AN IMPROVED METHOD OF DRIVING SHAFTING
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dray, of the firm of William
Dray & Co., of Swan Lane, London Bridge, Agricultural Imple-
ment Makers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
DRIVING SHAFTING."
Sealed the 5th August 1858, and dated the 4th June 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dray
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th June 1853.
I, WILLIAM DRAY, of the firm of William Dray & Co., of Swan
Lane, London Bridge, Agricultural Implement Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF DRIVING SHAFTING" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the application of an endless belt or driving
strap for working the shafting of machinery, with the means of keeping
the same always stretched. The belt is carried from the main driving
drum around a small pulley upon the shaft to be driven. A heavy
roller is so placed between the drum and shaft as to bear upon the strap,
increase its tension, and prevent any slackness. The spindle of the
roller works in a slot in the framework, or a screw is so placed as to act

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Dray in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 3rd December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM DRAY, of the firm of William Dray & Co., of Swan Lane,
London Bridge, Agricultural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Dray, Her special licence that I, the
said William Dray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Dray, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF DRIVING
SHAFTING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Dray, by an instrument in writing under my band and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 William Dray, do hereby de-
clare 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:
My Invention consists in the application of an endless belt or driving
strap for working the shafting of machinery, with the means of keeping

page_text: the same always stretched. The belt is carried from the main driving
drum around a small pulley upon the shaft to be driven. A heavy roller
is so placed between the drum and shaft as to bear upon the strap,
increase its tension, and prevent any slackness. The spindle of the
roller works in a slot in the framework, or a screw is so placed as to
act upon the spindle, by which the pressure can also be adjusted. A
second pulley is placed beneath the driving strap between the shaft to
be driven and the driving wheel.
In the annexed. Drawings I have shewn my Invention applied to
driving a circular saw. Figure 1, is a side elevation; Figure 2, an
end elevation; and Figure 3, a plan of a circular saw bench in which
the shaft or axis of the saw is driven by my improved method. A, A, is
the driving wheel; B, B, an endless band which passes under a roller
or cylinder C, supported in slotted bearings D, D, and in which the
roller is capable of being adjusted and fixed in order to exert the
degree of pressure required upon the endless band B, B. The band,
after passing under the roller C, is carried round the shaft or axis E, of
the saw, and brought back over a friction roller F, on to the driving
wheel.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,-
The driving of shafting by means of an endless band, kept in a state
of tension, and caused to have a hold on the shaft to be driven by an ad-
justable roller and friction roller, in the manner herein-before described
and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dray, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
WILLIAM DRAY. (LS.)