Year: 1886

page_text: G. F. REDFERN,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agent for the Applicants,

page_text: We, ROBERT TIDMAN, Senior, ROBERT TIDMAN, Junior, and FREDERICK TIDMAN,
trading as Robert Tidman and Sons, Engineers, Bishop Bridge Iron Works, Norwich,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Our invention consists in the addition, to an ordinary roundabout or merry-go-
round, of a bevil wheel or circular rack made fast to the centre column or chimney,
and bevil pinions revolving round the same, to each of which pinions is keyed a
crank whereby a galloping action is given to the horses, which are fixed to brackets
or rods oscillating on a swinging bar beneath, suspended at each end from the arms
or levers.
In order to enable our invention to be fully understood we will proceed to
describe the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1 is
a front elevation shewing one set of three horses of a roundabout and mechanism
for actuating the same constructed according to our invention; figures 2 and 3 are
respectively an end elevation and a plan of the same. Similar letters in all the
figures represent similar parts.
a, is the bevil wheel or circular rack which we apply to an ordinary roundabout
or merry-go-round, and which is rigidly secured to the centre column b, of the
roundabout (or, it may be secured to the chimney thereof when such chimney
occupies a central position); c, represents the bevil pinion one of which pinions
is employed for actuating each of the sets of horses of the roundabout or merry-
go-round, the bevil pinion c, gearing with the wheel or circular rack a, and being
secured upon a shaft d, supported in bearings c. At its outer end, the shaft d, is
connected through an universal joint f, to one end of a shaft g; h, h, h, are the
cranks formed in a shaft h', the inner end of which is connected by an universal
joint f¹, to the outer end of the shaft g. The crank shaft h, is supported in bearings i,
secured upon wooden beams j, and to each of the cranks h, of the shaft h¹, is con-
nected the upper end of a rod k; m, m, m, are the oscillating brackets or rods to
which the horses l, are fixed. The rods k, at their lower ends are jointed as shewn
at 11, just above the horses backs and then pass downwards through and are fixed
in the bodies of the horses 1, and through the free ends of the rods m,
which are
secured in position by means of screw nuts n, (figure 2) or in any equivalent
manner. By removing the pins of the joints 1, the horses l, with the rods m, and
lower parts of the rods k, can be detached from the other part of the rods ; p, is
the swinging bar on which the rods m, oscillate, the said rods m, being for this
purpose pivotted to eye-bolts o, secured in the swinging bar p; 8, 8, are the usual
radial arms or levers from which the swinging bar p, is suspended by rods q, and
eye-bolter, or their equivalents. This arm or lever 8, is fixed to the rotating inter-
nally-toothed wheel or rack t, which is driven by any of the well-known arrange-
ments of mechanism. The arrangement represented in figure 1 of the annexed
drawing for operating the roundabout or merry-go-round consists of the toothed
pinion u, which is secured upon the vertical shaft v, supported in the bearing w,

page_text: and on the footstep bearing Upon the lower end of the vertical shaft v, the
bevil toothed wheel y, is keyed, and this wheel gears with the wheel z, to which,
through the shafts a', and b, and universal joint c¹, rotary motion is transmitted
from any suitable motor.
The operation of the mechanism is as follows,
Motion is communicated from the motor to the toothed wheel or rack t, by the
gearing z, y, and u, and the radial arms or levers s being thereby caused to rotate
round the centre column b, the bevil pinions c, of the several sets of horses l, will
be caused to rotate by being rolled over and around the fixed bevil wheel or circular
rack a.
The rotary motion thus obtained will be transmitted through the shafts d,
and g, and universal joints f, f¹, to the shafts h³, and by means of the cranks h, of
the said shafts h¹, an up and down motion or galloping action will be given to the
horses, as they are carried round.
For the sake of lightness we prefer to construct the rods k, and
links m, tubular.
9, shaft 9, and
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. The combination, with a roundabout or merry-go-round, of a fixed bevil
wheel or circular rack, round which revolve bevil pinions, communicating motion
to cranks whereby a galloping action is given to the horses as they are carried
round substantially as hereinbefore described and represented in the accompanying
drawing.
2. The improved mechanism for actuating horses in roundabouts herein before
described and represented in the accompanying drawing.