Improvements in Electrical Regulating Apparatus for Arc Lamps.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd May, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 19th Feb., 1897-Accepted, 22nd May, 1897
Date of Application, 22nd May, 1896
Complete Specification Left, 19th Feb., 1897-Accepted, 22nd May, 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electrical Regulating Apparatus for Arc Lamps.
I, HENRI PIEPER fils of Rue de Bajards, Liege in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Managing Director, do hereby declare the nature of said invention to be as
follows:-
Any arrangement for regulating or controlling electric arc lamps should, in order
to operate properly, be capable of causing the carbons to move part instantaneously
when the lamp is lighted, and while the same is burning, such regulating or controlling.
arrangement should enable the carbons to be brought nearer together or moved
farther apart, precisely as required, it being essential that the regulating action should
take place step by step in such a manner that the succeeding steps are of the smallest
extent possible.
None of the regulating or adjusting devices at present in use comply with this last
mentioned condition, all of them being solely dependent upon influences produced by
variations of current, of tension, of resistance, or of the distance at which the carbons
happen to be from each other at the time. The consequence is that they do not.
begin to act until after the proper relation has been departed from in one direction,
and then they will continue effective until the like condition of things occurs in
the opposite direction.
In view of the fact that the action of the regulating device can only be made
dependent upon the deviations from the normal state of the arc occurring in the lamp,
it is impossible to so construct a regulator that it will continuously maintain the
normal length of arc. But what is feasible, is to so construct the regulating device
that it shall be thrown into action the moment the normal state of the arc is altered to
the slightest possible extent, and that its action be interrupted before it produces a
deviation inversely to that by which it was caused to operate.
It is this result that is attained by the improved arrangement according to this
invention.
The controlling or adjusting arrangement according to this invention comprises an
electro-magnet, or solenoid, of any convenient shape, a suitably guided armature, or
core, which is combined with a retracting spring, or counter-weight, a pushing
pawl (or "shoe") pivotted to said lever and adapted to move either a wheel or a
rod connected with one or both of the carbon-holders, whenever the armature moves
in one direction in order to cause the carbons to move apart, and to release such wheel'
or rod, when it moves in the other direction, in order to allow the carbons to move
nearer to each other by their own weight the moment the armature or core has, in
this movement, got past a pre-determined point. Precisely at the instant at which the
wheel or rod is thus set free, and consequently the carbons begin to move towards
each other, a special device is thrown into action by the armature (or instead of such
special device the shoe or pawl itself) which instantaneously causes a variation in the
attraction of the electro-magnet (or solenoid) with the effect of reducing the attraction
to the stage, which existed before the release of the wheel or rod or to a lower stage,
and this effect is produced quite independently of the deviation brought about by the
approximation of the carbons to each other. The armature immediately recedes under
the action of its spring to its original position in which it locks in place the wheel or
rod by means of the shoe or pawl hereinbefore referred to. As with this position of
the armature, the device causing the magnetic disturbance is thrown out of operation,

page_text: the attraction exerted on the armature corresponds to the altered distance between the
carbons. Should this distance then still deviate from the normal distance, the above
operation is repeated until such normal distance is established. In no case will it be
exceeded. If, through some accident, or whilst the lamp is being kindled, the distance
should happen to be too short, the armature yielding to the action of the spring, or
weight, will, by means of the shoe or pawl, move the wheel or rod into that direction
which will cause the distance between the carbons to be increased, this movement
continuing until the normal distance is obtained.
One form in which this improved device may be best carried out is shewn in
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings in which the electro-magnet E is shown as
being included in a secondary circuit derived from the circuit of the carbons, and
adapted to attract an armature A arranged upon a lever L pivoted at O'. The lever L
carries a pushing pawl C, pivoted at O", which a spring R' holds against a stop V.
The said paw! C is in contact with a finely toothed wheel R, fixed to the roller
supporting the cord K, which either connects the two carbon-holders, or simply
supports the upper one of the same. A spring R" normally counterbalances the effect
of the electro-magnet E. The pawl C, which is insulated from the lever L, is together
with the metal wheel R, with which under normal circumstances it is in gear, included
in a secondary circuit arranged around an auxiliary resistance W, which the said
pawl, when it releases the wheel, places into the circuit of the electro-magnet E; or
the said auxiliary resistance is arranged parallel to a resistance WI placed in the said
secondary circuit (as shewn in Figure 2), or again, the said pawl may form a
secondary circuit containing a coil W", wound on the electro-magnet in the direction
opposite to that of its main coil, both coils being connected in series, as illustrated in
Figure 3.
In all these forms the magnetic attraction undergoes a sudden diminution as soon
as the pawl becomes disengaged from the wheel R, so that this wheel is allowed to
turn under the weight of the upper carbon. This diminution of the attractive power,
as will be seen, has necessitated no variation of tension at the carbon-holders. The
armature A immediately yields to the action of the spring R, whereby the pawl C is
at once thrown back into gear, so that the wheel R is prevented from moving forward
more than one t oth, and the magnetic attraction increases again, the same operations
or movements being reproduced over and over again until the normal condition or
length of arc is restored, no tendency to exceed the normal limits being noticeable.
Owing to the fact that the movement which the armature A has to perform in order
the wheel R to advance one tooth, is infinitesimal, and that the wheel is allowed to
advance one tooth only at a time, so that the resulting movement of the carbons
towards each other is correspondingly slight, the re-establishment of the normal
distance between the carbons takes place in such minute fractions of distance, that for
all practical purposes it may be regarded as going on continuously.
When the lamp is at rest, the carbons are apart from each other.
When the lamp
is switched into circuit, the electro-magnet E attracts the armature A which releases
the wheel R. The reduction of the attractive power at this moment is not sufficient
to throw the pawl C, back into the wheel and therefore the carbons will move towards
each other until they meet. The moment they come into contact, the electro-magnet E
loses its magnetic power entirely, consequently the armature A is fully drawn back
by the spring R and, as it perforins this return movement, it causes the wheel R. so
to turn that the carbons are drawn apart, and consequently the luminous arc is caused
to form. The carbons are similarly inoved apart if this should be necessary while the
lamp is alight, and this precisely to the required extent, as the operation will cease the
very instant the magnetic attraction has sufficiently increased for counterbalancing
the action of the spring.
In the form of apparatus herein before described, the pawl C may of course be
replaced by a "shoe adapted to act upon the wheel R as a brake, and for the
electro-magnet E, and its armaiure, a solenoid with its core may be substituted, and
these modifications may either be combined, or used singly.
Instead of employing a lever L, having an axis of rotation O' different from that of

page_text: the wheel R, the armature may (as shewn in Figure 4) be attached to a lever L,
arranged to revolve on the same pivot O with the wheel R. In this case also the
pawl C is pivotally arranged upon the insulate I lever L, and adapted to engage with
the wheel R under the action of a balancing weight or spring R. It is thrown out
of engagement with the effect of altering the magnetic attraction as before whenever
it comes against an insulated stop V arranged upon a stationary carrier.
Or as shewn in Figure 5, the magnetic disturbance may be brought about by
means of two special parts P P₁, of which P is stationary, and P fixed to the
lever L so as to be raised away from P₁ precisely at the moment when the wheel
is allowed to turn.
Another form in which the improved apparatus may be carried out is shewn in
Fig. 6, and is intended for lamps provided with a regulating device which serves to
keep up a constant current. A solenoid S, connected in series with the circuit of the
carbon-holders, is arranged to attract a core N, connected through a link with the
lever L, which, as before, carries the pawl C, and is combined with a retracting
spring R". The pawl C, engages with the finely-toothed wheel R, which forms a
part of the driving mechanism of the carbons. It is insulated from the lever L and
interrupts, on being disengaged from the wheel R, the secondary circuit W around the
solenoid S. thereby intensifying the attraction, which, in addition to this, is still
further enhanced by the increased power of the current which results from the
movement of the carbons towards each other which is simultaneously caused by the
disengagement of the pawl C from the wheel R.
Or instead of interrupting the secondary circuit W, connected with the electro-
magnet circuit, but exercising no magnetic action whatever, the pawl C, or the brake
shoe, as shewn in Figure 7, may be adapted to interrupt a secondary circuit W
wound in the opposite direction to the main coil of the solenoid or electromagnet.
The effect is the same as in the first case.
The solenoid may be replaced by an electro-magnet, while a shoe, acting as a
brake, may be substituted for the pawl. The secondary circuit which influences the
magnetic attraction may be opened by means of a special device firmly connected with
the core N of the solenoid S. The lever L may revolve about the axis of the wheel R
and be adapted to release a pawl C, secured to a stationary carrier or support. In
fact a great variety of combinations may be formed by selecting such parts of the
arrangement described as will best suit the purposes of each particular case.
When the lamp is switched out, the spring R" draws the lever L back from the
wheel R, and the carbons, by their own weight, move into contact. As soon however
as a current is sent through the lamp, the solenoid S, owing to the considerable
intensity of the current and the reduced resistance of the lamp-circuit, attracts
powerfully its core N, and the latter, in consequence, turns the wheel R through the
medium of the lever L and pawl C, causing it to move in that direction in which it
will make the carbons move apart. In thus moving apart, the carbons strike the
are, and the distance between them is so regulated, that the attraction of the
solenoid S counterbalances the opposite effect of the spring R. When the current
becomes less powerful, so also becomes the attractive power of the solenoid S. Then
the retracting spring R" pulls back the lever L, whereby the pawl C is caused to
release the wheel R, so that the carbons move towards each other. But the very
moment when the pawl sets free the wheel, it also interrupts the secondary circuit Win
of the solenoid S or that formed by the coil wound in the opposite direction, so that
the current, or magnetic attraction, again becomes suddenly intensified. The
consequence is that the pawl C is again thrown into gear with the wheel R, and
thereby recloses the secondary circuit W, with the effect of reducing the magnetic
attraction. The same operations are repeated until the carbons have moved near
enough to each other to allow of the passage of the normal current. The intensity of
the current cannot exceed the normal limit, because, should it from any cause become
too intense, the solenoid will at once move the wheel R in the direction required
for allowing the carbons to move apart, its power of attraction becoming greater
than the opposing force exercised by the spring.

page_text: Whether the improved regulating device be used in a secondary circuit or in a
series connection, the lamp may be operated with a continuous or with an alternating
current.
BACCO ating Apparatus for Are Lamps.
I, HENRI PIEPER fils of Rue de Bajards, Liege in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Managing Director, do hereby declare the nature of said invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
Any arrangement for regulating or controlling electric are lamps should, in order
to operate properly, be capable of causing the carbons to move apart instantaneously
when the lamp is lighted, and while the same is burning, such regulating or
controlling arrangement should enable the carbons to be brought nearer together
or moved further apart, precisely as required, it being essential that the regulating
action should take place step by step in such a manner that the succeeding steps are
of the smallest extent possible.
None of the regulating or adjusting devices at present in use comply with this last
mentioned condition, all of them being solely dependent upon influences produced by
variations of current, of tension, of resistance, or of the distance at which the carbons
happen to be from each other at the tine. The consequence is that they do not
begin to act until after the proper relation has been departed from in one direction,
and then they will continue effective until the like condition of things occurs in the
opposite direction.
In view of the fact that the action of the regulating device can only be made
dependent upon the deviations from the normal state of the arc occurring in the
lamp, it is impossible to so construct a regulator that it will continuously maintain
the normal length of arc. But what is feasible, is to so construct the regulating
device that it shall be thrown into action the moment the normal state of the arc
is altered to the slightest possible extent, and that its action be interrupted before
it produces a deviation inversely to that by which it was caused to operate.
It is this result that is attained by the improved arrangement according to this
invention.
The controlling or adjusting arrangement according to this invention comprises
an electro-magnet, or solenoid, of any convenient shape, a suitably guided armature,
or core, which is combined with a retracting spring, or counter-weight, a pushing
pawl (or "shoe") pivotted to said lever and adapted to move either a wheel or a
rod connected with one or both of the carbon-holders, whenever the armature moves
in one direction in order to cause the carbons to move apart, and to release such
wheel or rod, when it moves in the other direction, in order to allow the carbons
to move nearer to each other by their own weight the moment the armature or core
has, in this movement, got past a pre-determined point. Precisely at the instant
at which the wheel or rod is thus set free, and consequently the carbons begin to
move towards each other, a special device is thrown into action by the armature or
instead of such special device the shoe or pawl itself which instantaneously causes a
variation in the attraction of the electro magnet (or solenoid) with the effect of
reducing the attraction to the stage, which existed before the release of the wheel
or rod or to a lower stage, and this effect is produced quite independently of the
deviation brought about by the approximation of the carbons to each other:. The

page_text: armature immediately recedes under the action of its spring to its original position
in which it locks in place the wheel or rod by means of the shoe or pawl hereinbefore
referred to. As with this position of the armature, the device causing the magnetic
disturbance is thrown out of operation, the attraction exerted on the armature
corresponds to the altered distance between the carbons. Should this distance then
still deviate from the normal distance, the above operation is repeated until such
normal distance is established. In no case will it be exceeded. If, through some
accident, or whilst the lamp is being kindled, the distance should happen to be too
short, the armature yielding to the action of the spring, or weight, will, by means
of the shoe or pawl, move the wheel or rod so as to cause the distance between
the carbons to be increased, this movement continuing until the normal distance is
obtained.
One form in which this improved device may be best carried out is shewn in
Figure 1 of the drawings filed with the Provisional Specification in which the
electro-magnet E is shewn as being included in a secondary circuit derived from
the circuit of the carbons, and adapted to attract an armature A arranged upon a
lever L pivoted at O'. The lever L carries a pushing pawl C, pivoted at O", which
a spring R holds against a stop V. The said pawl C is in contact with a finely
toothed wheel R, fixed to the roller supporting the cord K, which either connects the
two carbon-holders, or simply supports the upper one of the same. A spring R"
normally counterbalances the effect of the electro-magnet E. The piwl C, which
is insulated from the lever L, is together with the metal wheel R, with which under
normal circumstances it is in gear, included in a secondary circuit arranged around
an auxiliary resistance W, which the said pawl, when it releases the wheel, places
into the circuit of the electro-magnet E; or the said auxiliary resistance is arranged
parallel to a resistance W₁ placed in the said secondary circuit (as shewn in Figure 2),
or again, the said pawl may form a secondary circuit containing a coil W, wound
on the electro-magnet in the direction opposite to that of its main coil, both coils
being connected in series, as illustrated in Figure 3.
In all these forms the magnetic attraction undergoes a sudden diminution as soon
as the pawl becomes disengaged from the wheel R, so that this wheel is allowed to
turn under the weight of the upper carbon. This diminution of the attractive
power, as will be seen, has necessitated no variation of tension at the carbon-holders.
The armature A immediately yields to the action of the spring R", whereby the
pawl C is at once thrown back into gear, so that the wheel R is prevented from
moving forward more than one tooth, and the magnetic attraction increases again;
the same operations or movements being reproduced over and over again until the
normal condition or length of arc is restored, no tendency to exceed the normal
limits being noticeable. Owing to the fact that the movement which the armature A
has to perform in order to cause the wheel R to advance one tooth, is infinitesimal,
and that the wheel is allowed to advance one tooth only at a time, so that the
resulting movement of the carbons towards each other is correspondingly slight,
the re-establishment of the normal distance between the carbons takes place in such
minute fractions of distances, that for all practical purposes it may be regarded as
going on continuously.
When the lamp is at rest, the carbons are apart from each other. When the
lamp is switched into circuit, the electro-magnet E attracts the armature A which
releases the wheel R. The reduction of the attractive power at this moment is not
sufficient to throw the pawl C back into the wheel and therefore the carbons will
move towards each other until they meet. The moment they come into contact,
the electro-magnet E loses its magnetic power entirely, consequently the armature A
is fully drawn back by the spring R", and, as it performs this return movement, it
causes the wheel R so to turn that the carbons are drawn apart, and consequently
the luminous are is caused to form. The carbons are similarly moved apart if this
should be necessary while the lamp is alight, and this precisely to the required
extent, as the operation will cease the very instant the magnetic attraction has
sufficiently increased for counterbalancing the action of the spring.

page_text: In the form of apparatus hereinbefore described, the pawl C may of course be
replaced by a "shoe" adapted to act upon the wheel R, as a brake, and for the
electro-magnet E, and its armature, a solenoid with its core may be substituted and
these modifications may either be combined, or used singly.
Instead of employing a lever L, having an axis of rotation O¹ different from that
of the wheel R, the armature may (as shewn in Figure 4) be attached to a lever L
arranged to revolve on the same pivot O with the wheel R. In this case also the
pawl is pivotally arranged upon the insulated lever L, and adapted to engage
with the wheel R under the action of a balancing weight or spring R". It is
thrown out of engagement with the effect of altering the magnetic attraction as
before whenever it comes against an insulated stop V arranged upon a stationary
-carrier.
Or as shewn in Figure 5, the magnetic disturbance may be brought about by
means of two special parts P P₁, of which P is stationary, and P fixed to the
lever L so as to be raised away from P¹ precisely at the moment when the wheel
is allowed to turn.
Another form in which the improved apparatus may be carried out is shewn in
Fig. 6, and is intended for lamps provided with a regulating device which serves to
keep up a constant current. A solenoid S, connected in series with the circuit of the
carbon-holders, is arranged to attract a core N, connected through a link with the
lever L, which, as before, carries the pawl C, and is combined with a retracting
spring R". The pawl C, engages with the finely-toothed wheel R, which forms a
part of the driving mechanism of the carbons. It is insulated from the lever L and
interrupts, on being disengaged from the wheel R, the secondary circuit W around
the solenoid S, thereby intensifying the attraction, which, in addition to this, is still
further enhanced by the increased power of the current which results from the
movement of the carbons towards each other which is simultaneously caused by the
disengagement of the pawl C from the wheel R.
Or instead of interrupting the secondary circuit W, connected with the electro-
magnet circuit, but exercising no magnetic action whatever, the pawl C, or the brake
shoe, as shewn in Figure 7, may be adapted to interrupt a secondary circuit W
wound in the opposite direction to the main coil of the solenoid or electromagnet.
The effect is the same as in the first case.
The solenoid may be replaced by an electro-magnet, while a shoe, acting as a brake,
may be substituted for the pawl. The secondary circuit which influences the magnetic
attraction may be opened by means of a special device firmly connected with the
core N of the solenoid S. The lever L may revolve about the axis of the wheel R and
be adapted to release a pawl C, secured to a stationary carrier or support. In
fact a great variety of combinations may be formed by selecting such parts of the
arrangement described as will best suit the purposes of each particular case.
When the lamp is switched out, the spring R draws the lever L back from the
wheel R, and the carbons, by their own weight, move into contact. As soon however
as a current is sent through the lamp, the solenoid S, owing to the considerable
intensity of the current and the reduced resistance of the lamp-circuit, attracts
powerfully its core N, and the latter, in consequence, turns the wheel R through the
medium of the lever I and pawl C, causing it to move in that direction in which it
will make the carbons move apart. In thus moving apart, the carbons strike the are,
and the distance between them is so regulated, that the attraction of the solenoid S.
counterbalances the opposite effect of the spring R". When the current becomes less
powerful, so also becomes the attractive power of the solenoid S. Then the retracting
spring R pulls back the lever L, whereby the pawl C is caused to release the wheel R,
so that the carbons move towards each other. But the very moment when the pawĺ
sets free the wheel, it also interrupts the secondary circuit W! of the solenoid S or
that formed by the coil wound in the opposite direction, so that the current, or
magnetic attraction, again becomes suddenly intensified. The consequence is that the
pawl C is again thrown into gear with the wheel R, and thereby recloses the secondary
circuit W, with the effect of reducing the magnetic attraction. The same operations

page_text: are repeated until the carbons have moved near enough to each other to allow of the
passage of the normal current. The intensity of the current cannot exceed the normal
limit, because, should it from any cause become too intense, the solenoid will at once.
move the wheel R in the direction required for allowing the carbons to move apart,.
its power of attraction becoming greater than the opposing force exercised by the
spring.
Whether the improved regulating device be used in a shunt to the main circuit or
in series connection with the latter the lamp may be operated with a continuous or with
an alternating current.
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 :-
A regulating apparatus for are lamps comprising a movable series of teeth connected
with one or both the carbon-holders and a pawl which is combined with a counter-
spring or weight and actuated by an electromagnet or solenoid and causes the carbons
to move apart by its action upon said series of teeth, but allows them to move towards.
each other by their own weight when releasing the said teeth, in such a manner that
the releasing of the carbons has the effect of immediately discontinuing the regulation.
by modifying through the break of but one contact the attractive force of the said
electro-magnet without wholly suppressing said force, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
1907
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
Agents.