IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING ELECTRICITY
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Allan, of Adelphi Terrace, in the City of
Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPLYING ELECTRICITY."
Sealed the 3rd April 1855, and dated the 20th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Allan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th October 1854.
I, THOMAS ALLAN, of Adelphi Terrace, in the City of Westminster, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPLYING ELECTRICITY" to be as follows:-
These improvements have reference to the details of an Invention for
which former Letters Patent were granted to me, bearing date the 24th day
of June 1852, under the title of "Improvements in Producing and Apply-
ing Electricity, and in Apparatus employed therein;" and consist, firstly,
in the mode of transferring the current from one magnet to another; for
which purpose I place two upright pieces of metal in front of a spring
fixed to the connecting rods, the one being connected with one pole of the
battery, and the other divided crossways into sections, each section respec-
tively being connected with the magnets, so that, as the connecting rod moves
forward and downward, the spring presses on the upright pieces of metal, and

page_text: so forms a circuit through each magnet in succession. This may also be done
by placing two zones or circles of metal (one divided into sections) on a plane
at right angles to the shaft, so that an arm or spring affixed to the shaft
will pass over the two zones, and so transfer the current, as before described.
A friction roller on the end of the springs may be found necessary and
advantageous.
Secondly, in a mode of forming the magnets for such purposes. I make them
of several upright' cores or poles, affixed to a flat plate, and polarized alter-
nately as regards each other, and not in pairs, as so many pairs of horse-shoe
magnets, by which arrangement I produce a magnet of many poles, with a
greater amount of accumulated force.
Thirdly, in lieu of connecting rods I propose to use double piston rods
with cross-head slides acting direct on the crank pin with or without a
sliding. bush.
Fourthly, in lieu of cranks I propose to use an indented drum or ratchet
wheel, actuated by palls affixed to piston rods, so that pairs of magnets
acting alternately on the piston rod or rods will cause rotation of the drum
or shaft.
Fifthly, in lieu of keepers, when the arrangement of the magnets is in pairs,
as above, I propose to make one of the magnets of each pair moveable, and so
acting attractively and repulsively with the other that is stationary.
Permanent magnets may be substituted for either the moveable or stationary
magnets.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Allan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ALLAN, of Adelphi Terrace, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Allan, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Allan, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Allan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPLYING ELECTRICITY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Allan, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Thomas Allan, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:--
These improvements have reference to the details of an Invention for
which former Letters Patent were granted to me, bearing date the 24th day
of June 1852, under the title of "Improvements in Producing and Applying
Electricity, and in Apparatus employed therein."
My first improvement consists in a mode, of transferring the current of
electricity from one magnet to another in the series, when such magnets are
arranged for obtaining motive power, according to the method described in the
Specification of my former Patent aforesaid. For this purpose, I place two
upright pieces of metal (say, of brass,) in the vicinity of each of the con-
necting rods in such arrangement, but separated or insulated from each other:
The one of each pair of such pieces of metal (there being a pair for each
connecting rod) is connected with one pole of the battery, and the other -is
divided into sections crossways, according to the number of magnets in the
series, such sections being apart and insulated from each other, but each
section respectively being connected with a corresponding. magnet in the
series, cach to each. On the connecting rod there is placed a spring, the
breadth of which is equal to that of the two upright pieces of metal,; and this
spring is so arranged, that as the connecting rod moves forward and passes
downwards by the rotation of the crank shaft, the spring presses forwards,
and slips in contact downwards on the strips of metal, and thereby forms the
connection between the one pole of the battery terminating in the first-
mentioned strip of metal and the sections of the other strip of metal, one
after the other, by which means the current is transferred through the whole-
series of magnets successively. The strips of metal must have the proper

page_text: curvature given to them, and must be planted or fixed on wood, or other
non-conducting material.
.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed represents a side, back, and
front view of this apparatus, as applicable to vertical engines of the most simple
form and, arrangement; but for engines so arranged in their electro-magnetic
serial parts as to be most suitable for extended purposes, as also for reversing,
it will be more advantageous to apply this contrivance in a continuous and
circular form, instead of having a distinct arrangement to each connecting rod,
as before described. For this circular and continuous action, I fix a plane of
wood or other non-conducting material at right angles to the engine shaft,
with the shaft passing through its centre. On this plane of wood I place a
circle or zone of metal, connected with one pole of a battery, and at a small
distance on the same plane I place another zone, divided into sections,
according to the number of magnets in each of the several series of the whole
engine. An arm, placed on the engine shaft in juxtaposition to the aforesaid
plane, and with a sufficient amount of spring in it to keep it in contact with
the two zones, will, as the shaft rotates, press and pass over the two zones, and
thereby transfer the current to each magnet in the several series successively,
in the same manner as is effected by means of the strips of metal, before
described. A friction roller may be placed on the sliding face of the spring
or arm with great advantage. Figure 2 of the Drawings represents this
arrangement; Figure 3 shews a double sectional zone, and by its employment,
on shifting the spring or arm, the engine will be reversed; Figure 4 repre-
sents two zones placed edgeways, or on the periphery of the plane of wood, in
which case the wheel or roller on the arm will come in contact with the two
zones sideways, as shewn in the Drawings; this will give the roller on the arm
an advantageous sliding contact motion as the shaft moves round. The zones
and roller may be so formed as to come in contact at various angles. If the
sectional divisions of the strips or zones of metal are made at a slight angle,
or in a slanting direction, the sliding face of the spring or roller will be on two
sections at the same time, whereby the current will never be entirely broken,
and the destruction or deflagration of the contact metals from the spark, when
powerful and intense currents are required to be employed, will be prevented.
My second improvement consists in a mode of forming electro-magnets
for the purpose specially of obtaining motive 'power. The main feature
of the method of obtaining motive power, described in the Specification of
the Letters Patent granted to me as aforesaid, consists in the mode of
applying and maintaining the maximum forces of electro-magnets exerted
through a short space, so as to convert the same into "stroke," or to obtain

page_text: therefrom such an amount of motion as might be rendered practically available
in engines on an enlarged scale. The great desideratum in such engines is
not to expend the galvanic force vertically, as in large and long-shaped
magnets, but to apply and distribute it, so as to produce the greatest power
horizontally, although at a decrease of the striking distance. This I effect by
taking several bars of iron and securing them to a flat plate, thus having as a
magnetic surface the extreme ends or poles of many small and short magnets
combined into one, in place of one large and long magnet, and so with the
same consumption of battery acquiring an equal force, but over a greatly
extended surface. I therefore construct accumulative or compound magnets,
having 4, 6, 8, 20, or any number of poles; the greater the number, the
greater will be the amount of accumulation of force proportionately. I also
find that, by adopting a certain method of arranging their polarities with
reference to each other, I can obtain a much greater amount of magnetic
force from any given number than by simply arranging them in pairs, as so
many horse-shoe magnets. For example: suppose I wish to form a compound
magnet with 8 poles, instead of winding the wire so as to make the four poles
on one side (norths) and the 4 on the other side (souths), I wind it so that
they shall be norths and souths alternately, by which method each north is a
north pole to two or more souths, and vice versâ, (and in extended arrange-
ments to 3 or 4;) I thereby get the compound influence and effect of several
magnets instead of 4 only, which is a great advantage for the purposes desired
in electro-magnetic engines of the kind mentioned. Figures 5, 6, and 7
shew the arrangements of the magnetic influences.
My third improvement consists in employing, in lieu of connecting rods in
electro-magnetic engines, double piston rods with cross-head slides, acting
direct on the crank pin with or without a sliding bush.
Figure 8 represents a double arrangement of magnets, placed face to face,
with cross-head slides between them, so that by their alternate attractive
forces a reciprocating motion will be produced in the piston rods A, A, and by
this means, with a four-throw crank shaft, there will be equivalent to eight
pistons working on the shaft, thereby applying the power at the most effective
position of the crank. The piston rods, as shewn, will work horizontally, but
I do not confine myself to this particular arrangement.
My fourth improvement consists in employing, in lieu of cranks in electro-
magnetic engines, au indented drum or ratchet wheel, actuated by palls affixed
to piston rods, so that pairs of magnets acting alternately on the piston rods
will cause rotation of the drum or ratchet wheel, and the shaft on which it is
mounted. This will enable a greater amount of magnetic power to be com-

page_text: prised in a much smaller cubical space, by reducing the number of magnets
required for an engine series, in some instances to two.
Figure 10 shews a section of the magnet pillar rods and piston rods; and
Figure 9, a side view of an engine having this arrangement adapted thereto.
p, p, are the piston rods; 'm, m, m, the magnets; k, the keeper, affixed to the
piston rods; and o, o, the pillar rods of the engine; s is the ratchet wheel
arrangement, where the ratchet wheel works between two plates, attached
together and to the piston rods between, which are also attached to the pauls.
The Drawing is shewn with one of the plates removed. Figure 11 represents
another method of working the pauls.
My fifth improvement consists in dispensing with keepers when the arrange-
ment of the magnets is in pairs, placed face to face, and in making one of the
magnets of each pair moveable, and so acting attractively and repulsively with
the other magnet that is stationary. Permanent magnets may be substituted
for either the moveable or stationary magnets.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ments in Applying Electricity," -
First, the mode of constructing the breaks or valves of electro-magnetic
engines, as herein-before described.
Second, the mode of arranging the polarities of many-poled or accumulative
electro-magnets, applicable to direct-attraction-electro-magnetic engines, as
herein-before described.
Third, the employment of a cross-head slide and sliding bush in direct-
attraction-electro-magnetic engines, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the employment of a ratchet wheel and double-paul arrangement
for producing rotation in the shaft of an electro-magnetic engine from the
direct attractive reciprocating motion of electro-magnets, as herein-before
described.
And, fifth, the substitution of magnets for keepers in the employment of
magnets arranged in pairs, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Allan, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
THOMAS ALLAN.
(L.S.)