Means for Modifying at any Moment Speed and Direction, applicable to Self-moving Road Vehicles, Launches, and the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 13th March, 1897
Complete Specification Left, 13th March, 1897-Accepted, 31st July, 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Means for Modifying at any Moment Speed and Direction, applicable
to Self-moving Road Vehicles, Launches, and the like.
I MAXIMILIEN RINGELMANN, of 47 Rue Jenner, Paris, France, 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:
The object of the present application for Letters Patent is to guarantee to me the
exclusive right to an appliance specially adaptable to motor cars and other self-
moving vehicles such as bicycles, cycles, boats, etc. and by means of which not only
the speed may be modified to the lowest degree that may be desired but the direction
may be reversed at any instant without shock or jerking.
My invention is only an improvement on the changing of speed by means of a disc
already employed in several machines but in which I suppress the inconveniences
which consist principally in the deviation (porte-a-faux) of the roller shaft, and in the
invariability of the pressure upon the roller, whatever may be the power to be
developed. These defects naturally occasion slipping on account of lack of
adhesion.
In the systems formerly employed for modifying speed the discs m and n (Fig. 1)
which turn in opposite directions at the same angular speed have plane surfaces and
compress the roller A with a pressure given by the springs .
In this case the pressure P exercised by these springs is constant, while practically
it ought to vary with the position of the roller A in relation to the point 0; at full
speed at A the pressure should be more feeble than at A', and especially than at A
when the vehicle climbs a steep acclivity, or in starting, so that if P is the required
pressure at A¹ it is necessary to have the same pressure at A" which causes a needless
expenditure of mechanical work.
After this preliminary explanation, I will now describe the contrivances by means
of which I have succeeded in obviating the inconveniences which I have pointed out,
these being represented, as examples only, by Fig. 2, as I do not desire to limit
myself to any one of the combinations which may be applied and the number of which
may vary infinitely.
My system takes a shaft a b, upon which a roller c can travel, while it is at the
same time carried round by it.
This roller c is in contact with two discs de attached to two coupled gears ff, which
allow them to turn in opposite directions, or by any other organ serving the same
end.

page_text: These discs, of which the surface is conical, are mounted on two shafts yh situated
upon the same line and cutting in space the shaft a b. These two discs come into
contact with the roller c under the action of the springs i or of weights properly
placed. Thus constituted, the discs d and e, turning in opposite directions the one from
the other, but with the same angular speed, and under the action of the springs i
compress as it were the roller c.
If y (or h) is a shaft in direct or indirect relation with the engine M; if to that
shaft is imparted a uniform motion (the primordial condition for the economical
working of the engine) we can by the displacement in a straight line of the roller c
communicate to the shaft ab by direct or indirect relation to the driving wheels A
not only different speeds, but also a different direction.
If is the radius of the roller c; if we call R the radius of the contact of the
roller c with the discs d e. When R the angular speed of the shaft ab will be that
of the driving shaft, when R is less than the angular speed of the shaft a b will be
less than that of the driving shaft J. It becomes nul, for R=0, when the roller c
coincides with the line of the axes g h.
When R is greater than r the angular speed of the shaft ab will be greater than
that of the driving shaft g and will have for extreme limit the relation of R.
Again, if the roller passes near the point K on the opposite side of the axis
I ½ the
shaft having its uniform movement and the same direction of rotation, the shaft a b
will receive a motion opposite to that which it had in the first place, thus the roller
moving between the shaft g h and the point b gives variable speeds corresponding to
the forward movement; moved between the axis g h and the point K it will give
equally varying speeds, but corresponding to the backward movement, and when it is
necessary to pass from the forward to the backward movement or vice versû, the speed
of the shaft ab will be diminished in diminishing the radius R until R=0, and thus
a "nul" speed of a b will be obtained, and increased progressively in an opposite
direction of rotation.
At the moment of the stoppage of the vehicle, the radius R=0, the movement of
the engine remains the same under the action of its own speed regulator, but for
starting, R is increased, and the movement of the shaft g is communicated not all at
once, instantaneously, as with systems of gearing but with an accelerated speed, to the
shaft a b.
In a word, the speed to be given to the shaft a b, in order that it may correspond,
according to the state and nature of the road, to the maximum utilisation of the
power of the engine, is, at every moment, under complete control.
In the invention which has given rise to the present application for Letters Patent,
the springs (Fig. 2) are tested beforehand and measure is taken of the flexions which
correspond to certain efforts P necessary to the transmission of the roller c for the
various cases of acclivity, speed, nature of road, that is to say for these positions of
the roller c on the shaft a b. In this way is determined the necessary angle to be
given to the summit of the cones of the discs d and e which are both similar.
It is besides easily understood that the greater the effort to be trasnmitted on a b
the greater must be the pressure P, and the more must the roller c, in its approach to O,
wedge the discs, the springs i of which are compressed in giving the necessary pressure.
To diminish the pressure on the shaft bearings, the discs de (Fig. 3) may be mounted
to move longitudinally on the shafts gh; the springs i are capable of being tightened
at will at S and act on the discs de through rollers or ballsQ.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
The apparatus 'described in the present application and represented by way of
example, by the annexed drawing, the said apparatus, particularly applicable to motor
cars, being specially characterised by two parallel discs with conical surfaces, which,
carried in opposite directions by the motor, act by the pressure of springs on a roller
placed between them, the said roller being movable longitudinally according to the

page_text: diameter of the said discs, and that in such conditions that, by means of the conical
surface of the discs, the pressure increases on the said roller in proportion as it
approaches the centre, that is to say proportionally to the effort which has to be
developed.
Doted th: 1012
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for the Applicant.