Patent GB-289162-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to remote control mechanism
IPC: F16C1/06
Filed: 1927-01-22
Abstract: 289,162. Barber, W. E., and Watts, H. A. Jan. 22, 1927. Flexible - pull actuation.- Flexible transmission mechanism for actuating distant apparatus such as electric switches, variable electric condensers, rheostats, &c. comprises, in a rigid guide tube, a flexible member formed externally of closely coiled wire or wholly of superposed windings of closely coiled wire with adjacent layers wound in opposite directions, and actuating or actuated members connected thereto by means of toothed or threaded elements adapted to engage the coils to form a clamping attachment, or a screw-and-nut connection. The flexible member may be moved longitudinally by direct actuation, by rotating it within a stationary nut or by rotating the nut on the flexible member. Alternatively the flexible member may be rotated to cause translation of a distant nut. Combinations of such movements may provide for coarse and fine adjustments. The metal guide tube 6 is bent as required, extends between the supporting brackets 5, 10 &c. and can be led right up to the actuating or actuated members. The nut or clamping element may comprise a plate 7, Figs. 1 and 3, or a pair of plates 32, 33, Fig. 8, toothed or notched to thread into the coils of the flexible member 2. The actuating discs 4 are secured by plates 7 located in radial slots in the hubs thereof and pressed into engagement with the flexible member 2 by conicalheaded screws 8. An intermediate milled adjusting collar 26. Fig 1, mounted in fixed bearing brackets 11, 12 is also slotted radially to receive a plate 7 which is pressed into engagement with the flexible member by a set screw 29. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 8, the plate 32 is carried by a frame 34. the plate 33 being on a separate block and pressed into engagement by a set screw 19 drawing in the other plate 32 at the same time, the plates passing through elongated slots in sleeve members. such as 13, Fig. 1, or 31, 41, Fig. 6, into threaded engagement with the flexible member. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, a variable condenser mounted on a spindle 3 is actuated by the longitudinal displacement of a nut member 17, such as shown in Fig. 8, effected by rotating the flexible member 2 from either end control 1 or the intermediate control 26. The nut 17 travels along the fixed slotted sleeve 13 and actuates the condenser disc 20 through a swinging arm 22 pivoted on a support 23, adjustable in a slot 26<1> to regulate the relation between the movement of the nut and the arc of movement of. the condenser. The intermediate control 26 may be eliminated and the flexible member 2 moved longitudinally without rotation, the members 7 in the controls 1 in this case being adjusted to act as nuts. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 6, the nut member 42 is rigidly clamped to the flexible member whilst the nut member 34 is adjusted to permit of screw-and-nut action, each of these members being slidable on a slotted sleeve 41, 31 mounted in a fixed bracket 40, 30. For intermediate actuation, the sleeve 41 may be rotated by means of a milled collar 43. Coarse adjustment may be effected by loosening a clamping screw 37 located in a slot in the bracket 30 and sliding the nut member 34 along the sleeve, the flexible member 2 being carried therewith. Fine adjustment is effected by clamping the screw 37 and rotating the flexible member by the actuating means 1 or 43 in which case it screws through the stationary nut member 34. The remote end 2a of the flexible member 2 may be operatively connected to a variable condenser in the manner shown in Fig 1. Between the bracked 30 and. the actuating means 1, the cable 2 is not encased, enabling the actuating means 1 to be located on a movable member such as the joy-stick of an aeroplane. Specification 159,600, [Class 80 (iii), Linkwork &c.], is referred to.