,

permitting current to flow throughthe ground 6 at the several translating devices which are a may be apportioned on the sides of the threewire circuit shown in Fig. 1 in such a way as to balance theload between the two generators, a similar grounding-switch being pro-' vided for the other main. After closing the I switch 10, and thus effecting the cutting in of the lamp, it should be opened again, so as to disconnect the ground, and when the time arrives for cutting out the lamp the operator at the central station may again close the switch, thereby giving the switch-disk that controls the lamp another forward impulse, causing the brush .to come into engagement with one of theinsulating-spots, and thereby cutting out the lamp. j Thus it will be seen that repeated control of the lamps may'be effected without interfering with the proper action of the switch. Itis not imperative, however, that a switch of the particular type shown should be employed, since the only essential requirement is that the electromagnet 5 may be energized and then after performing work be denergized without cutting out the lamp, to the end that the lamp may operate for a desired period and that when the electromagnet is subsequently energized it may rupture the lamp-circuit.

To the end that the operator at the central station may know the condition of adjustment of the translating devices he is controlling, I provide at the central station an indicator showing when they are operating. A

convenient way of controlling the indicator is by the-employment of a switch similar in construction to that employed in controlling .the translating devices, an indicator being included in place of the translating device such, for example, as an incandescent lamp. 14 represents such an indicator, and 15 a 'itmore than once.

switch-disk for controlling it in a manner similarto that already described at the consumers' station. When the switch is closed,

it'will be seen that the electro'magnet 5 is put between the potential-wire 3 andtheneu- ,tral wire, th us operating its armature and shifting the switch-disk simultaneously with the switch-disk at the 'consumers station, the

lamp 14 being thereby cut in betweenthe mains 2 and 3 an'dburnin'g until the switch 10 is again'closed. Thus the indicator 14 mistakes-on the part of theoperator in forgetting to operate the switch or in operating My improvements are equally applicable to serves to prevent'poor service bypreventing I two-wire distribution-circuits, sinceit willbe perfectly evid'ent from anexaminat'ion of Fig. 1 that theomission of the wire 1 will in no sense alter the method of control.

In power-circuits, such as are employed for operating electric railways, and particularly where the return-circuit is insulated, it may also be applied. Such an organization is shown in Fig. 2, where a railway-circuit,such as a five-hundred-volt .underrunning trolley system, is illustrated. In such circuits it is common to employa group of arc-lamps connected in series, five commonly being inserted across the circuit, as [indicated at 16. The mode of control is exactly the same as that described in connection withFig. 1,-correspondin g parts having the same numbers. It will therefore be unnecessary to repeat the description. 1

While I have shown and described a specific method ofoperating the controllingswitch, my invention is not limited thereto, but may be carried outin other ways in which the'current-carrying wires of the system are employed to selectively operate the translating devices; nor is my invention limited to the mode of control herein specifically described, as other ways of imposing operating current or potential on the switches governing the operation of the translating devices may too be employed with-the broader claims hereinbelow set'forth. 7

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-- 1. In a system of electrical distribution, the combination, with a supply-circuit, of a plurality of translating devices in operative re lation thereto, a magnetically-operated circuit-controller in a ground branch of the sup ply-circuit, controlling the several translat-v ,ing devices, a switch operated by said circuitcontroller to cut in and out the several translating devices, a second ground branch of opposite electrical potential at the'control-station, and a switch for opening and closing said branch.

2. In a system of electrical distribution,the combination with a supply-circuit, of a plurality of translating devices in operative relation thereto, it magnetically-operated circuit-controller in a ground branch of the supply-circuit for the respective translating de vices, a switch operated thereby to cut in and out of circuit the respective translating devices, a second ground branch of opposite electrical potential at the control-station governingthe circuit-controller, aswiteh governing said branch, and an electric indicator in the control-circuit at the control-station.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 23d clay of August, A. D. 1900.

EUSTAOE OXLEY. W'itn esses:

\V. \V. MANsFIELD, A. A. Iosr.