Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Transmitting Motion or for Converting Reciprocating or Vibratory Motion into Step by Step Rotary Motion
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Nov., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 13th Aug.. 1891-Accepted, 29th Sept., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Transmitting Motion or
for Converting Reciprocating or Vibratory Motion into Step by
Step Rotary Motion."
I, JOHN FRANCIS WOODS of Hoxton House Asylum Hoxton in the County of
London Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
The invention relates to improvements in means or apparatus for transmitting
motion, or for converting reciprocating or vibratory motion into step by step rotary
motion, and the object of the invention is to obtain by a simple and inexpensive
device more accurate results than have been achieved by more complex and costly
mechanism.
My invention is applicable to a variety of uses such for example-as the driving
of a number of clocks from a common centre; the feeding of the carbons in an
electric arc lamp and the transmission of motion to the hand or pointer of the dial
of an engine room telegraph, but for the purposes of this description I will describe
the application of the invention to the first of the examples above enumerated.
For this purpose I fix upon a spindle a toothed wheel or driven wheel having
teeth formed very much like those of an ordinary "scape" wheel and one end of
this spindle I centre in a base plate, and the other end I pass through a bearing
formed in a.bracket or "cock" carried by the base plate.
The toothed wheel is formed with sixty teeth representing minutes and is timed to
make a complete revolution once every hour and upon the spindle thereof is
mounted a cannon pinion which gears with the pinion of a minute hand and which
pinion in turn gears with the pinion of an hour hand, this simple train of gearing
being all the gearing that is necessary in each branch clock.
The driven wheel is carried forward the distance of one tooth each minute of
time by means of a vibrating lever which near to its lower end is mounted upon an
axis of motion carried by the base plate and at its upper end is furnished with a
driver or tooth pivotally connected therewith, so that it is capable of to some.
extent following up the driven wheel whilst a light spring is employed to return
the driver or tooth to its normal position and to prevent any irregular movement
thereof consequent upon the rapid movements of the vibrating lever.
In order to prevent the over driving of the driven wheel a detent or break is
employed, consisting of a block formed with a convex or conical face held up to
the wheel by means of a light spring.
Upon the base plate is mounted an electro magnet furnished with a vibrating
armature or contact maker which is connected with the tail of the vibrating lever
and thus at every movement in one direction of the armature the driven wheel is
moved forward the distance of one tooth.
The electro magnet is electrically connected with an electric battery and a
standard clock of ordinary construction is placed in the electric circuit and
furnished with contact making devices so that once every minute the circuit is
completed and the vibrating armature of the electro magnet is attracted with the
result hereinbefore described, the branch clock being thus caused to work
synchronously with the standard clock, and it will be understood that a number of
branch clocks may be similarly actuated from the one source.
In the same manner an engine room telegraph may be operated from the bridge
of a vessel, the contact making device being connected with a hand or pointer
which is moved by hand over a dial until the desired signal is reached.

page_text: In applying the invention to an electric arc lamp in order to feed forward the
carbons, the electro magnet is placed in an electric circuit made and broken by any
well known means according to the intensity of the current passing through the
carbons as is well understood, and the driven wheel is caused through its spindle
and suitable connections to advance step by step the carbon holders.
Dated this 17th day of November 1893.
WHITE & WOODINGTON,
27, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Transmitting Motion or
for Converting Reciprocating or Vibratory Motion into Step by
Step Rotary Motion.
I JOHN FRANCIS WOODS, of Hoxton House Asylum, Hoxton, in the County
of London, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons 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 relates to improvements in means or apparatus for transmitting
motion or for converting reciprocating or vibratory motion into step by step rotary
motion and the object of the invention is to obtain by a simple and inexpensive
device more accurate results than have been achieved by more complex and costly
mechanism.
My invention is applicable to a variety of uses such for example as the driving
of a number of clocks from a common centre; the feeding of the carbons in an
electric arc lamp and the transmission of motion to the hand or pointer of the dial
of an engine room telegraph, but for the purposes of this description I will
describe the application of the invention to the first of the examples above
enumerated.
For this purpose I fix upon a spindle a toothed wheel or driven wheel having
teeth formed very much like those of an ordinary
66 scape "wheel and one end of
this spindle I centre in a base plate and the other end I pass through a bearing
formed in a bracket or "cock" carried by the base plate.
The toothed wheel is formed with sixty teeth representing minutes and is timed
to make a complete revolution once every hour and upon the spindle thereof which
carries a minute hand is loosely mounted a cannon pinion which carries an hour
hand and this cannon pinion is indirectly geared with a pinion fixed upon the
spindle, this simple train of gearing being all the gearing that is necessary in each
branch clock.
The driven wheel is carried forward the distance of one tooth each minute of
time by means of a vibrating lever which near to its one end is mounted upon an
axis of motion carried by the base plate and at its other end is furnished with a
driver or tooth pivotally connected therewith so that it is capable of to some
extent following up the driven wheel whilst a light spring is employed to return
the driver or tooth to its normal position and to prevent any irregular movement
thereof consequent upon the sudden movements of the vibrating lever.
In order to prevent the over driving of the driven wheel a detent or break is
employed consisting of a block formed with a convex or conical face held up to the
wheel by means of a light spring.
Upon the base plate is mounted an electro magnet furnished with a vibrating
armature or contact maker which is connected with the tail of the vibrating lever
and thus at every movement in one direction of the armature the driven wheel is
moved forward the distance of one tooth.
The electro magnet is electrically connected with an electric battery and a
standard clock of ordinary construction is placed in the electric circuit and

page_text: furnished with contact making devices so that once every minute the circuit is
completed and the vibrating armature of the electro magnet is attracted with the
result hereinbefore described the branch clock being thus caused to work
synchronously with the standard clock and it will be understood that a number of
branch clocks may be similarly actuated from the one source.
In the same manner an engine room telegraph may be operated from the bridge
of a vessel the contact making device being connected with a hand or pointer which
is moved by hand over a dial until the desired signal is reached.
In applying the invention to an electric arc lamp in order to feed forward the
carbons the electro magnet is placed in an electric circuit made and broken by any
well known means according to the intensity of the current passing through the
carbons as is well understood and the driven wheel is caused through its spindle
and suitable connections to advance step by step the carbon holders.
And in order that the said invention may be more clearly understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed aided by the accompanying drawings more
fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a diagram illustrating the application of the present invention
to the driving of a number of clocks from a common centre.
Figure 2 is a separate face view of the operative parts.
Figure 3 is a view taken at right angles to Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a detail view showing the relation of the driver to the driven wheel,
the parts being in their normal positions.
Figure 5 is an end view thereof and
Figure 6 is a similar view to Figure 4 but showing the driver in its depressed
position.
Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view of an engine room telegraph having the present
invention applied thereto.
Figure 8 is a view with the front and indicating hand removed of the upper or
bridge part of the instrument.
Figure 9 is a horizontal section thereof taken on the line 1-1 of Figure 8.
Figure 10 is a detail view of parts and
Figure 11 is an elevation partly in section representing parts of an electric arc
lamp having the present invention applied thereto.
In the several figures like parts are indicated by similar letters of reference.
Referring to Figures 1 to 6 a represents a standard clock and represents
branch clocks which are placed in an electric circuit 6' completed once every
minute for the purpose hereinafter described by means of a contact making
piece 61 electrically connected with one part of the conductor which is acted
upon by the seconds hand a' of the standard clock a and caused to make contact
at every revolution that is to say once every minute with a terminal 1** or the.
other part of the conductor 6' so that once every minute the circuit through the
conductor will be completed by the standard clock a.
Each branch clock 6 is furnished with an apparatus such as that represented at
Figures 2 to 6 which will now be described.
c represents a toothed wheel or driven wheel which is fixed upon a spindle c¹ the
teeth of this driven wheel c being formed very much like those of an ordinary
"scape" wheel and one end of the spindle c¹ is centred in a base plate or part of
the frame b* whilst the other end is passed through a bearing formed in another
plate or part of the frame 6*1.
The toothed wheel c is formed with sixty teeth representing minutes, and is
timed to make a complete revolution once every hour and upon the outer end of
the spindle c' thereof is fixed the minute hand of the branch clock.
Upon the end of the spindle c¹ is loosely mounted a cannon wheel d upon the.
pipe of which is fixed the hour hand d" and the cannon wheel d is driven from the

page_text: spindle ci by means of a pinion c* fixed upon the spindle c' which engages a toothed
wheel mounted upon a separate spindle carried by the plate and which
toothed wheel d' has fixed therewith a pinion d' which gears with the loose hour
wheel d.
This simple train of gearing or an equivalent train is all that is necessary in each
branch clock, but the means of setting the train in motion in order to traverse the
hands cd will now be described.
The driven wheel c is carried forward the distance of one tooth each minute of
time by means of a vibrating lever e which near to one end is mounted upon an
axis of motion e* carried by the plates or framing 6*6*1 and the other end of the
vibrating lever 'e is furnished with a driver or tooth el pivotally connected there-
with at e so that it is capable of to some extent following up the driven wheel cas
represented at Figures 2 and 6 so as to bring the next tooth into position to be
engaged by the driver e¹ whilst a light spring e³ is employed which acts upon the
square head of the driver or tooth e' in order to return the same to its normal
position as represented at Figure 4, and to prevent any irregular movement
thereof consequent upon the sudden movement of the vibrating lever e.
In order to prevent the overdriving of the driven wheel ca detent or break is
employed consisting of a block f formed with a convex or conical face held up to
the wheel.c by means of a light spring.
Upon the framing 6 and 61 is mounted an electro magnet g and upon the tail of
the vibrating lever e is mounted an armature e so that every time the armature e*
is attracted by the magnet g the driven wheel c will be moved forward the distance
of one tooth and through the train of wheels hereinbefore described the minute
and hour hands c* d* will be proportionately moved around the dials of the several
branch clocks b the armature et being normally held off the magnet g by means of
a light spring whilst a stop e is employed to limit the extent of movement of
the vibrating arm e in that direction.
The electro magnet g of each branch clock b is placed in the electric circuit 6' in
which is also placed an electric battery h which furnishes the necessary electric
current.
By the means bereinbefore described the circuit is completed by the seconds
hand a bringing the contact piece 61 into contact with the terminal 41** causing
the current to pass through the magnet g of each branch clock b. and thereby
attract the corresponding armature e with the result that through the driver e¹ and
driven wheel c the minute and hour hands c* and d* of each branch clock placed
in the circuit will be advanced a proportionate distance around the dial, and the
branch clocks b will thus be caused to work synchronously with the standard
clock a and it will be understood that a large number of branch clocks may be
similarly actuated from the one source.
Referring to Figures 7 to 10 which illustrate the application of the invention to
an engine room telegraph a represents the upper or bridge portion of the instrument
and b represents the lower or engine room part thereof.
The upper part consists of a case or box a furnished with a glass front a' within
which is a dial a divided and marked with the various signs that are customary
in instruments of a similar class and over this dial and carried by the spindle c¹ of
the driven wheel c is a hand or pointer c* which traverses the dial a³ and indicates
the signal desired to be conveyed.
The spindle c¹ and consequently the hand c* are rotated by means of the driven
wheel the driver e and magnet g in a similar mauner to that described with
respect to Figures 1 to 6 and both of the instruments a and b are similarly fitted
and their electro magnets g are placed in the same circuit, so that the hands c* are
caused to work synchronously, the necessary completion of the circuit being made
by the following means.
Within the case a is arranged a conducting ring 62 which is placed in electrical
contact at 62 with one of the conductors and this conducting ring 6 is supported
by conducting branches terminating in contact plates 6** arranged around the

page_text: interior of the box a and carefully insulated each from the other and from
the box.
Within the box a is mounted with capability of revolution in suitable bearings
an independent spindle i upon one end of which is fixed a crank arm i terminating
in a handle furnished with a pointer which traverses a circle of divisions and
signs arranged around the exterior of the box a and corresponding with those upon
the dial a³.
Fixed upon the spindle is an arm the outer end of which carries a brush or
spring contact making device which by turning the handle until the desired
sign is arrived at by the pointer and hand c* sweeps across the contact plates 6**
whilst upon the arm about midway of its length is fixed a spring contact i***
which bears upon the back plate of the box.
Fixed with the back plate a of the box or case a is a ratchet wheel * with
which engages a pawl carried by the arm so that such arm cannot be turned
back but is compelled always to travel in one direction.
The back plate a* of the box a is by the terminal *** placed in electrical contact
with the other part of the conductor so that upon the handle being turned the
contact brush will sweep over the contact plates ** and each time contact is
tbus made the circuit will be completed by the current passing from the conducting
ring through the branches & and contact plates * to the contact brush * thence
through the arm and spring contact piece *** to the back plate a through such
back plate to the terminal 6*** and away by the conductor b¹ through the
battery thence through the magnet 9 in the engine room part 6 of the instrument
and back through the magnet g in the bridge part a of the instrument to the.
conducting ring b³.
The number of contact plates 63* corresponds with the number of teeth in the
driven wheel e so that each time the contact brush sweeps over a contact
plate the electro magnet g which is placed in the circuit will through the
armature e and driver e¹ rotate the driven wheel c the distance of one tooth and
inasmuch as the hand or pointer c* of the lower instrument is actuated by a
similar driven wheel c driver e¹ armature et and magnet g placed in the electric
circuit it follows that the hand or pointer c* of the lower instrument will act.
synchronously with that of the upper instrument a.
By this simple arrangement of parts the required signals may be transmitted
from the bridge to the engine room, without the necessity for employing cumbrous
mechanical connections.
In the example given at Figure 11 which illustrates the application of the
invention to an electric arc lamp only those parts of the lamp are shown which are
intimately connected therewith."
a represents the upper carbon holder frame and represents the lower one.
These frames and the carbon holders which are of well-known construction are
suspended by chains or cords a* * which pass around pulleys carried by a break
drum which may be actuated by a solenoid or other regulating device for the
purpose of striking the arc as is well understood.
The break drum d* which runs loosely on its shaft * has fixed therewith
a notched or clutch wheel d** which engages a spring pawl d*** carried by a
toothed wheel d which through a suitable train of toothed gearing gears with a
pinion ² fixed with the spindle cl of the driven wheel and the parts are so
arranged that the driven wheel c gives motion to the break wheel d in the necessary
direction to continuously feed together the carbons until such movement is arrested
by the break mechanism.
The magnet 9 in the present example is placed in a shunt circuit and the
armature of the electro magnet is furnished with an insulated vibrating contact
piece which by the action of the electro magnet alternately makes and breaks
the contact with an insulated adjustable conducting stud or screw es.
The clutch connection between the toothed wheel d and the break drum d⭑

page_text: enables the carbon holders ab to be separated in order to put in fresh carbons
without turning back the train of gearing.
By this arrangement of parts the carbons will be fed or advanced towards each
other according to the varying intensity of the current passing through the shunt
circuit whilst upon the break apparatus coming into action to strike the arc by
arresting the rotation of the break drum d* the driven wheel will at the same time
through the train of gearing be held stationary.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is.
1. In means for transmitting motion or for converting reciprocating motion
into rotary motion the combination of a driven wheel adapted to give motion to an
object to be moved and provided with teeth of the form of a "scape" wheel a
vibrating lever mounted upon an axis of motion a tooth or driver adapted to drive
forward the driven wheel and pivotally mounted upon one end of the lever and
normally held in a given position by means of a spring an armature or vibrating
contact maker carried by the other end of the lever an electro magnet placed in
position to attract the armature and located in an electric circuit means for making
and breaking the circuit and a detent for preventing the over driving or accidental
shifting of the driven wheel substantially as herein shown and described and for
the purpose stated.
2. In means for transmitting motion or converting reciprocating motion into
rotary motion the combination of a driven wheel adapted to give motion to an
object to be moved and provided with teeth of the form of a "scape" wheel a vibrating
lever mounted upon an axis of motion a tooth or driver adapted to drive forward
the driven wheel and pivotally mounted upon one end of the lever and normally
held in a given position by means of a spring an armature carried by the other end
of the lever an electro magnet placed in position to attract the armature and
located in an electric circuit means actuated by hand or otherwise for making or
breaking the circuit and a detent for preventing the over driving or accidental
shifting of the driven wheel substantially as herein shown and described and for the
purpose stated.
Dated this 13th day of August 1894.
WHITE & WOODINGTON,
27, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents.