IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
HARTAS, of Wrelton Hall, in the County of York, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Nineteenth day of June, in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Isaac Hartas, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Isaac Hartas, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said Isaac Hartas, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, ex-
ercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE
POWER," being a communication from abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Isaac Hartas, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Isaac Hartas, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say):
:-
This Invention of Improvements in Machinery for Obtaining Motive Power,
which has been communicated to me from abroad, relates to an improved
arrangement of mechanism for obtaining motive power from the muscular
exertion of horses and other animals, and is intended principally to be employed
for driving machinery for agricultural and other purposes, where it is found
convenient to bring the motive agent to the machinery to be driven, such, for
instance, as for driving lathes and other machines. In the machine which forms
the subject of the present Invention the horse or other animal is made to act
by his feet on a travelling endless floor, which, in one of the machines shewn
in the Drawings, is mounted on a driving shaft, which, being actuated by the
travelling floor, communicates power through the intervention of any con-
venient gearing of the machine to be driven. I would here observe, that
obtaining motive power for driving machinery by means of the muscular
exertion of horses or other animals, which are made to actuate a travelling
endless floor, is not a new Invention, as contrivances operating in a some-
what similar manner have been heretofore used. The mechanism hitherto
employed for effecting the desired object is, however, open to several serious
objections; and, among others, it has been found, that if the horse is suddenly
stopped, either the mechanism becomes deranged by some undue strain
.thereon, owing to the exertion of the horse to stop the machine, which will
continue in action for a short time by the momentum gained by the fly wheel,
or there will be great liability for the horse to be thrown down and injured.
.Now. the object of the present improvements is, to obviate these and other
inconveniences to which the old arrangements are liable; and, in order that
the Invention may be clearly understood, I have shewn in the accompanying
Drawings various views of a horse power engine, with the improvements
adapted thereto.
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the improved engine, some of the parts
being cut away in order that the interior arrangement may be more clearly
sean. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. The framework is shewn at a, a, a, a
The travelling endless floor b, b, b, b, shown by dots in Fig. 1, is furnished
with pullies or rollers, which run on rails on each side of the machine, as

page_text: now
usual. The travelling floor is also furnished with a chain plate or flexible
toothed rack e, which gears into a toothed wheelf on the driving shaft g. If
required, there may be one of these wheels on each side of the machine, and
both are to be firmly socured on to the shaft. A cylindrical box or case h is
also secured in any convenient manner to the shaft g. Inside this box is
fastened a pall or click i, which is kept in contact with the teeth of a ratchet
wheel k by means of a spring; This ratchet wheel k is mounted on a hollow.
shaft, which also carries the fly wheel m, and revolves freely on the driving
shaft g. The arrangement and construction of this part of the mechanism will
be best understood by referring to the detached sectional view, Fig. 3. It
will be understood, that as the horse or other animal moves the travelling
floor under him, he will drive round the toothed wheel f and the shaft g, on
which it is fixed, together with the cylindrical box h. and its pall or click i; and,
by means of the latter acting against the teeth of the ratchet wheel k, the
hollow shaft and fly wheel m will be driven round, and all the parts will
continue to rotate together as long as the horse keeps in motion, but when he
stops the travelling floor will stop, as will also the driving shaft and the cylin-
drical box h and pall i. But the fly wheel, having acquired a certain amount
of momentum, will continue to rotate and carry round with it the hollow
shaft and ratchet wheel; but, neither of these parts being fixed to the
driving shaft g, their continued rotation will not of course have any effect
upon the stationary parts, as the teeth of the ratchet wheel will pass under the
click, which is the part that drives the wheel when all the parts of the machine
are in motion. It will therefore be seen that no derangement of parts, and no
inconvenience, can arise from the continued rotation of the fly wheel. On the
opposite side of the machine to that shewn in Fig. 1 there is a break wheel n
fastened on the driving shaft for the purpose of controlling the speed, and
stopping the machine by means of a friction break, when required. This
friction break consists of a weighted lever o, furnished with a block which fits
the periphery of the friction wheel. To one end of the lever o is attached a
cord, which passes over pullies, and is secured at the opposite end to a hand
lever p which may be held to any point by means of a sector ratchet rack, so
as to take off or put on the friction break at pleasure.
.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 represent similar views of a somewhat different arrange-
ment of parts, the principle, however, being precisely the same; and as the
same letters of reference are marked on corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures, it will be unnecessary to give any detailed description. It will there-
fore only be necessary to observe, that instead of placing the driving shaft at or

page_text: near the middle of the machine, and driving it by means of a chain or rack
acting upon a toothed wheel, the travelling floor passes over two pullies, one at
each end of the machine, and the axle of the large pulley forms the driving
shaft, thereby somewhat simplifying the arrangement.
Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a somewhat different arrangement of parts for
effecting the same object. In this instance the travelling floor 6 is passed
round two wheels or rollers, the peripheries of which are made angular to fit
the under side of the floor, which is driven by the angular parts of the rollers.
being made to act on the chain, instead of causing projections or teeth on the
rollers to take into openings in the chain of the travelling floor, as in the
former instance. The travelling floor is further supported by a series of anti-
friction rollers q, q, secured to any convenient part of the frame. The shaft g
of the large roller or pulley carries a hollow shaft, on which is secured the
large toothed fly wheel m, which gears into and drives a smaller toothed.
wheel r, on the axle of which is mounted the break wheel n and the pulley
or band wheel, from which motion is communicated to the machine to be
actuated. The ratchet wheel k, click i, and other parts whereby the hollow.
shaft of the fly wheel is connected to or disconnected from the driving
shaft g, are not shewn in the Figure; but they are. identically the same.
as in the arrangements already described, and therefore need no further
explanation.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to me
as aforesaid, and the best means with which I am acquainted for carrying the
same into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I lay no claim to the
employment of an endless travelling floor which may be actuated by the feet.
of horses or other animals, similar contrivances having been employed for.
such purposes before. But that which I consider to be new, and therefore
wish to claim as the. Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part,
recited Letters Patent, is, making the fly wheel and its appendages,independent.
of that part of the mechanism which is acted on by the animal, so that,, when
the horse or other animal and the travelling endless floor are stopped, the fly
wheel and its appendages may continue to rotate without inconvenience or
risk of deranging the machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Hartas, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
ISAAC (L.S.) HARTAS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Isaac Hartas came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.