Improved Devices for Varying the Radius of Curvature of Wheels, Pulleys, and other Articles.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Aug., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 18th May, 1892-Accepted, 2nd July, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Devices for Varying the Radius of Curvature of Wheels,
Pulleys, and other Articles.
I FRANK STANLEY WILLOUGHBY 15 Cross Street, Manchester, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
It frequently happens, owing to the wear of the rim of a wheel, drum, pulley
or disc &c., or to the wear of the surface such wheel &c. runs in conjunction with,
that an enlargement, or in some cases, a diminution of the diameter of the
wheel, drum, pulley, or disc &c. is desirable to take up this wear, it is further
desirable that such enlargement or diminution should not be uneven but that the
wheel, drum, pulley or disc &c. should after alteration still be perfectly con-
centric. To accomplish this it is a common practice to grind or turn some of the
metal off, or to put an even tyre on, as the case may be. There are objections to
this method which need not be gone into.
My invention consists in so constructing the periphery of a wheel, drum, pulley,
or disc &c. that in a simple manner its total diameter may be increased or
diminished concentrically at will. And, inasmuch as by my invention the
diminution is caused without any paring off of the material from which the wheel,
drum, pulley or disc &c. is made, I am enabled again to increase the diameter
without the addition of any material, such as a tyre. There in fact no limit
to the number of times expansion and diminution may take place in wheels,
drums, pulleys, discs &c. when constructed according to my invention. I have
spoken in this Specification of wheels, drums, pullies discs &c., and my invention
is applicable to all of them, and also to any piece of mechanism of a circular form
to which the application of the principle of concentric expansion or contraction
would be of advantage, such as a clutch for shafting, or a mandrel or chuck for
turning, or bush for bearing. In order however to simplify the following
description of my invention, and for that purpose only, I shall hereinafter always
speak of wheels in my description.
I construct my expanding wheel substantially as follows:-
For an example I take any existing metal wheel, preferably constructed without
spokes, but with a metal disc from centre to rim, in lien thereof, and in order that
may apply my invention to this existing wheel, I choose one with a heavy rim,
having plenty of metal in it, and a wheel also which has the rim and disc and
boss of sufficient thickness to allow of its being split in two from rim to boss, so to
The inner
make two wheels, each about half the thickness of the original whole.
edges of the rims of these two wheels I turn down to an angle, and, to make my
meaning clear, and to show clearly where the turning down has taken place, Í
explain that if these two wheels are placed close together again in the position they
were before they were split, if they are again made into one wheel in fact, the rim
of the wheel will be found to have a V shaped groove in its outer periphery. If
these two wheels be kept a distance apart, say for example half an inch, the V
channel will become a conical channel. In any convenient way, for instance by
bolts going through the two wheels, I keep them in near contact with each other
on their common axle, and equidistant apart all over, for example, I will leave half
an inch between them-into the conical gap which then is left between the wheels
I spring a close flexible metal coil, which I temper if desired, similar in appear-
ance to a large close spiral spring, the ends of which I firmly unite to form a hoop,
and I make this hoop of such a size that when it is as far down in the conical gap
as its diameter will allow it to go, it is in a state of tension and endeavouring to

page_text: force the conical faces of the wheels' rims further apart, this, however, it is pre-
vented from doing by the bolts or other convenient fastening which holds the two
sides of the wheel together; I have now, considered as a whole, got a wheel of a
certain diameter, the outer periphery of which consists of a metal coil in a state
of tension and more or less elastic so far as elongation or contraction of its
circumference is concerned. If I wish to make my wheel larger in diameter I
draw the two halves of the original wheel closer together by means of the bolts or
other convenient uniting mechanism, and so lessen the gap between them; for
example, I will reduce the gap from half an inch to quarter of an inch, this drawing
together is done in spite of the resistance of the metal coil, the whole tendency
of which, being in a state of tension, is to force them further apart. The sloping
sides of the conical gap being forcibly brought nearer together compel the flexible
metal coil to evenly elongate and ride further up the sloping sides of the conical
gap, and so the total diameter of the wheel, considered as a whole, becomes
greater.
If the mechanism be true, and the workmanship good, the wheel, though large,
will be found to be still perfectly concentric.
If, on the other hand, it is desirable to diminish the diameter of the wheel, the
bolts or other convenient uniting mechanism which holds the two sides of the
wheel together are evenly released somewhat, and as the gap between the two
sides of the wheel becomes greater the tension of the metal coil forces them as far
apart as the uniting mechanism will allow, and the coil itself, being in a state of
tension, evenly contracts and slips further down the sloping sides of the conical
gap, and so the total diameter of the wheel, considered as a whole, becomes
smaller.
If the mechanism be true, and the workmanship good, the wheel, though
smaller, will be found to be still perfectly concentric.
Although I have, for simplicity of example, explained a case where a whole
wheel from rim to centre is split or made in two parts to obtain the adjustable
inclined planes at the rim, it will be obvious that only the rim itself or portions of
the wheel about the rim, may be in duplicate.
The flexible coil referred to in this Specification I make from stout metal of
any section, but I much prefer to make it from metal rod of oblong section coiled
on edge on a small mandrel, convenient proportions for the rod, and convenient
proportions between the rod and the mandrel are as follows:-the rod twice the
depth of its width, and the mandrel's diameter equal to the rod's depth, but of
course I do not confine myself to these proportions. I further, in order to obtain
closeness between the rings of the coil externally as well as internally, prefer to
have the rod drawn or rolled slightly taper in section, and when coiling I place the
narrower edge of the taper towards the mandrel on which the coil is formed.
Various methods by which the ends of the coil may be conveniently united, and
also some more particulars concerning the coil itself, are shown in my (and
another's) Specification of Patent No. 4064-1890, for which Patent use a
similar coil to the one I now employ.
In the Specification referred to I describe the coil made of round section and
also of other sections, and I use various sections of coil for this present invention,
but where I use a coil of round section I have in some instances found it of
advantage to turn or grind or otherwise remove a portion of the metal from the
extreme outer periphery of the expanding wheel coil, thus to form a flat on it, over
or against which another flat surface could conveniently travel. To obtain this
flat is one of the reasons why I prefer to form my coil from metal of an oblong
section, coiled on a small mandrel, as I am thereby enabled to remove a con-
siderable portion of the metal from the outer periphery, and so obtain a wide flat
before penetrating to the centre hole left by the mandrel.
In another form of my invention, instead of making the external periphery of
the wheel rim expand and contract as explained, I make the inner periphery
expand and contract by precisely the same method of inclined planes being drawn

page_text: nearer or further apart with a flexible metal coil between them. In this case
however, it will be readily understood that the planes of the conical gap will be
reversed, the thinner end of the taper pointing outwards, and, not as before,
towards the centre. And in this case where the action of drawing the inclined
planes together will cause a closing down of the coil, I, instead of making the coil
a close one as before, make it an open one, and of such a length for each wheel or
bush that when it is hooped and in place between the planes of the cone it has an
expanding tendency, and so always beds tightly in its groove, and forces the
inclined planes as far apart as the uniting mechanism will allow. Any flat it was
deemed advisable to make on the periphery of the coil would in this case be made
on the coil's inner periphery.
Turning again to the form of my invention where the external periphery of the
wheels rim expands or contracts, I will give one instance where such concentric
variation would be of service, and it is the instance which led me to make this
invention :-
It is well known that in carding machines used in cotton mills, the cotton is
passed between a large drum, covered over its entire surface with card, and strips
of card mounted on true metal rods; these metal rods have at each end flats, which
travel over, or along with, the outer peripherys of two large wheels, these wheels
are of such a diameter and so placed relatively to the card-covered drum that the
card-covered rods which travel over them move in close proximity to the drum,
and an adjustment is made by which the ends of the card teeth on the large drum,
and the ends of the card teeth on the metal rods almost, but not quite, touch.
When the adjustment is good the cotton is well carded; when, however, the
adjustment is bad, portions of the cotton slip past between the cards, and the
carding is bad. From time to time the teeth of the cards become blunt, and
require grinding; this grinding shortens them, and destroys the fine adjustment.
If, however, the wheels over which the flats travel are fitted with my invention
they can easily be made concentrically smaller and so allow the flats to get a little
closer to the card-covered drum, and the wear of the teeth is thus taken up.
When, however, new cards, with full length teeth are put on either the drum
or metal rods, or both, my invention will allow of the necessary concentric enlarge-
ment of the wheels the flats travel over and the necessary fine adjustment can be
readily obtained.
In conclusion-I am of opinion that in some applications of my invention more
than one flexible metal coil might with advantage be used, laid side by side
between the adjustable inclined planes; I have not yet, however, concluded
my experiments in this direction. I wish it to be clearly understood, however,
that the idea of using more than one flexible metal coil is one which has occurred
to me.
Dated this Eighteenth day of August One thousand eight hundred and
FRANK STANLEY WILLOUGHBY.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
5 Improved Devices for Varying the Radius of Curvature of Wheels,
Pulleys, and other Articles.
I FRANK STANLEY WILLOUGHBY, of 15 Cross Street, Manchester, Wine and
Spirit Merchant, 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
0 by the following statement :-
My said invention relates to improved means for varying the contour of curved
surfaces by the employment of a flexible coil in combination with laterally
adjustable inclined bearing surfaces and is applicable to curved contours generally

page_text: whether in the shape of complete circles, arcs of circles, curves composed of arcs
of circles described from two or more centres, elliptical, parabolic or other regular
or irregular curves.
In order that my said invention may be more fully understood I will describe the
same in several of its applications referring at the same time to the accompanying
drawings.
Figure I is a cross section of a pulley to which my invention is applied in order
to be able to increase or decrease the external diameter or periphery at will. The
pulley is composed of two discs a a¹ one of which is secured to the shaft while the
other is free to slide laterally thereon. The discs a a¹ have inclined rims which
when brought into juxtaposition form an angular channel into which is sprung an
endless flexible coil c so constructed as to have a tendency to contract towards the
axis of the pulley and to grip firmly in the angular channel. The periphery may
be turned or otherwise provided with a flat exterior surface in order to receive a
belt. The two halves a a' of the pulley are provided with suitable means such as
bolts and nuts d d for varying their distance apart and securing them when set at
the required distance apart. By varying the distance apart of the two sides of the
angular channel the flexible coil may be made to expand and contract and thus the
external diameter of the pulley may be varied.
Instead of dividing the entire pulley into two halves an annular section e as in
Figure II may be constructed so as to be laterally adjustable on a projecting
part el of the main body of the pulley.
Besides being applicable to pulleys this method of varying the external diameter
of circular bodies is also applicable to many other purposes such as clutches and
mandrels for turning lathes.
Figure III illustrates the application of my invention for the purpose of varying
the internal diameter of a circular body. In this example the flexible coil c¹ is an
open one coiled in such a manner that its tendency is to expand. By causing the
internal inclined surfaces of the shell ff to approach as for instance by tightening
the connecting bolts the coil may be forcibly compressed and the interior diameter
contracted to the desired extent. In this example the inclined surfaces are
disposed in the reverse manner to that shown in the preceding Figures and
Figure III represents a concentrically adjustable pedestal for the shaft b³.
The internal bush g g may be in two or more parts or may be dispensed with
altogether in which case the flexible coil itself forms the immediate bearing for the
shaft as illustrated in Figure IV.
An important application of my invention is to carding engines for carding
fibrous materials of the kind known as revolving flat carding engines. Of such
there are several types. In one of them (for which Letters Patent No. 6564
A.D. 1834 were granted to James Smith) the ends of the flats are supported by
rotating discs concentric with the cylinder.
As the teeth of the card clothing wear it is customary to lessen the diameter of
the rotating discs by milling or otherwise removing a portion of their external
bearing surface in order to bring the card teeth of the flats into closer proximity to
those of the cylinder.
Figure V shows a vertical section of so much of one side of such a carding
engine as is necessary to illustrate this application of my invention. is the
cylinder revolving with the main shaft h'. is one of the flats. is a disc free
to rotate on the shaft h' and having an annular plate laterally adjustable on the
main disc k. Into a V shaped channel between the parts k and k' is sprung an
endless coil k³ so formed as to be in a state of tension with a tendency to contract
towards the shaft h. By varying the distance apart of the discs k and k¹ by
means of adjusting screws or other suitable means the coil ke may be made to
expand and contract and thus the distance of the flats resting thereon from the
cylinder may be varied at pleasure.
Instead of having two inclined surfaces only one inclined surface may be used as

page_text: shown in Figure VI and for carding engines I find this to be preferable inasmuch
as the distance of the coils (at the two sides of the carding engine) from each other
then remains constant.
As herein before stated my said invention is also applicable to arcs of circles as
well as to complete circles and in this modification is applicable to another type of
revolving flat carding engine in which the flats inside of travelling along with a
rotating disc are caused to slide along fixed curved paths or bends concentric with
the cylinder and attached to or forming part of the frame side of the carding
engine. Figure X illustrates this application of my said invention and represents
so much of one side of a carding engine as is necessary to the description of my
invention. m is the main shaft of the carding engine cylinder. n is the side frame
of the carding engine having a projecting flange or rib n' which forms the support
on which a curved wedge may slide perpendicularly to the side of the carding
engine. Figure VII is a cross section on a larger scale through X-Y of
Figure X. Stretched between hinged links n³ n* which are pivoted at their lower
extremities to the side of the carding engine is a length of flexible coil n which
lies stretched between the vertical part of the frame side n and the inner inclined
surface of the curved wedge n². The upper surface of the flexible coil n³ forms
the support or path along which the flats indicated by dotted lines at may
travel.
By varying the distance of the curved wedge n' to and from the cylinder the
height of the coil and therefore of the flats may be regulated, while their path
remains perfectly concentric with the cylinder whatever it radius.
The ends of the flats may travel either immediately on the outside of the coil or
a thin flexible strip of metal may be interposed between them as indicated by the
thick line in Figure VII. I wish it to be understood that I make no claim to
the use of inclined rotating discs or to curved wedges in or of themselves for the
purpose of adjusting the position of the flats of carding engines inasmuch as such
are well known at the present time nor do I claim any particular methods of
adjusting the position of such inclined surfaces. In applying my invention the
usual known methods for effecting the lateral adjustment of such inclined discs or
curved wedges may be employed.
The flexible coil referred to in this Specification I may make from metal of any
section according to the particular purpose to which it may be applied but for most
purposes and particularly for use in carding engines I prefer to make it from steel
rod of about the section shown in Figure VIII, coiled on edge on a small mandrel.
Generally speaking convenient proportions for the rod and the mandrel are,-the
rod twice the depth of its mean width and the diameter of the mandrel equal to the
depth of the rod. When coiling the rod its narrower edge is placed next to
the mandrel. From the coil thus formed I may by grinding turning or otherwise
remove a portion of the metal for the purpose of forming one or more flat surfaces
to serve as bearing surfaces as shown in several figures of the accompanying
drawings.
Various methods by which the ends of the coil may be conveniently united and
also more particulars concerning the coil itself are shown in my (and another's)
Specification of Patent No. 4064 of A.D. 1890 in which are described coils similar
to what I use in my present invention.
may
The shapes of the coils and the obliquity of the inclined surfaces which be
straight or curved in cross section may be varied almost infinitely without
departing from the essential feature of my said invention which consists as will be
seen from the foregoing description in the use of a flexible coil supported or
restrained by one or more curved inclined surfaces adjustable at right angles to the
plane in which the coil lies for the purpose of varying the internal or external
contour of the coil itself so that for instance in a circular body or one bounded by
a circular arc the acting surface of a parallel flexible coil will be concentric with
the inclined adjusting .surface whatever radius the coil may be adjusted to, and in
the case of bodies of oval or irregular curved contour the acting contour of the roil

page_text: will partake of and correspond strictly to that of the inclined surface by which the
coil is adjusted.
For simplicity of description I have hereinbefore only referred to a single
flexible coil but it is to be understood that two or more parallel coils may be used
in the same manner as shown in Figure IX.
I do not confine my invention to coils of uniform diameter throughout their
length and in some cases they may have a tapering form either by winding on a
conical mandrel or by using rod of gradually increasing or decreasing depth.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is-
1. The combination of a flexible coil with one or more laterally adjustable
inclined curved surfaces substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described
and set forth.
2. The combination of an endless flexible coil with one or more laterally
adjustable cones or conoidal surfaces for varying the radius of curvature of circular
objects or of objects bounded by circular arcs substantially as hereinbefore
described and shown.
3. In a revolving flat carding engine in which the ends of the flats are supported
by rotating discs the combination of an endless flexible coil with one or more
laterally adjustable conical or conoidal surfaces for the purpose of adjusting the
distance between the card teeth of the flats and those of the cylinder substantially
as hereinbefore described and shown.
4. In a revolving flat carding engine in which the flats travel along a bend
secured to or resting on the side of a carding engine the combination of a flexible
coil and a segment of a cone for the purpose of concentrically adjusting the points
of the card teeth of the flats in relation to those of the cylinder substantially as
herein before described and shown.
5. The combination of an endless flexible coil compressed or restrained by
laterally adjustable discs having internal inclined surfaces for the purpose of
concentrically contracting the internal diameter of the flexible coil substantially as
hereinbefore described and shown with reference to Figures III and IV.
EDWARD TURNER WHITELOW,
70, Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.
EDWARD TURNER WHITELOW.
70, Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.