A NEW SYSTEM FOR THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRICITY AS MOVING POWER
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Emile Testelin, living in the City of Ghent, Kingdom
of Belgium, Plaine St. Pierre, No. 22, for the Invention of "A NEW
SYSTEM FOR THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRICITY AS MOVING POWER."
Sealed the 30th June 1857, and dated the 4th April 1857:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Emile Testelin at the
Office of the Commissioners for Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
April 1857.
I, EMILE TESTELIN, living in the City of Ghent, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Plaine St. Pierre, No. 22, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW SYSTEM FOR THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRICITY AS MOVING POWER," to be
as follows:-
I make use of electro-magnets which are of a mass proportional to the
labour to be obtained, and this labour will be effectuated with so much more
economy, as the weight of the iron of the electro-magnet will surpass the
constant effort that the mover will be called to produce; be it, that both
branches of the electro-magnet are forged of one piece, or joined by a cross
bar, the length of the diameter of the cylindric parts which are to be
surrounded by the helices must in no case be greater than within the limits
of one-twentieth or one-thirtieth of the total length of the bar, the curved part
or the cross bar which comes in its place having always a section of at least th
larger than the branches. Besides, to avoid the inconveniences resulting from
Price dl

page_text: reacting currents which establish themselves in the mass of iron, it is
necessary to produce by one way or another a solution of continuity, as for
example, by merely a deep groove made according to a planepassingthrough
the axis of the bar. When constructing powerful electro-magnets of a
weight of 1,000 or 2,000 pounds and more, the only magnets that can be of
any advantage in industry, I substitute to the long copper wires covered with
silk or cotton, the use of which has been universally adopted, and, in general,
to all wires whatever, long and wide slips of such a thin metal as is a good
conductor of électricity. These slips must form a sufficient number of con-
secutive windings or helices, the total mass of which is to be distributed under
the least possible thickness on the whole length of the parallel branches of the
electro-magnet. The interior extremity of each helix being soldered to the
exterior extremity of the next, there follows that all the helices together form
but one and the same circuit, the winding of which must be effectuated in the
same direction on each of the two branches, and not in a contrary direction,
as was generally practiced. The long slip of metal which forms each helix
is accompanied by a slip of stuff or varnished paper, which is sufficient to
produce complete isolation. The helices are separated by wooden discs, over
which pass the soldered tongues. which establish a communication from one
helix to the other; the exterior helices are equally in communication with
one another by a soldered conductor. I make use of a sufficient number of
similar electro-magnets, which furnish each of them in their turn a portion
of the space necessary to produce the desired effect. The same source of
electricity which suffices to animate a single electro-magnet, being able to be
transmitted by the known means from one electro-magnet to the other
without any loss of time, will likewise be sufficient to carry the force
successively to all the points of the space, which can thus be extended at will.
To this effect, the levers transmitting the motion of the armours are disposed
in such a manner, that by means of articulated escapements the armour can
only work efficaciously in the direction of the motion, without ever possibly
¡uterrupting that of the others, during thestoppage it is inevitably subjected
to at the very moment of its contact with the electro-magnet, because then
the whole system is at full liberty to move independently of the armour, which
only resumes its primitive place when it is to act anew. In proceeding thus
I divide the sum of the labour required to be distributed to several electro-
magnets; I avoid that the greatest action of the armour coincide with the
insensible point of the winch, and I allow thus the armour at every contact to
remain in repose all the time necessary for the complete unmagnetisation of the
electro-magnet. I place the armour of soft iron, having a section at least equal

page_text: to the bar of the electro-magnet, transversally upon both the poles, where it
can oscillate on one of its longitudinal edges, which remains always in contact
with both the polaric surfaces at the same time. The armour transmits its
action by means of a lever perpendicularly fixed between the two branches
of the magnet. There results from this arrangement that the action pro-
duced by the extremity of the lever upon the crank or mechanism is in an
inverted ratio to the square of the amplitude of the oscillations of the armour
divided by the simple length of the lever. This very important relation,
although never observed before, permits to confine the amplitude of the
oscillations of the armour within the limits of the greatest action of the
electro-magnet without diminishing the quantity of the labour produced by
the extremity of the lever. What I claim are,―
1st, a new system of electro-magnets, which are particularly distinguished
by a mode of construction and proportions never tried before, and the power
of which can be indefinitely increased.
2d, the use of a series, more or less numerous, of similar electro-magnets,
disposed in such a manner as to furnish each of them separately a portion
of the space necessary to obtain the required labour.
3d, the position and working of the movable armours, which can operate
without ceasing to be in contact with both the polaric surfaces of the
magnets at the same time.
4th, the escapement made in the jointed levers of the armours in such a
way that during their stoppage they do not hinder the motion of the system.
5th, the peculiar form and disposition of the helices.
6th, the application of these processes to the construction of prime mover
machines of all proportions, and appropriated to the wants of art and
industry.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Emile Testelin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EMILE
TESTELIN, in the City of Ghent, Kingdom of Belguim, (Plaine St. Pierre,
No. 22,) serd greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Emile Testelin, Her special licence that I, the said Emile Testelin, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Emile
Testelin, 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 "A NEW SYSTEM FOR THE APPLI
CATION OF ELECTRICITY AS MOVING POWER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Emile Testelin, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Emile Testelin, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:―
The idea of deriving advantage from electricity so as to produce a moving
power applicable to the wants of manufactures is not new. Numerous
researches have been made of late and have clearly proved that it was
possible to carry out this idea, but that the means of execution hitherto
employed offered obstacles and difficulties, which by a better study of the
matter would no doubt be overcome.
The Inventor, by a thorough appreciation of phenomena, and guided by
new theoretical views, has arrived to applications and processes of execution
that overcome all obstacles which were necessarily met with in following
the principles hitherto admitted.
The following description does not enter either into any particulars
respecting matters generally known by every one who applies himself to
this study, or into any theoretical or hypothetical digression on the cause
of the phenomena, but contains a precise statement of processes, which the
Inventor claims as his own.
Art. I. The Inventor lays down as principles upon which are founded
the processes he reserves to himself, as well as all applications that are to
be made of in manufactures, in science, and in arts.
1st, that the magnetic power which the iron bar of an electro-magnet can
acquire is not only in proportion to the diameter of the iron bar itself, as has

page_text: been hitherto admitted, but, moreover, in proportion to its length, and
consequently to the total mass of the iron employed.
2d, that the quantity of magnetism which an electro-magnet is apt to
develop being proportional to the mass of iron of which it is composed, the
electric power which can put into activity a given quantity of this magnetism
will be so much the greater, as this same quantity of magnetism will be a
greater fraction of the magnetism of the total mass.
3d, that the action of the dynamic current of the iron bar of an electro-
magnet being in an inverse ratio to their respective distances, it is of the
greatest importance that all parts of the current be simultaneously in the
closest proximity to the iron, and that instead of increasing enormously
the diameter of a single helix, placed as it has been usually the case at the
extremity of each branch, it is, on the contrary, necessary to distribute the
action of the current over a sufficient number of helices disposed side by side
on the whole length of the branches or arms of the electro-magnet, which
branches must be sufficiently prolonged to that effect.
4th, that the multiplicity of volutions of the helix conductor is but a
secondary condition, which can only be admitted as a rule inasmuch as the
resistance which the conductor opposes to the current, with regard to its length
and section, must not be under any circumstance superior to the resistance
itself of the pile.
5th, that in every combination of voltaic coupled plates with very energetic
reaction there is always a loss of actual effect becoming so much the greater
as the reaction is more rapid, and that the same quantity of dissolved metal
produces a greater sum of mechanical labour in a large pile with slowreaction
than it does in a small one with an energetic reaction, so that instead of
encreasing the number of the piles, as it has been hitherto practiced, it is, on
the contrary, necessary to develop the surface of the coupled plates, and to
diminish in proportion the degree of the liquid of the pile, in order to obtain
strong galvanic batteries, the constant action of which can be extended to
several mouths, and, in consideration of the work that they perform, with a
greater economy than by any other means.
Art. II. The above stated principles differ essentially from those followed
in the many experiments which have hitherto been made. The Inventor
applies them to the construction of electric movers according to the
following processes, which he reserves to himself:-
1st. Electro-magnets, in order to render real service in manufactures, in
science, or in arts, as agents producing moving power, must be of a mass in

page_text: relation to the work to be performed, and that work will be effected with
so much more economy, as the weight of the iron of the electro-magnet will
surpass the constant effort that the mover will be called upon to produce.
Whether both branches of the electro-magnet be forged of one piece or
joined by a cross bar, the length of the diameter of the cylindric parts which
are to be surrounded by the helices must in no case be greater than within
the limits of one-twentieth or one-thirtieth of the total length of the bar, the
curved part, or the cross bar which comes in its place, having always a section
of at least one-tenth larger than that of the branches. Besides, to avoid the
inconvenience resulting from currents of induction which establish themselves
in the mass of iron, it is necessary to produce by one way or another a solution
of continuity, as for example, by merely a deep groove made according to a
plane passing through the axis of the bar. When constructing powerful
electro-magnets of a weight of 1,000 & 2,000 lb. and more, the only magnets
that can be of any advantage in industry, it is necessary to substitute to the
long copper wires, covered silk or cotton, the use of which has been universally
adopted, and in general to all wires whatever, wide and long slips of such
thin metal as is a good conductor of electricity. Those slips must form a
sufficient number of consecutive windings or helices, the total mass of which is
to be distributed under the least possible thickness on the whole length of the
parallel branches of the electro-magnet. The interior extremity of each helix
being soldered to the exterior extremity of the next, there follows that all the
helices together form but one and the same circuit, the winding of which must
be effected in the same direction upon each of the two branches, and not in
a contrary direction, as has been generally practiced. The long slip of metal
which forms each helix is accompanied by a slip of stuff or varnished paper,
which is sufficient to produce complete isolation. The helices are separated
by wooden disks, over which pass the soldered tongues, which establish a
communication from one helix to the other. The extreme helices are equally
in communication with one another by a soldered conductor.
By these processes, and by the exact observation of the before-mentioned
method, one will always succeed in constructing electro-magnets of the largest
dimensions, and capable of developing a considerable power by the action of
a current even of feeble tension.
2d. The attractive power of an electro-magnet, however considerable it may
be obtained, acts efficaciously, but within a limited space, and the work it can
perform being the result of the intensity of the power multiplied by the space
passed over, it follows that the work obtained in using a power of a given

page_text: intensity will be so much the greater as the action of that power will be dis-
tributed over a greater space, and as soon as it shall be possible to extend at
will the limit of this action the quantityof thework performed will be extended
at the same time.
This result, which always presented the greatest difficultyin electro movers,
will be obtained by employing a sufficient number of similar electro-magnets
which furnish each of them in their turn a portion of the space necessary to
produce the desired effect. The same source of electricity which suffices to
animate a single electro-magnet being able to be transmitted by known means
from one electro-magnet to the other without any loss of time, will likewise be
sufficient to carry the force successively to all the points of the space, which
can thus be extended at will. To this effect, I dispose levers transmitting the
motion of the armours in such a manner, that by means of articulated escape-
ments the armour can only work efficaciously in the direction of the motion
without ever possibly interrupting that of the others during the stoppage it is
inevitably subjected to at the very moment of its contact with the electro-
magnet, because then the whole system is at full liberty to move independently
of the armour, which only resumes its primitive place when it is to act anew.
In proceeding thus it will always be possible to divide the sum of the work
required in parts small enough to be distributed to so many electro-magnets as
may be necessary, and the number of which will evidently be smaller as the
electro-magnets shall be more powerfull. By the same process it will be
avoided that, as it always happened, the greatest action of the armour, which
action is above all to be made use of, coincide with the insensible point of the
winch, which transforms the alternate motion of the armours into a circular one
There results besides, from this combination, that in à consequence of the stop-
page produced on the armour at every contact, the armour may remain in
repose all the time necessary for the complete demagnetisation of the electro-
magnet, from which it is then separated only by a thin disk of gutta percha.
3d. The armour of soft iron, having a section at least equal to that of the
bar of the electro-magnet, is placed transversally on both the poles, where it
can oscillate on one of its longitudinal edges, which remains always in contact
with both the polaric surfaces at the same time. The armour transmits its
action by means of a lever, perpendicularly fixed to it, and extending between
the two branches of the magnet. There results from this arrangement, that
the action produced by the extremity of the lever upon the crank or mecha-
nism is in an inverted ratio to the square of the amplitude of the oscillations
of the armour, divided by the simple length of the lever. This very im-
portant relation,although never observed before, permits to confine the ampli-

page_text: tude of the oscillations of the armour within the limits of the greatest action
of the electro-magnet without diminishing the quantity of the work performed
by the extremity of the lever.
4th. Whatever be the pile made use of, it is indispensable that the
active surface of the coupled plates be in a convenient relation to the
length and section of the circnit formed by the helices, and that the
dynamic current preserve the greatest possible intensity.
Art. III. The preceding description contains everything necessary to the
complete understanding of the new system, which presupposes besides the
knowledge of all facts already acquired by science, and which consequently
can find no place in the present Specification.
9
Fig. 1 of the Drawing hereunto annexed represents a raised plan, without
any proportions whatever, of the relations existing between the different parts
of the new system. A, B, is the crank, which joins the winch to the extremity
of the lever A, D, fixed to the armour E, F, which armour can oscillate on its
inferior longitudinal edge E; G is the articulated escapement, the working of
which is to be regulated by the screw H. The dotted lines D, g, a, shows the
position of the lever, and the working of the articulation in its extreme
limit; P is an element of the voltaic pile, the signs + and - showing the
two poles; X represents a commutator, composed of two recipients containing
mercury, and communicating with one another by means of a curved rod,
which can move upwards and downwards at the proper time by the working
of the eccentric placed on the main axle; R, R¹, is the regulator or conical
pendulum, destined to interrupt the current whenever the velocity of the
system exceeds a certain limit.
Fig. II. represents an electro-magnet constructed according to the above.
described method. A, B, A', B', are the two branches or arms, joined by the
curved part C, C; r., is the groove made in the thickness of the branches;
H, H, H, are three helices, similar to those which must surround the whole
length of both branches The Figure shows the disposition of the helices, and
how the communication is to be established from one to another by the soldered
tongues t, t, t. M, M, is the armour, which must be placed against both the
polaric surfaces of the electro-magnet; L, L, the lever, which transmits the
motion of the armour; G, the articulated escapement, as shown in Fig. 111.
Fig. IV. shows an application of the new system to a vertical electro-
mover with two electro-magnets, the levers of which operate upon two
articulated cranks, which cranks work on a double winch.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner it is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is as follows:-

page_text: 1st, a new system of electro-magnets, remarkable by a mode of construction
and proportions never tried before, and the power of which can be indefinitely
encreased without being submitted to all the inconveniences which have been
met with in all preceding experiments.
2d, the use of a series, more or less numerous, of similar electro-magrets,
disposed in such a manner as to furnish each of them separately a portion of
the space necessary to obtain the required work.
3d, the position and working of the moveable armours, which can operato
without ceasing to be in contact with both the polaric surfaces of the maguets
at the same time.
4th, the escapement made in the jointed levers of the armours in such a
way that during their stoppage they do not hinder the motion of the system.
5th, the peculiar form and disposition of the helices.
6th, the application of these processes to the construction of prime mover
machines of all proportions, and appropriately to the wants of arts, science, and
industry.
The Inventor in putting his Invention under the protection of the law, claims
the application of it not only to produce a moving power in industry, loco-
motion, and navigation, but also all applications whatsoever of which it may be
susceptible, by using either jointly or severally, and under whatever form it
might be, the processes which belong to him, without in any case the annexed
Drawing having any other purpose but that of facilitating the understanding
of the processes above described, and of which they can represent but a few
applications, without excluding all those which the Inventor, on the contrary,
intends to make in an unlimited number.
In witness whereof, I, the said Emile Testelin, have hereunto set my
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