US645103A - Electric-circuit controller. - Google Patents

Description

No. 645,!03. I Patented Mar. l3, I900.

. B. N. JONES.

ELECTRIC CIRCUIT CONTROLLER.

(Application filed July 21, 1899.)

(No Model.)

' WITNESSES: INVENTOR AT ORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT Quince.

BENJAMIN N. JONES, OF ORANGE, NEWV JERSEY.

ELECTRIC-CIRCUIT CCNTROLLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 645,103, dated March 13, 1900.

Application filed July 21,1899. Serial No. 724 605- (IIO model!) To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN N. JONES, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Orange, in the county of Essex, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Circuit Controllers, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

This invention has for its object to provide improved means or devices for controlling an electric circuit from a more or less distant point. In the use of electric motors, for example, it is often desirable as a matter of con venience or for some other reason to dispose in close proximityto the motor the resistancecoils and the mechanical devices for throwing into the circuit of the motor more or less of the resistance while the operator is at a remote point and yet must be able to Vary the resistance at will, increasing or decreasing the amount of the resistance or maintaining it at a given point for a period of time and thereafter increasing or diminishing it.

The present improvements are designed with especial reference to enabling the distant operator to control the circuit absolutely atall times, varying it in one way or the other at will or maintainingit at will ina given condition.

The invention will be more fully described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which for purposes of explanation it is represented as embodied in a convenient and practical form.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in elevation of such a form of the electromechanical devices employed, and Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view representing the electric circuit to be controlled and the electrical connections of the electromechanical devices represented in Fig. 1.

The electric circuit to be controlled is represented by the heavy line a in Fig. 2, the field-coils l) and the armature c of an electric motor being indicated as included therein. For the purpose of controlling the motor provision is made for including in the circuit more or less resistance cl, which is indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 2, while the contact points or blocks are represented graphically at d in Fig. 1. The resistance is connected to the circuit at one end, as usual, while parallel therewith or with the series of contact points or blocks is acontact-strip e, also connected, as usual, to the circuit. A movable contact f is arranged to sweep over the contact-strip and the series of contact points or blocks, thereby completing the circuit and includin g therein more or less of the resistance, as may be desired. The movable contact is carried by or forms a part of an arm g,which is pivoted, as indicated in the drawings, upon a horizontal axis and is arranged to be moved in one direction by electromechanical devices, as hereinafter described, and in the other direction by the influence of gravity. In the arrangement represented in the drawings the contact-arm is connected by a link g with the core h of a solenoid 2', through the coils of which current can be directed by the operator in some such manner as referred to hereinafter. For the purpose of holding the contact-arm in any position to which it may have been moved at the will of the operator an electromechanical brake is provided, also under control of the operator from a distant point.

Any suitable form of brake may be employed. As represented in Fig. 1, however, brake-levers 73 k are arranged to bear upon a drum or hub 9 secured to the arm g, concentric with its pivot, the arms being normally pressed upon the hub by springs so that the arm is retained in the position to which it is moved unless the brake is released. As also shown in Fig. 1, toggle levers 70 are interposed between the free ends of the brake-levers 7c and are connected to the core Z of a solenoid m, so that when current is directed through the coils of the solenoid the brake-levers will beseparated, releasing the contact arm 1. The arrangement of brake represented in Fig. 2 is substantially the same, a single brake-lever being indicated, and it will be obvious that any convenient arrangement of the brake can be substituted.

Current is directed through the solenoid 2? or the solenoid m from any suitable source of electromotive force. As indicated in Fig. 2,

the current may be taken from the main circuit as follows: The operators controllingswitch at, located at any convenient point more or less remote from the devices represented in Fig. 1, is connected by a conductor 0, in which is included the brake-solenoid m, with one leg of the main circuit. One contact p for the switch is connected directly with the other leg of the main circuit by a conductor q, so that by the movement of the switch to such contact current will be sent through the brake-solenoid m alone, and the brake will thereby be released. The other contact 7* is connected by a conductor .9, in which is included the solenoid 1', with the second leg of the main circuit. Movement of the switch to the contact 7" will therefore send the current through both solenoid on, releasing the brake, and solenoid t', raising the contact-arm g, as long as the switch is held on the contact r or until such arm reaches the limit of its upward movement. A circuitbreaking switch t may be included in the conductor s and arranged to be opened by a pin 15, carried by the contactarm g, as the latter reaches the limit of its upward movement, thereby breaking the circuit automatically and keeping it open as long as the contactarm remains in such elevated position.

The mode of operation of the improved controller will now be readily understood. Movement of the switch it to the contact 1" releases the brake through the action of the solenoid m and causes the solenoid i to raise the contact-arm g as long as the switch remains on the contact 0' or until the contactarm reaches the limit of its upward movement, thus decreasing in the arrangement shown the amount of resistance which is included in the main circuit. As soon as the desired condition of the main' circuit is established the switch n is moved back to an intermediate position, as shown in Fig. 2, opening the circuit through the solenoids i and m, and thereby stopping the further movement of the contact-arm and permitting the spring or springs to apply the brake and hold the contact-arm in the position to which it has been moved. If it is desired, in the arrangement shown, to increase the resistance included in the main circuit, the switch is shifted to the contact 19, thereby sending the current through the solenoid m alone and releasing the brake, so that the contact-arm is free to fall until it reaches the limit of its downward movement or until such time as the switch is moved to an intermediate position, thereby permitting the spring or springs 7a to apply the brake again and to check the downward movement of the contact-arm at a desired point.

It will be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited in its application to the control of a motor circuit nor to be re stricted to the precise construction and arrangement of parts shown and described herein, since many variations thereof will readily suggest themselves as the necessities of each particular case present themselves.

I claim as my invention 1. An electric-circuit controller comprising a movable circuit-controlling contact,an electromechanical device to move the same, a brake to cooperate with said contact, an electromechanical device to operate said brake, a switch included with the last-named electromechanical device in one leg of an electric circuit, a contact for said switch connected directly to the other leg of said circuit, and a second contact for said switch connected to the second leg of said circuit through the firstnamed electromechanical device, substantially as shown and described.

2. An electric-circuit controller comprising a movable circuit-controlling contact, a solenoid having its core connected to said contact to move the same in one direction, a brake to cooperate with said movable contact, a second solenoid having its core operatively conhect ed with said brake, an electric switch and connections therefrom to said solenoids whereby their electrical condition may be controlled by the movement of said switch, substantially as shown and described.

3. An electric-circuit controller comprising a circuit-controlling arm, a solenoid having its core connected to said arm to move the same in one direction, a brake to cooperate with said arm, a second solenoid having its core operatively connected with said brake, an electric switch and connections therefrom to said solenoids whereby their electrical condition may be controlled by the movement of said switch, substantially as shown and de= scribed.

4. An electric-circuit controller comprising a circuit-controlling arm movable in a vertical plane, a solenoid having its core connected to said arm to lift the same, a brake to cooperate with. said arm and check its downward movement, a second solenoid having its core operatively connected with said brake, an electric switch and connections therefrom to said solenoids whereby their electrical condition may be controlled by the movement of said switch, substantially as shown and described.

5. An electric-circuit controller comprising a circuit-controlling arm movable in a verti cal plane, a solenoid having its core connected to said arm to lift the same, abrake to cooperate with said arm and check its downward movement, a second solenoid having its core operatively connected with said brake, a spring acting in opposition to the solenoid to apply the brake, an electric switch and connections therefrom to said solenoids whereby their electrical condition may be controlled by the movement of said switch, substantially as shown and described.

6. An electric-circuit controller comprising a movable circuit-controlling contact, a solenoid having its core operatively connected to said contact, a brake to cooperate with said movable contact, a second solenoid having its core operatively connected with said brake,

a switch included with the second solenoid in This specification signed and witnessed this one leg of an electric circuit, a contact for 20th day of July, A. D. 1899. said switch connected directly to the other T leg of said circuit and a second contact for 5 said switch connected to the second leg of said In presence ofcircuit through the first-named solenoid, snb- LOUIS R. MOORE, stantially as shown and described. W. B. GREELEY.

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