US3417391A

US3417391A - Electromagnetically operated multistage flag indicator

Info

Publication number: US3417391A
Application number: US572510A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ando Fumio; Okada Hidekazu; Mogi Tooru
Original assignee: Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co Ltd
Current assignee: Toshiba Corp
Priority date: 1965-08-20
Filing date: 1966-08-15
Publication date: 1968-12-17
Anticipated expiration: 1985-12-17
Also published as: GB1137265A; DE1516578A1; DE1516578B2

Description

Dec. 17, 1968 FUMIO ANDO ETAL ELECTROMAGNETICALLY OPERATED MULTISTAGE FLAG INDICATOR Filed Aug. 15. 1966 4 Sheets-Shea. 1

FIG. 1

FIG. 2 {336.25

m M I A 4 mu M mm; Y #n B 4 V w W.

1968 FUMIO ANDO ETAL ,391

ELECTROMAGNETICALLY OPERATED MULTISTAGE FLAG INDICATOR Filed Aug. 15, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheer, 2

3 9 3O 2 43 g: 1192"? EH" FiG 3 3 jaw FIG. 4

FiQS

7, 1968 FUMIO ANDO ETAL 9 ELECTROMAGNETICALLY OPERATED MULTISTAGE FLAG INDICATOR Filed Aug. 15, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet, 3

5 H33 36 25 4.32 u t: 43 W 5 I 34 35 Dec. 17, 968 FUMIO ANDO ETAL 17,

ELECTROMAGNETICALLY OPERATED MULTISTAGB FLAG INDICATOR Filed Aug. 15, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 29 FIG. 10

United States Patent 3,417,391 ELECTROMAGNETICALLY OPERATED MULTI- STAGE FLAG INDICATOR Fumio Ando, Hidekazu Okada, and Tooru Mogi, Tokyo, Japan, assignors to Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co., Ltd.,

Kawasaki-shi, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Aug. 15, 1966, Ser. No. 572,510 Claims priority, application Japan, Aug. 20, 1965, 40/ 50,792 6 Claims. (Cl. 340376) This invention relates to a multistage flag target adapted to indicate operating conditions of controlled means such as electrical or mechanical machinery and apparatus, and more particularly to a multistage flag target wherein upon receiving a signal, for example, a signal which indicates the occurrence of faults, from a controlled means, a first indicating plate or flag is operated and in case where the fault indicating signal is supplied continuously an indication for confirming the presence of faults is provided.

More particularly, according to this invention there is provided a multistage flag target comprising an electromagnet and an armature disposed to oppose the electromagnet. In response to the operation and state of the armature the positions of a first flag and a second flag are determined so as to provide visible indications concerning the operating condition of the controlled means and confirmation of said operating condition.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved multistage flag target of simple construction and in which flags are not supported by resilient mechanism.

This invention provides a multistage flag target comprising a base, an electromagnet supported by said base and adapted to be energized by signals from a controlled means, an armature located on said base to be attractable by said electromagnet, a first flag movable substantially in the vertical direction, a second flag located under said first flag and movable substantially in the vertical direction, means to support said first flag on said armature when said electromagnet is deenergized and cause said first flag to disengage said armature and drop when said electromagnet is energized, confirming means which when actuated operates to push up both of said flags and means to support said second flag on said armature when said second flag is pushed up by said confirming means during the period of energization of said electromagnet whereby the position of said flags indicates the condition of said controlled means or the confirmation of said condition.

The foregoing and other features of the invention will be evident from the following description concerning two typical types of multistage flag targets embodying this invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a plan view, partly in section, of one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view, partly in section, of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 to 5 indicate side views of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to explain various operating conditions thereof;

FIG. 6 shows a side view, partly broken away, of a modified embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 7 shows a partial side view of a modified latch means;

FIG. 8 shows a partial plan view of another example of the latch means;

FIG. 9 shows a front view of the latch means shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a partial side view illustrating a modified flag; and

FIGS. 11 and 12 show partial side views of two modiifiled constructions of combined confirming means and Referring now to the accompanying drawings, the multistage flag target constructed according to this invention and shown in FIG. 1 comprises an electromagnet 21 including an electric coil 23 wound upon a magnetic core 22 and an armature 25. Upon energization of the coil 23 the armature is attracted thereby to actuate a first and a second flag or

indicators

26 and 27 to indicate the operating condition of a controlled means (not shown) or to provide confirmation indication of the operating condition as will be described later. The electromagnet 21 is secured to an electric insulative base 1 positioned on the rear side thereof. An L-shaped yoke 2 is mounted on the base 1 and the lower end of the armature 25 is pivotally mounted on the inner end of the yoke 2 by means of a pin 24 to oppose the attraction or the inner end of the electromagnet 21. The armature 25 is biassed by a coil spring 40 so as to be attracted by the core 22 when the coil 23 is energized, but disengaged from the core 22 when the coil is deenergized. In the construction shown, one end of the coil spring 40 is connected to the armature 25 and the opposite end is connected to a vertical extension 2a of the yoke 2, but the armature 25 may be supported by a leaf spring. A stop 41 is secured to the vertical extension to extend towards the armature 25 to limit the pivotal movement thereof. A fixed indicating plate or flag 42 is secured on the front surface of the vertical extension 2a to face a view window 43 formed through the wall of a housing 3. Each of said

flags

26 and 27 is provided with a pair of

side arms

28, 28 and 29, 29, respectively which are pivotally mounted on a pair of side vertical extensions 2b of the yoke 2 by means of pins 30.

Vertically spaced hook shaped

latch members

36 and 37 made of suitable resilient metal sheet are secured on the upper end of the armature 25. A latch member 33 is provided for one of the arms 28 to cooperate with the latch member 36. Similarly, another latch member 35 is provided for one of the arms 29 to cooperate with the latch member 37. Latch

members

33 and 36 cooperate such that they are disengaged when the armature 25 is attracted by the electromagnet to permit the movable target 26 to pivot downwardly around the pin 30 by its own weight. Whereas the latch member 35 is arranged such that it will rise to flex the latch member 37 till they become locked when the arm 29 is rotated around the pin 39 in the clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 by a confirmation mechanism to be described later when the armature 25 is held in its attracted position. Further the arm 29 is provided with a supporting lug 34 adapted to hold the arm 28 so that the indicating surface of the first movable flag 26 may assume a position facing to the inner side of the view window 43 when the flag 26 is permitted to fall downwardly by its own weight. Whereas the lowest position of the second movable flag 27 is determined by an L-shaped stop 44 extending beneath the yoke 2. In the example shown, the confirming mechanism utilized to push up the movable target 27 comprises an operating rod 4 which extends through the bottom wall of the housing 3 to be movable in the longitudinal direction, a pusher member 39 secured on the upper end of the operating rod, a flange 38 adapted to prevent the operating rod 4 from falling and a knob secured to the outer end of the operating rod. The confirming mechanism may also be termed as a reset mechanism since it operates to push up the movable target 26 through the second movable target 27,

after ithas previously been dropped by its own weight, and when the electromagnet is deenergized, to raise the latch member 33 beyond the latch member 36 to again support the movable flag 26 on the armature 25. A pair of

contact supporting strips

31 and 32 are secured to the base 1 to extend forwardly in an overlapped relation above the electromagnet. When the first movable flag 26 is supported on the armature or in a position capable of being supported thereby, the first contact supporting strip 31 is pushed upwardly by the latch member 33 of the arm 28 for the movable flag 26 to separate contacts supported by the

contact supporting strips

31 and 32. On the other hand, when the flag 26 is in its dropped condition, as shown in FIG. 3 or 5, these contacts are closed.

Upon occurrence of a fault in a controlled means, not shown, the electromagnet 21 will be energized by an electric signal sent therefrom to attract the armature 25 against the inner end of the core 22 against the force of the coil spring 40. Then, the first movable flag 26 will be L released to rotate downwardly in a substantially vertical plane around the pin 30, under the effect of its own weight. FIG. 3 indicates this condition. Indications in the form of letters, symbols, colours, patterns and the like are provided on the surface of the first movable target 26 which faces the view window 43 so that the operator can confirm the indication within the housing 3 through the window 43. To indicate the fact that the occurrence of faults has been thus confirmed or to reset the movable target 26, the operator pushes upwardly the pusher element 39 by operating the knob of the confirmation mechanism. In case where the fault signal is continuously supplied to the electromagnet 21, the movable target 26 will be moved upwardly by the supporting lug 34 of the arm 29 for the second movable target 27 until the target 27 is supported by the armature with its latch member 35 engaged with the latch member 37 on the armature 25, as shown in FIG. 4. Under this condition the indicating surface of the movable target 27 is facing to the window 43 thus providing an indication of the fact that fault was confirmed. Thus, other operators are prevented from re peating the fault confirming operation. If the fault disappears and the electromagnet 21 is deenergized under this condition, the latch member 35 of the movable target 27 disengages from the latch member 35 to permit the movable target 27 to drop whereby to permit the operator to view the fixed target through the window 43 to know the fact that the fault has cleared.

Where the fault signal is momentarily given to the electromagnet 21, the armature 25 will assume a position as indicated in FIG. 5. As a consequence, when urged upwardly by the pusher element 39, the movable target 26 will be reset to the condition shown in FIG. 2 with its latch member 33 engaged with the latch member 36 on the armature. On the other hand, when the pusher element 39 is released the movable target 27 will drop to the position shown in FIG. 2 because its latch member 35 will not be locked by the latch member 37. In this case the operator will view the fixed target through the window 43 and note that the fault of the controlled member is momentary and that the cause of the fault has now disappeared.

While in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the first and the second movable targets are shown to be pivotable vertically around the pin 30 it is also possible to construct them to move vertically and straightly. Such a modification is shown in FIG. 6. In this modification a first and second movable target and 51 are slidably mounted on a vertical guide member 5 extending upwardly from the yoke 2 in parallel with the front surface of the housing 3, thus bringing the indicating surfaces of the

targets

50 and 51 in closely opposing relation with respect to the view window 43 perforated through the front surface of the housing 3. The construction and arrangement of other parts are identical with those of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 to 5, so that they are designated by the corresponding numerals and description thereof is believed unnecessary.

While in the above embodiments the latch member 37 secured on the armature to support the second movable target was shown as being made of a resilient metal plate, it may be substituted by a pawl 54 which is normally biassed to rotate in the direction of an arrow 53 by a torsion spring 52, as shown in FIG. 7. Alternatively, the latch member 37 may be made of a non-resilient hard material and the latch member 35 cooperating therewith may be substituted by a pawl 55 which normally biasses the arm 29 of the second movable target 27 to rotate in the direction of an arrow 56 under the action of a torsion spring 57, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

in the modification shown in FIG. 10, the L-shaped stop 44 utilized in the previous embodiments is eliminated, but the upper end of the second movable target 27 is bent inwardly to engage the lower end of the first movable target 26 whereby to limit the lower position thereof.

MG. 11 indicates a still further modification of the invention wherein the confirming mechanism is so improved that it is operable from the front side of the housing 3. Thus, a push rod 58 and a crank 59 are added so that the displacement 64 of the press rod 58 may be transmitted to the operating rod 39 via the rotary motion of the crank 59.

In a still further modification shown in FIG. 12 there are provided a convex cam 60 adjacent the pivot pin 30 of the arm 29 for the second movable target 27, an operating rod 61 with a head abutting against the cam and a restoring spring 62 which is inserted between the vertical extension of the yoke 2 and the knob of the operating rod 61. Thus, by pressing the knob the second movable target 27 is pivoted about the pin 30.

Make and break of the contacts 45 supported by

contact supporting strips

31 and 32 are utilized to alarm the operator by operating an indicating lamp, an electric bell or the like alarming device.

While the invention has been shown and described in terms of some preferred embodiments thereof, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications may be made within the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is: p

1. A multistage fiag target comprising a base, an electromagnet supported by said base and adapted to be energized by signals from a controlled means, an armature located on said base to be attractable by said electromagnet, a first flag movable substantially in the vertical direction, a second flag located under said first flag and movable substantially in the vertical direction, means to support said first flag on said armature when said electromagnet is deenergized and cause said first flag to disengage said armature and drop when said electromagnet is energized, confirming means which when actuated operates to push up both of said flags and means to support said second flag on said armature when said second fiag is pushed up by said confirming means during the period of energization of said electromagnet whereby the position of said flags indicates the condition of said controlled means or the confirmation of said condition.

2. The multistage flag target according to claim 1 wherein said first and second flags are supported by arms which are pivoted at a common axis.

3. The multistage flag target according to claim 1 wherein said armature is provided with a pair of latch members and respective arms for said first and second flag targets are provided with latch members engageable with said first mentioned latch members.

4. The multistage flag target according to claim 1 wherein said first and second flag targets are slidably mounted upon a vertical guide member.

5. The multistage fiag target according to claim 1 wherein a pair of contact supporting strips are mounted on said base to support a pair of cooperating contacts 5 6 which are closed when said first flag target is supported References Cited on said armature and are opened when said flag target is UNITED STATES PATENTS not supported by said armature.

6. The multistage flag target according to claim 1 2,408,106 9/1946 Steam 340 376 wherein said base is provided with a housing which en- 5 closes said electromagnet, first and second targets, said JOHN CALDWELL Pnmary housing being formed with a view window through its HAROLD PITTS, Assistant Examiner. front wall whereby the position of said flags viewed through said view window indicates the condition of said US. Cl. X.R.

controlled means or confirmation of said condition. 10 340-372

Claims

1. A MULTISTAGE FLAG TARGET COMPRISING A BASE, AN ELECTROMAGNET SUPPORTED BY SAID BASE ADAPTED TO BE ENERGIZED BY SIGNALS FROM A CONTROLLED MEANS, AN ARMATURE LOCATED ON SAID BASE TO BE ATTRACTABLE BY SAID ELECTROMAGNET, A FIRST FLAG MOVABLE SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE VERTICAL DIRECTION, A SECOND FLAG LOCATED UNDER SAID FIRST FLAG AND MOVABLE SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE VERTICAL DIRECTION, MEANS TO SUPPORT SAID FIRST FLAG ON SAID ARMATURE WHEN SAID ELECTROMAGNET IS DEENERGIZED AND CAUSE SAID FIRST FLAG TO DISENGAGE SAID ARMATURE AND DROP WHEN SAID ELECTROMAGNET IS ENERGIZED, CONFIRMING MEANS WHICH WHEN ACTUATED OPERATES TO PUSH UP BOTH OF SAID FLAGS AND MEANS TO SUPPORT SAID SECOND FLAG ON SAID ARMATURE WHEN SAID SECOND FLAG IS PUSHED UP BY SAID CONFIRMING MEANS DURING THE PERIOD OF ENERGIZATION OF SAID ELECTROMAGNET WHEREBY THE POSITION OF SAID FLAGS INDICATES THE CONDITION OF SAID CONTROLLED MEANS OR THE CONFIRMATION OF SAID CONDITION.