CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMMUNICATING POWER TO THE WHEEL OR AXLE OF STEAM OR OTHER ENGINES, AND FOR CARRIAGES TO BE PROPELLED BY HAND OR FOOT."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Guillaume, of No. 81, Marland Place,
Southampton, Architect, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR COMMUNICATING POWER TO THE WHEEL OR AXLE OF STEAM OR
OTHER ENGINES, AND FOR CARRIAGES TO BE PROPELLED BY HAND OR FOOT."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Guillaume at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
July 1855.
I, GEORGE GUILLAUME, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR COMMUNICATING POWER TO THE
WHEEL OR AXLE OF STEAM OR OTHER ENGINES, OR FOR CARRIAGES TO BE PROPELLED
BY HAND OR Foor," to be as follows:-
The improvement consists in what may be termed a one-way crank or lever,
and is composed of a double or single arm, with or without balance weight,
fitted loosely to the axle or stock of the wheel at one end, and provided with
a spring and catch. A ratchet wheel or cogs to be fixed either to the wheel
or axle, into which the catch will drop; the-crank or arm thereby (or by

page_text: other means) having the power. to, turn freely back, but not forward; the
crank or arm to be worked by means of two or more rods, and a roller fitted
thereto or otherwise by a polished surface. at the end of the rods. A means of
increasing or diminishing the power is provided by extending or diminishing
the point of contact with the lever or one-way-crank. The axle by this
arrangement may be straight instead of bent, as for the ordinary crank. The
loss of power experienced in the use of the common crank until it has attained
a certain angle will be avoided. The greatest power will be at the points
where the ordinary crank is the weakest.
The facilities afforded by this improvement for propelling carriages by hand
or foot are as follows:-
Firstly, the means of propelling either the axle or wheel, by which carriages
may be easily turned.
Secondly, the strokes are not necessarily all of one length.
Thirdly, the weight of the person propelling, and part of the weight of the
carriage, being thrown before the axle, the propelling power is materially
assisted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Guillaume in the Great Seal. Patent Office on the
4th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
GUILLAUME, of Southampton, in the County of Hampshire, Architect, send
greeting.
T
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Guillaume, Her special licence that I, the said George Guillaume,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Guillaume, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MA-
CHINERY FOR COMMUNICATING POWER TO THE WHEEL OR AXLE OF STEAM OR OTHER
•

page_text: ENGINES, AND FOR CARRIAGES TO BE PROPELLED BY HAND OR FOOT," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said George Guillaume, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing 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 George Guillaume, do hereby declare
the nature of my said.Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is to avoid the dead point of the ordinary crank,
to increase the working power, and to obviate the necessity of the strokes being
all of one length.
"
In order that my Invention may be more fully understood, I have hereunto
annexed a Sheet of Drawings, the letters of reference marked thereon cor-
responding to the letters herein.....
}:
My Invention consists of what I term a one-way crank or lever, marked Q
on the several Figures on the Drawings, and is composed of a single or double.
arm, with or without balance weights, fitted loosely at one end to the axle
or to the stock of the wheel, having the power to turn backwards, but not
forwards, by ratchet wheels or other means.. The one-way crank is put into
action by the working rods S, which are worked by steam or hand or other
means; they are placed in the Drawing nearly perpendicularly over the axle,
but in execution may be placed, if more convenient for the intended purpose,
horizontally or in any other position.
The cranks or levers Q are to be worked by means of a roller or slippery
surface, fixed' to the working rod S or guide rod B, in Figures 6 and 9, and D,
in Figures 4 and 10, which said roller or slippery surface may be regulated in
its direction by an arm or rod B, Figures 3, 6, and 9, working upon a centre
C, or by curved and straight arms D, E, F, as represented in Figure 4.
The arms E, F, may be substituted, if more convenient, by friction rollers
G, H. A continuous rotary motion is produced by the opposite cranks coming
into operation alternately, one up and the other down.
The power to turn the cranks Q back, but not forward, may be effected by a
spring or catch with ratchet wheel I, as shewn in Figures 2 and 3, or with
springs and catch L with cog wheel T, as represented by the front and side
views, Figures 5 and 10. The latter mode-has-the-power-of-instantly-reversing

page_text: the engine or machine, as shewn by the lever and connecting rod, or by a
pulley and chain acting upon the small lever and springs L.
The power to turn the crank Q back, but not forward, may be also effected
by ratchet wheels, the teeth of which are horizontal, fixed to the cranks, and
working in corresponding ratchet wheels fixed to the axle or stock of the wheel,
as represented at M, Figures 6 and 7. A reversed motion to the engine may
be produced by a lever N or other means shifting the ratchet wheels into
opposite gear, the cranks being kept in position by a spring O.
The power to turn the crank Q back, but not forward, may be also effected
by perpendicular ratchet or cog wheels, as shewn at Figures 8 and 9, and is
well adapted for propelling carriages by hand or foot, the top wheel P being
fixed to the crank Q, and to be made with moveable cogs, or with an axis
working in an elongated socket, or, as I prefer, by a link, as represented at R.
The centres C, on which the arms B work, may be fixed closer or more
distant, and the curved rod D, Fig. 4, may be extended according to the power
required. The arms may be strengthened to any degree, without adding
materially to their weight, by the plan represented at Figure 1.
The principal advantages afforded by the use of what I term the one-way
crank are the following:-
First, the axle may be of less weight, and straight instead of bent, as for
the ordinary crank.
Secondly, the dead point and loss of power, as experienced in the use of
the common crank without a fly wheel until it has attained a certain angle,
will be avoided.
Thirdly, the strokes are not necessarily all of one length.
The additional facilities afforded by this improvement for propelling carriages
by hand or foot are as follows:--
First, the means of propelling either the axle or wheel, by which carriages
may be easily turned.
Secondly, the person propelling may apply his power with great advantage,
naving power to change his mode of exertion, either as if in the act of rowing
a boat, or by pressing downward by hand or foot.
Thirdly, an increased or less degree of power may be instantly obtained.
Having now described my Invention, to the best of my ability, I wish it to
be understood that I claim as my Invention,-
First, the combination of apparatus herein described, which I call the one-
way crank.
Secondly; the combination of the one-way crank and machinery herein

page_text: shewn and described for the use of steam or other engines and carriages
propelled by hand or foot.
Thirdly, the application of the one-way crank to steam or other engines
and carriages propelled by hand or foot, for the purpose of communicating
power to the wheel or axle.
In witness whereof, the said George Guillaume has hereunto set his
hand and seal, this Fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord
1856.
GEORGE GUILLAUME. (L.S.)
Witness,
HENRY LAXTON.