Revolutions of Rotating Wheels or Shafts.
Year: 1885

page_text: Revolutions of Rotating Wheels or Shafts.
FRANCIS J. ROOKER, Mechanical Engineer, 156 Euston Rd. N.W. London, do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
COUNTING AND REGISTERING THE REVOLUTIONS OF ROTATING WHEELS OR SHAFTS
to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object the counting & registering the revolutions of
wheels, (or distance travelled by velocipedes & other wheeled vehicles) or the
rotations of shafts, and consists in having on a central axis in a box (which revolves
with the wheel or shaft) a hanging weight marked in the accompanying drawing A,
also the wheels, B, C, D & E, the alternate wheels B & D being clamped on the
central axis F; the hanging weight A, and the wheels C & E being free to revolve
round the same.
On the face of the hanging weight, gearing into both the wheels B & C, is a
pinion G, that is free to revolve on a pin that projects from the face of the weight A,
their is also another similar pinion H, on the face of the loose wheel C that gears
in a similar manner into both the wheel's D & E.
For the sake of simplifying the description, take for example that the fixed
wheel B has 99 teeth & the loose wheel C, 100 teeth, (the number of teeth in
the pinions being immaterial) the teeth of these two wheels would coincide at
whatever point the pinion G was in gear with them, so that as the pinion travelled
round with the weight A, it would rotate the wheel C so as to bring the teeth to
coincide, so that at one revolution of the weight A, the wheel C would shift one
tooth or of a turn, and with 100 revolutions of A the wheel C would make
one turn.
The same process goes on with the second pair of wheels D, E & the pinion H.
Taking that the fixed wheel D has 83 teeth & the loose wheel E, 84 teeth, one
turn of the wheel C, carring the pinion H would revolve the wheel E one tooth,
or, of a turn, therefore it would take 84 x 100 = 8400 revolutions of the
weight A to revolve the wheel E one turn, which would be about equal to 20 miles
travel of a wheel 48 inches in diameter.
This arrangment can be repeated to an unlimited registering power, by having.
more pairs of wheels, & pinions gearing into them, as described.
Internal, bevel or crown gearing may be used in a similar manner.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Counting and Registering the
Revolutions of Rotating Wheels or Shafts.
I, FRANCIS JOHN ROOKER of 156 Euston Road in London Mechanical Engineer
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 :-
My invention consists of an apparatus which is attached to or actuated by the
wheel or shaft whose rotations are to be determined. As such apparatus are
largely used for registering the distance travelled by velocipedes and other wheeled
vehicles, I will describe the arrangement of a counter constructed according to my
invention and intended to be used as a distance nieasurer for a velocipede or the
like by being attached to and revolving with a wheel of known diameter. And
in order that this description may be well understood I will illustrate it by referring
to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is an elevation of the interior of the
counter as it appears when its graduated dial plate is removed and figure 2 is a
Bection taken on the vertical diameter of the apparatus. The same letters of
reference are used to denote the same parts in each figure.
J is a circular case, F is an axis screwed into the case. A weighted arm A
hangs upon the axis and is free to revolve round it. Four wheels B, C, D, E are
concentric upon the axis, of which the alternate wheels B and D are rigidly attached
to it and revolve with it, but the wheels C and E are free to revolve round it. The
weighted arm A carries a small pivoted wheel or pinion G which is capable of
rotating in epicyclic gear with the fixed wheel B and the loose wheel C. There
is also a pinion H on the face of the wheel C which gears similarly with the fixed
wheel D and the loose wheel E.
I will assume for the sake of clearness that B has ninety-nine teeth and that
C has one hundred teeth. The number of teeth in the pinion is immaterial. The
pinion G in its path round the axis causes the teeth of the fixed wheel and of the
loose wheel to coincide at that part of their circumferences where it is in gear with
them, so that during one revolution of the arm A, the wheel C will move round
one tooth relatively to the wheel B, that is to say, the relative motion between the
two wheels is equal to the difference of the numbers of their teeth, thus 100 minus
99 equals 1 or the movement of C is one hundredth of a turn. Therefore with
100 revolutions of A the wheel C will make one turn relatively to the axis and
the case.
A similar action goes on with the pinion H and the wheels D and E. I will
assume that D has eighty-three teeth and E eighty-four teeth; then one turn of
the wheel C carrying pinion H will move wheel E one tooth that is one eighty-
fourth of a turn relatively to the axis and case.
Therefore it will take 84 times 100 or 8400 revolutions of .A to revolve the
wheel E through one complete revolution relatively to the case and pointer, which
if the apparatus were attached to a wheel forty-eight inches in diameter, would be
approximately equal to twenty miles travel of such a wheel. A dial K is attached

page_text: to the wheel E and revolves past an index attached to the case. The index is
marked L in the drawings. Or vice versa an index or hand may be attached to E
and a dial fixed to the case.
Although for the sake of simplicity I have spoken of the arm A revolving round
the axis yet when the apparatus above described is attached to a revolving wheel,
it is the weighted arm only which does not revolve but is kept vertical by the force
of gravity, while the case, axis and wheels revolve. I sometimes construct the
apparatus so that the case is at rest and the arm A instead of being weighted is
moved round by some external mechanism such as a spur wheel, ratchet or the like,
and I also sometimes use bevel, internal or crown wheels in differential gear in
place of but in a similar manner to the method above described with ordinary spur
wheels and pinions.
When the fixed wheel has a less number of teeth than the loose wheel of the
same pair, the latter will revolve in the same direction as the piece that carries
the pinion gearing into it, but when the fixed wheel has more teeth than the loose
one, the latter will revolve in the opposite direction to that of the piece which
carries the pinion.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a revolution counter the combination of a weighted arm with epicyclic
gear substantially as set forth.
2. The modification of this apparatus wherein the arm or piece carrying the
prime moving pinion is rotated by exterior mechanism while the case is at rest
or in which the case is similarly rotated while the arm is at rest.
3. Modifications of this apparatus wherein bevel, internal, or crown wheels are
used in epicyclic gear in place of the spur wheels and pinions in the particular form
herein before described and illustrated.
4. This hereinbefore described method of epicyclic gearing, if used in one set,
or more than one set, of the two wheels, and the pinion gearing into them; this
arrangment is capable of being continued to any desired registering power.
Dated this eighteenth day of February 1886.