IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING RECTILINEAR MOTION INTO ROTARY MOTION
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Hutchinson, of East Retford, in the.
County of Nottingham, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING RECTILINEAR MOTION INTO ROTARY MOTION."
Sealed the 29th April 1856, and dated the 23rd November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Hutchinson-
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd November 1855.
I, JOHN HENRY HUTCHINSON, of East Retford, in the County of Notting-
ham, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IM-
PROVED MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING RECTILINEAR MOTION INTO ROTARY MOTION, to
be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to convert the reciprocating motion of motive
power engines into a rotary motion for the purpose of driving machinery
generally. For this purpose I connect the piston rod or rods of a motive power
engine to a sliding frame, in which I mount two ratchet wheels, each having a
double set of teeth. Suspended above these wheels and from the sliding framic
are two pairs of clicks or holdfasts, one pair of which is let down at a time into
contact with the teeth of the ratchet wheels, to prevent the wheels from turning
in their bearings, according to whether the direction of rotation is required to the

page_text: right or the left hand. A shaft, which is connected to the main driving shaft
of the machinery to be set in motion, passes through the bosses of the ratchet
wheels, and is provided with two or more helical grooves, into which a tooth or
teeth projecting from the boss of each ratchet wheel respectively takes. As,
therefore, a reciprocating motion is imparted to the ratchet wheels by the
action of the piston rod or rods, the driving teeth of the wheels, as they are
alternately held fast by the clicks, will, by traversing up and down the helical
grooves of the shaft over which the sliding frame traverses, impart rotary
motion thereto.
The double sets of teeth on the ratchet wheels and the corresponding
catches are for the purpose of reversing the motion. When this is required
to be effected, the partial rotation of a shaft, actuated by a hand wheel, will,
through the medium of chains, or their equivalent, raise the depressed catches
out of contact with the ratchet wheels, and depress others, which will act on
ratchet teeth that are cut in the reverse direction. I would remark, that it
may be desirable to connect the grooved shaft to the main driving shaft by a
self-disconnecting arrangement, in order that the impetus gained by the
driven machinery may not. re-act upon and disarrange the reciprocating
apparatus in case the steam should be suddenly cut off while that apparatus is
in connection with the main driving shaft.
It will be obvious, that in place of ratchet wheels and clicks, their mecha-
nical equivalent may be employed, it being simply required to hold the driving
teeth fast while they are acting upon the grooved shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Hutchinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on a
the 23rd May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY HUTCHINSON, of East Retford, in the County of Nottingham, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters S
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Henry Hutchinson, Her special license that I, the said
John Henry Hutchinson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such

page_text: others as I, the said John Henry Hutchinson, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING RECTILINEAR MOTION INTO ROTARY
MOTION," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry
Hutchinson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Hutchinson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
The object of this Invention, of "Improved Machinery for Converting
Rectilinear Motion into Rotary Motion," is to convert the reciprocating
motion of motive power engines into a rotary motion for the purpose of
driving machinery generally. For this purpose I connect the piston rod or
rods of a motive power engine to a sliding frame in which I mount two ratchet
wheels, each having two sets of ratchet teeth. The two sets of teeth of each
wheel are in set in opposition, so that in whichever direction the wheels are
moved round they may be stopped by clicks. Suspended above these wheels
and from the sliding frame are two pairs of clicks or holdfasts, one pair of
which is let down at a time into contact with one of the sets of teeth of the
ratchet wheels, to prevent the wheels from turning in their bearings, according
to whether the direction of rotation is required to the right or to the left
hand. A shaft, which is connected to the main driving shaft of the machinery
to be set in motion, passes through the bosses of the ratchet wheels, and is
provided with two or more helical grooves, into which a tooth or teeth project-
ing from the boss of each ratchet wheel respectively takes. As, therefore, a
reciprocating motion is imparted by the action of the piston rod or rods to the
frame which carries the ratchet wheels, th driving tooth of the wheels, as
they are alternately held fast by the clicks, will, by moving along the helical
grooves of the shaft over which the sliding frame traverses, impart rotary
motion thereto.
In order, however, that my Invention may be clearly understood, I have

page_text: shewn in the accompanying Drawing the mechanical arrangement whereby I
propose to carry the same into effect.
Fig. 1 is a plan view of my improved machinery adapted to the principal
working parts of a direct-action steam, air, or vapour engine; Fig. 2 is
a side elevation of the same. a, a, is the cylinder of the engine, mounted
horizontally on a suitable framing; b, b, is the piston rod, which at its outer
end carries a cross head c. This cross head is connected by means of
the side connecting rods d, d, with a frame e, e, which slides to and fro
on the round horizontal rods or bars f,f, secured to the ends of the fixed
framing g, g. A horizontal shaft h, h, is mounted in suitable bearings in
this fixed frame, and passes through a pair of ratchet wheels i, i, mounted
in the moveable frame e, e. The horizontal shaft h, h, is fixed on the
end of or forms part of the driving shaft h of any machinery that requires
to be actuated. The shaft h, h, has cut in its periphery two helical
grooves j,j, in opposite directions, as seen best in the plan view, Fig. 1, and
inside the bosses of the ratchet wheels i, i; these latter are provided with
a tooth or teeth k, k, as seen in Fig. 3, which is a cross section taken through
this part of the apparatus. These teeth k take into the helical grooves j, j,
of the shaft h, and, consequently, as the sliding frame e, with the ratchet
wheels i, i, mounted therein, is moved along, the teeth k, by passing along the
helical grooves in the shaft h, cause the latter to rotate on its axis.
The peripheries of the wheels i, i, are provided with two sets of ratchet
teeth, the one being set in the opposite direction to the other, as seen at 1, 2,
in Figures 1 and 2, and also in the detached perspective view, Fig. 4, of part
of these two wheels. Two sets of pawles or clicks 1, 1, and m, m, are adapted
to these ratchet wheels; these pawles or clicks are held up by means of cords,
chains, or levers in such a manner, that either set may be let down and made
to act on its corresponding ratchet, according to the direction in which it is
desired to cause the shaft h to rotate.
These double sets of teeth 1, 2, on the ratchet wheels i, i, and their corre-
sponding clicks or catches and m, are for the purpose of reversing the motion
of the shaft h when desired. When this is required to be effected, the partial
rotation of a shaft, actuated by a hand wheel, not shewn in the Drawing, will,
through the medium of the chains n, shewn in Fig. 3 (or their equivalent),
raise the depressed clicks or catches m, m, out of contact with the ratchet
wheels i, i, and will depress the others, marked 1, 1, which will act on the
ratchet teeth that are cut in the reverse direction. I would remark, that it
may be desirable to connect the grooved shaft h to the main driving shaft h
of the machinery it is intended to actuate by a self-disconnecting arrangement,

page_text: in order that the impetus gained by the driven machinery may not re-act
upon and disarrange the reciprocating apparatus shewn in the Drawing, in
case the steam should be suddenly cut off while that apparatus is in connection
with the main driving shaft h*.
It will be obvious, that in place of ratchet wheels and clicks other mecha-
nical equivalents may be employed, it being simply requisite to hold the
driving teeth fast while they are acting upon the grooved shaft.
Having now described my "Improved Machinery for Converting Rectilinear
Motion into Rotary Motion," and having explained the best means with which
I am acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I would observe, in con-
clusion, that I do not mean or intend to confine myself rigidly to the precise
arrangement or construction of parts herein shewn and described, as they may,
perhaps, be varied without departing from the nature and object of my Inven-
tion. And I claim, in conclusion, the use and application, for the purpose
herein set forth, of the shaft h with the helical grooves therein in combination
with the travelling frame e and the ratchet wheels i, i, with the teeth or
studs working in the helical grooves of the shaft h, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Hutchinson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFatt,
66, Chancery Lane.
J. II. HUTCHINSON. (L.S.)