What's new
What's new

ancient motor wiring help needed

jordanirvin

Plastic
Joined
Oct 27, 2019
I have an ancient motor and would like to get help wiring it up safely. I found some good information in these two places, not it isn't specific enough for my situation: Old electric motor wiring question. - Electronics | DSLReports Forums
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/motor-wires-unidentifiable-247790/

I got this at a farm auction, so I don't know anything about it. There was one wire on it, connected to the fourth terminal (left to right in the picture below). There was no male end on the wire--no plug, so I don't know if this was 220V or 110V or something else.

The badge on the motor says:
Henricks Magneto and Electric Co
Indianapolis, IN
Type: D20
No: 1142
Volts: 30
Amp: 20
KW: 0.8
RPM: 1800
Its about a foot long and 10" in diameter. Weighs about 80lbs.

There are two huge brushes and no capacitor. From another thread, I think this might be a repulsion start 2 pole motor.
Looking at the commutator end, there are four terminals (left to right). #1 and #4 are larger and are wired to the brushes. #2 and #3 are smaller and lead to the windings inside the housing. Terminals #1 and #2 are connected via a copper plate. Another one could have existed between #3 and #4.
There is one wire connecting the two sides of the windings in the motor at the arbor end, which I need to re-insulate. I've pulled the stator to clean and regrease all the parts. All the bars look decent. Most of the wiring and epoxy looks intact.

I'm wondering how to wire this up. I have a multi-meter, but am a complete novice at using it.

Any information/resources, etc would be greatly appreciated.
 

Attachments

  • IMG-1690.jpg
    IMG-1690.jpg
    95 KB · Views: 84
  • IMG-1694.jpg
    IMG-1694.jpg
    91.2 KB · Views: 99
  • IMG-1693.jpg
    IMG-1693.jpg
    88.4 KB · Views: 95
  • IMG-1687.jpg
    IMG-1687.jpg
    90.1 KB · Views: 112
  • IMG-1685.jpg
    IMG-1685.jpg
    89 KB · Views: 106
First, it is a 30 volt DC motor or generator. Second, the armature and field are brought out separately and one side of the field is tied to the armature. The heavy connections are to the armature, the small terminals to the field.

I an suspecting that what it is, is a lighting generator for the house before electricity was brought in. These old lighting systems worked with a set of wet batteries and used a generator such as this to recharge them. The output was controlled by a rheostat wired to the field terminal. The driver could have been a small gasoline engine or even a steam engine, but most likely gas/kerosene. The coupling was a flat belt with a large pulley on the engine and a small one on the generator.

Tom
 
Tom,
Thanks for the info. The auctioneer actually said generator, and I thought that was a mistake on his part. This is starting to make sense--the barn where it was didn't have any outlets, but did have lights. I'm guessing this is pretty useless at this point--I'll probably just end up recycling it. It's too heavy to ship cheaply, so even if someone wanted to buy it (not sure why they would), it wouldn't be worthwhile.
 
one option for my Gravely two wheel tractor, first made in 1919, had an optional electric start. Either a wet cell car battery or 120 D cell batteries!
Bil lD
 
I'm guessing this is pretty useless at this point--I'll probably just end up recycling it. It's too heavy to ship cheaply, so even if someone wanted to buy it (not sure why they would), it wouldn't be worthwhile.

There are people that collect/restore those, some are even quite valuable to that group, I'd suggest a trip across auction block before scrapping. If it will fit in a large flat rate box, and you know how to pack it well with heavy insulation foam, shipping is cheap.
 








 
Back
Top