IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC LIGHTING AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Parker of Coalbrookdale in the County of Salop
and Paul Bedford Elwell of Wolverhampton in the County of Stafford for
an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC LIGHTING AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Parker and Paul
Bedford Elwell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
4th August 1882.
THOMAS PARKER of Coalbrookdale in the County of Salop, and PAUL BEDFORD
ELWELL of Wolverhampton in the County of Stafford, "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC LIGHTING AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
•
"
Our improvements relate, firstly, to incandescent lamps for electric lighting;
secondly, to secondary batteries for storing electricity; and, thirdly, to dynamo-
electric machines.
According to the first part of this invention we dry and carbonize fibres drawn
from the leaves of the Greater Plantain, or Waybread, (Plantago Major) and employ
such dried and carbonized fibres as the carbons for Incandescent Electric Lamps.
Several of this class of plants yield similar fibres, but according to our present
experience we find those of the Greater Plantain to be the best for the purpose
described. Or we use fibres drawn from the fronds or leaves of the large common
fern or feather fern The carbonized fibres are placed in slits formed down the
ends of the wires within the lamp and held therein by filling up the slits with an
amalgam of cadmium and tin similar to the amalgam stopping employed by
dentists; or the ends of the carbonized fibres and also the inner ends of the wires
may be wrapped around with sheet aluminium and held by means of the amalgamı
described, in which case it is not necessary to slit the wires. In constructing the
lamp we prefer to carry the wires through tubes having the bore of the holes
therethrough gradually enlarging from the inner ends to near the outer ends where
the bore is again reduced to about that of the inner ends. We fill each tube with
the amalgam before described and then introduce tinned copper wire, or iron wire
tinned, or iron wire copper plated and afterwards tinned, pointed at the inner end

page_text: and tapered so as to easily enter and pass through the amalgain and also tighten
itself therein when pushed in sufficiently. When the amalgam sets, the wires are
firmly held in the tubes and the holes perfectly sealed up. Before slitting the
inner ends of the wires to receive the carbons, in cases where such slits are required,
the points of such wires are cut off after being passed through the amalgam in the
tubes. The wires may be flattened outside the lamp, and a connection head of
wood or vulcanite, having two binding screws, may be employed with the two
flattened wires passing under the binding screws, thus forming the connection for
the current and also supporting the lamp. The same screws may be employed for
the current wire connection also by providing screwed washers to hold the current
wires between such washers and the screw heads; or an independent current wire
connection may be made. The two ends of the carbon may be strengthened by
temporarily short circuiting the carbon so that the current will pass only through
the parts requiring to be strengthened, and then placing the carbon in a hydro-
carbon gas and running the current through until sufficient gas is condensed on the
heated portions of the carbon. The temporary short circuit may be effected by
means of a copper wire held by a pair of pliers or other suitable support.
The usual globe is employed for the lamp and the air is exhausted and the lamp
sealed in the usual or any suitable manner.
According to the second part of this invention, we prepare lead plates for
employment in secondary batteries, used for storing up electric force, by placing
such plates in a dilute solution of sulphuric acid to which is added a small quantity
of nitric acid. A coating of sulphate of lead to any desired thickness is thus
formed upon the surface of the plates. The electrolytic hydrogen discharges the
nitric acid from the solution and thus leaves a similar solution to that employed in
an ordinary Planté Battery which acts on the plates to any desired extent and in
a short space of time; or the plates may be first developed in the first described
solution and then transferred to the usual solution employed in the Planté Battery.
The nitric acid employed in developing the plates as above described appears first to
oxidise the surface of the lead plates and then to act as a carrier to the sulphuric
acid, as in the manufacture of sulphuric acid in lead chambers, the result being that
the plates become rapidly coated with an insoluble salt of lead.
According to the third part of this invention, we employ a dynamo-electric
machine having any desired number of pairs of exciting magnets arranged at
equal intervals in a circle and one of each pair arranged opposite to the other with
the north pole opposite the north pole. The armature is constructed with bars
running parallel with the axis thereof, the same number of such bars being
employed as of magnets, each adjoining pair of bars being alternately connected
together at the ends, for instance nos 1 and 2 bars being connected together at one
end and nos 2 and 3 connected together at their opposite ends to the last
connection, and so on for all the bars around the armature, except the last pair
which are connected by strips to the commutator cylinder, thus forming a
continuous connection and giving one circuit under the magnets with reversals of
the current according to the number of magnets employed. Two or more circuits
may be produced by employing two or more independent series of bars and end
connections around the armature. As many brushes as magnets may be employed;
or the commutator strips may be carried through and connected with the opposite
strips of the same polarity, in which case two brushes will suffice. By these
means that part of the conductor of the armature not yielding electro-motive force
is cut out, thereby reducing the resistance. The commutator may be connected for
quantity or for intensity.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Thomas Parker and Paul Bedford Elwell in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 3rd February 1883.
THOMAS PARKER formerly of Coalbrookdale in the County of Salop but now of
Wolverhampton in the County of Stafford and PAUL BEDFORD ELWELL of
Wolverhampton aforesaid "IMPROVEMENTS
APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
"
IN
ELECTRIC LIGHTING AND IN
Our improvements relate, firstly, to incandescent lamps for electric lighting;
secondly, to secondary batteries for storing electricity; and, thirdly, to dynamo-
electric machines.
According to the first part of this invention we dry and carbonize fibres drawn
from the leaves of the Greater Plantain or Waybread (Plantago Major) and employ
such dried and carbonized fibres as the carbons for incandescent electric lamps.
Several of this class of plants yield similar fibres, but according to our present
experience we find those of the Greater Plantain to be the best for the purpose
described. The carbonized fibres are placed in slits formed down the ends of the
wires within the lamp, and held therein by filling up the slits with an amalgam of
cadmium and tin, similar to the amalgam stopping employed by dentist or the
ends of the carbonized fibres, and also the inner ends of the wires, may be wrapped
around with sheet aluminium and held by means of the amalgam described, in
which case it is not necessary to slit the wires. In constructing the lamp we
prefer to carry the wires through tubes having the bore of the holes therethrough
gradually enlarging from the inner ends to near the outer ends where the bore is
again reduced to about that of the inner ends. We fill each tube with the amalgam
before described and then introduce tinned copper wire, or iron wire tinned, or
iron wire copper plated and afterwards tinned, pointed at the inner end and tapered
so as to easily enter and pass through the amalgam and also tighten itself therein
when pushed in sufficiently. When the amalgam sets the wires are firmly held in
the tubes and the holes perfectly sealed up. Before slitting the inner ends of the
wires to receive the carbons, in cases where such slits are required, the points of
such wires are cut off after being passed through the amalgam in the tubes.
wires may be flattened outside the lamp, and a connection head of wood or
vulcanite, having two binding screws, may be employed with the two flattened
wires passing under the binding screws, thus forming the connection for the current
and also supporting the lamp. The same screws may be employed for the current
wire connections also by providing screwed washers to hold the current wires
between such washers and the screw heads, or an independent current wire con-
nection may be made. The two ends of the carbon may be strengthened by
temporarily short circuiting the carbon so that the current will pass only through
the parts requiring to be strengthened, and then placing the carbon in a hydro-
carbon gas and running the current through until sufficient gas is condensed on the
heated portions of the carbon. The temporary short circuit may be effected by
means of a copper vire held by a pair of pliers or other suitable support.
usual globe is emplo ed for the lamp and the air is exhausted and the lamp sealed
in the usual or any suitable manner.
The
The
According to the second part of our invention, the lead electrodes for employment
in secondary or storage batteries used for the purpose of electric lighting, are
prepared in order to facilitate their development under the action of the electric
current, by placing them in a dilute solution of sulphuric and nitric acids. The
nitric acid oxidises and dissolves some of the lead and thus causes a roughening,
J

page_text: corroding or minute honey-combing of the surface, whereby the plate is made
capable of having formed upon it, and of retaining thereupon when so formed, a
larger proportion of peroxide of lead during the action of the battery, than if such
plate were employed with its surface in its originally smooth condition. There is
also formed upon the electrodes during their preparation in the mixed acid solution,
aforesaid, sulphate of lead, to any desired extent, and this salt deposited upon the
roughened surface subsequently becomes converted during the action of the
battery into peroxide of lead, or spongy lead according to the direction of the
current.
According to this part of our invention the electrodes are prepared in about 48
hours, more or less, and when placed in the battery cell such cell is of full storage
capacity, whereas an ordinary Planté battery is not at its full capacity until after
a lengthened period of working.
The electrodes prepared as above described are preferably removed to an ordinary
Planté-battery solution (consisting of dilute sulphuric acid in the proportion of say
one part of acid to nine parts of water) for their development by the electric
current. The electrodes, however, prepared as aforesaid, may, if desired, be developed
in the solution in which they are prepared, in which case the electrolytic hydrogen
discharges the nitric acid from the solution, thus leaving a solution consisting
essentially of dilute sulphuric acid suitable for the continuous working of the
battery. By this latter method of developing the electrodes, however, the nitric
acid is lost and energy is expended in discharging it.
The nitric acid employed in preparing the electrodes, acting upon the lead in
the presence of dilute sulphuric acid, is partially regenerated for further action,
the lead being precipitated in the form of a sulphate, as before stated.
We prefer, according to our present experience, to prepare the lead electrodes in
a solution consisting of about 16th nitric acid 18th sulphuric acid and 17ths water,
and to maintain the temperature at about 90° Fahrenheit, but the proportions may
be varied to almost any desired extent.
Each electrode may, if preferred, be formed of several layers of plates, between
which layers the action of the acids will form, and leave retained, the insoluble
sulphate of lead.
Instead of commencing the preparation of the electrodes in the solution of the
mixed acids as described, such preparation may be commenced in a solution of
nitric acid to which the sulphuric acid is afterwards added, with the same effect
as is produced by the process first described.
According to either process the solution has to be strengthened, from time to
time, with additional quantities of both acids.
The electrodes may be prepared with similar effect to that already described, by
placing them in the vapour of the mixed acid solution described.
According to the third part of this invention we employ, for the purpose of
electric lighting, a dynamo-electric machine having any desired number of pairs
of exciting magnets arranged at equal intervals in a circle and alternating as to
polarity. The armature is constructed with bars running parallel with the axis
thereof, the same number of such bars being employed as of magnets, each adjoining
pair of bars being alternately connected together at the ends, that is to say nos 1
and 2 bars are connected together at one end and nos 2 and 3 are connected
together at their opposite ends to the last connection, and so on for all the bars
around the armature, except the last pair which are connected by strips to a pair
of Saxton's rings, thus forming a continuous connection through the entire circuit
of the armature and giving one circuit under the magnets with reversals of the
current at each revolution corresponding in number to the number of magnets
employed. By this arrangement the whole of the conductor, except the end
connections thereof only, is acted upon at the same time to produce an electro-
motive force. When it is desired to collect a continuous current the two open
ends of the bars on the armature may be connected respectively to a well known
arrangement of commutator consisting of two rings having strips projecting from

page_text: the one alternating between strips projecting from the other, the total number
of strips being equal to the total number of magnets employed. Two brushes are
employed one being fixed so as to be always in contact with a strip of opposite
polarity to the other.
Two or more independent circuits may be obtained by employing two or more
independent series of bars and end connections around the armature, with corre-
sponding rings for collection. In this case, when it is desired to collect a
continuous current, as many brushes as magnets may be employed, two strips
being fixed upon the commutator for each series of bars; or such strips may be
connected with opposite strips on the commutator, in which case two brushes will
suffice. By this arrangement of independent series of bars, that part of the
conductor of the armature not yielding electro-motive force is cut out, thereby
reducing the resistance.
Our improvements in dynamo-electric machines are illustrated by the accom-
panying drawings, in which figure 1 is a side elevation of a dynamo-electric
machine, with the magnets on one side removed so as to shew clearly the method
of winding the armature. Figure 2 is a transverse section taken on line x x of
figure 1. A is an armature cylinder consisting of iron wire or thin iron rings P
upon a wood or other core carried on the spindle B of the machine. CC' etc are
a number of exciting magnets arranged at equal intervals in a circle and carried
by a ring D passing around their outer extremities. The magnets alternate as to
polarity, those lettered C being say north and those lettered C₁ south. 1, 2, 3, etc.
are bars upon the armature cylinder, they are spaced equally around the circle as
shewn and are the same in number as the magnets, thus all the bars are in position
as shewn under all the magnets, one under each respectively, twelve times during
each revolution of the machine. The bars are joined together at alternate ends,
thus numbers 1 and 2 bars are joined together at one end by a connector b and
numbers and 3 bars at their opposite ends by a connector c, and so on throughout
the armature, except for the bars numbered 12 and 1 which are not connected
together direct but are carried down or connected to a pair of Saxton's rings E E
as shewn, thus forming a continuous connection through the whole circuit of bars
and connectors down to the Saxton's rings. An alternating current is thus
collected by means of the usual blocks on the rings. As the bars are connected
together at alternate ends it will be seen that though the current is excited in an
opposite direction in all the bars under the north magnets to that in which it is
excited in those under the south magnets, yet there is, on account of the connections
at alternate ends, one circuit only under the magnets considered in the direction
lengthways of the whole series of bars and connections. A reversal of the current
takes place as the bars are moved through one twelfth of a revolution, such
movement bringing the bars formerly under the north magnets into position under
the south magnets. Vulcanized fibre or other suitable insulating material is of
course laid upon the wire or rings P upon the cylinder A to receive the bars 1,
2, 3 etc., and the bars may be conveniently held in position by means of blocks of
vulcanized fibre a a etc. placed between them. These blocks are omitted in figure 1
so as more clearly to shew the contour of the bars. For convenience of manufacture
the connections of the bars may be formed in separate pieces and riveted or
otherwise fixed to the bars.
Instead of the bars 1, 2, 3, etc., wire or ribbon may be employed for the purpose
of obtaining a more intense current, in which case the wire or ribbon is wound
several times throughout the circuit, the single ends only being brought down to
the commutator. There would thus be as many connections between the set of
wires or ribbons corresponding to the bars numbered respectively 12 and 1 as in
any of the other end connections, with the exception of the single wires or ribbons
carried down to the commutator from each of the sets of wires corresponding to the
bars numbered respectively 12 and 1. The wire or ribbon is insulated to prevent
the contact of the adjoining lengths which form together any part corresponding
to one of the bars before-described.

page_text: Figures 3 and 4 are respectively a side elevation, and a section on line y y of
figure 3, illustrating a well known arrangement of strips which may be employed
in collecting a continuous current. G G₁ are rings carried upon a block or cylinder
fixed on the spindle H of the machine. e e etc are six bars projecting from the
ring G, and e¹ e¹ etc. are six bars projecting from the ring G' and alternating with
the bars e e¹ etc. I is a connection between the bar number 12 (figure 1) and the
ring G, and I' is a connection between the bar number 1 (figure 1) and the ring G³.
The bars e e etc and e¹ e¹ etc. are of course insulated from one another. It will be
evident that as the direction of the current changes as each bar comes opposite a
brush, the current will be collected as a continuous one.
Figures and 6 illustrate respectively a side and end elevation of an arrange-
ment in which three independent series of bars are employed upon the armature.
Sufficient only is shewn in the illustration to make the arrangement quite clear.
hh etc. are the bars of one series, k k etc. the bars of a second series and etc.
the bars of the third series. The bars of each series only are connected together
at their opposite ends, and the arrangement of these independent end connections
is illustrated at o, p, q, the ends o and p (figure 5) dipping under the bar k to pass
to the other bars to which they are respectively connected. Of course the end
connections of independent series are insulated from one another.
Each bar on the
armature has a strip corresponding thereto on the commutator. M M etc. are four
magnets, that is to say, they are the same in number as the bars of any independent
series and are spaced equally apart around the circle. Taking any series of bars
hh etc. for example, the two unconnected ends of the series are brought down
to, or otherwise connected with strips ¹ h¹ upon the commutator. Each of these
strips are again connected, as shewn, to its opposite strip ". Two brushes are
placed so as to collect from strips of opposite polarity in the same series of bars.
In the position of rotation in which the bars are shewn the brushes must be placed
so that one of them is collecting from either of the strips or " and the other
from one of such strips also at right angles thereto. Each pair of opposite strips
on the commutator must be connected across as the strips hh" are shewn to be.
The strips upon the commutator may be advantageously made somewhat broader
than shewn so as to ensure that the brushes shall always bear upon the strips the
whole of the time the bars are passing through a magnetic field. Instead of the
arrangement for collecting a continuous current, as shewn, as many brushes as
magnets may be employed, two strips only being fixed upon the commutator for
each series of bars. Three independent circuits yielding alternate currents may be
obtained by employing three pairs of Saxton's rings, namely, one pair for each
series of bars.
The remarks made above as to employing wire or ribbon, and as to end con-
nections, and generally, are also applicable in the case of the employment of
independent series of bars.
We have described various methods of collecting the current, but any other
suitable arrangements for this purpose may be employed in conjunction with the
method described of constructing or winding the armature and of arranging the
magnets, according to either modification thereof.
It will be obvious that either of the arrangements of conductor and magnets
may be varied, with similar effect, by attaching the conductor to a fixed frame, and
revolving the magnets inside such conductor. In this case it is preferred to cover
the conductor with a coil of iron wire or other suitable covering of iron.
Having thus stated the nature of our said invention of "Improvements in electric
lighting and in apparatus connected therewith" and particularly described and
ascertained the manner of performing the same, we declare that what we claim as
our invention and desire to secure by the herein-before in-part-recited letters patent,
is :-
First The employment of carbons, for incandescent electric lamps, produced by
carbonizing the fibres drawn from the leaves of the Greater Plantain or Way bread
(Plantago Major), substantially as herein described.

page_text: Second-The employment in secondary batteries, used for storing up force for
the purpose of electric lighting, of lead electrodes which have been prepared in a
dilute mixed solution of sulphuric and nitric acids, or in the vapour of such solution,
substantially as, and for the purpose herein-before described.
:
Third In a dynamo-electric machine, used for the purpose of electric lighting,
the method of arranging or winding the single series of bars, wire or ribbon, of the
armature, upon a cylinder covered with iron rings or wire, in combination with the
arrangement of magnets, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described
and shewn by figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.
Fourth In a dynamo-electric machine, used for the purpose of electric lighting,
the employment of two or more independent series of bars, wire or ribbon, arranged
or wound upon an armature cylinder covered with iron rings or wire, in combination
with the arrangement of magnets, substantially as and for the purpose herein-
before described and shewn by figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.
Fifth-In a dynamo-electric machine, used for the purpose of electric lighting,
the arrangement of fixed conductor and internally revolving magnets, being the
inverse of the other arrangements of conductor and magnets described, substantially
as herein described.
In witness whereof I the said Thomas Parker for myself and on behalf of
the said Paul Bedford Elwell have hereunto set my band and seal this
first day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and eighty three.
THOMAS PARKER (L.S.)
Witness :-
RICHARD. H. THOMAS
Clerk to Stephen Watkins, Assoc. M. Inst C.E.
Office for Patents.
Wolverhampton.