US946982A - Lightning-arrester. - Google Patents

Description

A. OLESON. LIGHTNING ABBESTER. LIOATIOH FILED SEPT. 24, 190B. I

Patented Jan. 18,1910.

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v I 5 J x r aw c: ,Wd ya i v v Cir ALBERT OLESON, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

LIGHTNING-ARRESTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 18, 1910.

Application filed September 24, 1906. Serial No. 335,879.

To all whom it may concern:

lie it known that I, ALBERT OLESON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Toledo, county of Lucas, State of Ohio, have inrented certain new and useful Improvements in Lightning-Arresters, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to lightning arresters, and has for its object an improved device of this class especially adapted for application to trolley circuits, whereby an overcharge of electricity may be conducted away from a system of trolley wires before they are burned out, and which normally, and in the absence of any overcharge on the wires, permits, or rather induces, no leakage of the current.

In the drawings :Figure 1, shows the device diagrammatically, and indicates its method of connection with a trolley wire. Fig. 2, is an enlarged detail view of the point of the pivoted arm and the adjacent parts.

A represents the casing, which may be located at any convenient point, as on a trolley pole, or a wall in the vicinity of a trolley wire. From the trolley wire a extends a connecting wire 6, which, passing through the walls of the casing A, terminates in a brass or other metallic block 0, which is mounted in a porcelain or other insulating frame y, through which is cut a downwardly inclined passage 8, through which the air, heated by the formation of an are within the casing, may escape, its outer end being closed only to the hanging cover 9. Within the casing, and insulated from it, is supported the block B, to which is pivotally connected the arm D, whose point d normally reaches almost to the block 0, but is held from actually contacting the same, and at whatever distance the strength of the current makes desirable, by means of the regulating screw 2, whose end engages against the insulating pad f.

lVith the normal current only of a trolley wire, the gap between the point (i and the block 0 is made to prevent the liuX of electricity across the intervening gap. When, however, a bolt of lightning, or other similar cause, overloads the trolley wire, the current jumps the gap to the point (Z, and passing through the arm D and the block B escapes in part through the wire m, including the graphite resistance plug 6, to the ground wire G. Connected, however, to the block B, in the same manner as the wire at, is a wire is of slightly smaller diameter. This wire leads through the solenoid S, and is thence conducted through the wire 1 to the ground. Both the wire q and the wire m are for convenience connected with the ground wire G through the medium of the binding-post block T.

The size of the wires selected is preferably such that the total cross sectional area of the wires in and m is slightly in excess of that of the wire 6 so that between them they can fully and amply care for any excess of current that may be transmitted to the arr-ester by way of the wire 6, and the presence of the resistance plug 6 in the conductor m operates to throw a large proportion of the current through the wire is and solenoid S.

The energization of the solenoid S by the passage of the current through it, causes the vertically movable core E, which consists preferably of several iron rings a engaging about or strung upon rod It of non-conducting material, preferably wood or other fibrous matter, to rise from its normal position, largely out of the solenoid and below it, as shown in full lines, to position well within it, carrying with it the rod R, which is pivoted at its lower end to the lever L, and whose upper end normally reaches to a point just below the point d of the arm. This raises the lever L, to which it is pivoted, and which in turn is pivoted to the standard w, to the position shown in dotted lines as approximately horizontal. This movement in turn raises the link member P, which is pivotally connected to the lever L intermediate its fulcrum and joint of attachment to the core E, and at its other end to the foot portion D of the arm D; this in turn forces the pivoted arm D away from its normal position to that indicated by the dotted lines at D The upward movement of the core E serves to interpose between the block 0 and the new position of the point d of the arm D, the insulating rod R, which breaks the are formed by the jumping of the current across to the point (Z, if the same has not already been broken by its movement away from the block 0, and the rush of air from the interior of the casing and across the path of the are through the passage 8. As soon as the point (Z has been thus removed from proximity to the block (1, and the current stopped, the energization of the solenoid ceases, and it no longer attracts upwardly the core E, which, because of its weight, falls to its normal position of rest, pulling with it, by means of the link P, the lever L, and the arm D, which is thus restored, as respects its point (Z, to its normal position with respect to the block 0.

\Vhat I claim is 1. In a lightning arrester, the combination of a solenoid, a core movable therethrough, an arc breaker of non-conducting material carried on the end of said core and adapted to be projected by the movement thereof across the path of an are, a pivoted arm in electrical connection with said solenoid and with the ground, a terminal in electrical connection with an active circuit located adjacent to, though spaced from, one end of said pivoted arm when the same is in its normal position, a wire connecting said solenoid with the ground, and link members connecting said core and said pivoted arm whereby the same is swung from its normal position adjacent to said terminal upon the energization of the solenoid due to the passage therethrough of a current communicated to it through said pivoted arm, and the consequent movement of the core with respect thereto, said core being adapted to drop by gravity from its actuated position within the solenoid upon the cessation of the energizing current, substantially as described.

2. A lightning arrester, having in colnbination with a casing, an insulated ground wire leading from the interior thereof, a conductor wire leading thereinto from an active circuit, a pivoted arm in direct electrical connection with said ground wire, the normal position of one end thereof being adjacent to the terminal of said conductor wire, though out of contact therewith, a solenoid in connection with said pivoted arm and with said ground wire, and thereby constituting a second path for the travel of a current from said pivoted arm to said ground wire, a core member movable within said solenoid, an arc-breaking member carried on the top part of said core member, adapted to be projected by the rise of the same within the solenoid, upon the energization thereof due to the passage of a current therethrough, across the path of an are formed between the terminal of the conductor wire and the adjacent end of the pivoted arm, and link members connecting said core member and said pivoted arm, whereby the arm is swung from its normal position upon the rise of the core within the solenoid, said core being adapted to fall by gravity and to thereby swing said pivoted arm back to its normal position upon the cessation of the current through the solenoid, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT OLESON.

\Vitnesses 2 HARRY B. SWAN, VILLIAM M. SWAN.

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