A NEW ELECTRO-MOTIVE ENGINE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau, of
39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South
Street, Finsbury, London, for the Invention of "A NEW ELECTRO-MOTIVE
ENGINE." A communication.
Sealed the 23rd January 1857, and dated the 11th August 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontainemoreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with bis Petition, on the 11th August 1856.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte de FONTAINEMOREAU, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, do
hereby declare tho nature of the Invention for "A NEW ELECTRO-MOTIVE
ENGINE," to be as follows, that is to say:-
The Invention consists in the construction of an improved electro-motive
engine.
This electro-motive engine consists of a series of horse-shoe or other electro-
magnets, of the same size and power, arranged horizontally in ten concentric
circles. One wire from the battery connects all the north poles of the magnets
together, and another wire connects all the south poles. Over each of the ten

page_text: circles of magnets is placed a ring or circular armature of iron. These ten
armatures are also placed concentrically. To each armature four supporting
rods provided with heads are fixed. Each series of rods are of different lengths,
so that the heads support each circular armature one inch above the other,
commencing from the armature of the largest diameter. This latter armature
is raised one inch above, or within the attractive power of the outer circle of
magnets. The rods are connected to and work vertically in four wooden arms
or cross pieces, placed at right angles to each other, and connected together at
the centre. At the end of each arm is a guide rod furnished with a nut or
head. These guide rods are fixed to the foundation plate or framing, and cause
the arms to work vertically up and down. To the centre piece, to which the
four arms are attached, is fixed a connecting rod, connected by the ordinary
parallel motion to the beam of a steam engine. This beam works in suitable
bearings placed on a standard fixed to the foundation plate.
To the opposite end of the beam also is applied a parallel motion and con-
necting rod, which is put in action by an apparatus of the same construction
as before described. As the beam ascends it raises up the 4 cross pieces or
árms, and, by the rods of different lengths, causes the armatures to be raised
successively at the respective distance of one inch above the other. The electro-
motive engine is furnished with a fly wheel, connecting rod, and an excentric
or commutator for charging each electro-motive apparatus alternately with a
current of electricity from the battery.
When one end of the beam is raised it puts one of the electro-motors ready
for action by raising the armatures vertically above their respective magnets at
alternate attractive distances. Thus, when the outer circular armature is
raised one inch above the outer corresponding circle of magnets, upon an electric
current passing through them they instantly attract the armature opposite,
and by this means brings the next armature within the power of the second
circle of magnets, and so on, until the last armature is brought in a horizontal
plane with the rest. The current is then broken, which allows the armatures
to ascend, and the opposite electro-motive apparatus is then put in action by
the battery, which causes the beam to descend. From this rectilinear move-
ment a circular motion may be obtained.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 11th February 1857.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte de FONTAINEMOREAU, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in
the Empire of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign;
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Peter Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau, Her special license that I, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le Comté
de Fontainemoreau, iny executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-.
after 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 "A NEW ELECTRO-
MOTIVE ENGINE," communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine-
morcau, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine-.
moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what>
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer->
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that:
is to say:
This Invention consists of a double series of concentric metallic rings.
forming armatures, in combination with two compound electro-magnets, for.
obtaining motive power.
A, A, Figure 1, represent a horizontal bar traversed by ten rods C, and:
supported by a bolt Z; B, B, is a row of ten electro-magnets, which may be
magnetised together by means of an electric current from a battery. It should:

page_text: be remarked that the space which separates the bar A, A, of the horizontal
row of electro-magnets is divided by ten rods into ten equal parts. At the
lower part of each rod is a small plate H, vertically opposite to each electro-
magnet. If the ten electro-magnets are magnetised, the plate H', which is
within the sphere of attraction of the first electro-magnet, will be attracted by
the electro-magnet, and will come in contact with and cause to move the hori
zontal bar A, A, about one inch, by this movement causing the nine remaining
plates to approach the same distance. The plate H", which before the action
of the first electro-magnet was at a distance of two inches, is after its action
brought to one inch, that is to say, in the same position as the first. It is in
its turn attracted by the second magnet, and comes in contact; but, as before
stated, the rods being made to set one into the other; the rod C', which is
fixed by the action of the first electro-maguet, is set by the action of the second
into the horizontal bar A, A, and after the action of the second magnet the
bolt Z' is brought to one inch above the horizontal bar A, A. After the action
of the second electro-magnet, the plate H", which previous to the action of the
first magnets was situated at a distance of three inches, is brought in the same
way as its two predecessors to within the range of attraction of the third
magnet, viz, to within one inch; it is then under its influence, and is brought
in contact with the third magnet, and when in contact, the knob Z' is at a
distance of two inches, and the knob Z" one inch from the horizontal bar A, A.
The same movement is successively performed for each of the rods, and after
the action of the tenth electro-magnet the Figure 1 will be represented by
Figure 2, and the horizontal bar A, A, will have travelled over a space of
about eight inches, each rod having brought it forward one inch.
Having thus described the principle on which the Invention is based, I will
now describe a machine constructed in conformity therewith. Figure 3 is an
elevation of the machine; C is a column supporting the beam B, B. At the
extremity of each arm is a Watts' parallelogram V, V, shewing in dotted lines
the means of obtaining a rectilinear movement. To each parallelogram is fixed
a bar T, T; at the bottom of each bar four pieces of iron are soldered crosswise
H, H, H, I, in a horizontal position. In the view, Figure 3, of the machine,
only some of the parts forming the cross bars are seen; Figure 4 represents
the upper part of the machine, seen vertically. This Figure shews a disk
divided into ten equal parts, forming ten rings, disposed concentrically. To these
rings are fixed four sets of ten rods, similar to those herein-before described.
These four sets of ten rods take into the four arms of the cross pieces H, H, H, H,
and are supported by forty knobs. The extremity of each of the branches of

page_text: the cross bars is traversed by the bars L, L, L, L, provided with nuts. These
four rods confine the movement, and cause the upper part of the machine to
assume a rectilinear and vertical movement. In the frame Q are one hundred
and one electro-magnets, arranged in ten concentric circles, as shewn in Figure 5,
vertical view, opposite to the ten rings, supported by the rods of the upper part
of the machine. All these electro-magnets are united together by conducting
wires (as shewn by the arrows), in order to magnetise them all together by
means of the same battery. It is needless to remark that all the electro-
magnets are on the same horizontal plane, and all of the same size and power.
The connecting rod, fly wheel, and excentric are not shewn. The excentric
in the centre of the fly wheel serves to break the current of the battery from
one side of the machine to the other, that is to say, from the electro-magnets
on the side N to the electro-magnets on the side O of the machine, and re-
ciprocally. I would here remark that all the parts on the right side N of the
machine correspond with the parts on the left side, and that consequently there
are at the extremity of each arm of the beam two identical machines, with
this exception, that the position of the right side N is before and the left side
O after the action of their electro-magnets.
All the parts of the machine being thus described, I will now proceed to
describe the working of the machine. If in the position of the side of the
machine N, which is before the action of the electro-magnets, I cause the
current to pass from a powerful battery to the one hundred and one electro-
magnets at Q, arranged as shewn at Figure 5, the extreme circle of two
electro-magnets will act on the ring K, which is vertically opposed to it at one
inch off. When this ring is acted upon by it it will come in contact with them.
By this movement the four arms of the cross will be brought one inch nearer,
and will have caused the thirty-six remaining rods to approach one inch nearer
the circles of the electro-magnets which are vertically opposite to them. The
ring K', which before the movement of K was at two inches off, is not more
than one inch after its movement. It is put in motion in its turn by the second
circle of electro-magnets, which are vertically opposed to it, and comes in
contact. I have said that all the rods take one into the other. By this
arrangement, in the second motion of K' the four arms of the cross descend
one inch underneath the four knobs which support the ring K; the ring K",
which before the first movement was at three inches off, will have been brought
two inches nearer by the two preceding movements; the ring K" is in its
turn one inch off, and being acted on by the ten electro-magnets vertically
opposite will come in contact, and the knobs which supported the ring K will

page_text: be two inches above the arms of the cross, and the knobs of K one inch. The
same movement takes place successively with all the rings, and after the move-
ment of the tenth and last ring the right side N of the machine will be
represented by the left side O, and the left side O will be represented by the
right side N; inasmuch as the beam in its movement from the right side will
have made an equal quantity of opposite movement on the left side, and the
four arms of the cross from the left side O will have raised all the knobs, and
lastly, the left side O of the machine will be represented by the side N; if at
this moment the excentric causes the currents to travel from the right side N
to the left side O, the one hundred and one electro-magnets at Q will cause
the same movement of the left side O of the machine as produced on the right
side, viz-Supposing that each of the electro-magnets has a medium attractive
power of two hundredweight to. one inch, this machine will have a power of
twenty tons, deducting the weight of one of the sides of the machine by the
to-and-fro movement. I would also observe, that in Figure 5 a double and even
triple number of electro-magnets may be introduced in such manner that: the
power of my improved machine may be said to be in direct ratio with the sur-
faces employed, and the quantity of movement is in proportion to the number
of rods employed in each series supporting an equal number of rings there-
fore the niovement being three inches, and the medium power of the electro-
magnet two hundredweight (from its minimum to its maximum point), or one
inch in contact with two hundred and two electro-magnets.
I prefer employing the rods catching in one another to those articulated, in
order to simplify the arrangement of the machine. The circular form of the
machine may be substituted by any form, provided the principle of the Inven-
tion herein laid down be retained.
Figure 6 is a modification of the compound magnet, Figure 5. Its object is
to separate all the fluids of the same designation in two equal parts.
The two hundred bobbins, constituting the ten circles which compose the
figure, are fixed on a disc of soft iron. By this arrangement of bobbins and
currents the figure may be taken as a vast electro-magnet, the power of which
is the sum of the force of all the bobbins. Independently of this, this arrange-
ment has the advantage of being able to cover with bobbins an entire surface.
It has again the advantage of not decomposing the magnetic fluids of the circles'
or rings in as many fractions as there are electro-magnets.
Figure 1 represents a modification of the circles or rings. This modification
gives a double surface in the same compass, the vertical projection remaining
almost unaltered. At the horizontal projections is a double bend of the thick-

page_text: ness of the circles or rings, and sustaining an additional circle, which covers
the part of the preceding circle reposing on the electro-magnets.
Figure 8 indicates the vertical section of the superposed rings.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, communicated to me,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down; but what
I claim is, the constructing an electro-magnetic engine with a series of circular
or other shaped armatures in combination with circular compound magnets
for obtaining motive power, as herein-before described, and represented in the
annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine-
moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven.
L'DE FONTAINEMOREAU. (L.S.)