| 摘要 |
1,144,543. Capillary electro-meters. CENTRE ELECTRONIQUE HORLOGER S.A. July 7, 1967 [Aug.4, 1966; March 29, 1967], No.31341/67. Heading G1Q. [Also in Division G3] An indicating device operating on the principle of the capillary electro-meter employs three liquid phases (the first and third of which may be of the same liquid substance) arranged in succession in a tube at least part of which is not wettable. In Fig. 1 liquids 4 and 6 are the same or different aqueous electrolytes, liquid 5 is mercury and the tube 1 in which they are contained has a non-wettable section 7. A voltage of the polarity shown causes meniscus 9 to bulge and meniscus 8 to flatten to an extent dependent on the applied voltage, and since the electrolyte can wet the tube walls beyond the portion 7 the position of the mercury for any sufficiently high voltage is such that the mercury extends in a slug of which one end is at the left hand end of the non-wettable section 7 and the other projects into the electrolyte 4. Reversal of the polarity of the input would move the slug in the opposite direction. In Fig. 3, the tube 15 is endless and is everywhere non-wettable, and an insulating region (empty space or insulating liquid) separates the two electrolyte liquids 12, 13. The region 19 occupied by the mercury 11 is divergent-convergent as shown, so that the limiting position for any sufficiently high input voltage is as shown, with one edge of the mercury slug in line with the portion of maximum cross-section. The fact that a sufficiently high input voltage can effectively switch the apparatus from one state to another is the basis for its use as an indicator for a device such as an electric watch (see also Division G3). Figs. 10 and 12 (not shown) depict arrangements for this purpose, which are on the general principle of Fig. 2 but with an annular vessel around which the electrolyte is propelled in stages by successive pulses. Figs. 8, 9 and 18 to 20 (not shown) depict a cruciform arrangement of linked tubes connected to one or more annular tubes in a closed system. Appropriate potentials applied between selected terminals in this latter arrangement cause mercury to flow preferentially along one of the tubes forming the cross. An extension of this principle, in which the cross is replaced by a twelve-limbed star, provides a clock-type indicator.
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