IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLUTION INDICATORS AND RECORDERS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse, of
12, Thurlow Road, Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLUTION INDICATORS AND
RECORDERS."
Sealed the 24th November 1874, and dated the 30th May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Orange Wildman
Whitehouse at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th May 1874.
I, EDWARD ORANGE WILDMAN WHITEHOUSE, of 12, Thurlow Road,
Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLUTION INDICATORS AND
RECORDERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object to construct an instrument to shew
at all times while in operation the number of revolutions made by
machinery of any sort in the last minute, and to produce a diagram
record of the same, the result of the automatic counting up of each
minute's work.
The instrument is so arranged that not only can the record of each.
minute be seen as soon as completed, but that the diagram. paper.

page_text: when taken off at stated intervals (as 12 or 24 hours) shall contain as an
element for the calculation of the day's work the aggregate of all the
separate minutes which have been counted up thrown into the form of
a diagram for the whole time also, from which may be read off at a
glance the variations at any hour or minute.
To produce the above record I employ a mechanical pneumatic or
electrical connection with the engine or revolving shaft so as to produce
either a step-by-step or screw motion to propel an arm or slide bearing
a pen, a pencil tracer, or inking disc to-produce marks. This marker is
I made to traverse directly across a slip of paper kept in continuous
motion by a clock and train of wheels of suitable construction.
The paper (properly graduated) is traversed by the marker for the
space of a minute, the distance traversed depending upon the number of
revolutions in that time; at the end of the minute, by releasing action
of the clock, the tracer is arrested in its progress, released, and set back
to zero. The forward 'movement is then again repeated for a minute
and again checked and reversed, and so on and on continuously.
Thus the distance traversed by the marker across the graduations on
the paper during each minute indicates and records at once the number
of revolutions completed in the minute. The aggregate of all the
minutes thus recorded will produce a diagram record of the whole time,"
shewing every variation of speed which has occurred.
When it is required simply to indicate without recording the number
of revolutions being made by a shaft I employ one or more indicating
hands or pointers which are by clockwork intermittently put into and
out of connection with the shaft in such manner that the hand or
pointer shall for a given time, say a minute, be moved round or caused
to traverse a distance which will vary according to the number of
revolutions being made by the shaft, and shall then be thrown out of
connection with the shaft for a given time, say a minute, and remain
during this time in the position to which it had been moved; so indi-
cating during this time the number of revolutions made by the shaft
during the preceding minute. At the end of this time the pointer may:
be released and brought back to its normal position to be again moved.
by the revolution of the shaft. If two or more pointers are thus acted:
upon alternately the number of revolutions being made will at all times:
be indicated by one or other of them..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 30th November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ORANGE WILDMAN WHITEHOUSE, of 12, Thurlow Road, Hampstead, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Orange Wildman
Whitehouse, Her, special license, that I, the said Edward Orange
Wildman Whitehouse, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
- such others as I, the said Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for." IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLUTION INDICATORS AND RECORDERS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Orange Wildman
Whitehouse, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Orange Wildman
Whitehouse, 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 thereof,
that is to say :-
:
This Invention has for its object to construct an instrument to shew
at all times while in operation the number of revolution's made by.
machinery of any sort in the last minute, and to produce a diagram
record of the same, the result of the automatic counting up of each
minute's work.

page_text: The instrument is so arranged that not only can the record of each
minute be seen as soon as completed; but that the diagram paper when
taken off at stated intervals (as 12 or 24 hours) shall contain as an
element for the calculation of the day's work the aggregate of all the
separate minutes which have been counted up thrown into the form of a
diagram for the whole time, also from which may be read off at a
glance the variations at any hour or minute.
To produce the above record I employ a mechanical, pneumatic, or
electrical connection with the engine or revolving shaft so as to produce
either a step-by-step or screw motion to propel an arm or slide bearing
a pen, a pencil, tracer or inking disc to produce marks. This marker is
made to traverse directly across a slip of paper kept in continuous motion
by a clock and train of wheels of suitable construction.
The paper (properly graduated) is traversed by the marker for the
space of a minute, the distance traversed depending upon the number of
revolutions in that time. At the end of the minute, by a releasing
action of the clock, the tracer is arrested in its progress, released, and
set back to zero. The forward movement is then again repeated for a
minute, and again checked and reversed, and so on and on continuously.
Thus the distance traversed by the marker across the graduations on
the paper during each minute indicates and records at once the number
of revolutions completed in the minute. The aggregate of all the
minutes thus recorded will produce a diagram record of the whole time,
shewing every variation of speed which has occurred.
.
When it is required simply to indicate without recording the number
of revolutions being made by a shaft, I employ one or more indicating
hands or pointers which are by clockwork intermittently put into and
out of connection with the shaft in such manner that the hand or
pointer shall for a given time, say a minute, be moved round or caused
to traverse a distance which will vary according to the number of
revolutions being made by the shaft, and shall then be thrown out of
connection with the shaft for a given time, say a minute, and remain
during this time in the position to which it had been moved, so indi-
cating during this time the number of revolutions made by the shaft
during the preceding minute. At the end of this time the pointer may
be released and brought back to its normal position to be again moved
by the revolution of the shaft. If two or more pointers are thus acted

page_text: upon alternately the number of revolutions being made will at all times
be indicated by one or other of them.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings herc-
unto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
a is a drum driven by the clock bat a surface speed of say one and
a-half inches per hour. The drum is partially encircled by a band of
paper c, and as it revolves it carries the paper forwards with it.
Extending across the paper is a bar d, it is able to slide longitudinally
in guides, and it has ratchet teeth both on its upper and under surfaces.
e and fare pawls taking into these teeth; they work alternately, one pawl
being held off whilst the other is in action. The pawls are jointed to
rocking levers e¹ and f¹ respectively, and these take motion by means of
links e² and f from a lever g, which is suitably connected with the
engine or machine, the revolutions of which it is desired to count and
record. The Drawings shew a disc g' on the lever resting against an
clastic bag h, which is inflated each time that any moving part of the
engine or machine comes into contact with and squeezes an india-rubber
bottle which is connected with the bag / by a flexible pipe; g² is a
spring which causes the return of the lever g after cach forward motion,
and g is a stop regulating the length of the stroke of the lever g; i is a
lever forked at both ends. At one end its prongs embrace an eccentric j,
which at the end of every minute receives a half rotation from the
striking train of the clock, this train being liberated by the going
train at these intervals.
When the eccentric raises the end of the lever upon which it acts the
prongs at the other end of the lever allow the lower pawl e to engage
with the teeth of the bar d, but the upper pawl f is held off by the
lever i, and it cannot act. The bar d is then at each stroke moved a
step forward across the paper from left to right, and as it traverses it
draws a line upon the paper, it being provided with a capillary marking
tube d¹ dipping at one end into an ink bottle / containing a fluid,
glycerine, ink, and at the other end d* the point of the tube rests in
contact with the paper. The length of the line thus drawn upon the
paper will depend on the number of strokes of the lever g and of the
cugine from which it takes its motion. The paper is ruled. longitu-
"

page_text: dinally with lines at a distance apart corresponding to the pitch of the
ratchet so that the number of strokes or revolutions can be read off at
sight. At the end of the minute, the eccentric ; making a half revo-
lution, reverses the position of the lever i, and the pawl f commences to
act, the pawl e in turn being held off. The throw of the lever carrying
the pawl fis double that of the lever e¹ carrying the pawl e, and
consequently the bar & returns in about half the time it took to move
out. When it has returned the bar pauses (the pawl having arrived at
the end of the ratchet teeth) until the end of the minute, and then the
forward motion is recommenced. In this way a diagram is drawn
similar to that shewn at Figure 2. From this diagram the number of
revolutions at any time during the day's work can be read off and the
total number of revolutions can, if required, be readily ascertained.
Figure 3 is a front elevation, and Figure 4 is a side elevation of
another arrangement. a, a, are elastic bags inflated by the engine or
machine at each stroke or revolution as before. They lift a lever 6 upon
which the vertical shaft c is stepped, d is a spring which supports a
portion of the weight. The shaft c is able to slide through the boss of
the toothed wheel e, but when the wheel turns it carries the shaft round
with it; e, e, are intermediate wheels coupling the wheel e with the
wheel, which the clock y causes to turn through one-third of a
revolution once a minute.. This gear is also shewn at Figure 5, which is
a section taken on the line 1-1, in Figure 4; c* is a spring paw!
jointed to the shaft c, and partaking of its vertical motion, it acts on the
teeth of one or other of the three racks h', h², h³. These racks are
formed upon tubes which are able to slide up and down vertically within
the fixed slotted guide tubes 1, 2, 3. These tubes are seen in section at
Figure 6, the section is taken on the line 2-2, in Figure 4. Each rack
as it is raised is retained by a locking pawl. These pawls 1, 1², 1³, are
mounted on the platform k, they are clearly represented in Figure 7
which is a section taken on the line 3-3, in Figure 4; m³, m², m³, are
index pointers attached to the racks h², h², h³, they indicate against a
scale the height to which the tubes to which they are attached are
raised; c** is a cam formed on the upper end of the shaft c, and when
the shaft makes a partial turn at the end of a minute it acts upon the
tail of one of the locking pawls, and lifting it away from the teeth of the
rack which it retains, allows the rack to fall down, carrying its index to
the zero of the scale. .

page_text: The pawl c*, as is seen at Figure 6, is furnished with a curved incline
at its end to enable it to pass freely into gear with the several racks in
succession as the shaft c turns round.
The action then is as follows:-Each upward motion given by the
engine or machine to the shaft c is communicated by the pawl c* to the
rack with which the pawl happens to be in gear, but the rack does not
follow, the descent of the shaft being retained by the locking pawl on
the platform, so the rack with its index continues to rise until the end
of the minute. At this time the shaft c turning its pawl commences
to act in a similar manner upon another rack lifting it, the first rack
meanwhile remaining at the point to which it has been raised. At the
end of this minute the shaft c again turns, and again its pawl passes
from rack to rack, but now the rack first raised descends, carrying its
index with it, its locking pawl being tripped by the cam c**. Thus at
all times whilst the engine is at work one index will be in process of
rising, another will be standing marking on the scale the number of
strokes or revolutions of the engine or machine in the last minute, and
a third will be at the bottom of the scale waiting to be employed as soon
as the minute ends.
It is evident that a pen may be applied to preserve a continuous
record. The pen being supported always by the highest index will draw
on its travelling paper a diagram similar to Figure 8.
What I claim is the construction of apparatus for indicating or
recording the revolution of engines or machines, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Orange Wildman White-
house, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
E. O. WILDMAN WHITEHOUSE. (L.S.)