AN IMPROVED MOTOR APPARATUS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake
and Co, Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED MOTOR APPARATUS." A communication from abroad by
Moritz Rosenstock, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th February 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co. Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings London "AN IMPROVED MOTOR-APPARATUS." [A com-
munication from abroad by Moritz Rosenstock, of the City and State of New York,
United States of America.]
This Invention relates to a motor which has for its moving power, a series of
weights or balls, which act by gravity on a toothed driving wheel or wheels, fitted
with pockets to receive them, the pockets being attached to the driving wheel or
wheels, in such positions as to receive the actuating weights at an elevation or
plane, about on a level with the shaft of the driving wheel or wheels, and to dis-
charge the said weights or balls from the pockets of the driving wheels at or near
the lowest point of the annular path in which the said pockets rotate. After the
weights or balls drop out of the pockets of the driving wheels, they are raised up
by some suitable lifter or lifters, to their starting point and again enter the pockets
of the driving wheels and propel the latter forward, thus the actuating weights
move continuously down with the driving wheel or wheels which they actuate,
they then drop out of the pockets of the said wheel or wheels, when their
gravity is no longer available, and an auxiliary mechanism raises the said weights
up to the higher plane, from which they may again be made available by the
action of gravitation to move or rotate the said driving wheel or wheels.
In carrying the said invention into practice the motor may be constructed with
one or more driving wheels, it may have one or more sets of actuating weights and
one or more of the elevators or screws for lifting the weights, so as to allow them
to act on the driving wheels. Any number of the motor or driving wheels, that

page_text: may be found convenient or necessary, may be grouped on, or fixed to, a single
driving or motor shaft.
The motor-wheels may be of any convenient size, and have any desired number
of weight pockets; I prefer that there shall never be less than three of the said
pockets to each wheel and arranged on one or both sides of it, but the number will
be governed by the size of the wheel. The wheel or wheels are mounted on an axle,
which is provided with bearings in a suitable frame.
The wheels have their pockets so constructed that they may readily receive and
deliver the said weights, and the pockets are placed as far out toward the rim of
wheel as practicable, those on each wheel being at equal distances from each
other.
Each of the said driving wheels is provided with teeth on its periphery and is
arranged to gear with a small pinion wheel on a countershaft, to which shaft other
parts of the mechanism are also connected. The pockets of the said driving wheels
are arranged, so as to receive the balls or weights readily from an elevated station
or plane and also to discharge them at a lower station or plane. The upper station
is placed or taken at an elevation about on a level with the supporting axle, and
the lower station is about on the saine level as the bottoms of the driving wheels.
From the lower station or plane, the balls or weights are raised to the upper station
or plane by means of lifters hereinafter described. For this purpose I provide one
or more actuating worm wheels or screw lifters which are set at such an incline as
to lead from the point at which the balls or weights are delivered at the lower
station or plane, up to the point at which they are required to fall into the pockets
of the driving wheel or wheels to propel it, or them, forward. These worm-wheels
have their upper and lower ends pivoted or journalled in some suitable portion of
the frame and they are geared from the driving wheels through the countershaft
and suitable gearing, so as to cause the lifter screws or worm wheels to move in
harmony with said driving wheels and thereby deliver the weights just in time for
the proper operation of the machine. A suitable guide is placed contiguous to each
of the lifting screws for the purpose of holding the weights up to and in contact
with, the lifting screw, during the time the said weights are being lifted.
An auxiliary power such as a spring is arranged in connection with the worm-
wheels, or screw lifter or lifters, to rotate them and thereby raise the weights. This
spring or power can best be placed in the base of the frame and there arranged so
as to actuate or rotate the screw lifter or lifters by means of suitable gearing con-
nected therewith and hereinafter described. A shaft or arbor is connected with, or
attached to the said spring, and used for the purpose of winding up the spring by
means of a suitable key or otherwise. The said shaft or arbor may be turned and
the spring thereby be kept wound up automatically, by the action of the machine,
in the following manner that is to say. A shaft by means of the toothed gearing is
connected with the motor shaft and receives motion therefrom; this motion is com-
municated to the arbor of the actuating spring, by means of two gear wheels or in
lieu of this device, the teeth of the driving wheel may gear with a small pinion on
a horizontal shaft and an endless shaft and an endless worm or screw on the said
shaft may gear into, and actuate, a pinion on the arbor of the spring. In either of
these or other equivalent devices for winding up the spring, the mechanism for
winding up the said spring will be so combined with, and adjusted to, the other
parts of the machine, that the spring will be wound up, at each revolution of the
inachine, as much as it will be required to unwind during a corresponding period of
time, but the periods of winding up, and unwinding the said spring may be
arranged to alternate, so that the force applied to wind up the spring may not be
required at the same time as the force of the spring is required for driving or
rotating the lifters. In any event, the intermediate toothed gearing will be so
arranged as to cause the winding up mechanism to act in certain stated periods of
time, which said periods of time will be in certain fixed proportions to the time
occupied for a revolution of the machine.
The said spring and winding device will be provided with a suitable pawl and

page_text: ratchet wheel to connect the parts together and render them operative in the
ordinary manner. The first mentioned countershaft (which carries a fly wheel
and drives the shaft which harmonizes the movements of the lifter or lifters with
the other parts of the machine) may be either at the top of the frame or below
the driving wheels. In some cases the said countershaft may be made by means
of intermediate gearing to communicate motion to a second shaft carrying the fly
wheel and also the endless screws which gear into, and actuate, pinions on the
shafts of the lifters so as to harmonize the movements of these parts. In any case
a small shaft will receive motion from a spring or other auxiliary power through a
suitable train and the motion which it so receives from the spring or its equivalent
will be transmitted to the screw lifter or lifters through the medium of bevel
gearing. The screw lifters may be made with either one or two grooves or
passages for the weights, but I prefer to construct them with only one groove to
cach screw or lifter, and to construct and arrange the parts, both of the lifters or
elevators, and of the machine, so as to cause the weights as they are raised up in
these lifters to rest in the rising side of the screw as it rotates, thereby causing the
screw lifter to slightly raise up the weight or ball, and not bear down against it,
as would be the case wore the weight or ball placed on the other side of the screw.
It is evident there will be considerably less frictional resistance in the machine,
with the weight, while it is being raised, resting in the rising side of the screw
lifter or elevator, and to accomplish this it is necessary to use one screw-lifter to
each driving or motor wheel, and to so form the thread or groove of the screw as
to cause that side of the said screw or lifter which is next the motor-wheel to
which it belongs, to turn upwardly as it rotates, thereby producing the desired
minimum of friction in this part of the operation of the machine.
All of the balls or weights must be perfectly formed spheres and one set of them
is provided for each of the driving wheels, but each and all will work and move
together in perfect harmony with all the rest of the machine.
It is necessary to have these weights as heavy as possible in proportion to their
size, and to accomplish this object I prefer to construct them with a thin metallic
shell, which must be turned up true externally, and the interior of the said shell
filled with a heavy material like lead or quicksilver.
The construction of the parts is such that the weights drop from the pockets
of the driving wheels directly into, or on, the lifter, and at the top end of the
lifter the said weights drop directly therefrom into the pockets of the wheels.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent & of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor filed by the said William Robert Lake in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th August 1882.
33
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London "AN IMPROVED MOTOR APPARATUS A commu-
nication from abroad by Moritz Rosenstock, of the City and State of New York,
United States of America
This invention relates to a motor which has for its moving power, a series of
weights or balls which act by gravity on a toothed driving wheel or wheels fitted
with pockets to receive them, the pockets being attached to the driving wheel or
wheels in such positions, as to receive the actuating weights at an elevation or
plane, about on a level with the shaft of the driving wheel or wheels, and to
discharge the said weights or balls from the pockets of the driving wheels at, or
near, the lowest point of the annular path in which the said pockets rotate. After
the weights or balls drop out of the pockets of the driving wheels they are raised
up by some suitable elevator or elevators to their starting point, and again enter
the pockets of the driving wheels and rotate the latter, thus the actuating weights
move continuously down with the driving wheel or wheels which they actuate,
they then drop out of the pockets of the said wheel or wheels when their gravity
is no longer available and an auxiliary mechanism raises the said weights up to
the point where they enter the pockets whereby they are again available by the
action of gravitation, to move or rotate the said driving wheel or wheels.
I construct motors according to this invention with one or more driving wheels,
having one or more sets of actuating weights and elevators or screws for lifting
the said weights, so as to allow them to act upon the driving wheels. Any
number of driving wheels may be grouped or mounted upon a single driving or
motor shaft.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a central vertical section of an improved motor having two driving
wheels and one elevator and also showing the mechanism for driving the said
elevator.
Figure 2 is a central vertical section of a motor having two driving wheels and
two elevators
Figure 3 is a plan of the motor shewn in figure 1.
Figure 4 is a section of a weight or ball used for actuating or driving the motor
wheels.
Figure 5 is the side elevation of a motor having one driving wheel, with weight
pockets on each side and two elevators.
Figure 6 is an end elevation of the motor shewn in figure 5
Figure 7 is an end elevation of the motor shown iu figure 2
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings
In constructing a machine according to this invention provide driving wheels
A A which may be of any convenient size, and have any desired number of
weight-pockets a, a, I prefer that there shall be never less than three of the said
pockets to each wheel and arranged on one or both sides of it, but the number of
pockets must be proportionate to the size of the wheel. The wheel or wheels A
are mounted on an axle B, which is provided with suitable bearings in a frame C.
Each of the said driving wheels is provided with teeth a² on its periphery arranged
to gear into the teeth a' of a small pinion a³ on a counter-shaft G, to which shaft
other parts of the mechanism are also connected. The pockets a, a of the driving

page_text: wheels A, A. are placed as near the rim of the driving wheel as practicable, at
equal distances from each other, and are so constructed as to receive the balls or
weights W readily from an elevated station or plane D and also to discharge them
at a lower station or plane E. The upper station D is about on a level with the
main axle B and the lower station E is about on a level with the bottoms of the
driving wheels. From the lower station E the balls or weights W are raised to
the upper station D, by means of lifters or elevators F.
The terms "upper station or plane" and "lower station or plane" only relate to
relative positions, which in the drawing are represented by dotted lines in hori-
zontal planes. The construction of the parts is such that the weights W drop
from the pockets of the driving wheels directly into the elevator and from the top
of the said elevator directly into the pockets of the wheels.
The lifters or elevators F are made in the form of screws as shewn in the
drawing, and are set at an angle to lead from the point at which the balls or
weights are received at the lower station up to the point at which they are
required to fall into the pockets of the driving wheel or wheels to propel it or
them forward. The elevators have their ends journalled in suitable portions of the
frame C and are actuated by the driving wheels through the counter-shaft G, bevel
wheels g g', shaft G2, and bevel wheels g² and g³ Figures 1, 2 and 7, or by any
other suitable means so as to cause the said elevators to move in harmony with
the said driving wheels, and thereby deliver the weights at the right noment for
the proper operation of the machine.
A suitable guide H is placed contiguous to each of the elevators F, for the
purpose of keeping the weights W in contact with the said elevators during the
time that the said weights are being raised.
An auxiliary power, such as a spring S is arranged in connection with the
elevators F to rotate them, and thereby assist in raising the weights W. This
spring is preferably placed in the base of the frame C a shaft or arbor fis connected
with the said spring S and used for the purpose of winding it up by means of a
suitable key, or otherwise. The spring S may be kept wound up automatically by
the action of the machine in the following manner. A shaft K is connected, by
means of the gearing k and k³, with the main shaft B and receives motion there-
from, this motion is communicated to the arbor f of the spring by means of two
gear-wheels fl and fi as shewn in Figure 2. In lieu of this device the teeth a³ of
the driving wheel may gear with a small pinion on a horizontal shaft X, and a
worm on the shaft X engages with a worm-wheel x on the arbor f of the
spring as shewn in Figures 5 and 6. In either of these or equivalent devices for
winding up the spring S the mechanism must be so combined with, and adjusted to,
the other parts of the machine, that the spring will be wound up at each revolution
of the machine, as much as it will be required to unwind during a corresponding
period of time, but the periods of winding up and unwinding the said spring may
be arranged to alternate so that the force applied to wind up the spring may not
be required at the same time that the force of the spring is required for driving
or rotating the elevators F. In any case the intermediate gearing should be so
arranged as to cause the winding-up mechanism to act in certain stated periods of
time, which said periods of time will be in certain fixed proportions to the time
occupied for a revolution of the machine. The said spring and winding device
are provided with a suitable pawl and ratchet-wheel to connect the parts together
and render them operative in the ordinary manner.
In Figures 1, 2, 3, and 7 the countershaft G (which drives the shaft G³) and
carrying a fly wheel L is shewn at the upper part of the frame G, but in Figures 5
and G the said shaft G is shown at the lower part of the said frame. In this latter
construction the countershaft G, by means of intermediate gearing y and y'
communicates motion to a shaft Y which latter carries the fly-wheel L and also
the worms y which gear into, and actuate worm-wheels y³ on the shafts of the
elevators F so as to harmonize the movements of these parts. A shaft P is
arranged to receive motion from the spring S through the train of wheels s, s', , 8³,

page_text: 8³, and the motion which it so receives is transmitted to the elevators F through
the medium of the hevel gearing p and p³ when the countershaft Y is employed as
is shown in Figures 5 and 6, but the gearing p and g, when the arrangement
shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 7, is employed. The operation of the machine is as
follows. Weights W are placed in the pockets of each wheel which are in the
proper position to hold them and such a number of these weights as may be
required are placed on the upper station D, and in other positions on the elevator
relative to the position of the various pockets.
The machine is then set in motion by any desired method of leverage; when
once set in motion the weight of the actuating balls or weights W, will continue to
rotate the driving wheels as each weight successively reaches the lowest point of
its rotary path, or a trifle past that point, it will drop out of the driving wheel
pocket at the lower station E. Each ball, as it leaves a pocket a, rolls by gravity
into the thread of the screw-elevator F which said elevator, actuated in the manner
described, will raise the balls in succession to the upper station D which is so
arranged as to cause the said weights or balls to roll into their respective pockets.
The screw elevator F may be made with either one or two grooves or threads for
raising the weights, but I prefer to construct them with only one thread to each
screw or elevator, and to arrange the guides H in such a manner with regard to the
elevators, that the weights W, as they are raised, rest upon the rising side of the
screw as it rotates, thereby causing the thread to slightly lift the weight or
ball and not bear down against it as would be the case were the weight or ball
placed on the other side of the screw. It is evident there will be considerably less
frictional resistance in the machine with the weight while it is being raised, resting
in the rising side of the screw or elevator. To accomplish this, it is necessary to use
one elevator to each driving or motor wheel and to so form the thread or groove
of the screw as to cause that side of the screw or lifter which is next the motor-
wheel to which it belongs, to turn upwardly.
The balls or weights W are perfect spheres and one set of them is provided for
each of the driving wheels. It is necessary to have these weights as heavy as
possible in proportion to their size, and to accomplish this I prefer to construct
them with a thin metallic shell which must be turned true externally and fill the
interior of said shell with a heavy material like lead or quicksilver, as is shewn.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to ine by my
Foreign Correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it under-
stood that I claim-
First. The combination of a toothed driving wheel having pockets near its
periphery adapted to receive spherical weights, an elevator adapted to alternately
deliver the weights to, and receive them from, the pockets of the said driving wheel,
and mechanism for operating the said elevator and connecting the same with the
said driving wheel, substantially as described.
Second. The combination of a driving wheel adapted to receive spherical weights,
an elevator consisting of an inclined rotary screw and stationary guides for raising
the said weights to the pockets, and mechanism for operating the said screw or
elevator, and connecting the same with the driving wheel, substantially as
described.
Third. The combination of two or more toothed driving wheels arranged upon
the same shaft and provided with pockets, the counter-shaft provided with, an
intermediate bevel-wheel and gearing which engages with the said driving wheels,
an inclined shaft provided with a bevel-wheel engaging with the said intermediate
bevel-wheel, the elevator connected to the said inclined shaft and provided with a
guide, and the auxiliary motor or spring for operating the said elevator, substantially
as described.
Fourth. A driving wheel or wheels, provided with pockets near the periphery
thereof so arranged as to receive and discharge actuating weights, in combination
with one or more elevators to raise the said weights from their lower station to
their upper station, mechanism for operating the elevators in harmony with the

page_text: movement of the said driving wheel or wheels, and intermediate gearing for
actuating or winding up the spring or other mechanism that drives the screw
elevators, so as to connect and drive the whole machine in harmony with each of
its parts, substantially as described.
Fifth. The combination of the main shaft B, the bevel wheels k, k, the shaft K,
the gearing f, f, the arbor f, and the actuating spring S, substantially as
described.
Sixth. The elevator F, and guide H, arranged and operated as described.
Seventh. The toothed driving wheel or wheels A, combined with the elevator or
elevators F, the intermediate gearing a³, a³, as, as, the shafts G, G³, the bevel gear-
wheels h, k, the shaft K, the gearing f', f, the arbor f, and the spring S, all
arranged substantially as, and for the purpose, set forth.
Eighth. The weight W formed on an outer spherical shell, and a filling of lead,
quicksilver, or other heavy material, substantially as, and for the purpose, set
forth.
In witness whercof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my
hand and seal this twenty-ninth day of August in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and eighty two.