IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGINES AND GALVANIC BATTERY TO BE USED THERE WITH, THE SAID BATTERY BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Year: 1875

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Alexander Browne, of the Firm of Browne and
Company, Patent Agents, of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGINES AND GALVANIC BATTERY TO BE USED THERE WITH,
THE SAID BATTERY BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
"A com-
munication from abroad by Daniel F. Kimball, of the City and
State of New York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Browne
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th November 1875.
I, ALEXANDER BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent
Agents, of 5, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGINES AND GALVANIC BATTERY TO BE USED
THEREWITH, THE SAID BATTERY BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES," a

page_text: "
It will be observed that these several armatures are entirely isolated
from each other, having no connection of any kind with each other,
except the common "hub or shaft. This absolute magnetic isolation
of the armatures one from the other is a most important feature in an
electro-magnetic engine, because in such cases the magnetism which in
greater or less quantity always remains in the magnets during the
intermissions in the electric current is deprived of any body or substance
on which to exercise its attractive force, and thus the so-called back pull
or retardation which so impairs the effectiveness of other electro-magnetic
motors is obviated.
It is preferred to make the cross heads deep and narrow, so that they
will present a sufficient surface to the magnets without offering any
unnecessary width of surface, and hence no retardation of the armatures.
themselves by reason of their construction can take place, and it is pre-
ferable also to cast the armatures in one piece with the "hub," in which
case the construction of the motor is much simplified.
The following is a description of the improved galvanic battery which
it is proposed to employ in conjunction with the arrangement above
described:-The battery is composed of a carbon cylinder, porous cup,
zinc cylinder, and outer vessel or casing. The carbon cylinder is pro-
vided with a sieve which supports the salts of copper and soda or potash,
and with a stud screwed vertically into the edge of the rim. In this
carbon cylinder is placed some cupric salt, preferably the sulphate and
nitrate of soda. The porous cup is then filled with diluted sulphuric
acid, having a strength of about 40° Baumé. If nitrate of potash is
employed, then use copper, salt, and potash in the proportions of four
ounces of copper salt to two ounces of potash.
Instead of dipping the ordinary zine cylinder in mercury as commonly
practised the zinc is used in its natural state, and the objection thereto
remedied by applying two ounces of nitro-hyposulphate of sodium or
potassium. This is placed in the aforesaid outer vessel, which is then
filled up with water and forms a neutralizer for the carbonic acid gas
generated by the oxidation of the zinc. It will also answer for an
indefinite number of succeeding charges by simply taking about eight
ounces of the solution of the preceding charge and applying it in the
outer vessel for the next charge. Of course the battery may vary in
size and the ingredients of the compound slightly vary in proportions
without departing from the principle of this Invention.

page_text: By repeated practical experiments it has been found that the cupric
sodium and sulphuric acid compound before referred to may be used
with or without a porous cell or in any battery. Persons who use
batteries are constantly finding their zinc cups or cylinders impracticable
and are compelled to have them often dipped in quicksilver; this is
entirely prevented and the quicksilver application rendered entirely
unnecessary by the use of nitro-hyposulphate of sodium or potassium.
The advantages of the cupric and soda or potash compound are its
cheapness, constancy of current, durability, and the entire freedom of
the carbon from crystals of alum and polarization.
The galvanic battery above described is applicable to a variety of
purposes for which galvanic batteries are now used, for example, for
passing a galvanic current through the human system, and such-like
use, as well as being applied to electro-magnetic engines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Browne in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
BROWNE, of the Firm of Browne and Company, Patent Agents, of 5,
Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Browne,
Her special licence, that I, the said Alexander Browne, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Browne, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGINES AND GALVANIC

page_text: BATTERY TO BE USED THEREWITH, THE SAID BATTERY BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR
OTHER PURPOSES," a communication from abroad by Daniel F. Kimball,
of the City and State of New York, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Browne,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
Odiately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Browne, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in combining with the magnets of an electro-
motor a rotary shaft or hub" provided with a suitable number of
T shaped armatures, consisting of radial spokes or arms terminating in
rectangular ends or cross heads, each of said armatures being separate
and distinct in itself, and having no metallic connection with any other
armature, except what may exist through a common hub, whereby
an electro-magnetic motor can be produced, which is free from any
"back pull," and consequently one which is very powerful and efficient
in all respects.
The electro-magnets are arranged at opposite ends of the base of a
3 frame, and which preferably have T shaped cores, thereby presenting
extended surfaces to the armatures. The bodies or legs of the said
cores are wound with insulated wire in the usual way, forming a north
pole and a south pole for each magnet. The two wires from the north
poles of the magnets are respectively fastened in binding screws, which
by means of two contact springs communicate with the keys of a
distributing wheel, having its periphery made up of a series of metallic
keys and intervening breaking surfaces, and also having a "hub"?
provided with a metal facing, which connects with the aforesaid keys
and communicates through a contact spring with a binding screw, 'in
which the wire from the positive pole of the battery is fastened. The
wires from the south poles of the magnets are both secured in a
.common binding screw, in which the wire from the negative pole of

page_text: the battery is also fastened; thus the electric circuit through the
magnets is intermittently completed by the keys of the distributing
wheel and the contact springs, and the magnets are magnetized and
demagnetized so as to alternately attract and release the armatures.
The contact springs are respectively arranged, so that when one is in
electrical contact with a key of the distributing wheel the other rests
on one of the non-conducting surfaces, and therefore the magnets will
attract the said armatures alternately, and will impart a more uniform
motion to the rotary shaft on which such armatures are arranged. Each
armature consists of a radial arm, which extends from a common hub
mounted upon the rotary shaft, and is provided at its outer end with a
cross head.
"
It will be observed that these several armatures are entirely isolated
from each other, having no connection of any kind with each other
except the common "hub
or shaft. This absolute magnetic isolation
of the armatures one from the other is a most important feature in an
electro-magnetic engine, because in such cases the magnetism which in
greater or less quantity always remains in the magnets during the
intermissions in the electric current is deprived of any body or substance
on which to exercise its attractive force, and thus the so-called back
pull or retardation which so impairs the effectiveness of other electro-
magnetic motors is obviated.
It is preferred to make the cross heads deep and narrow, so that they
will present a sufficient surface to the magnets without offering any
unnecessary width of surface, and hence no retardation of the armatures
themselves by reason of their construction can take place, and it is
preferable also to cast the armatures in one piece with the "hub," in
which case the construction of the motor is much simplified.
The following is a description of the improved galvanic battery which
it is proposed to employ in conjunction with the arrangement above
described: The battery is composed of a carbon cylinder, porous cup,
zinc cylinder, and outer vessel or casing; the carbon cylinder is provided
with a sieve, which supports the salts of copper and soda or potash, and
with a stud screwed vertically into the edge of the rim. In this carbon
cylinder is placed some cupric salt, preferably the sulphate and nitrate
of soda; the porous cup is then filled with diluted sulphuric acid having
a strength of about 40° Baumé. If nitrate of potash is employed then

page_text: use copper salt and potash in the proportion of four ounces of copper
salt to two ounces of potash.
Instead of dipping the ordinary zinc cylinder in mercury as commonly
practised the zinc is used in its natural state, and the objection thereto
remedied by applying two ounces of nitro-hyposulphate of sodium or
potassium; this is placed in the aforesaid outer vessel, which is then
filled up with water, and forms a neutralizer for the carbonic acid gas
generated by the oxidation of the zinc. It will also answer for an
indefinite number of succeeding charges by simply taking about eight
ounces of the solution of the preceding charge and applying it in the
outer vessel for the next charge. Of course the battery may vary in
size, and the ingredients of the compound slightly vary in proportions
without departing from the principle of this Invention.
By repeated practical experiments it has been found that the cupric
sodium and sulphuric acid compound before referred to may be used
with or without a porous cell or in any battery. Persons who use
batterics are constantly finding their zinc cups or cylinders impracticable,
and are compelled to have them often dipped in quicksilver; this is
entirely prevented, and the quicksilver application rendered entirely
unnecessary by the use of nitro-hyposulphate of sodium or potassium.
The advantages of the cupric and soda or potash compound are its
cheapness, constancy of current, durability, and the entire freedom of the
carbon from crystals of alum and polarization.
And in order to explain this Invention more fully I will now proceed
6 to describe the means by which it may be carried into practical effect,
reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings accompanying
these presents, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference
marked thereon respectively as follows:-

page_text: Figure 4 is a transverse section of the hub of the distributing wheel
taken on the plane of the line 2, 2, Figure 2; and Figure 5 is a
transverse section of the said distributing wheel taken on the plane of
the line w, w, of Figure 2.
A, A, designate the electro-magnets which are arranged at opposite
ends of the base D of the frame, and which preferably have T shaped
cores p, p, (see Figure 2), thereby presenting extended surfaces to the
armatures. The bodies or legs of the said cores are wound with
insulated wire in the usual way, forming a north pole a, and a south
pole b, for each magnet. The two wires from the north poles a of the
magnets are respectively fastened in the binding screws M, M, which by
means of two contact springs K, K, communicate with the keys of a
distributing wheel F, having its periphery made up of a series of
metallic keys g, g, and intervening circuit breaking surfaces h, h,
(see Figure 5), and also having a hub e provided with a metal facing f
which connects with the keys g, g, and communicates through a contact
spring H with the binding screw I, in which the wire from the positive
pole of the battery is fastened. The wires from the south poles b, b, of
the magnets are both secured in the common binding screw P, in which
the wire from the negative pole of the battery is also fastened. Thus the
electric circuit through the magnets is intermittently completed by
the keys of the distributing wheel, and the contact springs K, K, and
the magnets are magnetized and demagnetized so as to alternately
attract and release the armatures B, C, B, C. The contact springs K, K,
are respectively arranged so that when one is in electrical contact with a
key g of the distributing wheel, the other rests on one of the non-
conducting surfaces h, h, (see Figure 5),and therefore the magnets A. will
attract the said armatures B, C, alternately, and will impart a more
uniform motion to the rotary shaft G, on which such armatures are
arranged. The rotary shaft G in this instance is journaled in the side
frames or standards O, O, of the machine, but it is obvious that in many
cases such shaft may constitute the driving shaft of the machine to be
driven, of a sewing machine for instance, and in such case the magnets
A, A, will be arranged on some convenient part of such machine, the
standards O, O, not being required; such arrangement of the magnets is
illustrated by the dotted out lines in Figures 1 and 2. Each armature B,
C, consists of a radial arm B, which extends from a common hub S
mounted upon the rotary shaft G, and is provided at its outer end with
a cross head C.

page_text: It will be observed that these several armatures B, C, are entirely
isolated from each other, having no connection of any kind with each
other, except the common hub S, or shaft G. This absolute magnetic.
isolation of the armatures one from the other is a most important
feature in an electro-magnetic engine, because in such cases the
magnetism which in greater or less quantity alway remains in the
magnets during the intermissions in the electric current is deprived.
of any body or substance on which to exercise its attractive force; and
thus the so called back pull or retardation which so impairs the
effectiveness of other electro-magnetic motors is obviated.
It is preferred to make the cross heads C deep and narrow, so that
they will present a sufficient surface to the magnets without offering any
unnecessary width of surface, and hence no retardation of the armatures.
themselves by reason of their construction can take place, and it is
preferable also to cast the armatures B, C, in one piece with the
hub S, in which case the construction of the motor is much simplified.
I now proceed to describe the galvanic battery represented at Figures
1* and 2* of the accompanying Drawing, as follows:-
Figure 1 is a vertical section; Figure 2 is a plan view of the improved
galvanic battery. A in the Drawing represents the carbon cylinder;
B, the porous cup; C, the zinc cylinder; and D, the outer vessel or
casing. The carbon cylinder A shown in Drawing is provided with a
sieve a, which supports the salts of copper and soda or potash, and with
a stud a¹ screwed vertically into the edge of rim. In this carbon
cylinder is placed three ounces of some cupric salt, preferably the
sulphate, and three ounces of nitrate of soda. The porous cup is then
filled with diluted sulphuric acid having a strength of about 40°
Baumé.
If nitrate of potash is employed then use copper salt and potash in
the proportion of four ounces of copper salt to two ounces of potash.
Instead of dipping the ordinary zinc cylinder in mercury as commonly
practised, the zinc is used in its natural state, and the objection thereto
remedied by applying two ounces of nitro-hyposulphate of sodium or
potassium. This is placed in the aforesaid outer vessel D which is then
filled up with water, and forms a neutralizer for the carbonic acid gas
generated by the oxidation of the zinc.

page_text: It will also answer for an indefinite number of succeeding charges by
simply taking about eight ounces of the solution of the preceding charge,
and applying it in the outer vessel for the next charge.
The galvanic battery above described is applicable to a variety of
purposes, for which galvanic batteries are now used, for example, for
passing a galvanic current through the human system and such like use,
as well as being applied to electro-magnetic engines.
Having now described the nature of this Invention for "Improve-
ments in Electro-magnetic Engines and Galvanic Battery to be used
therewith, the said Battery being also Applicable for other Purposes,"
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and the means by
which it may be effected, I hereby declare this Invention to consist in,
and I claim as follows:-
Firstly. In an electro-magnetic motor, the combination with the
rotary shaft G or hub S of the series of T shaped armatures B, C,
consisting of radial arms B, and axially or laterally extending cross
heads C, the said T shaped armatures being magnetically isolated from
each other, and having no connection of any kind one with another,
except through their common hub S on the shaft G, substantially as
herein specified.
Secondly. In galvanic batteries an alkaline nitrate, a copper, sulphate,
and sulphuric acid united to form the negative, combined in a porous
cell carbon battery with the nitro-hyposulphate of sodium for a positive,
as described, to enable the zinc to be used without amalgamation, also
the application of a nitro-hyposulphate of sodium or potassium to electric
batteries, as and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Browne, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.