Multi-level step-by-step switch

Claim 2

A step-by-step switch capable of simultaneously serving a plurality of electrical circuits, said switch comprising the combination of: a terminal bank having several columns and rows of contact terminals extending toward and disposed at a constant radial distance from a predetermined axis, with successive ones of said columns being angularly displaced about said axis by a predetermined angular interval and with successive ones of said rows being vertically displaced by a predetermined separation distance; a plurality of brushes extending radially from said axis, with each of said brushes being mounted for rotation about said axis and being horizontally aligned with and permanently dedicated to a respective one of said rows, the brushes being mounted on respective carriers having internally splined sleeves of predetermined pitch coaxial with said axis; and drive means for selectively and independently rotating said brushes about said axis, whereby the brushes may be separately positioned to serve different circuits, said drive means including a shaft extending along said axis, a drive gear fixed to said shaft and having a pitch substantially equal to said predetermined pitch, and vertical and rotary drives for vertically and angularly advancing said shaft a step at a time and in sequence to first bring said drive gear into meshing engagement with the splined sleeve of the carrier for a selected one of said brushes and for then rotating the selected brush about said axis.

Claim 3

The switch of claim 1 wherein said shaft is vertically displaced on each vertical step by a distance equal to said separation distance and angularly displaced on each rotary step by an angle equal to said angular interval; and further including respective means for selectively resetting said brushes to normal rest positions angularly displaced about said axis from the first of said columns by said angular interval, and means for selectively resetting said drive means to a normal rest position with said gear vertically displaced beneath the lowermost of said rows by a distance equal to said predetermined separation distance, whereby said gear is advanced on successive ones of said vertical steps into meshing engagement with the splined sleeves of the carriers for successive ones of said brushes and the selected brush is angularly advanced on successive ones of said rotary steps into engagement with successive contact terminals of its respective row.

Claim 4

The switch of claim 2 wherein said means for selectively resetting said brushes include respective means for biasing said carriers to rotate said brushes toward said normal rest positions, and respective means for releasably locking said carriers to prevent rotation of said brushes toward said positions, and wherein said means for selectively resetting said drive means includes means for releasably locking said shaft against downward movement.

Claim 5

The switch of claim 1 wherein said vertical drive includes a first ratchet gear on said shaft, a first pawl cooperating with said first gear and a first control solenoid coupled to stroke said first pawl to vertically step said shaft upwardly a step at a time, with said first gear having a pitch selected so that the shaft is advanced on each of said vertical steps through a distance equal to said separation distance; said rotary drive includes a second ratchet gear on said shaft, a second pawl cooperating with said second gear, and a second control solenoid coupled to stroke said second pawl to angularly step said shaft about said axis a step at a time, with said second gear having a pitch selected so that shaft is advanced on each of said angular steps through an angle equal to said angular interval.

Claim 6

The switch of claim 4 wherein the pitch of said splines is selected to match the angular interval between successive columns of contact terminals so that the splines of the respective sleeves vertically align with one another after any one of said brushes has been positioned, whereby the drive means may then be reset merely by gravity and is then immediately available to position any other of said brushes that is still in its normal rest position.

Claim 7

A step-by-step switch capable of simultaneously serving a plurality of electrical circuits, said switch comprising the combination of: a pair of vertically aligned terminal banks including respective columns and rows of contact terminals disposed at a constant radial distance from a predetermined axis, with successive ones of the columns of each of said terminal banks being angularly displaced from one another about said axis by a predetermined angular interval, successive ones of the rows of each of said terminal banks being vertically displaced from one another By a first predetermined separation distance, and corresponding rows of the respective terminal banks being vertically displaced from one another by a second predetermined separation distance; respective brush sets associated with said terminal banks, with each of said sets including a plurality of brushes mounted for rotation about said axis in horizontal alignment with respective ones of the rows of the associated terminal bank, said brushes being mounted on respective carriers having internally splined sleeves of predetermined pitch coaxial with said axis; and, drive means for selectively and independently rotating the brushes of each of said sets, whereby the brushes of each set may be separately positioned to serve different circuits, said drive means including a shaft extending along said axis and through the sleeves of said carrier, respectively, drive gears for said brushes sets fixed to said shaft, with each of said gears having a pitch substantially equal to said predetermined pitch, and vertical and rotary drives for vertically and angularly advancing said shaft a step at a time and in sequence to first bring the drive gear for at least one of said brush sets into meshing engagement with the splined sleeve of said carrier for a selected one of the brushes of said one set and for then rotating the selected brush about said axis.

Claim 8

A step-by-step switch capable of simultaneously serving a plurality of electrical circuits, said switch comprising the combination of: a pair of vertically aligned terminal banks including respective columns and rows of contact terminals disposed at a constant radial distance from a predetermined axis, with successive ones of the columns of each of said terminal banks being angularly displaced from one another about said axis by a predetermined angular interval, successive ones of the rows of each of said terminal banks being vertically displaced from one another By a first predetermined separation distance, and corresponding rows of the respective terminal banks being vertically displaced from one another by a second predetermined separation distance; respective brush sets associated with said terminal banks, with each of said sets including a plurality of brushes mounted for rotation about said axis in horizontal alignment with respective ones of the rows of the associated terminal bank, said brushes being mounted on respective carriers having internally splined sleeves of predetermined pitch coaxial with said axis; and, drive means for selectively and independently rotating the brushes of each of said sets, whereby the brushes of each set may be separately positioned to serve different circuits, said drive means including a shaft extending along said axis and through the sleeves of said carrier, respectively, drive gears for said brushes sets fixed to said shaft, with each of said gears having a pitch substantially equal to said predetermined pitch, and vertical and rotary drives for vertically and angularly advancing said shaft a step at a time and in sequence to first bring the drive gear for at least one of said brush sets into meshing engagement with the splined sleeve of said carrier for a selected one of the brushes of said one set and for then rotating the selected brush about said axis.

Claim 9

The switch of claim 6 wherein said second separation distance and said drive means are selected so that the brushes for corresponding rows of said terminal banks are simultaneously and identically positioned by said drive means.

Claim 10

The switch of claim 6 wherein said second separation distance and said drive means are selected so that the brushes for corresponding rows of said terminal banks are separately and independently positioned by said drive means.

Claim 11

The switch of claim 6 wherein the sleeves of said carriers have corresponding portions which are splined, with each of said splined portions having an axial length approximately equal to one half of said first separation distance; and said drive gears are vertically displaced on said shaft a distance approximately equal to said second separation distance, whereby said drive means simultaneously and identically positions brushes for corresponding rows of said terminal banks.

Claim 12

The switch of claim 9 further including respective means for biasing said brushes to normal rest positions angularly displaced from the first columns of contact terminals on said terminal bank by said angular interval, and respective means for releasably and selectively locking said brushes against movement toward said rest positions.

Claim 13

The switch of claim 10 wherein each of said splined portions is selected to have a pitch substantially matching said predetermined angular interval so that said shaft may be reset to a normal lower rest position merely by gravity, and further including means for releasably locking said shaft against downward movement to prevent said shaft from being prematurely reset.

Claim 14

The switch of claim 6 wherein the sleeves of said carriers have corresponding portions which are splined, with each of said splined portions having an axial length approximately equal to one half of said first separation distance; said drive gears are vertically displaced on said shaft a distance offset from said second separation distance by approximately one half of said first separation distance; and said shaft is vertically displaced on each vertical step a distance approximately equal to one half of said first separation distance to thereby permit a selected brush of a selected brush set to be positioned independently of the brushes of the other brush set.

Claim 15

The switch of claim 12 further including respective means for biasing said brushes to normal rest positions angularly displaced from the first columns of contact terminals on said terminal bank by said angular interval, and respective means for releasably and selectively locking said brushes against movement toward said rest positions.

Claim 16

The switch of claim 13 wherein each of said splined portions is selected to have a pitch substantially matching said predetermined angular interval so that said shaft may be reset to a normal lower rest position merely by gravity, and further including means for releasably locking said shaft against downward movement to thereby prevent said shaft from being prematurely reset.

Claim 17

A step-by-step switch capable of simultaneously serving a plurality of electrical circuits, said switch comprising the combination of first and second groups of vertically aligned terminal banks, with each of said groups including a pair of terminal banks and each of said banks having respective rows and columns of contact terminals disposed at a constant radial distance from a predetermined axis with successive ones of said rows vertically displaced from one another by a first separation distance, successive ones of said columns being angularly displaced from one another about said axis by a predetermined angular interval, and corresponding rows of the terminal banks of each of said groups being vertically displaced from one another by a second separation distance; respective brush sets associated with said terminal banks, with each of said brush sets including a plurality of brushes extending radially from respective carriers, said carriers being mounted for rotation about said axis and having respective sleeves coaxial with said axis, said sleeves each having corresponding internally splined portions, with each of said splined portions having an axial length approximately equal to one-half of said first separation distance; and a drive means including a shaft extending axially of said switch and through the sleeves of said carriers, respective drive gears for said brush sets fixed to said shaft, with the gears for the brush sets for each group of terminal banks being vertically displaced from one another by said second separation distance and from the gears for the brush sets of the other group of terminal banks by a third separation distance offset from said second separation distance by approximately one-half said first separation distance; and vertical and rotary drives for vertically advancing said shaft a step at a time and in sequence, with said shaft being vertically displaced on each vertical step a distance substantially equal to one-half said first separation distance on each angular step through an angle substantially equal to said angular interval, whereby brushes at corresponding levels of any selected group of said terminal banks may be simultaneously and identically positioned independently of the brushes for the other group of terminal banks.

Claim 18

A step-by-step switch capable of simultaneously serving a plurality of electrical circuits, said switch comprising the combination of first and second groups of vertically aligned terminal banks, with each of said groups including a pair of terminal banks and each of said banks having respective rows and columns of contact terminals disposed at a constant radial distance from a predetermined axis with successive ones of said rows vertically displaced from one another by a first separation distance, successive ones of said columns being angularly displaced from one another about said axis by a predetermined angular interval, and corresponding rows of the terminal banks of each of said groups being vertically displaced from one another by a second separation distance; respective brush sets associated with said terminal banks, with each of said brush sets including a plurality of brushes extending radially from respective carriers, said carriers being mounted for rotation about said axis and having respective sleeves coaxial with said axis, said sleeves each having corresponding internally splined portions, with each of said splined portions having an axial length approximately equal to one-half of said first separation distance; and a drive means including a shaft extending axially of said switch and through the sleeves of said carriers, respective drive gears for said brush sets fixed to said shaft, with the gears for the brush sets for each group of terminal banks being vertically displaced from one another by said second separation distance and from the gears for the brush sets of the other group of terminal banks by a third separation distance offset from said second separation distance by approximately one-half said first separation distance; and vertical and rotary drives for vertically advancing said shaft a step at a time and in sequence, with said shaft being vertically displaced on each vertical step a distance substantially equal to one-half said first separation distance on each angular step through an angle substantially equal to said angular interval, whereby brushes at corresponding levels of any selected group of said terminal banks may be simultaneously and identically positioned independently of the brushes for the other group of terminal banks.

Claim 19

The switch of claim 15 further including respective means for biasing said brushes to normal rest positions angularly displaced from the first columns of contact terminals on said terminal bank by said angular interval, and respective means for releasably and selectively locking said brushes against movement toward said rest positions.

Claim 20

The switch of claim 16 wherein each of said splined portions is selected to have a pitch substantially matching said predetermined angular interval so that said shaft may be reset to a normal lower rest position merely by gravity, and further including means for releasably locking said shaft against downward movement to thereby prevent said shaft from being prematurely reset.