IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC MOTOR APPARATUS
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Maxymilian Kotyra at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th April 1883.
MAXYMILIAN KOTYRA, of Richmond Road, Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan,
South Wales, "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC MOTOR APPARATUS
"
My invention relates chiefly to an improved electric motor wherein I utilize the
direct attraction of a magnet or magnets upon a series of armatures.
These magnets and armatures are so arranged, in combination with a rod or bar,
that the armatures, which are successively attracted by the magnet or magnets, act
in succession upon the said bar or rod and impart motion thereto; or the said
armatures might be fixed and the magnets be so arranged as to act in succession
upon the said rod or bar to move the same. By employing two rows of fixed
magnets with the armatures arranged between them, and providing means whereby
the rows of magnets can be alternately excited, I am enabled to impart reciprocating
motion to the said bar or rod in a line transverse to its axis. The power thus
obtained may be utilized for driving a locomotive or other engine or a dynamo-
electric machine, and for numerous other purposes, the motion of this bar or
rod being transmitted by a lever and connecting rod to a crank-shaft, or converted
in any suitable manner into rotary or other motion, according to the purpose for
which it is required..
I will describe, by way of example, one mode of carrying my said invention
into practice, which is as follows, that is to say :-The electric motor is composed
of two rows of electro-magnets placed with the poles of the magnets of one
row opposite the poles of the magnets of the other row, sufficient space being
left between the two rows for a number of armatures. The number of electro-
magnets and armatures, as also the number of rows of the latter, may be varied
according to the power required.
These armatures are preferably composed of two flat pieces of soft iron con-
nected by a distance-piece or block of brass or other suitable material in the
form of the letter I. In the middle of each of the said blocks or pieces I form
a longitudinal slot or opening in which the said bar or rod is free to move to
and fro. The armatures are arranged side by side within a suitable frame
which also carries the magnets, so that the said flat pieces of iron lie facing
ID 931
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page_text: the magnet poles. The armatures at each end of the frame extend from one
magnet pole nearly to the opposite magnet pole, so that the latter, when it is
excited, strongly attracts the armature. Each successive armature, towards the
centre of the apparatus, is somewhat shorter than the preceding armature. The
said bar or rod passes through all the armatures, and to each end of the said
bar is fixed a lever. These levers are secured thereon by screw-nuts and are
connected with a crank-shaft by means of connecting rods. This shaft carries a
fly-wheel and a driving pulley, and on the said shaft I provide a commutator
for changing the direction of the current. This commutator is made in three
sections, two of which sections serve for changing or shifting the electric current
from the coils of one row of magnets to those of the other row, while the third
section serves for completing the circuit in either case.
The armatures are at all times either within, or approximate to, the magnetic
field of the magnets in each row. As soon as the electric current passes through
the bobbins of one row of magnets, these magnets attract all the armatures more
or less strongly, but the armatures at each end of the apparatus are very powerfully
attracted, and the said bar or rod is caused to move with the armatures towards
the said magnets. When the end armatures come in contact with the magnets,
the remaining armatures, being still free to move, approach the magnets with the
bar or rod, the latter sliding in the slots in the end armatures. The said bar or
rod imparts movement to the levers and crank-shaft. When the armatures are all
in contact with one row of electro-magnets they are ready to commence another
stroke in the opposite direction, the commutator then changes the direction of the
current thereby causing the other row of electro-magnets to attract the armatures
and move the said bar or rod in the opposite direction; continuous rotary motion
is thus imparted to the crank-shaft
It is obvious that I may substitute for the movable armatures a number of
movable electro-magnets arranged between two fixed armatures or plates. The
commutator would then be arranged to reverse the direction of the current through
the coils of all the magnets simultaneously
The electric current for exciting the electro-magnets may be obtained from any
suitable source, such as an accumulator or a dynamo-electric machine.