Improved Means for Converting Reciprocating into Circular Motion.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 30th Dec., 1889-Accepted, 1st Feb., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Converting Reciprocating into Circular Motion.
I, HERBERT MAYNARD LUCAS, of 135, Great Hampton Street, in the City of
Birmingham, Corn Factor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention consists of the improved means herein described for converting
reciprocating into circular motion and the said invention is applicable to steam and
other motors pumps air compressors and other machines to take the place of a crank
and connecting rod.
According to one arrangement of carrying out my invention I provide a double
rack having teeth at opposite sides and arranged to reciprocate to and fro in a straight
line. In the case of a steam engine this rack forms a continuation of the piston rod.
Gearing into the rack are two toothed wheels or toothed sectors the teeth extending
by preference for a little more than half the circumference. These wheels or sectors
are situated one on either side of the rack so that as the rack is moved to and fro the
said wheels or sectors will oscillate around their centres in opposite directions. Each of
the said wheels or sectors is mounted to turn loosely upon a shaft these shafts being
parallel with each other each of the said shafts is provided with an arm and at the
outer ends of each of these arms is a spring catch or similar device and on the side of
the wheels or sectors are inclined projections with which the said catches engage to
transmit the motion of the sectors to the shafts as hereinafter described. The said
shafts are geared together by a band chain toothed wheels or other means so as to
revolve in the same directions and from one or both of the said shafts rotary motion
and power may be taken off.
The apparatus above described operates as follows and for convenience of description
I will refer to the rack as being vertical and the wheels or sectors with their said
shafts situated to move in a vertical plane one on the right hand and the other on the
left hand side of the rack -When the cap moves upwardly the inclined projecting
part on one of the wheels or sectors, say the right hand one, comes into contact with
the spring catch at the end of the arm on the shaft at the right hand side of the rack
and turns the shaft through half a revolution and the rotary motion of this shaft is by
the chain or gearing above described transmitted to the shaft on the left hand side
of the rack which with its arm makes half a revolution in the same direction. When
the rack makes its downward stroke the inclined projection on the left hand toothed
sector or wheel comes into contact with the spring catch at the end of the arm of the
shaft at the left hand side of the rack and turns it through half a revolution and
causes it to complete its revolution the rotary motion being transmitted to the other
shaft and arm by the gearing above described. When the spring catches at the ends
of the revolving arms come into contact with the inclined projection on the wheels or
sectors which are moving in the opposite direction the spring catches are by the
inclines forced inwardly and shoot out again on passing the projections ready for the
projections to engage with to make another revolution.
When it is required to reverse the rotary motion of the shafts I make the teeth of
the wheels or sectors about twice as wide as the teeth of the rack and provide two sets
of projecting pieces at opposite positions so that by moving the wheels sideways along
the shafts in one direction one set of the projecting pieces will engage with the armš
on the shafts and cause the shafts to revolve in one direction, and by moving the
wheels along the shaft in the other direction the second set of projecting pieces will
engage with the arms and cause the shafts to revolve in the opposite direction.
Instead of transmitting the motion of the rack to the wheels or sectors by teeth as
above described the teeth may be dispensed with and steel or other bands employed

page_text: instead, one of the said bands being fixed to the underside of the wheel or sector and
to the top of the reciprocating bar and the other hand being fixed to the upper side of
the other wheel or sector and to the bottom of the reciprocating bar a third band
or a continuation of the other two bands being connected to the top of the one wheel
or sector and to the bottom of the other one so that as the bar is moved to and fro the
wheels or sectors will by the bands be moved either towards the right or the left hand
their motion being transmitted to the shafts so as to cause them to revolve continuously
as above described.
Instead of proportioning the wheels or sectors so that they make half a revolution
with one stroke of the reciprocating piece as above described they may be made
either larger or smaller so as to revolve through less or more than half a revolution
and in some cases additional projecting pieces have to be provided for the spring
catches to engage with.
Dated this 29th day of March 1889.
CHARLES BOSWORTH KETLEY,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Converting Reciprocating into Circular Motion.
.I, HERBERT MAYNARD LUCAS, of 135, Great Hampton Street, in the City of
Birmingham, Corn Factor, 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:-
This invention consists of the improved means herein described for converting
reciprocating into circular motion and the said invention is applicable to steam and
other motors pumps air compressors and other machines to take the place of a crank
and connecting rod.
I will describe my invention by referring to the accompanying drawings which
illustrate how the said invention is to be carried into effect. Fig. illustrates
in sectional elevation and Fig. 2 in part sectional plan mechanism arranged according
to this invention and Fig. 3 represents the same parts but in different positions as
hereinafter described; Fig. 4 illustrates in sectional elevation and Fig. 5 in side
elevation a modification of the same and Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate a further modification
of my invention as hereinafter described.
The same letters of reference indicate the same or corresponding parts in all the
Figures of the drawings.
According to one arrangement of carrying out my invention as illustrated by
Figs. 1, 2 and 3 I provide a double rack a having teeth at opposite sides and arranged
to reciprocate to and fro in a straight line. In the case of the steam engine this rack
forms a continuation of the piston rod. Gearing into the rack a are two toothed
wheels or toothed sectors marked the teeth extending in this case for a little
more than half the circumference. These wheels or sectors are situated one on
either side of the rack a so that as the rack is moved to and fro the wheels or
sectors will oscillate around their centres in opposite directions. Each of the
wheels or sectors b' is mounted to run loosely upon a shaft marked respectively el c
these shafts being parallel with each other and each provided with an arm marked
respectively dd. At the outer ends of each of these arms is a spring catch e or
similar device and on the wheels or sectors are inclined projections marked
respectively ff2 with which the catches e engage to transmit the motion of the
wheels or sectors to the shafts as hereinafter described. The shafts c' c² are geared
together by a chain g running over chain wheels g g2 (or toothed wheels or other
means may be employed) so as to revolve the shafts in the same direction and from
one or both of the shafts c' e rotary motion and power may be taken off.
The apparatus above described operates as follows and for convenience of description
I will refer to the rack as being vertical but it is to be understood that the rack can

page_text: move either vermicany or horizonty
man meined arection when the racK
moves upwardly (see Fig. 1 where the rack is represented as having traversed half
its stroke) the inclined projecting part ƒ comes into contact with the spring catch e
at the end of the arm d² on the shaft c² and turns the shaft through half a revolution
and the rotary motion of this shaft is by the chain g (or other gearing above
mentioned) transmitted to the shaft c¹ which with its arm d makes half a revolution
in the same direction so that when the rack has completed its upward stroke the
parts will be in the positions represented by Fig. 3. When the rack makes its down-
ward stroke the inclined projecting part comes into contact with the spring catch e
at the end of the arm d' of the shaft c' and turns it through half a revolution and
causes it to complete its revolution the rotary motion being transmitted to the shaft c²
and arm by the chain g or gearing above described. When the spring catches e
come into contact with the inclined projections f f which are moving in the
opposite direction the spring catches e are by the inclines forced inwardly and by an
indiarubber or other spring are caused to shoot out again on passing the projections
ready for the projections to engage with to make another revolution.
Instead of transmitting the motion of the reciprocating bar a to the wheels or
sectors by teeth as above described the teeth may be dispensed with and steel or
other bands employed instead as in the example illustrated by Figs. 4 and 5 where it
will be seen that a band is fixed to a projection j on the underside of the wheel or
sector and to the top a' of the reciprocating bar a, and a similar band is fixed to
a projection i̟ on the upper side of the wheel or sector band to the bottom a² of the
reciprocating bar a, and a third band is (or a continuation of the other two bands) is
connected to a projection on the top of the wheel or sector 62 and to a similar
projection on the bottom of the wheel or sector 6' so that as the bar a is moved to
and fro the wheels or sectors 16 will by the bands i¹be moved either towards
the right or the left hand their motion being transmitted to the shafts c¹ c³ as above
described so as to cause them to revolve continuously.
When it is required to reverse the rotary motion of the shafts c¹ c² I make (as
illustrated by Figs. 6 and 7) the teeth of the wheels or sectors b 62 about twice as
wide as the teeth of the rack a and I provide additional projecting pieces marked
respectively on the wheels or sectors 61 62 but at the sides of the other projecting
pieces and inclined in opposite directions so that by moving the wheels or sectors
sideways along the shafts in one direction the projecting pieces f1f2 will engage with
their respective arms of the shafts and cause the shafts to revolve in one direction and
by moving the wheels along the shaft in the other direction the second set of pro-
jecting pieces marked ƒ³ ƒ* will engage with the arms d¹ d³ respectively and cause
the shafts to revolve in the opposite direction. The positions of the wheels or
sectors on the shafts so as to enable either set of the projecting pieces to engage with
the arms can be maintained by a clutch or other means such as by a screw passing
through a lug formed on each of the wheels or sectors and through one of the
holes m' m² in the bosses of the arms. Or instead of arranging for the wheels or sectors
to move longitudinally to bring the arms into contact with either set of projections
the arms themselves may be arranged to move longitudinally along or with their
shafts as will be readily understood.
Instead of proportioning the wheels or sectors 61 62 so that they make half a
revolution with one stroke of the reciprocating bar a as above described they may be
made either larger or smaller so as to revolve through less or more than half a
revolution and in the former case corresponding additional projecting pieces would
have to be provided for the spring catches to engage with as will be readily under-
stood. For instance if the wheels or sectors 162 were arranged to move through
only a quarter of a revolution with one stroke of the reciprocating bar a then an
additional projecting piece would have to be provided on each of the wheels or
sectors as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1; or if the stroke of the reciprocating
bar a was equal to the circumference of the wheels then the shafts c¹ c' would make
revolution for each stroke of the reciprocating bar,

page_text: I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein-
before described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings as it will be evident
that the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my invention.
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 :-
Mechanism for converting reciprocating motion into circular motion arranged and
operating substantially as herein before set forth.
ວດ.
1000
CHARLES BOSWORTH KETLEY,
Agent for the Applicant.
CHARLES BOSWORTH KETLEY.
Agent for the Applicant.