Accelerator for paired masses

A method and apparatus has two stages of acceleration establishing levels of kinetic energy in paired bodies contributing to a total system mass that is to be accelerated in a given time profile. A first stage of acceleration places the paired bodies in helical trajectories about a toroidal space. The second stage of acceleration has mutual cross coupling between the paired masses for the reflection of reaction forces resulting from the independently, but simultaneously, applied forces for enhancement of the acceleration and for mutual suppression of recoil within the apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to machine elements and mechanisms, to mass 
accelerators and to recoilless launching apparatus for paired bodies, each 
possessing mass. 
2. Description of Related Art 
The acceleration of a body is proportional to an applied resultant force 
and is in the direction of this force. In the acceleration of a body the 
effective or resultant force is always opposed by an equal reaction force 
within the same line of action. In many prior art applications, well known 
in the mechanics branch of physics, the acceleration of a mass involves 
systems or mechanisms wherein nonconservative or dissipative forces are 
used to accelerate the body. The mechanical energy in nonconservative or 
dissipative force systems is not completely recoverable or useable in 
accomplishing work. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In this invention the effective total mass is established in pairs of 
bodies or masses of similar design. Acceleration of the pairs of masses is 
achieved in two stages or phases. A first acceleration of the mass pairs 
is achieved through mechanisms that dissipate reaction forces of the 
applied mechanical energy. A second acceleration of the mass pairs is 
achieved simultaneously through recoil suppression mechanisms that 
conserve reaction forces, hence, a greater portion of the applied 
mechanical energy is effectively used. Expressed alternatively, the second 
acceleration of the equivalent total mass is accomplished with a reduction 
in the expenditure of the supplied mechanical energy that is necessary to 
achieve a stated velocity of the respective masses. 
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the mass pairs are guided by the 
assembled structure so as to follow, in the first step of acceleration, 
phased helical trajectories encompassing a toroidal space. In the second 
step of acceleration the two bodies, of each mass pair, are subjected, 
simultaneously to directly applied thrusts that are coordinated, in time, 
and also to the respective reaction forces of the thrust that is applied 
to the other companion body of the pair of masses. The respective reaction 
forces are cross coupled in opposing directions within the elements of the 
interconnecting structure that is provided to effect a mechanical linkage 
between the respective mass holders so as to enhance the directly applied 
action thrusting forces. Thus the reaction force "R(A)" to the thrust 
"F(A)" applied to mass "M(A)" is reflected through the linking structure 
to appear at mass "M(B)" simultaneously, in the same direction, so as to 
reinforce or add to the thrust "F(B)" locally applied at mass "M(B)". 
Simultaneously, the reaction force "R(B)" to the thrust "F(B)" that is 
applied to mass "M(B)" is reflected through the linking structure to 
appear at mass "M(A)" in the direction for adding to the thrust "F(A)", 
locally applied at mass "M(A)". The simultaneous reflection of the 
respective reaction forces provides counterbalancing in the structural 
elements of the accelerator since they are substantially equal in 
magnitude and opposite in their resultant direction within the respective 
elements. Recoil to the second step of acceleration is therefore 
suppressed, being dependent upon the symmetry and simultaneity of the 
directly applied accelerating forces. 
Although the masses are in motion relative to an observer, following the 
first stage of acceleration, they are in a fixed relationship relative to 
each other, because the supporting structural linkage of the apparatus 
stays intact and invariant throughout the motion. When the second stage of 
acceleration occurs, the energy required is that amount needed to increase 
the velocity of each mass, with reduced recoil in an imperfect energy 
conserving system, and thereby add to the initial velocity of the first 
sage of acceleration so as to achieve the desired "final" velocity. The 
respective masses, thus accelerated by the two stage method, each have 
kinetic energy at the expense of less applied energy. Thus an improvement 
in efficiency is achieved. The paired masses, having been put in motion, 
can be harnessed by methods well known that are not a part of this 
disclosure to accomplish useful work such as to generate electricity, 
travel as projectiles, power vehicles, and generate thrust. 
Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a method 
and apparatus for improvement in the efficiency of the acceleration of 
mass to desired velocities and levels of kinetic energy. 
Another object of this invention is to divide the total mass into at least 
one pair of discrete bodies, each of which is accelerated to the desired 
velocity. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for 
accelerating pairs of masses simultaneously. 
A further object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for 
accelerating pairs of masses simultaneously with the enhancement of the 
acceleration by mutual cross coupling and reflection of reaction forces 
and with suppressed recoil of accelerating mechanical elements of the 
cross coupled mechanical train. 
Still another object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus 
for the acceleration of at least one pair of masses in two stages for the 
addition of the initial and secondary velocities. 
Other objects, features, and advantages will become apparent from the 
description in connection with the accompanying drawings of the presently 
preferred embodiments of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The kinetic energy of a mass that is in motion varies as the square of its 
velocity. If the velocity of the mass is doubled its kinetic energy is 
increased fourfold, etc. The method and means by which a mass attains a 
given velocity impacts upon the energy efficiency of the system. The 
applied energy may be conserved, hence the system efficiency may be 
improved, if the total mass is distributable in an even number of smaller 
bodies of mass and if conserving methods and apparatus are used in their 
acceleration to the desired velocity. Expressed in another way, if an even 
number of bodies, each having mass, are to be put in motion to attain a 
given velocity in the same time profile, the supply energy required for 
acceleration of all of the bodies can be conserved if the reaction forces 
accompanying the acceleration of each mass can be channeled so as to aid 
the acceleration of the companion mass of each pair of bodies or objects 
that are put in motion. Reaction energies that are typically dissipated 
may, in accordance with this invention, be used to perform useful work in 
the mass acceleration process and thus improve total system efficiency. 
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a supporting structure 1 holds a central 
shaft 2 solidly in a vertical position. An energy transmission arm 3 is 
attached thru supporting structure 4 and bearings 5 and 6. Energy arm 3 is 
able to freely rotate about shaft 2. A mid-shaft stabilizing assembly 7 
consists of a shaft collar welded to a plate to which are attached two 
stabilizing arms 8 and 9 which are at right angles to each other and whose 
other ends (not shown) are attached to the walls of the room or a stable 
body. A bevel gear 10 is located above the stabilizing assembly 7 and is 
firmly attached to shaft 2 by a setscrew and a shaft key. 
Above bevel gear 10 is a reaction transmission arm 11 which is attached 
thru supporting structure 12 and bearings 13 and 14. The reaction arm is 
able to freely rotate about shaft 2. Above bearing 14 is a top-shaft 
stabilizing assembly 15 which consists of a shaft collar welded to a plate 
to which are attached two stabilizing arms 16 and 17 which are at right 
angles to each other and whose other ends (not shown) are attached to the 
walls of the room or a stable body. When the second phase energy is 
applied the forces tend to bend the central shaft 2, however it is held 
straight and vertical by bolting the supporting structure 1 to the floor 
and by incorporating the mid- and top-shaft stabilizing assemblies 7 and 
15. 
Attached to the top surface of supporting structure 4 are a pair of pillow 
blocks 18 which support drive shaft 19 which has a keyway. At the front 
end of shaft 19 nearest the vertical central shaft 2 is a bevel gear 20 
which is firmly attached to shaft 19 by a key and a setscrew and mates 
with bevel gear 10. At the back end of shaft 19 is a drive sprocket 21 
which is attached to shaft 19 by a shaft key and setscrew. 
Each end of energy arm 3 and reaction arm 11 have similar structures 
attached to them. To avoid repetition, only one of these is described in 
detail. The corresponding elements of the second structure have been 
assigned the same reference numbers to which have been added prime marks 
to differentiate them. 
Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, at one end on top of energy arm 3 is 
welded a supporting plate 22. On its top surface is mounted a pair of 
pillow blocks 23 which support driven shaft 24 which has a keyway. The 
center line of shaft 24 is 101.063 cm (39.789 in.) from the centerline of 
shaft 19. A driven sprocket 25 is attached to the back end of shaft 24 by 
a shaft key and setscrew. 
An endless roller chain 26 passes over and around sprockets 25, 21, and 
25'. As energy arm 3 rotates about central shaft 2, bevel gear 20 rotates 
and thru shaft 19 causes drive sprocket 21 to rotate which in turn causes 
driven sprocket 25 and 25' to rotate in unison. 
A plate 27 is attached to the front end of driven shaft 24 with a shaft key 
and setscrew. The inner ring of an extended inner-ring ball bearing 28 is 
welded to the bottom of plate 27 perpendicular to its face. Another 
extended inner-ring ball bearing 29 is similarly welded to the top of 
plate 27. Two support shafts 30 and 31 are welded vertically 180 degrees 
apart to the outer rings of ball bearings 28 and 29. As shown in FIG. 1, 
shaft 30 is behind plate 27 while shaft 31 is in front. The upper ends of 
the support shafts are threaded to accept rod-end bearings 32 and 33 
between which is mounted swing shaft 34. Because the lower ends of the two 
support shafts are attached to the outer rings of the ball bearings, swing 
shaft 34 can be adjusted to a 45 degree or greater angle relative to the 
plane of the face of plate 27. A clamp 59 (not shown) clamps the inner and 
outer rings of the bearing to keep shaft 34 at a selected angle. The 
centerline of swing shaft 34 is 40.43 cm (15.915 in.) from the centerline 
of driven shaft 24. The centers of swing shafts 34 and 34' are in a plane 
which is parallel to energy arm 3 and which passes through the axis of the 
central shaft 2. 
Swing shaft 34 is secured by shaft collars 35 and 36 at each end. Throw arm 
37 passes thru shaft 34 midway between the rod-end bearings 32 and 33. 
Attached to throw arm 37 just below shaft 34 is pivot block 38. In the 
structure at the other end of energy arm 3, the pivot block 38' which is 
attached to throw arm 37' is just above shaft 34'. In the pivot block is 
located a dowel pin 39 whose centerline is 1.16 cm. (0.455 in.) from the 
centerline of throw arm 37 and 2.01 cm (0.790 in.) from the centerline of 
shaft 34. The dowel pin acts as a pivot point for coupling rod 40 which 
has a hole drilled in it through which the dowel pin passes. The other end 
of the coupling rod ends in a pivot joint 41 which is in turn connected to 
reaction strut 42 which will be described below. The distance from the 
centerline of dowel pin 39 to the center of pivot joint 41 is 17.50 cm 
(6.889 in.). 
Throw arm 37 has attached to its other end an air-operated pneumatic 
cylinder 43 with an internal diameter of 2.54 cm (1 in.) and an operating 
rod 44 with a stroke length of 15.24 cm (6 in.). The centerline of 
operating rod 44 is 80.851 cm (31.831 in.) from the center line of swing 
shaft 34. Surrounding the operating rod and attached to the end of the 
cylinder is the face of a magnetic clutch 45 (not shown). A mass (or 
weight) 46 of 4.5359 kg (10 lbs.) with a hole drilled partially thru rests 
over the end of the operating rod 44 of the cylinder 43 and comes in 
contact with the magnetic clutch face. When the clutch face is energized, 
the weight is held securely in place. When air pressure is applied to 
cylinder 43 thru air hose 47 from an air compressor, the current to the 
clutch face is cutoff, the cylinder's operating rod 44 extends and throws 
mass 46 on trajectory path 48. 
Welded to the bottom of one end of reaction arm 11 is reinforcing plate 49 
on whose bottom surface is mounted a pair of pillow blocks 50 which hold 
reaction shaft 51, which has a keyway. The centerline of reaction shaft 51 
is directly in line with the centerline of driven shaft 24 located 
directly across on the energy arm 3. Reaction strut 42 is securely 
attached to the inward end of the shaft 51. The other end of reaction 
strut 42 attaches to pivot joint 41 which has been described previously. 
The outer end of the shaft 51 has a reaction sprocket 52 attached to it 
which is keyed to the keyway in the shaft. Passing over and around 
reaction sprockets 52 and 52' is reaction chain 53 which causes the two 
reaction sprockets to rotate in unison. 
FIG. 4 shows a symbolic drawing of the motions and forces involved in the 
operation of my invention. Helical path 54 is that followed by swing shaft 
34 as a result of the rotation of energy arm 3 about central shaft 2. This 
helical path is developed as a result of the interaction of fixed bevel 
gear 10 which mates with bevel gear 20 causing it to rotate and drive the 
chain 26. The motion of chain 26 and driven sprocket 25 causes plate 27 to 
rotate and propel swing shaft 34 in a circle about it. This circular 
motion combines with the forward motion of energy arm 3 to produce helical 
path 54. 
In an alternative embodiment, machined ways or rods bent into the helical 
shape of path 54 may achieve the same mechanical result. When one presses 
laterally on swing shaft 34, there will be no `give.` This is of course 
apparent in the case of machined ways or bent rods. In the illustrated 
embodiment of FIG. 1, the same effect occurs because a lateral push in 
direction 55 (FIG. 4) is equivalent to orthogonal component force vectors 
56 and 57. Vector 56 applied, in FIG. 1, through energy arm 3 back to 
bevel gear 20 would tend to cause energy arm 3 to want to move in 
direction 58. However vector 57 counteracts this tendency so that swing 
shaft 34 becomes a stable element as far as lateral forces on it are 
concerned. 
The angle of helical path 54 relative to the face of plate 27 varies as 
swing shaft 34 rotates about driven shaft 24. This is because shaft 34 
travels a greater distance forward when it is further away from central 
shaft 2. For example, in this embodiment, helical path 54 forms a 
45-degree angle with plate 27 when it is nearest central shaft. 2. When it 
is farthest away, it forms approximately a 23-degree angle with the plate. 
Therefore, bearing clamp 59 (not shown) is provided to clamp the inner- 
and outer-rings of ball bearing 28 so that shaft 34 is held at the 
appropriate angle to parallel helical path 54 at the instant of activation 
of the pneumatic cylinder 43. 
When pneumatic cylinder 43 is activated to accelerate mass 46 forward, a 
backward force vector 60 is generated in throw arm 37. Because the inside 
diameters of the inner rings of bearings 28 and 29 are larger than the 
diameter of the throw arm 37 so as to establish a clearance area 
surrounding arm 37, the backward force vector 60 causes swing shaft 34 to 
want to rotate about helical path 54 in direction 61. Note that since the 
rotational force is lateral to helical path 54, shaft 34 is neutral in 
terms of moving forward or backward along path 54. Pivot block 38 
transmits rotational torque to coupling rod 40. Thus the acceleration of 
mass 46 has caused a reaction in coupling rod 40 in the form of force 
vector 62. At the point where coupling rod 40 engages reaction strut 42, 
the force vector 62 can be represented by three component vectors in an 
orthogonal coordinate system, namely 63, 64 and 65. Vector 63 is up thru 
the centerline of reaction strut 42. Vector 64 is backward and causes 
reaction arm 11 to want to move backward in direction 67. Vector 65 causes 
strut 42 and ultimately reaction chain 53 to want to move in direction 66. 
Simultaneously, vector 63' is up thru the centerline of strut 42'. Vector 
64' is forward and causes reaction arm 11 to want to move forward in 
direction 67'. Vector 65' causes strut 42' and ultimately reaction chain 
53 to want to move in direction 66'. 
It now becomes apparent that by choosing the appropriate angular 
relationships of reaction struts 42 and and 42' and the appropriate 
acceleration forces for masses 46 and 46' and appropriate lengths of the 
various connecting elements, that rotation force 67 can be made to 
equalize rotational force 67' and the torque 66 on reaction sprocket 52 
can be made to equalize the torque 66' on companion sprocket 52'. 
There are several angular relationships of reaction struts 42 and 42' where 
the counteracting forces are exactly equalized. In addition, there is an 
area on each side of these optimum angular relationships in which the 
opposing forces approach equalizing each other. If the pneumatic cylinder 
is caused to operate just before or just after the optimum angular 
relationship, there is a tendency for swing shaft 34 to slow down or speed 
up. However, by adjusting the angle of cylinder 43 slightly away from 
being perpendicular to shaft 34, the shaft will want to go forward both 
before and after the perfect angular relationship. This does cause a 
slight loss of efficiency (less than 1% in this embodiment) but does allow 
the cylinder 43 to be activated just prior to the most efficient angle 
with maximum acceleration occurring as the arms pass thru the optimum 
angular relationship. 
This ability for the masses 46 and 46' to be accelerated, effectively `away 
from each other`, but both in a forward direction while already in motion 
is a principal feature of the invention. The masses 46 and 46' are given 
an initial acceleration. In the case of this illustrated embodiment, 
energy arm 3 has attached to it a wire which passes over over pulley 68 to 
weight 69. Weight 69 is dropped to provide an initial acceleration (that 
is repeatable) to energy arm 3 and thus to masses 46 and 46'. 
After the initial stage of acceleration, as swing shaft 34 moves along 
helical path 54 and mass 46 moves along helical path 70, there is no 
apparent motion of mass 46 from the frame of reference of shaft 34. 
Then as swing shaft 34 passes into and thru the optimum angular 
relationship, the pneumatic cylinder is activated to provide the second 
stage of acceleration to the mass, using the frame of reference of swing 
shaft 34. When mass 46 is given its secondary acceleration, it is 
accelerated relative to swing shaft 34--not relative to its velocity as 
observed by a bystander. However, a bystander (or other components of the 
machine) that attempted to catch or make use the energy of the moving 
masses would find that the masses were moving at the sum of the velocities 
created by each step of the acceleration. 
Thus the primary and secondary accelerations have been directly added 
together to achieve the desired velocity for each body of mass, thus 
establishing a level of kinetic energy for the total system or total mass. 
A purpose of accelerator for paired masses is to improve the efficiency of 
systems which transform energy into the acceleration of mass. The 
embodiment presented here represents methods and means of this invention 
having the ability to further accelerate two masses in a forward sense 
with reduction of recoil in the accelerating apparatus. During the 
simultaneous stroke interval of the respective air cylinders 43 and 43' 
for launching the paired masses 46 and 46' and adding acceleration 
thereto, the energy arm 3 with assembled shafts 24, 24', sprockets 25, 
25', connecting chain 26, and drive components 21, 19, 20, 10, etc. are 
all substantially isolated from launch reaction forces and recoil. 
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the reaction force of cylinder 43 is applied 
through throw arm 37 to develop rotational torque about shaft 34, which is 
coupled by the inwardly mounted pivot block 38, rod 40, pivot joint 41, 
and strut 42 so as to cause a counterclockwise torque in shaft 51 and 
sprocket 52. Simultaneously the reaction force of cylinder 43' is applied 
(FIG. 1) through throw arm 37' to develop rotational torque about shaft 
34', which is coupled by the outwardly mounted pivot block 38', rod 40', 
pivot joint 41', and strut 42' so as to cause a clockwise torque in shaft 
51' and sprocket 52'. Thus the upper segment of reaction chain 53 (FIG. 1 
and 4), being in tension, cross couples the respective reaction forces of 
the simultaneous mass launch accelerations. The reaction forces being 
substantially of equal strength are channeled in opposing directions to 
complement the acceleration of the companion paired mass, thus recoil of 
the apparatus is absent during the simultaneous stroke intervals of the 
respective accelerating air cylinders. 
A system can be expanded by further addition of the apparatus described 
above so as to accelerate two or more pairs of masses, all pairs being 
either simultaneously or sequentially accelerated according to a 
controlled schedule. It should be noted that variations or modifications 
of the preferred embodiment described above are within the scope of the 
present invention. An odd number of masses can be accommodated if they are 
geometrically arranged so as to be equivalent to paired masses.