Improvements in Apparatus for Facilitating the Starting of Tramway- cars and other Vehicles.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Feb., 1889-Accepted, 6th July, 1889
Improvements in Apparatus for Facilitating the Starting of Tramway-
cars and other Vehicles.
I, JOHN HENRY PALMER, of 913 Arch Street Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania,
U.S.A., Inventor, 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:—
My invention has reference to car starters; and consists of certain improvements
all of which are fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the
accompanying drawings which form part thereof.
The object of my invention is to provide a suitable construction of car starter
which shall be simple and durable in operation, and easily manipulated.
In carrying out my invention I connect the car starter to the car body and prefer-
ably to the under part of the front platform, and couple it with the axle or axles of the
car by chains and sprocket wheels or otherwise.
The starter itself consists essentially
of a friction clutch between the starter shaft and a loose wheel having a spirally
arranged rope or chain groove over which the rope or chain passes, to connect said
grooved wheel with the draw bar to which the horses are attached. This draw bar is
normally locked against being drawn out after the car is started, but at starting the
lock is removed, so that the rope or chain is drawn out rotating the grooved wheel
with a preferably gradually increasing velocity and this through the mediation of the
friction clutch causes the car to be put into motion. After the car is started the
clutch is automatically loosened and a spring device returns the parts to their normal
positions when the draw-bar is locked as before. The principle on which the
apparatus operates is that the horses travel a greater distance than the car in starting
it from a state of rest over given space, and furthermore with a steady and uniform
pull on the draw-bar the car is caused to move with a gradually accelerated motion
whereby the final action of the draw-bar brings the car to its proper speed. Another
feature of my improvements is that while the horses start off with a pull of great
leverage starting the car from state of rest easily, their final pull on the draw bar and
rope or chain is as if the pull were directly upon the car body and hence all of the
changes are gradual and there is no sudden strains upon the horses.
In the drawings:-
Fig. 1, is a sectional side elevation of the forward end of a car with my improve-
ment applied thereto.
Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the car starter removed.
Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of same on line xx.
Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation of same on line y y.
Fig. 5 is a cross sectional elevation of Fig. 4 on line z z, and
Fig. 6 is a sectional side elevation of a car with a modification of my invention
applied thereto.
A is the car body. Bis the car starter proper and is connected thereto at any
convenient place, preferably under the front platform as shown. Motion is communi-
cated from the starter to the axles E by means of the sprocket wheels Cd and
chain D or by gearing or other suitable well known power transmitting devices.
Referring now to the car starter per se, F is the draw-bar to which the horses are
attached in any convenient manner. This draw-bar F is connected to a wire rope
or chain and first passes under the guide pulley R on the axis r, and then to the
wheel J passing around the groovej and being secured at its distant end. This
groove is preferably like a spiral so that as the rope is pulled and the wheel J rotates

page_text: the leverage becomes less and less until it equals the pitch of the sprocket wheel C
on the starter shaft K and as the sprocket wheels C and d are preferably of unequal
diameters, the final pull by the horses equals the pull upon the car direct. By this
means the horses start off a given pull which is substantially equal to that of the
car in full motion and as the car has its speed increased the leverage decreases so
that the pull of the horses remains the same. G is a lock to hold the draw-bar in
when the starter is not being used. This lock consists of a pivoted lever fulcrumed
on and having a slotted end at 9 which fits down around the draw-bar and prevents
its being pulled out. H is a foot lever which acts upon a rear extension of the lover G
and causes it to be oscillated to unlock the draw-bar when desired to start the car.
Normally, or when the car is in motion the lock holds the draw-bar in. The shaft K
is looosely journaled in the bearings i in the frame I of the starter to which all of
the parts are directly or indirectly attached. Secured to the shaft K is the friction.
band wheel L, and upon its hub or shaft is loosely journaled the grooved wheel J.
M is a steel friction band and connects at its ends with two transverse pins or rods O
and P secured to a U shaped frame N pivoted to the wheel J and an extension thereof
at n or between the rods O and P and the central shaft K. The extension of the
wheel J is J¹ and is secured to it by the connecting bars J². This frame N is free to
oscillate on n as a fulcrum, and in doing so its movement in one direction makes the
band M bind upon the band wheel, and in the other direction to cause the band to become
loose upon the band wheel. The rod P is made to extend from both ends through
slots c'in the wheel J and extension J¹ and are connected to the ends of springs p
encircling the bearings i and having their other ends connected with the frame i as
shown in Fig. 2. It is evident that if the wheel J is moved in the direction of the
arrow the springs p will pull upon the rods P in the opposite direction and cause the
frame N to rotate on P as a fulcrum and tighten the band upon the band wheel L.
As the wheel J is moved around, the band wheel, its shaft K and sprocket wheel
are rotated also giving the main axle and its wheels substantially one revolution, and
the car a movement forward of about seven feet. When the full rotation of the
wheel J has been made the extended end U of the frame N strikes a lug S on the
frame I or one of its bearings and this oscillates it against the action of the springs i
and releases the band M from wheel L which continues to rotate, and the momentum
of the car carries it forward and the slackening on the rope or chain fallows the
springs to return the wheel J and connections to their normal or original position,
and in so returning the effect of the springs and also the movement of wheel L
is to keep the band M loose. When the parts return to their original position the
frame N at its end may rest against the frame I at T (Figs. 4), and the lock G is
dropped to hold the draw bar from being pulled out upon further action of the
horses while the car is in motion. It will be noticed that in the mechanical action
of this starter the two rods O and P are alternately acting as fulcrums according as
to whether the band is to be released from the wheel L or tightened upon it.
I do not confine myself to the details of construction as the parts may be modified
in various ways without departing from the spirit of my invention, for instance one
modification of this apparatus is shown in Fig. 6 in which the same letters correspond
to similar parts in the other figures already described. In this case the grooved
wheel J has a groove of the same radius and G is the lock for the wheel J in
place of acting on the draw bar. This lock G is moved into or out of place by
a link H2 which in turn may be locked down by a pivoted foot lock H¹, to prevent
the lock G¹ from moving out of the way of the wheel J. In this case the rope f
has its end connected with the piece N and the spring p in this case would be
connected to the inner rod P, while the outer rod O would be pivoted to the wheel J.
When the rope f pulls the wheel J around it operates the lever piece N and makes the
band M grip the wheel L to propel the car. When the rope fis released the spring
would pull upon the rod P and release the band M.
The mere details of construction may be modified in various ways without changing
the principles of the invention and hence I do not limit myself thereto.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1st. In a car starter the combination of an extensible draw bar, a wheel operated
thereby, a friction clutch wheel, and a friction clutch band encircling said friction
clutch wheel, a band tightening connection between the band, and wheel operated by
the draw bar, and a power connection for connecting the friction clutch wheel and
axle of the vehicle.
2nd. In a car starter the combination of an extensible draw bar, a wheel operated
thereby, a friction clutch wheel, a friction clutch hand encircling said friction clutch
wheel, a band tightening connection between the hand and wheel operated by the
draw bar, a power connection for connecting the friction clutch wheel and axle of the
vehicle, and a spring to return the draw bar and its wheel to their normal position
after the vehicle has started.
3rd. In a car starter the combination of an extensible draw bar, a lock to prevent
said draw bar being drawn out except when desired, a wheel operated thereby, a
friction clutch wheel, and a friction clutch band encircling said friction clutch wheel,
a band tightening connection between the band and wheel operated by the draw
bar, and a power connection for connecting the friction clutch wheel and axle of
the vehicle.
4th. In a car starter the combination of an extensible draw bar, a lock to prevent
said draw bar being drawn out except when desired, a wheel operated thereby, a
friction clutch wheel, and a friction clutch band encircling said friction clutch wheel,
a band tightening connection between the band and wheel operated by the draw
bar, a power connection for connecting the friction clutch wheel and axle of the
vehicle, and a spring acting upon the band tightening connection to make it unclutch
the band wheel and return the draw bar and its wheel to their original and normal
position.
5th. The combination in a car starter of a power shaft having a friction wheel
secured thereto, a loose wheel supported concentric with said shaft, a draw bar, a
connection between said draw bar and loose wheel, a lock to hold said draw bar from
being pulled out except when desired, a friction band encircling the friction wheel,
and a band tightening device carried by the loose wheel.
6th. The combination in a car starter of a power shaft having a friction wheel
secured thereto a loose wheel supported concentric with said shaft, and having a
spirally formed rope or chain surface, a draw bar, a flexible connection between said
draw bar and loose wheel, a lock to hold said draw bar from being pulled out
except when desired, a friction band encircling the friction wheel, and a band
tightening device carried by the loose wheel.
7th. The combination in a car starter of a power shaft having a friction wheel
secured thereto, a loose wheel supported concentric with said shaft, a draw bar, a con-
nection between said draw bar and loose wheel, a lock to hold said draw bar from
being pulled out except when desired, a friction band encircling the friction wheel, a
band tightening device carried by the loose wheel, and a spring to return the draw
bar and loose wheel to their normal position after being put in motion.
8th. The combination in a car starter of a power shaft having a friction wheel
secured thereto, a loose wheel supported concentric with said shaft, and having a
spirally formed rope or chain surface, a draw bar, a flexible connection between said
draw bar and loose wheel, a lock to hold said draw bar from being pulled out except
when desired, a friction band encircling the friction wheel, a band tightening device
carried by the loose wheel, and a spring to return the draw bar and loose wheel to
their normal position after being put in motion.
9th. The combination in a car starter of a power shaft having a friction wheel
secured thereto, a loose wheel supported concentric with said shaft, a draw bar, a
connection between said draw bar and loose wheel, a lock to hold said draw bar from
being pulled out except when desired, a friction band encircling the friction wheel, a

page_text: band tightening device carried by the loose wheel, consisting of a frame pivoted to
the loose wheel at its inner end and having connections with the two ends of the
friction band and at different distances from the pivot connection of the frame, and a
spring connected to the inner of said band connections to release the friction band and
return the loose wheel to its normal position.
10th. The combination in a car starter of a power shaft having a friction wheel
secured thereto, a loose wheel supported concentric with said shaft, a draw bar, a
connection between said draw bar and loose wheel, a lock to hold said draw bar from
being pulled out except when desired, a friction band encircling the friction wheel, a
band tightening device carried by the loose wheel, consisting of the pivoted frame N
having a hinge connection at n with the loose wheel and having rods OP connecting
with the ends of the friction band, and a spring acting upon the rod P to release
the friction band and return the loose wheel to its original position.
11th. The combination in a car starter of a power shaft having a friction wheel
secured thereto, a loose wheel supported concentric with said shaft, a draw bar, a
connection between said draw bar and loose wheel, a lock to hold said draw bar from
being pulled out except when desired, a friction band encircling the friction wheel, a
band tightening device carried by the loose wheel, consisting of the pivoted frame N
having a hinge connection at n with the loose wheel and having an extension U and
having rods P connecting with the ends of the friction band, a spring acting upon
the rod P to release the friction band and return the loose wheel to its original
position, and a stop S in the path of said extension U to automatically release the
friction hand when the loose wheel has made a given portion of a revolution.
12th. The combination of the axle of the car, a car starter having a spirally
'arranged groove or surface, a draw bar and chain or rope therefor, a sprocket wheel
on the axle and the shaft of the car starter and of different diameters, a chain con-
necting said sprocket wheels, and in which the smallest radius of the spiral groove is
substantially equal to the radius of the smallest sprocket wheel which is secured to
the car starter shaft.
Dated this 8th day of Februno. 1000
JOHN H. PALMER.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.