US540557A - Electric regulator - Google Patents

Description

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J. MGKIM. ELECTRIC REGULATOR. N0. 540,557. Patented June 4, 1895.

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J. MOKIM.

ELECTRIC REGULATOR.

No. 540,557. Patented June 4, 1895.

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JAMES MOKIM, OF VER, KANSAS.

ELECTRIC REGULATGR.

srncrricarroiv forming part of Letters raten; No. 540,557, dated June 4, 1895. Application filed September l2; 18952. Serial No. 445,718. (No model.)

To all whom t Hwy concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES MOKIM, of 'Veir, Cherokee county, Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Regulators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to electric regulators, and more particularly to that class ot' regulators employed to regulate the amount of current passing through a system of lights.`

The object of my'invention is to provide a current regulator composed of a single coil, and a core adjustable therein to any required position, to increase or decrease the fiowof the current uninterruptedly, and correspondingly increase or decrease ythe light by imperceptible gradations. The core employed is of peculiar construction, adapted especially to this class of regulators where alternating currents are employed, and other details of construction for switching or breaking Athe current are employed, as will hereinafter appear by reference to the accompanying drawings, Whereint Figure l is a diagrammatic view of an incandescent-light system, showing the location of my regulator therein. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a part ofthe exterior casing of regulatorebox with its switch-lever and terminal segment connections. Fig. 3 is a horizontalsectional elevation in the line 5 5 of Fig. 4.l

Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9 are views, respectively, of the core and its frame, the switch-lever, the escutcheon -bearing, and the core detailed from other connections.

ln the drawings, :r and y designate the line wires of an electric light system leading from a dynamo, and connecting said wires are the branch wires y upon which the lights are located.

A, designates the door of a box (part only of which is illustrated) containing my improved regulator, which is composed as follows:

c\-`ck-c designate supports projecting from the inner side of the door, and c-c parallel guide and supporting rods connecting the end rsupports c.

B, designates my induction coil, which is formed with a passage rectangular in crosssection, and is secured firmly and vertically above the'center of the space between the guide-rods c-c2.

D, designates the core, of a peculiar construction, which will be hereinafter described, which projects fromthe end-block D of the core-frame. The opposite end-block Ds of the core frame is connected to the end-block D', by the sleeves D2, which are arranged parallel with the core D, and a distance apart sutilcient for them to circumferentially embrace the guide-rods c, c2, upon which said sleeves are adapted to reciprocate, and at the same time the core D, fits into the correspondinglyshaped passage of the coil B. Journaled in the door A, a suitable distance below and about midway the length of the guide-rods cc2 is a shaft G, which also projects through a hub A', secured to the inner side of the door to form an extended bearing, and mounted rigidly upon the inner end of said shaft is a segmental arm F. In order to cause the reciprocatory action of the core carrying frame, I employa pair of {iexible straps E and E. The strap E, is attached at one end to the end-block D3, and at its opposite end, after engaging the periphery of the segmental arm F, is secured to the side of said arm farthest from said end-block. The other strap, E', is secured to the opposite side of said segmental arm, and after engaging peripherally the same, is attached at its opposite end to the end-block D.

Itis manifest from the above connection that the movement of the segmental arm in one direction or the other, causes a corresponding movement of the corecarrying frame and either moves the core farther into the coil or withdraws the same from the coil.

'Projecting from the outer end of the shaft G, is a screw-bolt g, and mounted rigidly upon said screw-bolt is a switch-lever H, and spirally encircling said shaft and bearing at its opposite ends within the recess t', of the escutcheon plate I, secured to the door, and against said switch-lever, is an expansion spring G', which thus prevents the accidental operation or movement of the core D, by ex- IOO erting a pressure against said switch-lever which supports it at any desired point of adjustment. Metal wear-plates g and g3, are secured to the adjacent or opposing faces of the segmental arm F andthe bearing hub A, and are held frictionally together by the action of the spring G. Secured at its inner end to the switch-lever and curving inwardly therefrom or toward the door, is a spring arm H', having a spur h, at its free end, which engages one or another of the radial corrugations formed in the face of a plate K, secured to the door and having said corrugated surface concentric to the axis of the shaft G. These corrugations may be of any required degree of iineness so as to secure the switch-lever and its connections positively at any point in their adjustment. The short arm H2, of the switchlever bears with a yielding pressure upon one or another of the contact-plates L, L and L2, arranged upon an imaginarycircle corresponding to that described by the short arm H2, and projecting inwardly through the door from the contact-plates L and L', respectively, are the binding-posts M and M. The plate L, is of sufficient length to hold the switch-lever in contact during the entire movement of the core within the coil. The intermediate plate L, is short and used when the regulator is cut out of the circuit, and the plate L2, is without electrical connections and is used to cut both the regulator and the lamps ont of circuit.

The core D is composed of thin sheets d, of soft iron, and sheets d2, of paper or other insulating material which are placed alternately side by side and so secured by the transversely extending rivets d3. nection will be hereinafter more fully set forth at the end of the statement of the operation of the regulator.

The line conductors are connected to the binding-posts l and 2, within the box, and from the post l, a wire 4, leads to a post 5. Said post in turn is respectively connected by branch wire 6, through the coil B, to the binding-post M, of contact-plate L, and by wire 7, to the post M', of contact-plate L. Binding post 2, is connected by a suitable conductor to the post 8, carried by the arm g4, of wearplate g3.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the current passes from post l, through the coil B, to the post 2, only when the plate L, is contacted by the lever H. lVhen said lever is in contact with the plate L, the current passes through the wire 7, therefore cutting the coil out of circuit, and when said lever is in contactwith the plate L2, both the coil and the lamps are cut out of circuit, because said plate having no electrical connection, no current flows through the line.

lVhen starting the regulator move the switch from the short end segment to the intermediate segment. The lamps now burn to their full brilliancy and power, and no current passes through the coil, but as the switch moves on to the large segment and the core The object of this con-v moves into the coil the counter current is gradually increased, and the current to the lamps thereby reduced, to any desired extent.

Vhen the core is inclosed to its full extent within the coil, the counter electro motive force is increased to its utmostlimit and very little current flows through the coil. The alternating current being used, such current flows back and forth through tho coil, and tends to highly heat the core, due to its rapid magnetization and demagnetization, and the core hereinbefore described as especially adapted to this machine overcomes greatly this tendency.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An electric regulator, consisting of a hollow coil locatedin an alternating current circuit, electric lamps in said circuit, a core, a switch-lever connected to said core in such manner that the movement of the one affects the position of the other, and a contact-plate also located in the circuit and in the path of said switch-lever, so that when the same is in contact with said plate the circuit is coinpleted, and the movement of the lever in one direction or the other and the consequent movement of the core farther in or out of the coil, either diminishes or increases the brilliancy of the electric lights, substantially as Set forth.

2. An electric regulator, comprising a hollow coil located in an alternating currrent circuit, electric lamps therein, a contact-plate having no electrical connection, contact-plates located also in said electric circuit, one of them only being electrically connected tothe said coil, a switch-lever normally engaging the first-mentioned contact-plate and thereby cutting the coil and the lamps out of circuit, and a core connected to the switch-lever in such manner that when said lever engages the first-mentioned plate the core is withdrawn from the coil and with the operation of said lever to contact with the plate in the circuit but not connected to the coil, said core approaches but does not enter the coil, and when said lever is moved to contact with the plate electrically connected to the coil, said core enters said coil, substantially as set forth.

3. An electric regulator, consisting of a hollow coil located in an alternating current circuit, electric lamps therein, a core for said coil, a switch-lever connected to said core in such manner that the movement of one affects the position of the other, a contact-plate also located in the circuit and of such length that when the switch-lever is in contact therewith the core is more or less within the coil, and when the lever is not in contact therewith the core is entirely withdrawn from the coil, a friction-plate, and an arm carried by the switch-lever engaging the same so as to hold said lever from accidental movement at any point in its adjustment, substantially as set forth.

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4;. In an alternating electric current regulator, the combination with a frame having guide-rods, and a hollow coil having a fixed relation thereto, of a frame slidingly mounted upon said guiderods, a core carried by said frame, a shaft, a `segmental arm mounted thereon, a lever mounted upon the opposite end of said shaft, and exible straps connecting the segmental arm and the sliding frame in such manner that the proper operation of the lever causes the oscillation of said arm and consequently the reciprocation of said core-carrying arm, substantially as set forth.

5. In an alternating electric current regulator, the combination with a frame having guide-rods, and a hollow coil having a fixed relation thereto, ot' a frame slidingly mounted

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