Patent GB-770441-A (GB)
Title: Electrical permutation selector switch
IPC: H01H67/26
Filed: 1954-03-08
Abstract: 770,441. Electric selective signalling systems. KLEINSCHMIDT LABORATORIES, Inc. March 8, 1954 [March 10, 1953], No. 6660/54. Class 40 (1). [Also in Group XL (b)] A permutation selecting device comprises a number of relatively shiftable selecting plates which are provided with contact members permutably arranged and which are controlled and selectively set in one of two positions to establish alignment of at least one definite series of contacts through the plates, which remain in their adjusted positions after the means has been released, and additional means are provided to coact with the plates after their release from the control means to provide the transverse electrically conductive path or paths through the plates. The selector plates 18 . . . 26, of insulating material, each formed with thirty-two conducting studs 32 are longitudinally movable on pins 34, 35, 36 and co-operate with a fixed plate 10 carrying thirty-two terminal pins 12 and a conducting sheet 38 carrying a terminal 40 for connection to a source of voltage. The sheet 38 is mounted on a non-conducting plate 44 carried by a plate 42 laterally displaceable on pins 34, 36 against the action of springs 47, 48 by wedges 50, 52 engaging inclined wedges 54, 56 on a plate 58 moved longitudinally by the arm 62 of a pivoted bell-crank 68 having a follower 70 engaged by a cam 72 on the receiver shaft. The voltage is not applied to the terminal 40 until the plate 58 has been moved to press the conducting strip 38 against the plates 18 . . . 26. The pins 12 may be connected to relays for selecting telegraph channels or to magnets for operating the keys of a typewriter. The plates 18 . . . 26 may be set by a selecting mechanism, Fig. 3 (not shown), similar to that shown in Specification 748,140, [Group XL (b)], and notched code rings, set simultaneously with the plates 18 . . . 26, can be employed to effect the printing of a character or the selection of a function. In a modification, Fig. 4 (not shown), five separate electromagnets selectively move the plates 18 . . . 26 in a vertical direction, the operated plates being latched by spring-biased detents. After the plates have been pressed together and the source of voltage connected to effect the selection of a terminal 12, a bail operated by the cam which applied pressure to the plates releases the latching detents so that the vertically moved plates drop to their normal position. In a further modification, Fig. 5, the plates 18 . . . 26 are set under control of a perforated tape 208 co-operating with feelers 212 having pins 214 located opposite the perforations and annular grooves 210 in the feedshaft 200. The feelers have projections 216, 218 co-operating with extensions 244, 246 of five T-levers 116 mounted on a shaft 242 carried by an arm 114<SP>1</SP> rocked by a cam 236 on the shaft 198. The T-levers have rounded ends 118 engaging slots 120 in the vertically movable plates 18 . . . 26. If the feeler 212 is in its lowered position the engagement of projection 244 with the projection 216 when the shaft 242 is moved forward rocks the lever 116 so that the associated bar 18 . . . 26 is moved upwardly. A cam 72 allows a spring to rock lever 68 clockwise to press the plates together and a cam 182 operates lever 184 to close contacts 185, 186 applying voltage to the terminal 40 of plate 38. A bail 224 carried by a shaft 226 rocked by a cam 234 engages projections 220 to lift those feelers which have engaged perforations in the tape which is then stepped for the sensing of the next code combination.