AN AUTOMATIC CONTACT BREAKER FOR ANCHORED SUBMARINE MINES OR TORPEDOES
Year: 1885

page_text: I MAX SELIG of No 20 Karl Strasse in the City of Berlin and German Empire,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for AN AUTOMATIC
CONTACT BREAKER FOR ANCHORED SUBMARINE MINES OR TORPEDOES 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 an automatic contact breaker for anchored submarine
mines or torpedoes for blockading or defending harbours.
The object of my improved apparatus which is adapted for submarine mines or
torpedoes for blockading or defending harbours in which a considerable difference
exists in the water level at ebb and flow tide is to offer the persons laying the said
torpedoes the positive security that the torpedo or mine after the lapse of a certain
period of time will be dangerless so that the said mines or torpedoes can be raised
without any danger to the persons occupied in raising the same.
The duration of time before the commencement of this dangerless period can by
means of my improved apparatus vary from 6 hours to 1 year or more without in
any way diminishing the safety by increasing the period of time.
The apparatus is based on the difference of the hydrostatical pressure at ebb and
flow tide on the apparatus attached to the anchored mine or torpedo.
The apparatus is extremely simply and durably constructed, the working parts
are arranged in a closed case and are perfectly protected so that the apparatus is
rendered insensible to external action such as blows and such like. All the parts
are made of good bronze or other suitable material and the springs of a suitable
metal or alloy not subject to oxidization.
The time adjustment is very simple and requires no especial skill on the part of
those acquainted with the construction of the apparatus. The apparatus can be
put together in the depots or on board ship and can be stored away for years
without the accuracy of the operation of the same being diminished, the same can
=

page_text: .
be examined and its exact action be controlled by a simple erement and a gaivumo
plug.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of my improved apparatus.
Figure 2 is a section of the upper part or dome of the case or vessel on the
line a b in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a view of the lower side of the base plate.
Figure 4 a view of the upper side of the same.
Figure 5 represents the india rubber double plate attached between the lower
flanges of the apparatus.
Figure 6 is the contact breaker.
Figure 7 is the bearing for the ratchet wheel and worm spindle.
Figure 8 is a three armed casting with guide slot for the pressure plate.
Figure 9 is the friction spring to the current closer or contact.
Figure 10 is the contact or current closer.
Figure 11 shows one of the three screws by means of which the apparatus is 1
fixed in the case.
Figure 12 shows the ratchet wheel and spring pawls.
Figure 13 the cross head and the spring pawls attached to the same.
A hydrostatical pressure plate which forms the bottom of a closed metallic case
or vessel A A' is pressed outward by means of three spiral springs and resists the
pressure of a column of water within a certain limit; if this limit is exceeded, the
pressure plate guided by the shell C on the spindle B and also by the three spring
tubes S will make an inward movement.
If the pressure is increased the movement will be continued until the cross
head D comes against the hub of the casting B¹ and remains in this position until
the pressure is reduced. By the inward movement of the pressure plate two
spring pawls E attached to the cross head D glide over one tooth in the ratchet
wheels F.
If the pressure is reduced and the plate makes an outward movement the spring
pawls which follow this movement will cause the ratchet wheels to turn a distance
equal to the one tooth.
The outward stroke of the pressure plate is limited by a pin or stop fixed to or
in the cross head whilst the ratchet wheels are prevented from moving back at the
next inward movement of the pressure plate by means of the spring pawls E¹.
The ratchet wheels F (of which two are employed) are mounted on one and the
same shaft or spindle H which said spindle turns on pointed tips and carries in
the middle a worm of double pitch G¹ which said worm is in gear with the worm
wheel G. The shaft or spindle H¹ which is preferably made of one piece with the
worm wheel G moves on two points or centres of which the one has its bearing in
the casting B the other in the bow or strap Q. This shaft carries an arm K which
is termed the contact breaker which it is true is only moveable around H¹ but can
be held in any desired position by the adjusting screw L.
On the base plate I to which all the working parts are attached lies, within the
bow or strap Q, a ring N which is for instanco graduated in 270 like parts.
The bow or strap Q carries two terminals P and P¹-The former ends beneath
the insulating ebonite box or lining in a pin or peg through which a fine platina
tip is bored and soldered.
Another terminal carries an arm O, the contact closer, which turns around a
suitable pin.
The contact O is pressed by a thin contact spring R against the platina tip in P¹
and carries at the point of contact a small plate of platina and besides this O is
extended beyond p¹ and ends in an insulating plate Z against the one side of which
the contact spring R lies and on the other end a stop or carrier in the contact
breaker K can be brought in contact with the same by moving the contact breaker.
In this position a tongue or pointer M which is attached to the contact breaker K
stands at zero on the graduated scale N.

page_text: In the given position a galvanic current entering P passes through the contact O
to which a small platina contact spring Y is attached, to p¹ and so further but as
soon as the contact breaker is moved towards the contact closer the contact will be
broken.
The conducting wires are led through a compressible india rubber stopper at
the upper part of the case at mantle A¹.
The hydrostatical pressure plate is rendered watertight by means of two super-
posed plates of vulcanised india rubber of best quality the edges of which said
plates (Figure 5) are firmly held between the flange a and the pressure ring B.
If the apparatus is to be put in operation the india rubber stopper is loosened,
the upper part of the case A¹ screwed loose.by means of a suitable key and turned
back or flapped open so as to render the adjustment accessible.
The adjusting screw L is now loosened and the contact breaker K turned back
until the tongue or pointer M stands on the N° 14 and the adjusting screw again
tightened up. The groove at the lower end of the threaded part A of the case or
vessel which is provided with a good packing is smeared with tallow, the upper
part A¹ of the said case screwed on, the cable ends drawn taut and the india rubber
stopper introduced and tightened up.
If the mine to the lower side of which the apparatus is attached with the
pressure plate lowermost by means of chains, is laid for instance at flow tide the
pressure plate which is now pressed in, the next ebb tide will cause the ratchet
wheels and worm, to bring the contact breaker by one half days distance nearer to
the insulating plate of the contact O and so on at every ebb and flood until the
carrier p at the 29th ebb will lift the contact from the contact pin and break
the current.
If however the mine is laid at ebb tide the apparatus will commence to operate
at the second ebb and the current be interrupted at the 30th ebb.
As however K and O are not concentrically arranged a time would come, in case
the mine or torpedo is not raised, where the carrier P' would move free of the
contact closer and the latter might again come in contact with the contact pin
in P¹ if it were not for the spring R which is previously freed from O and prevents
the current being closed again as the same springs back and lays itself between the
contact closer and the bow or strap Q. The spring is prevented from flapping
round to the other side by the contact spring Y the fine point of which glides on
the pin of the terminal P and catches in a boring in the said pin so that O is held
in this position.
The springs in the apparatus are so adjusted that the pressure plate only moves
inwards under a pressure of 20 Kilogrammes which is equal to a column of water
of 2 Meters height at 1°, specific gravity-If the column of water rises for
instance 1 meter higher the pressure plate will be pressed inwards.
In the German harbors in the North Sea or German Ocean where the difference
in the water level at ebb and flood amounts on the average to 3 meters a tolerance
up to 2 meters can be allowed in adjusting the apparatus.
In harbors with more than 3 meters flood difference the safety is still greater
and if correspondingly strong springs are employed a tolerance of 2 to 3 meters can
be allowed.
The ratchet wheels in this present apparatus are provided with 18 teeth, the
worm with double pitch and the worm wheel with 60 teeth-One tooth is moved
forward at each ebb and as the tidal change in a moon day of 24 hours 49' medium
summer time ensues twice this apparatus can be adjusted for a period of time equal
to 270 moon days—
18
60
2
270 moon days.
By changing the number of teeth in the ratchet and worm wheels and the
graduations of the ring this time can be lengthened or shortened at will. The
loving and wining of the mines or tarnedoes can be carried out according to the

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
In torpedoes or sea mines, an automatically operating contact breaker which
said contact breaker is operated on by the difference in the hydrostatical pressure
at ebb and flood or flow tide and sets a mechanism in operation by means of which
the circuit is opened and the contact broken at the lapse of the period of time to
which the apparatus was adjusted before laying substantially as set forth in the
foregoing specification and represented in the accompanying drawings.