The armature will run in only one direction, and so try both ways. If you start it in the right direction and hold the wires properly, it will continue to revolve at a high rate of speed.
If carefully made, this little motor will reward its maker by running very nicely. Although it is of the utmost simplicity it demonstrates the same fundamental principles which are employed in real electric motors.
The Simplex Motor is an interesting little toy which can be made in a couple of hours, and when finished it will make an instructive model.
Fig. 243.—Details of the Armature of the Simplex Motor.
As a motor itself, it is not very efficient, for the amount of iron used in its construction is necessarily small. The advantage of this particular type of motor and the method of making it is that it demonstrates the actual principle and the method of application that is used in larger machines.
The field of the motor is of the type known as the "simplex" while the armature is the "Siemens H" or two-pole type. The field and the armature are cut from ordinary tin-plated iron such as is used in the manufacture of tin cans and cracker-boxes.
The simplest method of securing good flat material is to get some old scrap from a plumbing shop. An old cocoa tin or baking-powder can may, however, be cut up and flattened and will then serve the purpose almost as well.
Fig. 244.—The Armature.