A NEW MECHANICAL COMBINATION CALLED AN INDEFINITE FEED MOVEMENT
Year: 1858

page_text: Sealed the 8th February 1859, and dated the 27th December 1858.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Shaw at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on
the 27th December 1858, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN SHAW,
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A NEW MECHANICAL
COMBINATION CALLED AN INDEFINITE FEED MOVEMENT," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn declaration
that I verily believe myself to be the true and first Inventor thereof:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Shaw, do hereby declare that the
following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully describes and
ascertains the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same
is to be performed, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say:
My Invention consists of a mechanical combination whereby a novel piece
of mechanism is produced, which I call an indefinite feed movement. This

page_text: indefinite feed movement is applicable to all machines where a ratchet or
other taking-up motion may be useful or required. It is intended to supersede
all ratchet or other taking-up motions heretofore known.
The ratchet and other taking-up motions heretofore known and used con-
sist of wheels cut of a certain given pitch, and when it becomes necessary or
desirable to vary the quantity of feed motion thereof, such variance must be
limited to such a pitch as any given number of teeth on the said ratchet wheel
may make, or the ratchet wheel itself must be changed for another ratchet
wheel of another dimension.
.
In the indefinite feed movement, the subject of my Invention, the quantity
of feed motion may be varied with the greatest nicety without varying or
changing any part of machinery composing the same.
The said indefinite feed movement is constructed of an internal disc, repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawings by the Figures respectively marked 1,
of a lever represented by the Figures respectively marked 2, of another lever
represented by the Figures marked 3, of a pin represented by the Figures
marked 4, of a piston represented by the Figures marked 5, of a spiral spring
represented by the Figures marked 6, and of a screw represented by the
Figure marked 7.
The Figure marked A represents a shaft to which the internal disc marked
1 is attached, and which it is intended to drive. This shaft projects through the
said internal disc sufficient to allow the said lever marked 2 to be fitted and
held thereon by a nut.
The said lever marked 2 is constructed with two wings, one above the other,
and represented by the Figures marked 9, projecting therefrom at right angles
therewith towards the face of the said internal disc. Through the said rings
respectively there is an eye of a sufficient size to admit the said piston
marked 5 to work through them. On the centre of the said lever marked 2
a round eye is made, through which eye it is connected with the said lever
marked 3 by the said pin 4, on which pin the said lever 3 has free motion
to work.
The said lever marked 3 has a square eye in it at the end thereof, at which it
is connected with the said lever marked 2, which square eye is intended to
receive in it the head of the said pin marked 4. On the other end of the said
lever 3 there is a pin projecting at right angles therewith, intended to be used
in connecting the same with a connecting rod represented by the Figures
marked B.
On the side facing the said internal disc of the lever marked 3 there is a
wing projecting at a right angle therefrom, represented by the Figures

page_text: marked 8, through which wing an horizontal screw hole is made, into which
a screw is screwed towards the said lever marked 2, against which it comes in
contact when the connecting rod B performs its retrograde movement.
The said pin marked 4 is constructed at the head thereof, of a square form,
to the extent of the depth of the said square eye in the said lever marked 3,
in which it is fastened. From thence the second pin is of a round form to the
extent of the depth of the eye in the said lever marked 2, in which it is
allowed free motion, and from the last-mentioned eye the said pin marked 4 is
formed as a tappit represented in the Figure marked 10.
The Figure marked C represents the face of a crank motion, and the
Figures marked II represents a shaft upon which the said crank is fastened,
and from which it receives its motion.
The piston marked 5 is constructed at the bottom thereof as an oblong
square, as seen in the said Drawings, and from the said bottom thereof it is of
a round shape, of a suitable thickness to work freely through the several eyes
in the said wings marked 9, in the said lever marked 2, and after the said
piston has passed through the upper one of the said eyes where it comes in
contact with the said tappit 10, it is formed of a circular shape. The bottom
or inferior extremity of the said piston is indented and made of the same
sphere of the interior ridge of the said internal disk marked 1.
The said spiral spring is constructed of a suitable size to work freely in the
space between the said two wings marked 9, pon the lower one of which
it rests.
The various parts of the said indefinite feed movement composing my
Invention are put together in a working order, in manner following, that is
to say:-
The said internal disc marked 1 is fixed on the shaft marked III, which
projects through the said disc sufficiently to admit the said lever 1 being
placed thereon.
The square head of the said pin marked 4 is passed through the said eyc in
the centre of the said lever marked 2, in which eye it has free motion. It is
thence passed through the said square eye in the said lever marked 3, in
which it is fitted and fixed by a nut.
Then the said spiral spring is introduced and placed in the vacant space.
between the said upper and lower wings marked g of the said lever marked 2,
and on the lower one of which wings it rests.
The piston marked 5 is then passed through the eye of the lower one of the
said wings marked g, and thence through the centre of the said spiral spring 6,
to and through the said eye of the upper one of the said wings marked y,

page_text: where the said piston comes immediately under and in contact with the said
tappit marked 10. The said piston marked 5 is then supported in the said
last-mentioned eyes by means of a pin which is traversed horizontally through
it, the ends of which pin are made to rest upon the top of the said spiral
spring 6.
The said lever marked 2 is then placed on the projection of the shaft
marked A, left for the purpose, and secured thereon by a nut, such lever having
free motion on such shaft.
The indefinite feed movement being thus put together, working motion is
communicated to it by connecting the lower end of the said lever marked 3,
with the connecting rod marked B, which rod is also connected with the said
crank motion; which crank motion, when working, communicates an alternate
forward and retrograde motion to the said levers marked 2 and 3 once in each
revolution of the said crank motion.
When the said connecting rod B performs its forward motion, the said
tappit marked 10 being above and in immediate contact with the superior
extremity of the piston marked 5, depresses it (the piston) through the eyes
in the wings marked g firmly against the inside of the edge of the said internal
disc marked 1, and communicates such forward motion thereto.
And when the said connecting rod B performs its retrograde motion, the
said screw marked 7 is brought against the edge of the said lever marked 2,
and forces it back with the lever marked 3, and simultaneously therewith the
pressure of the said tappit marked.10 is removed from the superior extremity
of the piston marked 5, and the piston is then raised by the said spiral
spring 6, and becomes disengaged from the interior edge of the said internal
dise marked 1, until the said connecting rod B performs again its forward
motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Shaw, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
VERNON SOUTHEE,
16, Ely Place, London.
J. SHAW.
(L.S.)