AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ADMINISTERING ELECTRIC CURRENTS
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Aug., 1886.
Complete Left, 30th June, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 26th Aug., 1887.
I JAMES ROOTS of Crofton Orpington Kent Engineer do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ADMINISTERING ELECTRIC CURRENTS
to be as follows:-
An improved apparatus for testing the amount of or degree of electricity that a
person is capable of enduring, a coin being dropped into the apparatus acting as a
stop for the purpose of actuating it. The two handles are attached to a bar which is
pivoted midway and is capable of partial rotation on the pivot. If a coin be dropped
into the apparatus it interposes between the stud or pin attached to the arm and the
metal rod having attached at its lower end the zinc plate of a bichromate of potash
cell or battery and when the arm or bar is given a movement tending to rotate, the
zinc plate is forced into the solution and produces the current. On the pivot or axis
is fixed a quadrant gearing into a pinion on the spindle of which is fixed the dial
hand indicating the degree of electrical current the person being tested is able to
endure. On the handles being released the coin drops into a receptacle and the zinc
plate is forced out of the solution by means of a spring, stopping the current. The
cell or battery and working parts are enclosed in a suitable case or box. Other cells
than the bichromate might be employed.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for Administering Electric Currents.
I JAMES ROOTS of 1 Wolsley Gardens Gunnersbury W. Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
An improved apparatus for administering and testing the amount or degree of
electric current that a person is capable of enduring, a coin being previously dropped
into the apparatus.
The handles A, A, are fixed to the bar B which is capable of partial rotation by the
raising of the handles, it has a bearing midway at C and also at each side. The coin
shoot is so placed that on the coin being dropped in, it falls between the pins D, D,
which are fixed to the rod or arm B and the metal rod E (which is hinged loosely
on B or may be hinged separately) which rod has attached at its other end the zinc
plate F of the bichromate cell G, the rod E also forcing the core H farther through
the coil I.
A portion of the bar B is of wood, ebonite or other insulating material and the
coin in dropping between the pins D, D, and the rod E rests upon two thin
springs J, J, which are thus forced down slightly bringing J in contact with the
point K.
On the person to whom the current is to be administered having dropped in the
coin and raising or pulling forward the handles A, A, the coin acting as a stop
the pins D, D, make a partial rotation and force backward the rod E; the coin
having pressed the spring J on the point K, the zinc plate F is forced into the
solution by the rod L, and the core H is forced through the coil I, the current
passing through the person by the handles A in a graduated increase, according
to the movement given the handles by the operator.
Fixed to the bar B is a quadrant M which gears into the rod N, the rod N
working the pinion P and the dial hand spindle Q, thus indicating on the face the
proportion or degree of current the person is able to endure. On the handles A, A,
being released a spring or weight returns them to their normal position, the
pressure of pins DD on the coin is lessened and the point of right hand spring J¹
which is shorter than the other spring J pushes the coin from its position when it
drops into a receptacle.
Other cells than the bichromate, as at Figure 1, may be employed a Leclauché
cell being shown in Figure 2 instead of a Bichromate, the part of the rod E
actuating the zinc plate F not being then required.
The coin acts in this apparatus in a precisely similar way to that in my patent
indicating weighing machine.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I wish it to be
understood that I am aware that machines for administering electric currents have
been used for a great many years, also the using of coins for actuating mechanism
of various kinds is well known, and that an electric machine has been used before
in which a coin was employed to actuate it. I do not therefore claim this, but
I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In an electric machine, the particular method, by means of which the coin is
made to actuate the machine, namely the coin acting as a stop in falling between
the pins D, D, and the rod E, and pressing down the spring J, precisely as
described and shown herein.
2. In an electric machine actuated by a coin, the particular method of arrange-
ment, wherein a handle is placed at right angles at each end of a bar passing
through the machine, the handles and bar being capable of partial rotation, and
having the actuating pins D, D, attached, precisely as described and shown herein.
3. The combination forming an automatic electric machine precisely as described
and shown herein.