IMPROVEMENTS IN METHOD THE OF AND MEANS APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER."
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Freakley at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th January 1881.
WILLIAM FREAKLEY, of Shelton, in the County of Stafford, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
METHOD
THE
OF AND MEANS
APPARATUS FOR
TRANSMITTING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER."
OR
My Invention consists in the use of an " endless" stream of water or other
suitable fluid caused to circulate rapidly under pressure through an endless pipe or
conduit, and in utilizing or applying the said "endless stream" to drive or impel
machinery. This I do by means of apparatus constructed and operating as
follows: Suppose it.be applied to drive potters' machinery. In any convenient
position I fix a circulator consisting of a rotative or other pump or equivalent
suitable impelling power, so constructed or arranged as to deliver a positive or
approximately positive volume or quantity per revolution or stroke if a pump be
used. From the outlet or delivery branch of said "circulator," I take or convey a
pipe or conduit to the first machine or machines to be driven, such pipe or conduit
being connected to the inlet branch of a motor of any suitable construction. From
the outlet branch of said motor I take or convey a pipe or conduit to the second
machine or machines to be driven, such pipe or conduit being connected to the
motor as before. From the outlet of second motor I either convey a pipe or conduit
to another motor, or I may take or convey the said pipe or conduit directly back
from the second or other motor to the "circulator," and attach it to the inlet or
At one
suction branch of same. The conduit or waterway thus becomes endless.
or more points on the line of "endless-conduit," I fix or attach a cylinder or
working barrel having a ram, or its equivalent, working in it. Now suppose the
whole pipe or conduit, including the circulator and motors, to be filled with water
or other fluid and a weight or load to be placed on said ram, such weight or load
will produce a hydrostatic pressure throughout the whole length of conduit
dependent on the area of ram and amount of load, and suppose also that motion be
imparted to the circulator, it becomes evident that a corresponding motion or
velocity will be imparted to the motive fluid already under pressure. In other
words, the water or other fluid will be circulated or driven rapidly through the
endless conduit. It is evident also that the motors forming. part of the endless
conduit or waterway, i.e., the revolving or moving parts of same, will be driven or
impelled at a rate or velocity nearly or quite corresponding to the speed of the

page_text: endless stream and capacity of motor. Because the motive fluid will act or impinge
upon the vanes, paddles, or other equivalent parts of said motor, and as the area
or surface so exposed to the action of the stream is varied or the direction of
current altered, so will the speed or velocity of the machine vary. This may be
accomplished by "shunting" a portion of the stream or by a special form of motor, so
constructed as to enable the area or surface on which the endless motive stream
shall act or impinge to be varied at pleasure without impeding the proper speed or
flow of the endless current, so that whether the motors be at rest or in motion, the
velocity of said current will be the same. The use or purpose of the circulator is
not to produce the hydrostatic pressure, but to circulate the stream of motive fluid
through the endless conduit just as a drum gives motion to a band passing over it.
I also render the whole system self lubricating by providing for the free circulation
of the endless stream through and about the wearing surfaces of the motors, so
that if a fluid having lubricative properties be used, oiling becomes unnecessary.
By these means the whole of a plant of potters' or other machinery may be driven
by one circulator (though I do not bind myself to use only one) and one conduit or
waterway, no matter how far apart or out of line or level within practicable limits
such machines may be, as the jiggers, lathes, throwing wheels, jollies, quarry
presses, or other machines used in potteries or otherwise. In the case of potters'
lathes or such other machines requiring extreme nicety of regulation and requiring
to be reversed, I may use motors specially constructed to render such operations
easy, and the motors may form part of or be combined with the machines to be driven,
or they may be detached and connected in any convenient manner.
In the same
way I may construct or adapt them to the requirements of machinery in general.
It will be seen that there is no practical loss of power transmitted by this method,
excepting, of course, the friction of the fluid in the endless conduit or pipe, neither
is there any important loss of the motive fluid.
It also enables motive power to be conveyed from one place to another with great
facility and economy almost irrespective of distance, and in many places where
ordinary gearing is quite inadmissible. The conduit or waterway may be formed
of any suitable materials and in any convenient manner, but I prefer to employ
such iron, copper, or other lead piping as can be easily bent or conveyed in any desired
direction, so that the power may be conveyed into every corner or angle of a
factory or works, no matter how remote or how irregular the plan of such works
may be.
The application of the endless motive stream is not confined to machines' having
a rotary motion, but may also be employed to give motion to reciprocating machines,
such as the up and down movement of the profile in the potters' jolly, or to
stamping presses, pumps, or other machinery.