Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 12th July, 1887.
Specification Accepted, 30th Aug., 1887.
[Communicated from abroad by GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, Junior, of Pittsburg, County
of Alleghany, State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, Engineer.]
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S. M.I.ME. of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6 Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, and 323 High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
The invention relates to systems of electrical distribution, wherein alternating,
undulatory, intermittent or pulsatory electric currents of any required potential, and
derived from any convenient source, are transformed or converted, in whole or in part,
into secondary currents having a different potential.
The invention comprises an improved organization of circuits and apparatus whereby
the hereinbefore described operation is effected with greater economy and convenience
than has heretofore been possible.
The general plan of the invention consists in the transmission of alternating,
undulatory, intermittent or pulsatory currents, the potential of which is designed to be
varied, through an inductorium of improved construction, consisting of a mass of iron
or other magnetic metal situated in inductive relation to a continuous conductor, so
constructed and arranged, that the whole or any required portion of such conductor
may also be included in one or more secondary circuits. The current traversing said
conductor serves to produce a magnetic field, and the magnetic changes thus produced
in the field, in turn set up a counter-electromotive force and produce an induced
current in the whole or any required portion of the same conductor.

page_text: In carrying out the invention, the conversion or change of potential in the current
is effected as hereinafter described, by means of an inductorium in which a single
continuous conductor performs the functions of both the independent primary and
secondary conductors of the ordinary converter; that is to say, the inductorium as a
whole produces the required result by reason of its self-induction. Such an induc-
torium may properly be termed an auto-converter.
The accompanying drawing is a theoretical diagram illustrating an organization of
circuits and apparatus embodying the invention.
Referring to the figure, D represents a suitable dynamo-electric generator or other
convenient apparatus for producing alternating, undulatory, intermittent or pulsatory
currents. Such currents are transmitted, in the present instance, through primary
conductors or mains P and N, leading to the respective terminals 1 and 4 of a
conductor 1, 2, 3, 4, which acts inductively upon a core of soft iron or equivalent
magnetizable material c which is made in the form of an endless ring so as to form a
closed magnetic circuit. The conductors 1, 2, 3, 4, may with advantage be wound
helically upon the iron ring c in the manner shown, but the particular disposition of
such conductor with reference to the mass of iron c is not material, so far as this
It is only
invention is concerned, and may be varied as circumstances dictate.
necessary that the conductor and the iron should be situated within a common
magnetic field, or in other words, that they should be placed in inductive relation to
each other. The conductor and the mass of magnetizable material together constitute
what is termed the auto-converter (1.
The conductor 1, 4, although continuous may be regarded as consisting of any
required number of sections, from the dividing points between which branches or
conductors may be led off. For example the conductor 1, 4, is shown as divided
into shree sections w¹, w³, w³. At the intermediate points 1, 2, branches or
conductors p¹ and n³, are led off, and between these branches are placed electric lamps
or other equivalent translating devices L, L, so as to form a closed secondary circuit.
From the points 2, 3, including the section w², conductors p², n², are in like manner
led off and these are connected through a portion of the coils of an auto-converter C
in a manner to be described, and they form thus a closed circuit. Other conductors på
and n leading from the points 3, 4, include the section w³ in a closed circuit.
It will be evident that with such an organization of apparatus as has been described,
if it is assumed that the generator at D is transmitting a current through the
conductors P and N having a potential of say 1000 volts, such current will traverse
the entire length of the conductor 1, 2, 3, 4, of the auto-converter, and each pulsation
or alternation will produce a certain amount of energy in the magnetic field surrounding
the core c. These magnetic changes or pulsations in turn set up a counter-electromotive
force, which will in like manner be uniformly distributed throughout the length of the
conductor 1, 2, 3, 4. The value of this electromotive force in any one of the sections w¹,
w or w³, will however depend upon the number of convolutions in each section.
Hence, disregarding the loss in conversion, which is usually small, there will he
developed in the conductor 1, 2, 3, 4, a counter-electromotive force equal to the
potential existing between the terminals 1 and 4, due to the electromotive force of the
generator D. If this difference of potential be assumed as before to be 1000 volts,
then the counter-difference of potential developed between the same terminals will also
be 1000 voits, and if it be assumed that the section w¹ and the section w² each comprises
n¹, a
one-tenth of the whole coil, then there will be delivered upon the conductors p¹,
current of 100 volts, and likewise there will be delivered to the circuit formed by the
conductors p², n2, a current of 100 volts. The direction of the current in the portion
of the conductor w¹ lying between the points 1 and 2 will necessarily be opposite to
that of the direct current from the generator D. This is also true of any portion of
the conductor 1, 4, when supplying current to a secondary circuit in the manner
described. The current upon the conductors p³, n³, being the difference between the
200 volts and the 1000 volts, would be 800 volts. In this manner the current may
be conveniently sub-divided in any required proportions.

page_text: If now it is desired to vary the potential upon any one or more of the circuits, a
second or auxiliary auto-converter C may be employed. This consists in like manner,
of a core c² surrounded by a coil 5, 6, 7, which is divided into sections w*, 20%. The
conductors p², n², lead to the points 5, 6, at the respective terminals of the section w³,
while the intermediate point 6, and the point 7, at the other terminal of the entire coil,
are connected with conductors p, nt. If now the section w' be considered as one fifth
of the entire coil, then the current delivered at the terminal of the section w³, will be
four times the potential of that delivered to the section w³, that is to say, 400 volts.
Where the current is to be transmitted to a long distance, the increased potential
which is thus imparted to it renders it possible to employ a much smaller conductor
and thus the cost of the plant is diminished.
At a distant point the conductors are connected with the terminals of a coil 8, 9, 10,
of the auto-converter C³, similar to the device C¹. This coil is divided into
sections w, w, ws. From these sections, conductors 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, are led, and these
receive a difference of potential dependent upon the lengths of the different
sections.
There is shown at C another converting device connected with, or applied to, the .
conductors p³, n³. This is supplied with a difference of potential of 800 volts. The
coil 11, 12, 13, of the auto-converter C+, comprises two sections w³ and w10. The
section w¹ has its respective terminals 12, 13, connected with the conductors p³, n³,
while a section w has its respective terminals connected with the conductors p³, n².
The length of this section may be so proportioned to the entire length of the coil, that
the potential of the current will be varied to any required extent, as for instance, in
the present case it is raised from 800 volts to 1000 volts. Such current is transmitted
over the conductors po, no, to an auto-converter C, designed, in this instance, to reduce
the potential to say 500 volts, in the manner described with reference to the auto-
converter 13.
It is evident that the system may be extended to any desired length, and that the
conversions may be variously modified to meet the requirements. The initial step
of conversion through the device (₁ may be omitted in individual cases.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a system of electrical conversion and distribution, the combination of an
auto-converter, with three or more closed circuits, of each of which the electric
conductor of said auto-converter forms a portion, a source of electricity included in
one of said circuits, and one or more auto-converters, included in the remainder of
said circuits.
2. In a system of electrical conversion and distribution, the combination of an
auto-converter with three or more closed circuits of each of which the electric
conductor of said auto-converter forms a portion, a source of electricity included in
one of said circuits, and one or more auto-converters, and one or more translating
devices included in the remaining circuits.
3. In a system of electrical conversion and distribution, the combination of a supply
circuit including a generator and an auto-converter, a consumption circuit including
a second auto-converter, and a third or intermediate circuit which includes the whole
or a portion of the conductor of each of said auto-converters.
4. The combination of a continuous electric conductor, and a mass of magnetizable
material situated within the same field of force, or in inductive relation thereto, the
whole or a portion of said conductor being included with a source of electric energy
in a closed primary circuit; a lesser portion of the same conductor included in each
of one or more closed secondary circuits, and translating devices included in said
secondary circuits.
5. In a system of electrical conversion and distribution, a supply circuit, a secondary
circuit, portions of which circuits are common to each other, and a third circuit, a
portion of which is included in the secondary circuit.

page_text: 6. The combination of a source of alternating or intermittent electric currents, a
circuit therefor, an inductive resistance included in said circuit, conductors leading
from different points in the length of the portion of the circuit effected by said
resistance, and other inductive resistances included in one or more of the circuits
thus derived.
7. The combination of a source of alternating, intermittent or pulsatory currents,
a circuit therefor, a mass of magnetizable material so disposed as to form a closed
magnet circuit situated in inductive relation thereto, a second closed circuit in part
common with the first named circuit receiving by inductive action currents of a
different potential therefrom, a closed circuit and translating devices included therein,
and means for inducing electric currents in said closed circuit by reason of the
currents in the second named circuit.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.