IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jacques, Roux Delguey Malavas, Gentleman, of
Montbrison, in the Empire of France, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacques Roux Delguey
Malavas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 31st January 1855.
I, JACQUES ROUX DELGUEY MALAVAS, Gentleman, of Montbrison, in the
Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER" to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to an arrangement of apparatus or machinery for
obtaining motive power, which may be applied to driving machines, or for other
purposes where motive power may be required.
The apparatus consists of a number of circular plates or discs securely fixed
at a certain and regular distance apart on a long horizontal shaft which is
mounted in suitable bearings. These circular plates or discs are provided on
each side with a spring catch or detent,-which: spring catches or detents are

page_text: placed not only on opposite sides of the discs, but, also on opposite sides of the
centre of the said discs. Between these discs or circular plates are placed long
levers, the centres of motion of which are at one end, and their opposite ends
extend a little beyond the periphery of the discs, and rest in guides provided for
the purpose.
It has been said that the discs are securely fixed upon the horizontal main
shaft of the machine, but the detents are not placed in a straight line through-
out the machine, but are arranged in a spiral direction, the spring catches or
detents of any one disc being a little in advance of those of the disc immediately
preceding, and so on, throughout the series. As the main shaft with the discs
thereon rotates, the detents or spring catches on the discs are made to act on
the long levers in the following manner:-The detent or catch on one side is
made to catch under the lever, and as the main shaft and disc rotates will of
course lift up such lever until the catch is withdrawn or forced back, which is
effected by means of fixed pieces or wiping levers, or in any other convenient
and suitable manner; and when the catch is drawn or forced back the lever of
course falls, but before it becomes thus released the other detent of the disc
will have passed another point of the lever on the opposite side of the centre,
and will come beneath the lever, which will consequently drop and rest thereon.
The weight of the lever will therefore tend to force round the disc, and with it
the main shaft, on which it is mounted.
When the main shaft has been made to rotate once, the weight of the levers
by bearing on the discs will keep it continuously in motion, and the motion
and power thus obtained may be employed for driving any kind of machinery..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jacques Roux Delguey Malavas in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACQUES
ROUX DELGUEY MALAVAS, Gentleman, of Montbrison, in the Empire of France,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,

page_text: the said Jacques Roux Delguey Malavas, Her special license that I, the
said Jacques Roux Delguey Malavas, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Jacques Roux Delguey Malavas, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING
AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Jacques Roux Delguey Malavas, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 Jacques Roux Delguey Malavas,
do hereby declare the nature of my 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 Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My improved machinery for obtaining and applying motive power relates to
an arrangement of apparatus or machinery which I term gravitation machinery,
and may be employed for driving machines, and for almost every purpose for
which motive power may be required, but will be found peculiarly adapted for
raising water. The principle upon which the machine is constructed is founded
upon the laws of gravity, and the power depends upon the difference which
exists with the same weight, according to whether it is brought nearer to or
further from its point of gravitation. The machine is composed of a series of
several sets of a certain number of parts connected and acting together. Each
of these sets of parts are similar, as regards the number, form, and dimensions
of the several parts, so that one set of parts is a repetition of all the rest.
The principal parts for a set consist of an escapement balance or beam, a
carrying beam, a balance lever, two transmission beams, an elbow balance
having a support, two detents, a main axis, and several other small accessories;
all the other parts, such as springs, bearings, adjusting screws, brackets, and
other parts common to all machinery, are not mentioned or referred to in the
accompanying Drawings; in which, Fig. 1 is a plan view, and Figures 2 and 3
side elevations, of my improved machinery; Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 represent
some of the parts detached.

page_text: is the balance. lever, moving on an axis 19, and having at its extremity a
slot which works on the pin 23; 2, the escapement balance, working on a
shaft 183, the carrying balance or beam, working on a shaft.22; and:sliding
in a slotted piece 27; 4 is a slotted piece, for the reception of the detent-11;
5 and 6 are balance" levers; for transmitting: motion, and moving on axes 24
and 25;ithe-lever-5.being supported by a link 21; 7 are side plates attached
to the carrying, balance 8; and 8. is an elbow. lever rocking on an axis 17.; 9'is
a collar, sliding on a rod 16, and acted upon by a set screw to fix it to the rod
16; 10 is a perpendicular rod or link, attached to the. balance lever 1.; 11. is
a. detent, which, is chamfered off and acted upon by a spring,. asi shewn in
Fig.1; 12 (Fig. 1) is a detent, rocking backwards and forwards.onraishaft
28; 13 is a supporting "arm, attached to the lever 8,. and connected, to a
forked piece or joint,14 which has a collar sliding on a rod 15, and fixed, in
any required. position by. auset screw, as shewn in the Figures.. 31 is a
chanifered detent, working on a shaft.30, mounted in the supporting rods. 29;
32 is a weight 'suspended.to the carrying balance 3.
The escapement balance 2 is mounted firmly and immoveably upon the main
shaft 18, to which are fixed spirally all the escapément balance levers, which
compose a complete machine; each balance lever is furnished with two detents
11 and 12; the first one,11 is at the extremity of the right arm, and the other
one. 12. at the left extremity; the detent 11, on the 'right, is single acting, and
is constantly acted on by a spring; it is chamfered off on the. side on which
it is intended to act, and works horizontally in a slot. The left-hand detent 12
is double acting, and is placed at a certain point of gravitation of the escapement
balance, either to facilitaté its passage in the opposite, direction, or to diminish
the resistance in proportion to its approach.. This detent is mounted and turns
upon a small axis.28, and at its longer end takes into the second detent 31,
which is of a circular forni, -and is bevelled off towards its 'extremity, which
bevelled part on passing raises a fixed, piece 9, and: tliereby releases the said
detent 12.
The carrying beam 3 is niounted at its right hand extremity, as seen in the
Drawing, upon an axis 22, and its left'extremity rests upon a fixed point 27 in
a mortise or slot, wherein it is free to move vertically at the centre of the said
balance from the left-hand detent. At the point of gravitation of the beam 3
is suspended any suitable weight 32, according to the power of the machine.
It is this weight which determines the power which it is desired to obtain, and
this beam serves also as a point of support for the balance lever 1, for the two
transmission beams 5 and 6, and for the elbow lever 8.

page_text: The balance lever 1 has its point of gravitation at its short 'arm upon the
carrying balance 19, and its long arm rests freely upon a point which is placed
horizontally in a line with the main shaft, and the shaft of the carrying beam
23. This beam produces a double effect; first, by means of the triangulation
of the short arm the opening of the angle may always be completed, which is
wanted in the opening of the angle, described by the triangulation of the
carrying beam 3 in its ascensional movement, in order that the carrying beam
may be always situate over and upon the right-hand detent 11 of the escape-
ment beam before the left-hand detent 12 has operated; secondly, as the long
arm of the said beam may be of any length, this allows' of the resistance being
diminished in relative proportions, and even of reducing it to simple friction,
should the constructor.deem this desirable.
.
The two transmission beams 5, 6, have also their gravitating point upon
the carrying beam at 25, 20; they are linked together. The right arm of the
right-hand beam is connected at its extremity by an upright link 10 to the
extremity of the small arm of the large balance lever 1. The extremity of
the left arm of the left-hand beam is provided with a piece 4, of a certain form
and of suitable thickness, as represented at 4 in the Drawing. This piece
moves vertically upon one of the surfaces of the carrying balance without being
capable of movement either to the right or left, and in its rising movement
the right-hand detent 11 of the escapement lever, which is constantly forced
back in resuming its positión, comes under the said piece 4 an instant before
the left-hand detent 12 escapes. The elbow lever 8 has also its point of
gravitation upon the carrying beam 3, and has for its object to facilitate the
means of placing the left-hand rocking detent of the escapement beam near
enough to the point of gravitation of the said beam to allow of the easy
passage of the said detent to the right without touching the piece 4, worked
by the transmission beam, and which projects from the surface of the carrying
balance, and this approaching movement also diminishes the resistance in
relative proportions, as has been already stated..
"
There is no fixed number of series or sets of parts, but they must always
be in even numbers, and will be determined by the spaces observed by the
constructor in the division of the circle, the diameter of which would be repre-
sented by the length of the escapement beam; and whatever may be this
division, the number will be always even, as has been already stated, the first
series acting upon the second, the second upon the third, and so on, and the
last acting upon the first.
None of the parts must touch the main shaft in its rising and falling move-

page_text: ments, and there are never more than two sets which balance together and
only touch the detents.
Suppose, now, that a weight of two hundred pounds be suspended to the
centre of the carrying beam; there will be a weight of one hundred pounds upon
its point of gravitation, and an equal weight of one hundred pounds at the
opposite side towards the left-hand detent of the escapement beam. Suppose,
also, the carrying beam of the first set to be situate upon the right-hand
detent of the escapement beam; this right-hand detent, being brought to any
distance towards the point of gravitation of the carrying beam, will be con-
sequently the more heavily weighted in proportion as it is brought nearer
this point. Thus, in the position represented in the Drawing, the position
of the right-hand detent of the escapement beam represents the value of
one hundred and seventy-four over two hundred; the left-hand detent of the
following series will have to raise a weight of one hundred pounds; there will,
therefore, be one hundred and seventy-four pounds against one hundred, minus
the loss, according to the distance of the fulcrum or bearing point. from the
long side of the balance lever.
In the Drawing the long end of the balance lever is represented as being
about seven times the length of the short end; there is, therefore, one-seventh
part to subtract from one hundred and seventy-four; take about thirty-four-
from one hundred and seventy-four, and there will remain one hundred and
forty pounds against fifty pounds. Thus, after having made the balance of
the resistance of one hundred pounds, there will remain forty pounds to be
disposed of.
The carrying balance is always situated above and upon the detent of the
right arm of the escapement beam or lever before the detent of the left arm of
the said escapement lever of the following set has operated. It'will, therefore,
be perceived, from an attentive consideration of the foregoing, that the machine
when once set in motion cannot stop of itself. It is almost unnecessary to
remark that all the parts composing the movement of each set must be
invariable in position and rigid, whatever may be their length, in order that
there may be no variation in the movement. The machine above described
is simple in construction, easy to work, of great solidity, and requiring little
expense to keep it in working order, as this necessitates merely the lubrication
of axles, which is the least of all kinds of friction.
Having now described my Invention of "Improved Machinery for Obtaining
and Applying Motive Power," and the means of carrying the same into effect
I claim, as the Invention secured-to-me as aforesaid, the arrangement or

page_text: combination of parts herein shewn and described, or any mere modification
thereof, whereby the power obtained by the grayitation of certain weights may
be communicated to any driving shaft of machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jacques Roux Delguey Malavas, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JACQUES ROUX DELGUEY MALAVAS. (L.S.)
CHARLES A. PERPIGNA, Advocate,
of No. 46, Rue Ste. Anne, Paris.