Improvements in Electrical Switches and Means of Actuating same
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Apr 1895
Complete Specification Left 14th Feb 1896-Accepted 14th Mar
96
999
Improvements in Electrical Switches and Means of Actuating same
I, JAMES BROCKIE, of 12 Tyson Road Forest Hill in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows
This invention relates to methods of actuating switches in connection with aic
lamp en cuts when it is desired to use either the are lamps or incande cent lamp
at will It is the practice in some street installations to have two sets of conductors
led into the lamp posts, one set being on the general low tension distributor mains,
the other being special circuits under contiol of the central station which supply
the arc lamp current A switch operated either by hand or by a clock movement
permits the incandescent lamps to be on or off as required at certain times
The purpose of this invention is to enable the station to control then switches
by means of he arc lamp current or curcuit and my method is as follows
'
I place a magnet or solenoid in the arc lamp circuit, this magnet when the arc
current is on, pulls off the incandescent lamp switch and when the aic current
ceases the switch flys back and a spring or weight completes the incandescent
circuit now when it is desired to shut off the incandescent lamps, the station send>
a current through the arc circuit but this curient is less than the normal current
taken by the arc lamps, the effect of this smaller current is to pull off the switch
but not as far as when the full current is passing I arrange a catch to fall into a
suitable notch in the switch gear so that when the current ceases the switch cannot
Now when it is desired to
return, thus the incandescent circuits will all be open
light the arc lamps the full current of the aic circuit pulls the switch full back and
in doing so lifts the catch out of gear so that on the current ceasing the switch is
This movement
free to snap on and so again complete the incandescent circuits
also re-sets the said catch so that it is ready to catch the switch gear at half
stroke
Another method I sometimes employ is to construct the lever of the incandescent
circuit switch as a permanent magnet which will remain on either side of a contral
line when it is either attracted or repelled by the influence of the magnet or coil
before described as being in the arc lighting circuit, thus when the arc curient is
passing the polarized lever will for instance be attinted so that the switch contacts
are open and when the current ceases, the station reverses muntaining the arc
current and this causes repulsion of the lever and so throws it over thus making
complete the incandescent circuit
Dated this 29th day of April 1895
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant

page_text: I, JAMES BROCKIE, of 12 Tyson Road, Forest Hill, in the County of Surrey,
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 relates to methods of actuating switches in connection with arc
lamp circuits when it is desired to use either are lamps or incandescent lamps at
will It is the practice, in some street installations, to have two sets of conductors
led into the lamp posts, one set bein on the general low tension distributor mains,
the other being special circuits under control of the central station to supply the
arc lamp current
A switch operated either by hand or by a clock movement permits the
incandescent lamps to be on or off as required at certain times The purpose of
this invention is to enable the station to control such a switch by means of the
arc lamp current or circuit, as I shall describe referring to the accompanying
drawings
Fig 1 is a side view and Fig 2 is an end view of a switch according to my
invention, for this purpose, the lines a indicating the arc lamp circuit and the
lines the incandescent lamp circuit
2
I place a magnet or solenoid A in the arc lamp circuit This magnet, when the
arc current is on, attracts the core C pulling its end- out of mercury cups M M
and thereby opening the incandescent lamp circuit When the arc current censos
the cucuit core, by its weight, or it might be aided by a spring, moves back and
closes the incandescent lamp circuit When it is desired to shut off the incandescent
lamps, the station sends a curient through the arc circuit a but this current is less
than the normal current for the arc lamps, so that its effect is to raise the core C
but not as far as when the full are current is passing
I arrange a catch B, in the form of a tumbling level, to engage a suitable stop b
on the core C so that when the arc curent census, the core cannot return, and
consequently the incandescent lamp circuit remains open When it is desired to
light the clamps, the full curient of the arc circuit pulls the core C quite back
and in doing so by means of a tappet acting on the tail b² of B disengages the
catch so that on the arc curient ceasing the core is free to move back and so again
close the incandescent lamp circuit In this movement the stop b also acting
on 62, re-sets the catch B, so that it is ready again to catch the core C at hall
stroke
According to a modification shown in side view in Fig 3, in end view in Fig 4,
and in part plan, looking from below, in Fig, the catch B is fixed on the side of
a permanent magnet P which is in the form of a yoke pivotted so that it can rock
on a vertical axis the core C passing through it
The aic current induces magnetism in the core C such as holds the magnet P' in
the position shewn, its catch B retaining the core and so keeping the incandescent
lamp circuit open
By a momentary reversal of the arc current the magnet P is
caused to rock to the position P¹ disengaging the catch B from the stop 6 on the
core, which thereupon descends, closing the incandescent lamp circuit
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
-
1 An electrical switch for an incandescent lamp circuit in combination with a
solenoid having its coil in the arc lamp circuit, a core and a catch, so arranged that

page_text: when the arc current excites the solenoid the core being attracted opens the
Incandescent lamp circuit, and is held by the catch until by cessation or momentary
reversal of the arc current, the catch is released and the core again moving closes
the incandescent lamp circuit, substantially as and for the purpose set forth
2 An electrical switch constructed and operating substantially as described with
reference to Figs 1 and 2
3 A modified electric switch constructed and operating substantially as described
with reference to Figs 3, 4 and 5
Dated thin 11th 2
1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant