AN IMPROVED ELECTRO MAGNETIC APPARATUS FOR TABLE SERVICES, OFFICES, AND WAREHOUSES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Florentin Harmant, of No. 154, Rue du Faubourg Saint
Antoine, in the City of Paris, in the Republic of France, for an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED ELECTRO MAGNETIC APPARATUS FOR TABLE SERVICES,
OFFICES, AND WAREHOUSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Florentin Harmant at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th November 1880.
FLORENTIN HARMANT, of No. 154, Rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine, in the City
of Paris, in the Republic of France. "AN IMPROVED ELECTRO MAGNETIC
APPARATUS FOR TABLE SERVICES, OFFICES, AND WAREHOUSES."
This Invention refers to a line of rails and carriages actuated solely by electricity
or in conjunction with mechanical aid, such, for example, as a chain, metal rope,
rack, or screw, but where electricity plays the principal part.
The rails, which are placed either vertically or horizontally, may be either fixed
or movable.
The uses to which the Invention is or may be applied are varied; for instance, it
may be employed in brewerys, warehouses, banks, workshops, printing establish-
ments, and so forth, and indeed wherever deemed useful or expedient.
It also comprises mixed carriages drawn by a chain or otherwise, which may be
visible or invisible in the rail or in the track, starting forward, or backing, and
stopping the train being effected by combined electric and mechanical means from
the extreme end of the line, or at chosen points along the course, by aid of a
commutator.
The windlass for drawing the train being placed at some convenient part of the
establishment where the train is to be used.
Automata and other objects may, if required, be made to move on the carriages
by electricity, and carriages may be made to simulate locomotives for the
conveyance of hot or cold liquids.
The rails may be of iron, brass, or wood, and ornamented more or less, and they
are furnished with carriages of different forms, and the rails may be superposed to
follow a wall or partition.
The advantages of the system are that long empty spaces can be utilized and
traversed without inconvenience, and the carriages can be stopped at any point in
the course.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Florentin Harmant in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
May 1881.
FLORENTIN HARMANT, of No. 154, Rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine, in the City
"AN IMPROVED ELECTRO MAGNETIC
of Paris, in the Republic of France.
APPARATUS FOR TABLE SERVICES, OFFICES, AND WAREHOUSES."
This Invention refers to a line of rails and carriages actuated solely by electricity
or in conjunction with mechanical aid, such, for example, as a chain, metal rope,
rack, or screw,
but where electricity plays the principal part.
The rails, which are placed either vertically or horizontally, may be either fixed
or movable.
The uses to which the Invention is or may be applied are varied; for instance, it
may be employed in brewerys, warehouses, banks, workshops, printing establish-
ments, and so forth, and indeed wherever deemed useful or expedient.
It also comprises mixed carriages drawn by a chain or otherwise, which may be
visible or invisible in the rail or in the track, starting forward, or backing, and
stopping the train being effected by combined electric and mechanical means from
the extreme end of the line, or at chosen points of the course, by aid of a
commutator.
The windlass for drawing the trains being placed at some convenient part of the
establishment where the train is to be used.
Automata and other objects may, if required, be made to move on the carriages
by electricity, and carriages may be made to simulate locomotives for the
conveyance of hot or cold liquids.
The rails may be of iron, brass, or wood, and ornamented more or less, and they
are furnished with carriages of different forms, and the rails may be superposed to
follow a wall or a partition.
The advantages of the system are that long empty spaces can be utilized and
traversed without inconvenience, and the carriages can be stopped at any point in
the course.
The Drawings represent an apparatus with a single carriage, the number being
optional, but each one requires a conductor and a commutator; the conductors are
placed side by side, as shown in the Drawings. Fig. 1 is a side view, Fig. 2 a
section, and Fig. 3 a plan of the whole apparatus.
By intercepting the current 1 by means of the commutator magnetism is
arrested and the carriage becomes stationary.
A represents the frame and road with brass rails; B represents a motor for
setting the metal chain in motion, which is an endless one, by aid of a wheel; C is
the endless metal chain; D is the wheel which actuates the chain; d is a bearing.
E is the channel of the chain; F is a galvanic battery; G is the commutator
for stopping the wagons and intercepting the galvanic current.
h, h1, h2, h3, h4, are the wire conductors; h, supports; L is a neutral rail; L', a
rail with current; l, a current conductor; M is a carriage; N, N', electric brushes;
P, valve for magnetizing the iron R; R, magnetic iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said Florentin Harmant, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.