IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR DIMINISHING FRICTION
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st March 1870. A communication from abroad by Jean
Baptiste Léopold Favier-Lagaye and Ernest Auguste Verleye, both
of Paris, in the Empire of France.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM FOR
DIMINISHING FRICTION,” a communication, to be as follows:
-
The said Invention consists, first, in a mechanical arrangement
applicable to all parts having either a continuous or reciprocating
circular motion with the object of substituting rolling friction for rubbing
or sliding friction.
Second, in the various applications of this mechanical arrangement,
more especially to the wheels of carriages, or vehicles, and for the trans-
mission of power.
In order that the said Invention may be more clearly understood,
I will describe its application to a railway carriage, and I have illus-
trated the same in the accompanying Drawing. As these vehicles are

page_text: at present constructed the carriage and its load are borne by the two
ends or journals of the axle of each pair of wheels through the medium
of a bearing block, fitted in the grease box. The friction, and con-
sequently the wearing of the parts in contact or working together, is
upon the journals and the bearings by reason of the sliding or rubbing of
these parts one upon the other. In my aforesaid novel arrangement
I mount in a line parallel with the axle a second shaft, furnished at
cach extremity with rotative discs, which rest with their rims upon
the first axle; they also support the carriage and its load, and they
perform the function of the bearing; but as they receive a rotary motion
from the rotation of the carriage wheels it follows that the rubbing
friction is replaced by rolling friction. The number of revolutions of
the discs is generally less than the number of turns of the carriage
wheels, the relative proportion of these numbers being determined by the
proportion of the diameter of the axle to that of the rotative discs.
Instead of having a second shaft parallel to the axle to carry the two
rotative discs I may employ two pius or studs fixed in the frame of
the carriage. In machines having parts which are required to rotate
with great rapidity I can always with the object of substituting the
rolling for the rubbing friction employ any number of discs, say two
for instance, the first disc will work opposite to the second, and bear
the same relation thereto as the axle of the carriage wheels aforesaid
to the first disc. In some cases, as for instance for driving shafts of
locomotives (which exert upon the bearing a horizontal pressure due
to the force of traction), I may arrange laterally in the direction of
the pressure an additional rotative disc, which being also in contact
with the journal will receive the horizontal pressure and will transform
the resulting friction into rolling friction. For railway carriages and
for cabs, velocipedes, and other vehicles which will turn in curves of
very short radius, the wheels and discs are not all solidly fixed on the
axles; that is to say, one of the wheels will be keyed upon the axle
while the other is fitted loosely thereon; and it is the same with
the rotative discs. It is obvious that any suitable means may be
employed for maintaining the axles of the wheels and discs properly
in place.

page_text: a is the carriage, which may be of any suitable construction; b is the
axle of the wheels c; d is the shaft of the rotative discs which is
arranged parallel with the axle b; e, e, are the rotative dises mounted
at each end of the shaft d. The rim of these discs lies in contact with
the axle b. The said axle is guided laterally in guard plates f fixed to
the side timbers of the carriage, and the extremities of the shaft d are
fitted into square blocks g, which may work up and down on the said
guard plates; h, h, arc springs fixed on the square blocks g, and which
support the carriage. It will be readily understood by reference to
the Drawing that the weight of the carriage and its load will cause
the rim of the discs e, e, to bear constantly upon the axle b. In Figures 1
and 2 I have represented the frame of the carriage considerably elevated
above the axle, but I may adopt any other arrangement or construction
of carriages, so as to preserve in the latter the regular dimensions.
Figure 3 illustrates the arrangement of two rotative discs e, in contact
with the axle of a locomotive, for the purpose aforesaid, of trans-
forming the friction resulting from the load and that due to the horizontal
traction into rolling friction.
It will be understood that I have shown the application of my Inven-
tion to railway vehicles only as an illustration or example thereof, as it
may be applied to wheeled vehicles generally, to shafts for transmitting
motion, presses, clockwork, and in a word, to all kinds of mechanism
having either a continuous intermittent or reciprocating rotary motion
for whatever purpose such mechanism may be used. The advantages
derived from the novel mechanical arrangement above described are
as follows:-Diminution of friction, and consequent decrease of resist-
ance; augmentation of effective force; saving of expense of driving
power; and greatly increased durability of parts subjected to friction.
The speed especially for railway vehicles may be very great without
danger of heating. In the example given of the railway carriages it
may be seen that with the dimensions represented the axis of the discs
only makes one turn to ten revolutions of the vehicular wheels, and
this difference in the number of turns may be increased by increasing
the diameter of the said discs.