US2216054A - Rheostat - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 24, 1940. J Q STEARNS 2,216,054

RHEOSTAT Filed May ll, 1937 Jealen Patented Sept. 24, 1940 PATENT OFFICE RHEosTAT Jason C. Stearns, Worcester, Mass. Application May 11, 1937, serial No. 141,964A

3 Claims.

This invention relates to that class of electric rheostat or the like device in which a translucent knob, having a light behind it, can be employed, While in one vposition to connect the battery with a car heater r the like and, when in that position, can be turned to change the amount of current going to the heater and, when in another position longitudinally can, without disconnecting the heater, also connect the battery ywith an electrically operated device, such as a fog light, for example.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide simple and inexpensive means inside ythe device by.,wh-ich the knob can be made to both turn andreciprocate a shaft for the purpose of connecting and disconnecting the circuits; to provide a lamp socket, adapted itself to be ymoved longitudinally and turned, with means for transmitting this motion to a shaft which-controls the connection of the battery with electrical devices, and to provide this socket inside the device where it is out of the way of dust, rain and the like and therefore is protected from all ordinary` accidents.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation `of a device constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. `2 is an end view as indicated by the arrow 2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diametrical, longitudinal sectional view of the entire device on enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of a part of it as indi- Uca-ted 'by the arrow 4 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a view with parts omitted corresponding with Fig. 3 except that the operating knob is pulled out instead of being pushed in;

Fig. '7 is an elevation of the carrier plate, and

Fig. 8 is an elevation of the bre washer rthrough which the motion of the knob is transmitted to the line making and breaking shaft.

Many of the parts shown in the drawing are old and well known 'but they will be described in connection with the features of the invention itself.

'I'he device is shown as mounted on a bracket I0 which, of course, is xed in a definite position. This bracket has a plane end which is xed on a hollow nut ll by means of two nuts l2 and I3 screwed up on the nut II toward each other to grip the end of the bracket. These parts,

therefore, are stationary. Inside the nut l! is a lamp socket i5 in the form of a hollow tube of metal provided with an lopen slot I6 extending from one end to the other and an opposite longitudinal groove iii. On one end of this socket there is an enlargement Il and inside is a shoulder i8 sothat the inside of the socket is of two different diameters.v -In this socket the base I9 of the lamp is placed. This base has the usual radial pins 2i) for being received in the slot I5 and groove I4 and it also has a terminal projection 2l for engagement with a spring pressed conducting plunger..

The nut i l abuts against the outside of the shoulder i8 which, in the normal position of the lamp, holds the position of that shoulder. The lamp is located in a hollow space in the interior of a translucent operating rnemberor knob 22 which is provided with such a shape outside that it can be used for turning the parts as well asy for moving them longitudinally. This knob extends with a ririctional fit into a recess in a translucent face plate E3r which is mounted on the threads oi the nut il, held from rotation by ,engagement with the bracket lil. `It covers the plate having a cylindrical ange 26 at one4 i end. Being mounted on the nut il this plate 25 is stationary. It will be seen that the cylinder l5, which carries the lamp ysocket I9, extends through the nut Il and through the plate 25.

Inside the flange `26 is located a swingingly oscillatable dished carrier plate 21. It has a crossshaped opening 28 therethrough with a pair of integral guides 29 projecting from its face longitudinally. Thisplate is made from metal and aside from the rfeatures so far .described is provided with` a pair of stops 30 on the circumference on the other side` for engagement with a stop pin 56 on the stationary disc 25. A pair of radial slots 3i and 32 extend through it.

Inside the carrier plate is an insulating disc 33 which is iixed on a hub 34 carried by the operating shaft 35. This disc is provided with periorations therethrough for receiving headed over projections 36 on the end of the cylinder I5 for fastening the two parts together. The disc 33 also is provided in its outer circumference with two opposite slots 31 for receiving the guides 29. In this way it will be seen that the hollow cylinder I5 is fixed, as far as turning is concerned, with respect to the carrier plate 2| but that it is adapted to slide longitudinally with respect to the other along these guides 29.

On the outside of the carrier plate is located a loose insulating disc 38 against which bears the end of a coil spring 39 located on the shaft. The other end of this spring bears on an arm 40. This arm is provided with a non-circular perforation to cause it to turn with the non-circular shaft 35 on which it is slidingly mounted. Beyond this arm and xed to the shaft is an insulating or bre collar 4| and a metallic conducting collar 42, both held in position by a nut 44 which is located on the screw-threaded end of this shaft and serves to tighten up the collars 4| and 42.

At the end of the device is an insulating disc 45 which is held in place by longitudinal arms 43 on the metal disc 25. This disc 45 is provided with three terminals, a battery terminal 46, a heater terminal 4'| and a terminal 48 for a fog light or other electrical instrument. The battery terminal is provided with a contact 49 extending down into the center of this hollow disc 45 and also with a rivet 55, which also constitutes a connecting member to a plate 5|. This plate 5| is connected with an arcuate resistance coil 52 which extends around part of the circumference of the disc 1n a recess 53 placed therein for that purpose. The plate 5| is small and is located at one end of the spring, of course, and the arm 4U is capable of being turned around in contact with this resistance to connect the heater with the battery and vary the resistance and therefore the temperature and the amount of current consumed.

The arm 40, when located on the plate 5|, gives full force to the heater and when moved beyond it engages the non-conducting surface of the disc so that the heater is disconnected. This action takes place in either position of the knob 22, that is, whether it is pushed in as shown in Fig. 3, or pulled out, as shown in Fig. 6. The arm rests at its rear end all the time on a metallic conducting circle 54, connected to the heater terminal 4l.

When the knob is pushed in, as shown in Fig. 3, the terminal 49 and a terminal 55, from the fog light or other electrical instrument, rest on the fibre or insulating collar 4| and the current is not conducted to this instrument. When the knob 22 is pulled out, as shown in Fig. 6, these two terminals 49 and 55 engage the metal collar 42 and the current is conducted from the battery to the fog light or the like. This, in spite of the fact that the current is also conducted to the heater or such other instrument as may be substituted for it. Turning the knob 22 does not affect this connection.

The turning of the knob results, of course, in the turning of the arm 40 and the rectilinear reciprocation of the knob results in the connection or disconnection of the battery with the fog light or other instrument. The heater is connected up all the time unless the arm 40 is turned beyond the plate 5|.

The flat flanges of the discs 25 and 2`| bear on each other. There is a slight beveled edge protuberance 51 on the contacting surface of the disc 25 which snaps into and out of the slots 3| and 32 in the carrier plate to show, by the feeling or by producing a clicking sound, when the current is turned on or off the heater as the protuberance enters or leaves the slots.

It will be seen, therefore, that by the use of the hollow cylinder |5 and its connection with the insulating disc 33 the construction of such a device is simplied, its cost reduced, and its protection from the elements assured.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. In an electric device, the combination of a supporting bracket, a nut, means for fixing the nut in stationary position on the bracket, a disc fixed with respect to the nut, a rotatably oscillatable carrier plate located in contact with said disc, a hollow lamp socket movably mounted within the nut, an insulating disc fixed to the lamp socket, a shaft to which said insulating disc is fixed, means carried by said shaft for conducting a current from a source of power to one of two electric appliances in accordance with the longitudinal position of the shaft, and means carried by the shaft for varying the current to the one of them which is in circuit when the shaft is in either one of its longitudinal positions.

2. In an electric device, the combination of a nut, means for fixing the nut in stationary position, a dished disc fixed with respect to the nut, a dished carrier plate located mostly within and in contact with said disc, said carrier plate having longitudinal guides, a hollow lamp socket movably mounted within the nut, an insulating disc iixed to the lamp socket, a shaft to which said insulating disc is fixed, means on said disc for guiding it longitudinally by means of said guide, means for moving the lamp socket longitudinally and for rotating it, means carried by said shaft for conducting a current from a source of power to one of two electric appliances in accordance with the longitudinal position of the shaft, and means carried by the carrier plate for varying the current to one of them.

3. As an article of manufacture, an electric device having a battery terminal and two other terminals, a shaft having an insulating ring and a metallic ring xed thereon for connecting or disconnecting the battery terminal with respect to one of the other terminals, a hand knob movable longitudinally, a metallic lamp socket within and supporting the knob and projecting there- Vfrom in the device, comprising a conducting sleeve, said lamp socket being in the electrical circuit at all times, an insulating disc movable with the sleeve, a metallic carrier plate connected with the insulating disc to turn therewith but not to move longitudinally therewith and having guides for the insulating disc, and a metal plate in fixed position and in contact with the carrier plate and otherwise spaced therefrom to furnish a protected space for said guides.

JASON C. STEARNS.

Images