US1605216A - Relay - Google Patents

Description

Patented Nov. 2, 1926.

UNVIED` STATES 1,605,216 ria-TENT eFfIc;

Arnstin fr, elimina, or ALBANY, NEW XOR-K, ssieiyionnrnnsnnnssieniiinnms 'ro GENERAL RAILWAY SrGNAi. COMPANY, A CORPORATION or NEW YORK.

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.'l, v 1; Application ied November 14, 1922. Serial No. 600,909.

My invention relates tolrelays and particularly to relays for controlling the operation of railway 'signaling devices; One object of my invention is the provision of a relay characterized by high efticiency of operation and permanence of calibration. VI Will describe one form of `relay embodying my invention,

and will then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

Infthe accompanying drawing Fig. I is a vertical sectional vietvy showing one form of relay embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a verticalv sectional vievv on the line II-II of Fig.y l, showing one forni of structure enibodying my invention for adjustably mountfA ingthe relay armature with relation to the pole pieces of theelectroin agifiet. y t

Similar reference `characters refer to simllar` parts' in each of the views. l I

'Referring first to Fig'.` l, the` relay coinpri'ses a' topf plate l of insulating material such as porcelain, a bottom plate 30, usually of metal, and glass side Walls 3l, separated from the' plates by gaskets 38. The top and bottom plates are spaced bythe side Walls and by corner posts vvhichare not shown in the drawing, andare held together by screws 32, oneV only of vvhich' is shown in the drdiving". 4 ,v

Wounted in thel top plate l is an electromagnet, designated as a Whole by the reference character A, and comprising, as usual, two windings 2, 2 surrounding cores 222?, which cores'I project through the top plate l and terminate in pole pieces 3, 3 resting against the underside of the top plate` ,The

electr(indagine-t'` contrels an'L armaturee vvihich is pivotally mounted at 6, in4 the inan-` ner hereinafter explained, and this armature in turn through Contact lingers or arnis, F controls a plurality of front contacts 8 and a" plurality of back contacts'B. In the ,dravvings I have shown onlyv one front and one back contact Aand one linger or arm F, but ir accordance with usual practice there ,or`

dinarily be a number of such contacts each behind the. other as vievved in l. v l

The armature 5 is pivotally attached to the pole pieces 3 on an axis 6., The structure by which this is accomplished-is asI follows: A supporting' bracket 22 (see. Figs. I and 2) is attached to pole pieces 3 by. means of screits 24' jvhichpass through vertically elongatedslots l23 in the bracket and which enter threaded holes in the pole pieces." This bracket is provided with ltwo pairs of down- Wardly projecting ears 22a whichl carry a trunnion 6 one end of Which is anchored'in the bracket'itself, as shown in F The rear edge of the uf-mature 5 is provided with Wings 5a Which project bet-Ween the tyvoears of each pair and which Wings are perfo rated to receive the pivot trunnion 6. It lwill be seen, therefor@ that the vertical position of the pivotal axis of the ,armature 5 Vmay be adjustedby shifting the bracket 2Q vertically Within the limits of the sllfj'tsQS;V To accomplish this adjustment three adjusting screws are pro-vided one of Which, 48,. passes through the middle of the bracket and enters a threaded hole in the topl Vplate l.V Surrounding this screyv isa coiled spring I4-Q which' presses yajgainst the topv` plate and against the bracketand so forces the bracket to follow this screw as the screw isr released. The other tt'vo screws pass through threaded' holes at the ends of the"bracket 22 and bear against the underside of the top plate one. 'Ifhesve lastl two screvvsserve the double purpose of adjusting; the air for length and also adjusting the parallelism th'eair gap between the armature the under faces ofthe polepiecei 3, both of which are accomplished by the micrometer adj'us'tf ment affordedr yby thel screws 434 and 45, After the desired adjustment of the bracket 22' has been ,accomplished this bracket',A is locked' Y in position by tightening the screvtsQfl. y i t u It Will be' notedA thatthve trunnien 6 on which the arn'iature is mounted isa rod one end `of which is bent overland sprung into a suitable hole in the bracket 22. This, trunnion @is preferably a piece of phosphor bronze spring' rod stock.v y y I have found from ekperience that if ,a constant minimum air gap,is maintained be tween the frnt edge ofthe arma-turejand the polelpie'ces, it is possibletodn'iprove the operating' characteristics, of the relay;` tobe more specific it is possible tovreduce'` the amount of current necessary to close thefarmature `against its frontV stop. ,Forl this rea-y son I havelocated `the front stopltvery close tio the front edge 4of `the armature. ,This makes it necessary Ito provide Ifor adj ustriient4 betweenv the rear edge of they la"rinatureandy the pole pieces, and this is of courseprovided by the vertical adjust-ment ot bracket 22 as explained hereinbetore.

It will be seen from the foregoing that when the relay is de-energized the contact tip 12 is separated from the contact member 8, and the parts occupy the positions in which they'are shown in Fig. 1. Then the relay becomes energized, however, armature 5 swings upwardly until stopped by engagement with the front stop et so that the contact tip 12 is brought into engagement with the contact member 8.

It is customary practice in assembling relays of this kind to so proportion the parts that the contact 12-8 is closed while the armature is travelling through the last 7/1000 measured at its front air gap, i. e. measured at the right hand edge of the armature as viewed in Fig. 1. During this travel of the armature the contact pressure developed between members 12 and 8 should be approximately 11/2 oz. The procedure ot assembling the relay and adjusting for this desired pressure may be as follows: The armature 5, with all parts carried thereby, are assembled before being placed in the relay, and a pressure oit 11/2 oz. is exerted on the contact tip 12. The armature 5 with the parts attached thereto, is then mounted in the relay and a spacer 7/1000 thick is inserted between the front .stop i and the front edge of the armature. The back air gap is then adjusted by vertical adjustment ot bracket 22 for the opening which corresponds to the desired drop-away current value of the magnet, and after this setting has been obtained the bracket 22 is locked in position by tightening the screws 24 with the spacer still in place. The carbon button 8 is then brought down to just touch the contact tip 12, when the armature is closed against the spacer, and button 8 is then locked in place by means of the locknut 19. It will be seen that it the spacer is now removed and the armature is closed against the front stop i the same contact pressure will be developed between the members 12 and 8 as was created between these members at the time that the spring 13 was adjusted. In other words, the contact pressure will be 11/2v oz. It will also be seen that when the armature 5 has dropped away 7/1000 from the front stop L the contact tip 12 will be just leaving the carbon button 8. The condition will be such that the drop-away current will be the same as that which was observed when the back air gap was adjusted before the carbon button had been placed in adjusted position.

It now remains to adjust the relay for the desired opening between contact 9a and contact 15 ot Fig. 1. This adjustment is made by inserting a spacer, such as referred to, of 7/1000 of an inch in thickness, between the front stop f1 and the front edge of the armature and then energizing the coils 2 2, with suriicient current to hold the armature against the said spacer, when by turning the screw 18 the desired contact opening may be obtained. Screw 18 is locked in adjusted position by means of the nut 18 and the circuit controller structure is then in final adjustment.

The structure i'or the pivotal mounting of armature 5, eliminates certain troubles which have been experienced in the past, such as binding of the armature in its pivot pins. The construction which I have shown and described makes it necessary for the parts to be ot proper size and shape, as otherwise they cannot be assembled. The trunnion 6 passes through six holes, four of which are in the bracket 22 and the other two of which Sii are in the armature wing 5a. These holes must be in alignment or the trunnion 6 will not enter them. It will also be noted that this construction guarantees end play ofthe armature, this being obtained in the milling operation on bracket 22 and armature 5. That is to say, it is a simple machining operation in a gang milling machine to provide the proper clearances between the ears 22a of each pair on the bracket and the armature wing 5EL which projects between these ears. Briefly, then, this trunnion construction insured both the proper end play of the armature and also the proper trunnion radial clearance. Furthermore it is very easy to remove, inspect, and replace the armature, and the structure is very cheap to manufacture as compared with past practice.

I have found from experience that when a relay is constructed in accordance with my invention the working current is remarkably low, and the pickup and release current values can be made substantially the same throughout a wide range of working currents.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of relay embodying my invention, it is understood that various changes and modiiications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described I claim is:

s 1. A relay comprising a magnet having pole pieces, a bracket carried by said pole pieces and capable of adjustment in a plane parallel with the cores of said magnet, a trunnion rod lixed against endwise movement in said bracketby having its end engaging a pocket in said bracket, and an armature pivotally mounted on said rod and controlled by said magnet.

2. A relay comprising a magnet having pole-pieces. a bracket carried by said polepieces and having two pairs of projecting ears, an armature controlled by said magnet my invention, what Uli and having two wings located between the two ears of each of said pairs, and a rod anchored in said bracket and passing through said ears and wings.

3. A relay comprising a. magnet having pole-pieces, a bracket carried by said pole pieces and capable of adjustment in a plane parallel with the cores of said magnet and having two pairs of projecting ears, an armature cont-rolled by said magnet and having two wings located between the two ears of each said pairs, and a rod anchored in said bracket and passing through said ears and wings.

4. A relay comprising a magnet having vertically disposed pole pieces, a bracket adjacent said pole pieces having vertically disposed slots therein, screws passing through said slots and engaging said pole pieces for securely `clamping said bracket to said pole pieces, an armature pivotally mounted in said bracket and controlled by said magnet, and micrometric means for adjust-ing said bracket and said armature relative to said pole pieces.

5. A relay ycomprising a magnet having pole pieces, a bracket carrying a pivotally mounted armature extending across l said pole pieces and controlled by said magnet,

and means for adjustably mounting said bracket on said pole pieces comprising, spring means constantly urging said bracket in one direction relative to said pole pieces, micrometrically adjustable means for limiting the movement of said bracket under the influence of said spring means, and clamping means engaging said pole pieces for retaining said bracket in its adjusted position.

G. A relay comprising a magnet having pole pieces, a bracket carrying a pivotally mounted armature extending across said pole pieces and controlled by said magnet, and means for adj ustably mounting said bracket on said pole pieces comprising, spring means constantly urging said bracket in one direction relative to said pole pieces, micrometrically adjustable means for limiting the movement of said bracket under the influence of said spring means, adjustable stop means carried by said bracket and engaging a member secured to said pole pieces for adjusting the angular position of said bracket and said armature relative to said pole pieces, and clamping means engaging said pole pieces for retaining said bracket in its adjusted posit-ion,

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

AINSLIE T. CARTER.

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