For doors and windows switches are provided which are open as long as
the door or window is closed, but which, on being released by opening
the door or windows, automatically close the circuit. The circuit
includes an alarm bell and battery, and the latter begins to ring and
continues until stopped, either by the closing of the door or by a
switch being turned. The connections are sometimes so contrived that the
reclosing of the door or window will not stop the bell from ringing.
The cuts show various switches for attachment to doors and windows. It
will be seen that they normally keep the circuit closed, and that it is
only open when pressure, as from a closed door, is brought upon them. In
the case of a door a usual place for them is upon the jamb on the hinge
side, where they are set into the wood, with the striking pin
projecting, so that as the door is closed the pin is pressed in, thus
breaking the circuit.
Sometimes the connections are arranged so as to switch on the electric
lights if the house is entered. Special annunciators showing where the
house has been entered are a part of the system. A clock which turns the
alarm on and off at predetermined hours is also sometimes used.
The circuits may be carried to a central station or police station. One
form of burglar alarm device is the Yale lock switch. This is a contact
attached to a Yale lock which will be closed if the wrong key is used,
completing a circuit and ringing a bell.
Fig. 9. BURGLAR ALARM SWITCH OR CIRCUIT BREAKER.
Alarm, Electric.
An appliance for calling attention, generally by
ringing a bell. It is used to notify of water-level in boilers or tanks,
of entrance of a house, or of other things as desired. It is evident
that any number of alarms could be contrived.