US1389142A - Controller - Google Patents

Description

H. 0. JAMES.

CONTROLLER. APPLICATION FILED APR. I6, 1918.

: 3 89, 1 Patented Aug. 30, 1921..

,2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

36 35 a v WITNESSES: XNVENTOR @m/ (5 5w Henry QJames.

H. D. JAMES.

CONTROLLER.

, APPLICATION FILED APR. 16, I918.

Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES: 05m) 6 6w INVENTOR Hen/y. flJames.

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEL' HENRY 1). JAMES, or Enenwoon PARK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO wnsrme- HOUSE nnncrnxc & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION or PENN- sYLvANIA.

CONTROLLER.

Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

Application filed April 16, 1918. Serial No. 228,863.

T all w ham it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY D. James, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Edgewood Park, in the county of. Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Controllers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to controllers, especially to those of the drum type, and one object of my invention is to provide a simple and efiicient structure which-shall be more compact, neater, less expensive and of greater utility than the controllers-now in use.

Present-day devices of this class are usually supported in cast iron frames which, consequently, are unduly large and heavy and require the use of additional insulating supports. It is an object of my invention, by making the frame of separate parts, to reduce the size and weight, and, by employing an insulating support as a base, to avoid the necessity of using the customary heavy castiron base.

Another purpose of my invention is to provide a drum controller, the parts of which maybe standardized so that the controller may be set up, of any size, wherever desired.

Another object of my invention 'is to provide a structure with which it shall be possible to employ. closed. wiring. Another object is to provide a controller which shall occupy a minimum amount of space.

Another objectis to provide a novel contact finger. g V

Still another object is to provide a device which, though more compact than prior devices, is capable of use for controlling motors of greater horsepowers.

Other objects of my invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. i

Figure 1 is an end elevation of my controller with the cover removed; Fig. 2 is a view partially in elevation and partially in longitudinal section, on the line 11-11 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line IIIIII 'of Fig. 2, and looking in the direction of the arrows, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line IVIV of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

End plates 1 and 2 are interiorly provided with brackets 3 and 4:, to which is removably secured an insulatingmember 5 having alternately arranged grooves 6 and 7. For the purpose of this specification, that portion of the controller which carries the member 5 will be regarded as the lower portion. Supporting members 8 are fixed within the grooves 6 by single members, such as bolts, 9, and their outer portions are bent downwardly at an angle, and are provided with flanges at their extremities, as shown at 10, to each of which portions are suitably secured a spring member 11, a conductor 12, and a stop member 13, the extremity of which stop member is formed into a flange 14;. The springs 11 may preferably beformed of some material like phosphor bronze and the separate conductors 12 provided, so that the temper ofthe springs 11 will not be affected by electrical currents. Each spring 11 carries a contact finger 15, fastened thereto and to the conductor 12 by a bolt 16, which extends through an opening in the stop member 13, and the square head 17 of which engages the flange 14, thereby preventing accidental rotative movement and consequent working loose of the bolt 16 when the contact finger 15 is forced inwardly and outwardly during the operation of the device. As the bolt 16 fits loosely in the opening of the stop member 13, the contact finger15 has also a limited amount ofside play.

I have thus provided a rigid, adjustably mounted, contact finger which cannot bend but yields in all directions to make perfect intimate contact with the movable contact fingers, can easily be renewed when desired, and cannot work loose. Furthermore, because of the compact arrangement, it is possible to make these fingers very wide without materially increasing the size ofthe device, thus permitting the control of motors of comparatively large horsepower by means of a small structure.

. The upper portions of the end plates 1 and A tened an operating handle 19, the travel of which is limited by stops 20 and 21 on the end plate 1. A plurality of contact members 22 are insulated from, and secured in pairs to, the shaft 18 by bolts 23. Each contact member 22 may carry any desired number of movable contact fingers 24c for cooperation with the fixed contact fingers 15. The shaft 18 carries the usual star wheel or accentuating cam 25 into the notches of which a spring 27 normally forces a roller carried by a pivoted arm 26.

Insulating boards 28 are mounted in the grooves 7 to constitute are shields, and thereby avoid the necessity of blowout coils, though such coils may be added if, desired. The boards 28 are secured together by a rod 29 and are spaced from each other by insulating tubes 30. The insulating boards are of the same general shape as the end plates 1 and 2, but they are provided with large interior openings 31, and are cut short, as at 32. By this arrangement, a minimum amount of insulating board is employed.

It will be noted that the insulating member 5 serves the double purpose of a base for the controller and a support for the contact fingers 15 and the insulating boards 28.

The insulating support 5, as particularly shown in Fig. 4, is preferably of much smaller width than the end plates 1 and 2, thereby permitting the fingers 15 and their supporting structures to be contained within the boundaries of the end plates 1 and 2. This arrangement provides also for an additional advantage in compactness, in that attaching lugs 33 may be mounted upon one of the end plates 2, in the space between the boundaries of the end plate 2 and the insulating support 5. A similar arrangement may be effected with the end plate 1, but it is found desirable, instead, to employ a single attaching lug 84 on the outside of the end plate 1, directly beneath the handle 19.

The bolts 9 not only secure the supporting members 8 within the grooves 6, but they serve also as contact terminals for the coritact fingers 15. The conductors are admitted through an opening 35 in the end plate 2 and a notch 36 in the insulating suppor't'5. By means of this arrangement, all the wires are led in together from-one point, which makes possible a system of closed wiring. This construction, furthermore, avoids the necessity of employing the customary rows of vertical, insulation-lined holes through which conductors are introduced, in open wiring systems, to connect the contact finger terminals to the supply lines, the motor, the resistance, etc.

The lugs 33 carry retaining lugs 87 for cooperation with links 38 secured to levers 39, which are pivotally mounted at the lower ends of a removable cover 10. In order the better to secure this cover, the end plates 1 and 2 are interiorly provided with flange seats 41 and 42, and the base of the end plate 1 is further provided with a pair of flanges 13, which flanges, with the lower portions of the seat 4:1, form receiving grooves 4A for the cover 40.

The operation will be readily understood from the above description. Upon rotating the handle 19, the shaft 18 will be rotated so that any of the contact fingers 2&, as desired, may make contact with the contact fingers 15, which latter yield in all directions, in opposition to the springs 11, to effect good electrical contact.

My invention permits of standardization of parts. It is not necessary to build a separate controller for every different use. All that is necessary is that standard parts, like the end plates, the contact fingers, the insulating boards, etc., be kept in stock, together with a standard material from which to saw oil the requisite length of insulating support, and the parts may thus be assembled or repaired in a minimum amount of time.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a controller, the combination with an insulating support and a pair of end plates of greater width than said support secured thereto, one of said end plates having an attaching lug upon its inner face, of a drum rotatably mounted in said end plates.

2. In a controller, the combination with an insulating support and a pair of end plates of greater width than said support secured thereto, one of said end plates having an attaching lug upon its inner face and the other of said end plates having an attaching lug upon its outer face, of a drum rotatably mounted in said end plates.

3. In a controller, the combination with an insulating support, anda pair of end plates secured thereto, one of said end plates having attaching lugs upon one of its faces, of projecting members upon said lugs, a casing, means upon said casing for engaging said projecting members,and a drum rotatably mounted in said end plates.

4. In a controller, the combination with a pair of end members and connecting means therefor comprising a rod, of a plurality of contact members, barriers between said contact members and supported by said connecting means, and means upon said rod for spacing said barriers.

' In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 28th day of Feb. 1918.

HENRY D. JAMES.

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