Title of Invention

DISPLAY DEVICE FOR INDICATING MOVEMENT AND POSITION OF A ROTARY COMPONENT

Abstract A display device for indicating movement and position of a rotary component, such as a motor drive of a tap selector switch, comprises a mounting plate (1) provided with a first circular scale (2) having symbols associated with individual switching steps, which are run through during switching of the component from one operational position into another operational position. The first scale (2) is wiped by a first pointer (3) which rotates through 360° during each switching process. The plate (1) is also provided with a second circular scale (4) having symbols respectively associated with the individual operational positions of the component. The second scale (4) is wiped by a second pointer (5), which during a switching-over process executes a rotational movement through an angle corresponding to the spacing between adjacent symbols of the second scale (4). Two drag pointers (6, 7) are arranged at the two sides of the second pointer (5) in such a manner that each drag pointer is entrained by the second pointer on movement thereof in a respective direction of rotation.
Full Text

The present invention relates to a display device for indicating movement and position of a rotary component, especially a motor drive for actuation of a tap selector switch, a reversing device or a solenoid coil.
A display device for such a purpose is described in the company publication "Motor Drive MA 7, Operating Instruction", Impression BA 40/90 de - 0391/2000, of Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GmbH, Regensburg, Germany. In that device, a switching step display wheel and a position display wheel, the faces of each of which are visible from outside and markings applied thereon are readable, are provided as components of a control gear of a motor drive of a tap selector switch or the like. The switching step display wheel rotates together with a cam disc of the control gear, which actuates individual contacts on switching over from one step of the tap selector switch or the like to an adjacent other step in a predetermined switching sequence. The display wheel and cam disc rotate each time through an entire revolution. The display wheel is provided on its face with markings which represent the individual switching steps, i.e. the sequence of steps taking place one after the other during a switching process, or which image the steps by numbers or other symbols. A green field indicates the rest position of the cam switch, whilst the initial setting of a switching step, i.e. the stationary state of the motor drive, is identified by a red centre mark within the green region.
The position display wheel is provided on its face with numbers or the like, which correspond with the possible switch settings of the tap selector switch or the like. The position display wheel rotates on each switching from one step of the tap selector switch to an adjacent step through an angle, i.e. a step, which corresponds to the spacing between two adjacent markings.
The known display device thus indicates, by means of the switching step display wheel in which region of the switching step the motor drive is situated during switching over. It furthermore indicates, by means of the position display wheel, in which operational setting (in the stationary state) the motor drive is situated.
A disadvantage of this known device is the poor visualisation of the switching-over process, i.e. the switching sequence to be run through. It is not readily recognisable whether an initiated switching-over process is, for example, still at the beginning or close to its conclusion.

A further disadvantage is that the markings, which as explained are on the faces of the two wheels, are not recognisable from a greater distance. Since the two wheels are components of the control gear and the faces cannot be made as thick as desired, an enlargement of the numbers or other symbols is not possible due to the construction.
Yet another disadvantage of the known device is that it is not recognisable or traceable which operational settings have been assumed during preceding actuations of the motor drive, i.e. which range of the tap selector switch has been used in operation. Such information is, however, increasingly significant in connection with servicing, adjustments and monitoring. It is, for example, important to know whether a tap selector switch has been switched across its entire regulating range or is operated substantially always only in a limited range and, in the latter case, whether this limited range is or is not near to one of the two end settings.
None of these information data can be derived from the known display device.
tt Iff tH* ob)«6t of tH« invention to #limin«te such disadvantages and to provide a display device which may offer a good visualisation of data, allow easy readability from a distance and display additional information about past ranges of movement.
According to the present invention there is provided a display device for a rotary component, for example, a motor drive for the actuation of a tap selector switch, a reversing device or a solenoid coil, comprising a first circular scale which has symbols associated with the individual switching steps run through one after the other on switching over of the motor drive from one operational position into an adjacent operational position and which is provided on a mounting plate, a first pointer on a first shaft guided through the plate and arranged to be rotatable centrally within the first scale, a second circular scale which has symbols arranged at the same spacing from each other and associated with the individual stationary operational positions of the rotary component and which is provided on the plate, a second pointer on a second shaft guided through the plaie and arranged to be rotatable centrally within the second scale, drag pointers which are mounted to be self-lockingly rotatable on the second shaft at both sides of the second pointer, but not driven by the second shaft, in such a manner that each of the drag pointers is in dependence on the direction of rotation entrained by the second pointer on rotational

movement thereof and remains in the position reached, and transmission means provided at the underside of the plate and coupling the first and the second pointers to the component in such a manner that, in the case of the switching of the component from one operational position to an adjacent other operational position, the first pointer is in dependence on the direction of rotation rotatable through 360 degrees and the second pointer is in dependence on the direction of rotation rotatable through an angle corresponding with the spacing between two adjacent symbols of the second scale.
Preferably, the transmission means is arranged to be spatially separate from a control gear of the motor drive.
An advantage of a display device embodying the invention is that, by virtue of the pointer
arrangement the display overall becomes easier to remember and is more clearly and
better recognisable. The pointers used for the display offer a better overview of the
relationship of the instantaneous operational setting to the entire possible setting or
regulating range. They offer, in one view, an indication of whether the associated rotary
component, such as a tap selector switch or the like, is situated in about the middle or at th« uppm or lower #nd of It* operating range.
The pointer arrangement also offers a better overview of the time course of the switching-over process and the first pointer gives an easily recognisable overview of the step, at which the component is situated during a switching-over, within the series of steps.
The pointers, which are provided as part of the display, give in one view an indication of the regulating range, i.e. the operational settings the tap selector switch or the like has adopted previously.
The scales and the pointers can be readily adapted in respect of size, shape, colour and style of the symbols to the respective requirements. The display by means of circular scales and pointers is familiar to the human eye and entails fewer reading errors than the necessarily small symbols on the faces of the wheels in the prior art devices.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a display device embodying the invention, and Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the device in Fig. 1.
Referring now to the drawings there is shown a display device for indicating movement and rotational position of a motor drive of a tap selector switch which has a plurality of operational positions and which is moved in switching steps between each two adjacent ones of such positions. The device comprises a mounting plate 1 provided with a first circular scale 2, the stepping switch scale. On this scale 2, symbols are provided at equal spacing from one other and correspond with the individual switching steps to be run through in succession during a switching-over process, i.e. the individual steps of the switching sequence. These symbols can be simple strokes, numbers or other graphical symbols.
A region 21 of the first scale 2, which corresponds with the region in which cam switches of a control gear of the drive means are disposed in a rest position, is marked distinctively, for example, coloured.
A first pointer 3, namely the stepping switch pointer, is arranged to be rotatable centrally within this first scale 2 on a first shaft 92 guided through the plate 1. The pointer 3 is rotated through 360° by a gear transmission 9, which is described in more detail further below, during each switching-over process. In this process, the pointer runs through or wipes all of the symbols of the first scale 2 in succession and thus gives an indication of the instantaneous setting of the motor drive during a switching-over process.
The direction of rotation of the first pointer 3 is dependent on the direction of rotation of the motor drive. In the case of several switchings in the same direction, the pointer 3 will thus run through the first scale 2 or circulate around it several times in the same direction of rotation.
The plate 1 is also provided with a second scale 4, the position display scale. On this second scale 4, further symbols are provided at the same spacing one from the other and correspond with the individual operational positions of the tap selector switch. In the illustrated embodiment, the individual numbers 1 to 33 are selected as symbols and thus

correspond with thirty-three possible operational positions of the motor drive and thereby of the tap selector switch.
Other symbols are, of course, possible. In the illustrated example with thirty-three possible operational positions, the symbols -16, -15 to -1,0, +1 to +15 and +16 could be used.
The individual symbols can be arranged either over the entire scale circle or, as shown in the embodiment, over only a part thereof.
A second pointer 5, the position pointer, is arranged to be rotatable centrally within the second scale 4 on a second shaft 97 guided through the plate 1. The pointer 5 is rotated through an angle, which corresponds with the spacing between two adjacent symbols of the second scale 4, by the transmission 9 during each switching-over process. The direction of rotation of the second pointer 5 is dependent on the direction of rotation of the motor drive in the sense of "higher" or "lower". The end setting symbols "1" and "33", which are shown in Fig. 1, cannot be travelled past by the motor drive and rotation of the second pointer 5 beyond these symbols is therefore not possible. The second pointer 5 e*n thu#, by #emtt«#t to the ftr*t pointer 3 described further above, not circulate around the associated scale 4 several times. Consequently, the second scale 4 does not need to have the symbols around the entire circle.
In addition, two drag pointers 6 and 7 are mounted on the second shaft 97, thus co-axially with the second pointer 5. The drag pointers are rotatable, but are not moved by the second shaft 97 during its rotation. The two drag pointers 6 and 7 are arranged one at each side of the second pointer 5 and comprise respective entraining tongues 61 and 71, which reach into the path of the second pointer 5. The first drag pointer 6 is entrained on movement of the second pointer 5 in a clockwise sense and the second drag pointer 7 is entrained on movement of the second pointer 5 in an anticlockwise sense. The drag pointers are mounted to be self-locking, so that they remain in the position to which The first drag pointer 6 thus marks the highest operational position ever reached and the second drag pointer 7 marks the lowest operational position ever reached. The two drag pointers 6 and 7 thus delimit the utilised regulating range, i.e. the range across which switching takes place, and in simple manner provide a good visualised statement about

the width of the utilised regulating range and its relative position within the available overall range.
The drag pointers 6 and 7 are resettable manually so that an initial state can be reproduced, for example after a trial run through all switch settings or after a revision.
In addition, a known counting mechanism 8 for display of the total switching number can be arranged on the mounting plate 1.
The gear transmission 9, which is spatially separate from the control gear, is arranged on the underside of the plate 1.
A drive shaft 91 leads from the control gear into the transmission 9 and executes a rotation of 360° during each switching-over of the motor drive. The shaft 91 is directly connected with the first shaft 92, which carries the first pointer 3, and is connected with the second shaft 97, which carries the second pointer 5, by way of, in this embodiment, four gearwheels 93, 94, 95 and 96. The gearwheels 93 to 96 are dimensioned in such a manner that the eeeond §h*ft 97 end thereby the second pointer 5 are, for each complete revolution of the drive shaft 91, which corresponds with a complete switching-over of the motor drive, rotated through an angle corresponding with the spacing between two adjacent symbols on the second scale 4.
It is possible, by an appropriate design of the transmission 9, to associate the switching direction "higher" or "lower" of the motor drive with the directions of rotation of the pointers 3 and 5.



WE CLAIM:-
1. A display device for indicating movement and position of a rotary component drivable to rotate in either one of two opposite directions for movement in a series of switching steps between each two adjacent ones of a plurality of rotational positions, the drive comprising a support member provided with a first circular scale having a plurality of symbols respectively denoting the switching steps between said rotational positions and a second circular scale having a plurality of uniformly spaced symbols respectively denoting said rotational positions, a first pointer rotatable within the first scale to indicate the symbols thereof, a second pointer rotatable within the second scale to indicate the symbols thereof, transmission means to so drivingly couple the first and second pointers to the component that on each movement of the component between adjacent rotational positions the first pointer is rotated through a complete revolution and the second pointer through an angle equal to the spacing of the symbols of the second scale each in a direction of rotation dependent on the direction of rotation of the component, and two drag pointers rotatable within the second scale to indicate the symbols thereof and each movable by the second pointer on rotation thereof in a respective direction, the drag polnturt b#tng MlMoektna in each attained position thereof.
2. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first pointer is mounted on a
first shaft extending through the support member and the second pointer and drag pointers
are mounted on a second shaft extending through the member.
3. A display device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the transmission means
comprises a self-contained assembly separate from control transmission means of the
component.
4. A display device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the
accompanying drawings.


Documents:

383-mas-1998-abstract.pdf

383-mas-1998-claims duplicate.pdf

383-mas-1998-claims original.pdf

383-mas-1998-correspondence others.pdf

383-mas-1998-correspondence po.pdf

383-mas-1998-description complete duplicate.pdf

383-mas-1998-description complete original.pdf

383-mas-1998-drawings.pdf

383-mas-1998-form 1.pdf

383-mas-1998-form 26.pdf

383-mas-1998-form 3.pdf

383-mas-1998-form 4.pdf


Patent Number 208533
Indian Patent Application Number 383/MAS/1998
PG Journal Number 35/2007
Publication Date 31-Aug-2007
Grant Date 02-Aug-2007
Date of Filing 25-Feb-1998
Name of Patentee MASCHINENFABRIK REINHAUSEN GMBH
Applicant Address FALKENSTEINSTRASSE 8,93059 REGENSBURG .
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 MASCHINENFABRIK REINHAUSEN FALKENSTEINSTRASSE 8,93059 REGENSBURG
PCT International Classification Number H01H9/00
PCT International Application Number N/A
PCT International Filing date
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 197 07 528.2 1997-02-25 Germany