IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDUCING ELECTRIC SPARKS FOR GAS LIGHTING AND LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1884

page_text: I, ALEXANDER REID MOLISON, at the Office for Patents, 17 and 18, Southampton
Buildings, in the county of Middlesex, Electrician, do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDUCING ELECTRIC
SPARKS FOR GAS LIGHTING AND LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object further improvements on the apparatus for
which Letters Patent were granted to me No 1295 of 1883 and also to me in
conjunction with Otway Edward Woodhouse and Frederick Lawrence Rawson
No 5036 of 1883.
My present invention is designed to further simplify and cheapen the said
apparatus.
In carrying out my present invention I arrange a disc of vulcanite or other
insulating material having a circumferential flange round it or a metallic ring
fitted so as to form a shallow circular box.
In this working on a pivot is placed a revolving disc of insulating material
carrying metallic plates or foil placed toward the box.
The inducing plates or armatures are placed on the bottom of the said box and
I prefer covering them with a thin plate of insulating material,
The brushes or springs are now screwed or otherwise fastened to the bottom of
the box and when the revolving plate is in place it will be seen they lie between
the plates.
A suitable handle is provided to hold the apparatus and also means for revolving
one of the discs and conducting the spark as in my former apparatus or in like
convenient manner.
POPPLEWELL, COLTON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE DI ECIFICATION.
I, ALEXANDER REID MOLISON, at the Office for Patents, 17 & 18 Southampton
Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, but now of 17 Fern Terrace, Swansea, in
the County of Glamorgan, Electrician, do hereby declare the nature of my
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDUCING ELECTRIC SPARKS
FOR GAS LIGHTING AND LIKE PURPOSES" and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention has for its object further improvements on the apparatus for
which Letters Patent were granted to me Number 1295, bearing date 12th of
March 1883 and also to me in conjunction with Otway Edward Woodhouse and
Frederick Lawrence Rawson Number 5036 bearing date 23rd of October 1883.
My present invention is designed to further simplify and cheapen the said
apparatus.
In carrying out my present invention, I arrange a disc of vulcanite or other
insulating material having a circumferential flange round it, or a metallic ring
fitted so as to form a shallow circular box.
In this, working on a pivot, is placed a revolving disc of insulating material
carrying metallic plates or foil placed toward the box.
The inducing plates or armatures are placed on the bottom of the said box, and
I prefer covering them with a thin plate of insulating material.
The brushes or springs are now screwed or otherwise fastened to the bottom of
the box, and when the revolving plate is in place it will be seen they lie between
the plates.
A suitable handle is provided to hold the apparatus, and also means for revolving
one of the discs and conducting the spark, as in my former apparatus, or in like
convenient manner.
In order that my invention may be the better understood, I now proceed to
describe the same, reference being had to the drawings hereto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my improved apparatus.
Figure 2 is a side elevation showing the bottom of the containing box with the
revolving disc removed.
Figure 3 shows the inner face of the revolving disc with the metallic plates
thereon.
Like letters refer to similar parts in the different views.
A is the containing box of vulcanite or other insulating material, provided with
a circumferential flange so as to form a shallow circular box.
B is the revolving
dise of insulating material, such as vulcanite, mounted upon the fixed pivot C and
capable of revolving freely thereon. Upon the interior bottom face of the
containing box A are fixed the inducing metallic armatures D preferably of metallic
foil. These I cover with a thin plate of insulating material, or varnish, by which
their insulation from each other is more effectually preserved, and their electrical

page_text: charge prevented from passing to the opposite metallic surfaces on the revolving
disc. Upon the opposite contiguous face of the revolving disc B are provided other
metallic plates E E, and these may again be covered with a thin plate of insulating
material or varnish, with the exception of such parts of these plates as are in the
path of the spring contacts F F¹, F", making metallic contact therewith as the
said disc revolves, in which case the armatures D, on the fixed surface opposite,
may be left exposed.
The said springs or brushes are situated at the bottom of the shallow circular
box A and thus lie between the bottom of the box and the revolving disc, when
the latter is mounted in place. The springs FF screwed or otherwise attached
to the armatures D, respectively, make metallic contact between the respective
armatures D and the metallic plates E successively as the disc revolves. The
springs FF form a bridge connection between opposite pairs of the metallic
plates E E on the disc B successively as they revolve. The springs F1 F11 collect
the accumulated charge of statical electricity of opposite kinds, and effect discharge,
the one through a circuit represented by the exterior metallic ring G surrounding
the box, and the metallic tube H to the sparking point K; and the other direct
through a central insulated wire within the tube H, to the sparking point L;
discharge being effected by a spark between the two said points. The relative
inductive action of the two sets of metallic plates upon one another is well known
and is similar to that of the Voss induction machine, and need not therefore be
further described being no part of this invention.
The apparatus is conveniently mounted upon a handle M for the convenience of
the operator, and the revolving disc B is provided with a milled thumb nut N by
which rotation can be conveniently communicated to the disc B.
-
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The construction of an apparatus for inducing electrical sparking for gas lighting
and like purposes, in the form of a revolving disc, rotating in the open mouth of a
shallow circular box, the inducing surfaces being placed upon the inner contiguous
faces of the said box and disc, one or both of them being protected by a thin plate
of insulating material or varnish, and the contact springs thereby wholly lying
between the induced and inducing plates, substantially as described.
Data AL!.
1
$100k
FELL & WILDING,
Agents for the Applicant.