Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE OF THE INVENTION
HINGE TYPE RELAY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF T~E INVENTION
This invention relates to a hinge type relay,
particularly a hinge type relay of the type wherein a
fixed contact is wiped with a moving contact when both
contacts separate from or move into contact with each
other.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Various objects, features and attendant advantages
of the present invention will be more fully appreciated
as the same becomes better understood from the detailed
description of the drawings, wherein like reference
characters designate like or corresponding parts
throughout the several views, and wherein:
Fig. 1 is an elevation view of a conventional hinge
type relay.
Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an
embodiment of this invention.
Fig. 3 is an elevation view of the embodiment of
Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of a part of Fig. 3.
Figs. 5(a), (b) and (c) are views showing how the
yoke of a relay embodying the invention may be made.
Fig. 6 is a perspective view of components of
another embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 7 is an exploded perspective view of another
embodiment.
Fig. 8 is an elevation view thereof and Fig. 9 is a
perspective view of certain components of another
embodiment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Fig. 1 is an example of a conventional hinge type
relay wherein an armature 1 is rockingly inserted and
supported at the upper end portion 3a of an upwardly
bent portion of a yoke 3 to which an electromagnet 2 is
fixed. The armature rocks when electromagnet 2 is
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activated or deactivated, with the upper end portion 3a
of yoke 3 as the fulcrum of the armature. The movable
contact 5 of a movable arm 4 fixed on the armature i9
adapted to contact with or separate from a fixed contact
6, as shown by the ghost outline in Fig. 1~ and contacts
5 and 6 do not wipe.
In other words, the movable and the fixed contacts
in the conventional hinge type relay only contact or
separate, and the contacts do not wipe. Accordingly,
there i5 no self-cleaning function of either contact,
and bad electrical contact can occur readily due to
foreign material such as oxides, sulfides, carbonized
materials or dust and the abrasion which occurs at the
contacts after they have been used for a long period.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a hinge type relay
which wipes at both contacts of a fixed contact and a
movable contact when the contacts come together or
separate thereby overcoming the defect of a conventional
hinge type relay noted hereinbefore.
An object of an aspect of the invention is to
provide a hinge type relay having a self-cleaning
function and a low electric resistance contact by always
keeping the contact portion clean.
An object of an aspect of the invention is to
provide a hinge type relay which is trouble-free for a
long period of use and which has good durability.
An object of an aspect of the invention is to
provide a hinge type relay which is simple in
construction and easy to make.
An object of an aspect of the invention is to
provide a hinge type relay wherein the armature does not
easily fall off the yoke and is resistant to vibration.
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An aspect of this invention is as follows:
A hinge type relay having an armature, biasing means
for biasing said armature to a first position and electro-
magnetic coil means for moving said armature to a second
position against force exerted thereon by said biasing
means, said armature including a flexibly supported movable
contact and remote therefrom a downwardly depending hinge
member, a yoke supporting said armature and having an
upwardly extending portion, said upwardly extending
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portion including fulcrum means on which said hinge
member is pivotably supported.
DETAIL~D DESCRIPTION OF T~E PR~FERRED EMBODIMENTS
Fig. 2, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 illustrate a first
embodiment of a hinge type relay according to this
invention. Numeral 11 designates a yoke to which is
fixed an electromagnet 12, the yoke being provided with
an upwardly bent portion lla and having a projection llb
to which one end of a spring 18 can be secured. Arms
lld are formed in portion lla and are bent upwardly. A
cutaway portion llc is provided at the upper end of the
upwardly bent portion lla.
The numeral 13 designates an armature, the armature
being provided with a cutaway portion 13a to be inserted
in cutaway portion llc of yoke 11. Yoke 11 is provided
with a rocking hinge member 13b that is formed by
bending of the armature. It also has a projection 13c
to which the other end of spring 18 may be secured.
Numeral 14 designates a movable contact carrying
member that is flexible and to which there is fixed a
movable contact on the underside thereof, the movable
contact carrying member being fixed to the upper surface
of armature 13.
Accordingly, armature 13 is provided with a
flexibly mounted movable contact 15 on one end thereof
and a rocking hinge member 13b at the other end thereof.
Rocking hinge member 13b is placed on arms lld of yoke
11 so as to rock, whereby armature 13 is supported at
the lower part of the upper bent portion lla of yoke 11
so as to be able to rock.
Arms lld of yoke 11 form a fulcrum piece which
supports hinge member 13b of armature 13 enabling
rocking movement.
The numeral 16 designates a base to which yoke 11
is secured, the relay base having arranged thereon a
fixed contact 17 adapted to engage with movable contact
15.
Spring 18 has one end secured to projection llb for
securing the spring to yoke 11, and the other end
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secured to a projection 13c for securing the spring to
armature 13.
Accordingly, when electromagnet 12 is not excited,
armature 13 is, as shown by the solid line in Fig. 3,
allowed to slant to the right in the Fig. letting the
lower end portion of hinge member 13b of armature 13 be
a fulcrum due to the tension of spring 18. In this
position of armature 18 the vertical surfaces 13a' of
cutaway portion 13a of armature 13 abut the upper inner
surfaces of the bent portion lla of yoke 11. Further,
referring to Fig. 3 (solid lines), projection 13c is
positioned in its lowermost position and movable contact
lS is positioned in its uppermost position, movable
contact 15 being separated from fixed contact 17.
Further, at this time the inner surface at the
shoulder 13d of the armature 13 which is the bent
portion of the hinge member 13b of the armature 13
protrudes outwardly from portion lla of yoke 11 by a
distance A.
When electromagnet 12 is excited by current,
armature 13 is attracted by the excitation o~
electromagnet 12 and is rocked to the left in Fig. 3
letting the lower end portion of the hinge member 13b of
armature be its fulcrum. Armature 13, acting against
the tension of spring 18, is attracted to electromagnet
12.
When armature 13 is rocked to the left in Fig. 3 as
shown by the ghost outlines in Fig. 3, movable contact
15 contacts with fixed contact 17, whereby a switch
action is carried out to close an electric circuit (not
shown) connected with both contacts 15 and 17. Further,
the shoulder 13d of armature 13 moves inwardly towards
portion lla of yoke 11 as a result of rocking of the
armature, which causes the projected distance A to
decrease slowly. The projected distance A disappears
when armature 13 is rocked to the horizontal position.
Accordingly, armature 13 moves to the left in Fig. 3 by
projected distance A. In other words, it moves
~ transversely to inner direction of the upper bent piece
; lla of yoke 11.
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The transverse movement which occurs together with
the rocking of armature 13 is described in Fig. 4 in
detail.
Armature 13 shown by the solid line in Fig. 4
indicates a rocking condition when movable contact 15
contacts with fixed contact 17. At this time, the inner
surface of shoulder 13d of armature 13 protrudes to the
outside of the upper bent portion lla of yoke 11 by a
slightly shorter projected distance a than the initial
distance A. Then, when the rocking of armature 13
advances and a part of the armature abuts the iron core
12a of electromagnet 12, contact 15 moves to the left of
fixed contact 17, as shown by the ghost line in Figure
4. The inner surface of a hinge member 13b of armature
13 contacts with the outer surface of the upper bent
portion l~a of yoke 11, as a result of which the
projected distance a of the shoulder 13d of the armature
13 disappears. Accordingly, movable contact 15 wipes
fixed contact 17 in the B direction shown by an arrow by
the projected distance a.
Further, in order to secure the contact pressure of
the contact sufficiently, it is general to constitute so
that the movable contact carrying member 14 may be
deformed windingly with elasticity at the time of
contact. The movable contact 15 moves in a reverse
direction to the direction shown by the arrow line B due
to the winding deformation of the movable contact
carrying member 14, but the movement distance of the
movable contact 15 according to the winding deformation
of the movable contact carrying member 14, is very
minute and thus the movement distance a to the B
direction shown by an arrow can be ignored without
necessity of consideration.
Then, when current to the electromagnet is
terminated, armature 13 is returned automatically and
rockingly to the original state letting the lower end
portion of hinge member 13b of the armature be the
fulcrum. Movable contact 15 separates from fixed
contact 17, whereby an electric circuit connected with
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both contacts 15 and 17 becomes an open circuit.
Further, movable contact 15 is wiped in the reverse
direction to the B direction shown by arrow by movement
distance a and then separates from fixed contact 17~ and
the shoulder 13d of the armature 13 protrudes outwardly
of the upper bent portion lla of the yoke by projected
distance A, whereby armature 13 returns to the original
slanting state.
Further, although the arm lld of the hinge type
relay is bent upwards from the lower side of the upper
bent portion lla of the yoke, arm lld may be formed as
shown in Fig. 5.
In other words, arm lld of the hinge type relay can
be formed by forming a projection piece lle at the lower
side of the upper bent portion lla of the yoke as shown
in Fig. 5(a), bending the projection piece lle in the
direction C as shown in Fig. 5(b) and bending said
projection piece lle in the direction D as shown in Fig.
5(c).
Fig. 6 shows another embodiment of a hinge type
relay according to this invention in which the
constitution of the latching portion of the armature 13
with yoke 11 is changed.
In other words, a cutaway portion 13b' is provided
at the top end portion of hinge member 13b. Member 13b
bends downwardly from two sides of armature 13, rather
than from the end thereof, and a projection llf latches
with a cutaway portion 13b' of hinge member 13b, thereby
rockingly supporting armature 13. Accordingly, the
projection llf of yoke 11 forms a fulcrum piece which
rockingly supports the hinge member 13b of the armature
13.
A third embodiment of this invention is described
in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8.
At the lower portion of the upper bent portion lla
of yoke 11, supporting pieces llg are formed by being
bent inwardly from both left and right sides. The
supporting pieces llg are provided with cutaway portions
llg' respectively at the upper surfaces thereof, the
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said cutaway portions llg' of the supporting pieces llg
forming stoppers llh which protrude upwards at the outer
ends of cutaway portions llg'.
At the lower portion of the hinge member 13b
latching holes 13e' arP provided in order to latch with
the cutaway portions llg' of the supporting pieces llg
of the yoke 11.
Further, on the relay base 16 are arranged upper
and lower fixed contacts 17 respectively corresponding
to the upper and lower portions of the movable contact
15 .
Accordingly, armature 13 rocks letting the
inserting portion of the latching holes 13e of the hinge
member 13b and the cutaway portion llg' of the
supporting piece llg of yoke 11 be a base point
according to the excitation and deenergization of
electromagnet 12, thereby causing the contact or
separation with wiping of the upper and lower contacts
15 and 17,
In this example, since stoppers llh formed at the
supporting pieces llg of yoke 11 are vertically
positioned at the outer portion of armature 13, it abuts
the outer surface of armature 13 to prevent the armature
falling off. Further, armature 13 is prevented from
moving upwardly by spring 18.
Fig. 9 shows another embodiment of this invention.
In this Figure the latching holes 13e' shown in Fig. 7
are rem~ved and a cutaway portion 13f for insertion to
the concave portions llg' of the supporting pieces llg
provided at the lower part of the upper bent portion lla
of yoke 11 are provided at the left and right sides of
hinge member 13. The construction is the same as the
Fig. 7 embodiment and armature 13 rocks letting the
inserting portion of the iatching portion 13e of the
hinge member 13b and the concave portions llg' of the
supporting pieces llg of yoke 11 be a base point due -to
the excitation and deenergization of electromagnet 12,
whereby upper and lower contact 17 and movable contact
15 contact or separate causing the wiping operation.
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