IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR PROPELLING DRIVING AND FORCING PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Swinburne, of South Square, Gray's Inn, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR
PROPELLING DRIVING AND FORCING PURPOSES."
Sealed the 8th December 1865, and dated the 20th July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Swinburne at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
July 1865.
I, THOMAS SWINBURNE, of South Square, Gray's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
MECHANISM FOR PROPELLING, DRIVING, AND FORCING PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
It affords the means of using, for the purposes above mentioned, a wheel,
being part of the said mechanism, as a power in the same sense in which a
lever or a hammer may be said to be used as a power for the purposes for
which they respectively are commonly employed, and so as to apply such
wheel or power by intermittent impulses, but always with fresh impetus for
any required length of time, and with much of the same freedom of action and
ready disengagement from the check of the work which is being performed
as is experienced in the use of a hammer.
The said Invention may be carried into effect in the manner following:-
Let a wheel, the weight and size being according to the amount of wheel

page_text: power required, be fixed on an axle in such a position that it may be made to
revolve freely, let the axle project a few inches beyond its bearings, and let
one end of the axle be jointed to a screw so constructed and fixed that its
action will move the axle forward and backward through its bearings one or
two inches, more or less, and the joint being such that the action of the screw
and the revolution of the axle may be independent of and not affect each
other. Let a shaft be so fixed with relation to the other end of the axle
that when the wheel is impelled and the screw is put in action the axle, or
some appendage fixed to it for the purpose, may be brought into contact with
the shaft, or some appendage fixed to it for the purpose, so as to impel
the shaft by the momentum of the wheel; for this purpose, though it may be
effected in other ways, it is sufficient to say that there may be some projection
on the axle or on some appendage to it, and a corresponding projection on the
shaft or on some appendage to it, so constructed that the former projection
shall come into contact with the latter, when the revolving wheel and axle
are moved sufficiently up towards the shaft by the action of the screw, and
then of course the momentum of the wheel will impel the shaft. As soon
as the wheel and axle have thus given an impulse to the shaft they may be
disengaged from it by turning the screw in the opposite direction. The wheel,
which will be still revolving, may then have a new impetus given to it and be
made to impel the shaft as before, and so on repetitively. The shaft may of
course be furnished with a fly wheel, cogs, or other apparatus requisite for
connecting it with or constructing any machines, engines, or carriages to
which the said Invention is applicable.
In some cases the joint above spoken of may be dispensed with, and it will
be sufficient if the axle at that end be made, by means of studs fixed on it, to
work in a right and left screw. Under such a construction the continuous
impulsion of the wheel will cause the axle to move towards and impel the
shaft, and will draw the axle back again and give a fresh impetus to the
wheel.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One-
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Swinburne, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Swinburne,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas -
Swinburne, 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 "IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR
PROPELLING, DRIVING, AND FORCING PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Swinburne, my executois or administrators,
by an instrument in witing 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 Thomas Swinburne, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per foi nied,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Diawings hereunto aunexed, that is to say
The nature of my said Invention is that it affords the means of using, for
propelling, driving, and forcing purposes, a wheel, forming part of the
mechanism, as a power in the same sense in which a hammer may be said to
be used as a power for the purposes for which it is commonly employed, and
so that it is brought to act, as is the case in the use of a hammer, with fiee-
dom of application and disengagement, and by intermittent impulses and with
constantly renewed impetus.
I now proceed to describe in what manner my Invention may be carried.
into effect.
In Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings A, B, is a wheel fixed on an, axle-
C, D, the weight of the wheel being according to the amount of wheel power
required. The axle projects beyond its bearings E, F, and is movable through
them to the extent of an inch or two, more or less. The axle at the end C
is Jointed to a collar G, and this collar, with a bar H fixed to the support I,,
constitutes a screw, as shewn. This screw is brought into action by the
lever, so as to move the wheel A, B, and axle to the right or left as.
required. The Joint at the end C of the axle is a ball-and-socket joint, or

page_text: such other joint that the action of the sorew and the revolution of the
wheel A, B, and axle C, D, may not affect each other. At the end D of the
axle a small wheel a, the strength of which will be according to the weight of
the power wheel A, B, is fixed, and from the outer face of this wheel, at the
top, a metal tongue a¹ projects.. A shaft c, d, is so fixed with relation to the
axle C, D, that by the action of the screw the axle may be brought up to the
shaft c, d, or nearly so.
At that end of the shaft c, d, which is nearest to the
axle is fixed a wheel b, furnished with a catch b¹ for the tongue a¹ to engage
with. The strength of this wheel 6 will be regulated by the weight of the
power wheel, and its size will be such that the tongue on the wheel a may just
pass over it when the axle is brought up to the shaft, but yet such that the
tongue may then engage with the catch. I call the two wheels a and b, for
distinction, the engaging wheels. The tongue and catch may be surengthened
by blocks of metal formed in the castings or otherwise as may be required.
Let us suppose the power wheel A, B, to be set in motion, and that any
desired impetus has been given to it, then, if the sciew is put in action by
turning the lever in the proper direction, the axle and its engaging wheel will
be brought up to the shaft and its engaging wheel, so as for the tongue a to
become engaged with the catch b', when the shaft c, d, will be propelled by
the momentum of the power wheel. As soon as proper impetus has been im-
parted to the shaft the two engaging wheels may be disengaged by turning
the lever in the contrary direction. The axle, with the power wheel and
engaging wheel will be now revolving with a speed at least equal to that of
the shaft. An increased impetus may now be given to the power wheel. and
the engaging wheel a may again be brought up to the engaging wheel b and
made to impel the shaft as before, and so on repetitively.
α,
In Figure 1 the tongue a¹ and catch bare both supposed to be fixed, and
perhaps there would be no inconvenience in then being so where the work to
be performed is light and the tongue and catch do not require great strength.
Even in that case, however, it will be proper to taper off the end of the tongue
and front of the catch, in order that the tongue, if it should ever happen to
meet the front of the catch, may glance off either behind or before it. In
some cases where a very strong engagement is required I adopt the arrange-
ments next to be described, and these may be adopted generally. Figure 2
represents the engaging wheel b, showing the face which is most distant from
the axle; on this face are two pieces or blocks e, e, of metal of any required
strength formed in the casting; these blocks may be carried any requned
height beyond the periphery of the wheel. 6' represents a catch, it is movable
round the shaft, but its motion is confined to the space between the blocks e, c.

page_text: For strength the top of the engaging wheel is cut down an inch or so between
the blocks, so that when the catch is pressed against the block it may have the
support of this wheel as well as of the blocks. The catch should have a
spring f
on each side of it, as shown. These springs will keep the catch
midway between the blocks till the tongue strikes it. Now, if the tongue
which is tapered off should happen to come against the front of the catch
which is correspondingly tapered the catch will necessarily ship either before
or behind the tongue; to better ensure this action it will be well to have the
head of the catch and the top of the wheel over which it runs fashioned in
the manner represented in Figure 3, which is a section of the catch and
engaging wheel, 6 representing the catch and 6 the wheel, and in order that
the catch may yield the more readily, the part of it which passes over the back
of the wheel may be rounded off a little to relieve the friction. For some
purposes the joint at C may be dispensed with by fixing the collar G on the
end of the axle C, and by making the collar work with a stud or studs in a light
and left screw formed on the bar H, as represented in Figure 4. The con-
tinuous impulsion of the power wheel will then alternately impel the shaft and
give new impetus to the power wheel. The lever k is in this case unnecessary.
For some purposes it will be convenient to make the axle hollow, so as to
run on the shaft itself. The bearings E and F will then be done away with,
the shaft itself answering all the purposes of them, as shewn in Figuio 5.
The bar in this case will bo hollow, the shaft c, d, passing through it. Tho
engaging wheels have been supposed to be furnished with one tongue and one
catch only, the addition of another tongue or catch, or of both, would ensure
the more speedy engagement of the engaging wheels.
In many cases it will also be better to make the engaging wheels cone-
shaped, as shewn in Figure 6, and in such manner that the outer and convex
surface of one may be received within and grasped by the inner and concave
surface of the other. In this case there will of course be no tongue or catch,
but the engaging surfaces may be serrated or indented if requisite. It will
be perceived that, whether the first-mentioned engaging wheels with tongue
and catch, or the cone-shaped engaging wheels without them, are used, the
power wheel may be made first to act as a very powerful break and afterwards
to impel the shaft in the reverse direction. To ease the action of the screw,
if requisite, when the power wheel is very heavy, the axle may be made to
run on rollers. It is not necessary to speak particularly as to the manner in
which the power is to be applied to impel the power wheel. The axle in
Figures 1 and 4 it is plain may be constructed with a crank.
The power
wheel may also be impelled by the exertion of manual force on the wheel

page_text: itself, and in various other ways. If the toothed wheel wero removed from
Figure 5 and a wheel of greater diameter than the power wheel were added
at each end of the shaft c, d, the Figure would represent the whole driving
apparatus of a canage to be impelled by the person riding in it. It is obvious
that a fly wheel may be attached to the shaft. The toothed wheel shewn in
the Drawings suggests a mode by which the power may be transferred from
my said mechanism and applied as desired, and it may be stated generally
that the shaft may be furnished with cranks, drums, or any other apparatus
requisite for connecting the said mechanism with or constructing any engines,
machinery, or carriages to which it is applicable for propelling, driving,
or forcing purposes.
I am aware of the ordinary use of the fly wheel for the above-mentioned
purposes, and of course I do not claim as my Invention the use of a wheel
for those purposes; but I claim as of my Invention the mechanism above
described, whereby by successive engagement, disengagement, and re-engage-
ment, in the manner above shewn, a wheel may be employed for such pur-
poses by repetitive impulses and constantly renewed impetus; I do not,
however, confine myself to the details of construction herein-before set forth
and described, as many variations may be made without departing from the
nature of my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Swinburne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, One thousand eight
hundied and sixty-six.
T. SWINBURNE. (L.S.)