| "In this instrument, ... the [two] armatures,
which are semicircular instead of being straight as in [Page's
Reciprocating Engine], are each affixed to one extremity of a vibrating
beam, which imparts motion to a balance wheel placed above the magnets.
[In the middle] are the three springs which play upon a break-piece fixed
to the axis of the wheel. The motion is produced in the same manner as in
Page's Engine."
(from the 1842 edition of the Manual of Magnetism, pp 113-114) This engine is at Middlebury College. Note that Page and Davis were trying out all the ways to use the attraction of soft iron to electromagnets to produce electric engines. This sort of design is limited by the fact that large masses had to be set moving back and forth, a flaw not present in rotary devices. |
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