OBTAINING MECHANICAL MOTIVE POWER AND SPEED
Year: 1852

page_text: of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
November 1852.
(Void by reason of notice to proceed not having been given within
the time prescribed by the Act.)
I, GEORGE FITT, of Parsonage House, Chalk, near Gravesend, in
the County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "OBTAINING MECHANICAL MOTIVE POWER AND SPEED" to be
as follows: _
From the mechanical principle of the inclined plane, or half
wedge, and a certain law of the lever, I have produced, by an
arrangement of machinery, a multiplied mechanical force, without
an ultimate loss of speed. The principle of the inclined plane is,
that its power is as great as its length exceeds its perpendicular
height, be it curved or straight; the law of the lever is, that as
we give up power we gain speed. By keeping these principles in
view, the explanations of the Drawings will be understood.
(W 1), Fig. 1st, represents a circular half wedge (in referring
to which the terin wedge only will be used), revolving on an axle,
its power being three to one, and which, by the duplicate movements
comprized within the frame (F), gives reciprocating motion to the
cranks (C, C), and thence, by the spur wheel and pinion (a, &c.), to

page_text: a second wedge (W 2). Thus the wedge (W 1) being put in
motion, comes in contact with a roller (R 1st) running on a keyed
bolt (B 1) working in the grooved socket (S 1); the key fitting
the groove, to keep the bolt from turning in the sockets, to which
is attached two rods (d 1, & 2), that slide through holes in the
frame (F), at (x, x); to one of the rods (d 1) is a slide rest (v),
keeping the socket in an horizontal position; to the rod (d2), is
attached a connecting rod (G 1), communicating with the cranks
(c, c). The roller being then in contact with the wedge (the
motion of which is the same as that of a worm), it is carried
thereby with the socket (S 1) a distance of twelve inches; that is,
the rod (2) receives a twelve inch stroke, thereby giving a half
turn to the cranks; the roller is then thrown out of gear by the
arm (m), (which is fixed to the axle of the wedge), striking it into
the socket (S 1); by which means the wedge is allowed, by its
second revolution, to carry forward another roller and socket
(R 2d) & (S 2d), and to complete the revolution of the crank
and spur wheel, that roller being in its turn thrown out of gear by
the arm (m), it having been previously thrown into contact with
the wedge by the return action of the connecting rod (G 2),
causing a roller ((H), see Fig. 2), which is fixed to the end of the
bolt, working in the socket (S 2), to run against a plate (P), fixed
at an angle to the end of the frame (F), at (a). In this manner the
bolts in both the sockets receive an horizontal transverse motion
by which the rollers (R 1 & 2), are alternately thrown into con-
tact with the wedge; this completes the duplicate movements, by
which motion is given to the cranks. The velocity of the engine is,
that if the wedge revolves at a speed of sixty revolutions per minute,
the spur wheel, which is on the axle of the crank, revolves at only
thirty per minute, one half the velocity with which we started being
lost, owing to the peculiar action of the wedge, but which is
recovered to the second wedge by the pinion, the spur wheel being
twelve inches in diameter and the pinion six.
The power is as follows: If a force of fifty pounds be suffered to
give rotary motion to the wedge, at six inches from its axle, the

page_text: result will be, by the mechanical law, a force of one hundred and
fifty pounds at the point of contract with the rollers; a force that is
received by the spur wheel, but which (by the law of the lever, that
in proportion as we give up power we recover speed,) is divided by
the pinion; and, consequently, we have only a force of seventy-five
pounds at six inches from the centre of the pinions, that being the.
force with which the second wedge is driven, but which a gain of
twenty-five pounds over that with which the engine was started;
thus proving the multiplication of mechanical force without an
ultimate loss of speed.
The wedge (W 2), of which only the inclined surface or blade
is represented, then acts in the duplicate to the first wedge, by a
repetition of all the movements; the result being an increased force
on a third wedge. Thus, the seventy-five pounds being multiplied
three times by the force of the wedge, and the result divided by the
pinion, gives a force of one hundred and twelve pounds on a third
wedge (W 3), which also acts in duplicate to the others, and
which gives a force of one hundred and sixty pounds on a fourth
wedge, and producing two hundred and fifty-two pounds on a fifth
wedge, and so on, the power constantly increasing with the number
of wedges acted upon, until twenty-six of them, increasing in the
same ratio, would give out nearly three millions of pounds of force;
thus proving the Invention to be unlimited power and speed.
The method of working the machines is, by causing the power to
revert to the first wedge from any part where it is greater and the
velocity is the same, as on the first wedge, by the bands (n, n),
and riggers (O, P, Q, R), i. e. by rods, or any other method; by
the hand or by a spring, or anything else capable of giving it motion
and force.
And further to illustrate the Invention, the power of a circular
wedge is determined by the proportion that its diameter bears to
the length of that portion of its axle round which it is wound;
thus (W 2) represents the blade wound round twelve inches of its
axle, and the distance from the axle to the point of contact with
the roller being six and a half inches, its diameter is thirteen, and

page_text: thirty-nine inches round the curve or track in which the rollers
run, and therefore of the dimensions of three and a quarter to
one; consequently, the greater the diameter the more the power.
Thus, if the distance from the axle to the point of contact of the
roller is eight inches, the inclined surface will be forty-eight inches,
or four to one; and of ten inches from the point of contact to the
axle, or, more properly speaking, to the centre of the axle, it will
be as five to one, and so on in proportion; and, therefore, the one
represented is one of small power. When a mechanical power is
said to be as three to one, the friction is not considered; but, as there
is always friction, practically it must be considered in estimating
the practical effect of an engine; therefore, in the Drawing the
wedges represented are rather more than three to one by
measurement, in order to allow for friction; and in testing the power
of circular wedges something will always have to be allowed for
friction.
There must also be considered the effect of velocity upon circular
wedges, the fact being, that by increasing the velocity with which
they revolve, the power becomes so great, that there is no rule as yet
laid down by which to calculate it, it becoming of the same nature
as the force of percussion on the ordinary wedge, when used in
cleaving a block. Suffice it to say, that by increasing the diameter
of the wedges, and the velocity with which they revolve, and the
number acting upon cach other, a power can be obtained more than
sufficient for any purpose yet known, or that ever will be known,
where power is required.
The fly wheels L, L, carry the cranks over the points, and
equalizes the power given thereto as usual.
For the term wedge, the word "cuneus" may be used, and the
power may be called "cuncal," as relating to the wedge.. Fig. 3,
illustrates the mechanical power of the half wedge, and Fig. 4, the
leveredge used.