IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING RECIPROCATING MOTION INTO ROTARY MOTION IN STEAM OR OTHER ENGINES communicated him by.
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake of the firm of Haseltine Lake
and Co Patent Agents Southampton Buildings, London for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING RECIPROCATING MOTION
INTO ROTARY MOTION IN STEAM OR OTHER ENGINES communicated to him
from abroad by Friedrich Zassenhaus of Cleve in the Empire of Germany.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st May 1883.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CON-
INTO ROTARY MOTION IN STEAM OR OTHER
VERTING RECIPROCATING MOTION
"
ENGINES [A communication to him from abroad by Friedrich Zassenhaus of
Cleve in the Empire of Germany.]
This invention relates to improvements in steam or similar engines, and has for
its object to dispense with the intermediate crank mechanism heretofore employed
for the purpose of transmitting the motive power from the piston-rod to the driving
shaft of the engine, it being a fact well known to engineers that with steam-
engines as heretofore constructed but little useful effect is obtained, that is to say,
a small part only of the steam applied is converted into actual effective power, part
of the said steam being lost in overcoming the friction of the machinery, and
another considerable part in changing the reciprocating motion of the piston into
the rotary motion of the driving-shaft by means of the well-known crank-mechanism
heretofore applied for the latter purpose, the crank-lever of the said mechanism
continually changing its position, and transmitting only when in two of its positions
the full power of steam-pressure acting upon the piston, while when in its other
positions the transmission of the said power is successively reduced to naught. In
order to obviate the difficulty of such unequal transmission of power, that is to say
to substitute an uniform crank-lever for the variable crank-lever as. hitherto usęd

page_text: and thereby to increase considerably the useful effect of the engine, I employ
mechanism as hereinafter described.
According to the said invention the piston rod, otherwise arranged in the usual
manner, is formed with a rack-bar gearing with two spur-weels of equal size and
diameter which are fitted loosely upon two parallel shafts arranged in the same 5
horizontal plane, the said shafts carrying two other spur-wheels of larger diameter
rigidly applied thereto and gearing with each other. The said shafts also carry,
next to the said loosely fitted spur-wheels, two fixed ratchet-wheels (one on each
shaft) which are provided with ratchet-teeth, the said teeth in the one of the said
ratchet-wheels pointing in an opposite direction to the teeth in the other ratchet-
wheel. A pawl is pivotted to each of the said loosely fitted spur-wheels, the said
pawls being arranged near the circumference of the said wheels and on the surface
adjacent to the said ratchet-wheels so as to bear upon the teeth of the latter. The
two pawls are so arranged that conforming to the said teeth they also point in
opposite directions, so that, when moving both of the said pawls in the same
direction, one of them will catch into the teeth of its respective ratchet-wheel while
the other pawl will slide freely over the teeth of the other ratchet-wheel. Now, in
reciprocating the piston-rod of the engine in the usual manner, the rack-bar of the
Baid rod gearing with the said loosely fitted spur-wheels will first rotate the latter
in one direction, and then, after having been reversed in the other direction, but
always the said spur-wheels are rotated or moved simultaneously in the same of
the two alternate directions. By thus rotating or moving the said loosely fitted
spur-wheels the said pawls pivotted near their circumference will catch alternately
into the teeth of their respective ratchet-wheels, and consequently the latter will
be rotated by means of the action of the said pawls, that is to say one of the said
ratchet-wheels will be rotated 'to the left by means of the action of its pawl during
one movement of the piston rod and the other one to the right by means of the
action of the other pawl during the reversed movement of the said rod. As has
been, stated herein before the said ratchet wheels are rigidly fitted upon their
respective shafts each of the latter also carrying one of the said two fixed spur-
wheels of larger diameter than the said loosely fitted spur-wheels both of the said
fixed spur-wheels gearing with each other. Another spur-wheel of any suitable
diameter in gear with one of the two last-mentioned spur-wheels is rigidly fitted
upon the driving shaft of the engine carrying the fly-wheel.
From the above it will be seen that during the forward stroke of the piston-rod
the said loosely fitted spur-wheels will be rotated or turned in one direction, say to
the left, and the one of the said pawls catching into the teeth of its ratchet-wheel
will rotate or turn the latter in the same direction, the other pawl sliding freely
over the teeth of the other ratchet-wheel as described. By thus turning the said
ratchet-wheel by means of the action of the said pawl, the shaft of the said wheel
is also rotated and in consequence thereof the same rotation is transmitted into the
said spur-wheel rigidly. fitted upon the said shaft: This said spur-wheel gearing
with the other similar spur-wheel rigidly fitted upon the other shaft will turn the
latter, and the said ratchet-wheel rigidly fitted upon the same, in an opposite
direction, that is to say to the right. Now, when the stroke of the piston-rod is
reversed the loosely fitted spur-wheels in gear with the rack on the said piston-rod,
will be turned in a direction different from that first given to the said loosely fitted
spur-wheels, that is to say to the right, and by means of the action of its pawl the
other loosely fitted spur-wheel will now rotate the other ratchet-wheel, its shaft
and the said spur-wheel rigidly connected thereto, the latter transmitting motion
into the first-mentioned shaft in exactly the same manner as has been herein set
forth with reference to the transmission of the rotation from the first-mentioned
shaft unto the other shaft, the latter now continuing being turned to the right by
the action of the pawl attached to its own loosely-fitted spur-wheel while the other
pawl attached to the loosely-fitted spur-wheel of the said first-mentioned shaft will
slide freely over the teeth of the other ratchet-wheel. From the above it will be
seen that during either stroke of the piston the said two shafts and their respective

page_text: fixed gearings will be rotated continuously in the same direction, their said con-
tinuous rotary motion being transmitted from one of the said rigidly applied spur-
wheels unto the said spur-wheel fixed upon the driving-shaft, and the reciprocating
motion of the piston-rod is thus transmitted uniformly into the rotary motion of
the said latter shaft. It is not absolutely necessary that with this construction the
latter shaft should be provided with a fly-wheel as in most instances the said
rigidly applied spur-wheels may be made of such dimensions as to ensure an
uniform motion by their own rotation. In such cases where the use of a fly-wheel
is considered advisable I prefer to apply the same loosely upon the said driving-
shaft by holding the said fly-wheel in place against a coiled spring, by means of an
adjustable nut screwed upon the said shaft and bearing against the outer surface of
the hub of the said fly-wheel whilst the inner side of the latter is pressed against
the said spring.
I
The said loosely-fitted spur-wheels above referred to may also be replaced by
toothed segments or other similar equivalents,
(

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th October 1883.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake and Co, Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
CONVERTING RECIPROCATING MOTION INTO ROTARY MOTION IN STEAM OR OTHER
ENGINES A communication to me from abroad by Friedrich Zassenhaus of
Cleve, in the Empire of Germany.
This invention relates to apparatus for converting reciprocating motion into
rotary motion in steam engines or the like.
The primary object of the said invention is to dispense with the intermediate
crank mechanism heretofore employed in a steam-engine for the purpose of
transmitting the motive power from the piston-rod to the driving-shaft, of the
said engine, It is a well known fact that, with the steam engines as heretofore
constructed, but little useful effect is obtained-that is to say, a small part only of
the pressure applied is converted into actual work, part of the said pressure being
lost in overcoming the friction of the machinery, and a considerable part in con-
verting the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotary motion of the
driving shaft by means of the well-known crank heretofore applied for the latter
purpose. As the said crank is continually changing its position it transmits only
in two positions the full power of steam pressure acting upon the piston, while
when in its other positions, the transmission of the said power is successively
reduced to zero. In order to obviate the difficulty of such unequal transmission
of power, that is to say, to substitute an uniform crank-lever for the variable
crank-lever as hitherto employed and thereby to increase considerably the useful
effect of the engine, I employ the following improvements, as will be hereinafter
specified.
The said invention consists essentially in providing the piston-rod of a steam or
similar engine with a rack-bar, and in combining, with the said rack-bar and the
driving-shaft of the engine, suitable intermediate imechanism for continuously and
uniformly transmitting or converting the reciprocating motion of the said bar into
the rotary motion of the said shaft.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of a steam-engine, provided with apparatus
constructed according to this invention.
Figure 2 is a top view, and
Figures 3 and 4 are transverse sections, of the same.
a indicates the piston-rod applied to, and reciprocated by, the piston in the
steam-cylinder b, the said piston-rod being provided with a rack which gears with
two spur-wheels d, e, of equal diameter. These two wheels d, e are applied loosely
upon the two parallel shafts f, g, respectively, while two other spur-wheels h, i, are
rigidly fastened upon the said shafts. The said two wheels h, i are of equal
diameter (but larger than the loosely-fitted wheels d, e) and in gear with each
other.
Adjacent to the wheels d, e, and rigidly mounted upon their respective shafts f, g,
are two ratchet-wheels n, o, the ratchet-teeth in the periphery of the wheel, n being
inclined in an opposite direction to the teeth in the periphery of the other
wheel o.
land m indicate pawls pivotted to the loosely-fitted wheels d, e, respectively,

page_text: near the periphery of the latter, and so arranged as to point in opposite directions
and to be held in contact with the teeth in the ratchet-wheels n, o.
* indicates a spur-wheel, of any convenient diameter, rigidly mounted upon the
driving-shaft and in gear with the spur-wheel h. To the said driving shaft is also
applied the fly-wheel 8 which is loosely mounted thereon, being held in place by
means of an adjustable nut u, the latter bringing the hub of the said wheel to
bear against the coiled spring t.
I will now proceed to describe the operation of this improved apparatus for
transmitting or converting the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotary
motion of the driving shaft:-
During each forward stroke of the piston, the rack c on the piston rod a will
turn or partly rotate the loosely fitted spur-wheels d and e to the right, and in
consequence thereof, the pawl 1, pivotted near the periphery of the wheel & and
engaging with the ratchet-teeth of the wheel n, will impart rotary motion to the
latter; while the pawl m, pivotted near the periphery of the other wheel e, will
slide freely over the teeth of the other ratchet-wheel o.
Now, by thus turning the ratchet-wheel n, mounted rigidly upon the shaft f
rotary motion is imparted to the said shaft and to the spur-wheel h attached
thereto, whereby the said spur-wheel is also turned to the right; as the spur-
wheel h is in gear with the corresponding spur-wheel i, the latter and its shaft g,
will rotate to the left and with it the ratchet-wheel o.
The stroke of the piston having been reversed, the rack c will commence turning
the wheels d and e in an opposite direction, that is to say, to the left and con-
sequently the pawl m will act upon the ratchet-wheel o and drive the saine
positively to the left, this motion being imparted to the shaft g and the wheel i,
the latter now driving in its turn the wheel h to the right. It will thus be seen
that during each stroke of the piston the same rotary motion is imparted to the
shafts f and g and to the wheels h and i rigidly attached thereto.
This rotary motion may be imparted to the driving shaft p of the engine by
any convenient means. In the drawing, a spur-wheel r is fitted upon the shaft p,
the said wheel being in gear with the spur-wheel h, which being rotated con-
tinuously and uniformly to the right, will impart uniform and continuous rotary
motion in an opposite direction to the wheel r and the driving-shaft p.
It is not absolutely necessary that with this improved construction the driving
shaft should be provided with a fly-wheel, since in many instances the spur-
wheels h and i may be made of such dimensions as to ensure an uniform motion
by their own rotation. In cases where a fly-wheel is considered advantageous, I
prefer to apply the same in the manner shown in the drawing, which construction
allows of an easy removal of the fly-wheel when it is desired to dispense with the
latter.
I wish it understood that I do not confine myself to applying the herein-
described improvements to steam-engines only, as I may apply the same in any
cases where it is desired to convert reciprocating motion into rotary motion,
Neither do I limit myself to the arrangement of the loosely fitted wheels d and e,
since toothed segments or other equivalent means applied in a similar manner may
be substituted for the same.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign Correspondent and the manner of performing the same I wish it understood
that I claim;-
First. The combination, with the piston-rod having the rack c, of the spur-
wheels d and a mounted loosely upon the shafts ƒ and g and carrying the pawls
and m substantially as, and for the purpose, set forth.
Second. The combination, with the ratchet-wheels n and o, rigidly applied to
the shafts and g respectively, and provided with ratchet teeth, as described, of
the pawls and m, alternately engaging with, and sliding freely over, the said
ratchet-teeth, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

page_text: Third. The combination of the rack c formed on the piston-rod a, the spur-
wheels d and e mounted loosely upon the shafts ƒ and g and having the pawls
and m, the ratchet-wheels n and o rigidly attached to the said shafts and having
their teeth arranged in opposite directions, and the spur-wheels h and i of equal
diameter and in gear with each other, substantially as, and for the purpose, set
forth.
In witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my hand
and seal this Fifteenth day of October in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.
W ROBT LAKE (L.S.)