IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER APPLICABLE FOR STATIONARY ENGINES, LOCOMOTIVES, OR TRACTION MACHINERY FOR COMMON ROADS, ALSO FOR THE PROPULSION OF ALL CLASSES OF VESSELS ON WATER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES BY SELF-ACTION OR PERPETUAL MOTION." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to. William Lowman, of 27, Saint Mary Street,
Melcombe Regis, Weymouth, in the County of Dorset, Surveyor
and Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER APPLICABLE FOR
STATIONARY ENGINES, LOCOMOTIVES, OR TRACTION MACHINERY FOR COMMON
ROADS, ALSO FOR THE PROPULSION OF ALL CLASSES OF VESSELS ON WATER, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES BY SELF-ACTION OR PERPETUAL MOTION."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lowman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd September 1871.
I, WILLIAM LOWMAN, of 27, Saint Mary Street, Melcombe Regis,
Weymouth, in the County of Dorset, Surveyor and Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
APPLICABLE FOR STATIONARY ENGINES, LOCOMOTIVES, OR TRACTION MACHINERY

page_text: FOR COMMON ROADS, ALSO FOR THE PROPULSION OF ALL CLASSES OF VESSELS ON
WATER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES BY SELF-ACTION OR PERPETUAL MOTION."
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery or
apparatus for obtaining and applying motive power applicable for
stationary engines, locomotives, or traction machinery for common
roads, also for the propulsion of all classes of vessels on water, and for
other purposes by self-action or perpetual motion. This I effect by the
balancing of weights in reciprocating motion with levers, cranks, and
spur, or bevelled gear wheels by the agency of gravitation in rotary and
oscillatory movements.
In carrying out my Invention I proceed as follows :— -I construct two
oscillating beams, each beam connected with a crank. One crank
would be made at right angles with the other so as to make a uniform
motion or continual power. On each beam I place a pair of cog wheels
so that the gear meets at the central axis of the beam. On each wheel
a weight is fixed at the extreme circumference so as when one weight is
up the other would be down, and gear being connected to revolve the
wheels would be perfectly balanced, viz :-No mechanical power would
be required to cause the wheels to revolve. Now when one weight is
carried at the extreme end of the beam as the wheels rotate, as a matter
of course one weight would be at the central axis of the beam, whilst
the other would be at the extreme end of the beam, which would cause
the beam to fall, and being connected with the crank the crank would
revolve and produce the power..
•
I claim as my Invention the arrangement of levers from the beam to
the crank so as each beam shall not rise or fall but very little out of a
level or horizontal line so as the reciprocating movement of the wheels
weighted should not require any exertion of the machinery.
Also in connection with the machinery a harmonicon is constructed
for signals and other purposes as follows:-An air chest is attached to
the machinery and an air pump to compress the air. When the valve is
opened the air would be conveyed in the ordinary way to musical
instruments made to produce concords when all is right, and when in
distress minor discords to convey the difference which would be
recognised by the most illiterate.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Lowman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st March 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LOWMAN, of 27, Saint Mary Street, Melcombe Regis, Weymouth, in the
County of Dorset, Surveyor and Machinist, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Lowman, Her
special license that I, the said William Lowman, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Lowman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPA-
RATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER APPLICABLE FOR STATIONARY
ENGINES, LOCOMOTIVES, OR TRACTION MACHINERY FOR COMMON ROADS, ALSO FOR
THE PROPULSION OF ALL CLASSES OF VESSELS ON WATER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
BY SELF-ACTION OR PERPETUAL MOTION," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Lowman, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Lowman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery or
apparatus for obtaining and applying motive power applicable for

page_text: stationary engines, locomotives, or traction machinery for common
roads; also for the propulsion of all classes of vessels on water, and
for other purposes by self-action or perpetual motion. This I effect by
the balancing of weights in reciprocating motion with levers, cranks,
and spur or bevelled gear wheels by the agency of gravitation in rotary
and oscillatory movements.
In carrying out my Invention I proceed as follows:-I construct two
oscillating beams or frames, each beam connected with a crank. One
crank would be made at right angles with the other so as to make a
uniform motion or continual power. On each beam or frame I place a
pair of cog wheels so that the gear meets at the central axis of the beam
or frame; on each wheel a weight is fixed at the extreme circumference
so as when one weight is up the other would be down, and gear being
connected to revolve the wheels would be perfectly balanced, viz., no
mechanical power would be required to cause the wheels to revolve. Now
when one weight is carried at the extreme end of the beam as the
wheels rotate, as a matter of course one weight would be at the central
axis of the beam or frame, whilst the other would be at the extreme
end of the beam or frame which would cause the beam or frame to fall,
and being connected with the crank the crank would revolve and
produce the power.
I claim as my Invention the arrangement of levers from the beams or
frames to the crank so as each beam or frame shall not rise or fall but
very little out of a level or horizontal line, so as the reciprocating
movement of the wheels weighted should not require any exertion of
the machinery.
Also in connection with the machinery a harmonicon is constructed
for signals and other purposes as follows:-An air chest is attached to
the machinery and an air pump to compress the air. When the valve is
opened the air would be conveyed in the ordinary way to musical
instruments made to produce concords when all is right, and when in
distress minor discords to convey the difference which would be
recognised by the most illiterate.
In order to more clearly shew my principle I have annexed a plan
with sections.
*Figure 1 shews the outer horizontal frame standing on four columns,
one at each corner, as shewn in Figure 19, with an inner frame hung on

page_text: the outer frame with four pivots placed at right angles, so as under all
circumstances, either in a vessel on the water or locomotives, the
machinery shall always stand vertically.
.
Figure 2 also
carry the main
Figure 2 shews the bottom horizontal frame to which vertical.
standards are fixed. A, A, are two short standards which carry the
rocking crank shewn in Figures 4, 13, 14, and 16 A.
shews four standards to which the rails are fixed that
shaft and two cog wheels keyed on
and shewn in Figures 3, 7, and 14.
C, C, which carry the central axis
junction with B, B, also shewn in Figures 3 and 7. Figure 2 also
shews two standards D, D, which carry the swinging frame to keep the
machinary vertical, shewn also in Figures 1, 3, and 7.
to the shaft and shewn B, B, B, B,
Figure 2 also shews two standards
of the oscillating frames in con-
Figure 3 shews the position of the wheel cranks and the central
shaft and bearings, also the wheels F and H.
Figure 4 shews the two rocking cranks E, E, in connection with
Figures 13, 14, and 16; Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 16, 17, and 18 shew
the oscillating gear wheels F and frames G; Figure 7 shews the
oscillating wheels F, and the two wheels H, which do not oscillate
although geared in the oscillating wheels, as shewn in Figures 3, 13,
and 16.
Figures 10 and 12 shew the friction brake to stop the machinery or
let it go.
The friction wheel hung on the pinion shaft I, shewn in
Figure 13; also Figure 11 shews the method for backing which is
required in locomotives and vessels on the water. The attendant would
slide the pinion I out of gear and draw in the wheels K and L, which
would reverse the action.
Figure 15 shews the principle of altering the speed by lifting the
lever M up or down, that is to say, by drawing the connecting rod N up
would raise the rocking crank O, and draw the sliding frame P towards
the rocking crank, which would reduce the speed, and on the contrary
forcing the rocking crank O down by the rod N would increase the
speed. Figure 15 shews also a governor to make the speed uniform,
which is sometimes required in stationery machinery.
Figures 13 and 16 shew the oscillating wheels marked F. The wheels
marked H do not oscillate, but the two wheels hung on the crank
spindle marked H, each wheel gearing in the inside oscillating wheel,
'

page_text: which wheel is hung on the oscillating wheel spindle. The wheel plays
up and down at the same time as both wheels are revolving. The two
pairs of weighted wheels, as shewn in Figures 17 and 18, cause the
power to be perfectly balanced as they revolve, and form a lever of
which the central shaft is the fulcrum. At the spindle of the pinion
marked I any machinery can be attached.
Figure 20 shows another way of applying my balancing of weights.
R shews the frames to carry the machinery; S, the sliding grooves which
oscillate; T are the friction wheels; U are the weights in the middle of
the friction wheels; V are the double cranks; W are the connecting
rods that connect the oscillating frames together in pairs; X are the
racks that gear in the pinions; Y is the large cog wheel that also gears
in the pinion and rises up and down, which I would call the balance
wheel from the right frame to the left. Now it produces action in this
way The racks, with the weights right and left, are equally balanced.
For an example the right rack ascends whereas the left descends; when
the right rack rises above the axis, the rack frame being vertical the
weight recedes from its vertical line, fall and drags the other rack over,
and then runs down the incline and balances the other up, and by
having two pairs of frames will cause a uniform motion. As the rack
runs down the incline and passes below the axis it produces the same
power as when above the axis and falls back to the vertical line.
Figure 21, M, M, shews another method of increasing or decreasing
speed or power without the stopping of the machinery. In the axis or
shafts in which the weighted cog wheels are keyed on, as shewn, a hole
in each shaft is drilled in the centre a few inches through, and a spindle
made to work in each hole; at each end of the spindle a pair of mitre
bevelled gear wheels is constructed in conjunction with long screws
made (to revolve when required) on the face of the wheels in nuts
placed at the back of the weights. The action is worked by a winch, as
shewn in plan, and by turning the gear the weights are carried to the
extreme end, or drawn in to the centre. Therefore the speed and power
is regulated at pleasure.
Figure 22. In eight sections it demonstrates certain circuitous
reciprocating actions by which the weighted gear oscillating frames G
are made to appear stationary by the peculiar mechanism introduced.
Friction wheels are made to roll round in grooves in the rocking crank
in connection with the oscillating frames that carries the weighted cog

page_text: wheels F, as shewn. To illustrate the principle at the oscillating frames
a round pivot is fixed and a connecting rod constructed to convey the
power to the rocking cranks. A groove is made in each connecting rod
for the friction wheels to vibrate in a serpentine direction. I have
devised this mode to produce the true meaning in this way :-
:-The
pressure of the oscillating frames are conveyed by the connecting rod
on the rocking crank (as shewn in the different sections), and the
introduction of the principle is to cause as little as possible in the
movement of the oscillating frames, so that the frames shall produce
the same effect without rising or falling imperceptibly to the eye, and
appear horizontally so as the wheels may rotate and carry the weights
from one extreme end to the other without mechanical power being
spent by the machinery.
:
Figure 23 represents another principle in the balancing system. The
main shafts or fulcrums that carry the oscillating frames are balanced
in pairs.
When one frame is up the other is down to follow the other
cranks that rotate, as shewn in the different sections. As the main
cranks revolve the fulcrums keep pace in the rising and falling, and
the frames are kept as near as possible uniformly horizontal. The
advantages derived are the weighted gear wheels revolving without
labour to carry the weights right and left, whereby the weighted
leverage produces all the power to the machinery. The swinging lever,
wheel in the middle of the frames as it oscillates regulates the balancing
exactly, which is of the greatest importance because in the reciprocating
movement of the weighted levers the balancing is not perfect without
the swinging lever wheel changing the leverage from one frame to the
other, and in doing so brings the balancing to an equilibrium. The
main rotary cranks the angles may vary, except in Figure 20 and
Figure 23, and the angles in those cranks must be made opposite each
other, two cranks on shafts to a pair of oscillating frames. I do not
confine myself to any number of oscillating frames, any number may
be used according to the power of the machine.
Figure 24 shews another method of regulating the oscillating frames
by the reciprocating movement of the weighted wheel still on a level
and carry out their weighted levers without mechanical labour, as clearly
shown in the above-named Figure.
A
Figure 25 presents a different way in the working of the machinery,
although to produce the same effect as the other Figures by working

page_text: the movements in the horizontal oscillating frames, which has the
tendancy as my former Figures, and that is the whole principal of my
Invention to produce action and power, of course with the other
arrangement.
66
I particularly and exclusively claim the balancing of weights in t
reciprocating and rotary action and the peculiar arrangement of levers
to produce power to be my own discovery" and "Invention," and a
complete new motive power, and the first self-action without replenish-
ing ever brought out before the public with power.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lowman, have hereunto 1
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
WILLIAM LOWMAN. (L.S.)