Improvements in or connected with Apparatus for Periodically Completing and Interrupting Electric Circuits.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Apr., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 12th June, 1893-Accepted, 22nd July, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Apparatus for Periodically
Completing and Interrupting Electric Circuits.
We ERNEST LOWER BERRY and FREDERICK HARRISON both of Lyric
Chambers, Whitcomb Street in the County of London Electrical Engineers do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to apparatus or means, for use for periodically completing
and interrupting electric currents; and is more especially intended for use in cases
where frequent makes and breaks have to be made in an electric circuit carrying
a heavy current of high tension, and particularly when employing continuous
currents.
According to this invention the requisite changes of contact are made by means
of a solenoid, or of solenoids, in a shunt from the main in which shunt the current
is not sufficient to cause injury of the contact devices.
The core or cores of the solenoid, or solenoids, makes, or make, and breaks, or
break, the contact or contacts for the completion and interruption of the circuit in
the main supply the contact or contacts preferably consisting of mercury cups.
immersed in a liquid medium of a high flashing point, which liquid covers the
contact point and lessens sparking.
The invention includes an arrangement whereby a time keeper completes and
interrupts the circuit through the solenoid or solenoids. The following is a
suitable arrangement for this purpose:-The hand or one of the hands of the time
keeper or some equivalent part operated thereby (we will refer to it as the hand).
is connected to one of the wires of the shunt circuit from the main and a circular
conducting strip on the clock face or some part of the time keeper traversed by the
hand is connected to the other of the wires of the shunt circuit so that the said
circuit is completed by a contact piece (preferably consisting of a light spring) on.
the hand coming into contact with the aforesaid circular strip. In order to leave-
only so much of the aforesaid strip exposed as corresponds to the period during
which the circuit is to be completed, we provide an insulating piece or insulating
pieces for covering so much of the said circular strip as corresponds to the period.
during which the current is to be off.
To enable this to be set to any desired period a convenient device consists of
discs of insulating material with parts cut away at the portions corresponding to
the circular strip so that these cut-away portions of each disc can be made to
coincide to their full extent, or less, and cover or uncover more or less of the said.
circular strip.
The contact piece as it moves round with the hand does not complete the circuit
so long as the said piece is on the discs, but, as soon as it leaves the said discs and
comes into contact with the circular conducting strip beneath the discs, the shunt
circuit is completed and the solenoid, or solenoids, is, or are, energised to complete
the main circuit, and, as soon as the said contact piece on the hand comes again onto
the uncut-away portions of the discs, the solenoid, or solenoids, ceases, or cease, to
be energised, and the main circuit is broken. The device above described is well
adapted to be employed in combination with a device such as is described in
the Specification of an application for Letters Patent No. 16115 made by us
on the 9th day of September 1892, as the intermittent changes of the circuits
carrying the main current to effect the illumination of different lamps, or series of
lamps, can be made by means of solenoids as herein described, energised by a
shunt current, in the circuit of which is situated a contact changing device such as.
is described in our said Specification. The cores of the solenoids can be mounted

page_text: on either side of a centre on which they oscillate so that they counterbalance each
other.
Dated this 4th dex of Anril 1902
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Apparatus for Periodically
Completing and Interrupting Electric Circuits.
We ERNEST LOWER BERRY and FREDERICK HARRISON both of Lyric
Chambers Whitcomb Street, in the County of London, Electrical Engineers 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 relates to apparatus, or means, for use for periodically completing
and interrupting electric currents, and is more especially intended for use in cases
where frequent makes and breaks have to be made in an electric circuit carrying a
heavy current, and particularly when employing continuous currents. According
to this invention the requisite changes of contact are made by means of an electro-
magnetic device such as a solenoid, or of solenoids, in a shunt from the main in
which shunt the current is not sufficient to cause injury of the contact devices.
The armature or armatures of the electro-magnetic device such as the core or
cores, of the solenoid or solenoids, makes or make, and breaks, or break, the
contact, or contacts, for the completion and interruption of the circuit in the main
supply, the contact or contacts, preferably consisting of mercury cups immersed in
a liquid medium of a high flashing point which medium covers the contact point
and lessens sparking. The invention includes an arrangement whereby a time-
keeper completes, and interrupts the circuit through the electro-magnetic device.
The following is a suitable arrangement for this purpose which we will describe
with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein
Figure 1 is a view of the general arrangement.
Figure 2 is a transverse section of the dial and contact making and interrupting
devices and
Figure 3 is one of the insulating discs thereof.
A hand or one of the hands a of the time keeper A, or some equivalent part
operated thereby (we will refer to it as the hand) is connected by the rubbing
contact spring a² and contact plate a³ to one of the wires b of the shunt circuit B
from the main C and a circular conducting strip a' on the clock face, or some part
of the timekeeper traversed by the hand, is connected to the other of the wires b³
of the shunt circuit B so that the said circuit is completed by a contact piece a
(preferably consisting of a light spring) on the hand a coming into contact with the
aforesaid circular strip at. In order to leave only so much of the strip at exposed
as corresponds to the period during which the circuit is to be completed we provide
an insulating piece, or insulating pieces for covering so much of the said strip a¹ as
corresponds to the period during which the current is to be off. To enable this to
be set to any desired period a convenient device consists of two discs d d² of
insulating material with parts cut away at the portions corresponding to the circular
strip a so that these cut away portions of each disc can be made to coincide to
their full extent, or less, and cover, or uncover, more or less, of the said circular
strip at.
One of the discs is shewn in Figure 3 the cut away part being marked a.
The contact piece a³ as it moves round with the hand a does not complete the
circuit so long as the said piece is on the discs d d but, as soon as it leaves the said
discs and comes into contact with the conducting strip at beneath the said discs, the
shunt circuit is completed and the solenoid, or solenoids, is or are energised to
complete the circuit from the main. We have shewn one solenoid at E in the shunt.

page_text: circuit its core e being connected to a lever e³ centered at e³ and having at its other
end a contact piece e which when it enters the mercury cup F completes the circuit
from the main. As soon as the said contact piece a on the hand a comes again
onto the uncut-away portions of the discs d d the solenoid E (or solenoids) ceases
(or cease) to be energised, and the solenoid core e falls so that the contact piece et
leaves the mercury cup F and the circuit from the main is broken. The device.
above described is well adapted to be employed in combination with a device such
as is described in the Specification of an application for Letters Patent No. 16115.
made by us on the 9th day of September 1892 as the intermittent changes of the
circuits carrying the main current to effect the illumination of different lamps or
series of lamps, can be made by means of a solenoid or solenoids as herein described,
energised by a shunt current in the circuit of which is situated a contact changing.
device such as is described in our sail Specification. This is indicated at Y as
being situated in the shunt circuit y in which the coils of the solenoids G G² are.
included. The cores 9 9' of the solenoids G G are connected to either end of a
lever H centered at h. The said cores therefore counterbalance each other.
They have at their lower ends contact pieces which enter mercury cups I and J so
that the circuit from the main is completed and interrupted as desired.
In the
arrangement shewn there are two sets of lamps K and L and the circuits are so.
arranged that when the contact is made in the mercury cup I the circuit through
the set of lamps K is completed and that through the other set L is interrupted
and the reverse when the contact is made in the mercury cup J.
g.
:
When the apparatus is to be put in operation the discs d d' are adjusted so that
the gaps between them leave a space exposing the contact piece a¹ to an extent
and in a position corresponding to the period during which the apparatus is to be.
in operation. The circuit B is therefore completed when the spring a³ by the
movement of the hand comes into contact and whilst it remains in contact with
the exposed portion of the contact piece at and the solenoid E is energised so that
its core e is raised and contact is made in the mercury cup F to connect the wires m
at that place. The said wires m are connected by the wires m² with the ends of
the solenoid cores y g². The wire n leads from the main C to the central
conductor n between the sets of lamps K and L. The lamps K are also connected
to the conductor p² which leads by the wire p to the mercury cup I and the
lamps L are in like manner connected to the conductor which leads by the wire
to the mercury cup J. As the switching device Y is rotated by the clockwork
motor Y the current passes by the shunt y at intervals alternately around the
coils G G respectively. In the drawing it is presumed to be passing around the
coil G2 so that its core 92 is attracted and raised from the mercury cup J and
the core g falls and the contact is made in the mercury cup I and the current from
the main then passes to the lamps K by the wire n conductor n through the
lamps K thence by the wire p2 and p mercury cup I and solenoid core g wire m².
and the wires m (and through the contact e and mercury cup F) back to the main.
When the next contact is made by the switch at Y the coil of the solenoid G is
energised so that its core is lifted from the mercury cup I the core g³ descending
and making contact in the cup J and then the current is cut off from the lamps K
and passes from the main by the wire n conductor n² to the lamps L and thence by
the conductor wire 7 mercury cup J core g² wire m² and wires m (and contact et
and mercury cup F) back to the main. This takes place alternately as long as the
shunt circuit B is completed but as soon as the spring a leaves the conducting
strip at and comes upon the insulating disc d. the circuit through B is interrupted
the core e falls the contact et is lifted from the cup F and the circuits through the
lamps are discontinued the stem e rising and stopping the clockwork motor Y2 by
coming in contact with its flier z. It will be seen that when the circuit through B
is interrupted the circuit through y G, G² is also interrupted. In place of the
contacts with the mercury cups being made as described it will be evident that
they may be made in the reverse sense that is that the contact in the cup E may be
made when the solenoid E is not energised and broken when it is energised and

page_text: that the contacts with the caps I and J may be made when their respective
solenoids G or G' are respectively energised instead of as described.
The mercury cups F, I and J are shewn as being immersed in a liquid medium r
contained in the vessels s the said medium being one of a high flashing point.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
:-
1. In, or for, apparatus for periodically completing and interrupting electric
circuits the combination of a time keeper provided with contacts which maintain a
shunt circuit closed for any predetermined time and a clockwork or other motor
operating a circuit changer or switch also in a shunt circuit in which is an
electromagnetic device such as a solenoid or solenoids operated at intervals to
complete a circuit or circuits to lamps or the like all substantially as hereinbefore
described.
2. In or for apparatus for periodically completing and interrupting electric
circuits the combination with a time keeper of adjustable devices for enabling the
periods during which an electric circuit is completed or interrupted to be adjusted
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings
with regard to the clock dial A therein shewn.
3. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting an apparatus for
completing and interrupting electric circuits substantially as hereinbefore described
and shewn in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 12th day of June 1893.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.