CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF CONVERTING RECTILINEAR INTO ROTATORY MOTION, AND OF CONVERTING ROTATORY INTO RECTILINEAR MOTION
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BOOTH, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Clerk, Doctor of Laws,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixth day of July (One thousand eight hundred and forty-
three), in the seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Booth, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said James Booth, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said James Booth, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times.
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS OF CONVERTING RECTILINEAR INTO ROTATORY MOTION, AND OF CONVERTING
ROTATORY INTO RECTILINEAR MOTION;" in which said Letters Patent there is

page_text: contained a proviso obliging me, the said James Booth, to particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an Instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and
to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Booth, 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, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My Invention of Improvements in the Means of Converting Rectilinear Motion
into Rotatory Motion, and of Converting Rotatory into Rectilinear Motion, con-
sists in a new and peculiar arrangement of certain parts whereby many of the
parts of machinery hitherto employed for those purposes become unnecessary, and
are therefore dispensed with, and a great economy in construction thus effected.
Now I wish it to be perfectly understood (before describing the principles
upon which the improvements constituting this my Invention are based), that
although various combinations and mechanical arrangements of parts have been
employed for the above-mentioned purposes, I believe none of them to be so
simple of arrangement and construction, or so direct in their action, as the
combination and arrangements of parts forming the subject of this my Specifi-
cation. And in order to explain my said improvements as completely as
possible, I will proceed, firstly, to state the principles upon which they are
founded, and then to describe the combination and arrangement of parts
which I consider well calculated for carrying out my said Invention, which
combination and arrangement will be found to answer extremely well.
It is a known mathematical principle that if a right line of fixed length is
in motion while its extremetics move constantly on two right lines which are
at right angles to each other, the middle point of the right line thus in motion
will describe circular ares, thus:--Let A, B, A, C, be two right lines at right
angles to each other, P, R, a right line of fixed length, and O the middle point
of P, R, then if the extremeties P, R, move constantly on the lines A, B, A, C,
the point
will describe arcs of a circle whose centre is A and diameter
P, R, thus
In describing the application of this principle to the
conversion of rectilineal motion into circular or rotatory motion, and conversely,
it will be unnecessary to point out all the various machines which might be

page_text: Figure 1 represents an elevation of the cylinder of a steam engine with the
improvements attached thereto, shewn partly in section; Figure 2, an end
view of the framing; Figure 3, a vertical section taken through the line A, B,
in Figure 2; Figure 4, a vertical section of the framing taken through the
line A, B, in Figure 1, shewing the arrangement of the grooves (hereafter
described); Figure 5, a sectional end view of the framing (taken through the
line B, C, in Figure 4), with parts in connection therewith; Figures 6, 7, 8,
detached enlarged views of some of the parts. Similar letters are placed
upon corresponding parts in all the Figures. A, the steam cylinder; B, the
piston rod connected to the piston working in the cylinder; C, a cross head or
coupling of ordinary construction; D, a wrought iron axis, passing through an
opening truly formed through the coupling; this axis is firmly connected at
its extremities (in the manner hereafter fully described) to arms E and F,
whose vertical and horizontal motion is ensured by constructing the casting or
framework G with grooves H, I, formed of two or more bars of metal or other
suitable material placed parallel to each other; the same result might also be
obtained by casting in a mould from a pattern. The said bars should be
divided in their middle points (see Figure 4), in order that the pin D, passed
through the coupling (C), the same situate at the top of the piston rod, may
traverse the length of the stroke. These parallel grooves H, I, which should
be constructed with great accuracy (either by filing or otherwise), are fitted
with slides K, K, of brass or other suitable material, and are constructed of
two parts, and connected together by screws, as shewn at detached Figure 8,
holes being truly bored or otherwise formed through them, constituting the
bearings of the axes D and L. The extremities of these axes should be formed
square, as also the holes in the cranks or arms E, F, so as to connect them rigidly
together; these arms and slides may be securely connected together laterally by
screws I, I, as shewn at detached Figure 5, or in any other convenient manner
by which the same result could be obtained. I would here remark, that in
cases where the cranks N, N, (hereafter described) are required to work or
rotate in opposite directions, which in some instances may be desirable, the
extremities of the axes D and L should be formed cylindrical, as also the
holes in the cranks or arms E and F to which they are attached. It will

page_text: appear evident that, upon motion being imparted to the piston and rod B, the
effect upon
the arms E, F, connected therewith would be that of sliding their
extremities along the grooves H, I, in vertical and horizontal directions
respectively; these combined reciprocations or movements being essential to
producing circular or rotatory motion, which I effect by connecting one end of
an ordinary crank or cranks N, N, to the arms E, F, (which for distinction
I will term the "sliding arms") by passing pins (2,) (2), through holes formed
in the said arms, which holes should be equidistant from the axes D and L.
And I connect the other end of the ordinary crank or cranks N, N, to a shaft
or shafts O, O, in connection with paddle wheels or other machinery to which
motion is required to be imparted, the said shaft or shafts working in suitable
bearings connected to the framing. In order to prevent or reduce as much as
possible the friction of the horizontal slides K, K, I propose to form grooves
or channels P, P, (see detched Figure 7,) at the upper side of the framing,
and from these grooves or channels I form holes Q, Q, in a vertical direction,
and through the entire substance of the metal and at convenient distances
asunder, so that supposing the said grooves or channels to be filled with oil it
would be given off through the openings Q, Q, and these slides as they traverse
to and fro would thus be lubricated. The vertical slides might also be furnished
with a receptacle for oil situate at the top of the slides for the above-mentioned
purpose. This forms the entire arrangement of parts constituting the said
improvements which I employ for the purposes of converting rectilinear motion
into rotatory motion, and conversely, the effect of which (according to the
problem above described and represented as being illustrative of the principles
upon which such arrangement is founded) must appear evident. I would here
remark, that it would be advisable with this arrangement, as in the case of the
ordinary working crank as applied to land steam engines, generally to employ
a fly wheel to carry the said working or ordinary crank beyond the null points
or centres.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be particularly understood that I do
not claim as of my Invention, or the exclusive use of any of the separate parts
above mentioned and referred to, except so far as the same may be employed
in combination and for the purposes of my said Invention, which I hereby
declare to consist in, and I claim, the conversion of alternate rectilinear motion
into continuous rotatory motion, and vice versa, of continued rotatory motion
into alternate rectilinear motion by the combined action of the ordinary working
crank or cranks in connection with arms or "sliding cranks," whose extremi
ties are caused to move in grooves or slots formed at right angles to each

page_text: other, the said grooves or slots being divided at their middle points, as above
described and represented by the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Booth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-four.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid James Booth, Clerk, came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.