Improvements in Electric Arc Lamps.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Electric Arc Lamps.
I, FREDERIC STANHOPE WORSLEY; of 119 Church Lane, Charlton, in the County
of Kent, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object to provide simple and efficient means for con-
trolling the feed of the carbons of electric arc lamps.
According to my Invention I provide an arm or lever or its equivalent which
can turn, preferably, but not necessarily, on the same centre as, but independently
of, the wheel which rotates to effect the striking of the arc and the feeding of
the carbons. This arm or lever is connected with the magnetic controlling device
of the lamp, and the said arm or lever carries a part which forms with the said
wheel a receptacle in which is contained a wedging piece which acts on the
wheel to rotate it at the proper times, the release of the wheel being effected by
a device which acts on the wedging piece at the proper time to release it from its
gripping position.
The arrangement according to my Invention may be as follows:-
I provide the pulley or wheel through which the adjustment of the carbons is
effected with a gripping surface, adjacent to which is adapted to operate an arm
or projection carried by a lever, frame or other device pivotted either concentric-
ally or slightly eccentrically in relation to the said wheel.
The face of the arm or projection presented towards the gripping surface is
preferably inclined and between this face and the said gripping surface I provide
a loose brake-block which may be of taper, cylindrical, spherical, or other form
and constructed or having a facing of India rubber or other material adapted to
afford the necessary "grip" on the gripping surface.
The operation of the rocking lever is controlled by an electro-magnetic or other
device which may be connected in any desired manner, with the lamp carbons,
so that when these carbons are too far apart the lever through the brake-block
rotates the wheel in the direction necessary to allow the carbons to approach each
other, and when the two carbons are too close together, the lever is moved so that
through the brake-block it engages and rotates the above mentioned wheel in the
direction necessary to move the carbons apart. At the required part of the first.
named operation, that is to say the operation by, or during, which the carbons:
are caused to approach each other, the brake-block is disengaged from the gripping
surface by a device which for example may take the form of either a cord to
which the brake-blck is attached or a stop presented in the path of the said
brake-block, the said stop device at the required juncture arresting the movement
of the brake-block while allowing the lever to move further onwards to disengage
itself from the brake-block and thereby leave the carbons free to approach each
other.
The arm or projection, or, when it does not itself rotate, the brake-block, may
be provided with anti-friction rollers for facilitating the disengagement of these

page_text: two parts. The operative face of the arm or projection need not be inclined in
the manner previously described when the wedge-shaped brake-block is employed
or when the said arm or projection is of sufficient length or extent to allow the
cylindrical or other rotatable brake-block to engage with the gripping surface
above, say, the horizontal centre line of the above-mentioned wheel.
I, FREDERIC STANHOPE WORSLEY, of 119 Church Lane, Charlton, in the County
of Kent, 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:-
This Invention has for its principal object to provide simple and efficient means
for controlling the feed of the carbons of electric arc lamps.
According to this Invention there is provided an arm, or lever, or its equivalent,
which can turn preferably, but not necessarily, on the same centre as, but indepen-
dently of, the wheel or its equivalent which operates to effect the striking of the
are and the feeding of the carbons. This arin, or lever, is connected with the
magnetic or electric controlling device of the lamp; and the said arm, or lever,
carries a part which, forms, with the said wheel, a receptacle in which is contained
a wedging piece which acts by bearing, more or less, upon a gripping surface on,
or connected with, the said wheel, or its equivalent, to move it at the proper times,
the grip of the said wedging piece on the wheel, or its equivalent, being sufficiently
released by a device which acts on the wedging piece at the proper time.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the application of this Invention to a
lamp of the shunt type but it is to be understood that the Invention is not limited
to this type of lamp.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the lamp and Figures 2 and 3 shew, (drawn to a
larger scale), respectively a side elevation, partly in section, and a plan, of the
parts which are provided in accordance with this Invention. The pulley, or
wheel, A, through which the adjustment of the carbon, or carbons, is shewn as
being effected by means of a cord as usual, is provided with a gripping surface B,
shewn as being formed by the grooved periphery of a wheel fixed on the same axis
as the wheel A; adjacent to which gripping surface is an arm, or projection, or
the like, c, carried at one end of a lever C, or frame, or like device, pivotted either
on the same axis as the wheel A as shewn, or slightly eccentrically thereto.
The face of the arm, or projection, e presented towards the gripping surface of
the wheel B is preferably inclined, and between this face and the said gripping-
surface there is provided a loose brake-block which may be of taper, cylindrical,
spherical, or other suitable form, and it may be made of, or be provided with a
facing of, india rubber, or other material adapted to afford the necessary grip on
the gripping-surface. In the drawing the said brake-block is presumed to be
made of a metal holder d undercut to hold a pad of rubber .
The operation of the rocking lever C is controlled by an electro-magnetic, or
electric, device which may be connecetd in any desired manner with the electric
circuit through the lamp carbons. In the drawings a solenoid coil E is shewn in
shunt with the circuit through the lamp the core c, of the solenoid, being con-
nected, by the slot and pin connection shewn, with the lever C at the end opposite

page_text: to that which acts on the aforesaid brake-block. When the carbons are too far
apart the electric current, which then passes through the said solenoid coil E,
attracts its core c, so that it is drawn up, and it acts on the lever C so as to lower
the other end of the said lever at which the brake-block is situated so that the grip
of the said brake-block on the said wheel B is reduced by reason of its coming in
contact with the tripper f, and the wheel A secured to the same axis can turn so
that the carbons approach each other and, when the carbons are too close together,
the current in the solenoid E is reduced and allows the core to descend to a
certain extent and this lowers the end of the lever C to which it is connected, and
raises the other end so that the projection c, on the lever C, bears on the brake-
block which, in turn, bears on the wheel B with a sufficient grip to turn it so that
the wheel A is also turned in the direction necessary to cause the carbons to be
moved apart. The apparatus acts similarly in striking the arc. At the required
part of the operation by which the carbons are caused to approach each other the
grip of the brake-block on the periphery of the wheel B is lessened to the requisite
extent by the tripping device f, which may take any suitable form, such, for
example, as a cord, or chain, of the proper length by which the brake-block is
suspended, or a stop such as the screw f presented in the path of the said brake-
block the said device, at the proper time, arresting the movement of the brake-
block and thus causing its gripping power to be lessened, so as to allow the carbons
to approach each other freely. The arm, or projection, c, or the brake-block, may
be provided with antifriction rollers, (for example as shewn at ), for facilitating
the movement of the brake-block, and of the lever C in relation thereto.
The operative face of the arm, or projection, (in the case shewn the said face
is constituted by the rollers ) need not be inclined when a wedge, or equivalently
shaped, brako-block is employed, or when the said arm, or projection, is of suffi-
cient length, or extent, or is so shaped, or arranged, as to allow a cylindrical, or
spherical, brake-block to engage with the gripping surface above say-the hori-
zontal centre line of the above mentioned wheel. Figure 4 is a side elevation,
Figure 5 is an end view (with the wheel B partly in section) and Figure 6 is a
horizontal section of a modification wherein the parts which correspond in their
functions with those hercinbefore described are marked with the same letters of
reference. The wheel B is made with a recessed part in which is suspended,
by a cord from the depending wire f, a wedging piece consisting of metal pieces d
hinged together and they may be provided with rubber facings at d. The lever C
carries a pin which enters between the hinged parts d so as to force them apart
to cause the wedging device to bear on the sides of the recessed part 6 and operato
as described with regard to the wedging piece in the preceding arrangement. In
place of a wheel B, a vertical rod similarly provided with a recessed part and con-
nected with the carbon holder can be used.
This Invention is not limited to the particular details described as they may be
varied, and the Invention may be applied to lamps other than such as are con-
structed as shown in the drawings; for example, one only of the carbons may
be moveable and the friction wheel may operate the carbon, or carbons, through
a rack and pinion in place of a cord, and the electro-magnetic, or electric, con-
trolling device may be duplicated, one being included in the main circuit and
the other in a shunt therefrom, and both these may be at one end of the lever,
or one at one end, and the other at the other end of the said lever to act on what is
known as the differential system.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, it is declared that what is
claimed is:-
-
1. In electric are lamps the combination with parts which are operated to
effect the striking of the arc and the feeding of the carbons, of an arm, or lever,
or the equivalent, connected with the magnetic, or electric, controlling device of
the lamp and carrying, or acting on, a wedging piece which acts on the wheel (or

page_text: the equivalent, such as some part in connection with the said wheel, or another
wheel fixed on the same axis) so as to grip upon and rotate it, and is sufficiently
released from contact with the wheel, or its equivalent, at the proper times, sub-
stantially as, and for the purposes, hereinbefore described.
2. In electric are lamps a controlling arrangement constructed to operate sub-
stantially as herein before described and illustrated by Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the
accompanying drawings, or modified as herein before described.
3. In electric are lamps a controlling-arrangement constructed to operate sub-
stantially as herein before described and illustrated in Figures 4, 5 and 6 of the
accompanying drawings, or modified as herein before described.
Dated this 25th day of November 1897.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincolns Inn Fields. London. W.C., Agents.