IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MOTORS CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Southampton Buildings, London, Patent Agents, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MOTORS CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR
RAILWAY CARRIAGES."-A communication from abroad by Solomon
Jones, of New Orleans, Louisiana, William Hugh Smith, of
Randolph, Alabama, and James Harkins Weaver, of New Orleans,
TTL tatra of Amamion
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 2nd February 1871, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Southampton
Buildings, London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
°
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRO-MOTORS CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES," and have peti-

page_text: tioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by
Solomon Jones, of New Orleans, Louisiana, William Hugh Smith, of
Randolph, Alabama, and James Harkins Weaver, of New Orleans, 5
Louisiana, all in the United States of America..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the follow- 1
ing statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing
forming a part of this Specification :—
The object of this Invention is to furnish an improved electro-motor
which while it is represented as an agent to be used in propelling
railway carriages is also admirably adapted to drive any other class of 1
machinery.
The nature of the said Invention is as follows:-To the under surface
of the carriage and at the centre thereof on a suitable bearing: I so
pivot a long horizontal lever that the utmost freedom of an oscillating
movement may be had. On suitable centres which are at points near 2
the ends of the main lever I pivot two short levers which like the main
lever are so secured on their bearings as to also allow to them a free
vibrating or oscillating movement. At the outer ends of the main-and
the inner ends of the short levers are secured armatures. These
armatures are attached directly to the sides of the levers and in such 2
manner that their full surface shall be presented for the action or
attraction of the electro-magnets, which are eight in number, and so
arranged in pairs and connected with the battery that those diagonally
opposite shall at the same instant have their circuits completed by being
brought in contact with the battery. The circuits are alternately 3
broken and completed and the opposite sets of diagonal cross magnets
are excited through the action of keys on the current.breaker bars being
thrown against or freed from contact with the connecting points which
are for this purpose so arranged that one shall be in communication
with each set of diagonal magnets. The keys that thus alternately 3
render the magnets active are attached to the ends of the levers which

page_text: form the current breakers. These current breakers are four in number,
and are so secured as to allow of their free movement:. They are moved
to and fro in a longitudinal direction by the pins- or stumps on their
upper face being struck by the non-conductors at the ends of the
oscillating levers. The space between these pins or stumps must be
such as to allow the necessary vibration of the lever to accomplish its
work before its non-conductor is so pushed against the pin as. to cause
the current breaker: to: break the contact with the magnet that has
attracted the lever. The power thus received from the battery through
the electro-magnets is made to operate a lever, and is transmitted from
the same to a cross bar or motor lever secured at its centre.. In this
lies the chief feature of the said Invention and the one from which flows
its greatest advantages, as I gain, as will: readily be seen by any one at
all familiar with mechanics all the advantage of leverage which results
from having the long arm of the lever, as in the crow bar, between the
power and the fulcrum.. The power thus received is "communicated
through ratchet rods attached to the cross, bar and suitable ratchet
gearing on the carriage axle or wheel.
Figure 1 is a bottom view or a ramway carriage with the electro-motor
attached; Figure 2 is a bottom view of a carriage, parts of the electro-
motor being detached in order to show the wires connecting the different
batteries..
.
A is a platform on the under face of which the electro-magnets and
the entire operating mechanism through which their power is com-
municated are secured. This platform A may be an independent one,
or when the motor is used on railways the platform may be the floor
of the carriage, the same being properly strengthened for the purpose.
B, B¹, .C, C³, D, D', E, E', are the electro-magnets which are secured in
suitable bearings on the under side of the platform A. These are of the
ordinary construction and connected with the batteries by means of
the wires a, a, and the connecting screws A', A³, on the upper face of
the platform in the usual manner. These magnets are arranged as
shown, and those diagonally opposite, videlicet, B, B, C, C, D, D',. and
E, E', are united by means of the cross wires b, c, d, e, as clearly shown
in Figure 2. F is a long horizontal bar or lever, and is secured on the

page_text: under side of the platform A and on a suitable bearing F₁; this bar or
lever is to be secured on its bearing in such manner as to allow of a free
oscillating or vibrating movement; f, f, are armatures secured near
the ends, and f³, f, are non-conductors secured at the ends of the
lever F. These armatures f,f, are four in number, and are so attached
on the sides of the lever F that their greatest surface shall be toward the
electro-magnets B, B', and C, C. G is the motor lever which is firmly
connected with the lever F at its point of bearing F¹, and extends at
right angles thereto. The connection of these levers is such that the
slightest oscillation of the one shall impart a like movement but in the
opposite direction to the other. H, H, are two short levers that are
pivotted at suitable centres on the lever F. These levers are each
provided with two armatures, one attached to the side of each prong of
their forked heads and opposite the electro-magnets D, D', and E, E¹.
Between the prongs of the forked end of these levers are secured non-
conductors h³, h'. The shanks of these levers H, H, pass between pins
on two short cross arms H', H', secured to the main lever F, and at
right angles thereto, by which means through the action alternately of
the connected electro-magnets D, D', and E, E', on the armatures h, h,
of the levers H, H, the lever F is drawn in such relative position to the
electro-magnets B, B, and C, C₁, that alternately those diagonally
opposite shall through the armatures f, f, communicate their full power
to the lever F. K, K, are four sliding bars or levers which form the
current breakers, and are so secured in suitable bearings on the under
side of the platform A as to allow them the necessary movement to
complete and break the connection between the battery and the electro-
magnets which is done through the action of the keys k, k, attached
at the ends of the levers K, K, on the connecting points K¹, K', which
are eight in number, four. being attached to the electro-magnets and
four independent. Thus each set of diagonally connected electro-.
magnets such as B, B¹, is furnished with both the positive and negative.
connecting points which enable the levers F. and H, H, (through their
non-conductors f, f, and h³, h, being forced against the bearing pins
on the upper face of the sliding bar or current breakers K, K,) to so.
automatically move the said sliding bars as to complete and interrupt
the current that at the desired moment the batteries. directly opposite.
shall be brought into action. L, L, are ratchet pitman rods which are
attached to the ends of the motor lever G, and which gear. with the

page_text: wheels L, L', which may be attached either to the axle M, or carriage
wheels M'. Instead of two ratchet pitman rods L, L, four may be used,
two running in the opposite direction and gearing in wheels secured on
the other axle but not shown in the Drawing. This arrangement
enables the carriage to be run in either direction with equal facility.
When the mechanism is thus arranged the pitman rods are to be so
connected that those in the rear may be rendered inoperative, and
instead of a single oscillating bar F, two or more may be used, being so
connected that they shall work on a common centre. Two batterics
are used, which are connected by their positive and negative poles to
the binding screws A' and A³ respectively.
The operation of this Invention is as follows:-The connection with
the battery is completed with any two of the electro-magnets. To
illustrate, say D, D', which attract the armatures h, h, on the bars H, H,
which face them, or to which they are opposite, this draws the bars
H, against the pins on the cross arms H', H', of the bar F, and by
this means moves the bar or lever F sufficiently far out of the true
horizontal line of its bearing as to bring two of its armatures f, f, in such
relative position to the electro-magnets B, B', that their full power shall
be exerted on the end of the lever F; but the electro-magnets D, D', in
thus drawing the armatures h, h, to them necessarily so move the bars
H, H, that their non-conductors h', h¹, shall be thrown against the pins
on the sliding bars of the current breakers K, K, which so change their
relative position as instantly to cause them to interrupt the positive
connection between the electro-magnets D, D', and to complete it with"
the electro-magnets E, E', which are now in condition through the
armatures h, h, on which they act to move the bars H, H, in an exactly
opposite direction. Action precisely similar in every respect to that
described as alternately exciting the electro-magnets D, D', and E, E',
the bar F through the action of its non-conductor accomplishes with the
electro-magnets B, B, and C, C¹. It will be observed that the
armatures on the levers H, H, are acted upon by the electro-magnets.
D, D', that these levers by pressing against the pins on the arms H', H','
so move the level F as to subject two of its armatures to the direct action
of the electro-magnets B, B¹. These electro-magnets now being con-.
nected with the battery will so draw the armatures that the lever F is
so moved that its non-conductors f¹, f¹, shall be thrown against the pins.

page_text: on the sliding bars K, K, of the outer current breakers with such force
as to move these bars sufficiently far to interrupt the connection between
the battery and the electro-magnets B, B',, and which is instantly
completed with the electro-magnets C, C. The electro-magnets E, E',
and C, C¹, are now in condition to repeat exactly the operation by which
the armatures first on the levers H, H, were brought against the clectro-
magnets D, D¹, and then those at the ends of the lever F against the
electro-magnets B, B¹. As these changes by the non-conductors are
effected instantaneously through the current breakers a uniform and
continuous oscillating or vibrating motion is imparted to the lever F,
which of course is at the centre bearing, Fl communicated to the motor
lever G, which in turn is oscillated, and through the ratchet pitman
rods L, L, or their equivalents communicates its. power alternately to
the wheels L', L', whereby the carriage or machinery to which the
motor is applied is propelled. Thus it will be observed that I receive
the power at the extreme ends of the lever and communicate at its
centre, thus gaining all the advantage of the leverage.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by. my foreign correspondents, I claim,
1st. The combination of the pivotted bar or lever F, the clectro-
magnets B, B, and C, C', (so arranged and connected by diagonal wires
b, c, that the necessary power to impart the oscillating motion to the
lever shall at the same instant be communicated to its opposite sides
and at its extreme ends) and lever G, and the mechanism by which power
is communicated from its centre, substantially as described and for the
purpose specified.
2nd. The levers F and H, H, with armatures attached and electro-
magnets B, B, C, C', D, D', and E, E¹, when the same are united by the
diagonal connecting wires b, c, d, e, and the whole are so combined and
arranged as to operate substantially as described and for the purpose
specified.
3rd. The sliding current breaker bars K, K, each having keys k, k,
and the connecting points K¹, K³, when the same are so arranged in
relation to the levers that the non-conductors f', f', and h', ', shall
automatically complete and interrupt the currents with different sets

page_text: of electro-magnets, substantially as described and for the purpose
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
W. J. Lowe.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. .(L.S.)