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To all whom it may concern: Be
it known that I, GEORGE I. WINSLOW,
a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of
Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful
Improvement in Insulators, (Case No. 568,) of which the following is a
specification. My
invention has relation to devices for the support of conductors carrying
current, and particularly for conductors when used with currents of
extremely high potential. One
of the objects of my invention is to provide an insulator having means
for preventing the formation of a continuous conducting film of moisture
between the point of attachment of the conductor and the point of
support of the insulator, which shall be easily put together and shall
be capable of ready separation of parts for the purpose of cleaning and
renovation. A
further object of my invention is the provision of an insulator of this
class composed of parts joined by an automatically operating lock or
support. A
further object of my invention is to provide an insulator provided with
an oil cup which shall be supported by the insulator itself, and not by
the supporting pin thereof in such a manner as to avoid weakening of the
pin by the use of fastening devices requiring the removal of portions of
the body of the pin itself, and thus permit the use of wooden instead of
metallic supporting pins. A
further object of my invention is the provision of an insulator having
an oil cup which is attached thereto by means sufficiently elastic to
save the oil cup from damage due to shocks of all kinds. A
further object of my invention is to supply an insulator having an oil
cup supported at isolated points and thus providing a very small
cross-section for the leakage of current and accomplishing to a certain
extent the dissipation of accidental moisture by the heating of the
leakage current itself. A
further object of my invention is the provision of an oil cup insulator
so constructed as to give no opportunity for the conduction of current
from the body of the oil cup directly to the insulator pin. My
invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of an old form of insulator provided with a body of oil for preventing the formation of a conducting film. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of another form wherein a separate removable oil cup is used, supported by a cotter pin passing through the insulating support. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of one specific form of my improved insulator. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of another specific form of my invention. Fig. 5 shows a vertical section of still another form. Fig. 6 shows a vertical section of the form shown in Fig. 5 with an additional protecting sleeve. Fig. 7 shows two positions of a wire in process of being made into a spring lock for use with my invention. Fig. 8 shows a portion of a vertical section of my invention illustrating one of its possible modes of co-operation with the spring lock. Fig. 9 shows a portion of a vertical section of my invention illustrating another possible mode of operation. Fig. 10 illustrates a spring lock straightened out and composed of sheet metal. Figs. 11 and 12 illustrate diagrammatically the two possible modes of co-operation between the cup and spring lock when the latter is composed of fluted metal. Fig.
13 shows in diagram another form of spring lock, and Fig. 14 shows in
diagram a form of rigid lock. The
old form of insulator shown in Fig. 1 was composed of the supporting pin
a upon which was screwed an insulating head b, to which
the conductor was intended to be fastened; which head was provided with
up turned under edges in annular form shown at c, designed for
the reception of a bath of insulating oil The object of this construction was to interpose an insulating
surface of oil between the two parts of such a watery film as would form
upon the surface of the insulator during the rain storms or in a fog. In
Fig. 2 another old form of insulator is shown, where the oil cup c
is supported upon the stem of the insulator, for instance, usually by
means of a cotter pin f, passing through the body of the support. The
object of this construction was to enable the cup to be lowered by
removal of the cotter pin and its contents to be replenished and the
insulator to be cleaned. The
objections incidental to the use of the form shown in Fig. 2, convenient
as that form obviously is, are numerous. The moisture which collects
upon the outer surface of the inner
petticoat of the insulating portion b runs down upon the surface
of or into the oil d and is the film
forms on the outer surface of the oil cup as upon the insulator a
continuous film is soon formed between the conductor and the support of
the insulator across the dust and water collected on the top of the oil,
thence over the outside of the oil cup and through the cotter pin to the
support. It is therefore
desirable to supply means whereby the oil cup may be supported from the
insulator itself instead of from the support thereof. A
further objection incident to the use of the form shown in Fig. 2 is
that the cotter pin necessarily requiring removal of material from the
support renders it necessary where any considerable strain is exerted
through the conductor to employ iron or other metallic supports, thus
greatly lessening the resistance to leakage. The
object of my invention is to do away with the use of the cotter pin or
other devices tending to remove material from the support, and thus to
permit of the use of a large wooden pin, which evidently increases the
resistance to leakage. This
will further avoid the difficult incident to the loss of the cotter pin
upon the removal of the cup. A
further difficulty, which has been found where the oil cup is placed
upon the support of the insulator, is that vibrations of the pole due to
climbing up of the lineman or to the effect of high winds subject the
oil cup to shocks which Sometimes break it and often result in spilling
the oil. Furthermore,
insects are apt to crawl up between the support and the oil cup and to
drop into the oil cup between the support and the insulator body, thus
decreasing the resistance of the oil. By my invention I supply a flexible support independent
of the insulator support and so placed as to preclude the possibility of
the entrance of insects above the oil. One form of my invention is shown in Fig. 3 wherein the
oil cup is shown at c as provided with recurved flanges at its
top shown at h, co-operating with corresponding flanges on the
inside of the insulator body shown at g, for the purpose of
supporting the cup through the medium of an elastic lock r.
It will be seen that this form of insulator supplies an inner
chamber above the oil which is almost entirely inclosed, and where a
solid rubber lock is used, is entirely inclosed.
This greatly lessens the tendency to evaporation of the oil and
insures the prevention of a watery film. Various forms of lock may be used for the purpose of
supporting and holding in place the cup c, and a number of these
will be described hereinafter. One
form of lock may be a stout rubber ring or ring of other solid flexible
material placed as shown in the figure.
This may be permanently attached either to the insulator or to
the cup or may be a separate part attached to neither.
It will be seen that the cup is adjusted in place
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In
Fig. 4 is shown another form of cup wherein the flange h his
curved in the opposite direction from the oil holding lip c.
In this form of insulator the flange g of the insulator
proper turns outward and the lock r is as before held between the
flanges g and h. This
form is preferable to the form shown in Fig. 3 for the reason that water
and vapor cannot gather above the lock r and tend to form a
conducting connection between the inner surface of the oil cup and the
under surface of the insulator and thence to the insulator support.
Moreover it is easier to manufacture the form of oil cup shown in
Fig. 4, as it can be pressed in one operation, and the only change
required in the insulator itself after it comes from the press is the
curving of the flange g. In fig. 3 a flange must also be curved on the oil cup after
it is pressed. Again the
ring or lock r is more easily reached in the form shown in fig. 4
and can be taken out or put in by hand.
Moreever the expansion and contraction of glass, where glass is
used, are more equal. In Fig 5 the same method of supporting the oil cup is
shown and the outside edge of the insulator proper is employed as a
support. This is a
modification of the form shown in Fig. 4 inasmuch as the oil cup has
oppositely curved flanges. In Fig 6 is shown an excellent mechanical protection in
the form of sleeve x having an inturned flange y, at the
top for holding it in place. This
is eminently adapted for use with the form of cup shown. It is evident that the exact position of the flange g
on the insulator immaterial is it may be as above shown either inside,
outside, or between the depending flanges of the Insulator which dip
into the oil. The nature of the lock ring r may be varied almost
indefinitely. One form of
lock ring is shown in Fig. 7 in process of construction.
In the making of this form of lock, a wire i is bent into
a wave form as shown and its ends then united and either attached
together or merely juxtaposed, the whole forming a ring, the waves lying
in the periphery of a cylinder as indicated in dotted lines upon the
right of the figure. When
in this position the alternate wave crests are bent in opposite
directions out of the periphery so as to form a more or less crown
shaped figure. This is
indicated on the right of Fig. 7 by the dotted lines k.
The resulting crown shaped ring may then be pushed into place
above the supporting flanges g with the open part of the V
upward. The co-operation of
such
ring with the supporting flange h on the oil cup is shown in
Figs. 8 and 9. In
Fig. 8 the shape of the flange h is such that upon withdrawal of
the cup the spring ring lock r is turned inside out. This is a
feasible form and the ring would take its original position when the cup
was pushed up again. In
Fig. 9 the shape of the flange h is such that upon pulling down
the cup those loops of the wire which make contact with the inside of
the cup are thrown back into the space above the flange g and the
cup thus allowed to pass out, the loops of wire springing back into
place after the cup is removed. Another
form of ring may be made from a flat strip of springy metal slotted all
along one edge and bent into a circle after having the alternate ends of
the strips turned back as in making the wavy wire ring. This is shown in
Fig. 10, where the strip is shown before it is bent. Another
form of ring may be made by cutting out a circular disk of thin springy
metal and fluting its outer edge to such an extent as to bring the upper
and inner waves of the fluting up until they form a circle of about the
same size as the inner edge of the disk; the circle so formed being
smaller or larger than
the circle formed by the inner edge of the disk according to whether the
ring is to be used in the form shown in Fig. 3 or Fig. 4. This ring would be slotted at one point to permit of its
being sprung into place. Figs
11 and 12 show the co-operation of the cup with the ring lock where
fluted metal disks are used; Fig. 11 showing the form wherein upon
withdrawal of the cup the metal is sprung back into the recess over the
supporting flange g, and Fig. 12 showing the co-operation of the
parts where it is intended to lock the oil cup permanently in place. A much cheaper and equally serviceable ring may be made
of a flat strip fluted transversely and then bent into a ring, which may
either be sprung into place or slipped in by hand.
This is shown in Fig. 13. The
use of springy metal or of a springy material is not essential, as even
a lead ring may be used, if properly proportioned. This is shown in
cross-section in Fig. 14, where the ring r is shown to be simply
inserted between the two flanges on the cup and insulator.
This form of ring would of course not extend entirely around the
cup, but the two ends would project down so as to be reached by the
fingers and the ring could be removed by pressing the ends apart and
increasing the diameter of the ring. This is not as good a form as the
spring lock, as it will not act automatically. One of the advantages of the use of the spring locks
above described is that they form a series of supporting points for the
oil cup, thus increasing the resistance to leakage at such points, and
where the leakage is temporarily considerable, the current would heat up
the points to a certain extent and thus accelerate the evaporation of
the conducting liquids. Of
course this invention is susceptible to many modifications immediately
apparent to those skilled in the art, and I do not wish to be understood
as limiting myself to the exact details herein shown.
What
I claim is-- 1.
An insulating body, an oil cup cooperating therewith and means
for supporting said oil cup directly from said insulating body,
substantially as described. 2.
An insulating body, an oil cup cooperating therewith and means
for elastically supporting the cup directly from the body, substantially
as described. 3.
An insulating body and an oil cup Co-operating therewith, in
combination with an elastic lock arranged to support the cup immediately
from the body at a series of isolated points. 4.
An insulating body provided with a re-curved flange, an oil cup
provided with a flange adapted to cooperate with the flange on the
insulating body, and a locking ring interposed between the flanges on
the cup and body for the purpose of supporting the cup, substantially as
described. 5.
An insulating body provided with a recurved flange, an oil cup
provided with a flange adapted to cooperate with the flange on the
insulating body and an elastic locking ring interposed between the
flanges on the cup and body for the purpose of supporting the cup,
substantially as described. 6.
An insulating body provided with an outwardly turned supporting
flange, an oil cup having an oil holding lip and a supporting flange
oppositely curved, and an elastic supporting ring interposed between the
supporting flanges on the cup and body, substantially as described. 7.
An insulating body, an oil cup adapted to be attached thereto,
and a supporting lock for accomplishing this attachment composed of a
strip of resilient metal having alternate portions bent in opposite
directions. 8.
An insulating body, an oil cup adapted to be supported therefrom,
and a resilient lock for accomplishing this support composed of a
recurved length of wire provided with waves bent alternately in opposite
directions in crown form, substantially as described. 9.
An insulator composed of a supporting pin, a concave insulating
body supported thereby and an oil cup supported directly from the body
and underneath its concavity independently of the insulator support,
substantially as described. In
testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 16th day of
November, A. D. 1893. GEORGE
H. WINSLOW. Witnesses:
THOS H. LEGGARD,
HECTOR M. REED.
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