One of the simplest is as follows:  The coils, C, Fig. 14, are traversed by an alternating current and are placed over a coil, B, mounted upon a horizontal axis, transverse to the axis of the coil, C. The terminals of the coil, B, which is wound with insulated wire, are carried to a commutator, the brushes being connected by a wire, as indicated.  The commutator is so constructed as to keep the coil, B, on short circuit from the position of coincidence with the plane of C to the position where the plane of B is at right angles to that of C; and to keep the coil, B, open-circuited from the right-angled position, or thereabouts, to the position of parallel or coincident planes.  The deflective repulsion exhibited by B will, when its circuit is completed by the commutator and brushes, as described, act to place its plane at right angles to that of C; but being then open-circuited, its momentum carries it to the position just past parallelism, at which moment it is again short-circuited, and so on.  It is capable of very rapid rotation, but its energy is small.  I have, however, extended the principle to the construction of more complete apparatus.  One form has its revolving portion or armature composed of a number of sheet iron disks wound as usual with three coils crossing near the shaft.  The commutator is arranged to short-circuit each of these coils in succession, and twice in a revolution, and for a period of 90-degrees of rotation each.  The field coils surround the armature, and there is a laminated iron field structure completing the magnetic circuit.  I may say here that surrounding the armature of a dynamo by the field coils, though very recently put forth as a new departure, was described in various Thomson-Houston patents, and to a certain extent all Thomson-Houston machines embody this feature.

Figs. 15 and 16 will give an idea of the construction of the motor referred to.  CC’ are the field coils or inducing coils, which alone are put into the alternating current circuit.  II is a mass of laminated iron, in the interior of which the armature revolves, with its three coils, B, B squared, B cubed, wound on a core of sheet iron disks.  The commutator short-circuits the armature coils in succession in the proper positions to utilize the repulsive effect set up by the currents which are induced in them by the alternations in the field coils.  The motor has no dead point, and will start from a state of rest and give out considerable power, but with what economy is not yet known.

A curious property of the machine is that at a certain speed, depending on the rapidity of the alternations in the coil, C, a continuous current passes from one commutator brush to the other, and it will energize electro magnets and perform other actions of direct currents.  Here we have, then, a means of inducing direct currents from alternating currents.  To control the speed and keep it at that required for the purpose, we have only to properly gear the motor to another of the ordinary type for alternating currents, namely, an alternating-current dynamo used as a motor.  The charging of storage batteries would not be difficult with such a machine, even from an alternating-current line, though the losses might be considerable.