US3683136A

US3683136A - Electrical switch having adjustable conductive-liquid level

Info

Publication number: US3683136A
Application number: US118900A
Authority: US
Inventors: Mathijs Van Den Bosch
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-02-25
Filing date: 1971-02-25
Publication date: 1972-08-08
Anticipated expiration: 1989-08-08

Abstract

A device for protecting cars against skidding in curves, comprising a housing, filled with an electrically conducting liquid which is influenced by the centrifugal force when the car travels through the corner at speed, so that the level of the conducting liquid assumes an inclined position and the liquid can close or open an electrical circuit, leading to the switching-off of the ignition. By means of a displacer body the sensivity of the device can be adjusted.

Description

limited States Patent van den Bosch [54] ELECTRICAL SWITCH HAVING ADJUSTABLE CUNDUCTKVE-LIQUHD LEVEL [72] Inventor: Mathiis van den Bosch, Rue des Ecoles, 72-Thorigne sur Due, France [22] Filed: Feb. 25, 1971 [21] App1.No.: 118,900

[52] 11.8. C1 ..200/6L47, 200/190 [51] Int. Cl ..l-l01h 35/18 [58] Field 01 Search.200/61.46, 61. 47, 152 R, 61.45; 280/112 A; 317/5; 303/7; 335/51, 52

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 977,523 12/1910 Gustafson ..200/152 1,623,326 4/1927 Whalen ....200/l52.8 X 1,806,236 5/1931 Charles ..200/61.47 2,133,773 10/1938 Rossman et a1 ..267/11 Aug. 8, 1972 2,147,506 2/1939 Stoner ..335/51 2,275,554 3/1942 Pollard ..335/52 3,184,566 5/1965 Kleinpeter ..200/l52.4 X 3,431,556 3/1969 Johnson ..200/61.45 X 3,398,991 8/1968 Compton ..200/61.45 X 3,406,775 10/ 1 968 Magnuski ..317/5 3,564,531 2/1971 Burgin ..200/61.47 X

Primary Examiner-Robert K. Schaefer Assistant ExaminerM. Ginsburg AttorneyBreitenfeld & Levine [57] ABSTRACT A device for protecting cars against skidding in curves, comprising a housing, filled with an electrically conducting liquid which is influenced by the centrifugal force when the car travels through the corner at speed, so that the level of the conducting liquid assumes an inclined position and the liquid can close or open an electrical circuit, leading to the switching-off of the ignition. By means of a displacer body the sensivity of the device can be adjusted.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures P'ATENTEDAus 8 I972 SHEET 1 OF 2 PRIOR ART INVENTOR: MATH/Is vmv DEN Beau BY g E ATTORNEYS ELECTRICAL SWITCH HAVING ADJUSTABLE CONDUCTIVE-LIQUID LEVEL This invention relates to a non-skid device provided with a housing, wherein there is a movable conducting liquid, cooperating with contacts disposed at a distance on either side of the central plane through the housing.

Such a device is. known 'from US. Pat. No. 2, 1 33,773. In order to improve theefiect this device is provided with damping partitions, mainly directed transversely to the direction of movement of the liquid conductor. The drawback of the known device is its suitability for a particular type of vehicle only, so that it must be adjusted beforehand during manufacturing. In operation the device is furthermore not adjustable so that no adaptation is possible, to various types of road surface or change of properties thereof owing to weather conditions, e. g., rain or snow, etc.

My invention avoids the aforementioned drawbacks by providing that the level of the liquid conductor can be adjusted by means of a displacer body.

According to my invention the displacer body is preferably a rotatable eccentric part the level of the liquid separating layer then being continuously adjustable without change of the total volume. The device can be very simply operated from the dashboard, e.g., by means of a horizontal shaft protruding therethrough.

The device can be further improved and simplified, when between the contacts there is mounted atleast one movable magnetizable body on which acts an adjustable magnetic flux in order to influence the movement of the liquid conductor in a simple and exactly controllable way.

In the housing no passage openings for the operating mechanisms need be provided, as in a mechanical device; furthermore the control can be efiected at a distance in a simple way, e.g., by adjustingbymeans of a variable resistor the current which generates the electromagnetic field, while the device itself may be placed practically everywhere, preferablyin thevicinity of the ignition coil in order to keep the connections as short as possible. The rheostat, of modest dimensions, used for adjusting the current in the magnet coil is placed within easy reach on the dashboard.

The adjustibility may be made more or less auto matic by feeding the coil by a pulsating direct current which is a function of the road speed.

At a high speed, that is to say in case at higherinterruption frequencies, the apparent coil resistance increases, so that at a constant battery voltage the magnetizing current decreases and therewith the magnetic field restraining the movement of .the immersion body. The sensitivity increases with an increase of the speed in accordance with the increasing skid danger.

Lurching of the liquid conductor may be further counteracted by covering same with a liquid insulator; the two mediums should not be mixable.

The liquid layer floating on the surface of the conductive layer has a damping effect thereon. Moreover practically no sparks are produced during switching which is of great importance after an accident in view of the risk of fire.

Preferably mercury is used as a liquid conductor and glycerol or transformer oil as an insulating liquid.

The device may also serve to switch on the current instead of interrupting the current as according to the aforementioned arrangement, which can be simply achieved by providing the contacts not below, but above the level of the liquid conductor to which the current is then supplied, e. g., via the displacer body.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a device according to the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a device provided with a displacer body and lower contacts;

FIG. 3 and 4 are front views of a device with an eccentric displacer body in two positions;

FIG. 5 is diagram of an electrically adjustable device;

FIG. 6 and 7 are diagrams of connections to be used with the construction according to FIG. 5.

On the hollow and for the greater part spheric body 1 is placed a cover 2 (e.g. clamped in the opening in the top part) provided with two electric contacts 3 reaching into the liquid conductor 4. The device is mounted in series with an electric lead, e.g., of the ignition device in a vehicle.

On rounding a curve the liquid conductor will assume an inclined position, see dash line 4'in dependence of the speed-and radius, whereby, in case of a relatively too high speed, the contact is broken and the ignition cut ofl. On returning to normal the connection is automatically re-established. Since the contacts 3 are perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle the effect is not influenced by an inclined position.

Obviously the housing need not be spheric, but may also be shaped differently. Although the housing is preferably made of plastic, metals can also be used, provided both the contacts 3 and the device itself are insulated.

A further improvement is obtained by providing on top of the liquid conductor 4 a non conductive layer 5 of liquid (e.g., glycerol ortransforrner oil) (see FIG. 2), whereby oscillations, for instance brought about by an extremely uneven road surface are damped and a very dependable operation of the device ensured.

By turning the screw-shaped displacer body 6 protruding through the cover 2 in or out the level of the liquid layer 4 over the contacts 3 can be raised or lowered, while the head of the screw-shaped body 6 may be provided with marks to fix in a simple way the position thereof and as a consequence as well the height of the level of the liquid conductor 4 whereby the device thus being rapidly and exactly adaptable to any kind of motor car, to the properties and condition of the tires and even in operation, to the load of the vehicle and the condition of the road surface.

In an eflicient embodiment as shown in FIG. 3 the contacts 3' are likewise disposed in the lower part of the house 1. Obviously also another adequate construction can be applied. The eccentric body 7 can be turned externally by means of a shaft 8. The effect is clear from the figure, which also shows that the total volume remains constant in any position. The contacts 3 may also be provided above the level of the. liquid conductor 4; if current is supplied thereto, e.g., via a screw-shaped displacer body according to FIG. 2, then on rounding a curve at a specific speed and radius, the circuit will not be broken but closed, whereby, e.g., a warning signal or the like can be activated.

With the electric control mechanism shown in FIG. 5 the housing 1 (e.g., a closed glass container) with contacts 3 and a liquid conductor-4 is provided with a magnetizable body and separate conductive windings 9 which can be connected with a current source. On passage of a current the generated magnetic field will influence the movement of the magnetizable body 10 and consequently the flow of the liquid conductor. By changing the current intensity, the operative characteristic of the device can thus be influenced.

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 6 the normal ignition switch is denoted by 11, an adjustable resistor for adjusting the intensity of current through the windings by 9, ignition coil and the current distributor by 13, 14, respectively, the chassis serving as return path.

According to the circuit diagram of FIG. 7 the variable resistor 12 is connected to earth via the contact breaker points 14, adding a capacitor 15 across the coil 9, through which now passes a pulsating direct current in conformity to the frequency of the interruptor 14, to wit of the motor and therefore indirectly of the driving speed. Since the apparent resistance of the coil will increase with increasing frequency of the current and therefore, when the voltage is constant, the magnetizing current decreases, the magnetizable body is less influenced and as a consequence the effect is more sensitive, because of the decrease of the braking effect on the liquid conductor. The device thus will react more rapidly at a higher speed in conformity with the then increased danger of skidding.

Construction, mounting, adjustment as well as the adjustment during operation are surprisingly simple.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An electrical switch comprising a housing, a movable liquid conductor within said housing, a pair of spaced-apart electrical contacts within said housing for making direct contact with said liquid conductor, said contacts beinglocatedon opposite sides of a vertical median plane extending through said housing, and a displacer body within said housing and movable into different positions wherein it can directly contact and displace dilferent amounts of said liquid conductor so as to adjust the level of said liquid conductor, said displacer body being a member eccentrically mounted for rotation with respect to said housing about an axis parallel to the surface of said liquid conductor.

2. An electrical switch as defined in claim 1 including a liquid insulator within said housing, said liquid insulator being immiscible with said liquid conductor.

3. An electrical switch as defined in claim 2 wherein said liquid conductor is mercury, and said liquid insulator is selected from the group consisting of glycerol and transformer oil.

4. An electrical switch comprising a housing, a movable liquid conductor within said housing, a pair of spaced-apart electrical contacts within said housing for making direct contact with said liquid conductor, said contacts being located on opposite sides of a vertical median plane extending through said housing, a magnetizable member movable freely with said liquid conductor within said housing, means for producing a mag netic flux which acts on said member to resist free movement of said member and said liquid conductor, and means for adjusting the magnitude of said flux whereby said member controls the resistance to movement of said conductor.

Claims

1. An electrical switch comprising a housing, a movable liquid conductor within said housing, a pair of spaced-apart electrical contacts within said housing for making direct contact with said liquid conductor, said contacts being located on opposite sides of a vertical median plane extending through said housing, and a displacer body within said housing and movable into different positions wherein it can directly contact and displace different amounts of said liquid conductor so as to adjust the level of said liquid conductor, said displacer body being a member eccentrically mounted for rotation with respect to said housing about an axis parallel to the surface of said liquid conductor.

4. An electrical switch comprising a housing, a movable liquid conductor within said housing, a pair of spaced-apart electrical contacts within said housing for making direct contact with said liquid conductor, said contacts being located on opposite sides of a vertical median plane extending through said housing, a magnetizable member movable freely with said liquid conductor within said housing, means for producing a magnetic flux which acts on said member to resist free movement of said member and said liquid conductor, and means for adjusting the magnitude of said flux whereby said member controls the resistance to movement of said conductor.