Improvements in Speed Recorders.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Mar., 1869
Complete Specification Left, 4th Dec., 1889-Accepted, 4th Jan., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Speed Recorders.
I EUSTACE ERNEST WIGZELL, of Billiter House, Billiter Street, in the City of
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This improved counter or speed recorder is worked by compressed air conveyed by
a tube or tubes to any convenient position from the Engine or Machinery the number
of revolutions of which it is required to register in any given time.
In the desired position at any convenient distance I place a counter made with a
train of toothed wheels as usual, on the spindle of these toothed wheels, which can be
of any number as required, I put discs which are moved round with the wheels by
friction, these discs have numbers running in rotation marked upon them, these
numbers being displayed through an opening in the usual manner. In the centre of
the discs I place a heart-shaped piece with a sliding bar having pins or points projecting
from it, so that by pressing this bar the pins or points bring the heart-shaped pieces
always into one position; when it is necessary to set the numbers showing on the
discs back to zero no matter what numbers may appear, all that it is necessary to do is
to push this bar. By this means whenever it is required to take the correct number of
revolutions in any given time (as described further on) a start can instantly be made
with all the numbers at O, thus saving the tedious method of going through the whole
set of numbers before getting to zero.
On the spindle of the end toothed wheel I propose placing a rack toothed wheel,
and underneath this a sliding bar with a spring on the top side, which presses against
the rack toothed wheel. This bar is moved backwards and forwards by the compressed
air in the manner described below and so turns the wheel round tooth by tooth, this
action taking place once or more if required for every revolution of the mechanism
under register.
It must be understood that I do not bind myself to this method but can use any
suitable plan for attaining the same result.
For instance I can use the ordinary counter worked by an escapement motion and
in which each disc of numbers moves the next as they revolve, but by throwing out
of position a series of wheels which move as one disc travels round and moves the
next disc it frees all the discs of numbers and enables the latter to be all placed at
zero either by using a heart, motion as described before or by turning each disc
separately.
On the top or by the side of the counter I place a timepiece and in the centre of
the dial or outside of this clock I have numbers marked representing hours.
On the spindle of the small hand of the clock at the back of the dial I place a disc
which travels round with the band, this disc is frictionally tight. Through the clock
face or dial I bring another or third hand which is attached to the disc. The disc is
made with a slot in it, or notch, or pin, or other arrangement exactly on a line with
the hand so that when this set hand is standing at the top, there is a lever which falls
into the slot or notch, or comes against the pin; this lever is attached to other levers
and so made that this action of falling into the slot or otherwise, causes a pressure to
be brought on the spring which is on the sliding bar and which works the counter, and
by so doing throws the counter out of gear and prevents it working so that by bringing
the third hand in front of the dial of the clock round to any desired point or number,
which represents an equivalent of time, it lifts the lever out of the slot, thus
releasing the counter and carries the disc with the slot, or notch, or pin, round with
the hand.
As the bar travels to and fro with each revolution or part thereof of the Machinery

page_text: under record, this disc is gradually moved in the opposite direction to which it was
set by the small hour hand of the clock to its original position until the slot in the dise
comes into position for the lever to drop into when the counter is again thrown out
of gear, the exact number of revolutions or part thereof being thus recorded for any
given time the number of such revolutions appearing through the opening in the
counter case as already described.
In place of the above stopping or throwing out gear I can use a valve or valves
made on the small cylinder the piston of which works the counter as described
below. The clock is made to move the valve or valves at any given time as described
thus preventing any pressure accumulating in the cylinder and so stopping the
counters action.
At the end of the sliding bar which works the counter I purpose having a small
cylinder with a piston well fitted in same, this bar is kept on its backward motion by
a spring which forces the piston back to the bottom of its stroke; at the bottom end
of the cylinder there is a valve which can be opened when the counter is not required
to work, there is also a small stuffing-box, a copper or lead or other pipe being
passed into the latter and kept air tight. This pipe leads to a pump which is worked
by the Engine or other mechanism, this pump has a valve at the bottom end so that
when the piston in this pump is on its downward motion it compresses the air
throughout the pipe, forces the small piston to the end of its stroke, so pushing the bar
and turning the counter.
On the upward stroke of the pump on the Engine it destroys the pressure by drawing.
air in the valve at the bottom end and the small piston which is attached to the bar
which works the counter returns to the bottom of its stroke by means of the spring,
or from the suction of the big pump if desired.
The pump on the Engine I make so that I can regulate the length of stroke to suit.
the number of feet of pipe or the distance from the counter.
It must be understood that I do not bind myself exactly to these details as they
may be varied slightly to suit circumstances, but my special improvements in this
instrument consist in working a mechanical speed counter by means of a piston in a
cylinder by compression, enabling the registering mechanism to be at any distance
from the Engine or Machinery to be recorded; the methods of bringing the numbers
back to zero, and the recording by compression for any given time the numbe of
revolutions of any moving mechanism.
This instrument will be especially useful for steamers as a vessel having one of these
recorders fixed in the chartroom or other desirable place, and the officers knowing
the speed of their vessel at a certain number of revolutions of their Engines can tell
exactly the distance they have travelled in say every four hours, or whatever time may
be desired, this instrument showing the exact number of revolutions made during
such time. For instance with an Engine running 50 revolutions per minute for two
hours the officers know from experience that their vessel should be at a certain spot,
but they have no means at present of ascertaining absolutely whether the Engine has
been running regularly at this speed or not, with one of these recorders on board
however, they have simply to set the third hand to two hours, and at the end of that
time or during any period of it they can read off from the counter the exact number
of revolutions actually made in such time.
Dated this 50th day of Munch Leeu
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Speed'Recorders.
1, EUSTACE ERNEST WIGZELL, of Billiter House, Biliiter Street, in the City of
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described & ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
"
This improved counter or speed recorder is worked by compressed air, conveyed by 5

page_text: a tube or tubes, to any convenient position, from the Engine or Machinery the
number of revolutions of which it is required to register in any given time.
In the desired position at any convenient distance I place a counter made with a
train of toothed wheels, as usual; on the spindle of these toothed wheels, which can
be of any number as required I put dises which are moved round with the wheels by
friction, these dises have numbers running in rotation marked upon them, these
numbers being displayed through an opening in the usual manner. In the centre of
the discs I place à heart shaped piece with a sliding bar having pins or points
projecting from it, so that by pressing this bar the pins or points bring the heart
shaped pieces always into one position-when it is necessary to set the numbers
showing on the discs back to zero, no matter what numbers may appear, all that it
is necessary to do is to push this bar. By this means whenever it is required to take
the correct number of revolutions in any given time (as described further on) a start
can instantly be made with all the numbers at O, thus saving the tedious method of
going through the whole set of numbers before getting to zero. On the spindle of
the end toothed wheel I propose placing a racked toothed wheel, and underneath this
a sliding bar with a spring on the top side, which presses against the rack toothed
wheel. This bar is moved backwards and forwards by the compressed air in the
manner described below and so turns the wheel round tooth by tooth, this action
taking place once or more if required for every revolution of the mechanism under
register.
It must be understood that I do not bind myself to this method but can use any
suitable plan for attaining the same result.
For instance I can use the ordinary counter worked by an escapement motion and
in which each disc of numbers moves the next as they revolve, but by throwing out
of position a series of wheels which move as one disc travels round and moves the
next disc it frees all the discs of numbers and enables the latter to be all placed at
zero either by using a heart motion as described before, or by turning each disc
separately.
Also instead of using the discs of numbers, the numbers showing through an
opening, I can use a hand or hands travelling over a dial or dials having numbers
shown upon them, these hands being simply turned back to zero when required.
On the top or by the side of the counter I place a timepiece and in the centre of
the dial or outside of this clock I have numbers marked representing hours. On the
spindle of the small hand of the clock at the back of the dial I place a disc which
travels round with the hand, this disc is frictionally tight. Through the clock face or
dial I bring another or third hand which is attached to the disc. The disc is made
with a slot in it, or notch, or pin, or other arrangement exactly on a line with the
hand so that when this set hand is standing at the top, there is a lever which falls
into the slot, or notch, or comes against the pin; this lever is attached to other levers
and so made that this action of falling into the slot or otherwise causes a pressure to
be brought on the spring which is on the sliding bar and which works the counter,
and by so doing throws the counter out of gear and prevents it working so that by
bringing the third hand in front of the dial of the clock round to any desired point
or number, which represents an equivalent of time it lifts the lever out of the
slot, thus releasing the counter, and carries the disc with the slot, or notch,
or pin, round with the hand. As the bar travels to and fro with each revolution
or part thereof of the Machinery under record, this disc is gradually moved in the
opposite direction to which it was set by the small hour hand of the clock to its original
position until the slot in the disc comes into position for the lever to drop into when
the counter is again thrown out of gear the exact number of revolutions or part thereof
being thus recorded for any given time the number of such revolutions appearing
through the opening in the counter case, or being indicated by the hand on a dial, as
already described.
In place of the above stopping or throwing out gear I can use a valve or valves
made on the small cylinder the piston of which works the counter as described below.
The clock is made to move the valve or valves at any given time as described thus

page_text: preventing any pressure accumulating in the cylinder and so stopping the counters
action.
a small
At the end of the sliding bar which works the counter I purpose having
cylinder with a piston well fitted in same, this bar is kept on its backward motion by
a spring which forces the piston back to the bottom of its stroke; at the bottom end
of the cylinder there is a valve which can be opened when the counter is not required
to work, there is also a small stuffing-box; a copper or lead or other pipe being
passed into the latter end kept air tight. This pipe leads to a pump which is worked
by the Engine or other mechanism, this pump has a valve at the bottom end so that
when the piston in this pump is on its downward motion it compresses the air
throughout the pipe, forces the small piston to the end of its stroke, so pushing the
bar and turning the counter. On the upward stroke of the pump on the Engine, it
destroys the pressure by drawing air in the valve at the bottom end and the small
piston which is attached to the bar which works the counter returns to the bottom of
its stroke by means of the spring, or from the suction of the big pump if desired.
The pump on the Engine I make so that I can regulate the length of stroke to suit
the number of feet of pipe or the distance from the counter. In place of this pump
1 can if found more suitable ise bellows, which will give the same result.
It must be understood that I do not bind myself exactly to these details, as they
may be varied slightly to suit circumstances but my special improvements in this
instrument consist in working a mechanical speed counter by means of a piston in a
cylinder by compression, enabling the registering mechanism to be at any distance from
the Engine or Machinery to be recorded, the methods of bringing the numbers back
to zero. and the recording by compression for any given time the number of revolutions
of any moving mechanism."
This instrument will be especially useful for steamers as a vessel having one of these
recorders fixed in the chartroom or other desirable place, and the officers knowing
the speed of their vessel at a certain number of revolutions of their Engines can tell
exactly the distance they have travelled in say every four hours, or whatever time
may be desired, this instrument showing the exact number of revolutions made during
such time. For instance with an Engine running 50 revolutions per minute for two
hours, the officers know from experience that their vessel should be at a certain spot
but they have no means at present of ascertaining absolutely whether the Engine bas
been running regularly at this speed or not, with one of these recorders on board
however, they have simply to set the third hand to two hours and at the end of that
time, or during any period of it, they can read off from the counter the exact number
of revolutions actually made in such time.
In the drawings annexed hereto Fig. 1. shows the front view of the instrument
giving the clock face and the dials for the registration of the number of revolutions,
Fig. 2. shows the back view of same and fig. 3. shows the stops to the hands, and
lever at hack of clock.
A. is the third hand to be placed opposite the number of hours the recorder is
wished to run this hand after being set travels with the small or hour hand B. of
the clock, and when it has gone to the end of the time arranged it lifts the lever (.
shown in figs. 2 and 3. which drops into the slot D. and knocks down the lever E.
releasing the drop bar F. thus stopping the reciprocating shaft G. by means of a collar
on same. H. in figs. 1 and 2 is a twisting button with a projection which lifts up
the drop-bar F. and the latter is held in position by the bottom end of the lever E.
allowing the shaft G. to be free to work. The dials 1. I. I. I. register the number of
revolutions that have taken place in any given time by means of the hands or pointers,
the hands or pointers revolving round with the spindles by friction, the stop arrange-
ment J. J. J. J. being made so that the hands can only be brought back as far as
zero, but lift the stops when revolving round in the opposite direction, as shown.
The hands are carried round with the whee's shown in fig. 2. The wheel K. has a
strong winding spring attached to it, and works into the intermediate wheel L., wheel L
is geared into spindle M., the wheel on spindle M. works the intermediate wheel N.

page_text: wheel N. is geared into spindle O. the wheel on which works the intermediate wheel P.,
the spindle on wheel P. is geared into the wheel and the wheel works on a wheel
which is attached to the ratchet wheel R. this last named having an escapement
motion S. This escapement motion is worked by the shaft G. allowing the wheel R.
to travel round tooth by tooth by the force of the spring on the wheel K., this spring
being always kept wound by means of the hand T the act of putting or twisting this
back to zero winding the spring up. The shaft G. is moved backwards and forwards
by the piston in the small cylinder U. being assisted on its return motion by the
spring E this piston is worked to and fro by the compression of air and suction from
the pump fig. 4. which is attached to some moving part of the mechanism under
register, the pump being connected with the recorder by means of a metal tube conveyed
to any desired distance.
In place of this pump I can use a bellows as shown in
fig. 5. these being worked from the eye V.
Fig. 7. shows a wheel to work the hands or a figured plate by means of a spring W.
attached to the rod or shaft G., as this shaft is driven backwards and forwards by the
pump Fit twists this wheel round tooth by tooth by the spring W., the spring X.
stopping it from moving on the return stroke of the shaft G. Fig. 6. shows a
revolving plate Y. with numbers upon same, this plate or plates being moved by the
spindle or spindles by friction. On the plate there is a heart motion Z. with a sliding
plate A¹ with a projection inside an opening, there is one of these to each dial or set
of numbers so that whenever it is desired to bring a dial or number to zero the
plate A is simply pulled back by the projection B', the numbers being seen through
an opening or openings G in the dial or dials.
"
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D is a tap with a pointer so that when the pointer is placed at
"the top is
closed, and when it is placed at "off" it is open and allows the compressed air to
escape and so prevents the recorder working at any moment desired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. An improved instrument for recording by means of compressed air the speed
of any moving mechanism.
2. A recording instrument worked by means of compressed air, giving the speed of
any moving mechanism for any given time.
3. The use of a pump or bellows for working a piston in a cylinder by means of
compressed air, substantially as and for the purpose described.
4. The use of a spring for giving power to a counter or recorder, by means of
which in combination with an escapement motion, the counter records every stroke
of the mechanism under register.
5. The method of stopping by means of a clock the movement of the registering
hands or dials, at any given time, substantially as described.
6. The method of bringing the hands or dials back to zero against stop levers sub-
tantially as described.
7. The use of a heart movement for setting the hands or dials of the counter
o zero.
8. The improved instrument as a whole substantially as and for the purpose
¡escribed.
Dated th...
....1000