US2138279A - Control switch - Google Patents

Description

R. F. KNEISLEY CONTROL SWITCH Nov. 29, 1938.

Filed Jan. 28, 1957 Nov Patented Nov. 29, 1938 PATENT OFFICE CONTROL swrron Richard F. Kneisley, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to The American Floor Surfacing Machine Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Applicaticn January 28, 1937, Serial No. 122,682

3 Claims.

This invention relates particularly to electric switch controls for portable machines.

In the use of small hand-controlled machines of this type, such for instance as vacuum cleaners, floor surfacing machines, or the like, they are frequently tipped sideways for one purpose or another, and when so tipped it is desirable to have the operation of the associated electric motor discontinued and then started again when the machine is rotated and to havethis accomplished automatically without any attention on the part of the operator.

The object of this invention is the provision of a simple, effective and economical control switch easily operated to close the associated motor circuit and is adapted to automatically break such circuit upon a predetermined sidewise tipping in either direction of the associated machine and to again close the circuit when the machine is righted.

One embodiment of the invention is fully described in the following specification, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which-- Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a control handle equipped with a switch embodying the invention, parts of which handle being broken away and the switch being shown in off position; Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a similar section with the switch in on position; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a similar section with the switch turned to on position, and Fig. 6 is a diagram of the switch circuit and associated machine.

Referring to the drawing: l designates a small portable machine of any type having a control handle 2 projecting therefrom. The handle 2 is preferably hollow .to permit the extension of circuit lead wires therethrough and is provided at its outer end with a hollow head 3.

A horizontally disposed shaft 4 is extended transversely through the head 3, having bearings in its side walls, and is provided at each side of the head with a handle member 5 to facilitate gripping and turning by the operator.

Two tubes B and I, each containing a quantity of mercury 8, are mounted on the shaft 4 crosswise thereof within the head 3 and, in the present instance on opposite sides of the shaft, by clamps 9 each secured to the shaft by a screw Ill.

Each tube has two spaced contacts l2 at one end interposed in an electric circuit l4, as well understood in the art. The lead wires I4, when connected up to a source of electrical supply, and both sets of contacts of the control switch are of this character, of the mercury type, which is the position shown in Fig. 3, which may be termed the on position, the mercury has flowed to the contact end of each tube and the circuit is closed therethrough. The tubes 6 and 1, as mounted on the shaft 4, are tilted in opposite directions lengthwise of the shaft axis, as best shown in Fig. 1, so that when the machine and its handle I are tipped sidewise in either direction a predetermined extent, the mercury will flow from the contact end to the other, and then lower, end of one or the other of said tubes, and break the operating circuit.

One hand grip 5 is provided with a drum member 20 which carries a lock pin 2| and encloses a stationary catch member 22, which is attached to the head 2. The pin 2| is normally pressed outward by a spring 23 and has a knob at its inner end adapted to engage back of a catch lip 24 on the member 22. When the associated hand grip 5 is turned in counterclockwise direction (Fig. 4) sufiicient to release the engagement of the pinknob with the catch lip 24, the pin springs outwardand the hand grip and shaft may then be turned in clockwise direction until the pin strikes the stop lug 25, as shown in Fig. 5, which is the on position of the switch when the handle l is in normal position.

The shaft 4 is normally held turned to its off position by a coiled contractile spring 30, one end of which is attached to the side of the shaft within the head 2 while the other end is fixed at a point within the outer end portion of the handle I. It is apparent from the foregoing that in the use of the present switch, the mercury tubes 6 normally stand with their contact ends uppermost so that the mercury is in inoperative position within the bottoms of the tubes, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the carrying shaft for the tubes being held in such normal 01f position by the action of the spring 30. When it is desired to close the switch circuit, the operator turns the shaft 4 in clockwise direction with reference to Figs. 2 and 3, so as to tip the mercury tubes to dispose their contact ends lowermost and to cause the mercury to flow to such ends and close the switch contacts. The switch is held in such on position by the operator and as soon as the hand grips 5 are released, the switch will be returned by the action of the spring 30 to off position. Upon a tipping of the handle 2 in either direction lengthwise of the shaft 4 a predetermined extent, the mercury in one or the other of the tubes will flow to the non-contact end thereof, due to the opposed tilting of the tubes on the shaft and thus cause an opening of the circuit which again automatically closes upon a return of the handle to normal position.

I wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any specific construction, arrangement or form of the parts, as it is capable of numerous modifications and changes without departing from the spirit of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination, a control handle for portable electric driven machines, a cross-shaft rotatably carried by said handle and forming a hand grip, an electric operating circuit, switch means in said circuit including two mercury containing tubes mounted with their axes crosswise of the shaft and each having spaced contacts at the corresponding ends of said tubes disposed in said circuit, whereby the circuit is closed when the shaft is turned to place the contact ends of the tubes lowermost, said tubes being tilted lengthwise of the shaft, whereby when the tubes are in circuit closing position and the shaft is tipped lengthwise a predetermined distance in either direction ,the mercury will flow away from the contact end of one or the other of the tubes and open the circuit, and means normally holding the shaft turned in open circuit position.

2. In combination, a control handle for portable electric driven machines, a cross-shaft rotatably carried by said handle, an electric operating circuit, and switch means in said circuit including two mercury containing tubes mounted on the shaft and having their axes crosswise of the shaft parallel to a plane intersecting the axis of the shaft lengthwise thereof and each tube having spaced contacts at a corresponding end thereof and disposed in said circuit, whereby the circuit is closed when the shaft is turned to place the contact ends of the tubes lowermost, said tubes being tilted lengthwise of the shaft with their contact carrying ends remote from each other whereby when the tubes are in circuit closing position and the shaft is tipped lengthwise a predetermined extent in either direction the mercury will flow away from the contact end of one or the other of the tubes and open the circuit.

3. In combination, a control handle for portable electric driven machines having a casing at its outer end, a cross-shaft rotatably projecting through said casing, an electric operating circuit, switch means in said circuit disposed within said casing and including two mercury containing tubes mounted with their axes crosswise of the shaft with one tube fixed to one side and the other tube to an opposite side of the shaft and each having spaced contacts at the corresponding ends disposed in said circuit, whereby the circuit is closed when the shaft is turned to place the contact ends of the tubes lowermost, said tubes having their axes disposed in planes parallel to an axial plane of the shaft and being oppositely tilted lengthwise of the shaft with their contact carrying ends more remote whereby when the tubes are in circuit closing position and the shaft is tipped lengthwise a predetermined distance in either direction the mercury will flow away from the contact end of one or the other of the tubes and open the circuit, and means normally holding the shaft turned in open circuit position.

RICHARD F. KNEISLEY.

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