A contact armature, intended for being inserted into a conductor rail for use

Abstract: The invention relates to a contact armature intended for being inserted into a conductor rail for use. The armature is provided with a housing with a bottom, with side walls extending upwards from said bottom and with a cover. Contact means made of a resilient material are accommodated in the housing, whereby parts of the contact means project from the housing through openings provided in the cover, so as to make contact with conductors located inside the conductor rail upon insertion of the contact armature into the conductor rail. A projecting sleeve-shaped part is secured to the bottom of the housing so as to pass a connecting flex connected to the contact means. The sleeve-shaped part supports a sleeve-shaped means, which is pivotable with respect to said sleeve-shaped part, to which sleeve-shaped means two projections are secured, which can be brought into locking engagement with parts of the conductor rail.

Description: The invention relates to a contact armature intended for being inserted into a conductor rail for use and being provided with a housing comprising a bottom and side walls extending from said bottom, whilst contact means made of a resilient material are accommodated in the housing, whereby parts of said contact means may project from the housing so as to make contact with conductors located inside the conductor rail upon insertion of the contact armature into the conductor rail, whereby an elongated connecting part projecting from the housing is connected to the housing so as to pass a connecting flex connected to the contact means and to support a sleeve-shaped means, which is provided with two projections and which is pivotable with respect to said connecting part, between a first position, in which projections project from the housing through openings provided in two opposite side walls of the housing, so that they can come into locking engagement with parts of the conductor rail, and a second position, in which said projections are located within the outer sides of said opposite side walls. Such a contact armature is known from DE-A-3811128. With this known contact armature the connecting part, which is built up of a few adjoining parts having different diameters, is surrounded by the sleeve-shaped means carrying the projections, said sleeve-shaped means likewise being built up of a few adjoining parts having different diameters. The housing is built up of two separate parts, which, when the contact armature is being assembled, are to be clamped together by means of bolts or rivets, while simultaneously retaining parts located in the housing of both the connecting part and the sleeve-shaped means supported by the connecting part. Consequently both the connecting part and the sleeve-shaped means provided with projections are of rather complicated construction with this known contact armature. Furthermore the assembly of the contact armature is difficult and time-consuming. According to the invention the sleeve-shaped means is journalled in the interior of the elongated connecting part, which is integral with the housing, whereby the projections join the end of the sleeve-shaped means projecting from the connecting part in the housing, and whereby the connecting part is surrounded by a second sleeve-shaped means, which is rotatable about the connecting part and which is connected to the first sleeve-shaped means having projections by means of a projection which extends through a slotted hole provided in the wall of the connecting part and crossing the central axis of said connecting part perpendicularly. When using the construction according to the invention use is made of two sleeve-shaped means of simple construction, which are easy to provide in or on, as the case may be, the connecting part which is integral with the housing, as a result of which the contact armature can be assembled in a simple manner. It is noted that DE-A-2,411,976 also discloses a contact armature provided with a housing consisting of two parts, between which a hub of a control lever is retained. The part of the hub located inside the housing is provided with two projections, by means of which the contact armature can be secured in a conductor rail. Also this known contact armature has a construction which strongly differs from the construction of the contact armature according to the invention. The invention will be explained in more detail hereafter with reference to a possible embodiment of the construction according to the invention illustrated in the accompanying Figures. Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a contact armature according to the invention, along the line I - I in Figure 2, with a spotlight (only partly shown) carried by said contact armature. Figure 2 is a plan view of the contact armature illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a partly sectional, partly elevational view of the contact armature along the line III - III in Figure 2. The contact armature shown in Figure 1 comprises a housing 1, which is provided with a bottom 2 and with side walls 3 - 6 extending upwards from said bottom. A sleeve 7 is secured to the bottom, said sleeve extending into the interior of the housing 1 along a small part of its length and furthermore projecting beyond the bottom 2, in such a manner that the central axis 8 of the sleeve 7 extends perpendicularly to the bottom 2. Arc-shaped partitions 9 and 10, extending concentrically about the central axis 8, are provided between the opposite side walls 5 and 6 of the housing. A partition 11 extending parallel to the side walls 5 and 6 extends from the partition 9 in the direction of the side wall 3. A short back part 12 extends from the partition 10, said back part extending parallel to the side walls 5 and 6, whilst a partition 12′ is provided spaced therefrom. In the interior of the housing L-shaped wall parts 13 are furthermore provided, in the corner points where the side walls 3 - 6 join each other, as will be apparent in particular from Figure 2. Said parts 11 - 13 of the housing function to support and fix contact means 14 and 15 made of a resilient metal, which are provided with contact fingers 16 and 17 extending parallel to the walls 5 and 6. As appears in particular from Figure 1 the free ends of said contact fingers 16 and 17 extend beyond the side of the housing 1 remote from the bottom 2. This open side of the housing 1 can be closed by means of a cover (not shown), which can be clamped on the housing 1 and which is provided with slotted passages for passing the contact fingers 16 and 17. Insofar as described above the construction of the contact armature at least substantially corresponds with the construction of the contact armature described in the prior Dutch Patent Application No. 7,805,626. As appears in particular from Figure 1 a circular recess 18 is provided in the sleeve 7, said recess being open at the upper side of the sleeve 7 and having a stepped section. Said recess 18 accommodates a sleeve 19, whose section is adapted to the shape of the recess 18, so that an inwardly projecting collar 20′ of the sleeve 19 abuts against a shoulder formed by the stepped configuration of the recess 18. The upper end of the sleeve 19 projects from the upper end of the sleeve 7, said upper end of the sleeve 19 being provided with two diametrically opposite projections or cams 20. At its outer side the sleeve 7 is surrounded by a sleeve 21, which is integral with a control arm 22 extending radially from the outer side of said sleeve 21. At its inner side the sleeve 21 is provided with a projecting cam 23 (Figure 3), which extends through a slotted hole 24 provided in the wall of the sleeve 7 and extending about the central axis 8 through a predetermined angle, whilst the free end of the cam 23 is located in a hole provided in the sleeve 19, so that when the sleeve 21 is pivoted about the sleeve 7 by means of the control arm 22, the sleeve 19 is carried along, whilst the magnitude of the angle through which the sleeves 19 and 21 can be rotated is determined by the length of the slotted hole 24. The interior of the sleeve 7 accommodates the upper part of a sleeve 25, which is at its bottom end provided with a projecting flange 26 being integral therewith and with a connecting piece 27, on which a so-called spotlight 28 (only diagrammatically shown in Figure 1) is mounted. A spacing ring 29 with packings 30 is arranged between the bottom side of the sleeve 7 and the flange 26. The connecting piece 27, the flange 26 and the spacing ring 29 are surrounded by a protective sleeve 31 extending between the spotlight 28 and the bottom end of the sleeve 21. The sleeve 25 is internally threaded, whilst a hollow bolt 32 is screwed into the sleeve 25 from above, when seen in Figure 1, the hexagonal head 33 of said bolt extending beyond the upper side of the sleeve 7 and the collar 20′ of the sleeve 19, with the interposition of a spring washer 34. It will be apparent that in this manner the various parts are connected to the housing 1 by means of the bolt 32. As appears from Figure 1, the control arm 22 is double-walled, whereby a cavity is formed between the two spaced-apart boundary walls of the control arm 22, a projecting locking cam 35 secured to the bottom 2 being located in said cavity in the position of the control arm illustrated in Figure 1, in which said control arm is located under the housing 1, when seen in plan view, and extends in the longitudinal direction of said housing. Consequently the control arm 22 can only be pivoted by exerting a pressure on the control arm from this position, such that a side wall of the control arm is slightly deformed so as to be able to pass the cam 35. In this locked position of the control arm the projections or cams 20 project beyond the opposite side walls 5 and 6, as shown in Figure 2, so that they extend, spaced by some distance therefrom, parallel to those parts of the bottom 2 that project from the side walls 5 and 6 and that will not abut against the lower sides of a conductor rail (not shown) when the housing is inserted into said conductor rail. Prior to said insertion of the housing into the conductor rail the control arm 22 will first be pivoted from the position shown in Figure 1 to the position 22′ illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 2, in which the projections 20 will be withdrawn to within the side walls 5 and 6, so that the projections 20 will not prevent the housing from being inserted into the conductor rail in question. Once the housing 1 has thus been inserted into the conductor rail, the control arm 22 can be pivoted back to the position shown in Figure 1, whereby the cams or projections 20 are moved towards the outside through openings provided in the side walls 5 and 6 for that purpose and thereby will come into engagement with strips or the like provided in the interior of the conductor rail in question for that purpose, so as to lock the housing in the conductor rail in question. A connecting flex will be connected with one end to tags of the contact means 14 and 15 located inside the housing, be passed through the hollow bolt 32 and with its other be connected to the spotlight 28 or the like.

Claims: A contact armature intended for being inserted into a conductor rail for use and being provided with a housing (1) comprising a bottom (2) and side walls (3 - 6) extending from said bottom, whilst contact means (14, 15) made of a resilient material are accommodated in the housing (1), whereby parts (16, 17) of said contact means may project from the housing (1) so as to make contact with conductors located inside the conductor rail upon insertion of the contact armature into the conductor rail, whereby an elongated connecting part (7) projecting from the housing (1) is connected to the housing (1) so as to pass a connecting flex connected to the contact means and to support a sleeve-shaped means (19), which is provided with two projections (20) and which is pivotable with respect to said connecting part (7), between a first position, in which the projections (20) project from the housing (1) through openings provided in two opposite side walls (5, 6) of the housing (1), so as to be brought into locking engagement with parts of the conductor rail, and a second position, in which said projections (20) are located within the outer sides of said opposite side walls (5 - 6), characterized in that said sleeve-shaped means (19) is journalled in the interior of the elongated connecting part (7), which is integral with the housing (1), whereby the projections (20) join the end of the sleeve-shaped means (19) projecting from the connecting part (7) in the housing (1), and whereby the connecting part (7) is surrounded by a second sleeve-shaped means (21), which is pivotable about the connecting part (7) and which is connected to the first sleeve-shaped means (19) having projections (20) by means of a projection (23) which extends through a slotted hole (24) provided in the wall of the connecting part (7) and intersecting the central axis of said connecting part (7) perpendicularly. A contact armature according to claim 1, characterized in that said first sleeve-shaped means (19) is received in a recess (18) provided in said connecting part (7), said recess being open at one end of said connecting part (7) and extending concentrically about the central axis of the connecting part (7). A contact armature according claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a radially extending arm (22) is secured to said second sleeve-shaped means (21), said arm being provided with a cavity for receiving a locking cam (35), which is secured to the bottom (2) of the housing (1), in the position of the interconnected sleeve-shaped means (19, 21) in which the projections (20) project from the respective side walls (5, 6). A contact armature according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a sleeve (25) is inserted into the interior of the connecting piece (7), at the end of the connecting piece (7) remote from the housing (1), said sleeve (25) being internally threaded, whilst a hollow bolt (32) is screwed into the internally threaded hole of said sleeve (25), the upper end (33) of said bolt functioning as a locking means for the sleeve-shaped means (19) carrying the projections (20) and being supported by the connecting part (7). A contact armature according to claim 4, characterized in that said sleeve (25) is at its bottom side provided with a connecting piece (27) for attaching a spotlight (28) or the like thereto, whilst said connecting piece (27) is surrounded by a protective sleeve (31), which is disposed between said spotlight (28) or the like and the bottom end of the second sleeve-shaped means (21), which is pivotable about the connecting part (7) secured to the bottom of the housing (1).

Inventors: VAN DER VLIET GERT, VAN DER VLIET, GERT
Applicants: LUMIANCE BV, LUMIANCE B.V.
Application year: 1992
Main classification: H01R25
IPC codes: F21V21, H01R25