Improvements in Car Starters.
Year: 1896

page_text: Improvements in Car Starters.
I, THOMAS HEATHER, of 41 Westcroft Square, Hammersmith, in the County
of Middlesex, Tutor and Draughtsman, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to car starters and the storing of the force required to
stop a vehicle and the releasing and employing the same when required for starting
it; this may be effected in the following manner.
A small toothed wheel is fixed round the boss hub or axle (when the latter
rotates) of one or more of the wheels of the vehicle, and an annular wheel of larger
dinmeter is attached to the same wheel or axle nearer the periphery. Between
these two wheels, one or more small wheels are so placed that they can be put into
and out of gear with either of the before-mentioned wheels.
A volute or other suitable coiled spring is connected with each of these small
wheels so as to be wound up, when the wheel is brought into connection with the
hub wheel, so as to check its revolution and act as a brake. These wheels are
prevented from revolving in the opposite direction by suitable stops, and they can
be shifted from their connection with the hub wheel to an intermediate position
between the annular wheel and the hub wheel in which position they remain
inactive.
To start the vehicle these wheels are moved a little further outwards to come
into gear with the annular wheel, and being at the same time released from the
stop, the unwinding of the spring or springs causes these small wheels to revolve
and to turn the wheel of the vehicle with which they are in gear. The intermediate
wheels are carried upon any suitable links or frame preferably so arranged that
when the springs have unwound, the wheels will automatically disengage themselves
from the annular wheel; they may be bung eccentrically for this purpose.
Dated this 11th day of March 1896.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.
I, THOMAS HEATHER of 41 Westcroft Square, Hammersmith in the County of
Middlesex, Tutor and Draughtsman, 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:-
This invention relates to car-starters and the storing of the force required to
stop a vehicle and the releasing and employing the same when required for
starting it; a spring or equivalent is employed to store energy given up by the

page_text: stoppage of the vehicle and deliver it up again for re-starting the same. It is an
important feature of the invention that easy and certain starting is ensured by
arranging that during its unwinding the spring shall operate at a greater mechanical
advantage than that at which it acts during its winding up. The invention may be
carried into effect in the manner indicated by way of example in the accompanying
drawings, wherein :-
Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing part of an omnibus with a starting device
according to this invention applied thereto, the parts occupying the position which
they are caused to take up when it is required to stop the vehicle.
Fig. 2 is a view showing part of Fig. 1 with the starting device shifted to bring
it into engagement with the road wheel at a point farther from the centre than
that with which it is engaged in Fig. 1, so as to start the vehicle. The chain lines
in this figure show the parts in the position they are caused to assume automatically
in the manner hereinafter explained.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, of the starting gear and
the road wheel upon which it operates;
Fig. 4 is an elevation partly in section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
A is the road wheel, A' is a toothed pinion encircling and fixel to the hub A',
and A is an internally toothed annular wheel fixed to the road wheel A; it is
concentric with the toothed wheel A¹ but of larger diameter. B is an intermediate
toothed wheel between the pinion A' and the wheel A; it is employed in combina-
tion with a spring in some such manner as is hereinafter explained and is adapted
to be put into gear with the wheel A' when the vehicle is to be stopped, so that
such stoppage is effected by the resistance of the aforesaid spring which opposes
the rotation of the wheel B and consequently of the wheel A' by which it is
actuated. After the spring is wound up as described, and has thus had the energy
of the stoppage stored in it, the wheel 'B is disengaged from the wheel A' and put
into gear with the wheel A; it will then be able, acting at the larger radius of
the wheel A under the influence of the wound-up spring, to very easily rotate the
wheel A in the same direction as that in which it was rotating just before it was
brought to rest, thus starting the vehicle.
Arrangements are made whereby rotation of the wheel B by the spring is
prevented during the time between its disengagement from the toothed pinion A',
and its engagement with the wheel A. In the example illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings a detent C is provided for this purpose, being pivotted to a sliding
block by which the intermediate wheel B is supported, so as to engage with a
ratchet wheel B¹ forming part of or otherwise arranged to rotate with the wheel B.
C is a tail provided upon the detent. D is a stop fixed to the body of the
vehicle or to some part of the apparatus which does not partake of the radial
movement of the wheel B, the stop being so disposed that the tail C comes into
contact with it and is thereby operated to effect the disengagement of the detent C
from the ratchet B' when but not until the teeth of the wheel B have come into
proper engagement with those of the wheel A; thus the spring can only unwind
at such times as it is operatively connected with the wheel A³. The detent is
spring-controlled or weighted in such manner that it automatically engages with
the ratchet at all times when it is not under the control of the stop D.
The wheel B turns on the non-rotatable spindlé E secured in the block F. B' is
a spiral spring fixed at one end B³ to the inner periphery of a portion B of the
wheel B, which serves as a spring casing, the other end of the spring being attached
at B to the spindle E; the wheel B and spring casing B are rotated in the
direction of the arrow Fig. 1, by the pinion A, when the parts are in gear in the
manner shown in that fig. & the spring B' is wound up, around the spindle E and
consequently tends to rotate the wheel B in a direction the reverse of that indicated
by the arrow; such tendency is allowed to have effect when the wheel B is properly
engaged as aforesaid with the wheel A. G G' are arms pivotted at G2 to a plate L
secured to the road wheel axle, the axis of the pivot G2 being eccentric to the axis

page_text: of rotation of the road wheel; one arm, G, is provided with a slot G, in which
the block F carrying the wheel B slides, and which is radial to the axis of the
road wheel. His a lever pivotted at H to the body of the vehicle and connectal
by the link H to the block F; by suitably operating this lever the driver of the
vehicle can move the block towards either end of the slot G³ in the arm G, so as to
bring the intermediate wheel B into gear with either the pinion A' or the wheel A',
or so as to retain the wheel B in a position intermediate between these two extremes,
as may be desired; the length of the link H is such that vertical, m remant of
the arms G G with the springs of the vehicle cannot cause it to displace the
block Fappreciably. J is a quadrant provided with two notches J' into either of
which the free arm of the lever H may be sprung to retain the gear in the inter-
mediate position or in that in which the spring is being wound up. The slotted
portion of the arm G is so disposed relatively to the pivot G' and wheel A that
its movement about the pivot G2 in the direction of the arrow marked thereon in
Figure 1 will bring the wheel B out of gear with the wheel A' anto'astically, when
necessary, as hereinafter described.
The arm G of the frame G is provided with a slot G in which engages a
projection L' from the plate L, so that whilst the two arms G G constitute a frame
free to have movement, mainly vertical, relatively to the body of the vehicle when
the vehicle-springs alter their form under stress, its angular movement about the
pivot G is limited by the projection L', but this limitation in no way affects the
proper operation of the starter. The slot G is of greater width than that of
the projection L so that when the wheel A' after being started by the operation
of the wheel B begins to overrun the latter, as it will do when the spring B' has
become slack, the arms G G¹ will be canted by the action of the wheel A³ into the
position indicated in Figure 2 by chain lines so that the wheel B is moved out of
gear. But when the spring is being wound up by the pinion A or is exerting a
driving effort upon the wheel A³ the reactions between the wheel teeth cause the
frame to assume the position in which it is shown in Figure 1, and in which it is
retained by the projection L', which under such circumstances presses against the
forward side of the vertical slot G, that is to say, toat side of the slot which in the
drawings is to the left-hand of the observer.
L' is a spring which projects from the plate L into the path of the arm G,
which has to be forced past the spring when the frame is tilted into the position
indicated by chain lines in Figure 2, and which has again to be forced past the
spring when the frame is restored to the position in which it is shown in Figure 1;
this spring is sufficiently stiff to prevent the frame being tilted by the action of
the link H or otherwise, and will only yield when power is applied to tha
wheel B through the road wheel A and ring A, thus preventing any possibility of
the frame being tilted during the movement of the pinion B towards the wheel A.
As an alternative to the spring the arms G G¹ may be provided with a balance
weight so disposed as to retain the frame in either of the two extrem positions to
which it can be tilted, except at such times as the tilting movement is effected by
the action of either of the toothed wheels A' A³.
L' are slotted plates extending vertically from the plate L, to which they are
fixed, so as to be guided by pins N fixed on the body of the vehicle; these plates
which may slide upon the pins N ensures the maintenance of the plate L, which
eneireles the axle of the road wheel, in a pusition which is always horizontal or
approximately so.
Instead of the gear wheels A B A being to thed spur they may be buvel wheels
or friction wheels; and instead of a single wheel B intermediate between the
wheels A' and A' a train of wheels, similarly adjustable ratially, could be employed.
The wheels A and A' instead of being attached directly to the road-wheel as in
the example illustrated in the drawings, might be operatively connected with the
road wheel in any desired manner; for example with a car axle they might both be
fixed directly to the axle. Also the spring-controlled intermediate wheel B neel
not contain the spring but may be placed in operative connection with a spring in

page_text: any suitable manner. The spring need not be metallic, but might for instance be
an air-spring or other resilient appliance.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what [
claim is :-
1. In a car-starter or the like, putting a spring into and out of connection with
a road wheel at points possessing different mechanical advantage, for the purpose
described.
2. In a car-starter or the like the combination with a wheel A of gear wheels A' A'
of different diameters, and a spring-controlled intermediate wheel B on a movable
support, with or without a retaining device to keep the spring inoperative during
the change from one wheel to the other substantially as and for the purpose
described.
3. In a car-starter or the like the combination with a wheel A of gear wheels A'A'
of different diameters, a wheel B on a movable support, and a spring connected at
one end to the wheel B and at the other end to a nou-rotatable part such as E, for
the purpose described.
4. In a car-starter or the like of the kind described the combination with an
intermediate wheel such as B of a device which during the movement of that
wheel out of gear with the wheel A¹ into gear with the wheel A³ locks and
automatically releases it for the purpose described.
5. In a car-starter or the like of the kind described the combination with the
wheel B of a ratchet B and a detent C arranged and operating substantially as
and for the purpose described.
6. In a car-starter or the like of the kind described means whereby the wheel B
is caused to become automatically disconnected from the wheel A³ when the latter
over-runs it, for the purpose described.
7. In a car-starter or the like of the kind described the combination with a
tilting frame such as G G¹ carrying an intermediate wheel B, of a device to limit
the angular movement of the frame, arranged and operating substantially as and
for the purpose described.
8. The combination with a car-starter or the like of the kind described, of a
support for the starter so arranged that the latter is not affected by movement of
the vehicle body relatively thereto.
9. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete car-
starter substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 9th day of January 1897.
THOS. HEATHER.
Boult & Wade,
Agents for the Applicant.