Improvements in Hand Driving Mechanism for Operating the Flexible Shafts of Animal Shearing and other Tools.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Hand Driving Mechanism for Operating the
Flexible Shafts of Animal Shearing and other Tools.
I, REGINALD HADDAN, of the Firm of Herbert Haddan & Co., of 18, Buckingham
Street, Strand, W.C., London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, a communication to me from abroad by John Kerwin Stewart, of
Chicago, State of Illinois, United States of America, Manufacturer, to be as
follows:-
This invention belongs to a class of devices in which the shear, clipper or any
tool, is driven by means of a flexible shaft connected with any suitable means for
providing rotary motion to the latter, and it is designed as an improvement upon
the particular sort of appliance of this class which, as heretofore constructed,
consists of a standard having a suitably geared or belted train for imparting rotary
motion journaled on a frame which is swiveled upon such standard.
In such structures, in order to locate the shaft which is the immediate means
of rotating the flexible shaft, high enough to afford sufficient range of action to
the tool, that is, so that the latter can be carried all around the animal without
disturbing the position of the standard and without requiring the flexible shaft
to drag upon the animal at any point, it is necessary to provide the swiveled
frame with a long arm extending up to the bearing for such shaft, thus making a
bulky and somewhat inconvenient article.
My improvement consists in suspending the frame having the gearing train
by a cable from the ceiling, and providing means for letting out and taking up
the cable to vary the height, and adapting the frame in other ways to be held by
the operator, who operates it by hand, dispensing entirely with the standard,
and reducing the frame in compass to the dimensions which are merely necessary
to properly separate journal-bearings of the gear wheels.
I construct my device with a frame which consists of a hub having two radial
arms about one-hundred-and-twenty degrees apart, a drive wheel being journaled
at the hub, and the arms being long enough to extend each somewhat beyond the
periphery of the drive-wheel, which, in practice, need not exceed twenty-four
inches in diameter, making the arms from twelve to eighteen inches in length.
Upon the opposite side of the hub from that at which these two arms project,
I locate means for securing a suspending cable. Preferably, such cable runs over
a pulley at the ceiling, and requires two points of connection with the frame,
one of them being a permanent or fixed connection for the end of the cable, and
the other being a slip connection or guide at which the cable may be gripped
and released at the will of the operator, consisting of a grip pulley or roller of

page_text: construction familiar for such purpose, so that the device may be raised or lowered
at will. When this is provided for, I make the connection above-mentioned
near the hub serve for the slipping and gripping connection, and I provide a
third arm pivoted at the hub and extending beyond the periphery of the wheel and
provided with an eye for attaching the cable. One of the two rigid arms has
a bearing for a pinion which is the immediate means of driving the flexible shaft,
and which meshes with and is driven by a gear face on the drive wheel which is
journaled at the hub. The other fixed arm serves as a handle by which the
operator may move and direct the machine with the left hand while rotating the
drive wheel with the right.
The essential characteristic of this invention consists of the frame or spider
which has the bearings of the wheels (of whatever number) of the train for driving
a flexible shaft and suitable means for flexibly suspending the frame, the latter
having a handle for directing and controlling its position when suspended. A
specific feature of this structure, which contributes to its utility, is the employment
of the arm pivoted at the hub or center of the frame, and adapted to afford fixed
connection for one end of a suspending cable, a second slip-and-grip connection
for the cable being provided at a point nearer the hub than the end of the pivoted
arm, so that the weight of the device tends to draw the two points of suspension
into line, and thus tends to cause the device to assume a preferred position while
its position can be controlled readily by the handle by means of which the frame
consisting of the hub and two rigid arms may be rocked at the pivotal connection
of the pivoted arm which constitutes the suspending arm.
Dated this 28th day of October 1897
Improvements in Hand Driving Mechanism for Operating the
Flexible Shafts of Animal Shearing and other Tools.
I, REGINALD HADDAN, of the Firm of Herbert Haddan & Co., of 18, Buckingham
Street, Strand, London, W.C., Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, a communication to me from abroad by John Kerwin Stewart, of the
City of Chicago, County of Cook, and State of Illinois, United States of America,
Manufacturer, and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
This invention belongs to a class of devices in which the shear, clipper or other
tool, is driven by means of a flexible shaft connected with any suitable means for
imparting rotary motion to the latter, and it is designed as an improvement upon
the particular sort of appliance of this class which, as heretofore constructed,
consists of a standard having a suitable geared or belted train for imparting rotary
motion journaled on a frame which is swiveled upon such standard.
In such structures, in order to locate the shaft which is the immediate means
of rotating the flexible shaft, high enough to afford sufficient range of action to
the tool, that is, so that the latter can be carried all around the animal without
disturbing the position of the standard and without requiring the flexible shaft
to drag upon the animal at any point it is necessary to provide the swiveled
frame with a long arm extending up to the bearing for such shaft, thus making a
bulky and somewhat inconvenient article.

page_text: My improvement consists in suspending the frame having the gearing train
by a cable from the ceiling, and providing means for letting out and taking up
the cable to vary the height, and adapting the frame in other ways to be held by
the operator, who operates it by hand, dispensing entirely with the standard,
and reducing the frame in compass to the dimensions which are merely necessary
to properly separate the journal-bearings of the gear wheels.
I construct my device with a frame which consists of a hub having two radial
arms about one-hundred-and-twenty degrees apart, a drive wheel being journaled
at the hub, and the arms being long enough to extend each somewhat beyond the
periphery of the drive-wheel, which, in practice, need not exceed twenty-four
inches in diameter, making the arms from twelve to eighteen inches in length.
Upon the opposite side of the hub from that at which these two arms project,
I locate means for securing a suspending cable. Preferably, such cable runs over
a pulley at the ceiling, and requires two points of connection with the frame,
one of them being a permanent or fixed connection for the end of the cable, and
the other being a slip connection or guide at which the cable may be gripped
and released at the will of the operator, consisting of a grip pulley or roller of
construction familiar for such purpose, so that the device may be raised or lowered
at will. When this is provided for, I make the connection above-mentioned
near the hub serve for the slipping and gripping connection, and I provide a
third arm pivoted at the hub and extending beyond the periphery of the wheel and
provided with an eye for attaching, the cable. One of the two rigid arms has
a bearing for a pinion which is the immediate means of driving the flexible shaft,
and which meshes with and is driven by a gear face on the drive wheel which is
journaled at the hub.
The other fixed arm serves as a handle by which the
operator may move and direct the machine with the left hand while rotating the
drive wheel with the right.
In the accompanying drawings:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved appliance;
Figure 2 is a section at the line 2-2 on Figure 1.
The frame consists of the hub A, having two rigid arms A3 A³. B is the drive
wheel which is journaled at the hub center. The arms A2 A3 are about 15 inches
long, extending beyond the periphery of a 24 inch drive wheel. Upon the opposite
side of the hub from that at which these two arms project, I locate means for securing
the suspending cable H, which runs over a support-preferably a pulley D at
the ceiling and thus requires two points of connection to the frame, one of them
being a permanent or fixed connection for the end of the cable, and the other being
a slip connection or guide at which the cable may be gripped and released at will.
This latter connection therefore consists of a grip pulley or roller G of construction
familiar for such purpose. This permits the device to be raised or lowered at will,
and secured by the grip pulley at any height. This guide or slip connection I make
near the hub, as illustrated, and for the other connection of the cable, I provide
a third arm A, which is pivoted at the hub and extends beyond the periphery of
the wheel and has an eye A40 for attaching the end of the cable, as illustrated.
The arm A2 has a bearing for a pinion E through which rotary motion is com-
municated to the flexible tool-actuating shaft F, this pinion being meshed with
and driven by a gear face B' on the drive-wheel B. The other fixed arm A³ serves
as a handle by which the operator may move and direct the machine with the left
hand while rotating the drive-wheel with the right. J is a tool, actuated by the
flexible shaft F. The tool, herein illustrated, is a clipper of ordinary construction.
Any suitable tool adapted to be driven by rotary action may be substituted, accord-
ing to the work to which the device is being applied.
It will be understood that the machine is designed to be operated by one person
holding the handle and rotating the wheel B, while another handles the clipper
or other tool and directs it in its work. The operator hereinabove referred to is
the person who operates the driving mechanism and not the person who handles
the tool.

page_text: The essential characteristic of this invention is found in the frame or spider,
which has the bearings of the wheels (of whatever number) of the train for driving
a flexible shaft, and suitable means for flexibly suspending such frame, the latter
having a handle for directing and controlling its position when suspended. A
specific feature of this structure, and one which contributes to its utility, is the
employment of the arm which is pivoted at the hub or center of the frame, and
adapted to afford a point of fastening for one end of the suspending cable in
connection with the second slip-and-grip connection for the cable, which is
provided at a point nearer the hub than the end of the pivoted arm,
that the weight of the device tends to draw the two points of suspension
or attachment of the suspending cable into line, and thus tends to cause the device
to assume a usually preferred or most frequently convenient position, while per-
mitting its position to be controlled readily by the handle by means of which the
entire frame, comprising the hub and the two rigid arms may be rocked at the
pivotal connection of the pivoted arm by which the frame is suspended.
SO
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In an appliance for the purpose described, the employment of a frame or
spider, and means for suspending it flexibly, the frame having a rigid handle
for directing its position, a driving and a driven wheel mounted on the frame,
and a flexible tool-actuating shaft actuated. by the driven wheel, combined and
operating substantially as set forth.
2. In an appliance for the purpose described, a frame and a cable by which
the same is suspended, such cable being attached to the frame at two points, and
intermediately adapted to extend over a suitable support, a slip-and-grip device
on the frame at one of said points of attachment adapted to permit the adjustment
of such attachment, a driving and a driven wheel journaled in said frame, and
suitable connection from the driven wheel for operating the tool.
3. In an appliance for the purpose described, in combination with the spider
or frame, having two arms radiating from a central hub, a driving wheel journaled
at the hub, one of said arms having means for suspending the frame, and the other
extending in a position to serve as a directing handle, said frame having also
a third arm provided with bearings for a pinion, such pinion journaled in said arm
actuated by the centrally-journaled wheel, and a flexible shaft connected to and
actuated by said pinion and adapted to carry the tool at the remote end.
4. In an appliance for the purpose described, in combination with the frame,
consisting of a hub having two radial arms, a driving wheel journaled at the hub
a pinion journaled on one of said arms and driven by the driving wheel, a flexible
shaft connected to and driven by the pinion, the other of said arms being adapted
to serve as a directing handle for the frame, a third arm pivoted about the hub,
and a suspending cable attached to such pivoted arm at a point remote from the
center, the frame being provided with another point of attachment for the cable
near the center.
5. In an appliance for the purpose described, in combination with the frame
consisting of a hub having two rigid arms, a drive-wheel journaled at the hub
center, a pinion journaled on one of the arms and driven by the drive-wheel, a
flexible shaft connected to and driven by the pinion, the other rigid arm being
adapted to serve as a directing handle for the frame, a third arm pivoted about
the hub center, and a suspending cable attached to said arm at a point remote
from the center, the frame being provided with another point of attachment for
the cable near the hub center, the attachment of one of said points being made
by a slip-and-grip device adapted to engage and release the cable.
6. In an appliance for the purpose described, in combination with the frame
consisting of a hub having two rigid arms, a drive-wheel journaled at the hub
center, a pinion journaled on one of the arms and driven by the drive-wheel,
a flexible shaft connected to and driven by the pinion, the other rigid arm being

page_text: adapted to serve as a directing handle for the frame, a third arm pivoted about the
hub center, and a suspending cable attached to such pivoted arm at a point remote
from the center, and a slip-and-grip device on the frame for engaging the cable,
and a second point of attachment near the center on the side opposite that from
which the rigid arms project.