IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ELECTRICITY, AND APPLYING IT TO PRODUCE MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lieut.-Colonel James Baker, of the Army and Navy
Club, Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ELECTRICITY, AND APPLYING
IT TO PRODUCE MOTIVE POWER."
Sealed the 29th October 1867, and dated the 4th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lieut.-Colonel James
Baker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th May 1867.
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 APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ELECTRICITY, AND APPLYING
IT TO PRODUCE MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
My improvements apply in the first place to the construction of thermo-
electric batteries; and, secondly, to engines in which electricity, particularly
thermo-electricity, is employed to produce motive power.
In constructing thermo-electric batteries numerous bars of thermo-electric
material are arranged in a series side by side in a row with intervals between
them, in which intervals conductors are placed, so as to connect one end of
each bar with the opposite end of the next, or to connect any of the bars with
a main conductor. Sometimes I fill the intervals between the bars with non-
conducting material. I place another row of bars similarly arranged with one
end of each opposite to and at a little distance from the ends of each of those

page_text: in the row first described, so as to afford a passage for heated products of
combustion or other heating matter between the rows; above the rows so
arranged I place successive rows of like kind, so as to form numerous layers
of bars, each layer being insulated by earthenware plates or suitable material.
The heating matter entering the space between the two lowest rows heats the
ends of the bars in those rows, and passes upwards between the successive
rows until it finally escapes at the top, having in its course expended a large
portion of its heat upon the ends of the bars; as by this arrangement the
lower bars are heated to a higher temperature than the upper bars, the
intensity of electric current produced by the heat is greater in each of
the lower bars than in each of the upper bars. In order to equalize the
intensity of the general currents I sometimes, by arranging the conductors,
combine a few of the lower bars together in a series and a greater number of
each successive row according as the intensity in each row diminishes. As it
is desirable while heating one end of each bar to keep the other cool I some-
times lay the bars at an angle to the horizon, the heated ends being higher
than the other ends, and I give to the insulating plates between the rows a
trough-like form, and partially charge them with water or other cooling
material, so that the ends of the bars are immersed therein.
In constructing engines in which electricity is employed to produce motive
power I adopt the following arrangement:-I groove several plates of soft
iron, and in the grooves of each plate I lay conducting wires insulated from
the plates in such a manner that when a current of electricity is transmitted
through the conducting wires it has to pass along one groove and return along
the next, and so on alternately; this has the effect of rendering the grooved
plate magnetic. I arrange the several plates so prepared either in a row
parallel to each other, or as radii from a centre, the surface of each being at
a little distance from that of the next, and I fix them to brass or other non-
magnetic guides, or to arms or spokes mounted on an axis, so that they can
be opened apart or closed up towards one of the set of plates which is fixed.
The plate farthest from that which is fixed, or the arms to which it is attached
act by a connecting rod on a crank, and the spaces between the several plates
of the set are regulated by means of toggle-jointed rods or bars connecting
each to each. On the axis of the crank I mount an eccentric or cam to work
conmutating apparatus for making and breaking electric contact at suitable
points of each revolution. I also arrange several sets of such plates as I
have described above with their connecting rods to work either on one crank
at different angles or on several cranks on the same shaft, and I arrange the
commutating apparatus to make and break contact for each set of plates in

page_text: succession. By this means whenever contact is made for one set of plates the
electric current passing along their grooves magnetizes them, and causes them
to attract each other and close up towards the plate which is fixed, the farthest
plate being thus made to move over a space which is the sum of all the spaces
moved over by the plates, and the connecting rod attached to the farthest plate
is thus made to actuate the crank through a part of a revolution. Contact is
then broken with this set and their attraction ceases, but another set is
brought into action, and the movement of the crank is continued, the first set
of plates being drawn apart to be ready for a succeeding contact being made.
I prefer to fix a fly wheel on the crank shaft, so as to carry it over the parts
of its revolution where the action is weak, and to equalize the velocity of the
apparatus. Sometimes by suitably arranging the commutating apparatus I
change the direction of the electric current through some of the plates of
each set, so as to cause them to open apart by repulsion as well as to close
together by attraction, and so to act on the crank in both directions. Some-
times when I use attractive force only, instead of connecting the guides or
arms to which the plates are attached by toggle joints, I insert springs
between each adjacent pair of plates to keep them apart, unless when they
are drawn together by their attractive force exceeding the repelling force of
the springs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Lieut.-Colonel James Baker in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Lieut.-
Colonel JAMES BAKER, of the Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Baker, Her special licence, that I, the said James Baker, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Baker, 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

page_text: Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GENERATING
ELECTRICITY, AND APPLYING IT TO PRODUCE MOTIVE POWER," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said James Baker, 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 James Baker, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements apply in the first place to the construction of thermo-
electric batteries, and secondly to engines in which electricity, particularly
thermo-electricity is employed to produce motive power.
In constructing thermo-electric batteries I arrange numerous bars of thermo-
electric material in a row with intervals between them, in which intervals
conductors are placed so as to connect one end of each bar with the opposite
end of the next, or to connect any of the bars with a main conductor. Some-
times I fill the intervals between the bars with non-conducting material; I
place another row of bars similarly arranged with one end of each opposite to
and at a little distance from the ends of each of those in the. row first described
50 as to afford a passage for heated products of combustion or other heating
matter between the rows. Above the rows so arranged I place successive
rows of like kind so as to form numerous layers of bars, each layer being insu-
lated by earthenware plates or suitable material. The heating matter entering
the spaces between the two lowest rows heat the ends of the bars in those
rows, and passes upwards between the successive rows until it finally escapes
at the top, having in its course expended a large portion of its heat upon the
ends of the bars. As by this arrangement the lower bars are heated to a higher
temperature than the upper bars, the intensity of electric current produced by
the heat is greater in each of the lower bars than in each of the upper bars.
In order to equalize the intensity of the general current I sometimes by
arranging the conductors combine a few of the lower bars together in a
series, and a greater number of each successive row according as the intensity
in each row diminishes. As it is desirable, while heating one end of each bar
to keep the other cool, I sometimes lay the bars at an angle to the horizon,
the heated ends being higher than the other ends, and I give to the insulating

page_text: plates between the rows a trough-like form and partially charge them with
water or other cooling material so that the ends of the bars are immersed
therein.
In constructing engines in which electricity is employed to produce motive
power I adopt the following arrangement:-I groove several plates of soft
iron, and in the grooves of each plate I lay conducting wires insulated from
the plates in such a manner that when a current of electricity is transmitted
through the conducting wires it has to pass along one groove and return along
the next and so on alternately; this has the effect of rendering the grooved
plate magnetic. I arrange the several plates so prepared either in a row
parallel to each other or as radii from a centre, the surface of each being at a
little distance from that of the next, and I fix them to brass or other non-
magnetic guides, or to arms or spokes mounted on an axis so that they can
be opened apart or closed up towards one of the set of plates which is fixed.
The plates farthest from that which is fixed, or the arms to which it is attached,
act by a connecting rod on a crank, and the spaces between the several plates
of the set are regulated by means of toggle-jointed rods or bars connecting
each to each. On the axis of the crank I mount an excentric or cam to work
commutating apparatus for making and breaking electric contact at suitable
points of each revolution. I also arrange several sets of such plates as I have
described above with their connecting rods to work either on one crank at
different angles, or on several cranks on the same shaft, and I arrange the
commutating apparatus to make and break contact for each set of plates in
succession. By this means whenever contact is made for one set of plates
the electric current passing along their grooves maguetizes them and causes
them to attract each other and close up towards the plate which is fixed, the
farthest plate being thus made to move over a space which is the sum of all
the spaces moved over by the plates; and the connecting rod attached to the
farthest plate is thus made to actuate the crank through a part of a revolution;
contact is then broken with this set and their attraction ceases, but another
set is brought into action and the movement of the crank is continued, the
first set of plates being drawn apart to be ready for a succeeding contact being
nade.
I prefer to fix a fly wheel on the crank shaft so as to carry it over the
parts of its revolution where the action is weak and to equalize the velocity"
of the apparatus.
Sometimes, by suitably arranging the commutating
apparatus, I change the direction of the electric current through some of the
plates of each set so as to cause them to open apart by repulsion as well as
to close together by attraction, and so to act on the crank in both directions.

page_text: Sometimes, when I use attractive force only, instead of connecting the guides
or arms to which the plates are attached by toggle joints, I insert springs
between each adjacent pair of plates to keep them apart, unless when they
are drawn together by their attractive force exceeding the repelling force of
are drawn together by their attractive force exceeding the repelling force of
the springs.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure I represents a section, and Figure 2, represents part of a sectional
plan of a thermo-electric battery arranged according to my Invention.
a, a, are bars of thermo-electric metal, such as an alloy of zinc and anti-
mony, or of other thermo-electric substance such as sulphide of copper; each
of these bars is covered at each end by a cap a, a, as, which I prefer to
be of German silver, but which may be of other material suitable for the con-
duction and exaltation of the electric current generated by applying heat to
one end of each of the bars a; 61, 6s, are conducting bars made of the same
material, and formed in one with the caps of the bars a. When two of the
necessary to cast
caps thus form all one piece with the conducting bar 6' it is
the bar a into both its caps, and as it is preferable to cast these bars with the
end that is to be heated downwards one of the caps may have a hole in it
through which the melted material can he poured. Each cap has a lip
enclosing the end of the bar, and also a central nipple or core entering into
the substance of the bar. Thus, whether the bar expands or contracts in
cooling it is brought into close contact either with the lip or with the core of
the cap.
The bars a, a, a, may be combined together as represented in the
Drawing so as to form one pile, one pole of which communicates by the con-
ductor 6³, and the other pole by the conductor 6' to the instrument or apparatus
in which the electricity may be used; or, instead of uniting only three bars as
represented any other number may be so united, the intensity of the electric
force being to a certain extent dependent on the number; the bars are placed
side by side, and in several layers in a wall of earthenware, baked clay, or
other material c, which is a bad conductor of heat and electricity. Two sets
of these layers are placed with their respective bars end to end, leaving
between them a hot chamber d; this chamber may be heated either by
admitting into it the products of combustion from a stove or furnace mode-
rated to a temperature below the melting point of the bars, or by gas in the
manner represented in the Drawing, where e is a gas pipe perforated along
the upper side, and placed under a strip of wire gauze e¹, extending the
whole length of the battery. Air passing each side of the pipe mingles with
the gas, and a row of flames one over each hole in the pipe burns above the

page_text: gauze e. The products of combustion ascend through the chamber d, heating
the ends of the bars a, and finally escape at the top through openings formed
under each edge of a tile or other suitable capping laid so as to prevent the
heated products from escaping too rapidly, and cause them to travel upwards
along the sides of the chamber. The other ends of the bars a which project on
either side beyond the walls c may be left exposed to the air, but as it is
generally desirable to keep them cool, I prefer to pack loosely round them
wool, cotton, felt, hair or other fibrous or spongy substance, which can be
kept moistened by water, or if preferred by alcohol, ether, or other volatile
substance, or by water or saline solutions cooled, dry freezing mixtures, or
otherwise; ff, are tubes for supplying the cooling liquid; these tubes are
formed with a slit along their under sides, and this slit is filled with a band
or strip of felt, cloth, or other porous and soft fabric, which is held between
the lips or flanges of the slit, and can be compressed by means of screw bolts
drawing them together so as to regulate the quantity of liquid oozing through
the fabric; ff, are troughs, in which is collected such of the liquid as
percolates through the fibrous packing, and from which it flows by waste
pipes f, f. Although in the Drawing I have represented the battery as
consisting of only three layers of bars in height, the number of layers may be.
greater, being limited only by the quantity of heat that can be obtained in
the upper part of the chamber d; and the number of bars laid side by side in
each layer may be greater or less according to the length of the battery, of
which only one extremity is represented in Figure 2. I would have it under-
stood that I lay no claim to the material of which the thermo-electric bars a
or the conducting bars 6 and caps are made, as the materials which I have
mentioned for bars and conductors are well known and in use for the produc-
tion of thermo-electricity.
Figure 3 is a section of an apparatus constructed according to my Invention
for producing motive power from electricity or thermo-electricity and mag-
netism; Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 represent certain details, hereafter referred to.
It is well known that if iron plates be grooved and electric wires or bundles
of wires be laid in the grooves insulated from the plates themselves, when a
current of electricity passes through the wires the plates are rendered mag-
netic and capable of attracting other plates of iron or plates of the same
kind rendered suitably magnetic in the same manner.
There are various modes of grooving and constructing such plates; one
mode is represented in Figure 4, which is a section, and Figure 5, which is a
front view; as this mode is known I refer to it only in order to explain the
action of the apparatus. a is the plate with several grooves in it, and 6 is a

page_text: bundle of wires, by preference copper wires, enclosed in a sheath of insulating
material which pass along the one groove and back by the next in a zig-zag ;
when electricity passes through these wires the plate acquires a magnetic
polarity; I sometimes use a modification of this arrangement, which I believe
is novel.
A plate constructed according to my modification is represented in section
in Figure 6. I introduce in the same grooves with the main conductor ba
secondary conductor c insulated from the former as well as from the plate.
When the magnetic force is developed by the influence of the first conductor b
an induced current of electricity is caused to circulate in the second con-
ductor c, and may be led to any apparatus where it can be utilized; when the
secondary conductor c is used to magnetize other sets of plates the induced
current is utilized and reacts favorably on the first set of plates; such an
arrangement contributes also to the reduction or suppression of the spark at
making or breaking contact with the primary conductors.
In the apparatus represented in Figure 3 I employ 16 plates constructed in
either of the ways above described; these are divided into 4 sets each of 4
plates, and as the action in each set is similar, I will describe it only in
reference to one set. Of this set the plate a¹ is fixed to the framing of the
apparatus, and a is fixed to a vibrating arm, which by means of a connecting
rod d' is made to act on a crank e; the other two plates a³ and a* are fixed
to a vibrating arm so as to present their faces to the faces of a¹ and a
respectively; the vibrating arm to which a³ and a* are attached is guided by
toggle joints f, so that it always during the vibration of the plate a³ is midway
between a and a³. The other 3 sets of plates are arranged in a similar
way so that 2 sets act by one connecting rod d¹ on the crank and the other
two sets act on the same crank by another connecting rod d, and as the
plates are arranged the two connecting rods acting on the same crank have
the effect of two sets acting on cranks set at right angles to one another. In
each set of 4 plates a current of electricity is made to pass along the con-
ductors in the grooves of the plates, and from one plate to the other, so as to
render them mutually attractive; the current is then broken so that their
attraction is destroyed, and so on alternately, and commutators are arranged
to time these alternations in each set of plates in such a manner as to propel
the vibrating arm and with it the connecting rod backwards and forwards, and
so to give rotary motion to the crank shaft.
I will now describe the conmutator which I prefer to use for alternating
the flow of electricity in the different sets of plates; I premise, however, that
this commutator governs the connection of the conductors with only one of

page_text: the poles of the battery where the electricity is produced, the other pole being
always in connection with the opposite end of those conductors, no current
being transmitted through the conductors except when the circuit is completed
by means of the commutator.
Figure 7 represents a front view of the commutators for the 8 plates on one
side of the apparatus, the commutator for the other 8 plates being similar in
form and movement. g is an excentric acting by a rod on a vibrating lever h,
which is made of conducting material, and is always in electric connection
with the battery; 2, 3, are two vibrating levers which are also conducting,
and are always in electrical connection each with one set of 4 plates; these
levers are pressed by springs towards the lever h, but their range is checked.
by adjusting screws so that they are not permitted to vibrate beyond a certain
point. As the lever h passes the middle of its stroke in one direction it bears
against the face of the lever i¹, and thus completes the circuit through one set
of plates during the time of its stroke to its full range and back to its middle
position; it then bears against the lever and thus completes the circuit with
the other set of plates, and so on alternately. By means of the adjusting
screws the levers i, i, can be permitted to retain contact with h for an instant
after it passes its middle position in either direction, so that the electrical
current may be established through the one set of plates before it is cut off
from the other. The precise time of making and breaking contact is adjusted
by the setting of the eccentric on the shaft in reference to the crank. Owing
to the arrangement of the connecting rods working at right angles to one
another on one crank, one eccentric suffices to act on the two commutators by
rods also at right angles to one another. The eccentric rods are of non-
conducting material, or are at least insulated from the lever h, and the levers
h, 1, and i, are insulated from one another and from any metallic part of the
framing; this is effected by fixing them on wood, vulcanite, or other insu-
lating material, or by passing the pins on which the levers work through insu-
ating bushes. When the plates are fitted with secondary conductors, as
above described, these secondary conductors can be put in communication with
the plates of another machine similarly constructed and acting on the same
haft. The secondary conductors of each set of plates would in this case be
uited end to end not necessarily requiring a commutator because their
nduced current is regulated by the main current which the commutator
governs in the primary conductors.
Although I have represented and described four sets of plates each containing
plates, other numbers may be employed. It is advantageous to make the
troke or vibration of each plate small in order that the attracting surfaces

page_text: may not be too far apart, and increasing the number of plates necessarily
increases the stroke of that which is farthest removed from the fixed end of
the system.
Instead of mounting the plates upon vibrating arms they might be made in
any number to slide in a line perpendicular to their surface, and the last plate
of each set might be connected to a crank having a stroke which is the sum of
the strokes of all the plates in the set, and several such systems of plates might
be arranged side by side acting on cranks set at different angles on the same
shaft.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Baker, bave hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JAMES BAKER. (L.S.)