Improvements in or relating to Race-course Stands.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Apr., 1893
Complete Specification Left. 7th June, 1893-Accepted, 26th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Race-course Stands.
I, BAPTISTE GUILLAUME POUTET, of 15 Rue des Halles, Paris, France
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention of improvements in or relating to race-course stands has fo:
object to enable the spectators who occupy such stands, to easily follow all the
events of a race, whatever may be the shape of the course in plan. The stand
which may have one or more stories or tiers, provided with a central pivot about
which it is rotated by means of an arrangement of gearing etc.
The stand may be of any suitable form but is preferably square, and is provided
with the usual seats, and with passages by which said seats may be reached. The
pivot may be of steel, and may be mounted in a footstep bearing of hard or
tempered steel, but I prefer to arrange it in a cylinder containing liquid under
pressure so that the friction may be diminished as much as possible.
The pivot
works in a socket or bearing sufficiently long to withstand lateral strains which
the rocking of the stand might impart to it; and the pivot is supported laterally
against the cylindrical sides of the socket, or against rollers arranged equidistant
along the periphery of the pivot.
Also, any rocking motion may be counteracted by arranging under the stand a
circular rail of suitable diameter, which serves as a support or path for wheels
having conical rims whose apexes would meet at a common centre situated on the
axis of the pivot. These wheels of which there are at least three, are fixed to the
stand and roll on the circular rail; or the wheels may be mounted upou
the foundation or platform rail being then fixed to the rotating stand.
In this manner the weight of the stand can be distributed between the pivot and
the different wheels that roll on or under the rail.
In one arrangement according to my invention the foundation plate is furnished
with a bored-out socket into which enters the pivot, under which, and around
which, is forced water, or any lubricating or uncongealable liquid, by means of a
pump, until the pressure on the face of the pivot-piston more or less nearly balances
the weight of the stand according to whether the pivot is the only support; or
whether the stand is also partly supported by the circular railway above
mentioned.
A cup leather prevents the escape of the liquid under pressure.
The lower platform may be fixed or movable; that is to say, form part of the
stand, or be placed on the ground. Flights of steps, lead to an upper platform
where the seats on which the spectators set, are arranged, the latter having been
placed conveniently facing the starting-post and the race commences, a suitable
rotary motion is given to the stand, by means of a shaft, actuated it may be by
band power in which case it is provided with a handle and fly wheel, a worm
carried by said shaft and gearing with a worm-wheel mounted upon a shaft which
also carries a toothed wheel that gears with another toothed wheel keyed on the
pivot of the stand.
If the motion is properly adjusted according to the path in which the persons
or animals move, each spectator will be able to keep the competitors in view,
without any movement on the part of the spectator being necessary.
Doted this 20th day of Anil 1903

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Race-course Stands.
1, BAPTISTE GUILLAUME POUTET, of 15 Rue des Halles Paris, France,
Engineer, 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 by
the following statement :-
This invention of improvements in and relating to race-course stands has for
object to enable spectators who watch horse-races from such stands to easily follow
all the events of a race, whatever may be the shape of the course in plan. For
this purpose the stand, which may have one or more stories or tiers, is carried by
a central pivot and set in rotary motion by means of an arrangemeut of gearing
and an endless screw or worm.
The stand may be of any suitable form but is preferably made square with two
tiers and with seats separated by passages by which said seats can be easily
reached.
The pivot may be of steel and be carried by a hardened or tempered bearing of
the same metal; but I prefer to arrange it in a cylinder containing liquid under
pressure in order to diminish the friction as much as possible and to simplify the
apparatus. The pivot works in a socket or bearing made sufficiently long to
withstand lateral strains to which it may be subjected by the rocking of the stand
or by unequal loading thereof, the pivot being supported laterally by the top or
the bottom of the socket or bearing against the cylindrical surface of which the
pivot bears or preferably by equidistant horizontal rollers arranged to bear against
the periphery of the pivot.
Also any rocking motion may be counteracted by arranging under the stand a
circular rail of suitable diameter and adapted to serve as a support or path for
wheels having conical rims and the axes of which meet at the axis of the pivot, or
else by means of a superior rolling load.
There may be three or more of the wheels, arranged equidistantly. They may
be mounted on the stand and roll on the circular stationary rail; or they may be
mounted on the ground or to the fixed platform, the circular rail being then secured
to the rotary stand.
In this manner, the weight of the stand can be distributed between the pivot and
the various wheels that roll on or under the rail; or it can be carried entirely
vertically on the hydraulic pivot.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figs. 1 and 2 are elevations at right angles to each other of so much of a race
course stand as is necessary to illustrate the nature of this invention, part of the
stand shown in Fig. 1 being broken to show the mechanism for rotating it.
Fig. 3 shows partly in elevation and partly in section, and to a larger scale,
means for supporting and rotating the stand.
A is a fixed foundation plate formed with a bored out socket or step B forming a
hydraulic cylinder into which enters a long and strong pivot Cunder and around
which, when the pivot and stand are to be supported by hydraulic pressure, water
or a lubricating or uncongealable liquid is injected by means of a hydraulic pump
until the upward pressure exerted on the underside of the pivot C is in equilibrium
with the weight of the stand and attached parts if these are to be supported by the
pivot alone, or until the pressure thus exerted forms any desired part of such
weight when. the stand is partly supported by the stationary or rotary circular
railway, above referred to. A cup leather D serves to form a water-tight packing
to prevent escape of the liquid under pressure from the cylinder B.
The base or lower platform E may be stationary, but is preferably made movable,
that is to say so as to form part of the stand which then consists of two stories or
tiers ;
it may however simply rest on the ground.

page_text: F F are staircases to permit access to the higher platform carrying the seats G
for the spectators and which may be arranged stepwise as shown after the manner
of the seats in an amphitheatre.
The stand having been arranged so that the seats G face the starting point of
the race, then as soon as a race commences, rotary motion is imparted to the stand
by suitable means such as the handle a, the fly-wheel b, the shaft c the endless
worm d, the worm wheel e, the toothed wheel, and the toothed wheel g the last
mentioned wheel being secured on the outer portion of the pivot C.
If the rate of motion imparted to the stand be properly adjusted to the direction
of the race course and to the speed of the competitors in a race, each spectator will
be able to keep the competitors constantly in view without any necessity on his
part of constantly changing his line of vision.
The ground floor, slightly raised, is used, as well as the side staircases, as a
platform for spectators principally standing. It is of course preferable that this
first storey or tier should turn also.
Rotary motion may also be imparted to the stand by means of a pinion or an
endless worm carried by the stand and worked by a person thereon and which is
arranged to engage with a toothed wheel or worm wheel fixed to the socket or
cylinder B and around which the pinion or worm attached to the stand would then
travel.
One of the staircases may serve for ascending to and the other for descending
from the upper storey or platform.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is -
1. A stand for a race course mounted upon a pivot and provided with means
whereby the stand can be rotated about the axis of the pivot substantially as herein
described for the purpose specified.
2. A race course stand provided with a central pivot C extending into a socket
or hydraulic cylinder B and wholly or partly supported by fluid pressure and
mechanism substantially as described for rotating the said stand, the arrangement
being such as to reduce friction of the pivot upon its support and to permit of the
stand being easily turned substantially as described for the purpose specified.
3. A rotary race course stand of the kind referred to constructed with two
stories, the lower of which, constituting the ground-floor E is raised above the
ordinary level of the ground on which the stand is placed and is provided with
steps and staircases on which spectators can stand whilst viewing a race substantially
as described.
4. A rotary race course stand of the kind herein referred to constructed with two
lateral staircases F F the one serving for ascending from the ground floor to the
upper floor or platform and the other for descending from the latter floor or
platform to the former substantially as described and shown.
5. The combination with a race course stand provided with a pivot subject to
hydraulic pressure as referred to in Claim 2, of a circular railway against which
work wheels that are mounted on the ground or to the higher stationary part of the
stand in which case the circular railway is fixed to the rotary stand or which are
mounted on the stand itself in which case the circular railway is fixed, the
arrangement in each case being such as to partly support the rotary stand and
prevent lateral tilting movement thereof substantially as described.
Dated this 7th day of June 1893.
B. G. POUTET,
By L. W., per F. B.