A NEW METHOD OF EMPLOYING THE MUSCULAR FORCE OF MAN AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN Communied him
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills of the firm of Harris
and Mills of 23 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent for an Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF EMPLOYING THE MUSCULAR
FORCE OF MAN AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN Communicated to
him from abroad by Louis Bellefonds of 58 Cours Vitton Lyons in the
Republic of France
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard
Mills at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th October
1882.
BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS of the firm of Harris and Mills of
23 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent
"A NEW
METHOD OF EMPLOYING THE MUSCULAR FORCE OF MAN AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN A communication to me from abroad by Louis Bellefonds of 58 Cours
Vitton Lyons in the Republic of France
"
In this new mode of action the man is seated in a seat with a back suspended at
a fixed point situated either above or below the seat: his feet and if required, his
hands being placed on fixed supports he can give to the seat an oscillating motion
by alternately extending and contracting his legs and arms the back resting pressed
against the back of the seat.
This oscillating motion is afterwards converted into continuous circular motion
by one of the known means of converting motion that is to say by cranks and
connecting rods ratchet motion racks and otherwise. The machine thus con-
structed is single acting that is to say that the power acts only during the single
oscillation corresponding with the recoil of the seat; to render the power
continuous, it suffices to place the point of suspension in such manner that the
seat shall rise during the recoil, and fall in the forward motion; in this manner
the weight of the seat and that of the man act in this latter motion.
To render the power continuous, it can be calculated what weight is necessary
to be given to the seat to render the work equal in the two motions.

page_text: The above effect is obtained by inclining the suspension rods towards the back
when the point of suspension is above the seat and towards the front when the
point of suspension is below.
The efforts of several men can be united, by placing them upon a single seat side
by side or back to back; in this latter case the efforts being symmetrical the power
becomes continuous without being obliged to employ the artifice above described.
A single shaft with two cranks at right angles or three cranks at an angle
of 120° can be worked by two or three suspensions containing each one or several
motive seats; this arrangement obviates the dead points.
This motive power can be employed to give motion to industrial machines, boats,
carriages, raising of water, or loads; and in general whorever the muscular power
of man is employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th April 1883:
BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS of the Firm of Harris and Mills of
23 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent
"A NEW
METHOD OF EMPLOYING THE MUSCULAR FORCE OF MAN AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED
"3
THEREIN A Communication to me from abroad by Louis Bellefonds of 58 Cours
Vitton Lyons in the Republic of France
In this new mode of action the man is seated in a seat with a back suspended at
a fixed point situated either above or below the seat his feet and if required his
hands being placed, on fixed supports he can give to the seat an oscillating motion
by alternately extending and contracting his legs and arms the back resting
pressed against the back of the seat.
This oscillating motion is afterwards converted into continuous circular motion
by one of the known means of converting motion that is to say by cranks and
connecting rods, ratchet motion racks and otherwise. The machine thus con-
structed is single acting that is to say that the power acts only during the single
oscillation, corresponding with the recoil of the seat; to render the power
continuous, it suffices to place the point of suspension in such manner that the
seat shall rise during the recoil, and fall in the forward motion; in this manner the
weight of the seat and that of the man act in this latter motion. To render the
power continuous, it can be calculated what weight is necessary to be given to
the seat to render the work equal in the two motions.
The above effect is obtained by inclining the suspension rods towards the back
when the point of suspension is above the seat and towards the front when the
point of suspension is below.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawing show the arrangement of the seat
in the two modes of suspension.
The man is shown in his lowest position, his feet and his hands being placed
upon fixed points p, p, by taking an abutment against these points of support, he
will cause the seat to go back to the position shown in dotted lines; then by
releasing himself his weight will take him back to the first position, the rods of
suspension or the seat itself communicate their to and fro motion to a connecting
rod b which transforms it into rotary motion by acting upon a crank m.
The efforts of several men can be united, by placing them upon a single seat side
by side or back to back; in this latter case, the efforts being symmetrical, the power
becomes continuous, without being obliged to employ the arrangements above
described.
A single shaft with two cranks at right angles or three cranks at an angle of
120° can be worked by two or three suspensions containing each one or several
motive seats; this arrangement obviates the dead points.
This motive power can be employed to give motion to industrial machines, boats,
carriages, to the raising of water or loads; and in general wherever the muscular
power of man is employed.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and the mode in
which the same is carried into effect I would have it understood that what
I claim is:-
First, A new means of applying the muscular power of man in which taking
his fulcrum with the feet and when required with the hands upon fixed points, he

page_text: transmits to the seat upon which he is seated, an oscillating motion which
is then transformed as required into continuous circular motion by means of known
appliances.
Second. The means above described for rendering the power continuous by the
displacement of the point of suspension of the seat or by the convenient coupling of
several seats.
In witness whereof I the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills have hereunto
set my hand and seal this Sixth day of April in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty three.