IMPROVE- MENTS IN MECHANISM FOR CONVERTING CONTINUOUS ROTARY MOTION INTO STEP BY STEP ROTARY MOTION, APPLICABLE TO COUNTERS, WATCHES, AND SIMILAR APPARATUS communicated
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel of N° 28 Southampton Buildings
Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MECHANISM FOR CONVERTING CONTINUOUS ROTARY MOTION INTO
STEP BY STEP ROTARY MOTION, APPLICABLE TO COUNTERS, WATCHES, AND SIMILAR
APPARATUS communicated to him from abroad by A. Kaiser of Freiburg in
the Republic of Switzerland
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st December 1883.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL of N° 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR CONVERTING CONTINUOUS
ROTARY MOTION INTO STEP-BY-STEP ROTARY MOTION, APPLICABLE TO COUNTERS,
"
WATCHES, AND SIMILAR APPARATUS [communicated to him from abroad by
A. Kaiser of Freiburg in the Republic of Switzerland]
This invention relates to a compact and simple mechanism for converting
continuous rotary motion into step-by-step or intermittent rotary motion.
For this purpose, an ordinary toothed wheel and a star wheel are mounted one
closely above the other on the same axis, each wheel being capable of independent
rotation, but both being connected together by a circular spring, so that, by
turning the toothed wheel, through a certain distance while the star wheel is
stationary, a strain is put upon the spring tending to impart motion to the star
wheel.
The toothed wheel receives continuous rotary motion from the counter or other
mechanism with which it is connected, but the star wheel is held by a spring pawl
entering its notches or spaces. As the toothed wheel revolves, its teeth, or a second

page_text: set of teeth, at a greater distance apart, formed thereon, come in contact with a
projection on the spring pawl, and in raising this out of the star wheel, permit
this to obey the impulse of the spring, and to turn on its axis until it is again
stopped by the pawl entering the next space. The step by step motion thus
obtained may, if required, be transmitted by the star wheel to other gearing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Patent Office on the 21st June 1884.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL of N° 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR CONVERTING CONTINUOUS
ROTARY MOTION INTO STEP-BY-STEP ROTARY MOTION, APPLICABLE TO COUNTERS
WATCHES AND SIMILAR APPARATUS "
(a communication to me from abroad by
A. Kaiser of Freiburg in the Republic of Switzerland)
This invention relates to a compact and simple mechanism for converting
continuous rotary motion into step-by-step or intermittent rotary motion.
For this purpose an ordinary toothed wheel and a star wheel are mounted one
closely above the other on the same axis, each wheel being capable of independent
rotation, but both being connected together by a circular spring, so that by
turning the toothed wheel through a certain distance while the star wheel is
stationary, a strain is put upon the spring tending to impart motion to the star
wheel,
The toothed wheel receives continuous rotary motion from the counter or other
mechanism with which it is connected, but the star wheel is held by a spring pawl
entering its notches or spaces. As the toothed wheel revolves, its teeth, or a second
set of teeth, at a greater distance apart, formed thereon, come in contact with a
projection on the spring pawl, and in raising this out of the star wheel, permit this
to obey the impulse of the spring, and to turn on its axis until it is again stopped
by the pawl entering the next space. The step-by-step motion thus obtained may,
if required, be transmitted by the star wheel to other gearing.
Figs. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings shew one construction of the above
described mechanism. Fig. 1 shews a vertical section, Fig. 2 a plan and Figs. 3
and 4 shew different positions of the star wheel and pawl. A is a toothed wheel
having below ordinary teeth and above spaced teeth a a a; B is the star wheel
into whose recesses bb the head d of the pawl D takes; C is the spring, the
end c¹ of which is connected to the star wheel B, while the end c³ is connected to
the toothed wheel A.
Continuous rotary motion being imparted to A in the direction of the arrow by
means of the pinion gearing with its ordinary teeth while B is held stationary by
the pawl D, a certain tension will be imparted to the spring C, so that when one of
the teeth a comes in contact with the projection e of the pawl so as to raise the
same out of gear with the star wheel, as shewn at Fig. 3, the latter is moved
forward by the spring, until the pawl, being released by the tooth a, again falls
into the next recess of the star wheel and stops its further motion as at Fig. 4.
With the star wheel may be connected an ordinary toothed wheel E for imparting
the step-by-step motion to other gearing.

page_text: In the arrangement shewn at Figs 5, 5ª and 6, an incline e formed on the head
of the pawl itself is acted upon by the teeth a of the wheel A.
Having thus described the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I claim-
The use for converting continuous rotary motion into step-by-step rotary
motion, of a toothed wheel operating in combination with a star wheel connected
thereto by a spring, and with a pawl substantially as herein described.
In Witness whereof I the said Charles Denton Abel have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twenty-first day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-four.
CHA³. D. ABEL (L.S.)