AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MAGNETIC OR ELECTRIC HELICES."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Maurice Vergnes, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MAGNETIC OR ELECTRIC HELICES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Maurice Vergnes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
September 1860.
I, MAURICE VERGNES, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MAGNETIC OR ELECTRIC HELICES," to be
as follows:-
My Invention consists in making a helix of a number of independent wires,
each of which has only length sufficient to extend from the outside of the helix
to the inside and back again, and is so wound or coiled as not to cross itself,
and in so connecting or joining the several wires that the cross section of the
helix shall be increased as the distance from the battery or length of the wire
is increased, whereby a greatly increased power is obtained with a comparatively
small quantity of wire.
Helices as ordinarily constructed, are defective in many respects; there is no
guide as to the diameter of the wire; if any part of the wire crosses the rest
in the interior of the coil, the effect is weakened; the wires of the helix is
composed of more than one, have neither the same length or same relative
position in respect to any mass of iron to be magnetized; it is impossible to
correct any leak or defect in the wire, as its location cannot be determined;
and further, when the size of the helix is increased or the length of its wire

page_text: extended its effective power is rendered less, because the conductability of a
coil is inversely as its length; such conductability being also in the direct ratio
of the section of the coil, the section of the coil should be increased as the
length of the wire increases, in order to preserve the full power of the helix,
this, however, cannot be done in helices as ordinarily constructed. All these
difficulties and defects are, however, overcome and corrected by my Invention.
I construct my improved helix of any number of separate independent
wires, each one of which is coiled or laid substantially as follows:-The coiling
or winding of the wire is commenced from the outside, the first course being
of the size or shape desired for the helix, and the wire is then laid or wound
continually within itself upon any flat surface until it reaches the place desired
for the inside of the helix, when it is coiled or laid in an opposite direction
from the inside to the outside, such return layers lying directly in contact with
or against those first made, but not crossing them, and thereby weakening
their effect. Each wire thus coiled, makes what I call a double lay. The
two extremities or ends of each of such double lays are at the outside, so that
any number of such lays may be easily joined together. When required for a
helix, they are placed side by side, and confined in any proper manner, the
ends of the several wires being at the same end of the helix. Each wire or
double lay is thus of the shortest length possible, that is only long enough to
extend from the outside of the helix to the inside, and then back again, and
therefore opposes the least resistance to the passage of the electric current,
and the several wires are all of the same length, and in the same relative
position, and thus each absorbs an equal quantity of electricity and produces
the same effect. This arrangement also gives an easy method of testing each
wire separately, to ascertain its perfect insulation, or find out any defect that
may exist in it.
Such double lays are then connected to the battery and to each other in the
following manner :-One end of one outside lay is connected to one of the
poles of a battery, and the other end of such lay is connected with the ends of
the second and third lays, the other ends of which second and third lays are in
turn connected with the ends of the fourth, fifth, and sixth lays, and so on, the
number of wires being continually increased until the middle of the helix is
reached, when they again diminish in the same manner, and the ends of the
other outside lay is connected with the opposite pole of the battery.
By thus increasing the number of wires at regular intervals or distances
from the battery, the cross section of the wires of the helix is increased as the
distance from the battery is increased, and the greatest cross section is in the
middle of the helix, or at the same distance from each pole of the battery, and

page_text: such increase of the section of the helix is proportional to the increase of the
distance from the battery.
Upon the outside of the helix I place two iron plates, one on each side,
which become magnetized inductively, and thus increase the effective power of
the helix.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Maurice Vergnes, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th March 1861.
'
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MAURICE
VERGNES, of the City and State of New York, United States of America,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Maurice Vergnes, Her special licence that I, the said Maurice Vergnes, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Maurice
Vergnes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF MAGNETIC OR ELECTRIC HELICES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Maurice Vergnes, 'my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly 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 Maurice Vergnes, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The nature of my. Invention consists in making or forming a helix of a
number of independant wires, and in so arranging or laying such wires that
each shall have the greatest effect, and also in so connecting such several wires

page_text: for the formation of the helix, that there is obtained a greatly increased power
with a comparatively small quantity of wire.
Numerous experiments made by me have demonstrated that when a helix
is made in the usual manner by coiling a given weight of wire, either in a
circular or elongated shape, and whether formed of a single continuous wire
or of one or more wires coiled coiled upon each other, that the arrangement is
defective, in many respects, among which are the following:-1st, there can be
no guide in the selection of the diameter of the wire. 2d, if any part of the
wire crosses the rest in the interior of the helix a part of the effect is destroyed,
as such wire crosse's more or less at right angles. 3d, if the helix is com-
posed of several wires coiled upon each other, such wires have neither the
same length nor the same relative position in respect to the mass to be mag-
netized. 4th, it is wholly impossible to correct any defect or leak in the
interior of the helix, as the spot where it exists cannot be determined. 5th,
the greatest defect arises because of the well-established law or fact that a
wire, of which the diameter is equal in all its length, opposes to the passage
of a current of electricity a resistance which greatly increases with the length,
so that the longer the wire or heavier the coil the resistance is greatly
increased. It is also well known that where the galvanic current passes through
a coil of wire the conductability of such coil is in an inverted ratio of the length
of the wire, and in the direct ratio of its cross section, so that in order to
convey a galvanic current from one end of such a coil to the other, it is necessary
that the section should be increased proportionally to the distance from the poles
of the battery; this, however, is impossible in a helix as ordinarily constructed.
My Invention meets and obviates and overcomes all these objections and
difficulties.
Fig. 1 is a front view; Fig. 2, a lateral view; and Fig. 3 is a plan of an
elongated helix, constructed after my Invention. It is composed of several
independant or separate wires 1, 1, 2, 21, each one of which extends from the
outside of the helix to the inside, and then back again, the return coil or lay
lying upon or in contact with the other lay, but not crossing it, and each wire
forming what is called a double lay or coil. Both extremities or ends of
each of these double lays are at the outside of the helix and project at one
end, as seen at 1, 2, 3, &c., and 11, 21, 31, &c., Figs. 1, 4; and the several
double lays are placed side by side with each other, as seen in Fig. 2. These
several double lays are independant of each other, and being all of the same
length, and also in the same relative position, each absorbs an equal quantity
of electricity and produces an equal effect or power. Each individual wire is
also of the shortest possible length, and therefore opposes the least resistance

page_text: to the passage of the galvanic or electric current. This arrangement also
gives an easy method of trying and testing each double lay or wire separately
to ascertain its perfect insulation, and find out the locality or precise spot in
the helix where any leak or defect may exist. The different double lays of
wire are connected to the battery and to each other, as represented in Fig. 4.
The end 1 of one of the lays is connected to one pole of the battery, and the
other end 1 of the same lay is connected or joined with the two extremities
2, 8, of the next two contiguous double lays. The other extremities 2¹, 31, of
these lays are then connected with the three following 4, 5, 6, then the extre-
mities 41, 51, 61, with the four following 7, 8, 9, 10, which are in the middle
of the helix; the extremities 71, 8', 91, 10', then connect with the three next
11, 12, 13, and the extremities 111, 12, 131, with the two 14, 15, and
the two 14, 15, with the single one 16, and the extremity 16¹ connects with
the other pole of the battery. As will be observed, the number of wires which
are connected together is continually increasing until the middle of the helix
is reached, when they again diminish in the same proportion.
To understand clearly the form given to the helix by such connection of the
double lays, a diagram of an entire helix. extended in a straight line is shewn
in Fig. 5. As will be seen the helix has the least cross sections at its ends,
or where it connects with the batteries; but the section of the wire increases
as the length increases, and the greatest section is at an equal distance from
the two poles of the battery. If two points as M and O be taken, such that
the distance P M, is equal to. MO, while the distance from M to P is only
one half of the distance from 0 to P, the cross section at O is double that at
M; thus, by my arrangement, the section at each point of the whole con-
tinuous wire is increased proportionally to the distance from the pole of the
battery. This construction of helix is also in strict accordance with the laws
governing the conductability of a mass of metal.
If A B, A¹ B¹, Fig. 6, represent a cylindrical piece of metal connected at
P and N with the positive and negative poles of a battery, the conductability
or magnetic power of such piece of metal will be represented by the double
cones POM and NO M, (and which constitute but one-third of the whole
mass of the cylinder), the portions of the metal PAM, PAO, N BM, and
MBO, surrounding the cones, (and which constutite two-thirds of the whole
mass), being of no actual or practical value or use. As will be observed, the
construction of a helix, according to my Invention, as above described, and as
shewn by Fig. 5, gives to such helix substantially the form of the double cones
POM, NOM, Fig.6, and the greater the number of wires the nearer it will
approach that form.

page_text: Fig. 7 shews the mode of holding or bracing the wire while being coiled to
form a lay of an elongated helix with square or round ends. S, S, are two
metallic or other plates, having on their surfaces thin steel or other guides,
shaped like the end of the helix, seperated from each other about the diameter
of the wire of which the helix is to be made. The coiling or laying of the wire is
commenced at the outside at C, and then the wire is continually coiled within
itself around the guides above mentioned, till the wire reaches the mould
A B, or the inside of the helix; then by lifting the coil just completed the
guide plate is removed from under the coil and placed on top, and the wire
then coiled from the inside outward till it reaches the outer side at D. Or the
coil may be made from the inside, commencing with the middle of the wire &
laying each part separately or both at the same time. But each separate wire
is so coiled or laid that it extends from the outside of the helix to the inside
and then back again, making a double lay, each lay or coil lying upon or in
contact with each other, but not crossing it and thereby weakening its effect;
and each wire is of the shortest possible length, that is, only long enough to
reach from the outside of the helix to the inside and then back again; and all
of the several wires are of the same length and have the same relative position
in respect to any mass of iron to be magnetized.
As the conductability or magnetic power of the cylinder A B, A¹ B', Fig: 6,
is due to but one-third of its mass, as before mentioned, it follows that if the
whole mass should be shaped into a form like that of a double cone, it would
have three times as much power. On the same principle there should be a
great increase of power or strength in a helix, constructed after my Invention,
over a helix constructed in the ordinary way, & each having an equal weight
of wire. Careful and repeated experiments prove that such is the case, and
that with the same battery power a helix constructed upon the principle of my
Invention, but having no more weight of wire than another constructed in
the ordinary way, is vastly more effective.
K, K, Fig. 3, are two iron plates, which are placed on each outer side of
the helix and there retained. Actual experiment proves that by their applica-
tion the effective power of the helix is greatly increased; and such effect is in
accordance with well established principles of electricity. It is known that
when a current from a voltaic battery passes through an insulated coil, that
from the resistance of the metal or some other cause, the direct current has
also an inductive power, and that such effect is most sensible when the wire is
long, and is also greatly increased if the wire is wound in the form of a helix
surrounding a mass of iron. Hence, if to a coil or helix connected with a battery,
plates, as K, K, are brought in contact, they become by means of the inductive

page_text: power of the current from the battery, magnets, and so far increase the power
of the helix."
Helices, constructed according to the principles of my Invention, may be
used for the same purposes and under like circumstances with ordinarily con-
structed helices, and they are particularly adapted for all uses and purposes
where great magnetic power is required.
I am aware that helices have been constructed with a number of wires, and
that it is a well-established fact that their power is increased by such multiplying
of the wires.
What I claim as my Invention is constructing a helix of a number of sepe-
rate wires, when each of such wires is so coiled or wound as to form a
double lay, substantially as described; and when such several wires are so
connected together or with each other, as described, that the helix shall have
the general form of two cones with their bases together, or so that the section
of the helix at right angles with the axis of its cone shall be increased as the
distance from the battery increases, such section being the greatest in the
middle of the helix.
I also claim the application and use, in combination with a helix, of the
armature or iron plates K, K, for the purpose of increasing the power of such
helix.
In witness whereof, I, the said Maurice Vergnes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of March 1861.