L, W. SOUTHGATE.

METHOD OF AMPLIFYING ELECTRIC CURRENTS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY :0 mos. RENEWED OCT.14,1D10.

992,8 1 7.

Patented May 23. 1911.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS W. SOUTHGATE, 0F WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.
METHOD OF AMPLIFYING ELECTRIC CURRENTS.

992,817.

Speci?cation of Letters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1911.

Application ?led July 10, 1908, Serial No. 442,852. Renewed October 14, 1910. Serial No. 587,120.

To all whom it may concern:

10

ductive relation with a stationary coil or

Be it known that I, LOUIS W. SOUTIIGATE, coils. and by physically or mechanically

a citizen of the United States, residing at moving or rotating a member or the mem
Vorcestcr. in the county of Worcester and bers forming a part or controlling the posi
State of Massachusetts, have invented a new tion of the magnetic ?eld, so that the lines of
and useful Method of Amplifying Electric force of the magnetic ?eld as they act on the
Currents, of which the following is a speci stationary coil or coils will have a stationary
?cation.
relation therewith; whereby the moving or
The object of this invention is to provide rotating magnetic ?eld will act as the pri
an improved method of generating electric mary, and said stationary coil or coils will

ity by power which shall overcome the di?i

culties of current commutation and collec~

('13 (In

act as the secondary of a stationary trans~

former or induction coil. This new method

tion.

15

'
may be practiced with many forms of gen
The invention is particularly directed to erators and rotary ?elds, and I have shown
the production of an electric generator in the drawings the same practiced with a
which shall have neither a/commutator nor simple two-phase alternator, and with an
a collector, whereby the. same is particularly ordinary ring arrangement of the coils in
adapted for use as a relay in telephone which the rotary magnetic ?eld is created,
work, telegraph work, wireless telegraphy which ring is connected to rotate physically
and in that class of musical instruments like or mechanically in opposition to the mag;

telharmoniums employing electric undula

tions.

It has heretofore been proposed to use an

25

induced in the armature as the generated

35

40

50

is preferably connected to turn with or to

rect current generator so that the current

?eld are permanent and do not involve the

use of collectors. By this principle. if a
constant direct current be applied to the

?eld of the alternating current generator

generated in the armature will have the the'lines of force in the rotary ?eld will re
characteristics of- the generating current ap main constant and stationary in space and
plied to the ?eld. The ordinary type of di no current will be induced in the stationary
rect current generator employs a commuta secondary of the transformer. But. now if 90
tor for the purpose of commutating or recti~ the ?eld of the alternating current gener
fying the currents created in the armature ator be changed as by introducing a vary
coils and this commutation or recti?cation ing current. the current generated in the
of the currents leads to a vibration or pulsa armature of the alternating current gener
tion of the generated current and to other ator, will be,! correspondingly varied and
well known commutator troubles which in hence the lines of force in said rotary ?eld
terfere with current ampli?cation and which will also be varied, whereby the current
introduce factors of error. It has also been changes in the ?eld of the alternating cur
proposed to use a unipolar or homopolar rent. generator will be reproduced in the sec
generator for the purpose of relaying or am ondary of the transformer. As the current MM
pli?cation but the unipolar or homopolar generated in the armature may be made
generator necessarily employs collectors many times larger than the current in the
either rings and brushes or mercury cups field of the generator, the rotating ?eld may
and these collectors bring in errors and mi be made much more powerful than the ?eld
crophonic action which interfere with the of the alternating current generator and as

use of. this type of generator for the pur

poses stated. I have discovered that these
di?iculties can be overcome by using the well
known rotary field effect produced by a va
ryingcurrent.generator. such as an alter

55

netic rotation of the rotary ?eld. The ar

mature of the alternating current- generator

electric generator for a telephone relay by formone rotating member with the said me~ S0
connecting the generating current to the chanically rotating ?eld whereby the connec
?eld and by attempting to utilize the current 'tions between the said armature and said

current. In this application or use of an

electric generator it is necessary to use a di
30

to

nator or pulsator, by leading or directing the

lines of force of the magnetic ?cld into in

the transformer can be made to take most

of the energy of these changes, an ampli?ca

tion is obtained which will preserve the char
acteristics of the generating current and the
apparatus will not have any of the evils or.
errors of commutation or collection of cur

rent.

oeaen

A full understanding of the invention can

utilized. By the above construction it will

be had from the accompanying drawings in

be seen that the ?eld of the transformer will

which,

paratus empirically arranged to practice the

turn with the armature of the alternating

current generator. The relation of the wind
ings of the coils A A and of the coils 13-13

invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the

generator. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of

turn or rotate in opposition to the mechani

Figure l is a sectional elevation of an ap

the rotating ?eld.

Fig. 4 is an elevation

of the secondary of the transformer. Fig.

5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the

is such that the rotating magnetic lield will

cal or physical rotation of the ?eld. whereby
the lines of force in the field or primary of
the transformer will stand stationary in

phase arrangement employed in the genera space.

The operation is represented diagram
tor. Figs. 6 to 9, inclusive, are diagrams
illustrating the operation, and Fig. 10 is a

diagram showing the application of the de

15

vice to a telephone circuit.

matically for a half revolution in Figs. (3 to

9, inclusive. In Fig. 6 coil aa is at its
maximum and coil b?) is at its minimum.

Referring to the drawing and in detail, Therefore, there will be created between the
D represents an alternating current genera

?eld coils a ?eld of force which will be sub

tor having a bipolar ?eld which is energized stantially horizontal as indicated at the right
by a circuit 10~10. Rotating in this ?eld hand side in Fig. 6. Nowsuppose the arma
20 are two coils awe and bb.

These coils are

arrow and to the position shown in Fig. 7.

they are made of a number of windings 0r

The current now generated in the coils aa

will be less and a current will be generated

loops as in the ordinary armature practice

25

so that the current generated by the rota

tion of the armature will be much larger
than the current in the ?eld. These coils
are set at rightangles or at 90 degrees to

each other so that the usual 90 degree two

30 phase relation will be obtained as indicated

in Fig. 5.

35

ture turns 45 degrees or one-eighth of a rev

shown in the drawings as simple loops for

the purpose of explanation but in operation

olution in the direction indicated by the

in the'coils b~b which will energize the
coils BB of the ?eld.

shifting of the lines of force in the ?eld to

the resultant position obtained by the action

of both sets of coils Az\ and BB and the
coils are Wound as previously described so

that this shifting will take place in opposi

11 designates the shaft which carries the tion to the armature rotation. This will
armature coils, Which shaft may have a pul cause the shifting of the lines of force forty
ley 12 on the end thereof to which power ?ve degrees in one direction around the
may be applied and which shaft may run 'coilswbut as the coils mechanically turn 45
in bearings 13~13. Secured on the end of degrees in the other direction, the lines of
the shaft 11 is a disk 14 of non-magnetic force will remain stationary in space as in
material on which are secured circumferen

dicated at the right in Fig. 7. During the

tially, four coils AA and- BB which

next eighth revolution of the armature the

current generated in coils b~b will come to
the maximum and the current generated in
the coils aa will fall to the minimum and
hence the lines of force will rotate mag

40 coils are arranged in the manner common

in alternating current motors wherein the

rotary ?eld principle is utilized. The coils

Aw-A. are oppositely wound and are con-,
nected together by a cross wire and the ar
45 mature coils aa are connected to the other

end of the coils AA. The coils BB are

oppositely wound and are connected together

by a cross wire and the armature coils Z)Z)
are connected to the other ends of the coils
BB. The connections between the arma
ture coils aa and bZ) and the coils A-A

90

This will cause a

100

netically in the coils 45 degrees in opposi

tion to the mechanical rotation thereof, but
as the mechanical rotation equals the ~mag

netie rotation, the lines of force will remain

stationary, as indicated at the right in Fig.
8. During the next eighth revolution or 45
degrees turn of the armature coils, a cur 115
rent will be generated in the coils aal but

and B-~B may be arranged inside of the

in the opposite direction to that previously

shaft 11 and therefore form permanent con

nections which rotate with the armature

coils Z)7).

described and the current will fall in the

This will cause a further mag

and rotary ?eld. The field comprised by netic shifting of the lines of force of the
the coils AA and BB is arranged to

?eld 45 degrees in opposition to the me

form the primary of a transformer, the sec

chanical rotation of the coils and as the me

ondary of which is formed by a stationary

coil 0 arranged inside of the rotary ?eld.
The stationary coil C is designated in Fig.
4 by a single loop but in practice the same

chanical rotation is equal in opposition to

the magnetic rotation, the lines of force will

continue stationary.

Will be made of as many convolutions or

turns as desired. The secondary C is con

The action previously described for a half

revolution will be repeated for the next half
revolution of the armature in the opposite

nected to wires 15-15 which form part of

the circuit in which the generated current is

direction but Without displacement of the

position of the lines of force in the ?eld in

125

130

992 ,817

The device herein shown. and described

space. Therefore, the result of this oppo
may
be, greatly varied 'hya- skilled electri
site magnetic and'niccliaiiical rotation of'the
?eld will be tokcep the rotary ?eld station cian without-departing.l'rom the scope of the

ary in space and as the rise and fall of the invention-as expressed in the claims. ,
current in the two sets of coils is relative] _v , ' .llaving thus fully described my invention, 70

what- =l claim and. desire to secure byLet

opposite, there will be no change in the-in

tensity of said ?eld. Therefore, so long'as

l. The method of amplifying electric cur

there is a constant direct current in tlie- cir
' .euit 1t)l0 and therefore in the field of .the_ l't'lit?,"i\\'lillfll?ICO'liShiS in utilizing the gen
alternating current- generator. there will he Lliltlllg' current to vary the. held of a varying 75
no change in the position'oi" in the intensity . current- generaior, utilizing the current'gen- _.
of the. lines of force in the ?eld of tlie'trans erated' m- the armature thereof to. create a
former. The current in the ?eld of the moving magnetic ?eld, leading or directing
transformer will he as much more powerful ihehues oi iorceof the magnetic ?eld into

than the current in the tieldof the alteriiat- . inductiverelation with a stationary coil or 80

20

ing current generator as the generator rela-'

tion between the said ?eld of the alternating
current generator and its armature- prod uecs,
whereby the strength of the ?eld- in the
transformer can be made many times the

.coils. and mechanically or physically moving

strength'of the field in the alternating cur

rent generator. Now, if the current which is
25

a member or the members forming at )art or

cont roll ing the position vof the magnetic ?eld,

so *that the lines of force of the .niagiietic
held as the"_ act on the stationary ,COll or 85
coils will have a stationary relation there

.Wllli, .ivlierehy the moving magnetic field

impressed upon the circuit- ~10-10 be varied will act- aslhepriniary, and the stationary
either in intensity or in direction,v the- lines coil vor-coilsiwill act- as the secondary of a
of force in the rotary ?eld will becorre --statiouar_\;' transformer or induction coil.
iL'The method-of amplifying electric cur
spondingly varied and when this takes place

30

a current will be induced inthe sccondaryt?

rentginliicli consists in utilizing the gen

which will follow the characteristics of the

current variation intlie generating circuit
10-10. Hence any current change either in"
intensity or indirection int-lie generating

generated'inthe armature thereofvto create

a rotatinginagnetio ?eld, leading or direct

90

erating"current-to vary the ?eld ofv a vary

ing currentgenerator, utilizing the; current

circuit l0l0'will be truthfully followed in > ,ingitlie lines of force of the magnetic ?eld

the secondary C- of the transformer with. in ' .into' inductive : IQltltlOIi; with , a stationary
creased power. Hence the 'creation'of any coil or coils,and. mechanically or physically
35 current variation in circuit: 10-lO"will-be rotating'a member or the members forming
truthfully ampli?ed inv circuit 15-'l5 and apart oncontrolhng the position of themag
this action will take place WlthOLll'iCOIi'llIlLb; 'net-ic 1?eld,';so-thattheilines of force of the
tation and collection of the 'curreiitas the magnetic ~?eld~ as :tlieyv act on .the stationary
action is entirely electrical and as all connec coil -or;_coils' will; {have to stationary, relation

tions are permanent. If a source of electric ' therewith," :whereby the . rotating finagnetic

ity as a battery be introduced in the circuit ?eld will act as the primary, and the sta
10l0 and'if a telephone transmitter T be @tionary coil or coils will act as the secondary
interposed therein-as shown in Fiat. 10, a 'of 'a stat1onary~ transformer or induction
receiver R can be interposed in the circuit:-v
l515 and the current changes givenby thej ' 3.: The method of amplifying electric cur
transmitter can be ampli?ed for use in the 'rent's,_whiclr consists in utilizing the generat
coil;

45

receiver R.

50

"

'

The device is eminently ?tted for ampli?-t

cation in connection with varying currents
such as are used in telephone worfr, wireless:
telegraphy and other uses hereinb'eforc 'speci-"
?ed.-

-ing=currentto-varythe field of a varying

current generator, utilizing the. current gen~
zerated':inf-the :armaturelthereof to create a

i-rotating-Imag'netic ?eld iii a series of coils,

-leadingqoralirecting.the lines of force of

theicmagnetid'?dd into inductive relation

I have shown for illustration the invention with a stationary coil-or .coils, and mechani
as applied to a simple two-phase alternating cally or physically rotating the series of

55

current generator but in practice I prefer to coils 'so thatthe lines of force of the mag
netici?eldas they act~ on the stationary coil
.or'coils
will have a stationary relation there
ture and properly connect-the coils to the fro-

use many more than two coilsiin the arma

60

tating ?eld, so as to compensate for vself with, whereby the rotating magnetic ?eld
induction and other factors which may be twill- actas the primary,'and. the stationary
encountered. , As I use the term" "-"poly coil or. coils --as the secondary of a stationary

phase alternating current generator, I

mean to cover any-style of alternating,r cur

transformer or; induction coil. , 1

4.~ The-lmethod'of amplifying electric cur;

rent generator and connections which will rents, which consists in utilizing the generat
produce what is known as a rotating mag mg current to vary the ?eld of a varying
current generator, utilizing the current gen
65 netic ?eld.

992,817

I6:

erated in the armature of said generator to the lines of. forcev of the magnetic ?eld as
create a rotating lnagnetic?eld, physically they act on the stationary coil or coils will
have a stationary relation therewith.

rotating a member or the members of the

9. The combination of a polyphase alter

magnetic ?eld in opposition to its magnetic
5 rotation, and impressing the lines of force nating current generator, coils connected to
the armature thereof so that a rotatingmag

of said rotary ?eld to induce a current in a

stationary secondary.

netic?eld will be created, meansv for rotat

5. The method of amplifying electric cur

ing-the coils mechanically in opposition to

> rents, which consists in applying the gener

the magnetic rotation ofthe ?eld, and a coil

10Iating current to the field of a polyphase arranged adjacent to said rotary ?eld so
alternating current generator, utilizing the that thesaid rotary ?eld and said coil will

currents generated in the armature of said form a transformer.

generator to create a rotating magnetic ?eld, I 10. The combination of a polyphase' alter
physically rotating the coils of said ?eld in nating current generator, having an electro
15 opposition to its magnetic rotation so that magnetic ?eld to which the generating cir
the lines of force thereof will stand station cuit is connected, a series of circumferen
ary in space, and utilizing said lines of force tially arranged coils connected to turn with

to energize the secondary of atranst'or-mer, the armatureof the generator andelectri

cally- connected to the armature coils so that

a rotating'magnetic ?eld will be created in

the primary of which is formed by said ro

20 tating ?eld.

'

said coils,v which ?eld will rotate magneti

6. The method of amplifying electric pur

cally inv opposition to the mechanical rota

tionjof'the coils, \Iiih'e'reby' the lines of force
alternating current generator, utilizing the of said field, will stand stationary in space,

_ rents, which consists in applying the gener

ating current to the ?eld of a polyphase

and-acoil stationarily vheldii'i said rotating

25 currents generated in- the armature of said

generator to create a rotating.v magnetic ?eld

connected: to the circuit in, Which
?eld, the coils of which are connected to ro the . generated current is to. be. employed.

.11. Clhe-J-cOmbmat'mn ofageneratmgcir

connected to said armature by permanent curt ' "polypha-sealternating"current gener
30 electrical connections~,=j_ the physical rotation >_ ' Q th>?1di<>ft 'a'hieh saidaene'wting
tate with said armatureand which coils are

I of the coils of said field being inf'opposi'tion 2,

to its magnetic rotation, whereby the: lines I IIj

Irt'IiIs connected,"_IcoIilsIconnected to rotate

_

_;

ur _I,andlelectricallyconnected -

' that a rotary mag

of force thereof will- stand stationary in jto'tlieairmatui coils IsoIv
space, and applying said rotary-field iasgthe sinetiicI?eldswill createdin said coils which
. 35 primary of a". transformer, thesecondary of will rotate,invoppositionhto the mechanical

tationaryj land ? ico'nnectedt'oii-the rQtation ofcvsaidrlicoils;whereby the lines of

'

_Ic1rcu1t I

-~'force of said i?'eld" will stand stationary in

space,"aI secondary coil placed in said lines

Iof- force,Ia-n' [Ia 'oiiicuit in5 which the gener- I

ated current to ,beehiployedconnected to

ry-mg, ,urrenta said .staItiIonarily ihfefltl coil, whereby current

aiaa?aaing .arl'elit - will be
the mature iehaeg'esld ".will ampli?ed in the circuit-inwhich the .gener
'iated. currentgis to I be" employed.

45:" ranged in ilnd

'

>

" 12. The

combination-of . an

ingvmagnfeti

I vcurrent 'polyplia'sefgener'ator to the field of

cally orph'ysica My
__
members
positionIof
forn'ting
the ' agne
a-pa I

.- which! a-I'fg'eneratiag; current is applied, a

50 lines of. force F0351

.
qntri'olli' i . the

the armature of said gen

disk-rotating?

sojfthatt the . _

Ieratoir, ,coilsiiarr'anged' circularly around said

he'lanaguetio
I
field; as they ' disk f

permeated .I electrically to the .coils

oilsi?will :ehave - of the armature so that a rotating magnetic

a
actstationaryrelation-itherem
on the stationaryfje
has
- ?eldwillbeIproduced which will rotate .in

8;v The combination-of 'a'yarying current ' vopposition to therotation of the disk, and a

generator, coils connected tow the armature. .stationa'rily held coili placed in said ?eld.

~' In testimony whereof I have hereunto set

be created, a stationary coil or coils ar-_ 'myIhanId,,iin"tIhe presence of two subscribing
ranged in inductive relation with said ro-.

65 thereof so that a rotating'magnetici?eld will ~'

witnesses.

tating magnetic ?eld, and means for me

chanically or physically rotating a member
60 or the members forming'a part or controlling

the position of the magnetic ?eld, so that

'

alternating

'

'

"

,. LOUI-IS ~W. SOUT'HGATEI.

Witnesses?

E. MaALLnx,

G. Fomz'ns'r 'WEssoN.