Home-made Toy Motors: A practical handbook giving detailed instructions for building simple but operative electric motors

In Short

Published in 1919 as part of the Arts and Sciences series, Alfred Powell Morgan’s practical handbook serves as a step-by-step instructional manual for building functional, miniature electric motors from accessible household materials. Written for amateur experimenters and young tinkerers, the text begins by laying out the physical laws of magnetism and electromagnetic rotation. It then moves systematically through increasingly sophisticated construction projects—ranging from simple two-pole models crafted out of tin cocoa cans and scrap iron to advanced multi-pole power motors requiring cast-iron parts, lathe turning, and custom commutators. Its utility and hands-on clarity account for its lasting historical appeal.

The Story

The book opens with an entry-level introduction to electromagnetic theory, clarifying the foundational difference between an electric motor, which consumes electrical energy to produce mechanical motion, and a dynamo, which converts mechanical motion into electricity. Morgan breaks down the physics of magnetic fields, explaining how electrical current flowing through a coiled wire creates an electromagnet, how opposite poles attract while like poles repel, and how a mechanical commutator continuously reverses current direction to keep an armature spinning.

With the core scientific theory established, the text transitions directly into practical craftsmanship, presenting projects of progressively greater complexity. It begins with the simple "Simplex" motor, designed to be built in just two or three hours using discarded cocoa cans, stovepipe sheet iron, magnet wire, and wooden base blocks. Readers learn essential workbench techniques: cutting thin tin with domestic shears or heavy sheet iron with snips, insulating iron cores with shellacked paper, and securing wire layers using embedded loops of string or silk thread.

Moving past basic two-pole designs, the guide introduces three-pole armatures and specialized structural configurations like the "Manchester" motor, which features an elevated field frame mounted on a soldered tin pedestal. The text expands further into alternative designs, explaining how to construct a magnetic attraction motor that pulls a simple iron bar without needing armature windings, as well as a motor built from laminated field and armature frames made by stacking thin iron sheets to reduce energy losses.

Morgan also outlines how a standard three-pole battery motor can be adapted into an experimental induction motor operating without brushes on alternating current. To broaden the mechanical applications, the text provides detailed blueprints for a reciprocating electric engine, complete with an iron armature moving between electromagnets, a connecting rod, a fiber-mounted brush block, and a weighted steel flywheel.

The treatise culminates in the construction of heavy-duty small power motors designed to run on three to six volts. Moving beyond hand-cut sheet metal, these final chapters instruct the builder on how to fabricate wooden patterns, obtain soft grey-iron castings from a local foundry, bore out armature tunnels, construct precise brass-and-fiber commutators, and wire both three-pole and six-pole armatures to deliver steady mechanical power for working models.

How It Unfolds

The foundation of electromagnetism Morgan explains how electric current flowing through coiled wire creates temporary magnetism, outlining the law of attraction and repulsion between magnetic poles. He illustrates how an armature, field winding, and a rotating commutator interact to transform electrical current into continuous mechanical rotation.

Crafting simple sheet-metal motors The handbook introduces construction techniques using easily sourced scraps such as cocoa tins, stovepipe iron, wood blocks, and magnet wire. Detailed instructions guide the builder through insulating metal frames with shellacked paper, wrapping cotton-covered wire, forming paper-core commutators, and assembling the entry-level "Simplex" and "Manchester" motors.

Exploring advanced mechanisms and alternating current The text moves to specialized experimental builds, including a magnetic attraction motor, a motor built from stacked laminated iron sheets, and an electric engine featuring a piston-like armature connected to a flywheel. It also demonstrates how short-circuiting a three-pole armature allows a motor to run without brushes on alternating current.

Building heavy-duty power motors The narrative concludes with advanced workshop projects for vertical and horizontal power motors. Morgan guides the maker through building wooden patterns, securing custom iron castings from a foundry, turning brass commutators, and wiring multi-pole armatures capable of driving external mechanical models.

The People

Because this volume is a technical instruction manual rather than a work of fiction, its "characters" are the structural components, physical forces, and functional materials that the builder must manipulate:

• The Armature: The central rotating figure of every motor. It strives continuously to align its magnetic poles with the surrounding field frame, only to have its magnetic polarity flipped by the commutator, driving ceaseless rotational movement.
• The Commutator: The key mechanism of directional control. Made from paper cores, split brass tubes, or copper wire ends, it bears against conductive brushes to flip the direction of the electrical current twice per revolution.
• The Field Magnet: The stationary outer structure that surrounds the rotating shaft. Whether bent from a single strip of cocoa-can tin, built from stacked iron laminations, or poured as a heavy grey-iron casting, it supplies the constant magnetic field required to pull the armature.
• The Experimenter: The intended reader and builder. Armed with tin snips, shellac, copper wire, and patience, the experimenter shapes scrap material into a balanced, functional power source.

In Its Own Voice

"A dynamo produces electric current, but a motor consumes it. Some machines can be used either as a motor or dynamo—not all however."

Morgan clarifies the functional relationship between generators and motors at the start of Chapter I.

"The little motors described in this book can each be made in two or three hours out of a few scraps of sheet iron, magnet wire and screws."

The author emphasizes the accessible, low-cost nature of the project builds in Chapter I.

"In order to make an induction motor out of an ordinary three-pole battery motor... it is merely necessary to remove the brushes and bind a piece of bare copper wire around the commutator so that it short circuits the segments."

Morgan explains an easy modification for alternating current operation in Chapter III.

What It's Really About

Beneath its step-by-step assembly diagrams, the book acts as an argument for popular self-reliance and practical scientific literacy. Writing during an era when electrification was transforming daily life, Morgan demystifies complex industrial machinery by proving that the governing laws of physics operate identically in a commercial power plant and in a toy motor made from an old tin can.

The text addresses the fundamental balance between theory and hands-on execution. It forces the reader to contend with real-world mechanical realities: friction in handmade bearings, short circuits caused by sharp metal edges slicing through wire insulation, and the precise geometric alignment required to ensure an armature spins freely without scraping the field tunnel.

Why Read It Today

This handbook appeals to modern makers, historians of technology, and retro-engineering enthusiasts who enjoy understanding how fundamental devices work from the ground up. Reading Morgan’s prose offers a nostalgic, tactile journey into early twentieth-century amateur science, evoking an era when young tinkerers fashioned their own experimental gear out of household trash, shellac, and brass screws.

The book is exceptionally clear and approachable, though modern readers will notice period-specific workshop contexts—such as assuming access to local iron foundries for custom castings or buying stovepipes to cut up for raw metal. Additionally, the historical advertising section appended to the text provides a fascinating window into the hobbyist literature and mail-order culture of 1919. It stands as a crisp, honest manual that celebrates the joy of building working machines with one's own hands.