Improvements in Friction Clutches or Couplings for Transmitting Rotary Motion to Shafts, Wheels, Pulleys, and other Parts of Mechanism.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Dec., 1886.
Complete Left, 25th May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 28th June, 1887.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Friction Clutches or Couplings for Transmitting
Rotary Motion to Shafts, Wheels, Pulleys, and other Parts of
Mechanism.
We, ISAAC MILLINGTON of 29 Trentham Street, Pendleton, Salford, in the County
of Lancaster, Millwright, and CHARLES EDMESTON of the firm of A. Edmeston and
Sons of Cannon Street Works, Salford aforesaid, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to friction clutches or couplings for driving or transmitting
rotary motion from a shaft pulley or wheel, which has rotating motion imparted to it,
to another shaft, pulley or wheel which is to receive rotating motion, this motion
being stopped and started at will, and our invention consists in a simple and effective
combination and arrangement or in simple and effective combinations and arrangements
for the purpose namely.
A boss is keyed or secured on the shaft or part which is to be driven, this boss has
or may have one arm solid with it and a pulley or rim which rim is thick where it
forms the arm from the boss and gradually decreasing in thickness on both sides of
the arm to that part of the rim opposite the arm from the boss.
This rim is cut in two at the thin place in a line parallel to the axis of the boss so
that there is a space left between the two ends and which are clamped and drawn
together, and then the pulley or rim (hereinafter termed the elastic rim) is turned up
cylindrically true to fit without touching an internal cylinder turned in a pulley or
rim formed on one side of a disc having a boss loose on the shaft to be driven which
pulley (hereinafter termed the disc pulley) is kept in its place by the boss of the
elastic rim on one side and a collar on the shaft on the other side.
The boss of the disc pulley has the driving wheel or pulley upon it which is to give
the rotating motion.
Each end of the elastic rim is formed with a slot or recess to receive and hold a
screw nut which is or may be secured in the recess by a cover plate and screws.

page_text: The screw nuts are of reversed pitch to suit a right and left handed screw, screwing
into and connecting the two screw nuts so as to draw together or separate the two
ends of the elastic rim.
When the right and left handed screw draws the two ends of the elastic rim
together the disc pulley can rotate without touching or driving the elastic rim, when
the right and left handed screw is turned to allow the two ends of the elastic rim to
separate or when the screw forces the ends of the elastic rim apart, the periphery of
the elastic rim presses firmly against and thus bites upon the interior of the rim of
the disc pulley and thus receives motion from it.
There is an arm secured on the right and left handed screw which is jointed to one
end of a link the other end of which is jointed to a clutch grooved collar free on the
shaft and it is by moving, by a clutch fork lever, this collar longitudinally on
the shaft, that the right and left hand screw is partly rotated one way or the other and
thus the elastic rim is made to engage or disengage with the disc pulley-There is or
may be a worm wheel fast on the right and left handed screw in gear with a worm in
bearings on the elastic rim, for rotating and adjusting the right and left handed screw
when required.
The two sides of the elastic rim may if required be jointed on the arm from
its boss.
We have hitherto spoken only of the disc pulley driving the elastic rim, but the
elastic rim may be the driver and the disc pulley the driven part if desired.
The combination is or may be used for coupling two separate shafts one having the
disc pulley upon its end and the other the elastic rim, with or without using
the clutch collar for acting upon the right and left handed screw while the elastic rim
is in action.
Dated this Seventeenth day of December 1886.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Friction Clutches or Couplings for Transmitting
Rotary Motion to Shafts, Wheels, Pulleys, and other Parts of
Mechanism.
WO ISAAC MILLINGTON of 29 Trentham Street, Pendleton, Salford, in the County
of Lancaster, Millwright, and CHARLES EDMESTON, of the firm of A. Edmeston and
Sons of Cannon Street Works, Salford aforesaid, Engineers, 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 :-
Our invention relates to friction clutches or couplings for driving or transmitting
rotary motion from a shaft, pulley or wheel, which has rotating motion imparted to it,
to another shaft, pulley or wheel which is to receive rotating motion, this motion
being stopped and started at will, and our invention consists in a simple and effective
combination and arrangement or in simple and effective combinations and arrangements
for the purpose which will be most readily understood from the drawings herewith
and the following explanation.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section in the lengthway of the driving shaft and fig. 2 is a
front view of the elastic rim, and the disc pulley upon which it acts.
These two figures illustrate our invention as applied to a belt pulley, but when
desired a wheel may take the place of the pulley.
Fig. 3 is a section in the lengthway of the shaft showing the application of our
invention for connecting or disconnecting two shafts where one shaft has to give
rotation to the other shaft, and fig. 4 is a side sectional view, and fig. 5 a sectional
view taken in the lengthway of the screw for acting upon the elastic rim, these last
named figs, showing the right and left handed screw and parts connected with it upon
an enlarged scale.
In figs. 1 and 2. a is the shaft which is rotated, is a boss keyed upon the shaft a.
This boss has an arm & carrying a rim branching on each side of the arm which
rim is the thickest at its junction with the arm and then tapers towards the
two ends.
The periphery of this elastic rim 62 is cylindrical and at the thin end of each part
of the rim a dovetail recess is formed into each of which a dovetail screw nut e is
fitted, the nut being held from moving out of the recess by a plate e secured by
screws c³.
One of these screw nuts c has a right handed screw, the other a left handed screw
thread to fit corresponding ends of a screw d which in a part between its screw
threaded ends is made by preference with flutes or corrugations as shown to fit a
piece e¹ inserted in a slot in the boss of a lever e through a hole in which the. screw d
is inserted.
The piece e¹ is acted upon by a set screw e² screwing through the boss of the lever e
(see figs. 4 and 5).

page_text: This arrangement is to give firm hold between the lever e and screw d and to
provide means for readily changing the point of connection between the lever e and
the screw d when required.
The end of the lever e has a stud e in it jointed to one end of a link the other
end of which is jointed to a clutch collar floose on the shaft a and free to move end-
ways thereon by means of a clutch lever or other connection which can be moved to
hold the collar at either extreme of its movement that is when the clutch is driving,
and when it is not driving.
The elastic rim is or may be cast solid with its boss and arm and its thin part
when cast solid is cut leaving a space between the two ends which are then drawn
and held together while being turned up to fit without touching the bored or turned
out interior of a cylindrical pulley g on a disc gl which has a boss 92 free to rotate
upon the shaft. a but this disc pulley is prevented from moving endways by coming
against the boss of the elastic rim 6 on one side, and a collar secured on the
shaft a on the other side.
The pulley h or wheel to receive motion is or may be keyed upon the boss of the
disc pulley g² or may form part thereof.
It will be understood that when the clutch collar is moved one way the screw d
forces the clastic rim against the interior of the pulley 7 and thus gives the required
frictional adhesion to drive the pulley and vice versa when the clutch collar is moved
in the other way, when the elastic rim will then revolve without driving the pulley g.
The arrangement shown by fig. 3 for connecting or disconnecting two shafts one
of which is rotated and is to drive the other, is the same as that shown by figs. 1 and 2-
In this case there are two separate shafts a and a¹ and the boss of the disc pulley is
keyed on the shaft a¹.
It will be seen that by this arrangement the shaft a may drive the shaft a¹ or vice
versa the shaft a¹ may drive the shaft a and the same as to the arrangement shown by
figs. 1 and 2 the shaft a may drive the pulley or wheel, or the pulley or wheel may
drive the shaft a.
The two parts of the elastic rim 62 instead of being solid with the arm b¹ are or
may be in some cases jointed to the arm b', but we prefer to cast them solid with the
boss and arm b¹.
In some cases the arrangement is or may be used as a coupling without using the
collar and link et when connection and dis-connection is only required to be made
when the rotation of the driving shaft is stopped.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed-we declare that what we claim is.
The combination and arrangement of mechanism forming a friction clutch or
coupling wherein a rim (62) is arranged to be expanded by one screw against or
withdrawn from the interior of a cylinder (g) substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated by the drawings.
Dated this Twenty third day of May 1887.
PETER J. LIVSEY,
Agent.