A New or Improved Motor for the Utilization of Muscular Power.
Year: 1885

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Motor for the Utilization of Muscular
Power.
I, CHARLES HUMBLOT, of Paris, France, Military Captain do hereby declare the.
nature of my invention for A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTOR and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
My invention relates to a machine for utilising human force and gravity, and
converting them into a motive power. For this purpose I contrive a rocking seat
with back, pivotting upon two pins, combined with a foot support also pivotting,.
and connected with the seat in such manner that the motion imparted to the seat
and that imparted to the foot support, combine and act simultaneously upon a
crank which transmits the motion to an elbowed shaft of a transmitting pulley.
The motion of this motive power is oscillatory; the person working it sits on the
rocking seat, and moves his body from backward or forward, taking his spring
from the foot support.
In the motion backwards, the effort to be made is effected by the pressure
exerted on the back at the same time as on the foot support, so that the effort
made by the loins, and that made by the feet combine to form one motion. In
the motion forward, the weight of the body brings back the machine to the
starting point. The motion backwards is therefore the only one to effect which an
effort is required.
In the accompanying drawings, similar letters indicate corresponding parts.
Fig. 1 is a full view of the machine. Fig. 2, a vertical section of the machine
showing its position in front and behind, at the extreme limit of its journey each
way. Fig. 3 a plan view. Fig. 4 a full view of the motor adapted to a tricycle.
Fig. 5 is a sectional view of fig. 4. Fig. 6 an horizontal section of fig. 4.
In fig. 1. A is a frame with 4 legs supporting the motor. B a rocking sent
bearing on two pins b, b; B¹ the back of the seat. The seat and the back rest on
two pins QQ supported by two legs C, C fixed upon a cross piece D forming a
pivot and resting on the frame A. The two legs C C are connected by a curve E
to a rod F which works in the crank J which transmits the motion to an elbowed
shaft K on which there is a fly-wheel L and a transmitting pulley M. G is a foot
support pivotting on the cross piece H and being connected with the seat by the
D

page_text: uprights I I. These uprights are fastened on the rods R of the foot support, so as
to join the seat and foot support firmly together. The rods R R, of the foot
support and the uprights I I overlap each other in such manner that the foot
support may be adjusted to the stature of the operator. Fig. 4. 5 and 6 are full
sectional and plan views respectively of a tricycle worked by my motor. In
fig. 4, S is a guiding lever with its crank. U a guiding wheel X the axle.
Y Y large wheels with india-rubber tires. Z endless chain. Although the
drawings represent the application of my motor to a tricycle, my invention may be
applied to any apparatus requiring motive power, such as sewing machines, pumps,
presses, grinding mills, foot lathes, and other similar machinery; it is especially
suitable for carriages and wheeled vehicles of various kinds. My motor may be
worked by one or more persons, back to back, a position affording the maximum of
power with minimum of effort. My machine may be looked upon as a lever
whose large arm consists of the back and seat, thus giving a length of about
60 centimetres on the side to which the power is applied, and whose small arm,
consisting of the rod F connected with the back legs, and of about 30 centimetres
long, as resistant. The fulcrum of the lever is the horizontal cross piece D.
Taking 65 kilogrammes as the average weight of a person, the machine is capable
of an average effort of 65 kilogrammes with a stroke of about 0.18 metre per
second, that is, with one oscillation per second; its kilogrammetric work is
therefore 181440 kilogrammetres in 8 hours. This work is therefore almost
equal to that of a crank 0.75 metre long from centre to centre.
The effort gives 8 kilogrammes.
The duration is 8 hours, which gives a result of 192800 kilogrammetres. The
machine is not hard to start, and its work may be doubled at a given moment;
the power may also be increased, without causing fatigue, by shortening the small
lever arm F which is graduated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The combination of a rocking seat B and its back B' with a foot support,
rocking also, combined so as to act simultaneously upon a lever F which transmits
the motion by a crank C to an elbowed shaft K on which there is a transmit-
ting wheel, and a fly wheel if necessary, substantially as above described for the
purposes set forth.