Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 26th July, 1887.
Specification Accepted, 6th Sept., 1887
We JOHN BEAMISH POWELL of No. 620 North Eighth Street manufacturer and
RICHARD MORRIS POPHAM and DANIEL POPHAM DIETERICH of No. 308 Chestnut
Street manufacturers all having our addresses as specified in the City of Philadelphia
State of Pennsylvania United States of America do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This Invention relates to improvements in spring motors of the class having a
central arbor with a series of boxes containing sets of springs. The object of the
Invention is to make the device more compact than heretofore to wind up the springs
from the top down and take the power from the bottom by means of a central shaft.
A further object is to have the boxes adjustable independently of each other and to
adjust the belt wheel of the motor in respect to the belt wheel of the machine to be
driven so that different speeds may be obtained from one belt, as fully described hereafter.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing is a sectional elevation of the improved
spring motor, the section being taken along the line 1-2 Figure 2.
Figure 2 is a plan view.
Figure 3 is a side view of the upper portion of the machine only
Figure 4 is a sectional plan on the line 3-4 Figure 1 and
Figure 5 is a detached perspective view of one of the details of the Invention.
A is the base of the machine, A' is the top frame, and A2 an intermediate frame.
The frames A' A² are supported and secured together by vertical rods a and sleeves a¹
in the manner common to spring motors of this class.
B is the central driving shaft having its bearings in a cup on the base A. Placed
one above another over this shaft B are tubular arbors D, D', D2, the bottom which
supports the others, being itself supported on the rim of the cup b.
E, E' are the boxes containing the springs F and each box is provided with two
springs. We have shown in Figure 1 only two boxes, but it will be understood that
any number of boxes may be used as required.
Each box is in the present instance, constructed in three parts, the two cages e
and e and the open cap plate e². The portion e rests on a sleeve or collar cadjustably
secured to one of the tubular arbors D₁ or cup b on the bottom plate A by means of
set screws c. The cup or half box e fits in the cage or half box e, as shown in
Figures 1 and 4, and the open cap plate e forms a cover to the half box e'. All these

page_text: parts e ele have suitable bearings through which pass the arbors D, D₁ so that the
boxes are thereby kept steady while at the same time serving to support the arbors.
On the lower portion of each arbor is a reduced extension d which fits into a
socket in the top of the arbor directly below it, as shown in Figure 1 and the ends
of the arbors are cut away to adapt them to the bearings of the box e'. The exterior
diameters of these bearings are somewhat smaller than the diameters of the arbors
which prevents any frictional contact between the springs F and the said bearings.
The inner end of each spring is secured to an arbor by a screw as shown in
Figure 1 and the outer ends of the springs are secured to the boxes as shewn in
Figure 4 by means of an upright pin passing through the shell of the box.
The upper arbor D extends through the top frame A¹ and to this arbor is secured
a bevel gear wheel G having teeth g which engage with two bevel pinions H H¹ on
shafts having their bearings in extensions of the frame A¹. These shafts have
squared ends to which may be adapted any suitable handle for winding up the springs.
On the periphery of the bevel gear wheel G and forming part of it is a ratchet wheel I
and on the frame A³ are pawls i which engage with the ratchet teeth on the wheel.
The pawls are pressed against the wheel by springs as shown in Figure 2.
The two shafts for winding up the motor are placed at right angles to each other so
that when the motor is applied to a sewing machine the operator can wind the springs
up by placing the crank handle on the squared shaft and wind the springs without
leaving her seat at the machine while at the same time if an attendant wishes to wind
up the machine, he can do so by placing the crank handle on the shaft ¹ without
disturbing the operator of the sewing machine.
The shaft h is provided with a small bevel pinion H and the shaft with a larger
level pinion H since a person standing at the side of the machine can exert more
power than when sitting down. In fact, in order to wind the springs at all
conveniently when sitting down, the pinion should be small.
The operation of winding will be considerably longer with the small pinion, while
by using the large pinion at the side, although it takes more power, the speed is
increased to a great extent, as will be readily understood by referring to figure 2.
The central shaft B is secured to the lower arbor D, and on the upper end of this
shaft is secured a bevel driving wheel J which meshes with a bevel pinion J' on a
shaft K, having its bearings on the top frame A' of the machine.
At the outer end of this shaft K is a gear wheel k, (figures 2 and 3) which gears
with a small pinion on a shaft K¹. On this shaft K is a large gear wheel
gearing with a pinion ³ on a stud projecting from an arm L pivoted to a bracket L¹
on the frame. This arm also carries a pinion which meshes with the pinion ³ and
is on one end of a shaft M having its bearings also in the arm L. On the opposite
end of this shaft M are the driving belt wheels m m² over which the belt of the
machine to be driven is passed.
The train of gears above described is for increasing the speed from the gear wheel J
which travels very slowly, to the shaft M which is required to travel at an increased
speed.
The arm L as before remarked is pivoted to the bracket L' and is supported at its
outer end by an extension A³ of the frame. In the drawing this extension is shown
slotted for the reception of a bolt which passes through the arm L and has a thumb
nut by which the arm L can be firmly secured to the extension A³.
In figure 3 of the drawing are shown the belt wheel W of an ordinary sewing
machine and a belt w which passes over the belt wheel and over the wheel on the
shaft M.
It will be seen that by adjusting the arm L to or from the wheel W of the sewing
machine, any tension required can be placed upon the belt w and the arm firmly
secured to the upright A3 by the nut but if the speed of the sewing machine is to be
decreased; the belt is placed on the smaller wheel m' and the arm loosened from the
upright A and by pressing the arm downwards, (Figure 3) the belt will be tightened
and all the slack taken up. Then by securing the arm to the upright A3 by the nut
it may be held firmly in place.

page_text: It will be noticed that when this arm L, with its shaft M, is moved from one
position to another the pinion and gear wheel always remain in gear with each
other, owing to the arm being pivoted on the axial line of the gear wheel ².
On the inner end of the shaft K' is a break drum N, on which the brake shoe N
rests. This brake shoe is pivoted to a stud n on an extension of the frame A' as shown
in Figure 2. The outer end of this brake shoe N¹ is forced down on the drum N by
a spring n¹ and is raised by a cord n² connected to any suitable device such as a treadle,
for raising the shoe clear of the drum when required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
First. The combination, in a spring motor of the frame containing the spring
boxes and springs with a set of arbors, of which the upper one is connected to the
winding mechanism, and a central driven shaft (B) to which the lower arbor is
secured substantially as set forth.
Second. The combination, in a spring motor of the central arbors, with boxes E
carrying springs, one end of each spring being connected to the box and the other
end to the arbor with adjustable sleeves (c) supporting the boxes substantially as
set forth.
Third. The combination in a spring motor of the driving mechanism and an
arm (L) carrying belt pulleys m m² with a driven pulley and a belt and devices for
adjusting the belt pulleys (m m¹) to and from the driven belt pulleys substantially as
set forth.
Fourth. The combination in a spring motor of the springs and their boxes and the
driven shaft with speeding gears, a gear (K2) and an arm (L) carrying the gears
engaging with the wheel K and a shaft (M) having at one end a pinion geared
with the wheel 3 and at the opposite end pulleys m m¹ and adjusting mechanism by
which the arms can be secured in any position substantially as hereinbefore described.
Fifth. The combination in an upright spring motor of the winding bevel gear
wheel G secured to one of the upright arbors of the motor with two shafts h
having bevel pinions gearing into the wheel G whereby the motor can be wound from
two points substantially as herein before described.
Sixth. The combination in a spring motor of the winding gear wheel G with
shafts having pinions of different sizes gearing with the wheel G substantially as
hereinbefore described.