GB477953A - Improvements in or relating to electrically propelled vehicles, toys and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

477,953. Electric traction. DRINK WATER, H. E. July 6, 1936, No. 18650. [Class 104 ( iii )] [Also in Group XV] A power unit for vehicles &c. comprises a wheel or disc 11 running on a track or surface 13 of iron &c. and provided with a number of angularly spaced iron polepieces 14 which are magnetized intermittently or alternately as they approach the track so that each polepiece in turn is magnetically attracted towards the track and causes the wheel to rotate. Two wheels may be mounted on an iron axle core 16 carrying a field winding 17 connected at one end to the core and through the core to brass discs 15 on the wheels contacting with the metal surface 13, the other end of the winding being connected to the four insulated segments of a commutator 18 on the axle engaged by a copper strip 19 which carries current from a wheel 10 running on an insulated live rail 12. In another form, the commutator is dispensed with and one end of the winding 17 is connected to the wheel 10, while the other is connected to a series of brass contacts in the periphery of the wheel 11 a little in advance of the polepieces 14, so that when each contact touches the surface 13, the winding 17 is energized. In another form, two wheels 11 run on two tracks insulated from each other, one formed to act as a commutator coacting with one track, while current is picked up by a shoe &c. from the other track and conveyed to the field winding, the second wheel carrying the polepieces. In another form, Fig. 10, suitable for a toy railway, the track 36 is pressed from sheet metal with ribs 37 forming rails, and tongues 38 holding an insulated conductor rail 39. Each rear wheel is formed of a soft iron disc 41 gapped on its periphery to form a number of spaced polepieces, and carries a brass disc 42 and a flanged disc 43. The two wheels are carried on a soft iron core 44 carrying a coil 46, one end of which is connected to the brass disc 42 while the other is connected to a dished commutator 47. Current is conveyed to the commutator by a spring brush connected to a shoe &c. on the rail 39. Instead of one winding serving all polepieces, each polepiece may have a separate winding, so that they are energized in turn.