Apparatus for Connecting a Number of Separate Electrical Conductors to One Main Conductor.
Year: 1887

page_text: Apparatus for Connecting a Number of Separate Electrical
Conductors to One Main Conductor.
I, WILLIAM SNOW ROGERS of 7 Addison Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick Electrical
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
When a main electrical conductor has to supply a number of lights or other
consumers of electricity distributed over a considerable area, it is usual to connect the
main to the branch wire for each locally, that is to say at or near the place of con-
sumption, but this is in many cases objectionable owing to the difficulty of making
sound joints in wire conductors and on account of the wire junctions or the safety
fuses with which the separate wires are provided often not being conveniently
accessible for inspection or repairs. It is therefore in such cases, with a view to
avoiding the making of many joints in the wires, preferred to arrange in a con-
veniently accessible place a number of connections to the main conductor and to lead
from each of those connections a separate wire to the place of consumption.
This invention relates to apparatus for effecting such connections in a simple and
compact manner, each connection being provided with a safety fuse, and the whole
being protected by its enclosure within a casing.
Assuming that there are 20 or 30 branches to be provided for, I prepare a slab of
slate or similar non-conducting material of sufficient length to accommodate half the
number of branches along each side of it. In a groove hollowed out along the middle
of this slab I sink a trough shaped metal bar which is bolted to the slab and presents
its two edges a little above the face of the slab. This bar is connected at one end to
the main conductor, preferably through a switch. On each side of the metal bar
holes are bored vertically through the slab, one for each of the branch conductors,
which are wires covered with insulating material and in some cases with metal
tubing.
Each branch conductor is bent under the outer edge of the slab and its end is
turned upwards into one of the holes of the slab, the insulating covering and tubing
of the wire being partly removed near the end, so that the bare wire stands up through

page_text: the hole extending some distance above the slab. The end part of the wire being
bent over in the form of a right angled staple, the end limb is inserted in a small hole
bored in the slab at some distance from the hole through which the wire rises, and
thus the portion of the wire between the two limbs of the staple lies exposed for some
distance along the face of the slab parallel with the central metal bar. The upper part
of the hole through which the wire rises is filled in above the termination of the
covering with a non-conducting impervious substance preventing access of moisture
to the insulating covering of the wire. Above each wire thus exposed on the face of
the slab is laid the thin plate or strip of foil employed as safety fuse extending so far
across the slab as to bear also on one edge of the metal bar, and this fuse is pressed
down on the wire and on the edge of the bar by a crosshead of slate or such like
material which is held down by a clamping screw secured in a hole of the slab and
provided at the top with a thumb nut and lock nut.
The whole, including the switch at one end of the slab, when a switch is employed,
is enclosed in a casing of wood or other suitable material, and from this casing the
separate conductors are led to the various points of consumption.
Dated this 11th day of November 1887.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Conductors to One Main Conductor.
I, WILLIAM SNOW ROGERS of 7 Addison Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick, Electrical
Engineer 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 :-
When a main electrical conductor has to supply a number of lights or other
consumers of electricity distributed over a considerable area, it is usual to connect the
main to the branch wire for each locally, that is to say, at or near the place of con-
sumption, but this is in many cases objectionable owing to the difficulty of making
sound joints in wire conductors and on account of the wire junctions or the safety
fuses with which the separate wires are provided often not being conveniently
accessible for inspection or repairs. It is therefore in such cases, with a view to
avoiding the making of many joints in the wires, preferred to arrange in a con-
veniently accessible place a number of connections to the main conductor, and to lead
from each of those connections a separate wire to the place of consumption. This
invention relates to apparatus for effecting such connections in a simple and compact
manner, each connection being provided with a safety fuse, and the whole being protected
by its enclosure within a casing, as I will describe referring to the accompanying
drawings. Fig. 1 is a front elevation with cover removed, Fig. 2 is a vertical section, and
Fig. 3 is a sectional plan of a connecting apparatus according to my invention.
Assuming that there are a number of branches to be provided for, such as 16 as
shewn in the drawings, I prepare a slab A of slate or similar non-conducting material
of sufficient length to accommodate half the number of branches along each side of
it. In a groove hollowed along the middle of this slab I sink a trough shaped metal
bar B which is bolted to the slab A and presents its two edges a little above the face
of the slab. This bar is connected at one end to the main conductor C preferably
through a switch D.
On each side of the metal bar B holes are bored horizontally through the slab, one
for each of the branch conductors E, which are wires, covered with insulating material
and in some cases with metal tubing.
Each branch conductor E is bent behind the outer edge of the slab A and its end
is turned forwards into one of the holes of the slab, the insulating covering and tubing
of the wire being partly removed near the end at F, so that the bare wire extends
through the hole and some distance beyond the face of the slab. The end part of the
wire being bent over in the form of a right angled staple G, the end limb is inserted
in a small hole bored in the slab at some distance from the hole through which the
wire conductor itself passes through the slab, and thus the portion of the wire G
between the two limbs of the staple lies exposed for some distance along the face of
the slab parallel with the central metal bar.

page_text: The upper part of the hole through which the wire rises at F may be filled in above
the termination of the covering with a suitable nonconducting impervious substance,
such as paraffin, preventing access of moisture to the insulating covering of the wire.
Over each wire thus exposed on the face of the slab is laid the thin plate or strip of
foil H employed as safety fuse extending so far across the slab as to bear also on one
edge of the metal bar B, and this fuse H is pressed down on the wire G and on the
edge of the bar B by a crosshead K of slate or such like material which is held down
by a clamping screw L secured in a hole of the slab and provided at the top with a
thumb nut and lock nut M.
The whole, including the switch D at one end of the slab, when a switch is
employed, is enclosed in a casing N of wood or other suitable material, and from this
casing the separate conductors E are led to the various points of consumption, either
by leading them parallel through the top of the casing as shewn in Fig. 1 or by
leading them through the back of the casing as indicated by the dotted lines E' in
Fig. 3.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is -
For connecting a number of separate electrical conductors to a main conductor,
apparatus consisting of a slab of non conducting material having embedded in it a
metal bar which is connected to the main conductor and has pressed on its edges by
clamping screws a number of strips constituting safety fuses, which strips are also
pressed on bent and bared portions of the separate insulated conductors, substantially
as described and illustrated by the drawings.
Dated thin 12th 1
Ր T1 1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.