Improvements in or connected with Electric Switches for Signalling and other Purposes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Jan., 1896-Accepted, 18th Apr., 1896
[Communicated from abroad by ELECTRIC SELECTOR & SIGNAL COMPANY, of
45 Broadway, New York, United States of America.]
Improvements in or connected with Electric Switches for Signalling
and other Purposes.
I THEODORE MCKENNA, of 17 and 18 Basinghall Street in the City of London
Solicitor and Patent Agent, 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 :-
Figure 1 of the drawings is a view of the device with the switch lifted out of
contact and in position to be forced down by an impulse through the coils of the
magnet.
Figure 2, a view of the same with the switch down and contacts closed, and the
switch locked in place; the dotted lines showing the position of the armature
lever when down and the full lines showing the lever and its pivoted arm when it
has passed behind the bracket.
Figure 3 is a view of the same with pin on end of the pivoted arm &³ in position
to force out the arm d¹ and unlock the switch.
Figure 4 is a view of the pivoted hanger on the end of armature lever and
showing position of the spring for operating this hanger to throw its lower end to
the right.
Figure 5, a view of the pivoted hanger on centre.
Figure 6, a view of pivoted hanger forced to the other side and its spring ready
to throw it back.
Viewing Figure 1-A is a frame of wood or other suitable material provided
with the binding posts a', a², a³, a'; upon this frame is suitably mounted the electro
magnet B, provided with its armature lever b', and retracting spring 2; the dotted
lines on Figure 3 show the connections with the binding posts and the line so that
an impulse through the coils of the electro magnet will operate its armature lever
and a break will allow it to be retracted by its spring.
The switch C is pivoted at c', its normal position is drawn up by the tension of
the spring as shown in Figure 1; on the end of this switch is placed the
contact e, made of suitable conducting material and arranged to make contact
with the plate c', when forced down; attached to the switch is the bracket co, and
this bracket is provided on one side with the projection and on the other side it
is slightly rounded; the bracket cs and projection may be made in two pieces
instead of solid as shown in the figures; on the spring C is also placed a lug
as ; to co-operate with a checking or locking device hereinafter fully explained.
Suitably pivoted to a part of the frame is the hanger D, provided with the
arms d', d; the lower ends of its arms are forced to the right by the spring d³,
and to the left by the downward movement of the armature lever 61; on the end
of this armature lever is pivoted the arm 63, which near its lower end is provided
with a pin or projection b. When the switch is down the arm comes in contact
with the lug or projection e' and holds the switch in position until the arm is forced
off of the projection by the passage of the pin 6, between the bracket and the
arm d; the action of the pivoted arm 63 is controlled by the spring 6 secured to
the armature lever at one end with its other end resting on the top of the arm.
The action of this spring on the arm 3 is illustrated in Figures 4, 5, and 6; when
the arm is hanging plumb the spring rests upon the plane top surface of the arm

page_text: as shown in Figure 5; when it is out of plumb with its lower end to the left of a
plumb line, the spring rests upon the upper left hand corner of the arm as shown
in Figures 3 and 4; when it is thrown to the right of a plumb line the spring rests
upon the upper right hand corner of the arm as shown in Figures 1 and 5.
Viewing the position of the parts as shown in Figure 1, it will be seen that an
impulse through the coils of the magnet will force down the armature lever and
the switch until the contacts c³, ', are closed as shown in Figure 2, which also
shows in dotted lines the position of the armature lever and the arm 63; at this
point the hanger D has been forced out by its spring d until the arm has passed
above and over the lug c', holding the contacts 3, c closely together, the circuit
through the binding posts a, a' is then closed and remains closed until it is opened
by another impulse; in this closed position of the contacts the spring 6 is resting
upon the upper right hand corner of the arm 63, as shown in Figure 6; when the
armature lever is released and drawn back by its spring &, the pin passes up
beyond the top of bracket d', when the spring throws the arm to the left in the
position shown in full lines in Figure 2, and ready when it descends to enter the
pin behind the bracket, and between it and the arm ; when another impulse is
given and the arm descends the position of the spring is changed and rests upon
the upper left hand corner of the arm as shown in Figures 3 and 4, and in
descending actuates the arm d', disengaging the arm & from the projection ; the
switch is then thrown up by the spring e; at the same time the action of the
spring on the arm 3, throws the pin to the other side of the bracket; when it
takes its position on the seat e' ready for another impulse to close the contacts ',,
thus with each impulse the current in that circuit is opened or closed.
The above description represents the action of the device when used upon an
open magnet circuit and its operation in response to impulses, but it will be seen
that the same device may be used upon closed circuit by using the retracting
spring of the armature lever to close the contacts and the impulse through the coils
of the magnet to open them.
It will also be seen that the device may be operated by hand and without the
use of the magnet B, and that it may also be operated in connection with any
other device as well as a switch: for example, by connecting a semaphore or other
device to the end of switch bar C, it would be thrown to safety by one movement
of the switch bar in a forward or downward direction, and with the next forward
movement of the actuating arm D the locking devices would be released and allow
the semaphore to be returned to danger.
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. In a circuit controlling device provided with an actuating arm therefor,
having a forward and a backward movement, and devices for impelling the arm a
fixed distance to thereby complete the throw of the circuit controlling device, in
combination with locking devices actuated by said arm in its forward movement
whereby the circuit controlling device is locked and retained in position whilst the
arm is withdrawn to complete its backward movement, and releasing devices.
actuated by the next forward movement of said arm an equal distance to thereby
throw out the locking devices and release the circuit controlling device.
2. In a circuit controlling device provided with an actuating arm therefor
having a forward and backward movement and devices for impelling the arm a
fixed distance to complete the throw of the circuit controlling device, against the
tension of a retractile spring, in combination with locking devices actuated by sail
arm in its forward movement, whereby the circuit controlling device is locked and
retained in position, whilst the arm is withdrawn to complete its backward move-
ment, and releasing devices actuated by the next forward movement of said arm an
equal distance to thereby throw out the locking devices, and allow the retractile
spring to restore the circuit controlling device to starting point.

page_text: 3. In a circuit changing device the combination with a switch as C provided
with the bracket c, of an armature lever provided with a pivoted arm as b³, the
spring arranged in connection therewith, to throw the arm 63 to one side or the
other of the bracket as required.
4. In a circuit controlling device provided with an actuating arm therefor
having a forward and a backward movement and devices for impelling the arm to
complete the throw of the circuit controlling device an equal distance with each
forward movement, in combination with automatic locking devices to hold and
retain the circuit controlling device at the end of its course whilst the impelling
devices are withdrawn, and a guiding device whereby the impelling devices are
directed to actuate the circuit controlling device to the end of its course, and to.
unlock and release the same at the next forward movement.
Dated the 7th day of January 1896
THEO. MCKENNA.