GB1022362A - Improvements in electrical connections - Google Patents

Abstract

1,022,362. Flexible connectors. COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE. July 11, 1963 [July 18, 1962; June 7, 1963], No. 27483/63. Heading H2E. [Also in Division H1] For electrical connection between a fixed (8) and a movable (10) terminal (Fig. 2), a resilient metal strip 15, of arcuate cross-section (Fig. 3, not shown) and bent to provide facing rectilinear portions 15 2 , 15 3 and a curved portion 15, is attached between the terminals. Two such strips connect the high-voltage supply to an electron gun 9 (Fig. 1, not shown) mounted on a carriage 12 movable on rails 13 which are themselves movable upon other rails (not shown). The gun is contained in a vacuum chamber 1, the flanged inlet arrangement 3 allowing the supply to be fed to the fixed terminals 8 inside the chamber. The metal strips 15 have crosssection arcs of between 10 and 90 degrees but preferably between 40 and 45 degrees, to increase the rigidity of the strip except at the curved portions 15, where the cross-section is rectilinear. As the gun carriage rolls along the rails 13, the straight sections 15 2 , 15 3 of each strip move towards or away from each other, the angle of bend section 15, changing, ranging from 120 to 210 degrees, while the radius of curvature of the bend remains unaltered. In the movements of the gun in a direction parallel to the rectilinear portions 15 2 , 15 3 the latter are caused to alter in length, the curved portion 15 1 moving along the strip. To give a greater range of movement of the gun the strips 15 may be mounted on the terminals at a slight inclination to the vertical, allowing the movable terminals 10 to be brought directly beneath the fixed terminals 8.