AN IMPROVED MODE OF MAKING AND BREAKING ELECTRIC CIRCUITS
Year: 1885

page_text: I, VINCENT WILLIS of 9 Rochester Terrace, Camden Town, in the County of
Middlesex, Organ Builder, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF MAKING AND BREAKING ELECTRIC CIRCUITS'
to be as
follows:-
"
The present invention relates to an improved mode of making and breaking
electric circuits, and thereby transmitting electrical impulses to a distance, and to
various kinds of apparatus or mechanism from an operating piston, key, or lever,
having a definite range of movement, the object in view being to make the
apparatus or mechanism with which such circuit is connected, respond promptly to
each impulse transmitted to it, and to allow it sufficient time for recovering or
resetting itself in readiness for promptly responding to another impulse.
To attain this end it is necessary that the contact shall be effected and the
circuit completed so soon as, or immediately after, the movement of the operating
piston, key, or lever, in one direction, has begun, and that the contact shall be
maintained during the completion of the said movement. It is also necessary that
the electrical circuit shall be broken so soon as the reverse movement of the key or
lever has commenced, and that the circuit shall remain broken during the
completion of the said reverse moveinent.
Such a mode of making and breaking electrical circuits is capable of many
applications, and is especially useful and desirable in connection with apparatus or
mechanism in which either, from convenience to the operator, or from necessity, a
key or lever having a definite and sometimes considerable range of movement, is
employed to transmit electrical impulses to, and so set in motion or discharge other
mechanism or trains of mechanism requiring an appreciable time to reset themselves
after action, and so to prepare for the repetition of such action, inasmuch as by
this new mode of making and breaking electric circuits, the contacts are made or
broken by the lever or key at the beginning of its stroke in one direction or
another, and the apparatus or mechanism to which the impulse has been transmitted
has consequently time to respond fully thereto, before the completion of the positive
movement of the operating key, while during the completion of the reverse stroke
Price 8dı

page_text: of the said key, time is given to the train or mechanism, of whatever kind, con-
trolled by the electric circuit, to recover or reset itself in preparation for a prompt
repetition of its action on the next positive movement of the operating key.
In order to attain these important results, I cause the operating key or lever
by which the contacts are made or broken, so to shift or act upon one or other of
the contact or terminal pieces in the circuit, that the said terminal pieces,
at the conclusion of each stroke or movement of the key or lever, shall be put
in the most advantageous position for promptly breaking or making contact at
the beginning of the reverse movement of the operating key.
An essential feature of my invention, therefore, consists in a sliding or movable
electrical contact surface, wire, or terminal, whose position at the end of each
stroke is varied by the key or lever by which the said surface or terminal has been
brought into contact with, or separated from, the other contact surface or terminal
at the beginning of its stroke.
Thus, a key carrying a platinum point or plate, in electrical connection with a
wire from a battery, may be arranged to slide on or off from a platinum plate
mounted between guide pins or stops upon a rocking lever controlled by a friction
pad and light spring, the last named platinum plate being in electrical connection
with the mechanisma, apparatus, or train which it is desired to control.
Thus, directly the key is depressed, the first platinum point or plate will come in
contact with the second platinum plate, and the circuit will be established, but in
its further movement it will engage with the guide pins or stops on the rocking
lever, and without increasing the area of contact, will rock that lever, thereby
shifting its platinum point in readiness for the prompt reversal of the action, when
the key is released, for the rocking lever being held steady by the friction pad,
will not rise during the first part of the reverse movement of the key, and the
platinum points will be slidden the one upon the other, and be at once separated,
the circuit being thereby broken. The further return movement of the key will
then bring one contact point or plate into engagement with the rocking lever, and
will tilt it and its contact surface, while still separated, into position for promptly
remaking the contact when the key is again positively moved.
The sliding or yielding contact may be carried on or by the operating lever or
key, and the other contact plate and guide pins or stops may be fixed, in which
case a yielding arm upon the operating lever carrying one terminal plate, and
adapted to be held rigid while and until contact is fully established or broken
between it and the other terminal point, and thereafter to yield to allow of the
operating key continuing its movement throughout its entire range, may be
employed; but I prefer to mount one terminal point or plate in the form of a
spring arm rigidly upon the operating key or lever, and to arrange a sliding or
rocking piece carrying the other terminal point or plate in such a manner with
respect to the said key or lever and the spring arm thereon, that towards or at the
completion of its movement in one direction or the other, the said lever or its
spring arm shall engage with the said sliding or rocking piece, and shift it and its
terminal plate or point into position for at once making or breaking contact at the
beginning of the movement of the key in the reverse direction, the sliding or
rocking piece being, as before explained, held motionless by a suitable spring
pressure pad or friction device during the act of making and breaking contact.
I prefer to connect the wires attached to the above named terminal plates with
their respective circuits by means of pins dipping into mercury, but other well
known means might be used for this purpose. Thus, without interfering in any
way with the desired range of movement of the operating key or lever, I am able
to instantly make or break the circuit during the first part of the movement of the
key in one direction or another, and thereby instantly to start the train or
mechanism, and allow it ample time for getting to work while the key completes
its movement, or as instantly to release it and give it time to reset itself in

page_text: readiness for the next impulse while the key completes its return or reverse
movement.
Such a mode of controlling the making and breaking of electric circuits may be
used in connection with the operating keys of telegraphic and time signalling
apparatus, in which clock work and other trains are used, and will also be found
very valuable for electrically operating pneumatic levers or trains of levers from a
keyboard, as it affords the necessary time for the said levers to collapse or inflate,
as the case may be, between the electrical impulses, and so to be in a position to
promptly respond to the touch of the operator, whereas in apparatus hitherto
constructed for transmitting electric impulses to such mechanism, the contact is
both made and broken at about the same point in the travel of the lever, the
result, as regards organs, being an appreciably disagreeable sense of drag to the
player in both making and breaking the contact.
From the foregoing it will be obvious that the contact sliding piece may be
made double-acting by causing a pendent contact lever to swing between two
contact surfaces on the slide, and thereby to complete the circuit at every movement
either to the right or to the left.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I VINCENT WILLIS of 9 Rochester Terrace, Camden Town in the County of
Middlesex, Organ Builder do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
AN IMPROVED MODE OF MAKING AND BREAKING ELECTRIC CIRCUITS and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The present invention relates to an improved mode of making and breaking
electric circuits and thereby transmitting electrical impulses to a distance, and to
various kinds of apparatus or mechanism, from an operating piston, key, or lever,
having a definite, and it may be a comparatively wide range of movement, the
object in view being to make the apparatus or mechanism with which such circuit
is connected, respond promptly to each impulse transmitted to it, and to allow it
sufficient time for recovering or resetting itself in readiness for promptly responding
to another impulse.
To attain this end it is necessary that the contact shall be effected and the
circuit completed, so soon as, or immediately after, the movement of the operating
piston, key or lever in one direction has begun and that the contact shall be
maintained during the completion of the said movement. It is also necessary that
the electrical circuit shall be broken so soon as the reverse movement of the key or
lever has commenced, and that the circuit shall remain broken during the completion
of the said reverse movement,
Such a mode of making and breaking electrical circuits is capable of many
applications, and is especially useful and desirable in connection with apparatus or
mechanism in which, either from convenience to the operator, or from necessity, a
key or lever having a definite and sometimes considerable range of movement is
employed to transmit electrical impulses to, and so set in motion or discharge, other
mechanism or trains of mechanism requiring an appreciable time to reset themselves
after action, and so to prepare for the repetition of such action; inasmuch as by
this new mode of making and breaking electric circuits, the contacts are made or
broken by the lever or key at the beginning of its stroke in one direction or
another, and the apparatus or mechanism to which the impulse has been transmitted
has consequently time to respond fully thereto before the completion of the positive
movement of the operating key, while during the completion of the reverse stroke
of the said key, time is given to the train or mechanism of whatever kind, con-
trolled by the electric circuit, to recover or reset itself in preparation for a prompt
repetition of its action on the next positive movement of the operating key.
In order to attain these important results, I cause the operating key or lever by
which the contacts are made or broken so to shift or act upon one or other of the
contact or terminal pieces in the circuit that the said terminal pieces, at the con-
clusion of each stroke or movement of the key or lever shall be put or held in the
most advantageous position for promptly breaking or making contact at the beginning
of the reverse movement of the operating key.
My invention therefore consists in the combination with an electric circuit and a
key, lever, piston or equivalent device under the control of the player or operator
for transmitting electrical impulses along such circuit, of a pair of contact points

page_text: f
or surfaces adapted to be brought together and complete the circuit directly the
key is moved in one direction and to remain in contact during the completion of
the said movement of the key; and to be separated to break the said circuit
directly the key is moved in the reverse direction, and to remain separated during
the completion of this reverse movement.
The sliding or yielding contact may be carried on or by the operating lever or
key, and the other contact plate, and guide pins or stops may be fixed, in which
case a yielding arm upon the operating lever carrying one terminal plate and
adapted to be held rigid while and until contact is fully established or broken
between it and the other terminal point, and thereafter to yield to allow of the
operating key continuing its movement throughout its entire range may be
employed, but I prefer to mount one terminal point or plate in the form of a spring
arm rigidly upon the operating key or lever, and to arrange a sliding or rocking
piece carrying the other terminal point or plate in such a manner with respect to
the said key or lever and the spring arm thereon, that towards or at the completion
of its movement in one direction or the other the said lever or its spring arm shall
engage with the said sliding or rocking piece, and shift it and its terminal plate or
point into position for at once making or breaking contact at the beginning of the
movement of the key in the reverse direction the sliding or rocking piece being,
as before explained, held motionless by a suitable spring pressure pad, or friction
device, during the act of making and breaking contact.
My invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings in which
Fig 1 is a sectional side view of part of the keyboard of an instrument such as
an organ, with my invention adapted thereto.
Fig 2 is a rear end elevation of five keys and their fittings in various positions,
part of the said fittings being removed from some of the keys, the better to explain
the invention.
Fig 3 is a sectional side view of the rear end of the key showing the position
assumed by the parts when the front end of the key is fully depressed by the
performer.
Fig: 4 is a sectional side view of a similar combination of parts embodying the
same principle of action, the yielding contact piece being mounted to rock instead
of to slide, and
Fig 5 is a similar view illustrating another arrangement embodying my invention,
in which the positions of the contact surfaces are reversed, the sliding or yielding
contact piece being mounted upon or carried by the key, and movable therewith;
while the other contact piece which is not directly connected with the key, is
fixed.
The same letters of reference indicate like or corresponding parts in all the
figures.
a is the key or its equivalent by which the circuit is controlled. A key such as
is used in an organ is shown in Fig 1, as the invention is of especial value as
applied to such instruments when arranged to be operated by electricity, but it is
obvious that the key might be that of any electrical instrument from which
electrical impulses have to be transmitted.
b is a contact piece mounted on the rear end of the key and in unbroken
electrical connection with one pole of the battery, by a metal pin c dipping into a
trough of mercury d which extends lengthwise of the keyboard.
The contact piece b preferably takes the form of a spring tongue or arm, as
shown in Figs 1 and 2 and is tipped with platinum or equivalent incorrodible metal
as at b
e is the other contact piece preferably consisting of a strip of metal with bent
ends el e which engage with notches a¹ and f¹ in the key a and the end bar or
frame f respectively for a purpose which will be hereafter explained.
The contact piece e is provided with an ivory glass or equivalent insulating plate
or surface g and also with a platinum contact surface e³ as shown best in Figs: 1
and 2.

page_text: The piece e is free to be moved up and down by the key and is acted upon by a
spring struth by which it is caused to retain any position to which it has been
moved until again shifted by a fresh movement of the key. This piece e is in
permanent electrical connection with the other pole of the battery by means of a
pin and mercury cup k, each piece e having its own separate mercurial connection,
in the case of an organ (see Fig: 5) in which separate electro-magnets have to be
excited.
When the platinum point b¹ is brought, by the depression of the front, and the
elevation of the rear end of the key, in contact with the platinum surface e³ on the
piece e, the electrical circuit is made, and the current is able to pass to the mechanism
which it is to operate, which in the case of an organ will be usually a train com-
prising an electro magnet and one or more pneumatic levers, and when the platinum
point is moved from off the platinum surface e³ onto the insulating surface y
(whether of ivory, glass or other suitable substance,) the circuit is broken and the
electro magnet or mechanism of whatever kind controlled by the electrical current,
becomes inoperative, and the train which it controls resumes its normal position.
In many electrically-actuated keyboard instruments the circuits are not fully
made or broken until the key, piston or lever controlling the contact pieces, has
completed one-half its stroke, and there is thus loss of time in obtaining response
from the mechanism to which the electrical impulse is transmitted, and also a delay
in releasing the said mechanism from its controlling current.
Now by my invention I am enabled to fully complete the contact and transmit
the current by giving to the key a movement of, it may be only one-eighth of an
inch in one direction, and to fully break contact by a similarly small range of
inovement in the reverse direction; and this with a key having a definite, wide, or
comparatively large range of movement, and at any position of the said key. In
practice I arrange the contact surfaces to make full contact with a movement of
the key of about th of an inch, and to fully break contact with a movement of
the key of about th of an inch. I am thus enabled to transmit rapid electrical
vibrations by corresponding movements of the key at any position thereof, extreme
or intermediate; or to take full advantage of the wide range of movement of the
key of which musicians will appreciate the importance, while experiencing none
of that sense of drag which is felt in playing electrical organs, as hitherto
constructed.
I attain these novel results by the use of the sliding or yielding contact piece e
which readily yields or shifts its position when pressure is applied to it, but
which under the influence of a light spring, friction device, or brake of any
suitable kind, such as h, remains steady or quiescent in the position to which it has
been moved.
Referring now more particularly to Fig: 1 it will be seen that directly the rear'
end of the key begins to rise contact between the parts b¹ and e³ is made, and that
immediately after such contact has been fully established the lower part of the
notch a in the key a (which is clothed with felt or other suitable material) will
strike against the upper bent end e¹ of the sliding piece e and will carry that piece
up with it during the completion of its stroke, the extent of contact between b¹
and es remaining unchanged and the contact surfaces ceasing to move, the one with
respect to the other, so soon as full contact established. There is thus no necessity
to employ contact surfaces of large extent. At the conclusion of the full stroke of
the key the parts will be in the positions shown in Fig: 2.
When pressure on the key is relaxed the rear end of the key a will descend
under the influence of the spring and the platinum point b¹ will at once slide
onto the insulating surface g and the circuit will be broken. The upper part of
the felted notch a' in the key a will then engage with the top of the bent end e¹ of
the sliding contact piece e and both contact pieces will descend or move together
during the completion of the return movement of the key, the circuit remaining
broken. The spring struth consists of a double pointed pin or rod, one end of
which engages with a notch or hollow in the sliding piece e and the other end rests.

page_text: in a depression or hole in a flat vertical spring secured to the back rail or other
convenient point of attachment. In its extreme positions, when the spring is
weakest, the inclination of the pointed pin or strut h is greatest and effectually
holds the piece e steady while the platinum point 61 moves onto or off from the
contact or insulating surfaces e³ and g respectively; while should the key be
vibrated in an intermediate position the strut will be held by the spring at its
greatest power and with the same practical result.
So little pressure on the piece e suffices to hold it steady, until directly moved
up or down by the key itself, that it is possible and desirable to back the metal
strip e where it touches the back rail with glass, ivorine or some other easily
applied and non-corrodible substance with the view of ensuring smoothness of
action.
The relative positions of the several parts as seen from the back, and the change
which takes place in their positions when the keys are operated are illustrated in
Fig 5 in which the rear ends of several keys numbered from 1 to 5 are represented.
Keys 1, 4 and 5 are in their normal or quiescent position; while keys 2 and 3 are
drawn in their operative position.
The fittings of keys 1 and 2 are complete, while the pressure springs h
and spring tongues b are removed from keys 3, 4 and 5 and the sliding contact
piece e is also removed from key 5, the better to explain the assembling of the
parts.
The precise construction and arrangement of the yielding or sliding piece e may
vary according to the build of the instrument, and the mechanism with which it is
connected. Thus the piece e may be mounted to rock on a fulcrum and be
normally held quiescent by a friction pad or brake h as shewn in Fig: 4, the
principle of action of the parts remaining identically the same as before; or the
position of the fixed and sliding contact pieces may be reversed; that is the contact
piece carried by the key may be arranged to yield or shift and the contact piece
which is not attached to the key may be fixed, as in Fig: 5.
In this arrangement the spring holds the yielding contact piece e carried by
the key a, steady until its platinum point or surface e³ has made contact with the
contact surface b¹ as in the preceding examples, after which on the further upward
movement of the rear end of the key a the point or pin e engaging with the
projection or shoulder c¹ of the terminal piece b, the contact piece e will yield
thus presenting no appreciable resistance to the completion by the key of its full
stroke.
On releasing the key, its rear end will descend as before under the influence of
a spring (not shewn in the Drawing) and the contact piece e being firmly held by
the pressure of the spring h on the arm or support by which the said piece is
connected to the key, its platinum point e³ will first be slidden onto the insulating
surface g, and then engaging with the projection or shoulder e² of the terminal
piece b its further movement will be arrested.
The key however will be free to complete its return stroke owing to the
yielding of the contact piece e, in precisely the same manner as already above
described.
Although I prefer to connect the wires attached to the above named terminal
plates with their respective circuits by means of pins dipping into mercury, other
well known means might be used for this purpose. Thus without interfering in
any way with the desired range of movement of the operating key or lever I am
able to instantly make or break the circuit during the first part of the movement
of the key in one direction or another, and thereby instantly to start the train or
mechanism and allow it ample time for getting to work, while the key completes
its movement; or as instantly to release it and give it time to reset itself in
readiness for the next impulse, while the key completes its return or reverse
movement.
'In no other electrical make-and-break device with which I am acquainted, is it
possible to make contact at one point or position of the parts, and to break contact

page_text: at another point or different position of the said parts but by my invention this is
rendered practicable.
Such a mode of controlling the making and breaking of electric circuits may be
used in connection with the operating keys of telegraphic and time-signalling
apparatus, in which clock work and other trains are used, and will also be found
very valuable for electrically operating pneumatic levers or trains of levers from a
keyboard, as it affords the necessary time for the said levers to collapse or inflate
as the case may be, between the electrical impulses and so to be in a position to
promptly respond to the touch of the operator whereas in apparatus hitherto
constructed for transmitting electric impulses to such mechanism the contact is
both made and broken at about the same point in the travel of the lever, the
result, as regards organs being an appreciable and disagreeable sense of drag to
the player in both making and breaking the contact.
From the foregoing it will be obvious that the contact sliding piece may be made
double-acting by causing a pendent contact lever to swing between two contact
surfaces on the slide and thereby to complete the circuit at every movement either
to the right or to the left.
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
1. In apparatus for transmitting electrical impulses, the combination with the
circuit wires or conductors and a lever, key, piston or equivalent device under the
control of the operator or player; of contact surfaces or terminals adapted to touch
one another and complete the circuit immediately the said lever or key begins to
move in one direction, and to remain in contact and maintain the circuit during
the completion or continuance of the said movement of the key; and to separate
from one another and break circuit directly the lever or key begins to move in the
reverse or contrary direction and to remain separated during the completion of the
said reverse movement.
2. In keyboard instruments or apparatus for transmitting electrical impulses to
mechanism at a distance, the combination with a key or piston or its equivalent
under the control of the player or operator and having a given definite range of
movement, of contact surfaces or terminals, one of which is adapted to yield to
pressure and shift its position under the influence of the key so soon as contact
between the said surfaces is fully made or broken, and thereby to preserve
unaltered for the remainder of the stroke of the key or lever the relative positions
assumed by the contact surfaces at or during the first part of the stroke of the key,
in one direction or the other, as and for the purpose set forth.
3. The combination with a lever or key a provided with or supporting a contact
surface or terminal point in permanent electrical connection with one pole of a
battery or equivalent source of electricity, of a yielding or sliding contact surface
or piece held normally quiescent or steady by the pressure of a spring or its
equivalent, but adapted to yield to pressure transmitted by the key to allow of the
said key continuing its movement in one direction or the other without further
change in the position of the contact surfaces relatively the one to the other during
said continued movement.
4. The combination with a key such as a of a terminal point or surface b¹, a
shifting or yielding terminal point or surface e³, and shoulders e¹ e² or their
equivalent for effecting the shifting of the yielding terminal to allow the key or
lever to continue or complete its movement in one direction or the other without
altering the relative positions assumed by the said contact surfaces at the com-
mencement of the said movement, and pressure springs such as h or equivalent
means for holding the yielding contact steady on or against its support while the
circuit is being made or broken as set forth.
5. The combination with a piston, lever, or key of a pair of contact pieces or
terminals, one or both of them movable or yielding, a spring strut pressure pad or

page_text: its equivalent for holding one or both of the said movable contact pieces or
terminals steady upon its support until contact is fully made or broken, and
shoulders, stops or their equivalent for effecting the shifting or yielding of the
movable contact piece or pieces, after such contact has been fully made or broken
for the purpose set forth.
6. The combination with a lever piston or key having a definite and compara-
tively wide range of movement of contact pieces or terminals controlled by the
said key and adapted to make and break contact when moved relatively to each
other through a far smaller range of movement than that of which the key is
capable, thereby enabling a rapid succession of electrical impulses to be transmitted
by the vibration of the key or lever, whether it be vibrated through a correspond.
ingly small angle or through any angle within the range of movement of the said
key, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
7. An electrical circuit making-and-breaking device in which contact between the
terminals or contact surfaces can be made at one point, or in one position of the
actuating lever, and can be broken at nearly the same point, or at another point
widely removed therefrom, and with the actuating lever in a very different
position, instead of as is ordinarily the case making and breaking contact always
at or near the same spot, or requiring the actuating lever to be brought to the
same or nearly the same position in its stroke to effect these results, substantially
as set forth.