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To all whom it may concern: Be
it known that I, CARROLL N. BEAL,
a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, county of San
Francisco, and State of California, have invented certain new and useful
Improvements in Insulating-Supports for Electric Wires; and I hereby
declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the
same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part
of this specification. My
invention relates to insulated supports for conducting-wires for
transmitting electric current, especially currents of high voltage and
to the construction, arrangement, and functions of such supports. My
improvement consists in improved means for securing the
insulator-support to the cross-arm and in providing the outer annular
guard or “petticoat” which surrounds the central supporting member
for the line-wire with intercepting ledges to protect the main wire from
drip. The
objects of my invention are to secure complete insulation of such
supports by their better protection from exposure to rain, moisture, and
other influences and to reduce their dimensions. Referring
to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of one of my improved
insulating-supports looking parallel to the course of the line, a
portion of the cross-arm being shown in section.
Fig. 2 is a central section through Fig. 1, taken at a right
angle thereto. Fig. 3 is
another section corresponding to Fig. 2, showing a method of attaching
the insulating-supports when formed without a shank and to sustain the
conducting-wire from below. Fig.
4 is another section taken at a right angle to Fig. 3, showing the same
support made with a common screw-shank reinforced integrally with a
strengthening core. Similar
letters of reference are applied to corresponding parts in the different
figures of the drawings. In erecting insulating-supports for wires conducting currents of high
voltage such supports, so far as I am aware, are placed on the top of
horizontal cross-bars projecting from the supporting post or poles, thus
directly exposing the point of contact between the insulating-supports
and the wire to the weather,
rendering complete insulation difficult, if not impossible, especially
in the case of currents of high voltage.
By the inversion of the supports and placing them beneath the
cross-bars, also inverting the member to which the wire is attached,
there are gained several important advantages. One
is the protection afforded by the cross-arm itself, which in a measure
deflects rain, snow or sleet. Another
advantage gained is complete protection of the point of contact between
the insulating-support and the wire from precipitated moisture by the
annular guard rings or flanges, commonly called
"petticoat-guards," that in this case surround the central
supporting member and extend down near to wire and not in a reverse or
opposite direction away from the wire, as in the present practice. Insulated
main-wire supports of the class to which my invention pertains, as
heretofore made, can be said to consist, essentially, of a mass of
insulating material of a form to which the line-wire can be attached,
and so constructed as to be susceptible of attachment to a cross-arm or
other static bearing-structure by means of a pin inserted in both
insulator and bearing-structure, the form of such insulated main-wire
supports beings such that the point at which the line-wire is attached
is devoid of all protection from contact with the elements. In
my invention there is a shank A or other means of attachment to some
static structure, commonly a cross-arm B, of wood, in which the shanks A
are fastened, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, a pendent member C, to
which the main wire is fastened by binding wires E, that pass over or
around lugs L, formed on the side of the member C, and annular
guard-flanges F and G to interrupt the surface or capillary flow of
electricity from passing over the insulator to the static supporting
structure, thereby affording to that point full protection from
precipitated moisture. These insulating-supports are commonly made of glass, porcelain, vulcanite, or other non-conducting material having the required properties of strength, capable of being cast or molded, impervious to moisture, and non-corrosive. |
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As
these insulated supports are commonly made, the shanks A are set
oppositely to the member C, so as to be inserted downward into the
cross-arm B, while the member C, to which the wire D is attached,
projects upward or inverted from the position shown in the drawings.
In my invention this arrangement is reversed and the supports are
mounted in a pendent position. The
annular guard flanges or ledges F and G, commonly called
“petticoat-guards,” I place to project oppositely from the
shanks A and as nearly as possible in the same plane horizontally as the
member G, so as to extend close down to the main wire D, as shown in
Figs. 2 and 3. This is
equivalent to the inversion of these guards in respect to the main wire
and its attachments. As
the supports are commonly made of crystalline material and liable to
fracture when subjected to concussion or overstrain, I provide an
additional safety factor in the case of exceptional strains on long
reaches and heavy main wires by either of the methods shown in Figs. 3
and 4. Referring
first to Fig. 3, there is formed in the support a tapering socket having
either a screw-thread or concentric grooves to receive a plug I, formed
of some strong plastic material or of wood when the socket has a screw
thread on the interior. Through this plug I passes a bolt J, by means of which the
support can be drawn up firmly against the bottom of the cross-arm B and
held securely under all circumstances. This
method possesses the advantage of greater strength and affords
additional convenience in erecting.
If however, screw-shanks are preferred and the probable strain is
greater than the insulator will bear without reinforcement, I place in
the material a strengthening-core K having heads on each end or
corrugations on the sides to fasten it in the material, as shown in Fig.
4, using by preference some material that has a degree of expansion and
contraction by heat approximately the same as the substance of which the
main support is formed. To prevent water from dripping off the outer guard-flange G on the main
wire D, I provide intercepting-ledges M, that slope each way to clear
the main wire and so inward toward
the guard G, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3 deflecting ledges M, while not
available in common practice or for supports mounted on the top of the
cross-arms, form an important part of my invention by keeping the main
wire D clear of the drippings of moisture precipitated upon the exposed
parts and dry at the point of contact with the support and constitute
the third agent directed to the avoidance of moisture and the attainment
of complete insulation. Having
thus explained the nature and objects of my invention and the manner of
applying the same in practice, what I claim as new, and desire to secure
by Letters Patent is-- 1.
A main-line insulator and support provided with central pendent member
C, surrounding annular guard-flanges F, G, tapering screw-threaded plug
I in screw-threaded socket, and bolt J, headed beneath the plug, and
provided on its outer extremity with screw-threads and a nut, whereby
the insulator may be securely attached to the cross-arm, substantially
as specified. 2.
In a main-line insulator and support, a screwed shank or other suitable
means of attaching the insulator in a pendent position, a central member
to which the main wire is attached, surrounding this member one or more
guard-flanges, the outer one provided with deflecting ledges or
projections to direct dripping water from the main wire, substantially
as specified. 3.
In a main line insulator and support, means of attaching the support to
a cross-arm, a pendent central member to which the main wire is attached
annular guard flanges around this member and in the same plane
therewith, and deflecting-ledges on the outer annular guard-flange to
prevent precipitated moisture from dripping on the main wire, the whole
in combination substantially as specified. In
testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in the presence
of two witnesses.
CARROLL N. BEAL. Witnesses: K.
LOCKWOOD-NEVINS, H. SANDERSON. |