Improvements in Electrical Switches and Fixtures connected therewith.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 1st July, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 17th Mar., 1891-Accepted, 30th May, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by SIGMUND BERGMANN, of 537, West 34th Street,
in the City and State of New York, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in Electrical Switches and Fixtures connected
therewith.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
This invention consists in improvements in fixtures having seats for electrical
switches, the switches and devices immediately connected therewith.
In carrying out one part of my invention I provide a seat for a switch in a tubular
arm or bracket of a fixture.
The seat consists essentially of outwardly curved portions formed in the tube
itself or with said curved portions having sockets at opposite sides to engage ends
of a tubular portion of a fixture through which electric wires may pass. The out-
wardly curved portions have depressions at the ends so that binding screws on a
switch may be more readily reached and they also have on their inner faces or
surfaces, transverse channels in which the frame of the switch engages.
Another feature of my invention resides in the switch having a frame consisting
of a metal portion and a block of insulating material secured between the ends of
the metal portion.
A rotary shaft has a bearing through this insulating block and an end bearing in
the metal portion of the frame.
The frame of the switch is removably secured in the seat by means of screws and
extends through said seat transversely to the length of the tubular portion of the
fixture.
On this rotary shaft is loosely mounted a switch wheel of insulating material
having cam surfaces, two of which are provided with metallic contact pieces which,
when an electric circuit is completed, engage with resilient contact pieces having
their opposite ends secured by binding screws to the insulating block of the frame.
This switch wheel rotates with its shaft when said shaft is rotated in one direction
but is non-rotary when the shaft is turned in the opposite direction.
Another feature of my invention resides in a removable key or finger piece for
operating the switch.
To provide for this the rotary shaft of the switch is provided with spring arms to
removably engage a socket or connecting piece, which has a portion adapted to be
secured to the key or finger piece.
My invention further consists in a shell or cover for enclosing the switch. For
this cover I provide two hemispherical shells properly notched to pass around
tubular portions of the device and the said shells are adapted to removably engage
each other by a rib and groove passing one within the other. At least one of the
parts will be made resilient to facilitate the engagement of the two.
Dated this 1st day of July 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Electrical Switches and Fixtures connected
therewith.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, 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 :-
This invention consists in providing a seat in an electric lamp fixture from which
the switch may be wholly removed. It further consists in a removable finger piece
and means for engaging it with a rotary shaft of the switch, and it further consists
in a shell or cover formed in sections and adapted to enclose the switch and its
frame.
In the accompanying drawing
Fig. 1, shows a tubular portion of a fixture with a switch removably secured in
place.
Fig. 2, is a side view of a switch and its frame with the seat broken away.
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section.
Fig. 4, shows a portion of an arm or tubing with a shell or cover over the switch.
Fig. 5 is a sectional view of shell or cover.
Figs. 6 and 7 are details of the switch.
Fig. 8 is a top view of seat with switch removed.
Referring by letter to the drawing, A designates a tubular arm of a fixture,
This arm may be of any design as the form of the main portion of the arm is immaterial
to the switch. In fact it may be here stated that the switch seat may be located
in any desired part of a fixture or tube. B, shows a seat in which a switch C may
be removably secured.
The seat B is here shown as a frame or ring consisting of outwardly curved arms a
having perforated bosses a¹ at opposite sides to which the adjacent ends of the
tubular portions A are attached.
I have here shown the bosses a' in the form of sockets and the ends of the tubular
portions seated therein and rigidly attached thereto by brazing or otherwise so that
the seat in effect is an integral part of the arm or tube. In fact the arms a may
be formed by cutting away a portion of the sides of a tubular arm and curving the
strips of metal formed thereby outwardly.
As a means to prevent the lateral displacement of a switch, I provide the inner
surfaces of the arms a with transverse channels a². At the ends the arms a have
depressions a³ which afford a means for reaching the binding screws of the switch
when attaching wires thereto.
The switch C has a frame consisting of a metal portion b and a block of insulating
material secured between the ends of the metal portion in any desired manner,
but I have, as a means therefor, shown the metal portion bas reduced at its ends
and said reduced portions scated in depressions in the block b¹.
B¹ shows a rotary shaft having a bearing through the block and its end bearing
in the metal portion b. The outer end of the shaft B is provided with a finger
piece which may be removable as hereinafter explained.
C is a switch wheel, of insulating material mounted on the shaft B¹. The
wheel C has cam surfaces c on its edge, and radial shoulders c². Two opposite cam
surfaces, c, are provided with metal contact pieces c² which (are connected by an
integral bridge piece c³ at one side of the wheel.
The wheel C is designed to rotate with the shaft B¹ when said shaft is moved in
one direction and also to have a slight longitudinal movement on the shaft.
As a means for rotating the wheel C with the shaft a pin d is extended trans-

page_text: versely through the shaft and comes in contact with shoulders d' on one side of the
wheel. When the shaft B' is rotated in the opposite direction, however, the pin d
will ride over the cam surfaces d², and push the wheel longitudinally on the shaft
without imparting rotary motion thereto.
A spring bears at one end against the block forces the wheel back to its
original position when the pin d shall have reached the shoulders d'. The spring (³
is insulated from the bridge piece e³ by a washer of insulating material.
A line wire d leads past the switch without a break. The other wire d³, how-
ever, has a break and has its ends connected to binding screws e, of the opposite
contact pieces E.
The contact pieces E are of resilient metal secured by the binding screws to the
block and having their free ends bearing on the wheel C'.
It will be observed that an electrical circuit will be completed when the contact
pieces E are in engagement with the contact pieces c2, and the current will be
broken when the contact pieces E bear upon the insulating surfaces c.
I will now describe another feature of my invention which consists in a means
for removably attaching a finger piece to the rotary shaft B¹.
In this example of my improvement the rotary shaft B' has a reduced portion ƒ at
its outer end and in the main portion it has opposite longitudinal channels or
grooves f¹, extending a portion of the length of the shaft and joined at the rear end
by a transverse perforation or hole f2, through the shaft.
The channels" provide seats for spring arms D, D. The spring arms are here
shown as formed from one piece of metal, preferably spring steel, having the transverse
portion passing through the hole 12 in the shaft.
Each spring arm D has at its free end a lock portion or lug g extending outwards
at substantially right angles to the main portion of the arm and the arm and the
front surface of each lug y, are slightly inclined as shown.
D' designates an attaching piece constructed to engage with the shaft B' and the
spring arms and to have a key or finger piece D2 secured to it. The attaching
piece is here shown as tubular and having a portion of its interior enlarged at to
pass over a section of the main portion of the shaft B', the reduced portion of the
shaft passing into the smaller interior y'.
Opposite perforations g² are provided through the attaching piece and the inner
end surface is beveled as at y².
To place the attaching piece in position, it is pushed onto the shaft B', the
bevel striking against the inclines of the lugs g forces the spring arms toward
each other until the lugs are in line with the perforations y² into which they spring,
locking the parts together.
The engaging piece may be removed from the shaft B₁ by means of a suitable
tool.
The attaching piece has a reduced threaded portion h, to which the key or finger
piece may be secured by providing said key with an interiorally threaded socket as
shown.
Another feature of my improvement resides in a shell or cover G, for the
switch.
This shell or cover G consists of two hemispherical portions i, each provided with
se ni-circular notches to embrace the sides of the tubular portion and semi-circular
notches to provide a passage for the rotary shaft B'. It is designed that the two
portions i shall be locked together in such manner as to be easily detached. One
of the means for so locking the parts I have illustrated and describe as follows:
One of the portions i is provided on its edge with a rib j and the other portion has
on its edge a groove j¹. When the two portions i are placed in position to cover the
cut-out, the rib of one will be forced or sprung into the groove of the other portion
and the parts will be held together.
When it is desired to separate the parts it is only necessary to push laterally on
one of the nibs or projections .

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In an electric lamp fixture the combination with a tubular portion thereof, of
a seat for a switch consisting of a frame or ring formed in said tubular portion,
having transverse channels, and open at the sides, substantially as specified.
2. The combination with a tubular portion of an electric lamp fixture, of a seat,
for a switch consisting of outwardly bent arms having depressions at the ends,
substantially as specified.
3. The combination with a fixture tube or arm having a seat for a switch open
at two of its sides, of a switch having its frame removably secured in the seat
transversely to the length of the tube or arm, substantially as specified.
4. The combination with a switch, substantially such as described, of a fixture,
tube or arm having a seat open at its sides, the frame of the cut-out passing trans-
versely through the seat and screws for securing the switch and frame within the
seat, substantially as specified.
'
5. The combination with a fixture tube or arm having a seat for a switch, of a
switch having a frame removably secured in said seat, binding screws on the frame
receiving the ends of a broken wire, the said switch, frame and binding screws being
wholly removable from the seat to carry the ends of the broken wire with them,
substantially as specified.
6. In a switch, the combination with the shaft having the spring arms, of the
engaging piece having the enlarged tubular portion and opposite perforations and
the portion constructed to removably engage a key, substantially as specified.
7. In a switch, the combination with the rotary shaft having the channels and
the transverse hole, of the spring arms seated in said channels and having an integral
transverse portion extended through the transverse hole in the shaft and the key or
finger piece constructed to removably engage with said shaft and spring arms, sub-
stantially as specified.
8. The combination with a switch and tubular portions, of a shell or cover
consisting of two parts, one of said parts being provided on its edge with a rib and
the other of said parts having a groove to engage over the rib and removably lock
the parts together, substantially as specified.
9. The combination with a switch of the shell or cover constructed to enclose the
switch and consisting of the hemispherical portions each provided with semi-circular
notches, one of said portions having a groove in its edge, the other portion having a
rib on its edge adapted to be forced or sprung into the groove and hold the parts
together, substantially as specified.
Dated this 17th day of March 1891
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.