IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marcus Travers, of the Reform Club, Pall Mall, in the
County of Middlesex, Esquire, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marcus Travers at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th October 1880.
MARCUS TRAVERS, of the Reform Club, Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire. "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER."
My Invention, which relates to improvements in obtaining and applying motive
power, consists of a peculiar mode of using weight or gravitation for this object,
whereby the weight used shall, on expending its force, be restored to its normal
position, and again exert its force with a minimum of external aid.
The weight used in carrying out this Invention consists of a rocking block, with
its base curved after the manner of the base of a child's rocking horse, and rests
upon and oscillates with a separate platform or bed, which is balanced upon a fixed
centre or fulcrum, and is connected at any suitable point or points with the
machinery or apparatus to be worked.
The said platform or bed is formed with a face so curved that the resting place
of the superposed weight or rocker, wherever it may be for the moment, shall not
be lower to any material or inconvenient extent than the centre or fulcrum of the
bed or platform, and with the same object I provide cushions beneath the extremities
of the balanced bed, which may come in contact with fixed stops. I furnish the
under surface of the weight and the face of the bed or platform with teeth or their
equivalent to prevent slipping between the two contiguous surfaces.
When the weight or rocker is in equilibrium it rests directly over the centre or
fulcrum of the bed or platform. The moment it leaves that equilibrium it presses
upon the arms of the balanced bed or platform, forcing its one end down and the
other up, and this it continues to do when resting on any point except that directly
over the centre or fulcrum of the bed, and it travels to and fro over the surface of
its bed until equilibrium is regained. A simple balanced weight upon a fixed
centre being incapable of shifting, its fulcrum requires fresh impulse for every rise
En

page_text: and descent; but in the case of the weight or rocker herein before described, the
resting place shifts, and is not the centre or real point of equilibrium, save at one
point only, and it will, when once started, continue in motion to and fro over that
point without fresh impulse until equilibrium is regained. Wherever the weight
or rocker may be, save only directly over the fulcrum of its balanced bed, its
gravitating force is being exerted, and at the moment of its being expended one
side of the fulcrum returns of itself to be exerted on on the other side.
Thus, altho' any motive power obtained by weight has hitherto been open to the
objection that when the weight has fallen the power is at an end, yet a rocking or
oscillating weight arranged and formed as hereinbefore described, and started and
kept in motion by a very slight external or separate force may be so contrived and
applied as to obviate that objection.
The rocking of the weight upon its bed may be effected by any convenient
method; for instance, by levers projecting from the extremities of the said rocking
weight, which are alternately depressed, the force required being in proportion to 1
the length of the levers. The power thus gained by the rocking of the weight, as
hereinbefore described, may be communicated to the machinery or apparatus to be
worked by connecting rods attached to the rocking arms of the rocking bed or
platform.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Marcus Travers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th April
1881.
MARCUS TRAVERS, of the Reform Club, Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire. "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER."
My said Invention, which relates to improvements in obtaining and applying
motive power, consists of a mode of employing weight or gravitation for that
purpose, whereby the weight used is, after expending its force, restored to such a
position as that its force may be again exerted with a minimum of external or
independent aid.
In carrying out my said Invention I employ a rocking weight, hereinafter called
"the rocker," actuated and maintained in motion by external or independent aid,
and resting on a platform or bed hereinafter called "the see-saw," which see-saw
rests and moves on a centre or fulcrum in such a manner that it receives a see-saw
motion from the motion of the rocker, and communicates its motion by any suitable
means to the machinery or apparatus to be driven.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1, of the accompanying Drawings, represents a side elevation of an
apparatus constructed according to my said Invention, and Figure 2 is an end
view of the same; Figure 3 is a perspective view, representing a slight modifica-
tion in the construction of the apparatus, but not material to the Invention I
claim. A is the weight or "rocker," made of any suitable material, and curved on
its under side to any suitable degree. This rocker rests upon a platform or see
saw D, which may or may not be curved or sloped, and which carries trunnions E
supported in bearings F in the frame of the apparatus, so as to be capable of
motion in the said bearings. To prevent the see saw descending too far on either
side cushions or suitable stops are provided, as shewn at G in the Drawing.
During the normal condition of the apparatus the rocker A is in equilibrium upon
the see saw B at the central point of the latter, namely, H. When however the
rocker A is set in motion by any suitable means (say, for example, by the act of
drawing down either end of it by chain C attached to lever B) it is caused to roll
over the surface of the sec-saw D backwards and forwards.
A see-saw motion is thus produced in D, which motion, in consequence of the
powerful and constant tendency of the "rocker" when moving to return to and
beyond its point of equilibrium, may be maintained by slight external or indepen-
dent aid.
The motion thus produced in the "see-saw" may in any convenient manner be
converted into rotary or other motion for driving machinery or apparatus. In my
Drawings I have represented the motion of the see-saw as communicated to a
shaft by means of pawls I, having one end attached to the underside of the see-
saw on a hinge, and having the other end actuating a ratchet K. fixed on a shaft L,
from which shaft the motion is conveyed to a central or main shaft O; but the
see-saw being in motion, and with force proportioned to the weight and momentum
of the rocker working on it, the motion can in any other convenient manner, known
to mechanics, be communicated to the shaft to be driven.
The contact surfaces of the rocker A and see-saw D are by preference formed by
me with teeth (which may extend entirely across them, as shewn in Figures 1
and 2, or only partially across, as shewn in Figure 3), so as to engage one with the

page_text: other, and thus increase their adhesion; and although the curvature or slope of the
see-saw is not essential to my Invention, yet I prefer it to be curved or sloped and
to such a degree that the point of contact between the rocker and the see-saw,
wherever it may be for the moment, shall not be lower to any material extent than
the centre or fulcrum of the see-saw.
It will be most convenient, though not essential, that the rocker should be so
adjusted as when in equilibrium to rest directly over the centre or fulcrum of the
see-saw.
If the weight or momentum of the rocker is found to be insufficient to move the
see-saw when the latter is attached to machinery, in consequence of such machinery
offering too great a resistance, such resistance may be readily overcome by adding
to the weight of the rocker.
Thus, although any motive power obtained by weight has hitherto been open to
the objection that when the weight has fallen the power is at an end, yet a rocking
weight arranged and formed as hereinbefore described, and started and kept in
motion by a comparatively slight external or separate force, may be so contrived
and applied as to obviate that objection. Whatever the resistance to be overcome,
the weight or momentum of the rocker may, as far as strength of materials will go,
be made superior to it, and whatever the difficulty of starting the rocker and
keeping it in sufficient motion, it may be met by sufficient length in the lever
employed for that purpose.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do not claim as new any of the separate
parts herein before described, but what I consider to be novel and original and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the horeinbefore in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
The employment in obtaining and applying motive power of a rocking weight
in combination with an oscillating platform or bed, which receives its motion from
the said rocking weight, and communicates such motion to machinery or apparatus
to be driven, the said rocking weight being actuated and maintained in motion by
external or independent aid, and the whole being arranged and combined substan-
tially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marcus Travers, have to this my Specification
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of April One thousand eight
hundred and eighty one.