Improvements in Electric Signals for Indicating the Direction and Speed of Revolution of Engine Shafts.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electric Signals for Indicating the Direction and
Speed of Revolution of Engine Shafts.
I, JAMES CLARK RICKETSON, residing at No. 560 Terrace Avenue, in the city of
Milwaukee, in county of Milwaukee, and State of Wisconsin, in the United States of
America, Business Manager of Steam Navigation Company, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The invention has for its object the construction of devices for indicating at any
point distant from the shaft of an engine the direction in which the said shaft is
revolving, as well as to indicato the speed of such revolutions, and is in part, an
improvement on the devices set forth in my patent No. 16,742 granted me December 6,
1887, and as in said patent is especially designed for use in connection with the shaft
of a marine engine, though capable of use with any reversible shafting, whether on
land or water, all as hereinafter set forth, and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an elevation of my present invention, with its connections represented in
diagram.
Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 4.
Figure 4 is a detail view, partly in section.
A represents the shaft of a marine engine, which shaft is provided (on opposite
sides in this instance) with irregular shaped cams a and a¹ (secured thereto in any
suitable manner) and above this shaft is a suitably supported frame B, containing a
movable block B₁ to which are secured the socket-plates of the rods c which
terminate in the hinged hangers C and C. These plates are set a convenient
distance apart and at opposing angles the movable block B' being cut away or shaped
suitably for their reception, and for the reception of the spring-housings & secured to
said plates. These housings d are perforated for the passage therethrough of the
rod C₁ which rod has a squared or shouldered shank c¹ at the end which passes through
the plate b, and the perforation d in the housing d is larger than the rod c up to
within a short distance of one end d² of the housing, to accommodate a spring e,
surrounding said rod c, and bearing against the squared portion or shoulder of
shaft (c), and the end d³ of the housing and the projecting end of the rod bears a
head c², adapted, at the proper times, to come in contact with the spring-strips ff,
secured to the outside of the housing d. The shank c¹ of the rod c is provided with a
curved guard c³, and near the end of said shank is transversely perforated for the recep
tion of the pivot pin c, by means of which it is hinged to the hanger C (or C¹) which
latter is preferably cut away to receive an anti-friction wheel C³, journaled between
the walls of said cut-away portion of the hanger, though in some instances I may
dispense with the wheel and make the end of the hanger (C or C) solid.
3
F and F represent electric bells or other annunciators, which may be at any desired
point distant from the shaft, as for instance the pilot house, and which are suitably
connected to a battery G, and to the contact springs or strips ff in the housings d
(which latter, of course, must be of wood, or other insulating material) of the hanger-
rods, as shown by the wires g, h, i and g¹ h¹ i¹.
Now let us suppose that the shaft A is revolving in the direction of the arrow ?,
shown in Figure 2. The lowest point of the cam a will pass under the hanger C, and
as the shaft revolves and the height of the cam increases, the said hanger C will be
raised (as it can only turn on its hinge-joint, when the pressure is applied from the

page_text: opposite direction) and as said hanger rises the head c² of its rode is brought into
contact with the strips and thereby an electric circuit is established between
battery G, and annunciator F, by. means of the said strips ff and head c² and the
wires hi and the annunciator will operate, and as the shaft A continues to revolve,
the square end of the other cam a¹ will strike against the lower edge of the other
. hanger C, and the latter will turn on its hinge bolt c out of the way, and without
raising its rod c, keeping in this position until the cam has passed, when the hanger C¹
will drop back to place by gravity, and if the shaft is revolved in the opposite direction,
as indicated by the arrow 2, in Figure 1, then this hanger Ci will be operated by the
cam a¹ in precisely the same manner as the other hanger C was operated by the other
cam a, as just described, and consequently the annunciator F would now be operated,
· instead of the annunciator F, thus showing that the slinft was revolving in a contrary
direction to that first described. Preferably I would employ bells for the annunciators
:as such would frequently have to be used at night, and would select different sounding
bells for F and F, for obvious reasons.
$
As the cams a and a¹ each extend about one-quarter of the distance around the
shaft, it is apparent that frequently, when the engine stopped, one of said cams might
be directly beneath its hanger, pushing the latter up, and causing the bell in circuit
there with to ring continuously, and to avoid this without moving the engine, and also
to prevent the operation of my device at such times as it was not needed, I have
provided the before-named frame B, secured to beams B or otherwise suitably supported
above the shaft A. The bottom of said frame B, is perforated as shown at b₁₁, to let
the hangers C and C¹ project therethrough, and the movable block B₁ which rests on
said bottom-plate and carries the said hangers is provided with pins 2 at
each end, which move in slots 3 in each end of the frame B, and the said
block B has a suitable cover B² secured to it, and between the top of this cover
and the top-plate of the frame B is a spring B³, which serves to keep the block B¹
normally down on the bottom plate of the said frame, while a rod B* extends
through perforations in the top plate of the frame, the spring, and the cover, and
is there secured, as by a nut 7, and from the upper projecting end of this rod B*
a cord B³ extends over pulleys to within convenient reach of the engineer,
so that, when it is desired that my device shall not operate, a pull on the cord B'
will raise the block B₁ and its cover against the force of the spring B³, and draw
up the hangers CC₁ above the reach of the cams a a¹ on the shaft A, and said
cord may then be secured in any suitable manner, until it is desired to again put
the device in operation, when the cord B is released; and the force of the
spring B will automatically depress the block Band its attachments to their
original position in the path of the cams on the engine shaft.
In order that the engineer may know whether one of the bells F F is ringing,
or not, when the engine has stopped, I provide duplicates H H of said bells, and
locate them in the engine room the bell H being on the wire g in. same circuit
with bell F, and the bell. H' being on the wire gin same circuit with bell F1,
as shown in Figure 1, and this also serves to inform the engineer without
examination of the engine, of the direction and speed of revolution of the shaft,
when my device is in operation.
"Although I have shown my cams a and a¹ as located on opposite sides of the
shaft A, it will be understood that both may be on the same side if desired,
their location. being only a matter of convenience, so long as their inclined ends
face in opposite directions, and the blunt end of one car, correspondingly opposes
the blunt end of the other cami, so that the revolution of the shaft in either
direction will always raise one hanger and bend the other hanger on its hinge-
joint.
As hereinbefore stated by noticing the length of the interval between the ringing
of the bells or movement of the signals. the. rate of speed at which the shaft is
revolving can be determined; or if more convenient the number of times the bell
rings or the signal moves per minute can be counted which will ensure the greatest
possible accuracy.

page_text: 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. The combination with a revolving shaft having cams attached thereto as
described, each cam having one inclined and one blunt end, of a pair of push-rods
suspended in housings above said shaft, hangers hinged to said push-rods and
capable of turning on their hinged-joints in one direction only, and normally
located in the paths of motion of said cams, contact strips attached to the housings
of the push-rods in the path of motion of the latter, and a pair of distant signals,
electrically connected to said contact strips, whereby the inclined edge of one cam
will pass under the hanger of one of the push-rods and raise it, closing a circuit
and actuating the distant signal in said circuit while the blunt edge of the other
cam will strike the hanger of the other push-rod, and swing it out of the way on
its hinge-joint.
2. The combination with a revolving shaft having cams attached thereto as
described, of a frame supported above said shaft, a movable block sliding vertically
in said frame, and carrying push-rods having hangers hinged thereto in the paths
of motion of said cans, a spring within the said frame bearing against said block,
a rod connected to the latter, and a cord connected to said rod, whereby the
hangers may be withdrawn from possibility of contact with the said cams by
drawing upon said cord, and, on releasing the cord, automatically restored to
place.
Dated this 1st day of December 1888.