IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GENERATING DISTRIBUTING, REGULATING AND MEASURING ELECTRICITY APPLICABLE FOR THE PURPOSES OF ILLUMINATION AND FOR THE CONVERSION OF ELECTRICITY INTO MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Harding Scott at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th June 1883.
WILLIAM HARDING SCOTT, of Wimbledon in the County of Surrey, Electrician,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GENERATING DISTRIBUTING, REGULATING AND
MEASURING ELECTRICITY APPLICABLE FOR THE PURPOSES OF ILLUMINATION AND
FOR THE CONVERSION OF ELECTRICITY INTO MOTIVE POWER
"
This Invention has for its object the construction of apparatus for generating
distributing, regulating and measuring electricity applicable for the purposes of
illumination in a novel and improved manner and it also refers to the conversion
of electricity into motive power.
The principle of the construction of the generating apparatus hereinafter
described is based on the fact that if a conductor be made to rotate in an inter-
rupted field, that is one in which the lines of force are concentrated in certain parts,
so that the conductor is continually moving in and out of fields of different
intensities, all the lines of force being in the same direction a current will be
induced in a constant direction.
The practical application of this fact to the construction of generating apparatus
is as follows. A cylindrical drum is overlaid longitudinally with insulated strips
or wires of copper or other non-magnetic metal. The drum envelopes a fixed
iron core which has a number of longitudinal slots which make the core to some-
what resemble a pinion, and it may be wound with wire in the same manner as
the external field magnet to be hereinafter described. This field magnet before
being wound has something of the appearance of a disc pulley the hole in the
centre of which is slotted like an internal toothed wheel, the wire being wound in
the space between what may be termed the boss and the broad flange on the outer
edge, and it is so joined up that the boss or central part is of opposite polarity to
the outside diameter. Plates may extend from the outside diameter to within a
certain distance of the boss, and to extensions on these plates the fixed spindle
which carries the inner core or magnet is attached The teeth on the inside of the
central hole of the external magnet are placed each
exactly opposite those on the

page_text: internal core, and the armature revolves in the space between them. The current
being conveyed to an arrangement of rings and collectors.
In a modification of this apparatus the magnets are made bipolar as in the
ordinary Siemens' and Gramme machines. The internal core may be wound like
a Siemens Harmature and the polar surfaces of all the magnets are slotted leaving
teeth so arranged that those on the external magnet are exactly opposite those on
the internal magnet as in the former apparatus. The commutator is of the Siemens'
type and the field magnets are so constructed that there is iron on both sides of
the inducing coil.
In the distribution of electricity for the purposes of illumination and the
conversion of electricity into motive power, it will be advantageous to convert high
tension electricity into low tension electricity and for this purpose either of the
above machines may be adapted by winding its armature with two sets of
conductors.
In the regulating apparatus the heelpiece of a solenoid is connected to two
revolving bevil wheels which can slide on their spindle. A stationary bevil wheel
at right angles to the sliding bevil wheels is engaged and made to rotate in either
one or the opposite direction by either the one or the other of the two bevil
wheels, whenever they are out of their normal position, and the rotation of the
stationary bevil wheel is made to alter the level of mercury in a hole down the
centre of a pile composed of alternate discs of copper and insulating material, the
discs of copper being connected to resistances which are short circuited when the
mercury rises and are put in circuit when it falls.
The apparatus for measuring the current consists of a solenoid wound with wire
for the service current, the current in the solenoid actuating a heelpiece which is
connected to an arrangement for altering the level of a liquid in a closed chamber
which contains a paddle wheel connected to a train of wheels moved by a weight
or sj ring and also connected to ordinary indicator dials. The vanes of the paddle
wheel are so shaped that the alteration of the level of the liquid by the action of
the solenoid causes the wheel to revolve with a speed proportional to the current
sent through the solenoid.
A similar arrangement to the aforementioned is employed for regulating the fall
of a carbon point in an arc lamp. The rate of feed of the carbon points is con-
trolled by the speed at which a paddle wheel revolves in a closed chamber and this
is regulated by a differential, shunt or main circuit, solenoid acting so as to alter
the level of a liquid in a closed chamber.