Brushes, Commutator and Armature

The "flipping the electric field" part of an electric motor is accomplished by two parts: the commutator and the brushes.

 The diagram at the above shows how the commutator and brushes work together to let current flow to the electromagnet, and also to flip the direction that the electrons are flowing at just the right moment. The contacts of the commutator are attached to the axle of the electromagnet, so they spin with the magnet. The brushes are just two pieces of springy metal or carbon that make contact with the contacts of the commutator

Consider the image on the previous page. The armature takes the place of the nail in an electric motor. The armature is an electromagnet made by coiling thin wire around two or more poles of a metal core.
The armature has an axle, and the commutator is attached to the axle. In the diagram to the right, you can see three different views of the same armature: front, side and end-on. In the end-on view, the winding is eliminated to make the commutator more obvious. You can see that the commutator is simply a pair of plates attached to the axle. These plates provide the two connections for the coil of the electromagnet.