Improved Means of Converting Alternate Rotary Motion into Continuous Rotary Motion, Applicable to Various Purposes but Particularly to the Driving of Electric Light and other Machinery Attached to the Axles of Moving Vehicles on Railways or Tramways.
Year: 1886

page_text: Improved Means of Converting Alternate Rotary Motion into
Continuous Rotary Motion, Applicable to Various Purposes,
but Particularly to the Driving of Electric Light and other
Machinery Attached to the Axles of Moving Vehicles on
Railways or Tramways.
I, JAMES RADCLIFFE of East Retford in the County of Nottingham Telegraph
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
I employ a hollow shaft or sleeve free to move on the driving shaft, such sleeve
being furnished with a spiral slot or slots of limited length, for the purpose of
engaging with projections upon the driving shaft, in such a manner as to produce
a limited longitudinal motion of the sleeve upon the driving shaft when the latter
is revolved, but when the extremity of the slot is reached by the said projection
rotary motion of the sleeve is produced. The sleeve carries two bevelled friction
wheels which alternately engage with diametrically opposite points of a third
bevelled friction wheel, attached to the shaft to be driven, upon the direction of
rotation of the driving shaft being reversed-so that the driven shaft revolves
in the same direction irrespective of the direction in which the driving shaft is
revolving.
Dated this 9th dow of October 1906

page_text: improved means of Converting Alternate Rotary Motion into
Continuous Rotary Motion, Applicable to Various Purposes,
but Particularly to the Driving of Electric Light and other
Machinery Attached to the Axles of Moving Vehicles on
Railways or Tramways.
I, JAMES RADCLIFFE of East Retford in the County of Nottingham, Telegraph
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
I employ a hollow shaft or sleeve free to move on the driving shaft, such sleeve
being furnished with a spiral slot or slots, of limited length, for the purpose of
engaging with projections upon the driving shaft, or the projections may be fixed
inside the sleeve in which case the spiral slots are cut in the shaft, in such
a manner as to produce a limited longitudinal motion of the sleeve upon the
driving shaft when the latter is revolved, but when the extremity of the slot is
reached by the said projection rotary motion of the sleeve is produced.
The sleeve carries two bevelled friction wheels which alternately engage with
diametrically opposite points of a third bevelled friction wheel attached to the
shaft to be driven and upon the direction of rotation of the driving shaft being
reversed the position of the sleeve upon the shaft being altered by the motion of
the projection in the spiral slot, one of the two bevelled friction wheels attached
to the sleeve is engaged with, and the other is disengaged from, the third bevelled
friction wheel attached to the shaft to be driven, so that the driven shaft revolves
in one continuous direction irrespective of the direction in which the driving
shaft is revolving.
In order that my invention may be more fully understood I will proceed to
describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings!
Fig. 1 is a plan and Fig. 2 an elevation the same letters indicating similar parts
in both.
A is the hollow shaft or sleeve mounted and free to move upon the driving
shaft B. P is a pin projecting from the driving shaft B and engaging in the spiral
alot S. F and F1 are bevelled friction wheels firmly fixed upon A-F" is a third
bevelled friction wheel mounted but free to move longitudinally upon the dynamo
or other shaft to be driven C. D is a bearing in which the boss of F" revolves.
L is the lever, b the bolt K the nut and R the spring of the tightening arrangement,
antifriction washers being inserted between L and the end of the boss of Fu
It will readily be seen by reference to the above that when the shaft B is
revolved in the direction of the arrows, the friction wheel F¹ is forced, by the pin P
riding along the slot S, against F" and commences to drive the latter also in the
direction of the arrows, but upon the motion of B being reversed, P moves to the
other end of S and forces F against the opposite diameter of F¹ and simul-
taneously F is forced out of gear, so that Fil still revolves in the same direction,
irrespective of the direction in which B is revolving.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. In converting alternate rotary motion into continuous rotary motion, the use
of two bevelled friction wheels, automatically, alternately engaging with the
opposite diameters of a third bevelled friction wheel.
2. The use of a hollow shaft or sleeve, or its equivalent carrying the aforesaid
bevelled friction wheels and furnished with spiral slots or grooves engaging with
projections on the driving shaft in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
3. The use of a hollow shaft or sleeve carrying bevelled friction wheels and
furnished with internal projections engaging in spiral slots cut in the driving shaft
in the manner and for the purpose above described.
4. The application of the above automatic apparatus to the driving of dynamo-
electric machinery attached to the axles of moving vehicles on railways or
tramways, or to the driving of Colliery machinery where continuous and alternate
rotary motion are required to be produced concurrently by the same motive power.
Dated this 92nd day of Novambon 19ss
JAMES RADCLIFFE.