Apparatus for Suddenly Disconnecting.or Throwing out.of.Gear Motors and Working Parts of Machinery from a Distance.
Year: 1899

page_text: .Date of Application, 22nd Nov., 1899-Accepted, 20th Jan., 1900
Apparatus for Suddenly Disconnecting.or Throwing out.of.Gear
Motors and Working Parts of Machinery from a Distance.
I, ERNST GEORG DIETZE, of Oberseergasse, Dresden A., Saxony, Coppersmith, 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:-
-
In manufactories and other installations where machinery is used accidents
frequently occur and their seriousness increased by reason of the workman who
meets with an accident or his companions near him being unable to stop the prime
mover or the machinery, it being first.necessary to communicate with the engine
driver whereby in many cases much time is lost.
This invention has for object to provide an apparatus by means of which anyone
may by a slight pressure or pull easily and suddenly disconnect the prime mover
or the machinery from a distance so as to stop the machinery at the place of an
accident or where this is seen to be about to occur.
The apparatus is preferably operated by electricity and through suitable con-
nections for releasing a heavily weighted lever normally held in a slightly oblique
position, in falling from which and with the force thereby obtained, it shifts a
riving belt from a fast to a loose pulley or disengages a toothed coupling or
the like.
The apparatus of the invention is shewn in the accompanying drawing Fig. 1
being a front elevation, Fig. 2 a side elevation and Figs. 3 and 4 front elevations
in different working positions. Fig. 5 is a plan view of Fig. 3 and Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9,
refer to details.
a is the heavily weighted lever the lower end of which is fixed in a turning
pivot carried in a frame c attached to a wall plate c¹ and held in the normal
position by means of a tooth d in said pivot engaging with a pawl f mounted on
a shaft e (Fig. 1) the pawl f being held by a spring g which at one end is attached
to a set screw hand at the other end to an extension i of the pawl.
In order to be able with only a slight exertion of force to release the tooth_d,
a smaller weighted lever 7 is provided which is fixed in a turning pivot also
carried in the frame cand like the lever a standing at a slight angle to the vertical
line. In the pivot is a tooth m engaging against a lug n of an electro magnet
armature o which like the pawl f is held suspended or so that it may oscillate.
The lug n is held to the tooth m by a spring (Figs. 4, 5) attached at one end to a
set screw 7 (Fig. 5) and at the other end to an extension of the magnet armature o.
In addition to the tooth m the pivot k is provided with a lug r so placed that
upon the turning of this pivot it strikes a projections (Figs. 7, 8) of the pawl f
and presses this backward out of reach of the tooth d.
t are two magnet bobbins arranged in front of the armature o and interposed
in a circuit. The contact places are located in the machinery rooms or work-
shops within easy reach of the workmen. These magnet bobbins serve, when
energised by the current, to attract the armature and so bring it out of reach
of the tooth m.
With the apparatus in the normal or state of rest position of Fig. 1 and a

page_text: 1
workman, having regard to a prospective or actual accident, desiring to disconnect
the engine to stop the transmission of movement therefrom, he will at his own
or at an adjacent workman's place close the contact so that the magnet bobbins
receive current, whereupon the operation is as follows:-
The magnet bobbins t attract the armature o so that the small weighted lever ?
causes the lug of this lever to strike against the projecting parts of the pawl f
and the drawing away of this latter from the tooth d which bears with great force
against it, so that now the larger weighted lever a having lost its point of support
falls to one side (Fig. 4) and by reason of the great force thereby developed brings
about the displacement of the driving band of the prime mover from a fast to a
loose pulley or the disconnection of a toothed coupling or the like. To this end
there is fixed on the turning pivot b of the large weighted lever a, and further
connected with this latter by a bolt u, a grooved wheel segment to which a
wire rope w is attached and thence led and attached to a sliding fork for displacing
the driving band, or to a lever for disconnecting the coupling or the like, which
parts are correspondingly moved when the weighted lever a falls.
a, y, z, are set screws located in the frame e, for the large and small weighted
levers, by which these latter, the magnet armature, and the pawl, are set to corres-
pond to the before described action, the screw preventing the spring p from
drawing the armature too far back and away from the influence of the magnet
bobbins; the screw y preventing the spring g from pulling the pawl f too far over
the stop tooth ; and the screwz preventing the lever a from taking a too upright
position, and so that this lever will, when released, always fall-to one side.
In order to be able to regulate the force of the falling levers a, 7, these are pro-
vided respectively with weights a¹, 1, adjustable by set screws 1, 2.
When the apparatus, after being actuated, is in the position of Fig. 4 it can be
again brought into the state of rest position by raising and locking in the described
manner first the small weighted lever 7 and then the larger lever a.
In the described arrangement and action of the apparatus it is supposed that the
magnet bobbins are traversed by a so called working current only when the contacts
are closed, but instead of such a current a continuous current may be employed in
which case the normally attracted armature o can be located on the left side of the
magnet bobbins, only then the lug n must be made sufficiently long to come
within the reach of the tooth m it also being necessary to provide a spring which
upon the break of circuit would withdraw the armature o with its lug n from the
tooth m.
In the above or equivalent construction of the apparatus the release of the
weighted levers may, instead of electrically, be accomplished by other means such
for instance as by a pull on a rope.
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. Apparatus for disconnecting or throwing out of gear motors and working
parts of machinery from a distance, in which apparatus a weighted lever normally
held by means of a stop arrangement in a raised or state of rest position operates
by the force of gravity, through suitable connections, the displacement of a driv-
ing belt from a fast to a loose pulley, the uncoupling of a toothed coupling or
the like, and thereby the disconnection or throwing out of gear of the motor or
machinery, for the purpose specified, substantially as described and shewn.
2. LA construction of the apparatus referred to, in which, in order to be able to
release from a distance the stop arrangement of the large weighted lever a by the
application of a slight pull or pressure, a second and smaller weighted lever is
arranged which is also normally held in the raised or state of rest position by a
stop arrangement and is very easily releasable and when released operates by the
force of gravity the release of the stop arrangement of the larger weighted lever,
substantially as described and shewn,

page_text: 3. A construction of the apparatus referred to, in which the release of the stop
mechanism for the smaller weighted lever is effected from an electro magnet
in the manner that upon the closing of an electric circuit said magnet attracts an
armature in the form of a pawl and thereby releases the stop, substantially as
described and shewn.
THOMAS R. SHILLITO,
15, Tooks Court, London, E.C., Agent for the Applicant.