A NEW MACHINE POR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Side, of Southwark Bridge Road, South-
wark, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "A NEW MACHINE
POR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER."
Sealed the 17th October 1868, and dated the 22nd April 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Side at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd April 1868.
I, ROBERT SIDE, of Southwark Bridge Road, Southwark, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW MACHINE FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
The features of novelty constituting these improvements consist in
combining together certain mechanical powers so as to form a machine
or engine considerably cheaper than engines worked by steam, gas, air,
or other fluids.

page_text: The following is an example of the means by which it is proposed
to carry this Invention into practical effect, that is to say :-In a
suitable framing two horizontal double-cranked shafts are mounted side
by side nearly close together, the said shafts being connected together
by toothed wheels for imparting rotatory motion thereto in opposite
directions; the cranked parts of each shaft are formed at right angles
or nearly so to each other, and the said shafts should be so adjusted
as that the cranked parts of one shaft move in the cranked parts of
the other shaft during their rotation. In combination with the afore-
said cranked parts and to the crank pins of each pair of cranks, I
adapt a balance beam made in two parts longitudinally and with two
long slots, each slot fitting over each crank pin, thus mounting the
beam on two movable rolling centres forming the axes of motion of
the said beam, so that supposing the beam on one pair of cranks.to
be horizontal and the ends of the said beam (weighted to the power
required to be exerted) a very slight force exerted at one end of the
beam will cause that end to descend, the gravitating power of the
weighted beam operating upon the cranked parts of the shafts and thus
imparting rotatory motion thereto, which may be transmitted as desired
by pulleys, straps, and bands or toothed wheels. The action of a.
machine thus constructed is that of a compound lever, the beams being
alternately moved in opposite directions upon rolling instead of fixed
centres or axes during the revolutions of the cranks, thus throwing
the whole weight of each beam out of the centre and employing
it as a motive power; the upper portion of the beam when in a
vertical position always presenting a greater amount of leverage for
the descending weight to act upon so as to assist in combination with
the rising crank in lifting the ascending weight at the lower end of
the beam. It may however be necessary to employ a small amount
of auxiliary power to compensate for or balance the lever beams when
they are in certain positions or to assist them past the dead points;
for this purpose a small engine worked by steam may be applied to
one end of the aforesaid beam or beams. I also propose if necessary to
employ one or more fly wheels in combination with the above mechanism.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Side in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
SIDE, of Southwark Bridge Road, Southwark, in the County of Surrey,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Side, Her special licence
that I, the said Robert Side, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Side, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 "A NEW MACHINE
FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Side, 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 Robert Side, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :-
The features of novelty constituting these improvements consist in
combining together certain mechanical powers so as to form a machine
or engine considerably cheaper than engines worked by steam, gas, air,
or other fluids.
The following is an example of the means by which it is proposed

page_text: to carry this Invention into practical effect, that is to say:-In a
suitable framing two horizontal double-cranked, shafts are mounted
side by side, the said shafts being connected together by toothed wheels
for imparting rotatory motion thereto in opposite directions; the cranked
parts of each shaft are formed at right angles or nearly so to each other,
and the said shafts should be so adjusted as that the cranked parts of
one shaft move in the cranked parts of the other shaft during their
rotation. In combination with the aforesaid cranked parts and to the
crank pins of each pair of cranks I adapt a balance beam made in two
parts longitudinally and with two long slots, each slot fitting over each
crank pin, thus mounting the beam on two movable rolling centres
forming the axes of motion of the said beam, so that supposing the
beam on one pair of cranks to be horizontal, and the ends of the said
beam (weighted to the power required to be exerted) a very slight force
exerted at one end of the beam will cause that end to descend, the
gravitating power of the weighted beam operating upon the cranked
parts of the shafts and thus imparting rotatory motion thereto, which
may be transmitted as desired by pulleys, straps, and bands or toothed
wheels. The action of a machine thus constructed is that of a compound
lever, the beams being alternately moved in opposite directions upon
rolling instead of fixed centres or axes during the revolutions of the
cranks, thus throwing the whole weight of each beam out of the centre
and employing it as a motive "power; the upper portion of the beam
when in a vertical position always presenting a greater amount of
leverage for the descending weight to act upon, so as to assist in
combination with the rising crank in lifting the ascending weight at
the lower end of the beam. It may however be necessary to employ
a small amount of auxiliary power to compensate for or balance the
lever beams when they are in certain positions, so as to assist them past
the dead points; for this purpose a small engine worked by steam may
be applied to one end of the aforesaid beam or beams.
I also propose
if necessary to employ one or more fly wheels in combination with
the above mechanism.
And in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible
I now proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for
carrying the same into practical effect, reference being had to the
illustrative Sheet of Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to
the numeral figures and letters of reference marked thereon, as
follows:-

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed according to
this Invention; Figure 2, an end view thereof; Figure 3, a top plan
view; and Figures 4 and 5 are views of a detached part herein-after
described and referred to. At each of the foregoing Figures I employ
similar letters of reference to denote corresponding parts, in so far as such
parts appear or can be seen at each of such said Figures respectively.
A, A, are the framings of the machine fixed to a bed plate B; C, D,
are shafts mounted in bearings E, fixed to the upper part of the
framings A; G, G', and H, H', are cranks fixed upon the shafts C, C,
and D, D, respectively, each pair of cranks being at right angles or
nearly so to the other pair of cranks, to overcome or pass the null points
during their rotation. I, I, and K, K¹, are wheels fixed on to the
shafts C and D, for causing these shafts to rotate together; L, L³, are
metal balance beams formed each in two parts L and L¹b, as at
Figures 4 and 5, the two parts being fixed together by bolts and nuts at
** after the beams have been placed upon the pins of the cranks G, G',
and H, H', the said pins working in the slots a, b, in the said beams.
These beams are loaded at each end with weights equal to the power
required to be exerted by the machine, and the operations of the machine
thus constructed are as follows:-Suppose the two beams to be in the
position represented, the beam L being horizontal the other beam will
by the gravatiting power of its weight rest by the slot a on the crank
pin of the lowermost crank, and as the cranks rotate one within the
other in opposite directions in each pair of cranks the lowermost crank
will lift one end of the beam, and the other crank will depress the
opposite end of the said beam; and when that end of the beam which
is being lifted has passed a horizontal line, the opposite end of the
beam will move downwards, thereby lengthening this end of the beam
and causing it to descend with a force equal to the difference between
the long and short weighted levers of the beam thus brought into action,
and the power so obtained may be transmitted by pulleys and bands
or toothed wheels, and as the shafts continue to rotate the other beam
will come into action and be in its most effective position for exerting
power when the other beam is in its least effective position; and by
these means each beam will assist the other past the null points,
namely, when either of the cranks are directly under the centre of
their respective shafts. The beams being thus mounted on two movable

page_text: up
rolling centres a very little effort will be necessary to start and keep
the motion of the machine, for which purpose a small engine worked
by steam may be applied to one end of the aforesaid beam or beams.
It is also proposed if necessary to employ one or more fly wheels fixed
on the shafts C and D.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of
my said Invention for "A New Machine for Obtaining Motive Power,"
together with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion, that what
I claim as my Invention intended to be secured to me by the herein.
before in part recited Letters Patent is as follows:-
I claim the use of cranks working in one, two, or more pairs, one
within the other or opposite to each other in opposite directions, for
imparting rocking motion to weighted beams having no fixed axes
of motion, but so constructed that the crank pins move in slots in
the said beams, substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Side, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.