IMPROVEMENTS IN MAGNETIC ENGINES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Lieut.-Colonel James Baker at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th November 1866.
I, Lieut.-Colonel JAMES BAKER, of the Army, and Navy Club, Pall Mall, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAGNETIC ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in magnetic engines. A
number of straight electro-magnets are placed on the circumference and
parallel to the axis of a wheel, these magnets are arranged into three (or
more) sets, and upon the poles of each set a soft iron armature is attached.
The polarity of each set can be reversed by an arrangement to be hereafter
described. On each side of this wheel are arranged a system of fixed per-
manent or electro-magnets parallel to the wheel magnets prolonged. On each
side of the wheel the fixed magnets are divided into two (or more) sets, and a
soft iron armature is attached to the poles (nearest the wheel) of each set. To
the outside poles of these fixed magnets a soft iron armature is attached which
unites the opposite poles of both sets. One set of the fixed magnets has an
opposite polarity to the other, and their armatures are brought into close
proximity to the armatures of the wheel magnets without actually touching
them. The current in the wheel magnets is reversed by means of four small
metal rings, two of which encircle the axle of the wheel, one on each side, but
although attached to they are insulated from it. The circumferences of these
two rings are divided into the same number of spaces as there are sets of
magnets on the wheel, and have the wires of each set attached to them..

page_text: Opposite each of these rings is a fixed similar metal ring divided into the same
number of spaces as there are sets of fixed magnets on the respective sides of
the wheel. All the spaces on all the rings are insulated from each other.
Each space of the wheel rings carries a metal roller which traverses the fixed
ring opposite to it. The electric current is made to pass in at a space of a
fixed ring and out at the opposite space of the opposite fixed ring, passing in
its course through a set of electro-magnets on the wheel by means of the
metal rollers attached to the wheel rings. In the next fixed space the current
is made to pass in the opposite direction, so that when the roller is made to
pass from one space to another the current is reversed; this reversal is made
to take place when the centre of the armature of each set of wheel magnets
coincides with the centre of the armature of a set of fixed magnets. The
wheel magnets are so magnetized that their armatures are attracted by the
armatures of the fixed magnets until they are opposite to them, the polarity of
the wheel magnets is then reversed and they are repelled. In the sets of
magnets similar poles are applied to each armature, so that an armature
represents the single pole of a magnet. The armatures of the wheel and fixed
inagnets are always in close proximity to each other without actually touching,
so that nearly the whole power of the magnetism is utilized. If electro-
magnets are used for the fixed magnets the current that produces them is
never broken, neither is the battery current of the wheel magnets since it is
always flowing through either one or other set of helices. Secondary coils
may be placed on the wheel magnets, and their induction currents collected
and applied to the magnetization of one or more of the fixed magnets.
If permanent magnets are used as the fixed magnets they may be made in
the following manner:-A steel cylinder should first be subjected to pressure
until its density is the greatest possible; it should then be brought to a white
heat and applied to the poles of a very powerful electro-magnet and allowed
to cool in that position. The cooling may be hastened, if necessary, by a cold
draft passing from one end of the steel cylinder to the other, always in-the
same direction. The magnetism of the cylinder may be further strengthened
by encircling it with a helix through which a current is passing during the
process of cooling. For the magnetic engine I should prefer using an electric
current produced by a thermo-electric battery.