IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry William Grylls at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd December 1868.
I, HENRY WILLIAM GRYLLS, of Great Saint Helen's, in the City of
London, Civil Engincer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER,"
to be as follows, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in an improved arrangement of mechanism for
obtaining and applying motive power for the propulsion of ordinary
land railway and tramway carriages, for ships and vessels for sea or
river navigation, balloons, and other aerial machines, and for driving
machinery for manufacturing purposes.
To carry out my Invention I make a metal or wood frame, to which
I fix a fly wheel with a cog wheel and handle, I then fix a shaft on the
frame, on which is fixed a cog wheel which gears with the cog wheel on
the fly wheel; a spring or springs is or are fixed on this latter shaft,
which has also a ratchet wheel and a catch to check the action of the
springs when required. I also place on this shaft one or more large

page_text: wheels fastened to a disc or discs or iron plate for gearing into the
wheel or wheels on the second shaft or axle for driving machinery or
fans or other appliances that may require to be driven. To obtain
great power I use two shafts instead of one only; I then use large drum
springs fixed on a cylinder or cylinders, on the sides of each of which I
fix a disc and fasten the same together by bolts and nuts, and thus
enclose the spring or springs. At the side of the disc is a slot to receive
a sliding bar attached to the spring to keep it from breaking when
winding; on the side of each disc I place one or more wheels for driving,
as may be required, which gear with wheels on the second shaft or axle;
the whole of this mechanism is fixed on the first stated shaft. I can if
required fix the same kind of springs and wheels on the second shaft to
assist the winding of the springs on the first shaft, and thus dispense
with the fly wheel handle. To obtain the reverse or back motion I use
a third shaft, on which is fixed a wheel which gears with a driving wheel
on the spring shaft, and also gears with a wheel on the second shaft,
which wheel is thrown in or out of gear by a hand lever. For checking
the speed or stopping I use a hand lever, a grooved friction wheel, or a
screw brake.
When the apparatus is employed for carriages on roads I prefer using
chains with dug or spike wheels in place of cog wheels. Two of the
same apparatuses can be fixed in one frame if required, so that the smaller
one can be made to wind up the larger. This improved arrangement of
mechanism being applied to a railway or other land carriage the second
shaft or axle will be so placed that it may receive a wheel at each end
for the carriage to run on.
For ships the said shaft would project at each side of the ship for
receiving paddle wheels, similar to the shaft of a marine paddle engine.
For balloons the mechanism is placed in the car of the balloon, and
the second shaft is made to project from the sides thereof for receiving
fans or other driving arrangement.
"