AN-IMPROVED COUPLING FOR SECURING TOGETHER PORTIONS OF SCREW PROPELLER AND OTHER SHAFTING REQUIRING TO BE DRIVEN IN A CONTINUOUS LENGTH.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Henry Varley, of Mildmay Park
Works, Highbury, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN-IMPROVED COUPLING FOR SECURING TOGETHER PORTIONS
OF SCREW PROPELLER AND OTHER SHAFTING REQUIRING TO BE DRIVEN IN A
CONTINUOUS LENGTH.".
Sealed the 23rd July 1875, and dated the 25th January 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Henry Varley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th January 1875.
I, FREDERICK HENRY VARLEY, of Mildmay Park Works; Highbury,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED COUPLING FOR SECURING TOGETHER
PORTIONS OF SCREW PROPELLER AND OTHER SHAFTING REQUIRING TO BE DRIVEN IN
A CONTINUOUS LENGTH," to be as follows:-

page_text: length in a simpler manner of application than the usual method of
bolting together segments or portions of the coupling, thereby saving
considerable time in fitting on or taking off the coupling aforesaid.
Now according to my Invention bolts for drawing together the
corresponding segments are not needed, their functions being supplied
by taper wedges with ridges or projecting edges which fit into slots or
recessed grooves cut on an incline to a plane drawn through the axis of
the coupling, so that when the opposite or corresponding segments arc
placed together the slots or recessed grooves form hollow taper channels
in which taper wedges with ridges or projecting edges can be made to
enter, which by being driven forward into their respective grooves or
channels draw the segments of the coupling together in proportion to
the amount the wedges are driven forward.
When the coupling is made of half cylinders two or more wedges are
employed to draw the corresponding halves together.
I fit into the segments or halves of the coupling steel jaws with
cutting edges projecting somewhat beyond the inner surface, forming
either a single or a continuous tooth or series of teeth which grip into
and form an indent, and, or raise a ridge of metal from the shaft on the
closing of the halves or segments of the coupling together to prevent the
coupled shaft turning in the coupling.
The taper wedges which draw the halves or segments of the coupling
together slide into the grooves, which. arc preferably made in the
substance of the metal between the interior and exterior of the hollow
cylinder, by which I procure a cylindrical surface for the coupling
capable of running in a bearing.
When it is requisite to couple a shaft at the flanges or butts of the
permanent coupling of a screw propeller or similar shaft a double
coupling is employed, each of which have projecting. lugs. or circular
flanges of a greater diameter than the butts or permanent couplings of
the shaft, and on the flanges there are projecting pieces and correspond-
ing spaces which interlock one with the other, like the teeth of an
ordinary driving clutch, to enable each portion of the double couplings
which are secured on their respective portions of the shaft to be geared
together by means of the interlocking projections fitting into correspond-
ing spaces. The double couplings are kept in gear by means of a curved
wedge or wedges which fit over a circular inclined surface and draw the

page_text: flanges together, but where the space is limited bolts may be employed
to maintain the two couplings in gear.
To couple a broken or disconnected shaft the coupling already
described is applied as follows:-The cylindrical halves or segments of
the coupling are placed over the portions of the shaft to be secured, the
taper wedges are then driven into the recessed grooves or channels to
draw cach portion of the hollow cylinders together untill the steel jaws
cut into, and, or indent the enclosed shaft, and thus the coupling is made
to cut its own keyways by the act of drawing the segments together,
preventing either portion of the shaft turning within the coupling, but
when the breakage or disconnection to be secured or repaired is at the
butts or flanges of the permanent coupling of screw propeller or similar
shafts the double coupling already described is employed.
.
By using my Invention every case of probable breakage of the screw
shaft can be repaired speedily, which is an essential object gained when
a screw steamer is so disabled at sea.
The coupling self keys at the same time as it grips the shaft, and
therefore does not necessitate the aid of experienced workmen to cut
keyways.
The coupling having a cylindrical contour is capable of running
in bearings or with portions of the shaft where other forms are im-
practicable.
_
5
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Henry Varley in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 24th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
HENRY VARLEY, of. Mildmay Park Works, Highbury, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Henry Varley, Her special

page_text: licence that I, the said. Frederick Henry Varley, my executors, admi-
nistrators; and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Henry
Varley, 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 Invention
for "AN IMPROVED COUPLING FOR SECURING TOGETHER PORTIONS OF SCREW PRO-
PELLER AND OTHER SHAFTING REQUIRING TO BE DRIVEN IN A CONTINUOUS LENGTH,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Henry
Varley, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
€
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Henry Varley, 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 and the accompanying Sheet of illustrativo
Drawings:-
This Invention has for its object the construction and application of
an improved coupling for securing together portions of shafting requiring
to be driven in a continuous length in a simpler manner than the usual
method of bolting together segments or portions of the coupling,
thereby saving considerable time in fitting on or taking off the coupling
aforesaid.
Now according to my Invention bolts or bolts and nuts for drawing
together the corresponding segments or portions of the coupling are not
needed, their functions being supplied by the use of taper wedges, with
ridges or projecting edges which fit into slots or recessed grooves cut on
an incline to a plane drawn through the axis of the coupling, so that
when the opposite or corresponding segments are placed together the
slots or recessed grooves form hollow taper channels, into which taper
wedges with ridges or projecting edges can be made to enter, and which,
by being driven forward into their respective grooves or channels, draw
the segments of the coupling together in proportion to the amount or'
extent to which the wedges are driven forward. .

page_text: more wedges are employed to draw the corresponding parts together.
I fit into the segments or halves of the coupling steel jaws, with
cutting edges projecting somewhat beyond the inner surface thereof,
and forming either a single or a continuous tooth or a series of teeth
which grip into and form an indent, and, or raise a ridge of metal upon
or from the shaft itself so as on the closing of the halves or segments of
the coupling together to prevent the coupled shaft turning in or within
the coupling.
The taper edges which draw the halves or segments of the coupling
together slide into the grooves, which are preferably made in tho
substance of the metal between the interior and exterior of the hollow
cylinder by which I produce and provide a cylindrical surface for the
coupling (externally) which is thus capable of running in a bearing.
"
When it is requisite to couple a shaft at the flanges or butts of the
permanent coupling of say a screw propeller or similar shaft a double
coupling is employed, each of which portions have projecting lugs or
circular flanges of a greater diameter than the butts or permanent
couplings of the shaft, and on the flanges there are projecting pieces and
corresponding spaces which interlock one with the other like the teeth
of an ordinary driving clutch to enable each portion of the double
couplings which is secured on its respective portion of the shaft to be
geared as it were together by means of the interlocking projections
fitting into corresponding spaces. These double couplings are kept in
gear by means of a curved wedge, or wedges which fit over a circular
inclined surface and draw the-flanges together; but where the space is
limited bolts may be employed to maintain the two portions of such
couplings in gear.
.
To couple a broken or disconnected shaft the coupling already
described is applied as follows: The cylindrical halves or segments of
the coupling are placed over the portions of the shaft to be secured, the
taper wedges are then driven into the recessed grooves or channels to
draw each portion of these hollow cylinders together until the steel jaws
cut into and (or) indent the enclosed shaft, and thus the coupling is
made to cut its own keyways by the act of drawing the segments
together and so preventing cither portion of the shaft turning within
the coupling; but when the breakage or disconnection of the portion of

page_text: :
the shaft to be secured or repaired is at the butts or flanges of the
permanent coupling of, say, screw propeller or similar shafts the double
coupling already described may be employed.
. By using these contrivances every description or form of breakage of
the screw shaft can be repaired speedily, which is an essential object
gained when a screw steamer is so disabled at sea.
.
The coupling self-actingly keys at the same time as it grips the shaft,
and therefore does not necessitate the aid of experienced workmen to
cut keyways.
The coupling described having externally a cylindrical contour is
capable of running freely in bearings or with portions of the shaft where
other forms are impracticable.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figures 1, 2, and 3 are views
of a coupling adapted to the covering, strengthening and securing
together two portions of a fractured shaft. Figure 1 is an end view,
showing the shaft surrounded by the coupling applied in two semi-
circular portions; Figure 2 is a side elevational view, the fracture in the
shaft being shown dotted in, as is also the position of the grooves or
channels having reference to Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a corresponding
view to Figure 2, being a horizontal plan and part section of Figure 1.
a, a, a, a, are four steel toothings which are inserted within suitably
shaped grooves or receivers cut longitudinally along the interior of the
coupling piece, as shown in section; b, b, are T and 1 sectioned grooves
along the junction faces of the two portions of the coupling, and being
tapered along their length so that the top and bottom webs or flanches
approach cach other, as shown in Figure 2, whilst the vertical grooves for
receiving the middle webb or body of the wedge piece are formed parallel
with the shaft, as seen in Figure 3 (the plan).
Figure 4 is a side view of a taper wedge piece, of which Figures 5
and 6 are end views, Figure 5 being the base end and Figure 6 the
the smaller end or point of the wedge, Figure 4.
.
Figure 7 is an end view of a shaft having a
"cheese head" coupling,
and where the fracture of the shaft has occurred in the neck or close
under the head, which is better seen in Figure 8.
5
In Figure 7 a similar arrangement to that shown in Figure 1 for:
securing the shaft from turning within the coupling pieces is shown, the
steel cutting edges or teeth being, as in Figure 1, lettered a, a, &c.

page_text: Double T headed or I shaped sectioned keying pieces are applied.
on four sides of the flanches of this coupling, as shown in dotted lines.
b, b, &c.
-
"cheese
-
Figure 8 is a longitudinal section of the flanched coupling piece
mounted upon the fractured shaft and over the ordinary
headed"
coupling from which the bolts have been removed. The
longitudinal keys, as also the transverse key pieces, are here shown
respectively in section, the middle web or portion of each being marked
b, b, &c.
Figure 9 is an exterior plan, showing the longitudinal joint, whilst
the several positions of the taper keys are shown dotted in.
Figures 10; 11, and 12 show modifications of Figures 7, 8, and 9 (to a
reduced scale) in which one portion of the coupling is clamped on the
shaft and bolted, over the fracture behind the "cheese head," and is
arranged as herein described; the longitudinal steel gripping pieces or
teeth a, a, &c., for biting into and holding the coupling upon the shaft
are shown, as is also the mode in which the clamp is received into the
recesses provided in "the cheese head," the four bolts for bolting the
faces of the "cheese head" together are also shown in Figures 11
and 12.
I use or employ by preference hydraulic power apparatus for closing
together the corresponding segments or portions of the coupling, more
especially when the shafts are of large diameters, and as the parts of the
coupling are brought together I drive the wedges up to their respective
places step by step until the whole of the parts are brought entirely
home.
Having now described my Invention for "An Improved Coupling for
Securing together Portions of Screw Propeller and other Shafting
Requiring to be Driven in a Continuous Length," and illustrated the
same in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings by Figures. 1 to 12, both
inclusive, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to claim
generally the use of steel V edge key pieces or teeth fitted within clutch
or clip pieces, or within couplings, sleeves, and such like attachments
and additions to the ends of shafts for the purpose of making joints
between fractured parts thereof, except as herein described and set forth.
Moreover I do not intend to claim the use or employment of wedges
(single or double) except in the manner or mode described and for the

page_text: purpose herein set forth. Neither do I claim the drawing of the halves
or segments of couplings together by screws, bolts, or bolts and nuts, so
far as the same is shown in Figures 10 and 12, but I do claim in relation
thereto the use of the steel jaws or teeth inserted into such forms of
coupling by means of which they cut their own seats in the shaft by the
act of drawing the halves or segments of the coupling together, but
what I claim is,―
First. The arrangement and disposition of the jaws so as to grip the
shaft by the act of drawing the segments or halves of the coupling
together, and so to avoid the necessity for cutting beds or keyways or
key seats upon shafts as and for the purpose herein described and as
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings by Figures 1 to 6 inclusive.
· Secondly. Constructing and combining together in manner described
coupling pieces for connecting fractured portions of a shaft as herein.
set forth and as illustrated in the accompanying Drawings by Figures 7,
8, and 9.
Thirdly. The modification herein described and illustrated in Figures
10, 11, and 12, so far as relates to the longitudinally recessed clutching
in combination with the use of steel teeth or jaws as described.
Fourthly. The mode or method herein described and as illustrated in
the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed of driving the portions of the
couplings together by wedges in combination with the use of steel jaws
or toothing pieces to cut into or indent recesses in or upon the shaft
whilst the parts of the coupling are being drawn together.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Henry Varley, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July,
in the year of our Lord 1875.
Witness,
H. H. M. SMITH,
FREDERICK HENRY VARLEY. (L.S.)
19, Salisbury Street,
Strand.