AN IM. PROVED ANTIFRICTION APPARATUS FOR SHAFTS, AXLES, AND OTHER REVOLVING SURFACES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Alphonse Brussaut, of Mout de Marsan, Town
in the French Empire, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IM.
PROVED ANTIFRICTION APPARATUS FOR SHAFTS, AXLES, AND OTHER REVOLVING
SURFACES."
Sealed the 18th May 1858, and dated the 20th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Alphonse Brussaut
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th November 1857.
I, PIERRE ALPHONSE BRUSSAUT, of Mont de Marsan, Town in the French
Empire, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED ANTIFRICTION APPARATUS FOR SHAFTS, AXLES, AND OTHER
REVOLVING SURFACES," to be as follows:-
My apparatus consists of rollers or cylinders arranged round a shaft or axle
or other revolving surface, each roller or cylinder being in itself free to revolve
within a box or frame, and all the rollers being connected to each other by
endless straps or bands of leather, gutta percha, or other like suitable material.
In order to increase the efficiency of the apparatus, one set of rollers placed
round the shaft may be coutained in a cylinder or ring, which is again
surrounded by other friction rollers connected by straps or bands, and working
within a circular box, cylinder, or bearing.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Alphonse Brussaut in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
ALPHONSE BRUSSAUT, of Mont de Marsan, Town in the French Empire, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Pierre Alphonse Brussaut, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre
Alphouse Brussnut, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
1, the said Pierre Alphonse Brussaut, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and uo others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
AN IMPROVED ANTIPRICTION APPARATUS FOR SHAFTS, AXLES,
AND OTHER
REVOLVING SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Pierre Alphonse Brussaut, my executors or administrators, by au instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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. 1, the said Pierre Alphonse Brussaut, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My apparatus consists of rollers or cylinders arranged round a shaft or axle
or other revolving surface, each roller or cylinder being itself free to revolve
within a box or frame, and all the rollers being connected to each other by end-
less straps or bands of leather, gutta percha, or other like suitable material.
In order to increase the efficiency of the apparatus, one sot of rollers placed
round the shaft may be contained in a cylinder or ring, which is again
surrounded by other friction rollers connected by straps or bands, and working
within a circular box, cylindor, or bearing.

page_text: In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have illustrated the manner in which
I carry my Invention into effect. Figure 1 is a front view, and Figure 2 an
end view, partly in section, of several rollers arranged and combined in the
manner and for the purpose described. a, a, a, are the rollers, the axes b, b, b,
of which are connected two and two by the bands (belts or cords) K, K. The
object of these bands is merely to keep the rollers in the same relative positions
at all points of their paths, both when they are and when they are not below
and subjected to the downward pressure of the shaft or axle to which they are
applied. Figure 3 is a front elevation of an arrangement similar to the
preceding, but the bands K, K, are here placed in grooves formed within the
substance of the rollers a', a', and not at their ends, as in Figure 1.
In Figures 4, 5, and 6 I have illustrated the manner in which my improved
apparatus may be applied to the shafts or bearings of steam and other engines.
The shaft 6 is surrounded by the rollers a, a, connected as before by bands
K, K. These rollers are again enveloped by the bearings c. In this arrange-
ment all the surfaces in contact roll past each other, none of them slide.
Friction is therefore entirely or very nearly got rid of.
In
In Figure 7 I have shewn the manner in which I apply my apparatus to
the axle box of a vehicle of any description. a, a', are the rollers, and d is
that portion of the axle e which receives the wear. fis the axle box, with
which, as well as with the surface of d, the rollers a, a', are in contact.
this case the axle is of course relatively fixed, and the rollers move round it.
In Figure 8 I have represented the manner in which I propose to apply my
apparatus to the bearings of upright shafts. g is an upright shaft upon the
heel of which is fitted a grooved shoe-piece h, h, around and partially within
the groove of which are fitted the rollers a², a², which resemble in their con-
struction and action the rollers a, a', previously described, except that the
former are conical and have their axes inclined. These rollers a², a*, run in
grooves formed in the sole plate i, by which they are sustained.
In Figure 9 I have indicated the manner in which I apply my apparatus to
weighing machines. a, a, are the friction rollers surrounding the axle b, and
running within the hollow axle or cylinder c.
In Figure 10 I have shewn an arrangement of my apparatus which I apply
to shafts, axles, and other revolving surfaces which are moved at very high
velocities. In this Figure it will be seen that one set of rollers a' placed
around the central shaft or axle b is contained within a cylinder or ring c,
which is again surrounded by other friction rollers d, d, working within a
circular box, cylinder, or bearing e. By this means the velocity with which the
several friction rollers move is rendered comparatively small. In some cases

page_text: it may be desirable; to apply a third or even a fourth series of such rollers
similarly fitted; do not therefore confine myself to any limit, in this
espatidmon has begun fluvioty bou
And having now described, the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the improved
antifriction apparatus for shafts, axles, and other revolving surfaces herein-
before.described, such apparatus consisting of rollers placed around or in
contact with such surfaces, and connected by endless straps or bands of leather,
gutta percha, or other like material, in the manner illustrated in the Drawings
hereunto aunexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Alphonse Brussaut, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
PRE ALPH. BRUSSAUT. (L.S.)
Witness,
CII. ARMENGAUD, J, Civil Engineer,
: Y
Boulev de Strasbourg.
No. 23, à Paris.