Improvements in or relating to Electric Contacts or Current Taking Devices.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Sept., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 14th Mar., 1900-Accepted, 23rd June, 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Electric Contacts or Current Taking
Devices.
We, ERNEST GREIL and EMILE AUDIGER, both of 138, Boulevard St. Honoré,
Paris, in the Republic of France, Electricians, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a current taking device for electric appliances and
more especially those intended for illuminating purposes.
If we consider, for example, the case of appliances of the form of candle sticks
or candelabra placed upon a table, it has hitherto been necessary, with the
means usually employed for taking the electric current, to conduct to the foot
of the appliance a small cable which is frequently the cause of much incon-
venience as it encumbers the piece of furniture upon which the appliance rests
and renders this latter liable to be upset.
Our invention serves to obviate these defects. In accordance therewith we
connect the electric conductor not with the illuminating device but with the
piece of furniture itself, and we adapt in one or more positions upon such piece
of furniture current taking devices in accordance with our invention.
We will now describe the said current taking device, which possesses the
advantage of not presenting either a projection or a cavity when arranged in
position.
The fixed part rigidly attached to the table or other piece of furniture consists
of a block of insulating material such as wood, ebonite or the like in which are
embedded two conducting pieces or masses constituted in the manner of the
brushes employed in electrical apparatus by means of a large number of metallic
wires arranged in juxtaposition. This block is embedded in the piece of furni-
ture in such a manner as to be flush with the upper surface thereof as are also
the masses or conducting pieces these masses are connected at their lower portions
with the electric conductors by means of a flexible wire.
The piece thus constituted is and remains embedded in the piece of furniture
and may be concealed by a cloth or cover placed upon this latter. In the two
masses or brushes two points which are rigidly connected with a small cylinder
of insulating material, are adapted to enter. One of these points is in metallic
connection with a strip of metal arranged at the bottom of a cavity formed in
the base of the cylinder opposite to that in which the points are situated; the
other point communicates with a band of metal arranged upon the cylindrical
surface of the block.
When this cylinder is placed upon the block, the said points being engaged in
the brushes, it projects from the table and it is,upon it that the base of the
appliance is engaged; in this base is fitted the part which forms the third piece
of our device above referred to.
This latter is formed of a block comprising a recess supplied with a metallic
At the
partition and in which the cylinder may be maintained by friction.
bottom of this recess is provided a projecting metallic part on portion of which

page_text: is adapted to enter within the other and is acted upon by a spring. A metal
partition is in communication by means of a conductor with one of the poles
of the lamp, whilst the said projecting metallic part is connected with the other
.pole.
When it is desired to render the apparatus operative, the cylinder is placed
upon the fixed part the points being engaged in the metallic masses, then upon
this cylinder is engaged the foot of the apparatus provided with the part in
whose recess the cylinder is adapted to enter as already explained.
The current passes from the masses to the points and from these latter it
passes on the one hand to the partition along a band and on the other hand to the
projecting metallic part by way of the metallic part and then proceeds to the
lamp through the conductors of the apparatus.
This method entirely obviates the necessity for the presence of conducting
wires upon the furniture, and to all appearance the illuminating appliance is
merely placed thereon. Of course several such devices may be provided upon
the same piece of furniture, for the purpose of enabling several appliances to be
arranged upon it or of enabling the position of the said appliances to be changed.
We would point out that we do not in any way confine ourselves to the device
described; for example, we may make the masses of various shapes. Thus, for
instance, they may consist of two parallel bands of a certain length, of two con-
centric circles, and so forth, thus enabling the appliance to be arranged upon
any point in the length of the bands or concentric circles. It should be remarked
that in certain cases the points may form part of the lamp base itself.
A table arranged in such a manner as to permit of a lamp or the like being
placed upon any point of the same has formed in its surface grooves within which
are lodged metallic cubes or else bands of conducting metal, as above stated:
upon the surface of the table thus provided is arranged a sheet of asbestos and a
sheet of india rubber.
The connections with the cables or bands are effected in any suitable manner.
It will of course be understood that at the extremities of the table the section of
the conducting bands are covered with an insulating sheet.
This arrangement may be applied to partitions, Hoors: covers may be made
which may merely be placed upon the table if it is desired that this latter should
remain intact.
We may point out the applicability of our invention to the establishment of
luminous letters or signs.
We also reserve the right to constitute the metallic masses intended for the
reception of the points in various manners enabling electrical communication
with the points and their penétration; they may consist of metallic wires, thin
mal sheets, lead shot, sheet tin, plumbago and so forth. The points need not
necessarily be fixed to a separate part but may be adapted directly to the
appliance; in certain cases this would constitute a simplification of the device.
In certain circumstances, the invention may be simplified by mounting the
lamp directly upon a socket which is rigidly connected with a suitable part; this
extremely simple arrangement may be useful in certain applications of our
invention where decorative effect is not an object.
T
ليها
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: CALL 17117 PUITIVATIVA.
Improvements in or relating to Electric Contacts or Current Taking
Devices.
We, ERNEST GREIL and EMILE AUDIGER, both of 138, Boulevard St. Honore,
Paris, in the Republic of France, Electricians, 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:-
It is often desirable to place electric glow lamps on different parts of a table
or board for decorative, advertising or other purposes, but it is often difficult
or inconvenient to lead the conductors to them as these may interfere with each
other or with other objects. This invention relates to a construction and
arrangement of glow lamps and conductors for them in such a manner that a
glow lamp can be placed on almost any part of a table or board provided with
the conductors, the mere placing of it serving to make the necessary contacts
for its supply of electricity.
For this purpose the head of the glow lamp instead of having the usual ter-
minals for the leading in wires, has these terminals in the form of two sharp
pointed spikes which can be thrust into any part of a table or board faced with
cork, soft wood, felt, asbestos fabric or other non-conducting and easily pene-
trable material. On this facing are fixed side by side but insulated from each
other bands of conducting material, which may be metal foil or wires laid side
by side or braided or woven together, or they may be small metal balls such as
shot, wire coils. The ends of the first, third and all the odd bands are connected
by suitable conductors to one terminal of the source of electricity, say the + ter-
minal, while the ends of the second, fourth and all even bands are connected to
the other, say the terminal. Over the conducting bands are fixed a cover of
fabric, such for instance as plush or velvet. The bands are of width less than
the distance between the spikes of the glow lamp, so that by holding the lamp
with the line of the spikes transverse to the lines of the conducting bands and
then thrusting the spikes in at any part of the table or board, the one makes
contact with the +, and the other with the conductor.
=
1
According to a modification, the table or board has on it two sheets of con-
ducting material such as metal foil or wires woven or braided together separated
by a sheet of nonconducting material such as paraffined paper felt or fabric,
the one conducting sheet connected to the + and the other to the terminal
of the source of electricity. The uppermost sheet is covered by a sheet of suit-
able fabric. When the table or board has the conductors thus arranged in two
layers, the spikes of the lamp are made of different lengths, the part of the
longer next the lamp being coated with insulating material. When the spikes
are thrust in at any part of the table or board the shorter spike penetrates the
upper conducting sheet but does not reach the lower, whilst the longer spike
which reaches the lower sheet, though it penetrates the upper sheet does not
make contact with it, as the part which passes through is insulated.
Instead of providing the lamp bulb itself with the spikes, a candle stick or
other stand for the bulb may have the spikes projecting from its base, these
spikes being electrically connected to the leading in wires of the bulb.
The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example practical applications
of this invention.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of an ordinary incandescent electric lamp having its
head so formed-that-its-leading-in-wires-are-in-conductive_connection with two
sharn snikes a and b

page_text: Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a table or board on which such lamps may be
placed, parts being broken away to shew the construction below.
Fig. 3 shews the head of a lamp which has its leading in wires connected to
two spikes cd of unequal length, the longer spike d having part of it next the
head, of the length of e, coated with nonconducting material such as varnish.
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a table or board on which lamps such as are
shewn in Fig. 3 can be placed.
Referring to Figure 2, e is a table or board of soft wood or it might be of
other material faced with a layer of cork or of comparatively soft nonconducting
material easily penetrable. On this board or facing are alternate bands f g of
conducting material such as lead foil or preferably fine copper or other metallic
wires braided or woven together, or wire coils, each of the f bands connected
to a conductor h which may be connected to the + terminal of a source of
electricity while each of the g bands is connected to a conductor i connected to
the other or terminal. The conducting bands f g are covered by any suit-
able easily penetrable fabric k. The bands f g are separated by narrow strips
of insulating material, and each band with its separating strip is of less width
than the distance between the spikes a and b. Thus if the lamp be held with
the line of those spikes transverse to the bands, and the spikes thrust in any-
where through the cover k, one of the spikes unless it be just over an insulating
strip necessarily passes through one of the + bands and the other spike passes
through an adjoining band, the leading in wires of the lamp being thus put
into electrical connection with the source of electricity.
-
1
Referring now to Figure 4, m is the board or table or penetrable layer thereon,
n is a sheet of metal foil or of fine wire fabric connected by conductor s to one
terminal say + of a source of electricity, o is a sheet of easily penetrable insulat-
ing material which may be paraffined paper or fabric, p is another sheet of metal
foil or wire fabric which is connected by conductor r to the other or terminal
of the source of electricity and g is the penetrable cover. A lamp having the
long and short spikes c and d can be placed anywhere on the cover g, the spikes
being thrust, the short one o reaching only through but not reaching n,
whilst the long one d reaches » but the part of which passes through p being
insulated makes no contact with p.
Obviously the lamp may be fixed on any suitable stand, the base of which
is provided with spikes connected to the leading in wires.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. A contact appliance for an electric glow lamp, comprising a board or
table having on it parallel bands of penetrable conducting material insulated
from each other and alternately connected to the + and terminals of a
source of electricity and a glow lamp or stand made with two spikes connected
to its leading in wires so that on thrusting these spikes into a pair of the bands,
the leading in wires become connected to the source of electricity substantially
as described.
2. A modified form of the contact appliance wherein the board or table has
two superposed sheets of conducting material separated by insulating material
and the glow lamp or its stand has two spikes of different lengths, the longer
one having part of its length covered with insulating material substantially as
described.
TY 1
1411
Mask 1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.