IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF MAGNETIC ELECTRICITY
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I EDWARD
AUGUSTIN KING of Warwick Street Charing Cross in the County of
Middlesex Gentleman send giccting
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland bearing date at Westminster the Thirtieth day of
April in the minth year of Her cign did for Herself Her heus and suc-
cessors give and grant unto me the said Edward Augustin King my exors
admors and assigns Her especial licence full power sole privilege and
authority that I the said Edward Augustin King my exors admors and
assigns or such others as I the said Edward Augustin King my exors
admors or assigns should at any time agree with and no others from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed should
and lawfully might make use exercise and vend within England Wales
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PRODUCTION OF MAGNETIC ELECTRICITY" communicated to me by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I the said Edward Augustin King should cause a particular
desciption of the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal to
be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
19431-1.

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent as in and by the same reference being thereunto had will more fully
and at large appear
NOW KNOW YE that in compliance with the said proviso I the said
Edward Augustin King do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed and to the figures and letters
maiked thereon that is to say
The improvements consist
First in a new method of constructing the coils on the armatures of
magneto-electric machines. Instead of the copper wire at present used for
this purpose a strip of rolled copper is employed. This is bent around a
rectangular or triangular iron bar in the manner herein-after described and
shown in the Drawings hereto annexed. The strip is first bent over itself at
right angles so as to fit two sides of the bar At the next corner it is again
bent in the same manner which brings one of its edges in contact with the
third side and by a repetition of the bend at the fourth corner the strip is
taken once round the bar. This operation may be repeated until a spiral coil
the length of the bar is obtained. The turns or convolutions of the coil are
insulated from each other by placing between them strips of cotton cloth
which have been dipped in a mixture of melted beeswax and rosin made in
the proportion of one pound of beeswax to thice fourths of a pound of 10s101.
Figure 1 shows the copper strip bent once so as to fit two sides of the square
iron bar
Figure 2 represents the coil when finished. The size and length
of the strip is vaned according to the electric power required and the pur-
poses to which it is to be applied For electio-plating a coil made of a strip
one twentieth of an inch thick one and a half inch wide and seventy feet
long is suitable but for more difficult decompositions a greater length is
required. When the strip to be used is of considerable thickness it should
have grooves planed or cut across it at intervals equal to the diameter of the
bai. The width of each groove should be equal to that of the strip and its
depth should be equal to one half the thickness of the strip. As the
surfaces of the copper strip are reversed at each bend in forming the coil
that which was the upper becoming the under it is necessary to cut the
grooves alternately the first being cut on the upper surface the second on
the under surface the thud on the upper su face and so on By means
of these grooves the strip is bent into the required form without increasing
its thickness which would otherwise be doubled at the bend and coils

page_text: may thus be made of any desirable thickness of metal
piece of the grooved strip before it is bent.
Figure 3 shows a
The second improvement consists in the application of a coil formed of
circular copper plates perforated in the centic so as to admit a cylindrical
armature, to the magneto-electric machine. This coil is formed as follows.
A circular plate of copper has a hole cut in the centre so as to admit a
cylinder of iron which is to be the armature and a broad flat ring is thus
produced. This ing is cut open on one side and one of the edges thus pro-
duced is slightly raised or bent above the other. A second ring is prepared
similar to the one described and having one of the edges produced by its
division raised above the other as in the first ring. The lower one of these
edges is then soldered to the upper one in the first 1ing and in this way two
convolutions of the coil are formed. The operation is continued until a coil
of sufficient length is obtained. The solder used is silver solder and the con-
volutions are insulated from each other in the same manner as in the coil
first described. From the expence and other difficulties attending the con-
struction of this coil the coil formed of strip heiein-before descubed is to be
preferred.
The third improvement consists in a mode of collecting all the currents of
electricity produced in magneto-electric machines having more than one arma-
ture by a combination of springs pressing on separate segments of the break
and in using the current from cach sping separately or combining them
together into two currents when desirable To enable this improvement to be
understood its application to a machine containing four magnets will be
described. Figure 4 is a front view of one form of these machines d, d, d, d
are the magnets supported by a circular frame with their poles directed
towards the centre. The planes of the magnets are parallel to the axis of the
machine and a wheel is fixed upon the axis made of two circular brass plates
placed parallel to each other. The armatures are on the periphery of this
wheel, and when it is put in rotation, they are thus made to pass between the
poles of the magnets. The dotted circle shows the brass wheel and the
smaller dotted circles within it represent the armatures. a is the break which
is affixed to the axis. It is a thick brass ring divided into as many segments
as there are armatures, the segments being insulated from each other and
from the plate to which it is attached. 6 represents the apparatus for
collecting the different currents causing them to flow in one direction or
dividing them as may be desired. It is shown more distinctly in Figure 5.
a in Figure 5 is an iron ring which is seen in its place attached to the frame
of the machine in Figure 4. 6 in Figure 5 is the break which, as there are

page_text: eight armatures, is divided into the same number of segments. Upon cach
segment a spring made of a piece of rolled steel, is made to press. d shows
one of these springs. It is secured in its place by nuts working on the screw
bolt which is attached to the iron ring in the same manner, but the bolt is
insulated from the ing The springs are arranged at equal distances around
the break as seen in the Figure. When this apparatus is attached to a
machine the magnets must be arranged so that their poles alternate. Thus if
one magnet is placed so that its north pole is toward the front side of the
machine the next magnet must have its south pole towards the same
side, and so on When the ring to which the springs are attached is put
in its place it is adjusted so that each magnet has that portion of a
sping which presses on the bieak in a line with the centre of its poles,
and the break is placed so that overy alternate division is also in a line
with the centre of the poles of one of the magnets. The terminations of the
coils on the side towards the break are connected with its segments by wires
or strips of copper, each coil being connected with a separate segment. The
opposite terminations of the coils are connected with a connection 1ing fixed
on the opposite end of the axle to that on which the break is placed. This
ring is a brass ring secured on a cylinder of hard wood which is fixed on the
nxis A spring attached to the frame, but insulated from it, is mado-to press
on the ring
Each of the bolts to which the springs pressing on the break are
attached, has a copper wire soldered to it. The termination of the coils
are connected to the segments of the break as follows, The wheel carrying
the armatures is supposed to revolve in the direction of the hands of a watch
If it be turned until an aimature is at the centre of the poles of each of the
magnets, cach armature will be in a line with one of the divisions of the break.
The armature which would be m a line with the division S in Figure 5 has
the termination of its coil soldered to the segment h. Tho coil of the next
aimature is soldered to the next segment and so on with the rest. Each of
the bolts to which the springs are attached has a copper wire connected with
that end of it which projects through the ring. To prevent confusion in the
Figure these wires are not shown. When the wheel with the armatures is
made to revolve and the wire from one of the bolts is brought in contact with
a wire connected with the spring which presses on the connecting ring to
which the opposite terminations of the coils are attached, a current of
electricity is found to pass When the different currents are to be combined
into two, the bolt m is connected with the wire from the bolt h. The wires
from the two next bolts are connected together forming a second double wire.
Then those from the-next two forming a third, and finally the last two forming

page_text: a fourth. Thus four double wies are produced which may be numbered one,
two, three and four One is now connected with three, and on bringing this
quadruple wire in contact with the wire from the spring pressing on the ring
which is fixed on the opposite end of the axle, a compound current combined
which passes in one direction is produced. When the double wires four and
two are connected together and another wire brought from the spring on the
other side of the machine, another current equal in power to the first is
obtained. If the currents from the different coils are to be used separately, a
we must be brought from one of the bolts and another from the spring on
the other side of the machine. The rest of the currents may be worked in the
same manner, using a separate decomposing vat or cell for each.
The fourth improvement consists in a method of preventing the formation
of neutralizing currents in the brass or other metallic plates forming the
wheel which carries the armatures. This method consists in dividing the plate
at each armature, from its exterior edge to the hole through which the armature
passes by a saw cut. In Figure 6 b is a portion of the plate, a the end of
one of the armatures and the division. Both plates are divided in the
manner described.
The fifth improvement consists in a mode of affixing an iron bar to each of
the poles of the magnets in magneto-electric machines, so that the armatures
are magnetized a second time by the same magnet during the same revolution.
The manner in which the bar is placed is as follows,-In Figure 7 a and 6 are
the poles of two magnets. is a portion of the wheel carrying the armature.
Thrce of these are seen represented by the small circles. 8 is the iron bar
attached to the end of the pole of the magnet a, and bent into the form shewn.
It is a flat bar of soft iron of the width of the pole of the magnet and about
three fourths of an inch thick. Another bai is fixed to the other pole of the
magnet a in a manner exactly similar, but from its position it cannot be seen
in the Figure When an armature arrives at the second bend in the bars, it is
magnetised from the magnet a which thus acts upon it a second time in the
same revolution. The second bend in the bar is at an equal distance from the
centre of the magnet 6 and that of the next armature, supposing the wheel to
be in the position represented in the Figure. When this improvement is used
the break must be divided into a number of segments double that of the
armatures, the termination of each successive coil being connected with an
alternate segment There is a spring pressing on each segment and the one
in a line with the second bend in the bar is connected with the next group of
wires to the one to which it would from its position belong. With this exception
the mode of collecting the currents alieady described is used.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of the Invention I would have it under-
stood that what I claim is
First for an improved method of constructing the coils for the armatures of
magneto-electric machines by forming them of flat strips of copper instead of
wires as herein-before shown and described
Second for the application to magneto-electric machines of a coil formed of
plates or rings of copper soldered together so as to form a spiral in the manner
herein-before described.
Third for the mode of collecting all the currents produced in machines
having more than one armature by a combination of springs pressing on
separate segments of the break and for using the current from each spring
separately or combining them together into two currents when desirable in
the manner herein-before described.
Fourth for the method of presenting the formation of neutralizing currents
in the brass or metallic plates carrying the armatures by dividing or cutting
through portions of said plates in the manner herein-before described and
shown.
Fifth for the mode of affixing iron bars to the poles of the magnets in
magneto-electric machines so as to multiply the number of times the amatures
are magnetised during a revolution of the machine as herein-before shown and
described.
In witness whereof I the said Edward Augustin King have hereunto
set my hand and seal this Thirtieth day of October One thousand
EDWARD AUGUSTIN (L.s) KING
AND BE IT REMEMBERED that on the Thirtieth day of October in the
year of our Lord 1846 the aforesaid Edward Augustin King came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid and all and every thing therein contained and specified in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Thirtieth day of October in the year of our Lord Oue
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.