US554910A - Electric heater - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No'ModeL) I I P. B. DELANY. v ELBGTRIG HEATER, RESISTANCE, 0R RHEOSTAT. N0.-,554,9 10. Patented Feb. 18, 1896.

imvewtoz 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

P. B. DELANY. ELEGTRIG HEATER, RESISTANCE, 0R RHEOSTAT.

No. 554,910. Patented Feb. 18, 1896.

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PATRICK BERNARD DELANY, OF SOUTH ORANGE, NEIV JERSEY.

ELECTRIC HEATER, RESlSTANCE, OR RHEOSTAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 554,910, dated February 18, 1896.

Application filed June 7, 1892. Serial No. 435,874. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PATRICK BERNARD DE- LANY, a citizen of the'United States, residing at South Orange, Essex county, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Heaters, Resistances, or Rheostats, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce an electric heater or resistance that may be readily constructed in any desired form for anydesired purpose, is efficient, durable and economical.

In carrying out my invention I surround the heating or resistance conductor with but tons of refractory or indestructible fireproof insulating material, preferably of a vitreous character--such as porcelain, glass, earthenware, &c.which are strung thereon. The buttons are formed with one or more perforations through which the wire or wires pass. I prefer to round or bevel the faces of the buttons to afford perfect facility in forming or bending the wire or wires into the required shape. I then, to complete the construction of the device, embed the conductor or conductors thus equipped with insulatingbuttons in amass of refractory insulating material, which may be in a granulated or powdered form and inclosed with the conductor in a casing preferably of insulating material but I prefer that the refractory material shall be of such character that it will set hard, so that it may be molded around the conductor or buttons, or so that it may be fired or baked as, for instance of fireclay, potters clay, porcelain or similar material.

The general style of my heater and resistance and its details of construction are hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a detail view showing a single conductor having refractory insulating buttons strung thereon; Fig. 2, a similar View showing sevsral wires having the same buttons with multiple perforations strung thereon. Fig. 3 shows the wires coiled in volute form within a flat round casing filled with refractory material in which they are embedded. Fig. 4 shows a coil of heating-conductor embedded in a disk of cement, fire-clay, or such like refractory material that is allowed to set or is hardened by firing. Fig. 5 shows a heating-conductor coiled in a spiral and embedded in cement or fire-clay, &c. Fig. 6 shows a heating-conductor embedded in a rectangular block of such material. Fig. 7 shows how several similar blocks may be provided on their faces with contact terminals and built up into a pile. Fig. 8 shows a plan of threading the wires through the insulating-buttons, in which the wire is bent in the middle and both ends threaded through the buttons in the same direction, so that both terminals thereof are at the same end; and Fig. 9 shows a rheostat constructed according to my invention.

In the several figures the conductors are marked A and the insulating-buttons B.

In Fig. 3 the heating-conductor is bent upon itself at about the middle :0 and is then coiled within a flat round casing II, the bent end a: being at the middle and the two ends being brought out, as shown. This casing is filled with refractory insulating material in either a powdered or solid form, in which the conductor and buttons are embedded.

In Fig. 4 the heating-conductor is embedded in a disk of cement, fire-clay, or such like material M, the binding-posts m, to which the terminals are connected, being incorporated therein and projecting from the edge thereof.

In Fig. 5 the heating-conductor is shown as coiled spirally and embedded in a hollow cylindrical mass of cement or like material N;

In Fig. 6 the heating-conductor is embedded in a rectangular block or brick O of like material.

As shown in Fig. 7, the terminals of the conductor in each brick may be connected with terminal contactplates 0 in the sides of the brick, so that they may be built up in any desired manner, the contact-plates being in contact with each other. The terminal blocks of any such pile might each have a bindingpost 0 connected with one ofthe terminals of the conductor for convenience in connecting the circuit-wires.

Fi 9 shows the invention applied to an adjustable resistance or rheostat, the operation of which is obvious and ordinary and requires no description. The contacts 1' and switch R might be mounted on the face of the block 0.

My system of making electric heaters and resistances possesses very great advantages and avoids objections or difficulties that may arise in manufacture or use. In other heaters the wires in most cases are laid in some kind of incombustible cement or mixture of plaster-of-paris, asbestos, mineral wool, or kindred materials, which, owing to the difficulties attending the placing of the wires, the contraction, cracking or disintegration of the material and its rigidity, has rendered the manufacture of reliable electric heaters, resistances, and rheostats very difficult. Another popular method of arranging the heating-wircs has been to train them under tension over pins, knobs, or projections on or through holes in incombustible slabs such as soapstone, slate, porcelain, or glass; but all these ways are open to the objection that the conductors by constant heating and cooling become permanently slack, get displaced, and are rendered useless for the purpose. \Vires have also been laid in grooves in vitrite slabs, blocks, and cylinders. \Vhile this plan has given considerable satisfaction, it still has the serious objection of great cost and difficulty of arrangement of the wires in various forms of winding or alignment necessary for general use. Should a crack of any magnitude occur in any of these styles of apparatus, the wire at that point being out of contact with the plate or insulating material is liable to be burned out by the great heat accumulated at that point, having no medium of dissipation. \Vith my heating-cable all the wires touch. every insulator at regular distances throughout its entire length. These points of contact are so close together and so evenly distributed that the wires cannot accumulate suliicient heat between the points of contact with the insulators, and the heat is taken from the wire and radiated.

The insulating-buttons in my system afford an excellent insulation and medium for the dissipation or radiation of the heat developed in the conductor, and the cement or other refractory covering serves more as a covering to protect the conductor from oxidation and as a means of uniting or binding the conductors into a coherent permanent form. The insulating-buttons are in contact, as shown, and constitute a continuous flexible insulation.

The wires or cable may be coiled or laid up in any desired shape or inclosed in any shaped casing, stove, heater, or cover, and all the interstices between the wires and insulations filled with Portland cement, clay, or any incombustible material, and these cements or clays may be set and baked or dried, as already suggested, so that at the end of the operation the coil of cable is inclosed in a solid mass of stone, brick, or other block or cylinder, which may be retained in the mold or casing in which it was cast or be detached and used separately. The security of the wires against change in position while the mold or casting is made insures perfect uniformity throughout the block or casting.

The conductors may be connected in circuit and switched in any required way to accomplish the results desired.

The buttons may be of any suitable form. Many styles of such spools or buttons are shown in patents heretofore granted to me and others.

I claim as my invention- 1. An electric heater or resistance consist ing of a conductor or conductors having lireproof insulating-buttons strung thereon in contact and constituting a continuous llexible insulation embedded or in closed in a mass or block of refractory 'll'lSlllELiilllfJ, material, substantially as set forth.

2. An electric heater or resistance consisling of a conductor or conductors having lireproof insulating-buttons strung thereon in contact and constituting a continuous flexible insulation inclosed or embedded in a mass or block of insulating material, and exposed terminals or contact-pieces, with which the conductor is connected, substantially as set forth.

I). An electric heater or resistance consisting of two or more blocks or sections each comprising a conductor orconductors ineloscd in a mass of insulating material, and exposed contacts or terminals with which the conductor is connected, said contacts being so arranged that when. one section or block is placed upon another their respective contact s may be brought into electrical connection to complete the circuit from the conductor of one block to the conductor of the other, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto Sill) scribed my name.

PATRICK BERNA it i) DE LAN Y.

Witnesses:

EDWARD (J. Dnvrnson, HARRY ll. Simnnn'rr.

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