Improvements in Apparatus for Transmitting and Regulating Motion, suitable for Use on Self-propelled Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Jan., 1897-Accepted, 13th Mar., 1897
Improvements in Apparatus for Transmitting and Regulating Motion,
suitable for Use on Self-propelled Vehicles.
I, CHARLES CASMAN, of 50 Rue de la Gaîté, Brussels, Belgium, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this 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 an apparatus for transmitting motion and for varying the
speed of the motion imparted by a motor without varying the speed of motion of the
said motor. By applying this apparatus to a self propelled vehicle for instance,
the driver is enabled by merely operating a hand wheel or a lever, to increase or
reduce as required the speed of the motion imparted to the wheels of the vehicle by a
constant driving power.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the general arrangement of the
apparatus with the parts in the position they occupy when transmitting the maximum
speed;
Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the parts of the regulating device in the position
they occupy when the speed transmitted is reduced to nil; and
Fig. 3 is a similar view, showing the parts of the regulating device in an
intermediate position.
move.
A is a lever which is carried by a shaft A' and to which an invariable oscillatory
movement is imparted from the motor by means of a connecting rod B. In the
lever A there is formed a groove or slot a in which a slide-block D is adapted to
E is an endless chain passing at one end around any suitable pulley X,
and at its other end around a pulley C, which is mounted on the axle or shaft M to
which the motion is to be transmitted. This chain is fastened to the two ends of a
rod E¹ to which there is fixed one end of a triangular frame F in which there is
formed a slot or groove f parallel to one of its free sides. The slide-block D engaged
in the slot a of the lever A is also engaged in the slot f, so that it imparts to the
frame F, to the rod E', and to the chain E the reciprocatory movements of the
lever A; and at each movement of the lever A the slide-block D moves along in a
borizontal slot a formed in the cross bar of a cross G the vertical bar of which is kept
in the same vertical plane as the shaft A¹ of the lever A by two pins hh, which are
fixed to the framework or to the body of the vehicle and which engage in vertical
slots in the two portions of the vertical bar of the cross G. By means of a
screw k and of a hand-wheel K or other suitable device, the cross G may be moved
down from the position shown in Fig. 1 into that shown in Fig. 2, and be returned
to its original position or to an intermediate position, as for instance, in that shown
in Fig. 3-and there kept.
g
When the cross is in the position shown in Fig. 1, the pins hh are situated at
the bottoms of their respective grooves i, i; the slide-block D is at the top of the
slot in the frame F, and at each stroke of the connecting rod B the slide-block D
moves from one end to the other of the slot g and up to the top of the slot a in the
lever A, and it imparts to the chain its maximum to and fro movement.
When the cross G is moved down, according as the pins hh occupy positions
which are nearer and nearer to the tops of the slots ii, the slide-block D moves lower
and lower down in the slot of the frame F and in the slot a of the lever A at the

page_text: end of each stroke of the connecting rod B, and the result is that it has a travel of
increasing shortness in the slot g, and consequently the extent of the reciprocatory
movement which it imparts to the chain E similarly diminishes although the amplitude
of the oscillations of the lever A remain constant.
When the cross G is moved down until the pins hh reach the tops of the slots i i,
as shown in Fig. 2, the slide-block D reaches the bottom of the slot in the frame F
and the bottom of the slot a in the lever A-i.e., the axis of the pivot A¹ of the
latter and it will be kept immovable in the slot g and will not transmit any longer
any motion to the chain E.
If instead of making the cross move down, it is made to move up, the extent of the
stroke of the slide-block D in the slot g is gradually increased and consequently the
extent of the movements of the chain Ĕ are also increased.
In applying my invention to the propulsion of a vehicle, there may be provided
in connection with the axle M upon which the driving wheels are keyed, two
apparatus constructed as above described and arranged in such a manner as to drive
alternately two pulleys C mounted on the axle M, these pulleys C being constructed
in such a manner that when they rotate in one direction, they carry the axle M
round with them, and when they rotate in the opposite direction, they revolve freely
on the said axle. The alternating action of the two apparatus will impart to the
axle a continuous motion the speed of which will depend on the extent of the
movements of the endless chains E.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
Apparatus for transmitting and regulating motion, comprising a lever in which a
longitudinal slot or groove is cut and to which an oscillatory movement about its
axis is imparted from a motor, an endless chain passing over suitable pulleys and
having its ends fixed to the ends of a rod, a triangular frame fixed at one side to the
said rod and having a groove or slot parallel to one of its free sides, a cross having
in its transverse bar a horizontal slot and in its vertical limbs longitudinal grooves or
slots, a slide-block adapted to move at the same time in the slots of the aforesaid
lever and frame, and in the said horizontal slot, two fixed pins engaging in the
grooves or slots in the vertical limbs of the cross, and means for causing the cross to
move up and down upon the said fixed pins, as described and shown.
Dated this 23rd day of January 1897.
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.