US2616994A - Rotary switch - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 4, 1952 H P, UHN 2,616,994

ROTARY SWITCH Filed May 6, 1948 2 SHEETS- SHEET l M] @/b o o iL-.2.1- kfl@ //0 ATTORNEY Nov. 4, 1952 H, P, LUHN 2,616,994

ROTARY SWITCH Filed May 6, 1948 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVENTOR Patented Nov. 4, 1952 RDTARY SWITCH Hansi'. Lulm, Armonk, N. Y.',.assignon to. Inter:L national Business, Machines: C..0rporation; New: YorkiN@ Y.,` acorporaton of New.` York.

Application May''; 1948, Serial No. 25,484V

(Cl. milf-11.).

This invention. relatestogeeotrical; units. and.

particulalili.v to a novel; method and; process, of:

construction of: a unit;

The unit. disclosed.' herein". is emplpyedfasgzan;

electrical.'l instrumentality in. an. electric account-y ingrmachine: and is known in `thet art as aacommutator readout unit; or an impulsedistributor,V depending upon-1 its. function. When used asY an emitter, it. is used asasourcemeansv to transmit timed digit representing; impulses= and,- when. used as-av digit readout, it determinesthe; digit representing impulses.` to be; transmitted.` Such: functionsv are conveniently exemplified; inthe C; D; Lake'et al. Patent 13976,(317, grantedOctober 9; 1934. The: thickness of.` suchunitslwas not of' importance; in. the machine: of this1 patent,v but. at: the presentv time; iti is of primet importance in the; construction andi design.. of present-r commer.- cial electrical; accountingfma-chines, particularly since the time of the patented machine the denominational'. orders of such units have increased to such a number that an accounting machine would. be; inadvertentlyl large if units previously devised were.. employed.. While-,the

present unit is devised as a solution-.to theahove problem, itsincorporationis. notneoessarily confined to this form ofmachine andmay answer the requirements for the design-.ofL a similar unit in any other formof machine.

It is .the broad object of. theinventon to'devise anlelectrical commutator unitwhich is practical` in fabrication-.and relatively thin, so thata num-v ber of such unitsmay be assembled in a narrow space, such as about ten or more to the inch.

Theobject of the inventionis to devise aproc'- ess of fabrication ofl anv electrical unit which consists in theiorming of a baseelement of thin insulating material, drillingv holes at. predetermined` locations across the. surface thereof, then. with the aid of' a mask sprayingjone side ofithe.. element to deposit'. molten metal. thereon form.- ing lines. passing through. some: of; the... holes; andY forming metallic areas around others, with the metalentering the holes to .coatthe walls-or. sides thereof, then.. with, the, aid'. of"` another mask. spraying the opposite side ofthe element to deposit molten metal forming lines transverse to the rst lines, said spray also entering the holes. In this manner a commutator element is formed with conductive strips on one side electrically connected through the deposited metal in the holes, with conductive strips on the opposite side of the element. By initially drilling holes at selected intersection points, a cross network is built up wherein one set of lines is electrically connected to another set without employment-.ofi st-:parate;4

Wires or.v connectors; and thefentireassemblyis no; thicker.` than.v the'. sheetl of'. base;y material. plus thethickness ofithe sprayed lines on the opposite. sides of thea element;

Satisfactoryresults have been obtained by ernploying. a. thin sheet of laminated phenolic material about 0.020 of an inch in thickness sandblasted to formr a good adhering surface. Molten zinc: islrst sprayed through a mask to form. lines which have a* goodf affinity with. theI base, and their molten copper is sprayed through the same mask to adhere to thezinc lines.

While the-1 unit formed by the herein describedA process consists .of'a' commutator unit, other elec,- trical. units mayf be: fabricated by the same processwithout: departingfrom the spirit of theV invention.

OtherA objects of the invention. will.. bei pointed out: in the following description. and claimsY and illustrated' in the4 accompanying.v drawings; which;

disclosei by'way of example; the. principlev of. the;

invention andl the best; mode, which. has been.

y contemplated, of applying.' that; principle;

In theadrawings: Fig: 1 isA a view of the base element sl'iapedlandl drilled in" accordance. with a specific crossy con liig 2 showing the manner of `spacing a plurality of`units;

Fig. 5fis a ysection onlines 55-5 of 'Fig'. 2.

The electrical unit consistsprimarily of av thin sheet ofV insulatingl material Ill blanked out from. aY pla-te,v oflaminated phenolic'. material about 0.0201inclr thick, the particular materiali varying with the requirements with respect to insulating qualities;.rigidity, ease of machining,` etc.

Afterthe-sheet I0 hasbeenblanked out to the outline of Fig; l', holes IlI are. drilled alongf the upper' andi lower edgesn and also. holes I2. meansof a template: or guide; smaller-holes'` I3 are drilled in varying positions to conform to a predetermined connection pattern. Thereafter, the opposite surfaces of sheet I0 are sandblasted to remove any gloss on the surface and within the perforations. If, however, the material employed has a naturally dull finish, the sanding step is not necessary. As a next step, a mask is placed over` the face of sheet I 0 having openings therein forming the pattern of lines and circles as in Fig. 2, and through such openings in the mask a spray of molten zinc is directed against the sheet I 0.

The spray enters into and surrounds the holes II and I3, adhering to the inner Walls thereof, and upon removal of the mask the unit will have the appearance of Fig. 2 with the conductive lines 28 thereon. The mask after cleaning is replaced, and now a spray of molten copper is directed against the sheet to superimpose the latter metal upon the zinc.

The steps of successively spraying the zinc and copper through another mask is then repeated on the opposite side to form the circuit pattern of Fig. 3 with lines 2|, 22 and 23 thereon. It will be particularly noted that the metal spray coats the Walls of the perforations from both sides so that there is a greater thickness of deposit on the Walls than upon the plane surfaces and a good conductive path is thereby formed extending through the holes.

Where several units are employed, they may be stacked as indicated in Fig. 4, where rods I5 passing through aligned holes I I have nuts I6 to clamp the units together, with washers I'I providing the desired spacing. A rotary contactor I8 (Figs. 2 and 5) on shaft I9 has one arm traversing the ends of lines 20 and another arm traversing the arcuate line 2| on the opposite side of the sheet II). Thus, with the contactor I8 positioned to contact any line 2B, it electrically connects the hole position designated C (Fig. 2) through line 22, arc 2I, connector I8 to the opposite side of the sheet IIJ, line 29, hole I3 and line 23 to one of the hole positions 9 to 0.

The contactor I8 may correspond to Wiper I ID of Patent 1,976,617 wherein it is positioned to represent a Value which can be read out by sending impulses to positions 9, 8, 7, etc. of lines 23 which, when one of said lines has a hole I3 communicating with the line at which contactor I8 is set, Will extend to hole position C which is connected to a current responsive device.

The unit may also serve as an impulse distributor with contactor I8 corresponding to Wiper 219 of the patent (Fig. 13) which rotates continuously. It has been found that the lines formed on the sheet in the manner described constitute a good surface over which a wiper, such as contactor I8, may be swept repeatedly. In this use of the device, current is supplied to position C and conducted through line 22 to arc 2|.and contactor I8. As the contactor rotates, the lines 29 are successively connected to the current source and each in turn Will conduct the current to its related hole I3 and therethrough to a connected line 23 and hole I I, which latter may be connected to suitable individual current responsive devices, such as magnets 'I1 or 223 of the patent.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, it Will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art 4 Without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. in combination, a plurality of sheets of insulating material, each having a series of digit representating conductive lines spr'ayed'on one side thereof, means for stacking'said sheets in spaced relationship, conductors, one for each different digit line, to electrically common the lines of like digital value on the several sheets, a second series of conductive lines on the opposite side of each sheet, variously connected through the sheets with digit representing lines on the first side of the sheet, and a contactor for each sheet each positionable across the face of the related sheet to contact With any one of the second series of lines whereby current applied to any of the series of digit lines will be conducted to all contactors standing ona line of the second series that has electrical connection with said digit line.-

sheets With digit representing lines on the first side of the sheet, and a contactor for each sheet each positiona'ole across the face of the related sheet to contact with any one of the second series of lines whereby current applied to any of the series of digit lines will be conducted to all contactors standing on a line of the second series that has electrical connection with said digit line.

` HANS P. LUHN.

- REFERENCES, orrcn The following references 'areof record in the le of this patent:

UNITED sTATEs PATENTS Number Name Date 1,954,092 Muller Apr. 10, 1934` 2,138,636 Lake i Nov. 29, 1938 2,363,683 Mallina Nov. 28, 1944 2,391,479 Rivers Dec. 25, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS `Number Country Date 686,445 France Apr. 14, 1930 OTHER REFERENCES Printed Circuit Techniques, by C. Brunetti and PJ. W. Curtis, National Bureau of Standards Circular 468, November 15, 1947.

.New Advances in Printed Circuit, National Bureau of Standards Misc; Publication 192, No-

vember 22, 1948.

Mass-Production Wiring, article in September 1947 issue of fScientific American.

Images