IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF TRANSMITTING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF
TRANSMITTING MOTIVE POWER." -A communication from abroad by
George Taylor, Engineer, of Constantinople, Turkey.
Sealed the 23rd June 1871, and dated the 5th January 1871..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th January 1871.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
OF TRANSMITTING MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to convert reciprocatory into rotary
motion in a manner that will ensure less loss and a more even
transmission of the power than is obtained by the use of the crank or
other well-known contrivances. To this end an endless chain or band

page_text: running upon chain wheels or pulleys, is interposed between the recipro-
cating prime mover of whatever kind and the machinery intended to be
driven, and receives motion therefrom, which it transmits to the shaft
of one of the chain wheels or pulleys, which shaft will become the
driving shaft. When an endless chain is employed it is circumscribed
by a rock lever which is provided with sliding pawls which take into the
links of the endless chain and alternately act as drivers. To ensure this
action the ends of the pawls are chamfered off in opposite directions so
that they will alternately bite and slip over the chain according to the
direction of motion of the rock lever. To provide for reversing the
direction of motion of the chain and wheels, a double set of these pawls
may be used, one being mounted over the other and connected so that
the one set may be thrown into and the other out of action simul-
taneously. This adjustment of the pawls may be effected by means of a
rocking frame mounted upon the rock lever and attached to pinions in
geer with rack teeth formed on the sliding pawls.
It will be obvious that when a band or rope is employed in place of
a chain a different arrangement of clutch will be necessary. Thus, for
example, a gripping apparatus may be provided for connecting the rock
lever with the endless band, the opposite sides of the band being nipped
and let go alternately, as the direction of motion of the reciprocating
lever changes.
Two or more levers may be arranged to act on the same driving shaft
according to the amount of power to be employed, the operating motive
power being in each case connected to its own separate lever. This
arrangement of apparatus not being rigidly connected to the shaft to
be driven any inequality either in the length of the reciprocations of the
levers, the amount of force supplied, or the velocity of motion will not
interfere with its efficient action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 3
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lanc, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MEANS OF TRANSMITTING MOTIVE POWER," being a communication to
me from abroad by George Taylor, Engineer, of Constantinople, Turkey,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu
larly 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
The object of this Invention is to convert reciprocatory into rotatory
motion in a manner that will ensure less loss and a more even
transmission of the power than is obtained by the use of the crank or
other well-known contrivances. To this end an endless chain or band
running upon chain wheels or pulleys, is interposed between the recipro-
cating prime mover of whatever kind and the machinery intended to be
driven, and it receives motion therefrom, which it transmits to the shaft
of one of the chain wheels or pulleys, which shaft will become the
driving shaft.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 shews in side elevation (partly
in section,) one arrangement of the Invention for transmitting motion.

page_text: A is a standard in which are mounted two chain wheels B, B¹, around
these wheels passes an endless chain C. The shaft of the wheel B
carries a band pulley D, from which passes a driving belt to the mecha-.
nism to be actuated. The endless chain C is circumscribed by a rock
lever E which has its fulcrum at E on the standard. This lever is
shewn detached and in edge view at Fig. 2, which represents it as made
hollow to allow the endless chain to pass through it. The lever is
provided with two pairs of sliding pawls F, F1, F2, F³, which are intended
to take into the links of the endless chain that each pawl of the pair
may alternately act as a driver. To ensure this action the ends of the
pawls are chamfered off in opposite directions, so that they will alter-
nately bite and slip over the link pins of the chain according to the
direction of motion of the rock lever. It is in order to provide for
reversing the direction of motion of the chain and wheels that a double
set of these pawls is used, one pair being mounted over the other and
connected so that the one pair may be thrown into and the other out of
action simultaneously. This adjustment of the pawls is effected by
means of a rocking frame G mounted upon the trunnions of a pair of
pinions H, which are mounted on the rock lever E (between the pawls,)
and gear with rack teeth formed on the inner edges of the sliding pawls.
It will now be understood that when a reciprocating motion is given by
hand to the rock lever E a rotary motion will be imparted to the band
pulley D.
It will be obvious that when a band or rope is employed in place of
a chain a different arrangement of clutch will be necessary. Thus for
example a gripping apparatus may be provided for connecting the rock
lever with the endless band, the opposite sides of the band being gripped
and let go alternately as the direction of motion of the reciprocating
lever changes. This arrangement is shewn in the sectional elevation
Fig. 3.
The lever is made in three pieces e, e¹, e², connected together
by jointed metal side straps E*. To the middle piece or link of the
straps the block e¹ is secured. Thus as the lever is raised the chain will
be nipped between e and e¹, and when depressed the chain will be nipped
between e¹ and e².
'
Two or more levers may also be arranged to act on the same driving
shaft when a larger amount of power is intended to be applied, the
operative motive power being in each case connected to its own separate
lever. This arrangement of apparatus not being rigidly connected to the

page_text: shaft to be driven any inequality either in the length of the reciprocations
of the levers, the amount of force applied, or the velocity of motion will.
not interfere with its efficient action.
The power transmitting apparatus may be applied to various uses,
as will be readily understood. As an example I have shewn at
Fig. 4, a diagram which represents the mode of adapting the Invention
to a small vessel furnished with a paddle wheel or a propelling screw.
When the paddle wheel is used the chain will pass round a chain wheel
on its shaft as at a, but when a screw propellor is used the shaft of the
lower chain wheel will carry a bevil pinion b, which gearing into a
similar pinion on the screw propellor shaft will impart rotary motion
thereto derived from the reciprocating lever.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of " Improvements
in the Means of Transmitting Motive Power" as communicated to me
by my correspondent abroad, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the arrangements of
apparatus above described, whereby motive power is converted in the
act of transmission from a reciprocating to a rotary motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.