12 IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ELECTRICAL MACHINE. 



more satisfactory, and it might then have been known if he 

 had made a real improvement, or not: 

 Intended im- 1 shall now proceed to give an account of an improvement 

 the'itlattT* ' intended to he made in the plate electrical machine. I have 

 machine. often thought of attempting to improve the acting power of 



the plate machines, but in their present state they have given 

 such general satisfaction, that I have deferred tjiis attempt 

 till an opportunity should occur of comparing their acting 

 Cylindrical power with a cylinder properly constructed. All the cylin- 

 wetilV^d^fL^Z ^ er mrtcnmes I na( i met with were in some way or other de- 

 rive, fective in their construction, so that I was not satisfied with 

 any of the comparative trials I had hitherto made; for in all 

 these cases the plate machine had evinced very superior ac- 

 Oneofsupe- tion. Some time since however Mr. Singer showed me a 

 lion 00 " 3 " 110 " c y nuo, er machine of his own construction. In this machine 

 I could find no fault, and its acting power had been consi- 

 dered by most persons ns very superior. I was at this time 

 making a two-foot plate machine for Mr. Singer, and we 

 agreed when this should be completed, to compare the act- 

 Comparative ing power of the two machines. We met accordingly, Mr. 

 with a plate Singer munaged the cylinder machine, and I excited the 

 machine. plate. The result of a number of experiments proved, that 

 Their powers the effect produced by any given number of turns was pre- 

 e( * l,aI > cisely the some with either machine, so that their acting 

 powers were equal, but the force required to put them in 

 but the plate motion was materially different; 8lbs. hung on the winch of 



tumec with ^ e p] n ^ e w hen in a horizontal position, would move it; but 

 less power. . 



it required 14lbs. to move the handle of the cylinder from 



the name situation. To complete a proper course of expe- 

 riments, we found it necessary to construct some apparatus, 

 and were therefore obliged to defer the continuation of these 

 The cylinder inquiries, till we had obtained the particulars alluded to. It 

 diameteTthe n!a >' * )e n^'essary to state, that the diameter of Mr. Singer's 

 plate 24. cylinder is fourteen inches. Finding the power of the plate 



machine equalled by a cylinder, I was incited to attempt an 

 improvement, and a contrivance soon occurred to me, by 

 The power of whieh I could double the acting power of the plate machine, 

 machine may or make a single plate act equal to a machine with two plates, 

 probably be or equal to two 14-inch cylinders, without being much more 

 doubled > laborious 



