IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION AND EMPLOYMENT OF CONTINUOUS ELECTRIC CURRENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES, STEAMBOATS, AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREFOR.
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION AND EMPLOYMENT OF
CONTINUOUS ELECTRIC CURRENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES, STEAMBOATS,
AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREFOR.
A communication from abroad by the Société Universelle d'Electricité
Tommasi, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Edward Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th September 1881.
HENRY EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION AND
EMPLOYMENT OF CONTINUOUS ELECTRIC CURRENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES,
STEAM-BOATS, AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREFOR."
[A communication from abroad by the Société Universelle d'Electricité Tommasi,
of Paris, in the Republic of France.]
"
The object of this Invention is to provide by means of a dynamo-electric machine
a supply of electricity which will be available for the maintainance of any required
number of electric lights, or for other uses, although that machine may be only
intermittently in action.
In adapting the Invention to the lighting of a train of railway carriages the
motive power employed in giving motion to the train is also used for driving the
dynamo electric machine.
An insulated wire from this machine connects with an accumulator or secondary
battery (that of Planté being preferred), and also with all the electric lamps in the
train. The return wire from these lamps connects with the accumulator, and
terminates at an interrupter, which instrument is in electrical connection with the
dynamo electric machine.

page_text: The interrupter may conveniently be made on the pattern of the centrifugal
governor of a steam engine, one arm thereof being insulated but connected by
means of a wire with the dynamo electric machine.
The arms of the interrupter are extended upwards beyond their points of
suspension, for the purpose of meeting and making and maintaining electric contact
when the train is running at its wonted speed.
The dynamo-electric machine is driven by a belt from a pulley on the axle of
the carriage in which it is mounted; or it may receive rotary motion direct from
the propelling motor, and the centrifugal interrupter is driven by gearing from the
shaft of the dynamo electric machine.
Means should be provided for preventing this machine being driven backwards
on the backing of a train. This may be effected by fitting the band pulley of the
dynamo electric machine with a loose periphery or sleeve which carries a spring
pawl that enters a notch in the fixed portion of the pulley. This loose periphery
over which the band runs will slip when a back motion is given to the train, and
the dynamo machine will consequently remain quiescent. As the train progresses
the excess of electricity generated over that required for the lamps will pass into the
accumulator, and on the stoppage or slackening of the speed of the train the
interrupter will put the dinamo machine out of circuit, leaving the accumulator to
furnish the supply of electricity needed for the maintainance of the lamps in
action.
This arrangement, with modifications, it will be understood applies equally to
steam vessels and to other vehicles in which the propelling force is self-contained,
and the electricity generated and accumulated may be applied not merely for
producing light, but for working both visible and audible signals for the application
of railway brakes and other uses.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Henry Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th March 1882.
HENRY EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION AND
EMPLOYMENT OF CONTINUOUS ELECTRIC CURRENTS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES,
STEAM-BOATS, AND OTHER VEHICLES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREFOR.'
A communication from abroad by the Société Universelle d'Electricité Tommasi, of
Paris, in the Republic of France.
"
The object of this Invention is to provide by means of a dynamo-electric machine
a supply of electricity which will be available for the maintenance of any required
number of electric lights, or for other uses, although that machine may be only
intermittently in action.
In adapting the Invention to the lighting of a train of railway carriages the
motive power employed in giving motion to the train is also used for driving the
dynamo-electric machine.
An insulated wire from this machine connects with an accumulator or secondary
battery of the Planté type, and also with all the electric lamps in the train. The
return wire from these lamps connects with the accumulator, and terminates at an
interrupter, which instrument is in electrical connection with the dynamo electric
machine, and receives rotary motion therefrom.
The interrupter may take various forms, and may conveniently be made on the
pattern of the centrifugal governor of a steam engine, deriving like that instrument
rotary motion from the motive power engine. One arm of this interrupter is
insulated, but connected electrically with the dynamo electric machine.
The arms of the interrupter are extended upwards beyond their points of
suspension, for the purpose of meeting and making and maintaining electric contact
when the train is running at its wonted speed.
The dynamo-electric machine is driven by a belt from a pulley on the axle of
the carriage in which it is mounted; or it may receive rotary motion direct from
the propelling motor.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the Invention as
applied to a railway train. A is the van containing the dynamo electric machine B
and accumulator C; D, D, D, are the passenger carriages provided with lamps
E, E, E. The dotted lines indicate the main insulated wires leading from the
dynamo machine and accumulator throughout the train, with branches to each
lamp.
The lamps, electric generator, and accumulator may be of any suitable or approved
kinds, the Invention consisting essentially in so combining such apparatus that
continuous currents may be supplied to the lamps. The interrupter, which I will
first describe as employed in connection with this combination for cutting out the
dynamo-electric machine from the circuit, is of the centrifugal governor type.
Fig. 2 shews in end elevation a dynamo-electric machine fitted with an automatic
centrifugal interrupter, and Fig. 3 is a side view of the same. F is a vertical
spindle mounted in bearings f. f. To it rotary motion is imparted from the axle of
the dynamo machine by means of the bevil gearing f', f.
G, G, are two pendent arms provided at their lower extremities with ball
weights g, g', and hinged at H, H¹, to pieces I, 1', formned from a longitudinally
divided sleeve, and made fast to the spindle F.
The arms G, G², extend upwards beyond their hinge joints, and are fitted with:
springs g³, g³, and adjusting screws g', g, for making metallic contact between the

page_text: arms. The part I, to which the arm G is jointed, is in metallic connection with
the spindle F, and through it and the framing J with one pole of the dynamo
machine, and the piece I' is insulated from the spindle F by means of some
suitable material, as ivory or vulcanite, and carries at its lower end a grooved
pulley K.
L is a metal block secured to the top of the framing J, but insulated therefrom.
It is provided with a binding screw land a spring, which lies in the groove of
the pulley K; M is a binding screw fixed upon but insulated from the bed plate of
the machine. This binding screw is connected by a wire to one of the terminals
of the dynamo machine, the other terminal being connected with the metal framing
of the machine, and through it to the arm G of the centrifugal interrupter. The
binding screws and M are connected severally to the wires leading to the
accumulator and to the lamps or other apparatus that it is desired to operate.
The operation of the combined apparatus is as follows:-When the train starts
the balls g, g', will be down, and the springs at the ends of the arms G, G¹, will be
separated from each other; the circuit of the dynamo machine being thereby open
no current will be produced, and the machine will offer no resistance to the motive
power of the train, although it will be set in motion by the movement of the train,
but so soon as a certain definite speed has been attained the rise of the balls g, g¹,
will cause the springs at the ends of the arms G, G', to come in contact with each
other, and the circuit being thus closed a current of electricity will be produced,
which will pass into the wires leading to the accumulator and lamps.
Should the circuits in the lamps be open the whole of the current produced
would pass-into the accumulator, but should the circuit of all or any of the lamps
be closed then a portion only of the current generated would go to the accumulator
proportionate to their several resistances. When the train slackens its speed or
stops, the balls g, gl, will drop, and thereby separate the springs and break the
circuit of the dynamo machine.
The accumulator having meanwhile been charged with electricity will now be
free to transmit a current to the lamps, and will maintain them in action until such
time as the train regains its normal speed, the tendency of the accumulator to
discharge itself through the dynamo machine being destroyed by the interrupter
having broken the circuit of the dynamo machine.
In the case of trains which start at night, and require lighting up before starting,
it will be necessary to provide the accumulator with an initial charge by the aid of
an engine and dynaino machine fixed at the point of departure.
In the Drawing the centrifugal interrupter is shewn as fixed to and forming
part of the dynamo machine itself, but it is obvious that it may be fixed as a
separate piece of apparatus at any convenient part of the train, and may receive its
motion from an axle of one of the running wheels instead of from the dynamo-
electric machine.
Fig. 4 shews another arrangement of interrupter which may be employed instead
of the centrifugal interrupter.
In this Figure a is the axle of the dynamo-electric machine, which imparts
rotary motion through a belt and pullies to a small magneto-electric machine A
(such as that of Clarke, for example,) the current of which passes into the bobbin
of an electro-magnet B. The armature 6 of this electro magnet closes the circuit
of the dynamo machine when the train attains a certain desired speed, and the
current from the dynamo electric machine will then pass to the accumulator and
the lamps of the train, the small magneto-electric machine at this time turning
more quickly and sending a stronger current, thus exciting the electro magnet b
more powerfully, which causes it to attract the armature with sufficient force to
overcome the tension of a spring d. The principle of action of this interrupting
apparatus is the same as that described above, but in place of acting mechanically
from its connection with the dynamo machine it acts under the influence of the
augmentation of the energy of the current produced by the small auxiliary machine.
When the train slackens its speed or stops, the current from the small magneto

page_text: machine will cease, or will not have sufficient energy to draw down the armature,
and the circuit of the dynamo machine will be broken, as in the case of the
centrifugal interrupter above described.
In order to prevent the dynamo machine from being driven backwards on the
backing of a train, a slip driving pulley is provided. Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 shew
several views of this pulley detached from the machine, Fig. 5 being a side view,
Fig. 6 a central section in the line of the axis, and Figs. 7 and 8 are transverse
vertical sections.
In these views A is the fixed portion of the pulley keyed fast to the axle of the
machine, and formed with a flange at one end. Fitted loosely on the part A is a
flat hoop B for receiving a driving band, and C is a plate screwed onto the fixed
part A for keeping the hoop B in place.
This hoop is fitted with an internal pawle, which takes into a notch cut in the
periphery of the fixed part of the pulley. It will thus be seen that the hoop over
which the band runs when driven in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 7, will
through the pawle impart rotary motion to the axle of the dynamo-electric machine,
but when the hoop is driven in the opposite direction, which will be the case on
the backing of a train, it will slip and the dynamo machine will consequently
remain quiescent.
The above described arrangement of apparatus for providing a constant supply
of electricity may, it will be understood, be applied equally to steam vessels and to
other vehicles in which the propelling force is self-contained, and the electricity
generated and accumulated may be applied not merely for producing light but for
working both visible and audible signals, for the application of railway brakes, and
for other uses.
Having now described the nature of the Invention of " Improvements in the
Production and Employment of Continuous Electric Currents in Railway Carriages,
Steam-boats, and other Vehicles, and in Apparatus to be Used therefor," as com-
municated to me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim,-
The production of continuous electric currents in railway trains, boats, and other
vehicles, as and for the purpose above set forth, the means employed consisting in
the combination of (1) a dynamo-electric machine driven in one direction only by
the motor of the vehicle for producing electric currents; (2) an electric accumu-
lator for storing the current or any part thereof; and (3) an automatic interrupter
actuated also from the motor of the vehicle itself for cutting out of circuit the
dynamo electric machine on a stoppage or slackening of the speed of the vehicle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Edward Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of March, in the year of Our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.