IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ATTRACTING, EXCITING, AND DISTRIBUTING IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS RAPID SUCCESSIONS OF ELECTRIC CURRENTS DERIVED FROM THE VOLTAIC PILE OR OTHER ELECTRIC APPARATUS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Pierre Gillard, of Paris, France, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
ATTRACTING, EXCITING, AND DISTRIBUTING IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS RAPID
SUCCESSIONS OF ELECTRIC CURRENTS DERIVED FROM THE VOLTAIC PILE OR
OTHER ELECTRIC APPARATUS."
Sealed the 14th June 1867, and dated the 15th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Pierre Gillard
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th December 1866.
I, JOSEPH PIERRE GILLARD, of Paris, France, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR ATTRACTING, EXCITING, AND DISTRIBUTING IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS RAPID
SUCCESSIONS OF ELECTRIC CURRENTS DERIVED FROM THE VOLTAIC PILE OR OTHER
ELECTRIC APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
These improvements in apparatus for attracting, exciting, and distributing
in various directions rapid successions of electric currents derived from the
voltaic or the thermo-electric pile, or from magnets electric or electro-magnetic
engines, relate to a mechanical arrangement which I call electro-polyphore, in

page_text: which a quick revolving motion is imparted to an arbor of iron or other
suitable metal provided in an isolated manner with a series of pairs of metal
blades to be carried in contact with a series of metal conductors fixed in the
inuer periphery of a drum, in the centre of which revolves the above-mentioned
arbor. The metal blades are connected to a galvanic battery, or magneto-
electric machine, or other suitable generator of electricity, in such manner
that one blade of each pair forms the positive and the other blade the
negative pole of the circuits; the conductors also form pairs, one conductor
of each pair being set in contact with the positive blade and the other with
the negative blade of a pair of blades; besides one conductor of each pair is
connected to one wire and the other conductor of the pair to another wire, so
as to enable each pair of wires to form an electric circuit, or the current may
be caused to pass through an induction coil or bobbin. A revolving motion
at high speed being imparted to the arbor an electric circuit will be formed
at each time each pair of blades comes in contact with one of the pairs of
conductors, and as this will take place a great many times in one second the
apparatus will cause the electricity to be abstracted in an efficacious manner
from the galvanic battery or other suitable generator of electricity with which
the apparatus is put in contact.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Pierre Gillard in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
PIERRE GILLARD, of Paris, France, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Pierre Gillard, Her special licence that I, the said
Joseph Pierre Gillard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Pierre Gillard, 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

page_text: for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ATTRACTING, EXCITING, AND DISTRIBUTING
IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS RAPID SUCCESSIONS OF ELECTRIC CURRENTS DERIVED FROM
THE VOLTAIC PILE OR OTHER ELECTRIC APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Pierre Gillard, 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 Joseph Pierre Gillard, 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 :-
These improvements in apparatus for attracting, exciting, and distributing
in various directions rapid successions of electric currents derived from the
voltaic pile or from magneto-electric or electro-magnetic engines relate to a
mechanical arrangement which I call electro-polyphore, in which a rapid
revolving motion is imparted to one or more arbors, each of them carrying.
fixed to them a serie or series of pairs of metal blades or one or more pairs of
metal discs, between each pair of which is situated a coil of insulated metal
wire receiving the electric current from a galvanic battery or other suitable
generator of dynamic electricity, the discs conveying the current at extremely
rapid intervals to a series of conductors fixed round the periphery of the said
discs in the inner periphery of an enveloping drum, and so as to give rise to
a rapid succession of alternate breakings and closings or formings of the
electric circuit, by which means the tension or strength of the current will be
considerably increased and abstracted or attracted with the utmost rapidity
from the battery or other electro-generating apparatus, and may be applied in'
a much more beneficial manner than was hitherto possible to any purposes for
which electric currents may be made subservient.
In order to make the Invention more easily understood I will now fully
describe the arrangement and mode of working of the apparatus I make use
of for the above-described purposes, and refer thereby to the annexed
Drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a side and Fig. 2 a front elevation view of
the apparatus which I call electro-polyphore; Fig. 3 shows an outside, and
Fig. 4 a longitudinal sectional view of one of the conducting rollers in working
size, whereas the Figs. 1 & 2 are at about one-tenth of this size. In the
Figs. 1 & 2 part of the apparatus is represented as cut away in order better

page_text: to show the arrangement of the interior. In all these Figures the same
letters of reference show corresponding parts.
The apparatus consists of a cast-iron or other strong frame A provided with
bearings a, a, a, a, in which turn the horizontal revolving arbors B & B of
two pairs of circular discs C & D and C¹ & D¹ of sheet iron, brass, or other
suitable metal. The arbors are kept duly insulated from the ground by
suitable insulating linings of the bearings or other well known means, and the
plates or discs of each pair are situated parallel to each other and at a
suitable distance apart for allowing a coil P of duly insulated copper or other
suitable wire to be laid between them round the top of the arms 6 which
connect the plates C & D and C¹ & D¹ respectively to their arbors B & B¹.
Each of these coils is formed by preference of two wires, one end p of one of
which is in metallic communication with a brass ring Q fixed on the arbor B,
whereas the other end p of this wire communicates with a brass cross stay R,
connecting the periphery of the discs C & D, to which cross stay is also
connected one end of the other wire, the other end of which is connected in a
similar manner to a cross stay R' situated diametrically opposite to the stay R.
Between the other pair of discs C¹ & D¹ is situated a similar coil, one end of
both wires of which is connected to the ring Q' and the other end to the outer
periphery of the discs C¹ & D'. Round the entire periphery of these discs
C & D and in contact with them is provided a series of brass cross stays S,
situated at regular distances apart and connecting together these two discs,
whilst the space left free between each two succeeding stays S is filled up
with wood or any other suitable bad conductor of electricity, the outer surface
of, which is situated flush with that of the stays S, so as to make the entire
form a regular circular ring, in immediate contact with which are kept the
rollers t of a series of friction rollers T. The arbor B with its dises C & D
and the cross stays of these dises forms what I call an electric revolving
drum X, the arbor B¹ with its dises C¹ & D' and cross stays forming in the
same manner the other electric revolving drum X'. By means of the pulleys
V & V a suitable revolving motion obtained from any suitable prime mover
may be transmitted to the said drums, by preference causing them to turn in
opposite directions to each other. Each of the two revolving drums is fixed
in a concentric manner in the inside of a wooden enveloping drum M & M',
in the inner periphery of which latter are fixed a series of metal friction
rollers T situated at regular distance apart, viz., at the same distance as that
left between the cross stays S, the rollers t of these friction rollers T being
kept in close contact with the outer periphery of the revolving drums X and X¹

page_text: by the effect of suitable springs to, as will be hereafter described; and as the
rollers t will thus come alternately in contact with a conducting part (the
cross stays S or R & R') and with the non-conducting parts situated between
these cross stays, by which means the electric circuit will be established at
each time the rollers come in contact with the said cross stays, whereas the
circuit will be broken at each time these rollers pass over the insulating
parts.
From Fig. 2 it may be observed in what manner the ring Q being put in
metallic connection with one of the poles of a galvanic battery, conveys the
current through the coil P and the plates C & D, and by means of the cross
stays R&R to the brass rollers T; each of these latter entirely made of
brass or any other suitable metal consists of a roller t turning on a spindle t¹
in a forked arm t2, the top of which glides freely in a socket t, whilst a tail-
piece of the arm t provided with a spiral spring to passes through a hole in
the top of the socket t, by means of which latter the connecting rollers T are
fixed against the inner periphery of the drums M & M', with the free end of
the tail pieces t³ projecting at the outside beyond the outer surface of these
drums in order that these tail pieces may serve as conductors for the electric
circuit. The springs keep the rollers t constantly pressed against the outer
periphery of the revolving drums M & M', by which means these rollers t
will, during the revolution of the said drums come alternately and at very
rapid successions in contact with the metal cross stays and with the insulating
parts, and thus the circuit be alternately formed and opened or broken. In the
same manner as the ring Q of the revolving drum X is put in communication
with one pole of the battery, the ring Q' of the other revolving drum X' is
with the other pole, and if consequently Y represents the polar terminal of the
revolving drum X and Y', the terminal of the other revolving drum X', the
electric circuit will be completed by connecting the said terminals or by
interposing in metallic contact with the said terminals a galvanometer or any
apparatus or parts to which it is wished to apply the electric current, the
effect or tension of which will be found greatly increased comparatively to
whether the same had merely proceeded from the same battery without having
passed previously through my apparatus.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be put into effect, I
declare that I do not intend to restrict myself to the precise details of the
above-described apparatus as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the main principles of the Invention, but what I consider to be

page_text: novel and original is, the general arrangement and mode of working of the
apparatus with the object of increasing the intensity, tension, or strength
of an electric current derived from any suitable generator of dynamic
electricity.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Pierre Gillard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, Eighteen hundred and
sixty-seven.
J. P. GILLARD. (L.S.)