(under the class definition) Subject matter provided with means to complete an electrical in shunt about the discharge device or some part thereof, and/or to open the electric circuit of the discharge device or some part thereof, such means being automatically operated (a) when the electrodes have been consumed, or (b) when the feed regulating mechanism fails to feed the feeding electrode, or (c) when an electrode is broken and/or becomes nonconductive, or (d) when the supply voltage becomes either too high or too low for the proper operation of the discharge device, or (e) after the electrodes have been in operation for a predetermined time.
(1) Note. This subclass includes discharge devices having means on the electrode and/or the electrode holding rod or mechanism for preventing further feeding of the feeding electrode when the feeding electrode has been consumed to a predetermined extent thereby opening the electrical circuit by keeping the electrodes too far apart to maintain an electrical discharge between them.
(2) Note. In many of the devices in this subclass the shunt circuit is placed about only the regulating mechanism, such as the magnet coils, or only the circuit to the regulating mechanism is open circuited, the circuit to the electrodes being maintained, the electrodes being permitted either to come into contact and thereby establish a short circuit, or to maintain the discharge until the electrodes have been consumed to such an extent that the electrodes are spaced too far apart to maintain the discharge between them, thereby opening the circuit through the discharge device.
SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:
1, and indented subclasses, for systems including (1) a consumable electrode discharge device and another electric discharge device or lamp, or (2) a consumable electrode discharge device having a plurality of cathodes and/or anodes, and provided with means for automatically substituting for (a) the consumable electrode discharge device the other discharge device or lamp, or (b) the first operated electrode another electrode, when the first operated device or electrode fails to maintain the discharge or is extinguished.
9, for discharge devices and systems under the class definition provided with signaling means, indicating means and/or alarm means operated by some means responsive to a condition of the discharge device to indicate such condition. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS
315, Electric Lamp and Discharge Devices: Systems,
65, and 119, and its indented subclasses for miscellaneous systems for supplying electric current to electric lamps and/or electric space discharge devices of the gas or vapor ionization type, the system being provided with automatically operated shunt-circuit closing or cut-out means for the lamp or discharge device.
