Improvements in Car Motors.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd June, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Apr., 1890-Accepted, 3rd May, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by JOHN STORER CONNELLY, of Plainfield, in the
County of Union, and State of New Jersey, one of the United States of
America, Gas Engineer.]
Improvements in Car Motors.
I JOHN THOMSON KING of 4 Clayton Square Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The expense which has attended the maintenance of horse street-car lines has led
to many attempts to substitute for horse-power some suitable motor to be carried by
and to drive the car, but the many practical difficulties experienced in applying such
motors to use having prevented their general adoption. These difficulties apply
especially to the use of gas-motors, which otherwise possess the important advantages
of freedom from smoke, lightness of bulk of fuel required, and simplicity of
mechanism, the main reason for the existence of such difficulties boing that as a gas
engine should run continuously, and at a nearly uniform rate of speel, it cannot be
stopped, started and slowed down with the same ease as steam engines. In addition
to this, there is another objection incident to any motor, that the power required to
start a heavily laden street car or to drive up a grade, is so much greater than that
required to maintain it in motion after it has been started on a level track, that it has
generally been thought necessary to use an engine of excessive power, capacity and
weight relatively to the load. In railroad practice this difficulty is not present to
such degree, because the load is only heavy when a considerable number of cars are
joined in a single train, and in such case the loose couplings between the several cars
permit the strain of starting to be transmitted gradually from one end of the train to
the other, but with street cars, where it is not customary to use more than one or two
cars in connection, the whole burden must be started at substantially the same
instant. To obviate these evils, many hitherto unsuccessful expedients have been
tried, among them being a system comprising friction-clutches or wheels, and a series
of sprocket-wheels, connected by chain gearing with wheels of different diameters on
the driven shaft or axle, so that by using different sets of gearing at different times,
motion of different rates of speed may be transmitted to the car. This arrangement
and analogous arrangements require a separate complete transmission device for
every speed at which the car is to be run, since, owing to loss of power and the wear
and tear produced when they are permitted to slip, the friction-clutches must be kept
in positive connection. The consequence is that to secure the proper variability of
speed essential to a successful car motor, the clutches and gearing must be multiplied
to such extent as to load the car with a great mass of heavy and noisy machinery,
expensive to construct and difficult to keep in running order, or the number of such
devices must be so reduced as to afford little practical advantage over a directly-
acting or single geared engine. When many sets of driving gear are used, the
complication of operating levers makes it necessary. to have the services of a skilled
engineer of quick and accurate judgement, for the emergencies apt to arise in street
travel, often require the promptest action, and if the engineer be incompetent, or if
he should become confused, he may lose control of the motor, with possibly
disastrous results. For these reasons, the employment of a single set of transmitting
mecbanisin, capable of transmitting variable speed, and a single operating lever is of
the very highest practical value, since with such simple mechanism, the driver
needs no special training, and without danger of confusion or of disorder to the
me hanism, the car can be driven at any speed with equal facility and without need of

page_text: substantially varying the speed or direction of motion of the engine. It is in the
use of mechanism of the sort last described that my invention principally consists.
Motors under my invention consist essentially in the combination of a suitable gas
or other engine with adjustable frictional gear in connection with a car axle in such
manner that the speed of the engine being constant the speed of the car axle may be
varied, or the motion reversed at will. Suitable friction gear consists of two discs
rotating in contact at right angles to each other one of the said discs being movable
longitudinally on its carrying shaft. Means are also provided for varying the
pressure of contact of the said discs.
1000
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Car Motors.
I, JOHN THOMSON KING of 4 Clayton Square, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
The expense which has attended the maintenance of horse street-car lines has led
to many attempts to substitute for horse-power some suitable motor to be carried by
and to drive the car, but the many practical difficulties experienced in applying such
motors to use have prevented their general adoption. These difficulties apply
especially to the use of gas motors, which otherwise possess the important advantages
of freedom from smoke, lightness of bulk of fuel required, and simplicity of
mechanism, the main reason for the existence of such difficulties being that as a gas
engine should run continuously, and at a nearly uniform rate of speed, it cannot be
stopped, started and slowed down with the same ease as steam engines. In addition
to this, there is another objection incident to any motor, that the power required to
start a heavily laden street car or to drive it up a grade is so much greater than that
required to maintain it in motion after it has been started on a level track, that it has
generally been thought necessary to use an engine of excessive power capacity and
weight, relatively to the load. In railroad practice, this difficulty is not present to
such degree because the load is only heavy when a considerable number of cars are
joined in a single train, and in such case the loose couplings between the several
cars permit the strain of starting to be transmitted gradually from one end of the
train to the other, but with street cars where it is not customary to use more than
one or two cars in connection the whole burden must be started at substantially the
same instant.
To obviate these evils many hitherto unsuccessful expedients have
been tried, among them being a system comprising friction-clutches or wheels, and a
series of sprocket-wheels, connected by chain gearing with wheels of different
diameters on the driven shaft or axle, so that by using different sets of gearing at
different times motion of different rates of speed may be transmitted to the car.
arrangement and analogous arrangements require a separate complete transmission
device for every speed at which the car is to be run, since, owing to loss of power
and the wear and tear produced when they are permitted to slip, the friction clutches
must be kept in positive connection. The consequence is that to secure the proper
variability of speed essential to a successful car motor, the clutches and gearing
must be multiplied to such extent as to load the car with a great mass of heavy and
noisy machinery expensive to construct and difficult to keep in running order, or the
number of such devices must be so reduced as to afford little practical advantage
over a directly acting or single geared engine. When many sets of driving gear are
used, the complication of operating levers makes it necessary to have the services of
a skilled engineer of quick and accurate judgement, for the emergencies apt to arise
in street travel often require the promptest action, and if the engineer be incompetent,
or if he should become confused, he may lose control of the motor, with possibly
This

page_text: disastrous results. For these reasons the employment of a single set of transmitting
mechanism capable of transmitting variable speed and a single operating lever is of
the very highest practical value, since with such simple mechanism the driver needs
no special training, and without danger of confusion or of disorder to the mechanism,
the car can be driven at any speed with equal facility and without need of substantially
varying the speed or direction of motion of the engine.
It is in the use of mechanism of the sort last described that my invention
principally consists.
Motors under my invention consist essentially in the combination of a suitable gas
or other engine with adjustable frictional gear in connection with a car axle in such
manner that the speed of the engine being constant the speed of the car axle may be
varied or the motion reversed at will.
Suitable friction gear consists of two discs rotating in contact at right angles to
each other, one of the said dises being movable longitudinally on its carrying shaft.
Means are also provided for varying the pressure of contact of the said discs.
In the accompanying drawing, which is a vertical longitudinal section of a car
motor provided with my improvement, 2 represents the driving cylinder of a gas-
engine, which may be of any suitable construction, 3 is the fly wheel mounted on the
usual main shaft 4, and 5, 5, are tanks or vessels, in which air is charged with the
vapor of a liquid volatile substance, such as naptha or gasoline, which is used as the
fuel to furnish the explosive charge for the cylinder. In the use of the motor the engine
is driven by successive explosions continuously, and in a single direction, without
need of reversing or stopping during the trip. 6 is a disk mounted on a driven
shaft, which may be the fly wheel shaft, and 7 is a second disk set by a feather and
spline on a shaft 8, on which it is movable lengthwise. The periphery of the disk 7
is in contact with the face of the disk 6, so that the former is driven by rotation of
the latter, and so that the speed transmitted to the shaft 8 is variable by noving the
former on its shaft towards and from the centre of the latter. Such motion of the
disk 7 may be effected by any suitable arrangement of mechanism, for example, by
means of a lever 9, which is operated by a hand screw 10. The shaft 8 is connected
to the driving axle 12 of the car by means of gearing 13 and sprocket gearing 11.
The engine, as above stated, runs continuously, and its speed is regulated by the
driver or engineer, who shifts the position of the disk 7 to correspond to the speed
desired to be transmitted, the nearer the disk is moved to the centre of the other, the
slower being the speed of transmitted motion; and as the disk 7 may be set at any
position between the centre of the other disk and the periphery thereof motion of any
rate of speed between certain limits may be transmitted to the car axle. This is an
important feature of the apparatus, since it enables the speed of the car to be varied
accurately to conform to the load, the grade, and the amount of work to be done by
the engine. In the use of friction gearing of the character described, it is found
that the nearer the one disk is brought to the centre of the other, and the less the
rate of transmitted speed, the closer should be the frictional contact between the
disks. To this end, I provide means, consisting preferably of a lever and a cam or
screw nut 14, by which the bearings of the shaft of the disk 7 may be moved to
press the periphery of the disk against the surface of the other disk with an adjustable
degree of pressure, and by moving it sufficiently to disconnect these surfaces, the car
axle
may be put entirely out of gear with the engine.
The notion of the engine may be reversed in direction either by moving the disk 7
from one side of the centre of the disk 6 to the other, or separate clutch mechanism
may be employed for this purpose, as may be found desirable.
The apparatus may be modified in many ways, for example, by the substitution for
the form of driving mechanism which I have shown, of other known mechanical
devices accomplishing the results herein before stated.
The advantages of my improvement have been indicated above, and will be
appreciated by those familiar with the objections incident to other systems of
transmitting motion of variable speed. The mechanism is such that the relation of
speed between the engine and the driven car axle may be set at any rate within certain

page_text: practical limits, and by employing only a single series of connecting gear between
the engine and axle, a noiseless and very efficient apparatus is afforded.
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:
--
First. In a locomotive car motor, the combination with the driven car wheel or
axle, and an engine for driving the same, of intermediate driving mechanism,
comprising driving wheels or disks, relatively movable to vary the position of
contact for the purpose of altering the speed of transmitted motion, and inechanism
by which the frictional pressure of the driving wheels or disks may be varied
substantially as and for the purposes described.
Second. In a locomotive car motor, the combination with the driven car wheel or
axle, and an engine for driving the same, of intermediate driving mechanism
comprising driving wheels or disks relatively movable to vary the position of contact
for the purpose of altering the speed of transmitted motion, and mechanism for so
moving the same, movable bearings for one of the wheels or disks and mechanism by
which said bearings may be moved to vary the contact pressure of the wheels or
disks, substantially as and for the purposes described.
Third. In a locomotive car motor, the combination with the driven car wheel or
axle, and an engine for driving the saine, of intermediate frictional driving mechanism
for transmitting motion of variable speed, and mechanism for varying the frictional
pressure conformably to the variation in speed of the transmitted motion, substantially
as and for the purposes described.
DL:
CA 1 1900
Per Pro. J. T. KING,
J. Johnson,
Agent.