AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE CRANK
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
APSEY, of No. 40, John Street, Waterloo Road, in the Parish of Saint Mary
Lambeth, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-seven, in the eighth year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said Joseph Apsey, His especial licence that I, the said Joseph
Apsey, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Joseph
Apsey, my exors, adñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my. Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE CRANK ;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said
Joseph Apsey, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Aspey, do hereby describe the nature of my said Invention, and in

page_text: being had to the Drawing annexed, (that is to say) :-
My "Improvement in Machinery to be used as a Substitute for the Crank,"
consists in combining certain well known parts of machinery, by means of
which I am enabled to obtain a rotatory motion from a reciprocating action,
and it is applicable to most machinery as a substitute for the crank.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side view of my Invention; Figure 2, a front view, and
Figures 8, 4, and 5, are parts of it shown separately, in each of which figures
similar letters refer to corresponding parts of the machinery. a, b, two toothed
wheels which turn freely on the shaft c. d, d, is the frame, each side of
which, as e and f, is formed into a rack with internal teeth, which take into
the said toothed wheels a and b, and cause them to turn round, as will be
hereafter described. 9 and h are two clutches which lock into their respec-
tive wheels, as shewn in Figures 1 and 3. These clutches slide along the
shaft c, but are prevented turning round upon it by the keys or tenons k, k,
(see Fig. 4,) which enter into grooves cut for the purpose, as shewn at i, i, in
Figure 5. j,j, are two guides placed on the wheels a, b; and l, 1, are two
guides fixed on the sides of e, f, of the frame d. These guides are for the pur-
pose of keeping the whole of the parts in their proper positions.
Having now described the various parts shewn in the Drawing, I will
proceed to describe the manner in which they act. The teeth on the side of
the frame, marked e, take into and turn the wheel a, and those on the
side f. take into and turn the wheel 6; if then the frame d, d, be raised,
the wheels will be turned in opposite directions, and by means of the clutches
g and h, one of the wheels at a time is prevented from turning on the
shaft c, consequently the wheel, which is made fast to the shaft by its being
locked into one of the said clutches when the rack is raised, must carry the
shaft round in proportion to the distance the frame is raised. In Figures 1
and 2 the frame is represented as down, and in Figure 1 the two clutches as
being locked into the two wheels. I will here observe that the clutches are
continually forced forward by spiral or other springs, as shown in the Drawing.
By raising the frame the wheel a will always be turned in the direction of the
arrow, and the clutch tooth on the nave of this wheel will press upon the
corresponding tooth or projection in the clutch box g, which will cause the
shaft to turn; meanwhile the wheel 6 will be turned by the teeth on the
side of the frame in an opposite direction to the wheel a, and the clutch
tooth on the nave of this wheel 6, and the tooth or projection on the

page_text: clutch h will recede from each other (see Fig. 3). And as the frame is to be
so constructed as to length or number of teeth as to cause the shaft to turn
half way round in its upward and half way round in its downward motion,
the notches or teeth on the nave of the wheel b, and the clutch h, will each
make half a revolution in opposite directions, so that when the frame d arrives
at the extent of its upward stroke, these notches or teeth will have met and will
again assume the position shown in Figure 1, and it will be evident that on
the return of the frame downwards, the wheel b will be the one that will be
fixed to the shaft, and wheel a and its clutch g will be acted upon in a
similar manner as above described with reference to the wheel 6 and its
clutch h. Thus it will be seen that the wheels are alternately made to turn
the shaft half way round, and if the power be applied at the connecting rod m,
by its rising or falling, a continuous rotatory motion will be produced to the
shaft c.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Apsey, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord