Improvements in Electric Drop Lights.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electric Drop Lights.
I, GWYNNE ERNEST PAINTER, of No. 16, East Center Street in the City of
Baltimore, State of Maryland, and United States of America, Electrician, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My invention relates to improvements in the construction of electric drop lights
and refers particularly to the class in which the lamp is suspended by a current
conveying cord wound upon a drum, by the action of a spring or other counter-
balance, and unwound by hand. An automatic locking and releasing device, similar
to the well known form used upon curtain rollers, is employed to give the necessary
vertical adjustability.
The invention consists in improvements upon the construction and combination of
the various details of the devices referred to. and also particularly to the means
employed to automatically control the supply circuit simultaneously with the
lowering and raising of the lamps.
In the accompanying drawings-
Fig. 1 is a side view of a device embodying my invention showing the lamp cord
partly unwound.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken upon the line - of Fig. 1, but with the shaft
and actuating spring in full lines.
Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view.
Fig. 4 is a detail view of the contact making segment wheel.
Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views showing two extreme operative positions of the
contact making segment wheel.
As seen in the drawings-
Upon the spindle S, are rotatably mounted the disks H, H', h, which carry the
grooved cylinder C, which which the lamp cord c, is wound and unwound. The
disks H, H, h, support each other by means of a brace bar b, and screw, and
the cylinder is adapted to be readily withdrawn from said disks upon removal of
the screw i, (see Fig. 3). By this arrangement access is given to the binding
posts p, p, upon the inner side of the head II', to which the conductors of the cord
are attached. The cylinder C, has a notch n, in one end for the passage of the
cord from the exterior winding surface to said binding posts. This notch is in one
end of the spiral groove Q, in which the cord is wound. Guards G, G', are fastened
5 to the plate A, and depend therefrom in close proximity to the cylinder, serving to
keep the cord c, in the groove.
Between the head H, and disk h, is arranged a spring s, one end of which is
fastened near the peripheries of said disks by a screw, and the other end fixed
upon the shaft S. Upon forcibly unwinding the cord c, the springs, will be wound
0 up and its unwinding itself will wind the cord again. An automatic locking and
releasing device is provided upon the head H, and the whole arrangement acts in
a similar manner to an ordinary spring curtain roller.
و"
Referring now particularly to Fig. 1-a metallic contact ring R, and a contact
plate R', are fixed upon the head H', which is made of insulating material. A
5 switch block F, of insulating material, is mounted upon the plate A, and to it are
fixed the contact pieces p, p, to which are attached the main circuit wires 1, and 2,
and the contact pieces p, p, to which are attached the spring contacts E, E¹.
Mounted upon the spindle S, (see Figs. 2 and 4,) and loosely rotating thereon, is
a barrel T, having a half wheel W, upon one end and a number of contact fingers
0 upon the other. These fingers bear upon the plate R', with sufficient pressure to

page_text: make the barrel and half wheel_rotate with the cylinder C, until the pin j, comes
into contact with the stop screw J, upon the hanger B', when the barrel T, and half
wheel W, will be stopped and the cylinder may continue to rotate, the fingers f
maintaining electrical contact with the plate R¹.
The contact spring E, is placed so that the half wheel W, will engage it when
the lamp is pulled down quickly, the friction of the fingers, upon plate R', being
sufficient to enable the half wheel W, to overcome the resistance of spring E, and
lift it upon its periphery, thereby completing circuit between the lamp and main
circuit through spring E, half wheel W, barrel T, fingers, plate R¹, binding
post p', cord c, binding post p, and spring contact E¹.
By slacking up the cord, the spring will rotate the cylinder in the opposite
direction until it is caught by the automatic locking device r. As seen in Figs. 5
and 6, the pin, is so positioned that when it is in contact with the stop screw J,
the half wheel will be at its extreme limit of throw and the spring contact E, will
engage the periphery of the half wheel W, at the opposite end to which it first
engaged it. That is, with the pin j, against the stop screw J, the contact making
periphery of the half wheel will all be above a horizontal line drawn through the
centre of the spindle c. The notches of the automatic locking device are opposite
each other at an angle slightly oblique to said horizontal line, and whichever one
happens to be uppermost will be engaged by a pawl upon a slight reverse rotation
of the cylinder C. The half wheel will reverse with the cylinder but the rotation
being only partial the spring E, will maintain contact with the periphery of the
half wheel W. When it is desired to extinguish the light and get it out of the way,
a slight pull will disengage the locking mechanism and the spring S, will rewind the
cord, at the same time throwing back the half wheel W, until the pin j. engages
the stop screw J.
The cylinder may then continue to wind the cord up to any distance without
altering the position of the half wheel W.
The head H', of the cylinder is preferably made of some good insulating material,
as also is the grooved piece upon which the cord is wound.
The contact ring R, which is engaged by the spring contact E, and the plate R¹,
engaged by spring contact E¹, are held in position by screws i, ³, which also
fasten in position the contact pieces 1, l', and binding screws,, which engage the
conductors of the cord c.
In connection with Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings, I have illustrated in
detail a terminal block and binding posts thereon for the necessary fuses and contact
pieces.
Although in the drawing a lamp having a socket key, is shown, it is obvious that
this is entirely unnecessary since the switching of the lamp circuit is accomplished
automatically.
The details of my device may be modified in many ways without departing from
the novelty thereof, and I do not therefore, limit myself to the precise details of
construction shown.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The combination with the winding mechanism of an electric drop light, of a
circuit breaker mounted upon said mechanism in frictional engagement therewith,
and automatically operated thereby to make and break circuit at any point in the
range of adjustment of the said drop light.
2. The combination with the winding cylinder of an electric drop light, of a
circuit breaker making continuous frictional contact therewith and thereby operated
automatically by the rotation thereof, said circuit breaker making and breaking
circuit at any point in the range of adjustment of the drop light.
3. The combination with the winding cylinder of an electric drop light having a
contact plate upon one of its heads, of a circuit breaker in continuous frictional

page_text: contact with the said plate said frictional connection automatically operating the
circuit breaker upon the rotation of the cylinder thereby making and breaking
circuit at any point in the range of adjustment of the drop light.
4. The combination in an electric drop light of a fixed shaft, a winding cylinder
rotatably mounted upon said shaft, and a circuit breaker rotatably mounted
upon said shaft making frictional contact with the cylinder and operated by the
rotation thereof.
5. The combination in an electric drop light of a ceiling plate, hangers depending
therefrom, a winding cylinder rotating upon a shaft supported by said hangers, a
contact plate upon one of the heads of said cylinder, an automatic circuit breaker
rotatably mounted upon said shaft and making frictional contact with the said
contact plate, said circuit-breaker being insulated from the supporting shaft.
6. The combination in an electric drop light of a shaft and a winding cylinder
mounted thereon, a contact plate upon said cylinder, a circuit controller rotatably
mounted upon said shaft, friction fingers forming part of said controller engaging
the plate, a segment of a wheel also forming part of the controller, and made
integral with said fingers, the said segment being adapted to complete the circuit of
the drop light through the said fingers and contact plate.
7. The combination in an electric drop light of a circuit breaker adapted to
automatically make and break circuit at any point in the range of adjustment of the
said light and simultaneously with the raising and lowering thereof, and stops so
placed as to retain the said controller in either of two extreme operative positions.
8. An electric drop light comprising a winding cylinder, a conducting cord
adapted to be wound upon said cylinder and to carry the drop light, a circuit
breaker in continuous frictional engagement with the said winding cylinder, and a
stationary contact located in position to be engaged by the circuit breaker in any
position of the light.