Improvements in Universal Shaft Couplings.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 1st July, 1890-Accepted, 2nd Aug., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Universal Shaft Couplings.
I, HERBERT JOHN ALLISON, of 52 Chancery Lane, London, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has
been communicated to me from abroad by William Congdon Boone, of No. 444 Hart
Street, in the City of Brooklyn, in the County of Kings, and the State of New York,
one of the United States of North America, Machinist), and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention is an improvement upon that class of devices for transmitting
motion between shafts placed at an angle to each other and provided with rods
joined together in pairs end to end and sliding in holes or slots provided to the
respective shafts. Among the objects of this invention is that of securing greater
permanence to the connecting bars through which the motion is transmitted from
one shaft to the other by subjecting the same to less strain when in operation; also
that of enabling the connecting bars to be made of such proportions that the power
transmitted may approximate at least that of which the shafts themselves are capable
of transmitting. A further object of the said invention is to secure greater perma-
nence and steadiness in the motion and operation of the apparatus and to diminish
the friction upon the journals and journal boxes of the shafts to which such apparatos
has heretofore been subject.
The foregoing improved results and advantages are secured in said invention
through certain novel combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and set
forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making part of this
specification in which:-
Fig. 1 is a side view of an apparatus embracing certain parts of my said
invention.
Fig. 2 is an end view of one of the parts shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is an end view of the parts represented in Fig. 1.
Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are detail views of certain of the parts shown in Figs. 1 and 3;
Fig.
being a partial sectional view of one part represented, Fig. 5 a side view of
the part shown in Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 a side view of another part of the apparatus.
Figs. 7, 8 and 9 represent a modification of the parts shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6;
Fig. being a detail view of one of said parts, Fig. 8 a plan view, showing two of
such parts connected by a pivot, and Fig. 9 a sectional view taken in the line, x, x,
of Fig. 8.
Fig. 10 is a horizontal sectional view taken in the line line, x, x, of Fig. 11,
embracing certain other parts of said invention.
Fig. 11 is a vertical sectional view taken in the line, w, w, of Fig. 10.
Fig. 12 is a like view taken in the line, z, z, of Fig. 10, and Fig. 13 is a detail
view of certain parts shown in Figs. 10 to 12 inclusive.
This invention relates to that class of devices for transmitting motion between
shafts placed at an angle to each other and provided with rods joined together
in pairs, end to end, and sliding in holes or slots provided in the respective shafts.
The object of my invention is to secure greater permanence to the connecting bars
through which the motion is transmitted from one shaft to the other by subjecting the
same to less strain when in operation, and of enabling the same to be made of such
proportions that the power transmitted may approximate at least that of which the
shafts themselves are capable of transmitting. To this end my invention consists in a
novel combination, with shafts placed at an angle to each other, of bosses fast upon
the shafts and provided with longitudinal slots, sliding rods or bars arranged in said
bosses, placed in said slots, and universal joints connecting the adjacent ends of the

page_text: rods or bars of the respective bosses, whereby motion may be transmittel regardless,
within certain limits, of the degree or extent of the angle between the shafts.
Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 to 9 inclusive, A, A, are shafts placed
at any desired angle, from one to the other of which motion is to be transmitted. To
the adjacent end of each of these shafts is provided a head or boss, B. In each of
these bosses, B, are provided any desired number of holes or slots, a, parallel or
substantially parallel with the shaft to which the boss is attached. Each boss is
connected or otherwise secured to its shaft in such manner as to turn therewith. In
each of the slots or holes, a, is placed a sliding rod or bar, D.
In order to provide the universal joint, as represented in Fig. 1, and also in Figs. 3
to 6 inclusive, I provide upon the end of one rod or bar, D, a socket, such for example
as shown at, b, in Fig. 4, which, it will be observed, is of such a shape that a suitable
stem or bearing being placed within will permit the latter to be moved with its axis
at a greater or less angle, acute or obtuse, to the axis of the bar, D, to which said
socket is provided. Thus for example, if the bearing, c, of the bar or rod shown in
Fig. 6 be thrust into the socket represented in Figs. 4 and 5, the shaft having such
bearing, c, may be moved within a wide range to any desired angle to the shaft
having the socket. In the apparatus represented in Figs. 1 and 3 the boss, B, on
one shaft, A, has its bars or rods, D, provided with the bearings, c, as shown in
Fig. 6; and the boss, B, on the other shaft, A, has its bars or rods, D, provided
with the sockets, b, shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The bars, D, having the bearings, c,
may also be provided with nuts, e, screwed upon the threaded projections, d, of said
bars.
The rotation of one of the shafts will of course carry around its bars or rods, D,
in a path concentric with the axis of the shaft and these bars, being connected as
described, with the adjacent ends of the corresponding bars of the other boss, will
transmit the motion to said other boss, and consequently to the other shaft, the rods
or bars playing in and out of their respective slots as they approach toward the
inner side of the angle or recede toward the outer side thereof, a continuous
and corresponding motion being thus transmitted by the rotation of one shaft, to
the other.
It will be observed, that by thus providing a substantially uniform joint between
the two parts of each pair of rods, D, the shafts, A, may, within wide limits, be
placed at any desired angle to each other, and that motion will, in such case, be
transmitted from one shaft to the other, even when the angle of the two shafts, A,
departs widely from a right angle. By thus providing a universal joint to the
rods, D, of the two shafts, in place of the rigid connection heretofore used, I am
enabled to employ this class of mechanism in a wide range of conditions wherein
beretofore it has been inadmissible. The character and structure of the universal
joint itself may be varied almost indefinitely. Thus for example, as in the modification
shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, each of the bars, D, is flattened at its end and provided
with a bolt hole, f. When these bars, D, shown in said Figs. 7, 8 and 9, are placed
in position in the bosses, B, B, the holes, f, in the bars of the one boss are coincident
with the holes, f, in the bars of the other boss, and the two bars are secured together
by a pivotal bolt, g, having a suitable head, a¹, and nut, b', respectively for holding
the same in place so that the two parts of each pair of rods, D, may move to different
angles with each other, as required in the transmission of motion from one shaft to
the other, when the said two shafts are placed in positions varying from the right
angle.
It is to be observed that my said invention is useful even in those cases where
the shafts, A, A, are designedly placed as near as may be at right angles to each other
inasmuch as any accidental displacement of said shafts from a substantially true right
angle with regard to each other is compensated by the automatic adjustment of the
parts by reason of the universal joints between the rods or bars, D, of one boss and
those of the other.
Referring now more particularly to Figs. 10 to 13 inclusive. It will be observed
that the combinations therein shown are consistent with the use of connecting bars

page_text: which are not jointed at their angles, but the improvements represented in said
Figs. 10 to 13 inclusive may when desired be used in conjunction with bars jointed,
as hereinbefore explained, at their said angles.
It will also be observed that when one of the shafts is rotated by any suitable power
applied thereto the elbow rods, whether they be jointed or not at their angles, play
in and out from the slots of the bosses. In that portion of the invention represented
in Figs. 10 to 13 inclusive, it will be noticed that the inner ends of the shafts are
combined with devices which, in their one function, prevent the lateral displacement
of the shafts with reference to each other, and in another function prevent the inward
longitudinal movement of said shafts. In order to restrain the said shafts and the
bosses carried thereby from moving too far inward and also securing the further
result of effectually steadying the said shafts during their rotation, the inner ends, d¹,
of the shafts, A, A, are made to project beyond the inner ends, c', of their respective
bosses and bear against fixed thrust resisting bearings. These end bearings, d¹, may
be made with circumferential grooves and ridges, a", and, 6", which fit into
correspondingly shaped thrust bearings, and in this case not only prevent the inward
thrust of the shafts, but in a measure prevent the outward thrust also.
These thrust bearings are provided upon a block or banging bracket, E, or other
suitable device which, by attachment to the ends of the shafts, is suspended therefrom;
the two ends of the shafts being thus caused to mutually support each other.
Behind each of the bosses, B, is a fixed bearing, F. These bearings, F, are
provided upon brackets, G, or other suitable supports placed in due and fixed position
and secured in place by any suitable means. Each bearing is so shaped as not to
interfere with the adjacent shaft, as for example, by a suitable opening in the bearing
for the shaft to pass through and should not be long enough to interfere with the
rearward projection of the arms of the elbow rods as they are brought to the inner
angle of the two bosses. The parts should, further, be so proportioned that the arms
of said elbow rods when at the outer angle of the bosses will not extend back far
enough to come in contact with the supports, G, of the adjacent fixed bearing, F.
By this means the bearings are enabled to be brought close to the bosses and thereby
much more effectually support their weight and diminish jar.
The block or hanging bracket, E, should be made in two pieces or sections suitably
recessed internally to receive the inner ends of the shafts and to provide the end or
thrust bearings herein before particularized, the two sections being held together by
suitable bolts or rivets, c¹, as indicated in the drawings. It will be observed that the
block or hanging bracket, E, also serves the purpose of preventing any longitudinal
thrust of the shafts and of keeping said shafts in due relation with each other, in
other words prevents lateral displacement of the shafts with reference to each other;
and this effect may be obtained apart from the advantage of resisting longitudinal
thrust of the shafts, by making the bearings in the block or hanging bracket
of simple cylindrical form and devoid of a bearing against the ends of the shafts.
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 with shafts placed at an angle to each other of the heads or
bosses, B, placed upon said shafts and provided with slots parallel with the axes
thereof, rods or bars, D, arranged to slide in said slots of said bosses and universal
joints connecting the rods or bars of the one boss with the corresponding rods or bars
of the other, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
2. The combination, with the shafts placed at an angle to each other, of heads or
bosses, B, placed upon said shafts and provided with slots parallel with the axes
thereof, rods or bars, D, having sockets, b, and arranged to slide in the slots of one
of said bosses and corresponding rods or bars having bearings, c, and arranged to
slide in the slots of the other of said bosses, substantially as and for the purpose
herein set forth.
3. The combination with the shafts placed at an angle to each other of the slotted

page_text: bosses fast upon said shafts, the rods or bars, D, arranged to slide in the slots of one
of said bosses and having the sockets, b, the corresponding rods having the bearings, c,
constructed with threaded projections, d, and the nuts, e, substantially as and for the
purpose herein set forth.
4. The combination with the bosses, B, the elbow rods, D, and the shafts, A,
having their inner ends projecting beyond the inner ends of their respective bosses,
of a suspended thrust bearing arranged to receive said inwardly projecting ends of
the shafts to connect and insure the mutual cooperation of the said shafts, substantially
as and for the purpose herein set forth.
5. The combination of the shafts, A, their bosses, B, and elbow rods, D, of a
suspended thrust bearing interposed between the shafts at their inner ends and fixed
bearings arranged to act upon the outer ends of the bosses of said shafts, substan-
tially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
6. The combination with the bosses, B, the elbow rods, D, and the shafts, A,
having their inner ends projecting beyond the inner ends of their respective bosses,
of a suspended thrust bearing interposed between the shafts at their inner ends and
fixed bearings arranged to act upon the outer ends of the bosses of said shafts,
substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
7. The combination with the shafts, A, their bosses, B, and elbow rods, D, of a
bearing arranged in proximity to the outer ends of the said bosses in such relation
with the elbow rods that the latter at the inner part of the angle formed by the bosses
may be thrust outward past and external to the said bearings and parallel with the
shafts, while those at the outer angle do not reach thereto, substantially as and for the
purpose herein set forth.
Dated this 1st day of July 1800
ALLISON BROS.,
Agents for the Applicant.