mprovements in Friction Gear for Driving Sheep-shearing and the like Machines.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Dec., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 28th July, 1894-Accepted, 1st Sept., 1894
PROVIDI
mprovements in Friction Gear for Driving Sheep-shearing and the
like Machines.
We, CHARLES BURGON and HARRY BURGON, both of Malin Bridge, near
Sheffield, in the County of York, Sheep Shear Manufacturers, do hereby declare
he nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to friction gear for transmitting motion from a line
of shafting to flexible or jointed shafts by which shearing or clipping machines
re driven.
Heretofore bevel friction gear has commonly been used for this purpose but this
as the defect of causing considerable end thrust on the line of shafting, necessitating
the use of collars or thrust bearings to resist it whereby friction is generated and
much power uselessly absorbed..
Again when such gearing is used on long lines of shafting in climates subject to
extremes of temperature, the longitudinal expansion and contraction of the line of
shafting is frequently so great in the aggregate as to put the friction wheels so far
out of working position as to be beyond ordinary means of compensation and
necessitate the readjustment of the shaft hangers and of the friction gear
and involve the stoppage of the whole of the machinery for a considerable length
of time.
In driving the flexible jointed transmission shafts corresponding to the respective
shearing or clipping machines, by bevel friction gear the driven pinion shaft is at
right angles to the main line of shafting and the flexibly jointed has usually been
connected to the pinion shaft by a Hooke's or equivalent form of universal joint
which while permitting to a certain extent freedom of angular motion of the
transmission shaft has but a limited range of motion which is often insufficient under
some circumstances of working.
This invention has for its object to obviate the above mentioned defects
incidental to the use of bevel friction gear as heretofore used and to enable
the range of motion of the flexibly-jointed transmission shafts driven therefrom to
.be increased.
The avoidance of end thrust is attained by substituting, for bevel or coned
friction gear, peripheral friction gear the driven pinion being on a countershaft
parallel to the main horizontal line of shafting and the frictionally contacting faces
of the driving pulley and pinion being also parallel to said shaft and made of
sufficient breadth to permit of any lateral deviation of the driving pulley with
regard to the pinion likely to arise from longitudinal expansion and contraction of
the main shaft without materially affecting the frictional driving contact of the
pulley and piniou.
For the purpose of putting the pinion in and out of driving contact, the counter-
shaft carrying the pinion is mounted in a bearing which is movable in rectilinear
guides or about a centre attached to the hanger, the preferable arrangement being
such that the direction in which the pulley is moved in throwing it in and out of
gear is approximately tangential to the periphery of the pulley so that but little
force will be required to cause the pinion to bear harl against the periphery
of the pulley, the point of contact being however sufficiently in advance of
the tangent point to allow for considerable reduction of the diameter of the
5. pinion by wear.
The force by which the pinion is held in contact is supplied by springs or tumbler
weight applied to act on the sliding member of its shaft bearing or to the pivoted

page_text: arm by which said bearing is carried, and motion in the opposite direction for
putting the pinion out of operation is provided for by a cam lever or equivalent
device operated by lever and pull bandles attached thereto.
Or the pulley may be put in and out of gear by means of a traversing screw
acting on its guide bearing and in this and certain other cases the direction
of advance and withdrawal of the pinion may be more nearly radial to the
driving,pulley.
To the horizontal counter or pinion shaft the first member of the flexibly-jointed
transmission shaft is coupled by a form of universal coupling which has heretofore
been used for the intermediate joints of such flexible shafts, consisting of a pair of
crown toothed pinions whose wing-shaped teeth project both from the end and
periphery of the boss and are held in gear by the coupling bearings in which the
ends of the shafts turn being hinged together upon an axis which is tangential to
the pitch circle of the teeth so that the one shaft may be moved about that axis
through 180° or nearly so with regard to the other shaft without affecting the
meshing of the teeth and the driving of the one pinion by the other whilst the
driven pinion and the shaft to which it is attached is quite free to be moved around
the other pinion as a centre.
The great latitude of motion of the flexibly-jointed shaft obtained by the use
of this universal coupling in this situation is very useful under certain circumstances
as for instance when the animal operated on struggles to escape from the operator
as the latter can retain his hold of the' machine whilst engaged in restraining or
chasing the animal without danger of straining the driving gear.
Dated this 13th day of December 1893.
BUITIVATION.
Improvements in Friction Gear for Driving Sheep-shearing and the
like Machines.
We, CHARLES BURGON and HARRY BURGON, both of Malin Bridge, near
Sheffield, in the County of York, Sheep Shear Manufacturers, 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 relates to friction gear for transmitting motion from a line of
shafting to flexible or jointed shafts by which shearing or clipping machines
are driven.
The bevel friction gear commonly used has the defect of causing end thrust on
the line of shafting, and when such gearing is used on long lines of shafting in
climates subject to extremes of temperature the longitudinal expansion and
contraction of the shafting is liable to put the friction wheels out of working
position.
This invention has for its object to obviate these defects by the employment of
peripheral friction gear, the driven pinion being on a countershaft parallel to the
main line of shafting and the faces of the driving pulley and pinion being flat and
of sufficient breadth to permit of any lateral deviation of the driving pulley with
regard to the pinion likely to arise from longitudinal expansion and contraction
of the main shaft without affecting the frictional driving contact of the pulley
and pinion.
For the purpose of putting the pinion in and out of driving contact, the countershaft

page_text: is mounted in a bearing which is constrained to move in a direction approximately
tangential to the pulley, that is to say tangential to a circle concentric with
or frictional contact
the pulley, the effect of which is to increase the "bite "
between the pulley and pinion. The frictional contact is maintained by the stress
of springs acting directly, or a weighted arm acting through a cam upon the
countershaft bearing, and as the thrust due to the frictional contact is in part.
resisted by the means whereby the bearing is constrained to move in the tangential
direction the work of the springs or weight is proportionately reduced and the
"bite" increased.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a front elevation,.
of one arrangement of the improved friction gear. Figure 1 shews a similar
arrangement with a modified form of cam for moving the pinion out of gear.
Figures 3 and 4 are front and side elevations of another arrangement. Figure 5 is.
a side elevation of another arrangement.
The same letters of reference denote like parts in all the figures.
b
b
A is one of the wall pillars on which are carried the brackets B supporting the-
bearings for the line of shafting. D is one of the driving pulleys keyed on the..
shafting C. The latter is of full diameter where it passes through the bearings.
and sufficient space is left between the collar c on the one side and the boss of the
pulley D on the other, to allow of end wise motion of the shafting C in its bearings,.
due to longitudinal expansion and contraction of the shafting. The cap 6 of the
shaft bearing is hinged at 6' and secured by an eye-bolt 6 pivoted to the lower half
of the bearing and engaging by its nut 63 with lugs on the hinged cap & between
which the eye-bolt passes. To the bracket B is bolted a hanger B' which supports.
the bearing E of a countershaft F on one end of which is keyed the pinion G to be
driven by frictional peripheral contact with the pulley D. The pinion G is made
of discs of paper, leather, or other suitable material, tightly clamped between cheek
plates on the hub of the pinion. On the other end of the countershaft is mounted the
universal toothed coupling H through which notion is imparted to the pendent
member M of the flexibly-jointed transmission shaft. The countershaft bearing E is
carried by a pair of parallel guide rods e fitted to slide through bearings in the
hanger B and the pinion G is drawn into frictional peripheral contact with, the..
pulley D by the stress of springs el confined upon said rods between the heads of
the rods and the hanger B, the thrust due to the pressure between the pulley and
pinion being in great part resisted by the guide rods and hanger.
I is a cam keyed on an axis i pivoted in the hanger, the cam bearing against the
back of the bearing E so as to act in opposition to the springs e', and J, J', are the
arms of a bent lever fast on the cam axis i to which pull handles j, j, are attached.
0 for oscillating the cam in the one or other direction for putting the pinion in or out.
of gear.
In Figure 14, the cam I is a flanged disc pivoted loosely on one of the guide
rods e, its boss bearing against the back of the countershaft bearing the cam
surface being formed by the inclined bottom of a notch made in the flange of the
5 cam which acts against a stud fixed to the hanger B', the cam being operated by
arms J, J', and pull handles, as before.
In the arrangement illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 the bearing E of the pinion
shaft is carried by a forwardly-projecting radius arm K pivoted at k to the
hanger B and resting on the cam I by which the pinion is raised and held in.
0 peripheral contact with the pulley D. The cam shaft i is pivoted in the hanger B¹
and is provided with an upwardly-projecting weighted arm L, which by falling over
to the one side or the other of the vertical plane of the shaft i retains the cam I in
one or other of two positions for holding the pinion G in or out of gear with the
pulley D, as shewn in full and dotted lines respectively, in Figure 3, the shaft i
In this case,
55 being operated by lever arms J, J', and pull handles j, j, as before.
the arrangement is such that the pinion is beld in gear by the can and falls out of
gear by its own gravity.

page_text: In the arrangement shewn in Figure 5 the bearing of the pinion shaft F is hung
by an arm K pivoted at k to a bracket rising from the top half b of the bearing B
and the pinion G is drawn into frictional contact with the pulley D by the stress of
a spring e' confined between the hanger B₁ and the head of a guide rod e sliding
through the hanger and attached to the bearing E. I is the cam acting on the
countershaft bearing in opposition to the spring, the cam being fixed on an axis
pivoted in the hanger and operated by lever arms J, J', and pull handles, as
as-before
described.
A face cam, such as shewn in Figure 1A, may be substituted for peripheral cam
shewn in Figure 5.
In all these arrangements the pinion shaft F is coupled to the pendent member M
of the flexibly-jointed shaft by a universal toothed coupling H consisting of a pair
of combined crown and bevel toothed pinions whose wing-shaped teeth project both
from the ends and periphery of the pinion, the one pinion being fast on the shaft F
and the other on the shaft M and being held in gear by coupling bearings or collars h
loose on the ends of the shafts and hinged together on an axis h' at right angles to
the shafts and tangential to the pitch circles of both pinions. This form of coupling
applied to connect the pinion shaft F and the shaft M allows great latitude of
swinging motion of said shafts in all directions.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In friction gear, the combination, with the bearing of the driven shaft, of a
guide, or a radius link, whereby the driven shaft, when thrown in and out of gear, 15
constrained to move in a direction tangential to a circle concentric with the driving
pulley so as to cause the thrust to be resisted in part by the said constraining
medium and in part only by the means whereby the shaft is thrown into gear, as
specified.
2. In friction gear, wherein the bearing of the driven shaft is mounted to slide in
a direction approximately tangential to the driving pulley, the combination, with
said slide, of springs for moving it in one direction and of a cam for moving it
in the opposite direction, as and for the purpose specified.
3. In friction gear wherein the bearing of the driven shaft is constrained by a
radius link to move in a direction approximately tangential to the driving pulley,
the combination, with said radius link, of springs for moving it in one direction and
a cam for moving it in the other direction, as and for the purpose specified.
4. In friction gear wherein the bearing of the driven shaft is constrained to move
in a direction approximately tangential to the driving pulley, the combination, with
the bearing of said shaft, of a cam applied to move it in such direction as to bring
the pinion into gear and of a weighted arm on the cam shaft adapted to hold the
cam in whichever position it is placed, substantially as specified.
Dated this 28th day of July 1894.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.