IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINE COUNTERS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO. OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to The Honorable John Hay, commonly called Lord
John Hay, of 140, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, a Post
Captain in Her Majesty's Navy, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ENGINE COUNTERS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO.
OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."
Száled the 1st June 1869; and dated the 14th December 1868:.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Honorable John Hay at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th December 1868..
I, The Honorable JOHN HAY, commonly called Lord JOHN HAY, of
149, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex,. a. Post Captain in Her
Majesty's Navy, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINE COUNTERS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE
APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the self-acting
registering and numbering apparatus for which I obtained Letters
Patent, dated the Twenty-third day of December, One thousand eight.

page_text: communicating motion to the said apparatus when employed for
registering or numbering in connection with machinery moving at great
velocities.
I propose to employ according to my present Invention, a peculiar
combination of levers in connection with a ratchet wheel or wheels for
the following purposes, viz. :-First, to impart a progressive motion to
the registering wheels while the actuating lever is moving in either
direction. Second, to avoid the necessity of flexibility in the pall or
the use of a spring in any form for ensuring contact between the pall
and ratchet wheel. Third, to avoid the use of a spring detent on the
unit wheel, which, having to vibrate once for every revolution or stroke
of the crank shaft or other moving part, is liable at high speeds to rapid
destruction, while retaining-the-power-of-adjusting that wheel. This
peculiar combination of levers, palls, and-ratchet_wheel_or_wheels
consists of two groups or scries of any number of lovers, links, and
palls, the one group or series acting so as to rotate the ratchet wheel or
wheels, whilst the other is making the back or return stroke, and vice
-versa, whereby a nearly continuous rotatory motion in the ratchet wheel
is obtained. This motion is produced morcover at only one half the
speed of the ratchet wheel which is requisite with the ordinary inter-
mittent ratchet motion, as the wheel in such case remains at rest during
the back stroke, and consequently a loss of time is incurred, which has
to be compensated for by extra speed in the wheel when in actual
motion. On the axis of cach ratchet wheel and on each side of such
wheel, there is fitted to work loosely a vibrating lever, to the outer end
of each of which levers is jointed a pall, the front end of which propels
the ratchet wheel and bears continually both in the forward and back
stroke upon the periphery of such wheel without the intervention of a
spring for that purpose; this is effected by jointing or hinging the palls
at or near their longitudinal centres to the ends of their propelling links,
the opposite ends of such links being jointed to short lever arms or
projections situate respectively on diametrically opposite sides of a
rocking shaft, which is actuated from any convenient moving part of
the engine by a lever or otherwise. In order that the links shall always
tend, whether moving forward or backward, but more especially when
moving forward, to press the outer ends of the palls down upon the
wheel it is essentially.requisite that the angle between the pall and the

page_text: link on one side of the pall shall always be smaller than the angle
between the opposite side of the pall and the vibrating levers on cach
side of the ratchet wheel carrying such palls, and that these levers shall
never be in a line with or parallel to the actuating links. As the unit
wheel or first wheel in the series constituting the counting train of
mechanism is so connected with the before-mentioned ratchet wheel as
to move simultaneously therewith, and as the ratchet wheel is entirely
under the control of the peculiar palls and combination of levers herein-
before described, it follows that no detent or locking spring will be
necessary for preventing any accidental movement or overrunning of
such wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Honorable John Hay in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, The
Honorable JOHN HAY, commonly called Lord JOHN HAY, of 149,
Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, Post Captain in Her Majesty's
Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said The Honorable John Hay,
commonly called Lord John Hay, Her special license that I, the said
The Honorable John Hay, commonly called Lord John Hay, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said The
Honorable John Hay, commonly called Lord John Hay, my executors,
administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ENGINE COUNTERS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER

page_text: USEFUL PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said.
The Honorable John Hay, commonly called Lord John Hay, my execu-
tors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 The Honorable John Hay, commonly
called Lord John Tay, do hereby declare the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement. reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures
registering, and numbering apparatus for which I obtained Letters
Patent, dated the Twenty-third day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four, Number 3198, and consists chiefly in the mode
of communicating motion to the said apparatus when employed for
registering or numbering in connection with machinery moving at
great velocities.
I propose to employ according to my present Invention a peculiar
combination of levers in connection with a ratchet wheel or wheels for
the following purposes, videlicit :-First, to impart a progressive motion
to the registering wheels, while the actuating lever is moving in either
direction. Second, to avoid the necessity of flexibility in the pall, or
the use of a spring in any form for ensuring contact between the pall
and ratchet wheel. Third, to avoid the use of a spring detent on the
unit wheel, which having to vibrate once for every revolution or stroke
of the crank shaft or other moving part is liable at high speeds to rapid
destruction whilst retaining the power of adjusting that wheel. My
peculiar combination of levers, palls, and ratchet wheel or wheels
consists of two groups or scries of any number of levers, links, and
palls, the one group or series acting so as to rotate the ratchet wheel
or wheels, whilst the other is making the back or return stroke, and
vise versa, whereby a nearly continuous rotatory motion in the ratchet
wheel is obtained. This motion is produced, moreover, at only one half
the speed of the ratchet wheel, which is requisite with the ordinary

page_text: intermittant ratchet motion, as the wheel in such case remains at rest
during the back stroke, and consequently a loss of time is incurred
which has to be compensated for by extra speed in the wheel when in
actual motion.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a sectional plan of my engine
counter or numbering machine provided with my improved ratchet and
pall mechanism for. communicating motion thereto; Figure 2 is au
enlarged detail side clevation of the improved ratchet and pall
mechanism detached; Figure 3 is a similar view shewing the palls and
levers connected therewith in a different position; Figure 4 is a plan of
the same corresponding to Figure 3; and Figure 5 illustrates a scrics
of Diagrams, shewing the initial and terminal. positions of both groupes
of levers and palls herein-after more particularly referred to.
On the axis A of each ratchet wheel B, and on each side of such
wheel there is fitted to work loosely a vibrating lever C, C', to the outer
end a, a', of each of which levers is jointed a pall D, D', the front end
of which propels the ratchet wheel and bears continually both in the
forward and back stroke upon the periphery of such wheel without the
intervention of a spring for that purpose; this is effected by jointing or
hinging the palls at or near their longitudinal centres b, b¹, to the ends
of their propelling links E, E¹, the opposite ends of such links being
jointed to short lever arms or projections F, F', situate respectively on
diametrically opposite sides of a rocking shaft G, which is actuated from
any convenient moving part of the engine or other mechanism by a
lever or otherwise. In order that the links E, E', shall always tend,
whether moving forward or backward, but more especially when moving
forward, to press the outer ends of the palls D, D', down upon the
ratchet wheel B, it is essentially necessary that the angle between the
pall and the link on one side of the pall shall always be smaller than
the angle between the opposite side of the pall and the vibrating levers
on each side of the ratchet wheel carrying such palls, and that these
levers shall never be in a line with or parallel to the actuating links;
this will be more readily understood on referring to the Diagram,

page_text: Figure 5. Suppose the actuating lever to be moving the rocking
shaft G (Diagram No. 4, Figure 5) through the angle G, F, f, its force
in the lower group of levers shewn in red lines) will be transmitted
through the pivot F to the middle of the pall at 6 in the direction F, b, and
from thence to the pivot a at the end of the lever C, but the pall being
moveable on the pivots a and b, the force acting in the direction F, b,
will first tend to turn the pall upon a, pressing its outer or free end
down on to the periphery of the ratchet wheel. The two ends of the pall
hcing thus supported by the pivot a and ratchet wheel B respectively,
it may be considered for the remainder of the stroke as being of one
piece with the lever C with a new line of action A, b, and moveable only
on the centres A and h. The motion at b is now transmitted to a, and
as the end of the pall gears with the driving face of the tooth of the
ratchet wheel this latter is carried round, and with it the unit wheel H
(Figuro-1)-until the actuating lever C has arrived at its terminal position
in that direction, when-the-point I will have arrived at f, and this group
of lovers will occupy the positions shown at Figure 2, or more clearly
by the Diagram Number 2. Whilst the lower group of levers has been
moving from its initial to its terminal position carrying round with it
the ratchet wheel as described, the upper group (shewn in black linės)
has been moving downwards from its terminal to its initial position. In
this case the force of the actuating lever is transmitted through the
pivot F (Diagram No. 3) to the centre of the pall at ¹ in the
direction ', F, and from thence to the pivot a¹ at the end of the
lever C', but the angle F', b', a', on one side of the pall being less obtuse
than the angle A, a', b', on the other side, and the free end of the pall
being supported on the ratchet wheel, the force acting in the direction
b', F', will turn the lever C' on the centre or axle A, and the outer or
free end of the pall will be pressed on to the ratchet wheel with a force
carrying in amount proportionately to these angles, diminishing as the
angle F, b, a', increases; but as the angle A, a, b, at the termination
of the movement in this direction is still greater than F¹, b', a', (sco
Diagram No. 1), the force acting on a in any direction which b', a', can
assume as due to the altered positions of b', F, and A, a', and will not
tend to turn the pall on a'. The slight angular movement of the pall
equal only to the depth of the teeth on the ratchet wheel is affected by
the rotation of the wheel advancing the inclined face of the tooth
under it. The upper group of levers have the same amount of angular
motion on the axles A and G as the lower group, and when the latter

page_text: has arrived at the position shown at Diagram No. 2, or when the
actuating lever has moved the lower arm F on the axle G through the
angle G, F,, (No. 4), the corresponding positions of the upper group,
due to the equal vibration of the upper arm on the axle & through the
angle G, F,f, will be as represented at Diagrams No. 1. It will be
observed that whilst the lower arm F of the lever on G has been moving
the ratchet wheel forward, in the manner described, through the one-
twentieth of a revolution, plus the small amount of clearance at the
beginning of the stroke, as shown by its vibration through the angle
G, F, the upper arm F" of the lever on G has moved the end of its
pall backwards through an equal distance, or the two palls have together
moved a little over one-tenth of the ratchet wheel's circumference, and
this pall is now ready to engage the next tooth in succession of the
wheel, as shewn by the dotted lines in the Diagrams. The actuating
lever now moves the reverse way to the position it occupied at starting,
carrying the arms F & F on the axle G back again through the
angles G, F, f, (No. 1), and G, F, f, (No. 2), and the corresponding
pall carries the ratchet wheel forward whilst the other pall returns to its
former position ready to engage the next tooth in succession; but
as the forward motion of the upper group of levers is precisely similar
in its action and effect to the forward motion of the lower group,
and also the backward motion of the lower group being similar to
the backward motion of the upper group, both of which have been
described, it is unnecessary to follow the particular changes of position
in detail, only observing that on the completion of the motion of the
vibrating levers F, F, in this direction, the two groups of levers will
occupy their original position at starting. The engine or machine to
which the apparatus is attached will by this time have completed one
revolution, and the unit wheel E will have been carried round onc-tenth
of a revolution. By adopting suitable proportions in the parts of the
groups of levers any amount of grip on the ratchet wheel may be
obtained; but I prefer the proportions shown, and to so fix the counter
as to work with the line of centres of the axles A and G in a horizontal
position, or between that and 30 degrees with the vertical, so that the
weight of each group of levers may co-operate with their gripping action
in insuring a safe hold of the ratchet wheel. As the unit wheel or first
wheel H in the series constituting the counting train of mechanism is so
connected with the before-mentioned ratchet wheel as to move simul-
taneously therewith, and as the ratchet wheel is entirely under the

page_text: control of the peculiar palls and combinations of levers hercin-before-
described, it follows that no detent or locking spring will be necessary.
for preventing any accidental movement or overrunning of such wheel.
It is obvious that my peculiar combination of levers is applicable to
ratchet motions for various other descriptions of mechanism.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or inay be used.
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to.
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the peculiar
combination of mechanism for actuating the ratchet wheels of engine:
and other counters, and the application of the same to the actuating
of ratchet wheels in other machinery wherein ratchet wheels are
employed, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by my