AN IMPROVED GEAR FOR COMMUNICATING POWER FROM HORSES OR CATTLE FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRIVING MACHINERY
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dray, of Swan Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED GEAR FOR
COMMUNICATING POWER FROM HORSES OR CATTLE FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRIVING
MACHINERY."A communication.
Sealed the 18th September 1855, and dated the 28th March 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
March 1855.
I, WILLIAM DRAY, of Swan Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED GEAR
FOR COMMUNICATING POWER FROM HORSES OR CATTLE FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRIVING
MACHINERY," (a communication,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a new and improved arrangement and combina
tion of the toothed gearing for driving the shaft which communicates the
motion from horses or cattle to machinery in connection therewith. The poles
or levers to which the horses or cattle are yoked, fit into sockets on the head or
flat part of a bevil wheel. This bevil wheel has no arms, but is constructed
with a flat canopy like a plate, the cogs forming under the periphery thereof;
it therefore forms a cover for the working parts of the machinery. This wheel
gears into a bevil pinion keyed upon a horizontal shaft, by which motion is

page_text: communicated to a spur wheel. upon the same shaft, which spur wheel gears
into a toothed pinion upon a second horizontal shaft. This second shaft has
another spur wheel keyed upon it, which gears into a toothed pinion keyed
upon a hollow shaft which revolves around the first horizontal shaft. The
universal joint for communicating the requisite motion to the machinery to be
driven is connected to and revolves with the last-mentioned toothed pinion.
By this arrangement of gearing, less room is occupied, greater strength is
secured, and the whole is more compact than the ordinary horse gear; friction
is materially lessened, and less power is consumed in, driving the machine.
The main wheel has a centre pipe cast on it, which forms the main shaft;
this pipe has a bolt and nut secured to a flange at bottom, which when
screwed up tight, the flange having a small projection, prevents the rising of
the wheel when in work, and renders the pipe or shaft so strong as to bear any
amount of jerk or strain. The bed is a-casting, carrying the plummer blocks
and also the pipe into which the main wheel works. It is fastened on a
wooden frame, thereby giving strength and solidity to the whole fabric:
SPECIFICATION.in pursuance of the conditions. of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Dray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DRAY, of Swan Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Dray, Her special licence that I, the said William Dray, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Dray, 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 "AN IMPROVED GEAR FOR COM-
'MUNICATING POWER FROM HORSES OR CATTLE FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRIVING
MACHINERY," (communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad,) upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Dray, by an instrument

page_text: in writing under my hand and scal, 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 William Dray,,do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say
j
...This Invention consists in a new and improved arrangement and, combination
of the toothed gearing for driving the shaft which.communicates the motion
from horses or cattle to machinery in connection therewith. In the Drawings
hereunto annexed I have shewn the manner in which I carry this Invention
into effect.
P
...
Figure 1 represents a plan of this improved gear, one-half of the upper
or main driving wheel being shewn in section, in order to indicate more
clearly the arrangement of the toothed gearing below. Figure 2 repre-
sents a longitudinal section through the line a, b, of Figure 1. A, A, are
the poles or levers to which the horses or cattle are yoked. These levers
fit into sockets B, B, on the head or flat part of a bevil wheel C. The
top part of this wheel is cast solid, so as to form a flat canopy or plate,
the teeth being cast on the under side; this wheel thus forms a cover for
the working parts of the machinery. D is a strong shaft or centre, cast
upon the under side of the bevil wheel C, which is fitted into a pipe or
socket E, cast upon the sole plate F, and in which the shaft of the wheel is
free to revolve. G is a rod or bolt, which passes up through the centre of the
socket and shaft, and serves to bind them both together, and prevent the wheel
C from getting out of gear with the bevil pinion G'. Instead of the wheel C
being cast with a shaft or centre, it may, if desired, be cast with the tube or
socket, and the centre or shaft cast upon the sole plate. The pinion G' is
keyed upon the horizontal shaft H, turning in the plummer blocks I, I, bolted
to the sole plate. J is a spur wheel, also keyed upon the shaft H, and
revolving with it. This wheel gears into the toothed pinion K, keyed upon
the horizontal shaft L, turning in the plummer blocks M, M. This second
shaft L has another spur wheel N keyed upon it, which gears into a toothed
pinion P, keyed upon a hollow shaft, which revolves freely around the shaft
H. O is a clutch box, separately represented in Figure 3, for communicating
the requisite motion to the shaft of the machinery to be driven. This clutch

page_text: box O is connected to and revolves with the pinion P. Q is a framework upon
which the bed or sole plate J, carrying the plummer blocks, is firmly bolted,
thereby giving strength and solidity to the machinery. By this arrangement
of gearing, less room is occupied, greater strength is secured, and the whole
is more compact than the ordinary horse gear; friction is materially lessened,
and less power is consumed in driving the machine.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is, the new
and improved arrangement and combination of the toothed gearing for driving
the shaft which communicates the motion from horses or cattle to machinery
in connection therewith, as herein-before described and represented in the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
WILLIAM DRAY. (L.S.)