Improvements in Apparatus for Controlling the Application or Use of Electric Currents of High Tension and Great Quantity.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Oct., 1893-Accepted, 25th Nov., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Controlling the Application or Use
of Electric Currents of High Tension and Great Quantity.
We, ROBERT LUNDELL, Electrician, and EDWARD HIBBERD JOHNSON,
Electrician, both of 44 Broad Street, New York City, New York, United States
of America, 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 is directed to apparatus for use in connection with electric motors,
dynamo electric machines, or analogous electric translating devices and has an
especial application in connection with electric motors used in the propulsion of
railway cars or analogous vehicles and its objects are:
First. To construct a switching device or apparatus which shall first rupture the
circuit at one or more points and then effect certain changes in the circuits of an
electric motor, after which the circuit is again restored at the point or points of
rupture.
Second. To avoid as far as possible injury from abnormal arcing at the points of
rupture of the circuit or circuits which supply the operating current.
Third. To construct a current controlling apparatus which shall permit various
changes to be effected in the motor or translating device with the simplest possible
arrangement of parts and with a view of securing certainty of action without
damage to any part of the apparatus.
Fourth. The accomplishment of any and all results necessarily attributable to
the apparatus hereinafter described.
These objects are effected by the apparatus bereinafter disclosed, the essentially
novel features of which are particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this
Specification.
For a full and clear understanding of the invention reference is had to the
following Specification and accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan view of the improved circuit controlling
mechanism.
.
Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section thereof taken on the line 2-2, Fig. 3,
and
Fig. 3 is an end elevational view as seen looking at Figs. 1 and 2 from the left
toward the right.
Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse sectional views taken on the broken lines 4–4
and 5-5 respectively, Fig. 1, certain of the parts being shown in elevation and as
Been looking from left to right in the direction of the arrows upon that figure.
Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating an electric motor having two armature
circuits, two field magnet circuits, a rheostat and circuit connections together with
a developed or plan view of the novel circuit controlling apparatus for varying the
relative circuit connections of the several parts of the motor.
Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of a modified form of the present invention
illustrating also the operative connections with the apparatus shown diagram-
matically in Fig. 6 of the drawings.
•
Referring now to the drawings in detail and first to Figs. 1 and 2.
B is the base or support of the entire apparatus and is provided at its opposite
ends with upright standards A. A in which are located journal bearings of an axle E
which carries the rotary portions of the apparatus.
C and Care cylinders of non-conducting material secured to the axle E by
collars, as shown, and currying on their exterior surfaces each several series of
curved U-shaped bridge vicces P P, P¹ P¹ of conducting material adapted to

page_text: bridge the spaces electrically between adjacent pairs of contacting springs S Ș¹,
there being three series of these bridge pieces for the cylinder C and four series
thereof for the cylinder C¹ as clearly shown in end elevational view in Figs. 4
and 5 respectively.
the
The cylinder C, Figs. 1 and 2, is of larger diameter than is the cylinder C¹ for
purpose of giving to the bridge pieces P a wider range of motion than is given
to the corresponding bridge pieces P₁ for a purpose to be hereinafter described.
The contact springs S are fixedly secured to an insulating bar I which in turn
is secured through standards A' to the base B of the machine, see Fig. 5, and the
contact springs S are similarly secured to an insulating bar I, which is journalled in
upright standards A' and is provided at its opposite ends with stiff leaf springs s',
the lower or free ends of which pass between corresponding pairs of friction
rollers & journalled in the standards, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the arrange-
ment being such that the several contact springs S are adapted to move a short
distance in either direction under friction due to the bridge pieces P as the cylinder
is rotated back and forth under the influence of an operating wheel H.
K, see Figs. 1, 3 and 4, is a corrugated wheel attached to the upper end of the
axle E, and L L are friction rolls carried at the free ends of arms M M pivotally
secured to the base B, said friction rolls being held in firm relation with the teeth
of the wheel K by strong spiral springs s, the function of these parts being to
maintain the apparatus in certain fixed positions as the wheel H is rotated in either
direction. p is a stop pin carried by the wheel K and adapted to limit the rotation
of the entire apparatus in either direction by coming in contact with a stop 1 on the
under side of the standard A, see Figs. 2, 3, and 4.
In the modified form shown in Fig. 7, the two insulating cylinders C and C' are
substantially of the same diameter and the increased velocity required for the
cylinder C is obtained by gearing the two cylinders together through intermediate
gear wheels G, G', G and G³ journalled in supports carried by the base, the relative
proportions of the gearing being such as to permit of the desired difference in speed.
In this modified form instead of there being a single axis E there are two axes E
and El, both of which are journalled to the frame in the same manner as was the
axis E in Fig. 1.
The outer pair of contact springs S next to the wheel or handle H in both
Figs. 1 and 7 is connected by a conductor w with the source of electrical energy
supplying the necessary current by say a trolley wire, and the succeeding pairs of
such contact springs are connected by conductors w³ w', the last pair thereof being
connected by a conductor w³ to the first pair of contact springs S' of that portion
of the apparatus which effects the current changes in the motor or other translating
device, the several independent parts thereof, namely, the rheostat R, the
armatures A and A', the field magnets F and F¹ being connected directly to the
several sets of contact springs S₁ by conductors w³, the last set of such contact
springs being connected by the continuation of the conductor w to earth, sce
Fig. 7.
An examination of the diagram shown in Fig. 6 will illustrate the several current
changes which take place in the rotation of the cylinder C¹ which is shown as
developed in that figure.
It is also apparent that the arrangement of the bridge picces P and P' with
relation to their corresponding sets of contact springs S and S' is such that the
circuit will always be interrupted between the plates P and the springs S during
the time that any change is being effected between the bridge pieces P¹ and their
contact springs S1, no matter in which direction the wheel or handle H may be
rotated and that this interruption is brought about at ten points by a snap action
due to the stress of the leaf springs as the bridge pieces P pass between and
out of frictional relation with the springs S.
In Fig. 2 is shown the cylinder which carries the bridge pieces P as of larger
diameter than the cylinder C which carries the bridge pieces Pl. This arrange-
ment is devised for the purpose of giving to the bridge pieces P movement always

page_text: in advance of the bridge pieces P' so as to rupture the circuit before any change is
effected in the motor circuits by the bridge pieces P¹ and their corresponding
contact springs S', the object being to always disconnect the current supply before
any current change is effected through the motor. This same variation of speed
between the cylinders C and C¹ is effected in the modified form shown in Fig. 7
by giving to the intermediate gear wheels G, G¹, G' and G' such relative propor-
tions that the cylinder C will always travel faster than the cylinder C¹ when
rotated in either direction.
This apparatus may be used in any place where current changes of the nature
indicated are necessitated. It has an especial use however in connection with
electrical street railway motors in which case the base B is secured to the dash-
board of a car with the axle E arranged in a vertical position so that the
hand-wheel or handle H is at the upper end in a position of easy access for the
motor-man.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. An electric motor having independent field and armature circuits and means
for varying the circuit relation therethrough in any desired order, in combination
with a circuit interrupting device provided with means for simultaneously
interrupting the circuit at two or more independent points before each current
change is effected and simultaneously restoring the circuit again after such change
is effected substantially as described.
2. An electric motor provided with two or more armature circuits, two or more
field magnets and a circuit changing device for varying the current relation
therethrough in any desired order, in combination with a circuit breaking device
provided with means for interrupting the circuit at one or more points before each
current change is effected and for restoring the circuit connections after such
change is effected substantially as described.
3. The described method of effecting current changes to suit the requirements
of a translating device which consists in first interrupting the current supply at a
number of independent points, then establishing the current changes through the
translating device at independent points and again restoring the current at the
points where it is interrupted.
4. The described method of controlling an electric motor having two or more
armature circuits and two or more field magnets consisting in first interrupting the
circuit, then effecting the desired change in the circuit relations of the aforesaid
field and armature coils and again re-establishing the circuit after these changes
have been brought about.
5. An apparatus for controlling the application of electrical currents to a
translating device consisting of two sets of movable contacting parts and two sets
of fixed contacts one of which sets is connected to independent circuits for
varying the current relation through independent parts of the translating device
and the other carried by and provided with means adapted to suddenly rupture
the circuit, whereby the current is first ruptured at several independent points and
the circuit changes afterwards effected through the translating device substantially
as described.
6. A circuit controlling device consisting of two sets of movable contacts
adapted to move at different speeds, two sets of fixed contacts adapted to contact
with the movable contacts, one of said sets of fixed contacts being attached to a
translating device, as an electric motor, and the other to a source of current supply
substantially as described.
7. A circuit controlling device consisting of two sets of bridging contacts
carried by independent cylinders; a set of fixed contacts lying in the path of one
set of bridging contacts and operatively connected to an electric motor; a second
set of fixed contacts lying in the path of the other set of bridging contacts and

page_text: carried by a rocking bar provided with means for causing said fixed contacts to
suddenly rupture the circuit at a number of points when the bridging contacts are
moved from under them substantially as described.
8. A circuit interrupting device or switch consisting of one or more series of
bridging contacts carried by a rotary drum and lying in the path of corresponding 5
pairs of yielding contact springs carried by a rocking bar provided with means for
causing a sudden rupture of the circuits between the bridging contacts and said
springs as the drum is rotated substantially as described. .
9. An electric motor having independent field and armature circuits, a circuit
changing device having circuit connections for varying the circuit relations through
the field and armature circuits in any desired order, in combination with a circuit
interrupting device having two or more series of bridging contacts and a single
series of stationary contacts carried by a shaft and provided with means for
causing the stationary contacts to suddenly rupture the circuit before each
current change is effected through the motor and to again re-establish the circuit 1
after such change is effected substantially as described.
Dated this 24th day of October 1893.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.