BROOK MOTOR- SPLIT PHASE WIRING ?

[Richard Williams 11Participant @richardwilliams11]

Hello All, I have come across this form whilst searching for ideas to get my old Brook Motor going. I am going someone may be able to help me out.

I have an old single phase Brook Motor. I have 3 other Brook Motors , one of which is 1936 and this one looks older. I wonder if anyone knows the estimated date.

Anyway, the motor has two windings in it (which are not connected) and from my limited research this appears to be a split phase motor. The Ohms of one windings are 3, and the other 1.4.

I tried the motor on one of the pair of windings and it works.

The starter that comes with it is in very bad condition, it is a Manual starter, with a hand wheel, meaning I assume you start it with both windings, then move it to the full on position that disengages the starting winding. I have never seen a starter like this before. It has lots of springs in the back which I assume act as capacitors.

Does anyone know if there is a way I can wire this motor up without using the starter I have. Is there a manual switch you can use rather than a centrifugal switch for example. The starter really is in bad condition and whilst I may want to repair it in the future, I do no have the time currently.

Any help would be much appreciated as I am not very familiar with these types of motor and would like to wire it up so.I can use it.

Many Thanks

Richard Williams

[Richard Williams 11Participant @richardwilliams11]

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Richard

That starter is a resistance type used in the start winding to limit current until the motor has attained full speed by which time you have moved the wheel slowly to the run position and there is no longer any additional resistance added to the start winding. The last one of these I saw working was on a saw bench with a 3 hp single phase motor over 60 years ago.

Emgee

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

I've still got one of these brushed, Birmingham Science Museum used to have one on display, 1920 ish, yours looks much older.

Keep it earthed and it shouldn't bite you.

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

I had one of these motor, which was used during factory shutdown to power an equally old air compressor when the main compressors were off. Very reliable too. It dated from the time the factory was a "shadow factory" making Merlin magnetos!Andrew,

P.S. I fired it up last about 25 years ago. Factory demolished by GE of the USA.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 08/07/2020 21:12:05

[Richard Williams 11Participant @richardwilliams11]

Thankyou for the replies and interest. I will put some photos of my other old Brook motors if there is interest.

Does anyone have any advise on how I might wire this motor up for use ?

Thanks

[Andy CarlsonParticipant @andycarlson18141]

If you are on Facebook then it would be worth joining the 'Antique Electric Motor Experts' group there. They would be interested to see your motor and often answer technical questions on wiring and so on.

I'm pretty sure they will recommend a megger test to check resistance between the windings and earth before applying any mains power.

Dave's photos show a Century repulsion start induction run motor. This changes its internal winding setup when up to speed. It has a brushed rotor and a centrifugal mechanism to withdraw the brushes and short the rotor windings once running. Everything is done in the motor so it just needs an on/off switch.

Your motor looks like it needs more 'off stage' equipment and manual intervention to get it started but well worth persevering with.

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