Improvements in Electric Apparatus for Indicating the Direction and Speed of Revolution of Engine Shafts.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 11th June, 1889-Accepted, 20th July, 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electric Apparatus for Indicating the Direction
and Speed of Revolution of Engine Shafts.
I, JAMES CLARK RICKETSON, residing at No. 560 Terrace Avenue, in the city of
Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee, and State of Wisconsin, in the United
States of America, Business Manager of Steam Navigation Company, 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:-
The invention has for its object the construction of devices for indicating at any
point distant from the shaft of an engine the direction in which the said shaft is
revolving, as well as to indicate the speed of such revolutions, and is in part, an
improvement on the devices set forth in my patent No. 16,742 granted me December 6,
1887, and as in said patent is especially designed for use in connection with the shaft
of a marine engine, though capable of use with any reversible shafting, whether on
land or water, all as hereinafter set forth, and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan view of my device, representing by diagram its circuits and
manner of use.
Figure 2 is a central vertical section on line 2-2 of Figure 3, through a shaft
fitted with a cam, and through my said device, showing a casing on the latter, and
means for lifting it out of the way of contact with said cam when not needed, and
for restoring it to a position ensuring its action with the said cam, at the proper time.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of my device, but with the casing removed.
Figure 4 is a detail section on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.
Figure 5 is a detail plan view of a modification.
Figures 6 and 7 are detail views of another modification, the former figure being a
section taken on the line 6-6 of the latter figure, which is a plan view.
Figure 8 is a diagram view of the circuits, and
Figure 9 a side elevation partly in section of still another form of my present
invention.
A represents the shaft of a marine engine, which has secured to it a cam B whose
opposite side edges are alternately operative, depending upon which direction the
shaft is revolving. This can is preferably secured to the shaft by the band or strap C
having suitable flanges or lugs c, bolted to like flanges or lugs b on the cam, or to
an interposed angle plate c¹, as shown in the detail view, Figure 4.
Above the shaft A are suitable beams, or other supports C¹ C¹, on which rests the
bottom plate D of my device provided with a central transverse slot d, for the passage
therethrough of the pin E, which comes in contact with the described cam B, and
this bottom-plate D is hinged at d¹ to one of the supports C¹. This pin E extends
down through a sliding block e from the ends of which project guide-pins e¹,
extending through perforations in the end-plates dd, which rise from the bottom
plate D and are connected by the side plates d³ d, and said guide pins e¹ are sur-
rounded by spiral springs e³, fastened to the block e and bearing against the inner
surfaces of the end-plates . The side-plates d³, and the sliding block e are of wood
or similar insulating material, and to the said side-plates are connected the metallic
strips f having spring contact ends extending above the guide-pins e¹, while the
block e is provided with one or more metallic contact pins f* (two being shown in
Figures 1 and 3, and one being shown in Figure 5) the contact pin or pins being
designed to come between a pair of the spring contact ends f¹ as the block e is
removed either way by the action of the cam B of the shaft, against the depending
pin E of said block.
0

page_text: The metallic strips ff that are secured to one of the side-plates d³, are connected
together, by a strip of metal or wire f³, and from this point a wire g extends to a
battery G. and from said battery other wires g h h¹, connect with the bells, annun-
ciators, or other signals F F¹, supposed to be in the pilot-house, or other point distant
from the shaft A. From the signal F a wire i leads to one of the metallic strips on
the other side-plate d³, and a like wire connects the signal F1 with the other
metallic strip f on the same side-plate d³, and on the said wires i and i³, in the engine-
room, are located the bells H and H', the former being normally in circuit with the
signal F and the latter normally in circuit with the signal F¹. When it is desired to
disconnect the bells H H¹ from their circuits it is only necessary to turn the
switches , so as to make short circuits on the wires and , cutting out the
bells HH, as shown in Figure 8. Again, sometimes the engineer may desire to
signal the Captain when the latter is in the pilot-house and for this purpose, I have
added the wires k and k¹ connected to the battery wire 9 and wires or strips m m¹
(connected respectively to wires i and ¹) having suitable push-buttons n n', or
analogous devices for making contact with the said wires k and k¹.
The operation of my device will be readily understood from the foregoing descrip-
tion. When the shaft is revolving in one direction one side of its cam will come in
contact with the depending pin E which will travel alongside said cam, and conse-
quently move the block e with it, carrying one of contact pins fon said block
between one pair of opposing spring contact ends ff and thereby closing a circuit
and actuating the signal F (or F) which is in that circuit, and at the same time (if
the switch (or j¹) is opon, as in Figure 1) will ring the engine-room be!l H (or H¹)
which is in the same circuit and thus the Captain in the pilot-house (as well as the
engineer) will at once know in which direction the shaft is revolving (as well as its
rate of speed by reason of the interval between the ringing of the bells, or movement
of the signals), the Dells being preferably of different sound for obvious reasons,
and so, when the shaft revolves in the other direction, the block e and contact pin f
will be carried in the opposite direction to that just described, and the other circuit
will be closed, and the other bells, or signals, rung, or actuated.
Inasmuch as it is only at certain times (as when entering or leaving port, or making
landings) that my device is needed, I have shown, in Figure 2, how it can be with-
drawn from operative position, and reinstated therein. I is an outer casing surround-
ing the inner casing d d d d³ of my device, and secured to the bottom-plate D, which
latter, as described, is hinged to one of its supports C₁, and from the opposite side of
said casing there rises a rod J, having an eye from whence a strong spring K extends
up to an upright or beam L, as shown, the spring being strong enough to draw up
the whole device and keep it normally at such a height as will bring the pin E above
and out of contact with the cam B. To the same rod J is attached one end of
another spring M, whose other end is secured to a cord N, passing under a pulley O,
and thence up and over other suitable pulleys (not shown) to any point within reach
of the engineer, who has only to draw on said cord to restore the device in its opera-
tive position and then make fast his end of the cord to retain it in such position as
long as desired. In this connection the spring M is especially useful, as otherwise a
pull on the cord N might only bring the pin E down on top of the cam, where it
would be held, in inoperative position by the force of the spring K, but the spring M
will overcome such force and bring the pin E down alongside the cam B, in position
to be moved thereby.
In Figures 6 and 7 I show another form of my device, wherein, instead of
mounting the contact-pins f" on top of the block e, I have shown them at one end
of bell-crank levers P, pivoted to fulcra p rising from the end-plates d, the other
arms of said bell-crank levers passing through eyes q formed in the ends of the
guide-pins el, so that, as the pin E is moved by the cam B in either direction, the
guide-pin e on that side will be forced out from its adjacent end-plated carrying
along with it the connected lower end of the bell-crank lever P on that side, and forcing
the contact pin f' on the end of the other arm of said bell-crank lever between the

page_text: adjacent spring-ends f¹ f1, thus making electrical contact and actuating the signal in
the circuit thereby closed.
In Figure 9, I show still another modification of my device. The cam B is
practically the same as in the other figures except that instead of a single strip bent,
show a double cam, but the effect is just the same. In this figure I have sought
to provide for the use of my device in such instances where it might not be
practicable to support my device in close proximity to the shaft. In such cases the
contact-pin E would necessarily be so much longer than before that the use of a
sliding-block would be practically impossible, and hence I pivot my long pin E
centrally as at to a bracket or hanger R depending from the slotted-plate Q, which
latter forms part of a movable casing adapted to slide vertically in a frame S, and
held down to place by a spring s, from which a rod s¹ rises and passes through a hole
in the top of the frame S, and thence is connected by cord T passing over suitable
pulleys, as t, to within reach of the engineer, the normal position of this form of my
device being just opposite to that of the other forms shown with relation to the cam,
a pull on the cord T in this instance serving to raise the pin E out of operative
position instead of forcing it into such position, as in the other forms. The casing Q
has lugs or guide-pins q¹ on its ends moving in slots in the ends of the frame S,
and the side-pieces q³ of the said casing are of wood or other insulating material, to
receive the metallic strips ff, whose ends f₁f' lie in pairs, at each side, in the path
of the contact-pins f f rising from the segmental head E' of the long rocking contact
pin E, and as said pin is rocked over on its pivot r, by the action of the cam B on the
lower end of said pin, one of the contact-pins will be forced between the pair of
adjacent spring contact ends f1f1 at one side of the casing, thereby closing a circuit
and actuating the distant signal in said circuit, as before shown and described. The
segment-head E¹ may be insulated in any preferred way from its pins f³, or the cams
and their supporting band or strap may be insulated from the shaft, as preferred. In
order to restore the pin E to a vertical operative position after it has been drawn to
one side as described, I connect it, by springs U, U, extending from a lugu on said
pin to any suitable stationary points, as for instance, the supports C₁ to which the
frame S is secured.
As hereinbefore stated, by noticing the length of the inverval between the ringing of
the bells, or movement of the signals, the rate of speed at which the shaft is revolving
can be determined, or, if more convenient the number of times the bell rings, or
the signal moves, per minute, can be counted, which will ensure the greatest possible
accuracy.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The combination with a revolving shaft having a two-sided or double cam attached
thereto, of a pair of distant signals, a movable pin depending normally in the path of
motion of said cam, a contact pin or pins connected, or arranged in relation, to said
movable pin, to move therewith, and a casing bearing metallic strips terminating in
spring contact ends, arranged in pairs in the paths of motion of said contact pin or
pins, and electrically connected to said distant signals.
2. The combination with a revolving shaft having a two sided or double cam
attached thereto, of a pair of distant signals, a movable pin depending normally in the
path of motion of said cam, a contact pin or pins connected, or arranged in relation,
to said movable pin, to move therewith, a casing bearing metallic strips terminating
in spring contact ends arranged in pairs in the paths of motion of said contact pin or
pins, and electrically connected to said distant signals, and electric bells and switches
located at points remote from the distant signals, one of said bells and switches being
in the same circuit with one of the said distant signals and the other bell and switch
in the same circuit with the other distant signal.
3. The combination with a revolving shaft having a cam attached thereto, of a
casing hinged to a suitable support, and carrying a movable pin depending normally

page_text: in the path of motion of said cam, a spring extending from said casing to a point
above the same, for raising said casing and withdrawing the movable pin from operative
position, and another spring attached to said casing and to a cord, for drawing down
the casing against the force of the first named spring, and restoring the movable pin
to operative position in the path of motion of the cam.
Dated this 1st day of December 1888.
JAMES CLARK RICKETSON.