(No Model) -J. H. HOLMES. ELEOTRIC CIROUIT CLOSER. No. 306,310. Patented Sept. 16, 1884. Cnu€ Ixyeqtor _ fete Dl yh tics fr Bag snob,Unirep STaTEs JOHN H, HOLMES, OF NEWCASTHE-UPON: D, ENGLAND. L Parent OFFIce. [YNE, COUNTY OF NORTHUMBER. ELECTRIC-CIRCGUIT CLOSER. To alt. whom it may conesrn: ‘ie it known that 1 Jory Henny Howes, a anject of the Queeh of Great Britain, resid ing at Neweastiespon Tyne, inthe connty of Northumberland, sn the Kingdom of Pngland, havelnvepted coftain new and usefl Improve: tonts in Switeiesor Gireut-Closers,(forwhieh Thiave applied for Letters Patent in ngland, diated Febraary 14,1884, No. 3,256,) of whieh the following it a Specifieation. ‘The object of the improvements hereinafter detailed isto prevent the formation of dest tive “are” when tho electric eursentis broken by means of a switch oF other arrangement. Tu switches as hitherto designed there has, so far as Tam ayarealays been a continous sliding eontnet during etion,or a fast connee tion between the handle for hoving the com tact-pieca, and the sald contactpieee conse {inentlyyalthongh there may bes Ggger spring {ind tumbler or spiral spring to prevent the Switch boing left in any position other than in porfect eireat or entiely broken eirenity vet ‘a destructive are has been formed when the hhandle was slowly tamed for the purpose of breaking the circuit, With the object of over foming this drawback I have designed an at Sangement of sviieh which allows the eontact- pieos, ora portion of ft by the influenee of a Independent fore, such as that of a spring oF eight, tomovethoush aceriain distance inde pondently ofthe handle. ‘Thespring orweight Tso atzanged as to tend to keep the movable tontact-piece in the “olf” positions but on farning the handle tocompletociteuit the con: | tact pleco is moved jn opposition to the foree | of the spring or weight, and is kept in the ‘on? position by a frictional or mechanical | device. On turning the handle in the reverse Airvction to break eizuit its frst action is to release the eoutact-piecefrom the frictional or Incchanleal deviees and allow it to fly back saddenly wnder the iflaence of the spring oF ‘weight, thus causing the eieait to be broken a0 qaitkly thi a dangerous are cannot be owned. In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a sec tioual view of soy improved. erent closer; Fig. 2, a plan view of the stme, 50 be apparatus consists of aout 15 25 30 45 tor covering | NCAMTJON forming part of Letters Patent No, 305,210, dated September 16, 1894, suitable material, inclosing the havinga lid overlapping the isk, bed fartuer on, and from the conter of ‘whieh a handle, A, projects whereby the con ection can be nade or broken, a8 Tequired. ‘The axis ofthis handle is supported in abeat. {ngat the bottom of thebox. "The connecting. bu or coutachplece swings Toosely on the Axis. A spring, ©, Keeps tne bar B fn the POH"? position ageinse stops DD when not preventedby forceor when thecoaneeting- bat Jsnot held tight on the fiction eatahes or con tacts i 1, ‘These contacts consist each of two flat metalite plates or jaws lid upon each oth ey and eld togethet at one by serews Their other ends, ee, whieh fice the contact: inte By are souewbat wider apart, so 98 toa init of the bar being Toreed in between them and held tighdy.. ‘they thnsactasa hi contact, holding the bur agaios the free of ts spring O, whic is iso insult a position asto Have litte power on thebar.. Above this ar. fangement theaxis of thehandlecarsies a dis, Giolding the contact-bar in place, and have {hia ward or flange, HT, (or its equivalent vo pins) placed egoentrieally upon its Tower sat. Foe foriningasortof erank pn orlever, which, hen standing in a. direction approsimately parallel to the direction of to ‘bs, stands Elear of thesame. This ward is of snch width Shd isso placed upon thediak that ican be tated aout thirty degrees of tho eltlo with out touching the bar Be When, however, he hhandie A istuened, tho disk @ fevolves with eOne end of the prvjecung lange FL comes 8 Againes te contact iat td pushes Wont fom bebween the jaws «#of tho contacts EB. ‘As soonas tho bat isthus tleased, thespring 6 rave it hack untilit is cbeked by thestopsD D. Thus howeverslovly Uiebandlebeturned, go {he eoataet-bar is rapidly propelled away te fastaot the eoataets broken. Whenit i de- dived fo again. make contac, the. handle i fnmned the oppositeway..‘Theopposite eadot the lange H comes in coutack with the connect: 95 Ing-bar B, and forees it forward and betweon {ie jaws Of the contacts BE against the Foree ofiigepring G, _slnilar atsabgement ean be Spied to Farioas kinds of sites Tnpaceof the retinal deviee,seatel cou 260 60 65be substituted and a tappetplaced on theslange or pins to lift the bar out of eoniaet with the catch, or vice versa; but I prefer frietional eon: tact, as shown. Telaim as my invention— 1. Thehereiit- described mechanism for mak- | ing and breaking contact snddenly,which con. sists in a contaet-plece placed under spring. | pressure tending to draw it strongly out of contact,and actuating mechanism independent | of thecontact-piece operating to push said con: | tact-piece before it, both when making and breaking contact, whereby the momenttiaecon- tact-piece is liberated the spring-pressare in: stantly breaks contact by drawing such con: tact-plece in advanee of said actusting mech: anisiy. 2, The combination of the contaet-barB, piv- oted in the center, the frietional contact device E E,and the spring, strained to pull the con- tact'bar clear of thé eontact-piece, with the cranked handle A,by which means the eontact is brought to the point of breaking by the han- dle, and then issuddenly drawn away from the contact-pieceby spring-pressure, substantially as desexibed. ‘The combination of a eontact-bar, B, piv- oted in the center, a pivoted deviee eapable of 905,310 bearing-on one side of the bar oneither side of the conter,and a pair of contact-pieees formed 30 of friction-jaws, into or ont of which the bar ean be foreed by the said erank as it bears on fone side of the center or the other, substan tially as shown. 4. The haudlo A, having a disk,G, holding the coniact-bar in place, and armed witha seg: mental eccentric lange, H, projecting 80 a8 to come against the side’ contact-bar at either end as turned, substantially as and for the purposes described. 5. ‘The combination of the cover holding all im position, the handle with a ward or erank like a key, the contaet-bar pivoted at or neat the axis of the handle, the contact catching device holding the bar, the spring sirained to press the bar away from the contact, and the stopsarranged to prevent the bar traveling tao fix, all substantially as deseribed. Tntestimony whereof have signed my name to this specification in presence of two sub- 50 scribing witnesses, 40 45 JOHN I, HOLMES. Witnesses W. P. THoursox, 1.0. O'Bries,