Reversing Mechanism.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 27th May, 1899
Reversing Mechanism.
We, EUGENE EARLE NORTON, of 771, State Street, Bridgeport, Fairfield County,
Connecticut, United States of America, Mechanical Engineer and Inventor, and
WALTER POLK PHILLIPS, of 294, State Street, in said Bridgeport, Journalist, 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:
-
Our invention relates to the type of reversing mechanism in which a single
belt running continuously in the same direction is used to drive machinery in
either direction as may be required, and our invention has for its object to provide
mechanism of this character which shall be simple and inexpensive to produce,
durable and not likely to get out of repair, which will change the motion of
machinery from one direction to the other without shock or jar and in which the
beit shall move continuously in one direction on a single pulley and without
change of position of the belt, our invention being applicable to any of the ordinary
machines and machine tools for example to planers, shapers, screw cutting
machines, hoisting machinery &c.
In order to accomplish the desired result in the simplest and most inexpensive
manner possible we have devised the novel reversing mechanism, which we will
now describe referring by reference characters to the accompanying drawings
forming part of this specification, in which,
Figure 1 is a plan view of our novel reversing mechanism complete, the brackets
and shifting lever being in section on the line in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 an elevation corresponding with Fig. 1 the essential parts of our novel
reversing mechanism being in section.
Fig. 3 an end elevation as seen from the left in Figs. 1 and 2, and
Fig. 4 is a section of the operative parts of the device showing the alternative
position from that in Fig. 2, that is to say, the motion of the shaft being in the
opposite direction.
1 denotes a shaft and 2 pulleys on said shaft by means of which motion is
communicated to the machine or machines to be driven. 3 is a pulley mounted
to turn on shaft 1 said pulley being driven continuously in one direction by means
of a belt, not shown. 4 denotes a disk rigidly secured to shaft 1 and 5 a collar
also rigidly secured to said shaft which carries a suitable clutch the function of
which is to connect pulley 3 to the shaft. This clutch we have designated as a
whole by A. The special form of clutch used however, is not of the essence of
our invention, it being simply necessary to connect the pulley to the shaft but
wholly immaterial by what style of clutch the connection is made or whether
the entire clutch is carried by one of the parts to be connected or clutch members
are carried by both of the parts to be connected. B denotes a cone which is
mounted loosely on shaft 1 so as to be free to be mover longitudinally thereon.
( denotes a disk which is mounted loosely on shaft 1 so that it is free to be moved
longitudinally on said shaft and is moreover held against rotation in any suitable
manner as will presently be explained so that the shaft may turu freely within

page_text: it at all times. This disk carries a series of rollers 7 which are journaled on
studs 8 fixed in the disk. The rollers are shown as made tapering and are adapted
to engage the inner face of the fanges of pulley 3 and the outer face + of
disk *,
said faces and 4" being of course formed at a suitable incline to corre-
spond with the tavering rollers carried by disk Uso that said rollers will engage
Coth faces closely. These rollers in practice receive motion from pulley 3 and
communicate mouon in the reverse direction to disk 4 which carries the shatt
and pulleys 2. Cone B and disk C may be moved longitudinally on shaft 1 in any
suitable manner. I have shown cone Bas moved by an arm 9 and disk C as moved
by an arm 10 both of said arms being rigidly secured to a sliding rod 11. It is
of course wholly immaterial so far as the principle of our invention is concerned
how shaft 1 and the sliding rod are supported. I have shown shaft 1 as journaled
in brackets 12 which in the present instance depend from the ceiling and which
are provided with laterally extending arms 13 in which rod 11 is mounted to slide
freely. I have shown rod 11 in the present instance as adapted to be reciprocated
to shift arms 9 and 10 and the cone and disk C by means of a shifting lever 14
pivoted in the present instance to a hub 15 on the ceiling and to a hub 16 which
is rigidly secured to the sliding rod so that movement of the shifting lever in
either direction will carry the rod and with it arms 9 and 10 and the cone and
disk C. The cone and the hub of disk C are each provided with a groove 17 and
the ends of arms 9 and 10 are bifurcated forming yokes which carry pins 18 to
engage grooves 17. The cone and disk C are both mounted loosely on the shaft
and are free to be moved longitudinally thereon, the shaft being free to rotate
independently of either. In practice I retain the disk against rotary movement
in any suitable manner as by means of a pin 19 which locks the hub of the disk
to the yoke or bifurcated end of arm 10, see Fig. 1.
The operation will be clearly understood from Figs. 2 and 4 in connection with
the other figs. of the drawings. When it is desired to turn shaft 1 and the belt
pulley in one direction the shifting lever is moved toward the left as seen in
Fig. 2 thereby moving cone B toward the left and causing clutch A to lock pulley &
to the shaft so that the movement of pulley 3 will be communicated to the shaft.
In order to lock the parts in this position so that there will be no danger that the
clutch will slip so as to disconnect the pulley from the shaft in use we provide
a spring 20 which is secured in the present instance to one of the arms 13 and
is provided with a projection 21 which is adapted to engage one of the notches 22
in rod 11 in the present instance the notch farthest to the right as seen in Fig. 2.
Should it be desired to reverse the motion of shaft 1 and consequently of any
machine or machines that may be driven therefrom the operator by means of the
shifting lever moves rod 11 foward the right and changes the cone and disk C
from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4, thereby
operating clutch A to disconnect the pulley from the shaft and an instant later
placing the tapering rollers 7 on disk C in engagement with the inner face 3* of
the flange of pulley 3 and with the outer face 4* of disk 4 which is rigidly secured
to the shaft. The instant this engagement of rollers 7 with faces 3" and 4" takes
place the movement of pulley 1 will be communicated to the rollers and thence to
disk 4 upon the shaft so that the shaft will be driven in the opposite direction
from the pulley. In this position of the parts projection 21 on spring 20 will
be in engagement with the left notch 22 in rod 11 as indicated at the left in
Fig. 1. Should it be desired to stop the motion of the shaft entirely the operator
simply moves the shifting lever far enough in the proper direction to place projec-
tion 21 in engagement with the intermediate notch in rod 11. In this position
of the parts, not shown in the drawing, cone B will not have been moved far
enough toward the left to operate clutch A and connect the pulley with the
shaft but rollers 7 will have been moved far enough toward the left to
entirely disengage said rollers from faces 3" and 4" and thereby disconnect
disk 4 from the pulley so that the shaft and the machine or machines
driven therefrom will remain stationary, the pulley however, continuing to

page_text: rotate as before. The disk ( is supported solely by the shaft 1 and is mounted
to reciprocate thereon, as herein before described. This construction enables a
circular series of rollers 7 to be employed, said series being secured to the disk
on the line of a circle concentric with the shaft 1. The said rollers, being
tapering, may be withdrawn from the space between the surfaces 3" and 4' to a
slight degree only. It is not necessary to move the disk to such an extent as to
entirely withdraw the rollers, for the reason that as the said rollers are rigidly
supported by the ask, and the disk is supported and guided by the shaft, the
rollers cannot get out of position so as to come in contact with either of the
surfaces 34" when the disk C has been withdrawn from the disk 4 to the slight
degree necessary to remove the rollers 7 from contact with the said surfaces "".
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is: —
1. A reversing mechanism comprising a shaft having a disk rigidly secured
thereto and provided with a conical periphery, a pulley mounted to turn on said
shaft and having an internal conical flange, a clutch for connecting the pulley
with the shaft so that the pulley will carry the shaft in the direction in which it
is moving, a disk directly supported by said shaft and movable longitudinally
thereof and having a circular series of conical rollers rigidly supported thereby
and adapted to engage the periphery or the first mentioned disk and the internal
surface of the said flange, and means for moving the roller carrying disk recipro-
cally on said shaft.
2. In combination a shaft, having a disk 4 rigidly secured thereto, a pulley
mounted to turn on said shaft and driven continuously in one direction, a clutch
for connecting the pulley with the shaft so that the pulley will carry the shait
in the direction it is moving, a disk C mounted on and supported by the shaft
and held against rotation leaving the shaft free to turn and a circular series of
rollers carried by disk C and rigidly supported thereby and adapted to simul-
taneously engage the periphery of disk 4 and the inner face of the pulley so that
when said parts are in engagement the pulley will drive the rollers which in turn
will drive disk 4 and the shaft in the opposite direction from which the pulley
is moving.
3. The combination with a shaft having a disk 4 rigidly secured thereto, a pulley
mounted to turn thereon, and a disk C mounted on and supported by said shait
and held against rotation leaving the shaft free to turn, of a circular series of
rollers carried by disk C and rigidly supported thereby and adapted to engage
the inner face of the pulley and the periphery of disk 4 simultaneously, a clutch
for connecting the pulley directly to the shaft, a cone mounted loosely on the
shaft by which the clutch is operated, rod 11, arms rigidly secured to said rod and
engaging the cone and disk C and means for moving said rod whereby the pulley
may be caused to drive the shaft in either direction or may be wholly disconnected
therefrom.
4. The combination with a shaft, a pulley loose thereon, a disk 4 fixed to the
shaft and a disk (mounted on and supported by the shaft and adapted to be moved
longitudinally on said shaft but held against rotation leaving the shaft free to
turn, of a clutch adapted to connect the pulley directly to the shaft, a circular
series of rollers carried by disk (and rigidly supported thereby and adapted to
engage the periphery of the disk 4 and the flange of the pulley, and means for
operating the clutch and for moving disk C on the shaft simultaneously whereby
when the pulley is connected to the shaft the latter will be carried in the direction
the pulley is moving, when disk C is in operative position the shaft will be carried
in the opposite direction from which the pulley is moving and when both the
clutch and disk C are out of operative position the pulley will move without
carrying the shaft.

page_text: 5. The combination with a shaft, a pulley loose thereon, a disk 4 fixed to the
shait and a disk Coperating as described, of a clutch adapted to connect the pulley
directly to the shaft, rollers carried by disk C and adapted to engage the periphery
of disk and the tange of the pulley, movable rod 11, having notches 22, a
spring 20 having catch 21 to engage either of said notches and arms extending
from said rod and acting to operate the clutch and disk C simultaneously.
6. In combination a shaft having a disk rigidly secured thereto, a pulley
mounted to turn on said shaft and driven continuously in one direction, a clutch for
connecting the pulley with the shaft so that the pulley will carry the shaft in
the direction it is moving and mechanism intermediate the pulley and the disk by
means of which the disk and shaft may be driven in the opposite direction from
which the pulley is moving.
7. The combination with a shaft having a disk 4 rigidly secured thereto, n
pulley mounted to turn thereon, and a disk C mounted thereon and held against
rotation leaving the shaft free to turn, of rollers carried by disk C and adapted
to engage the inner face of the pulley and the periphery of disk 4 simultaneously
for the purpose set forth, a clutch and means for operating the eluten to conneri
the pulley directly to the shaft and for moving disk C to disengage the rollers from
the pulley and disk 4.
8. In a device of the character described the combination with a shaft, a pulley
loose thereon and a disk 4 fixed to the shaft, of a clutch adapted to connect the
disk directly to the shaft, a disk C adapted to be moved longitudinally on the
shaft but held against rotation leaving the shaft free to turn and rullers carried
by said disk which are adapted to engage the periphery of disk 4 and the flange
of the pulley simultaneously.
9. The combination with a shaft, a pulley loose thereon a disk 1 fixed to the
shaft and a disk C mounted loosely on said shaft and held against rotation, of
a clutch adapted to connect the pulley directly to the shaft, rollers carried by
disk and adapted to engage the periphery of disk 4 and the flange of the pulley,
a cone adapted to slide on the shaft by which the clutch is operated, rod 11,
arms carried by said rod and engaging the cone and disk Cand means for shifting
said rod whereby while the pulley is moving continuously in one direction the
shaft may be driven in either direction or may be disconnected from the pulley.
Dated this 18th day of April 1899.
ALLISON BROS.,
Agents for the Applicants