IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGINES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGINES."
_A. communication from abroad by Henry Monroe Paine, of
Newark, in the State of New Jersey, and Mablon Smith Frost, of
the City and State of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 8th August 1871, and dated the 20th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th May 1871.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
5 Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC
ENGINES," to be as follows:-
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
5 Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC
ENGINES," to be as follows:-

page_text: The Invention consists in the combination of a wheel of magnets or
armatures with a surrounding circular series of armatures or magnets.
The wheel of magnets is arranged eccentrically to and within the
circular series of armatures, and has a rolling motion around the inside
of the circular series of armature. A rotary motion about its own axis
will therefore be communicated to the wheel as it rolls round within
the series of armatures. In combination with such wheel of magnets or
armatures, and surrounding series of armatures or magnets, there is a
crank or crank pin which forms a direct connection between the revolving
wheel or circular series of magnets, and the main shaft of the engine for
the purpose of imparting rotary motion to such shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward Newton,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGINES," being a communication to me from abroad
by Henry Monroe Paine, of Newark, in the State of New Jersey, and
Mablon Smith Frost, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,

page_text: 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say)
The object of this Invention is to fully utilize the direct attraction of
electro-magnets by its conversion into rotary motion without reciprocating
motion of the working parts, and to this end the improvement consists
in the combination of a wheel of magnets or armatures with a sur-
rounding circular series of armatures or magnets. The wheel of magnets
is arranged excentrically to and within the circular series of armatures,
and has a rolling motion and a rotary motion about its own axis.
In combination with the wheel of magnets or armatures and sur-
rounding series of armatures or magnets there is a crank or crank pin
which forms a direct connection between the revolving wheel or circular
series of magnets or armatures and the main shaft of the engine for
the purpose of imparting rotary motion to such shaft.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side view of the principal
parts of an electro-magnetic engine constructed according to the Inven-
tion; Fig. 2 is an axial section of the same.
A, A, A, are a concave circular series of armatures arranged around
and bolted to the interior of a stationary circular backing B in such
manner that their poles a, a, a, form a true circle; C, C, C, are a series
of electro-magnets bolted to a hub D, to form a wheel of which their
poles constitute the periphery, and the diameter of which is less than
that of the circle formed by the poles of the armatures. The difference
of the diameter of the wheel and the circle of the armatures must be
determined by circumstances varying as to their sizes and the duty to
be obtained, but the curvature of the poles b, b, of the magnets must
always be the same as that of the poles of the armatures a, a, a. The
electro-magnets being placed within the circular series of armatures,
as shown in Fig. 1, and an electric current being made to traverse the

page_text: magnet No. 1, that magnet will be drawn towards the nearest armature,
thereby causing the whole wheel of magnets to rotate in the direction of
the arrow f. When the poles of the magnet No. 1 and armature have
come in contact the magnet No. 2 will come into position for action and
the electric current being cut off from No. 1 and applied to No. 2 the
rotary motion of the magnet wheel will be continued, and the current
being cut off from one and applied to the next in succession through
the whole series of magnets the wheel will be caused to make a com-
plete rotation upon its own axis, and as it does so it will roll upon the
poles of the armatures, and will revolve around the centre of the circle
formed by these poles. Although the magnet wheel rotates to the left,
as indicated by the arrow f, its axis (being excentric to the centre of
the circle of armature poles) will revolve to the right as shown by the
dotted arrow h, and through the path indicated by the dotted circle i,
in Fig. 1. L is the main shaft of the engine arranged in suitable
stationary bearings N, N, with its axis coincident with the axis of the
circle of armature poles a, a. To this shaft is firmly secured the
crank M, whose wrist or crank pin H passes through a hole in the
centre of the hub D of the magnet wheel. The diameter of the circle
described by the centre of this wrist is equal to the difference between
the diameters of the armature circle and magnet wheel. The revolution
of the magnet wheel around the interior of the circle of armature poles
produces the rotation of the crank and shaft in the direction of the
arrow h before referred to. The radius of the poles of the magnets C, C, C,
being made to correspond with that of the poles of the armatures A, A, A,
and not generated from the centre of the hub D, the axis of the magnet
wheel while describing its circle around the centre of the circle of the
armature poles will have an undulatory motion, and if the bore of the
hub were a close fit to the crank wrist no rotary motion could be
obtained, and therefore the bore of the hub must exceed in diameter
that of the crank pin sufficient to allow of the undulations of the wheel.
The engine may be modified by clothing the armatures A, A, A, with
the current wire, or, in other words, by arranging the electro-magnets
upon the stationary backing or support B, and attaching the armatures
to the wheel, or both stationary armatures or magnets, and the
magnets upon the wheel may be clothed with wire and the currents be
made to traverse both. It might also be practicable to so construct and
arrange the circles of magnets and armatures that the inner circle will
be stationary and the outer one will revolve.

page_text: I do not describe any particular method of making or breaking the
circuits in the working of the engine, as these operations are well known,
and this Invention relates only to a peculiar method of converting the
direct attraction of the electro-magnets into rotary motion; but it is
sufficient here to say that any of the usual methods employed in treating
electrical currents in their application to electro-magnetic engines
may be used, and that the circuit breaker described in the English
Patent, No. 17, granted in the year One thousand eight hundred and
seventy, to William Edward Newton, is peculiarly well adapted to the
working of this engine.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me
by Letters Patent as aforesaid,-
First. The combination of a wheel of magnets or armatures with a
surrounding circular series of armatures or magnets as herein set forth,
the one being arranged excentrically to and having a rolling motion
within or around the other and a rotary motion about its own axis as
herein described.
Second. The combination with such wheel of magnets or armatures
and surrounding circular series of armatures or magnets of a directly
connected crank and shaft as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, the Eighteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.