IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Edward Newton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd July 1878. A communication
from abroad by Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, of Rome, in the Kingdom of Italy.
HENRY EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING
MOTIVE POWER." [A communication from abroad by Harriet Goodhue Hosmer,
of Rome, in the Kingdon of Italy.]
The object of this Invention is to obtain a motive power suitable for driving
various kinds of machinery by means of a novel arrangement of permanent
magnets and armatures.
The improved apparatus consists of a large heavy highly polished and perfectly
balanced wheel made of steel or other metal, the outer rim of which is made hollow
and is filled with lead in order to obtain weight and centrifugal power, or the
wheel may be made of solid metal. This wheel is placed horizontally or vertically,
and is balanced on a jewelled or hard metal centre or bearing. The boss of this
wheel is made hollow, and inside are arranged a number of permanent horse-shoe
magnets which are secured to the fixed framing, and are therefore stationary, but
attached to the inside of the boss are a number of armatures which are carried
round in front of the magnets as the wheel rotates on its centre. To the other
side of each of the magnets is secured by a spring lever or a hinged lever another
and heavier armature than those on the outside. These heavy armatures are
kept in contact with the magnets by means of springs, or in any other suitable
manner, but they are capable of being withdrawn when required. For this
purpose the hub or boss of the wheel is provided internally with tappet or
antifriction rollers, which as the wheel rotates act on the tails of the inner
armatures, and by depressing them force them back from contact with the magnets
but immediately the armatures are freed from this pressure their springs force them
back into contact with the magnets.
It will now be understood that the stationary magnets by exerting an attractive
force on the armatures attached to the hub or boss of the wheel, draw the latter
round on its centre of motion, so long as there is no counteracting force, but that in

page_text: order that the apparatus should act properly, the armatures attached to the magnets
must be drawn back, so that the latter shall exert all their power on the rotating
armatures. When these latter have arrived at a certain point they require to be
relieved from the attraction of the magnets, otherwise they would be held in
contact therewith. This release of the rotating armatures is done by counteracting
or destroying their attractive force, by allowing the other armatures to come into
contact with the opposite sides of the magnets. On so doing the magnetic current
or the greater portion thereof will be diverted from the movable armatures, which
may then be carried forward by the wheel to the next magnet, and so on in
succession.
The rotation of the wheel may be imparted by gearing to any shaft or machine
to be driven, and if desired, two, three, or more series of permanent magnets may
be arranged to act on and operate the same driving shaft.
As a modification of the above, the movable armatures may be in the form of
rollers, and the magnets may be detached one from the other by presenting the
same poles (of the magnets), instead of the arrangement of the secondary
armature.