IMPROVEMENTS IN SPEED INDICATORS FOR MACHINERY
Year: 1884

page_text: I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of the firm of A. M. and Wm. Clark, of
53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SPEED INDICATORS FOR MACHINERY," a communication to me from abroad by
William Harold Lord, of the City, County and State of New York, United States
of America, to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to provide a means for showing the loss or gain
in speed of a steam engine or other machinery.
The invention consists in a speed clock for machinery constructed with an
ordinary clock work provided with a third hand, and connected by shafts and gear
wheels with the machinery and a clockwork connected with the machinery by
shafts and gear wheels and provided with two hands arranged to revolve the one
once an hour, and the other once in sixty hours.
With the frame of the clockwork is connected a bridge provided with a hollow
journal placed upon the hollow arbor carrying the hour hand and carrying the gear
wheel connected with the worm wheel and worm whereby the speed mechanism
will be kept from contact with the time mechanism.
With the worm shaft driving the speed mechanism and the arbor of the time
seconds-band, are connected bevelled gear wheels and a speed seconds-hand, whereby
the gain or loss in speed will be accurately shown.
With the speed clockwork provided with two hands revolving the one in sixty
hours and the other in one hour, is connected a seconds-hand revolving once a
minute, and its driving mechanism, whereby the amount of gain or loss in speed,
in a given time can be accurately shown.
The worm shaft driving. the speed mechanism of the time clockwork, and the
worm shaft connected with the machinery, and driving the speed clockwork, are
connected by mitre wheels and a sliding rotary shaft whereby the speed hands
of the two clockworks can be readily adjusted; as will be hereinafter fully
described.
The one clockwork for showing whether the engine or machinery is running
too fast or to slow is an ordinary clock actuated by spring or weight and having

page_text: an hour and a minute hand as usual and in addition a third hand carried by a
hollow arbor that rides upon a hollow journal or post carried by a bridge and
through which the hour hand arbor passes freely. The arbor of this third or speed-
hand carries a gear wheel which gears with a worm wheel actuated by a worm on
a shaft driven as hereafter described, the gear being so proportioned that the speed
hand will keep with the minute hand of the clock when the machinery is running
at the proper speed, but should the machinery run too fast or too slow, the speed
hand will be in advance of, or behind, the said minute hand, and will thus show the
variations of speed. The said worm shaft is geared by bevel gear with a hollow arbor
riding loose on the seconds-hand arbor or on a hollow post through which said arbor
passes, said hollow arbor carrying a speed seconds-hand which when the machinery
is running at proper speed moves with the seconds-hand of the clock, but should
the said machinery be running too fast or too slow, the speed seconds-hand will be
in advance of, or behind, the time seconds-hand. The dial of this clock is graduated
in the ordinary way for the hour, minute, and speed hands and in addition to the
ordinary circle of 60 divisions for the time seconds-hand, it has a circle of 100
divisions for the speed seconds-hand.
The other clockwork is for totalising the aggregate gain or loss of speed in a
week or other period of time. It has a minute hand making one revolution per
hour, a seconds-hand carried by a hollow arbor riding on the minute hand arbor
and making one revolution per minute and an hour hand carried by a hollow arbor
riding on the arbor of the seconds-hand and making one revolution in sixty hours,
that being the number of hours that machinery usually runs in a week. The dial
has an interior scale of 100 divisions for the last mentioned hand and an exterior
scale of 60 divisions for the other two hands. By these three hands the amount
of lost speed will be accurately registered. Attached to the minute band arbor is
a worm wheel with which gears a worin on a shaft which on the one hand is
capable of being geared by a shaft and bevel gear with the machinery to be timed
or of being thrown out of gear therewith, and on the other hand is capable of
being geared by a connecting shaft with the worin shaft of the speed mechanism
of the other clock movement previously described.
This connecting shaft is free to slide in its bearings and has mitre wheels gearing
with corresponding wheels on the worm shaft of the two speed mechanisnis, said
mitre wheels being capable of being thrown out of gear therewith by sliding the
shaft in its bearings; said shaft also has a third mitre wheel on it which when the
aforesaid mitre wheels are thrown out of gear, comes into gear with the mitre wheel
on the worm shaft of the speed mechanism first described. It is also provided
with a handle or wheel for adjusting and operating it.
When it is desired to find the loss or gain in speed, I wait until the speed seconds
hand arrives at some given point and then slide the connecting shaft so as to throw
the worm shafts of the two mechanisms out of gear therewith and stop the speed
mechanism of the first described clock work until its seconds hand reaches the
same point. I then throw said shaft into gear again with the two worm shafts
causing the two seconds hands to move on together.
As soon as the time seconds hand completes a revolution, I again stop the speed
mechanism, and can then at my leisure ascertain the loss or gain in seconds or
percentage, as desired.

page_text: COBBLEIE DIECIFICATION.
"
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of the firm of A. M. and Wm. Clark, of
53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of
Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SPEED INDICATORS FOR MACHINERY (a communication to me from
abroad by William Harold Lord of the City, County and State of New York, c
United States of America) and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by. the following statement:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a means for showing the loss or gain
in speed of a steam engine or other machinery.
The invention consists in a speed clock for machinery constructed of an ordinary
clock work provided with additional independent or speed (minute and seconds)
hands which are geared with and actuated by the the machinery whereby the rate
of gain or loss in speed will be accurately shown, and a clock work geared with and
actuated by the machinery and provided with three hands which when the
machinery is running at its proper normal speed respectively revolve once a
minute, once an hour and once in sixty hours whereby the total amount of gain or
loss in speed in a week or other given time will be accurately shown.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
specification in which similar letters of reference indicate.corresponding parts in all
the figures.
Figure 1 is a face view of the dials and hands. Figure 2 is a sectional front
elevation of the mechanism the dials and hands being removed. Figure 3 is a
sectional plan view of the upper or totalising clock taken through the line xx
figure 2. Figure 4 is a sectional side elevation of the lower clock movement taken
through the line y y figure 2 and drawn to a larger scale.
A is the clock case, B. is a shaft which revolves in suitable bearings and is
geared at its lower end with the shaft whose speed is to be registered. The upper
end of the shaft B is geared by a beveled pinion C with a beveled pinion D,
placed upon the shaft E and connected therewith so that the two revolve together
by a tongue and groove or other suitable means permitting it to slide freely upon
the shaft E, the pinion D being thrown in and out of gear with C by a-lever F
forked and embracing the grooved boss of pinion D, the lever being pivoted to a
support attached to the clock case A, and engaging at its lower end in a notched
bar G, attached to the clock case A to lock the pinion D in place when in or out of
gear. The shaft E revolves in bearings H attached to the frame I of the clock
work J. The lower clock K for showing at any time whether the machinery is
running too fast or too slow, is an ordinary clock work its frame L being secured
to the case A. It is provided with an hour hand M, a minute hand N and a
second hand a actuated by a going barrel or weight in the usual manner.
hollow arbor O of the hour hand M passes through a hole in a bridge P and
through a hollow journal or port Q formed with or rigidly secured to the bridge
upon which revolves the hollow arbor R of a large gear wheel S₁ which gears with
The

page_text: •
a worm wheel T which is itself in gear with a worm U, attached to a shaft V
which revolves in bearings attached to the frame L."
On the front end of the hollow arbor R is fixed a third or speed hand W, the
gearing of the shaft V and the speed hand W being so proportioned that the speed
hand W will keep with the minute hand N when the machinery is running at the
proper rate of speed, but should the machinery run too fast or too slow, the speed
hand W will be in advance of, or behind the said minute hand, and will thus show
the variations of speed.*
The shaft V is geared by a beveled pinion X with a beveled pinion Y attached
to or formed upon a hollow arbor Z riding loose upon the arbor of the seconds
hand a of the clock work K or upon a hollow post fixed to frame L and through
which the said arbor passes. To the front end of the hollow arbor Z, is attached
a speed seconds hand 6 the actuating gear of which is so proportioned that when
the machinery is running at ordinary speed, the hand b will move with the hand a,
but should the machinery be running too fast or too slow, the hand b will be in
advance of or behind the hand a. The shaft V is driven from shaft E through
mitre pinions c d intermediate connecting shaft e and mitre pinions fg, the
pinions c and f being on the same side of their respective corresponding pinions & g
as shown To the shaft e is attached a third mitre pinion h in such a position as
to gear with the mitre pinion g at the opposite side to pinion f when the shaft e is
slid upward to throw the mitre pinions c f out of gear with d g.
The shaft e slides and revolves in suitable bearings and to the lower end of the
said shaft is attached a hand or crank wheel i fór convenience in adjusting and
operating it.
The clock work K is covered by a dial plate having a scale of sixty division
marks similar to a clock dial for the hands M, N, W and having a small dial upon
its upper part provided with an interior scale of sixty division marks for the time
seconds hand a and an exterior scale of one hundred division marks for the speed
seconds hand b.
To the shaft E is attached a worm j which drives the worm wheel k attached to
the arbor that carries the minute hand m the gearing being so proportioned that
the hand m will make a revolution in an hour when the machinery is running at
ita proper or ordinary speed.
The clock work J has a seconds hand n whose hollow arbor o rides upon the
arbor and is geared to make a revolution in a minute under the like conditions.
The clock work J also has an hour hand p, the hollow arbor q of which rides
upon the hollow arbor o and which is geared to make under the conditions above
mentioned one revolution in sixty hours, that being the number of hours that
machinery usually runs in a week.
By the three hands m n p the total amount of lost speed will be accurately
registered.
The clock work J is covered by a dial plate having an interior scale of one
bundred division marks for the hand p and an exterior scale of sixty division
marks for the hands m n.
With this construction, the clock K shows whether the machinery is running at
the required speed or too fast, or too slow; and the clock work J, shows how much
speed, if any, has been lost during the week or during so much of the week as had
passed when the observation was taken.
When it is desired to find the loss or gain in speed, I wait until the speed
seconds hand b arrives at some given point, then slide the connecting shaft e so
as to throw it out of gear with the worm shafts E and V stopping the speed
mechanism of the clock work K until its seconds hand a reaches the same point
I then allow the shaft e to slide downward into gear again with the shafts E, V,
causing the two seconds hands a b to move on together.
As soon as the time seconds hand a completes a revolution I again stop the speed
mechanism and can then at my leisure ascertain the loss or gain in seconds or per
centage, as desired.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. A speed clock for machinery constructed substantially as herein shown and
described, and consisting of an ordinary clock work provided with independent
speed (minute and second) hands which are actuated by the machinery to be timed
and a clock work actuated solely by said machinery and provided with hands
which respectively revolve once a minute, once an hour, and once in sixty hours, as
set forth.
2. In a speed clock for machinery, the combination with the shaft B, actuated by
the machinery,of the clock work J, provided with two hands m p geared to revolve
the one once an hour, and the other, once in sixty hours, the shaft E and the
connecting gearing, as set forth.
3. In a speed clock for machinery the combination with the frame L, the hollow
hour hand arbor O, the hollow speed hand arbor R and the gear wheel S connected
with the worm gear of the bridge P and the hollow journal Q, substantially as
herein shown and described whereby the speed mechanism will be kept from
contact with the time mechanism, as set forth.
4. In a speed clock for machinery, the combination with the worm shaft V
driving the speed mechanisin, and the arbor of the time seconds hand a of the
beveled pinions X, Y and the speed seconds hand b substantially as herein shown
and described, whereby the gain or loss in speed will be accurately shown, as set
forth.
5. In a speed clock for machinery, the combination with the speed clock work J
provided with two hands revolving one p in sixty hours, and the other m in one
hour, of the seconds hand n, revolving once a minute, and its driving mechanism,
substantially as herein shown and described, whereby the amount of gain or loss in
speed in a given time can be accurately shown, as set forth.
6. In a speed clock for machinery, the combination with the worin shaft V,
driving the speed mechanism of the time clock K and the worm shaft E, driven by
the machinery, and actuating the speed clock work J, of the mitre pinions c, d, f,
g, h and the sliding rotary shaft e, substantially as herein shown and described,
whereby the speed bands of the two clocks K, J can be readily adjusted, as set
forth.