IMPROVEMENTS IN CRANK MOTIONS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,.
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRANK MOTIONS."-A communication
from abroad by Thomas Taylor, of New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana,
United States of America.
Sealed the 22nd October 1867, and dated the 19th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th August 1867.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRANK MOTIONS," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to avoid the "dead points" or "dead
centres of a crank motion, and to make the power that drives the crank
available during the whole or any part of the rotation of the crank.
The Invention consists in the use of two connecting rods working on one
crank, and at nearly a right angle to each other'; they are connected with an
oscillating frame, and are furnished with catches and let-goes, so that they will
at the proper time and place be self-connecting with and self-detaching from
the crank, and will take hold of and let go alternately, and at such angle of
the crank, with regard to its crank pin and shaft or journals as will most
readily apply or transmit the propelling power to it. Each connecting rod

page_text: moves the crank a quarter revolution, and they alternate with each other,
each in its turn passing the crank beyond where the dead centres of its mate
or fellow would be, and the power is thus transmitted through the rods to the
crank at its most available or efficient point.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did. for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRANK MOTIONS," being a communication to
me from abroad by Thomas Taylor, of New Orleans, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to avoid the "dead points" or "dead

page_text: centres
" of a crank motion, and to make the power that drives the crank
available during the whole or any part of the rotation of the crank.
+
The Invention consists in the use of two connecting rods working on one
crank and at nearly a right angle to each other; they are connected with
an oscillating frame, and are furnished with catches and let-goes, so that they
will at the proper time and place be self-connecting with and self-detaching
from the crank, and will take hold of and let go alternately, and at such angle
of the crank with regard to its crank pin and shaft or journals as will most
readily apply or transmit the propelling power to it.
▸
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents a top plan of an appa-
ratus which shews the mode of applying power to a crank by two connecting
rods; Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the same; Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
shew various positions of the connecting rods, crank, and connecting and
detaching, mechanism when the crank is turned in the direction of the arrows
therein shown; Figures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, represent the several positions of the
connecting rod, crank, and other operating mechanism when the crank is
turning in an opposite direction or in the direction shewn by the arrows;
Figures 13 and 14 represent portions of the ends of the connecting rods not
clearly seen in the other Drawings.
A, A, represent columns, near the top of which the journals or trunnions
a, a, of a two-armed lever B, B', are supported; these arms are braced by a
diagonal brace C to give them proper strength. The power (steam or other-
wise) to vibrate or swing this frame B, B, C, may be applied either horizontally
to the vertical arm or vertically to the horizontal arm, as at the points b, c.
To these arms B, B¹, are respectively pivotted the connecting rods D, E.
These connecting rods D, E, are much alike in their general'construction, that
is, each one has a slot f near its end, which allows it to slide upon the crank
wrist e when its mate or fellow is connected to and driving the crank F, and
each has at or near each of the ends of the slot a weighted hook, or its
mechanical equivalent, and a tripping mechanism to throw out the book of its
mate or fellow. The hooks are shewn-at.1,-their-weight or overpoise at 2,-and-
the tripper at 3. The hook and weight in some instances are or may be in
one piece, and connected with them is a hinged cam or arm 4, by which the
hook and weight are moved. In some cases however the weight may be on
the hinged or pivotted cam, and the same effect produced, viz., moved
positively in one direction by mechanism, and in the other direction by the
weight or overpoise.
In the Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 the connecting rods and their several con--
nected parts are shewn in black lines. The straight dotted line shews.the

page_text: position of the crank, and the circular dotted line y the circuit of rotation or
sweep of the crank wrist. In Fig. 3 the hook 1 of the connecting rod Ę
is represented as yet in working connection with the crank wrist and crank,
but at or near the point of rotation of the crank, where it lets go of the wrist,
and the hook of the other connecting rod D takes hold of the wrist. Fig. 4
shews the extent of the movement, and the position of the same parts after the
hook of the rod E has released itself, and the hook of the other rod D bas
connected itself with the crank wrist, the releasing of the one and the catching
of the other being simultaneous acts, or nearly so. The parts remain in the
positions shewn in Fig. 4, except that the rod E by means of its slot has raised
up the crank, and its mate or fellow has moved the crank forward in its sweep
until they arrive at or about the position shewn in Fig. 5, which is about a
quarter of a circle, the hook of the rod D still holding on to the crank wrist,
but about to be disconnected, and the hook of the rod E about to take the
wrist pin and move the crank another quarter revolution, which will bring it
to the position shewn in Fig. 6, where the hooks are represented as reversed
in action, that of the rod D being connected with and that of the rod E dis-
connected from the wrist e, and in this position they remain whilst the crank
is turned another quarter revolution, and into the position shewn in Fig. 7,
where the hooks have again changed, and the next quarter revolution brings
the parts around to and in the position shewn in Fig. 3. Each connecting
rod moves the crank a quarter revolution, and they alternate. with each other,
each in its turn passing the crank beyond where the dead centres of its mate
or fellow would be, and the power is thus transmitted through the rods to the
crank at its most available, or efficient point. If the crank were only to be
turned in one continuous direction, as shewn in the Figures from 3 to 7, the
mechanism would or could be very much simplified; but as in propelling
vessel it is necessary to change the rotation of the crank or reverse its motion,
and the Invention makes full provision for this, the changing or reversing
may take place at any time or place in the middle of the stroke, as in any
ordinary crank attachment, no manipulation or change of parts being required
for such change.
&
Figures 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 shew the changes and positions made when
the crank is reversed from that shewn in Figures 3 to 7. It is unnecessary to
recapitulate these changes, as they are shewn in the Drawings at each quarter
revolution or points where the rods connect and disconnect, and by the same
marks of reference, the general characteristic of the Invention being that two
connecting rods work in connection with one crank alternating with each
other, taking hold and letting go automatically, each turning the crank a quarter

page_text: revolution, and each passing the other over or past its "dead centre," as it is
mechanically termed, and active only when in its most available position for
applying the power to the crank. I have represented a balance wheel H as
connected to the crank shaft for the usual purpose of steadying its motion.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improvements in
crank motions, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the combi-
nation of two connecting rods operated from one oscillating frame and with
suitable catches or latches and "let-goes," working upon a crank alternately,
so that one shall always be connected to or with the crank to move or turn it
past the "dead centres" of the other, and thus avoid what is mechanically
called the "dead points" thereof, and so that the crank may be reversed
as any ordinary crank is without changing or setting any of the parts,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)