Improvements in Retiring Bearings for Travelling Oranes, Planing Machines, and Lathe Screws, and for other Analogous Purposes.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application. 2nd Jan., 1888
Specification Accepted, 3rd Feb., 1888
Improvements in Retiring Bearings for Travelling Oranes, Planing
Machines, and Lathe Screws, and for other Analogous Purposes.
I WILLIAM CRAVEN of the firm of Craven Brothers Limited, of Vauxhall Iron
Works, Osborne Street, Manchester Engineers do hereby declare the nature of my
said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to the novel arrangement and construction of a simple and
efficient retiring bearing for travelling cranes, suitable also for the screws of planing
machines, lathes and for other analogous purposes, where the bearing has to retire at
the approach of a travelling carrier or carriage and to rise again to its normal
position as soon as such travelling mechanism has passed.
On the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 a side sectional view
and Fig. 3 a sectional plan of my improved retiring bearing shewn applied to the
side shaft of say a travelling crane.
At that point in the length of the side shaft z of the travelling crane where the
retiring bearing is required I affix a bracket a securing the same in position to any
permanent or stationary part of the machine by means of bolts or set-screws b or in
any other convenient manner. This bracket a supports the retiring bearing c which
is mounted at the top of a sliding block d arranged to slide up and down within the
bracket a under the influence of a disc wheel e. On the face of this disc wheel e is a
crank-pin which enters a horizontal slot g formed in the slide block and so compels
such block to slide up and down as hereinafter described.
This slot g and crank pin fare represented full size in Fig. 4.
In this manner the slide block d is itself supported and is also capable of rising
and falling along with the bearing c as the disc wheel e revolves. And in order to
impart the necessary half revolution to the disc wheel e to lower the bearing c to the
desired extent at the approach of the carrier (carrying in this case the travelling
worm) I employ a peg wheel secured upon the spindle of the disc wheel and
having on its inner face a series of pegs k. These pegs are arranged at such a
distance from each other around the disc wheel e as to gear with a short toothed rack /
affixed to the front end of the carrier by means of a bar m and which bar also

page_text: carries at its rear extremity a similar toothed rack o-also capable of gearing with
the same peg wheel j.
It now only remains to describe the action of my improved retiring bearing. In
its normal position the slide block d rests with the retiring bearing e and other parts
in the relative positions indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 viz. with the crank pin f in the
highest position and in the centre of the slot g.
By reference to Fig. 4 it will be observed that a slight depression is formed in
the centre of the slot g and which is so arranged to allow the crank pin f to dwell
within it and so to obviate any possible tendency of the disc wheel to turn upon its
axis in either direction under the influence of vibration.
At the approach of the carrier h in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1 the teeth
of the rack engage with the peg wheel j and so by imparting half a revolution to
the crank pin flower the bearing c and permit the carrier to pass.
C
As soon as this
is accomplished the other rack o comes into play and engages with the peg wheel j
and by continuing its revolution in the same direction and for another half revolution
60 raises the bearing c again to its original position.
It will be apparent that this improved retiring hearing is equally applicable to the
screws of lathes, planing machines and other machines in which it is necessary for
the bearing to retire at the approach of a carriage or other travelling part of such
mechanism.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1st. The improved arrangement and construction of retiring bearing for travelling
cranes, planing machines, lathes and other analogous purposes substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated on the accompanying drawing.
2nd. In the construction of a retiring bearing the combination and employment of
a pair of toothed racks capable of engaging with a pegged wheel carrying a crank
pin supporting the bearing upon a slotted block all mounted and operating substan-
tially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and illustrated on the accompanying
drawing.
Dated this 31st day of December 1887.
JOHN G. WILSON,
Agent for the Applicant.