US1526042A - Automatic current-controlling arrangement - Google Patents

Description

Feb, 10 192 F. S. BARNES AUTOMATIC CURRENT CONTROLLING ARRANGEMENT Filed Aug. 20 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 gwue/wfoz F S EAFF/VES QUEOQ Feb. 10. 1925. 1,526,042

F. S. BARNES AUTOMATIC CURRENT CONTROLLING ARRANGEMEN'I Filed Aug. 20. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F. 53 EAR/V155 Patented 1G,

UNITED STATES FRANK S. BARNES, OF ROCK HILL, SOUTH GAR-OTENA.

AUTOMATIC CURREITT-CONTBOLLING AEiBANG-EWIENT.

Application filed August 29, 1921.

To all 2072077; it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK BARNES, a citizen of the United l tates. residing at Rock Hill. in the county of York and State of South Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic CurrentControlling rirrangements of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electric light and power plants. and especially to an improved automatic current cont-rolling ar rangement.

The primary object of this invention is to so improve the plant or system known as Matthews full automatic, that the Start contact and Full contact or Stop contact will not are as they now do during motion of the machine or plant. In this connection, attention is directed to the Book of instructions relative to the aboved named plant, published Matthews Engineering 00., Sandusky, Ohio.

A further object is to eliminate some expensive parts of the Matthews plant. while substituting less expensive parts and thus reducing the cost of a plant of this character, at the same time improving the operation of the plant, also increasing its de pendability.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out or implied in the following de tails ofdescriptiom in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 a diagrammatic view illustrating the general arrangement of the Matthews system as improved by my new arrangement and combination including a switch o circuit closer operable by the contactor which makes and breaks the circuit between the battery and the generator which is driven by the internal combustion engine.

Fig. 2 is a detail view showing diagrammatically the part of the system which is directly connected with or includes my improvements, the cont actor being raised or closed.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic detail showing the very simple and effective switch-connections that constitute a very important feature of this invention.

Referring to these drawings in detail, in which similar reference characters correspond to similar parts in the several views, the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of features as will now Serial No. 494,012.

he fully described in connection with the main features of the lila'tthcws system. as follows:

fit 1 is indicated an internal combustion cngi. which ma be directly c mnectcd (as shown) or otherwise connected to a dynamo 2. t latter having one tell that connected n amnere-hour-metc 3 through the m dium of a main-current conductor 4 which. extends from the ampere-hour-mcter to a cl-blade knife switch 5 which is connect d to the light and power lines or service conductors. The other terminal of the dynamo or generator 2 is connected to a stationary contact adjacent to a ."eiticall moraine contactor 6 which includes upand a lower contact-plate insulated om one another; the upper plate 7 being adapted to close the circuit between two conductors 8 and 9 which connect the gen crater 2 to a conductor 10 which connects the siorao'e battery to the switch The plate also connects the ignition coil (or) in circuit with the engine 1 when said plate is up. but the igiitioiuc'r nit is broken open when the contactor is down. The :ower plate. 11, wh dowm connects the cell c. with the conductor l0, termim .1! l A. V or this butts nectcd o the tcr zziinal o iv. and ti e terminal or the i e battery bl ng connected th medium of mug an automatic ed therein. The plunger 15. ot the contactor 6., is raised by a solenoid or coil l6 which has one terminal connected to a contact 17. known as the Start contact. on the meter 3; and the other terminal of the coil 16 through the to the and brea lter 'l is connected to the switch medium of wires 18 and 19 between which the circuit is o oned and closed by a switch hereinafter referred to the Baby-knife switch. or switch 20.

The foregoing description applies to the Matthews system. except that the Matthews baby-knife-switch has two blades, one of which I eliminate, and connect the wires 18 and 19 differently.

The hand of the meter is grounded t0 the body of the meter, and a movable contact 21 is always grounded thereto and connects with the conductor l which is also grounded to the meter body, A stationary contact 22, known as the Full contact or Stop Contact, is secured on or in and insulated from the meter-body. In the Matthews system, this Full contact or Stop contact is always connected to the Baby knife switch; but in my improved arrangement it is connected to a switch 23, the upper con tact of which is connected to a conductor 2%, and the lower contact of which is connected to a conductor 25 that is connected to the terminal 16 of the coil 16 and to a conductor which includes a push-button 27 and connects an Overload relay 28 to the switch 5.

In the Matthews system, the Stop contact is operated by a cam and trigger mechanism (not here shown) which normally causes the circuit to be quickly broken at the full or stop point, thus eliminating arcing at this point except when the hand of the meter has not moved down sufficiently far to cause the cam to set the trigger. Under these circumstances, the arcing occurs at the Full contact or Stop contact when the plant is started and kept in operation by the Overload relay. The Stop contact can be made simpler, yet "tree from arcing, by the use of my improvement, and it also avoidsbending of the hand of the meter as is sometimes done by mechanism (not shown) designed to quickly break cir cuit at the Start contact. -Acording to my invention, there is no necessity for quickly opening the switch at the Full or Stop point, and any appropriate simplified means may be employed for opening the switch 21-22; for instance, the hand of the meter may rise against a projection of the switch-member 21, as indicated in Fig. 1. It should be understood that the switch 21 22 is normally closed, and that even though it is opened slowly, it will not are when used in connectionrwith my switch and connections shown in Figs. 2 and 3. If either the switch 27 or switch 28 is open when the switch 21-22 is opened, this breaks the circuit through the coil 16, de-energizingit andallowing the plunger 15 to fall from the closing position (Fig. 2) to the opening position (Fig. 1); that is, to the position in which the plunger 15 releases the lower contact of the switch 23 and permits it to immediately open upon the dropping of the plunger 15. By thus immediately breaking the circuit as soon as the current is sufficiently weakened through the gradual opening of the switch 2122, the hitherto detrimental arcing at the Full or Stop point is eliminated.

Moreover, this improved arrangement eliminates arcing between the hand of the ampere-hour meter and the Start contact 17, as follows: As the load-current from the storage battery flows through the meter 3, causing its hand to move down and close the circuit at the contact 17 this energizes the coil 16, thereby lifting the contactor (3, which closes the ignition circuit and thus starts the engine 1. The engine operates the generator or dynamo 2, thereby recharging the storage battery. The contactor 6, in rising, also closes the switch 23, and the current that then energizes the contactorcoil 16 flows through the by-path formed by the switch and conductors 2t and 25, because the circuit is normally broken at the push button 27 and because the hand of the meter 3 immediately begins to rise from the Start Contactv 17 when the engine starts the generator. In the lilatthews system, there is a detrimental amountof arcing at the Start contact when the meterhand begins to rise, but this arcing is elimiated. by my improved arrangement in which the conductors 24 and 25 are connected in parallel with the start-circuit, so that instead of'arcing. the current takes the path of least resistance, via, through the shunt or by-path 23-2et25.

In addition to the advantages pointed out in the foregoing. I accomplish a very considerable saving in the costs of manufactun ing and sustaining of the plant, by eliminating one blade and corresponding connections and conductors of the Baby knife switch. by eliminating the Hold coil, and by eliminating mechanism for quickly opening the circuit at the Start and Stop points or contacts.

the lifting-coil 16 to also hold the contactor 6 up or closed.

'From the foregoing. it will be seen that,

It should be understood that my improvement enables llli to the exact arrangement or combination here shown and described, but changes may be made within the scope of the inventive ideas as implied and claimed.

Nhat I claim as my invention is:

1. In an electric system. the combination of a dynamo. a storage battery, a contactor for making and breaking circuit between said dynamo and storagebattery, electrical means to operate said contactor, said electrical means including an ampere-hourmeter and a conductor in position to contact with the h and of the ampere-hour-meter when the hand moves in one direction. a normally open switch in position to be closed by said contactor and having oneof its contacts electrically connected to said conductor, a normally closed switch having one terminal electrically connected to a terminal of said dynamo, and a conductor of the normally closed switch to the other contact of said normally open switch, said normally closed switch being openable by said hand of the ampere-hour-meter when the hand moves in the other direction.

The combination of an electric circuit including a dynamo for energizing it, a storage battery, conducting means including a movable contactor for electrically connecting said battery to said electric circuit so as to be charged by said dynamo, contactor-operating means including a solenoid electrically connected to said electric circuit so as to be energized by the latter, said electric ircuit also including a service-switch. said conducting means being connected to said service-switch in parallel with said electric circuit and in such relation that it completes a circuit through the dynamo when said service switch is open, said conducting means in cluding a normally closed manually operable switch for opening the circuit through said dynamo, an ampere-hour-meter electrically connected to said electric circuit of the dynamo, a normally closed switch in position to be opened by the ampere-hourmeter and being electrically connected to said electric circuit of the, dynamo, and a normally open switch having one of its contacts electrically connected to said normally closed switch and having its other contact electrically connected to said conducting means which includes said solenoid, the said normally open switch being closable by said contactor by the same operation by which it connects said dynamo to said storage battery.

8. The combination of an electric dynamocircuit including a dynamo and an overload relay, a battery-circuit including a storage battery, a solenoid-circuit including a solenoid, a contactor operable by said solenoid for connecting said dynamo-circuit to said battery-circuit, an ampere-hourmeter including a hand which is movable into and out of electrical contact with a contact that is connected to said solenoidcircuit, said hand being electrically coir nected to said dynamo-circuit, said overload-relay including a switch which has its terminals connected in parallel with said dynamo circuit, a normally closed switch having one of its contacts connected to said dynamo-circuit, and a normally open switch having one of its terminals electrically connected to the other contact of said normally closed switch, the other terminal of said normally open switch being electrically connected to said solenoid-circuit and also to said switch of the overload relay, said normally open switch being closable by the same operation of the contactor that connects said dynamo to said battery.

4. In an electric system, the combination of a conductor including an ampere-hourmeter which latter includes a switch (17) for opening and closing the circuit of said conductor, asecond switch (21-22) provided with means electrically connecting it to a terminal of the first said switch, means being provided for efiecting operation of the second said switch by the first said switch, and a third switch (23) having one terminal electrically connected to a terminal of the first said switch, the other terminal of the third switch being electrically connected to a terminal of the second switch.

5. The structure defined by claim 4, and electrically actuated means controllable by the first said switch for controlling said third switch.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

FRANK S. BARNES.

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