IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING MOTIVE POWER TO MACHINERY
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Constable, of the Photographic In-
stitution, Brighton, in the County of Sussex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING MOTIVE POWER TO MACHINERY,
Sealed the 19th July 1853, and dated the 29th January 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Constable
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th January 1853.
I, WILLIAM CONSTABLE, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING MOTIVE POWER TO MA-
CHINERY, AND IN REGULATING THE ACTION OF ROTARY MACHINES," to be as
follows:
The object of this Invention is to equalize the impulsive force
derived from reciprocating motive power engines, or any other
fluctuating source of power, and to transmit that power to the
machinery required to be actuated with greater regularity of motion
than can be attained by the employment of the ordinary fly wheel.
To effect this object I mount the fly wheel loosely on or independ-

page_text: ently of the main driving shaft, and connect it to that shaft by means
of elastic attachments made between the rim or other convenient part
of the fly wheel, and a set of arms or other suitable member or
members keyed on to and revolving with the shaft. These elastic
attachments I propose to construct of springs of metal; or springs
of any other suitable elastic material may be employed if thought
desirable. By this means the fly wheel will, as it is rotated by the
engine or by a fluctuating force in any manner derived, communicate
rotary motion through the spring or elastic connections to the
driving shaft with such variations only from the mean force as are
comprehended within the range of action of the springs, which va-
riations may be reduced to an amount that is scarcely appreciable.
If, however, the motion of the fly wheel is transmitted through
bands lapping respectively round a cam or excentric, the variations
may be completely neutralized, and a smooth and uniform action of
the machinery driven will result.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said William Constable in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 29th July 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM CONSTABLE, of the Photographic Institution, Brighton, in
the County of Sussex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said William Constable, Her special
licence that I, the said William Constable, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Constable,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 TRANSMITTING MOTIVE POWER TO MACHINERY,
AND IN REGULATING THE ACTION OF ROTARY MACHINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Constable, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly de-
scribe 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 William Constable, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
saine is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):
The object of this Invention is to reduce to a uniform force the
oscillating pulsatory force derived from any source of power, and
especially to correct the variable or oscillatory force derived from
reciprocating steam engines, and transmitted through a crank to
any shaft engine or machine to be driven.
The fly wheel, as it is ordinarily applied for this purpose, attains
the object sought for only in a limited degree, and it always leaves
a portion of the oscillating power uncorrected, which being trans-
mitted to working machines is always prejudicial to their action, and
often occasions the rapid destruction of the geer-work through which
such power is conveyed. To reduce these oscillations within such
limits as are absolutely necessary for the purposes of driving
machinery, fly wheels of great weight are employed, requiring.great
strength in the framework supporting them, and carrying with
them when in action an amount of momentum very injurious to
machines or engines when their motions are suddenly checked or

page_text: impeded by any of the multitude of accidents they are liable to
when at work..
The means which I employ to reduce to a uniform force the oscil-
latory forces which present themselves for correction, consist, first,
in the introduction of springs or elastic bodies between the engine
or other motor giving an oscillatory force and the machinery re-
quiring a uniform force, by means of which a very great portion of
the oscillation is equalized; and secondly, by another contrivance,
presently to be described, by which the remaining uncorrected oscil-
lation is entirely cured.
The principles involved in these contrivances may be applied
under a great variety of forms and arrangements, but I shall proceed
with the assistance of diagrams to describe one in which they are
clearly apparent, and shall suppose the power arising in this specific
case to be supplied by a reciprocating steam engine.
However, before I proceed with this explanation I will define
what I intend shall be understood by a term that I shall have occa-
sion to employ, namely, the term "mainshaft." I mean by that term
that shaft or other member in immediate connection with the motor
(whatever the nature or form of the motor may be) through which
the power supplied is communicated to a working machine; and
I mean the term "mainshaft" to include in its meaning any wheel
or other member which receives the power of the motor, and gives
it off to a machine, even though that power do not at all pass
through the shaft on or with which such wheel or other member
revolves.
I proceed now to describe the corrective or compensating appa
ratus, and to explain its mode of action.
.
Fig. 1: A represents a portion in outline of an ordinary fly wheel
moving in the direction of the arrow; B is a section of the main
shaft; C is one of a set of three arms which are fixed upon the
main shaft. The fly wheel may also be hung upon the same
main shaft, but not as a fixture. If hung upon it, it must b
a loose bearing having a free rotatory motion upon it. I
on

page_text: it be not hung upon the main shaft it must have an independent
shaft of its own, its axis being coincident with the axis of the main
shaft. In whatever way it be hung it should be placed in close
proximity to and face to face with the arms fixed on the main shaft.
D, D, are two projecting ears or studs affixed to the fly wheel rim,
through each of which passes the bolt E, E¹, in such a manner
that it may slide freely therein. The sliding bolt E, E', has a
collar affixed to it at F. G is a coiled or helical spring surrounding
the sliding bolt E, E¹, and lying in partial compression between the
collar F, and one of the fixed studs or ears D¹. His a roller or
cam, having its spindle supported by bearings fixed to the fly wheel.
I, is a chain or flexible band (colored in the diagram "blue"), fastened
at one end to the bolt E, E¹, and at the other on the circumference
of the roller or cam H. J, is a similar chain or band (colored in
the diagram "red"), fastened at one end to the arm C, and at the
other on the roller or cam H.
Now the action which results from the above described arrange-
ments is as follows:-The fly wheel being impelled by an oscillating
force is accelerated, and advances beyond its nean place when that
force exceeds the mean resisting force; and on the contrary, when
the motive force is less than the mean resisting force, it falls behind
its mean place. During the accelerating movement, the fixed arm
C, with all its attached apparatus, as well as its attached bolt E, E¹,
passing through the spring G, refuses to follow so fast as the fly
wheel leads. The consequence is, that the bolt E, E', is drawn
outward (to the right, as shewn in the Drawing,) by the band J,
and roller H, connecting it with the fixed arm, at the same time
compressing the spring G between the collar F and the stud D¹.
On the contrary, when the motive power fulls below the mean
resisting power, and the reactive force of the compressed spring G,
is greater than the motive force acting on the fly wheel, the fly wheel
is compelled to fall back from its advanced position, and the spring
G goes on relaxing till its re-active force is again overcome by the
motive force impelling the fly wheel.

page_text: Now it is plain that if the roller H be in all parts cylindrical, no
change in the mechanical action of the spring on the fixed arm will
result from its use, and the bands I and J having neither of them
a mechanical advantage over the other, the pull or drag of the straps
on the fixed arm will always be equal to the force of the spring, yet
if the two extremes of the re-active force of the spring be so nearly
equal cach to the other as not much to differ from the mean
resisting force, the fixed arm will be led forward by a force
nearly uniform, and the object sought will be approximately ob-
tained.
However, under the arrangements thus far described there is still
remaining an uncorrected portion of oscillation, which I destroy
in the following manner. Referring again to Fig. 1, instead of
making the roller or cam El in all parts cylindrical, I form
upon it two curves; that on which is coiled the strap I, in
immediate connexion with the spring G, I make cylindrical; the
other on which is coiled the strap J, which connects the collar
with the fixed arm C, I make a variable curve, which I name the
isodynamic curve; and it is of such form that the variable force
communicated from the strap I, and transmitted into the strap J,
may by changes in the leverage contained within the roller be con-
verted into a constant quantity.
To afford a more distinct view of the roller with the isodynamic
curve and the straps in connexion, I have drawn them on an en-
larged scale in Fig. 2, in which similar letters of reference have the
same application as in Fig. 1.
It is obvious that various arrangements or constructions of parts
for carrying out the principles of action above set forth may be
devised. Thus the springs may be many or few, and may be placed
in different positions. They may be of various forms and substances,
of metal or otherwise, and they may be connected at one end with
any convenient part of the fly wheel, and at the other with or with-
out the intervention of the final correcting apparatus with any
suitable member affixed to the main shaft; or, if the final correcting

page_text: apparatus be dispensed with, the arms on the main shaft may each
of them be a spring, or the main shaft may be allowed to receive
the full oscillations of the flywheel, and the corrective arrangements
applied at any place between it and the working machinery. Neither
is it necessary that the roller should carry one cylindrical curve.
All that is required is, that whatever may be the form of the curve
on which the oscillatory force acts, that of the other must be such
that a line drawn from the axis of the roller, and meeting at right
angles the strap through which the resisting force acts, and which
may be considered to be a lever of resistance, shall be proportionate
to the oscillatory force of the spring, as modified by the other curve
at that time.
An approximate mode of final compensation may be obtained by
the use of simple levers without corrective curves. Examples of
such methods I show in Fig. 3, in which A, B, C, is a bent lever,
having an axis of rotation at the point A. B is one end of the
lever, connected by the strap D, with a spring not shown in the
Drawing; C is the other end of the lever connected by the strap
E, with the fixed arm.
In the position of the lever as shewn in the diagram, the angle
D, B, A, is equal to the angle E, C, A, and therefore the two op-
posing forces, acting in the lines D and E, would be at equal ad-
vantage; and this would be the proper position of such a lever
applied in lieu of a compensating roller at the point of time when
the impelling and resisting forces were equal. When, however,
upon an accession of force, the fly wheel gets in advance of its
mean place, the arm B, A, will be drawn forward, and with its strap
D will take the place indicated by the dotted lines D', B¹, A; and
as this movement has changed the angle D, B, A, into an angle
more removed from a right angle, the strap D will have lost a me-
chanical advantage in its leverage; the same movement will have
transferred the arm and strap A, C, E, to the place of the dotted
lines A, C, E¹; and the angle at C, being converted into the angle at
C', will have approached nearer to a right angle, and the strap E

page_text: thereby will have gained an advantage of leverage; and as these
changes will occur when the oscillating force is increasing, they give
to the fixed arm an increasing means of resistance; and a lever of
this kind, if properly constructed and placed, will correct to a
great extent the oscillating force propagated through and left un-
corrected by the spring. It is also plain that instead of the flexible
bands D, and E, inflexible rods may be used without disadvantage.
Fig 4, is a combination of two levers, the mode of action of which
is almost identical with that of the single lever in Fig. 3, the differ-
ence being that the single axis of motion at A, in Fig 3, is repre-
sented by two such axes at A, A, in Fig 4, and that a connecting
bar F, in Fig 4, is introduced to compel the simultaneous movement
of the two levers, which secures an action closely similar in the two
levers to that of the single bent lever in Fig 3. The action in this
arrangement is so like to that of Fig 3, that any further explanation
would be superfluous.
Having now described my Invention, and the means of carrying
the same into effect, I would observe, that I do not mean to confine
myself to the arrangements herein shewn and described, as they may
doubtless be varied without departing from the nature and object of
my improvements. But that which I consider to be new, and therefore
wish to claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid, is the employment of springs, whether made of metal, wood,
caoutchouc, or any other elastic substance, between the oscillating
flywheel and the working parts of the machinery connected with it
wherever within those limits the springs may be placed, and also the
use of levers, of varying powers of resistance, for the purpose of
equalizing any variable force that may remain uncorrected in the
use of such springs, however the said levers may be constructed and
placed, or be contained in or be part of any roller, or cain, or con-
tained within any excentric toothed wheels, or any other form of
application; and I claim the exclusive right of applying thesc contri-
vances to the correction of the irregular motions of machines derived
from forces of regularly alternating changes of intensity recurring in

page_text: short intervals of time, whether such forces be derived from steam
engines or any other source of power.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Constable, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM CONSTABLE (L.s.)