Improvements in Driving Gear for Mechanical Carriages.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Oct., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 28th Aug., 1896-Accepted, 10th Oct., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Driving Gear for Mechanical Carriages.
I, HERBERT AUSTIN, of Sydney Works, Aima Street, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
This invention relates to driving gear which is more especially intended for use
with road or other vehicles propelled by petroleum engines, electro-motors and
the like.
According to my invention I provide one or more series of differentially geared
bevel-wheels, preferably employing two series, which for sake of clearness I will
bereinafter denominate series No. 1 and series No. 2. Each of these series may
consist of three bevel-wheels of equal diameter, two of them, which I will
hereinafter term A and B, being arranged on axes that are in alignment, and the
remaining one, which I will hereinafter term C, being an intermediate wheel
gearing A and B together. The intermediate bevel-wheel C is mounted loosely
on a spindle which is carried by and extends diametrically across a hollow
cylindrical drum or casing within which the aforesaid bevel-wheels are enclosed.
This drum or casing, together with its spindle and wheel C, is capable of revolving
around the axes of the bevel-wheels A and B and its external circumference is
provided with a brake band or other suitable means for enabling the revolution of
the drum or casing to be controlled.
The axes of the bevel wheels A and B of both the series are each provided with
a gear-wheel, the gear-wheels on the axes of the wheels Bengaging with a gear-
wheel carried by the driven shaft, and the gear-wheels on the axes of the wheels A
gearing with each other. One of these last mentioned gear-wheels on the axes of
the bevel-wheels A is driven from the driving shaft.
The before mentioned brake-bands that control the revolution of the drums are
connected by suitable means to a hand-lever which is so arranged that, when in an
intermediate position, it keeps both of the brake-bands out of contact with the
drums. Therefore when the driving shaft revolves, the bevel wheels A of both
No. 1 and No. 2 series, revolve in opposite directions and the intermediate bevel-
wheels C and the drums revolve around the bevel wheels B without driving the
latter and consequently the vehicle remains stationary. When however, the lever
handle controlling the brake bands is shifted say in a direction to cause the brake
band of No. 1 series to grip its drum, this drum is prevented from revolving and
the bevel wheels A, B and C of this series then all revolve on their axes and the
driven shaft is thus revolved and the vehicle commences to move say in a forward
direction. If the said lever handle be shifted in the opposite direction then the
drum of No. 1 series is rendered free to revolve as before, while the revolution of
the drum of No. 2 series is now stopped, with the result that the bevel wheels A B
and C of this series now revolve and drive the driven shaft and therefore the
vehicle in the opposite direction. The vehicle can thus be readily started,
stopped or reversed without affecting the revolution of the driving shaft.
Dated this 29th day of October 1895.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Driving Gear for Mechanical Carriages.
I, HERBERT AUSTIN, of Sydney Works, Alma Street, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to driving gear which is more especially intended for use
with mechanically propelled road vehicles.
According to my invention 1 employ a pair of rotary drums operating in
conjunction with gearing which is so arranged relatively to the driving shaft of the
motor and the driven shaft of the carriage that when both of the drums are
permitted to revolve freely the driven shaft remains stationary, but when the
revolution of one or other of the said drums is retarded by a friction or brake band
or other suitable means the driven shaft is rotated in one or other direction through
the aforesaid gearing at a speed depending on the extent to which the said brake
band is caused to grip the drums. By these means the vehicle can be readily
started and stopped or its direction of movement reversed without stopping or
reversing the motor.
In order that my said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried
into effect I will proceed to describe the same more fully with reference to the
accompanying drawings in which :-
Figure 1 is a sectional plan and Figure 2 a vertical section on the line x x of
Figure 1.
A' A² are the two rotary drums each having hollow trunnions which are capable
of revolving in bearings carried by frames or standards B B. Each of the
aforesaid drums contains a series of bevel pinions a b c ; the pinion c being loosely
mounted on a transverse spindle c', carried by the drum and the other pinions a and b
being keyed or otherwise connected to the shafts a¹ 61 that extend through the
hollow trunnions of the drum. The outer ends of these shafts a¹ b' are furnished
with toothed wheels a 62 the wheels a' gearing with each other while the wheels b²
gear with an intermediate toothed wheel mounted on the driven shaft 4 which
in this instance is the shaft that drives the road wheels of the vehicle. D is the
motor shaft and d a toothed wheel thercon which gears with one of the aforesaid
wheels a and transmits revolution thereto. Each of the drums A' A" is
surrounded by a friction band C; these two bands being connected together by
means of a rocking piece C (Figure 2) which is carried by a spindle C supported
by the frame B. This rocking piece normally occupies such a position that
neither of the bands touches the drums; but by means of a hand lever C the said
rocking picce can be caused to move in either direction so that one or other
of the said bands can be brought into contact with its drum as required by the
driver.
On reference to Figure 1 it will be seen that when the motor shaft D is
revolving and neither of the friction bands is brought into operation, the pinion d
drives the two wheels a² a² in opposite directions as shewn by the arrows, and the
bevil pinions a and c therefore also revolve in the direction indicated by the arrows,
but owing to the load on the axle 4 the latter offers resistance to rotation and
therefore the pinion e rolls around the pinion without driving the latter and the
wheels 62 and 63 remain stationary; the pinions c and both of the drums revolving
in opposite directions without propelling the vehicle.
When however one of the drums (say the drum A') is prevented from revolving
by its friction band, the said pinion c is then restrained from rolling around the
pinion 6 and will therefore revolve on its spindle and drive the wheels bb and 6°
in the direction indicated by the arrows thereon. The shaft 6' will consequently

page_text: be revolved in a direction to propel the vehicle say in a forward direction in
accordance with the speed of the motor shaft and the arrangement of the gearing.
If only a partial grip be exerted on the drum A' by the friction band, then the
vehicle will travel at a correspondingly reduced speed owing to the slipping of the
drum.
The drum A2 operates in a similar manner to that already explained with
respect to the drum A¹ but acts to drive the shaft 64 and therefore the vehicle in
the reverse direction.
The aforesaid friction bands can if desired be utilised as brakes so that the
ordinary road wheel brakes can be dispensed with.
In cases where it is only required to provide for the propulsion of the vehicle in
one direction, only one of the aforesaid drums with its gearing and friction band
need be employed.
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 :-
1. In driving gear for a mechanically propelled vehicle, a rotary drum provided
with a brake and with gearing substantially as described, so that the vehicle
remains stationary when the drum revolves freely but is propelled when the
revolution of the drum is arrested or retarded.
2. Driving gear in which a pair of rotary drums, provided with bevil pinions and
frictional devices, are arranged to operate substantially as described with reference
to the accompanying drawings and for the purpose specified.
Dated this 28th day of August 1896
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.