IMPROVE- MENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1851

page_text: CLARENCE SHEPARD, of Duke Street, Westminster, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fourteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Clarence Shepard, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Edward
Clarence Shepard, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the
said Edward Clarence Shepard, iny exors, admors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in
all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER," being a communication from
abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Edward Clarence Shepard, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six. calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
Appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Clarence Shepard, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The improvements in obtaining and applying motive power are exemplified
in their application to a locomotive engine in Figures 1 and 2; Figure 1
being an elevation, and Figure 2 a plan thereof. In both Figures certain
minor parts are omitted, for the purpose of shewing more clearly the con-
nection of the more important parts of the machinery. F, F, is the general
framework of the locomotive; A¹, A', bearing wheels; A, A, the driving
wheels; H, steam boiler; E, E, steam cylinders; E, the crank shaft, which
has its bearings in a supplementary frame (not shown in the Drawings), which
is raised upon the general framework F, F; E", E³, are two cranks on the
shaft E2, to which the power is transmitted from the steam cylinders by
means of the connecting rods E, E; B is a toothed wheel, which is firmly
keyed to the crank shaft E2; C, C, are two fly-wheels, which are also keyed
to the crank shaft, one on each side of the spur wheel; B is a toothed wheel,
which is affixed on the centre of the axle of the driving wheels A, A, and is
geared into by the wheel B. Both of the wheels B and B are provided on
each side of their peripheries with broad flanges or plain bearing surfaces b, b,
beyond or above which the teeth or cogs rise to the extent of about one half
of their height, so that when the two wheels are revolving, the flanges or
plain surfaces roll upon one another, while the teeth of the one wheel gear
freely into those of the other wheel, and, in consequence of their entering
only about half way into the interspaces, are exempt from all risk of locking,
or of the teeth being stripped. The ends of the crank shaft E rest in slotted
bearings in the supplementary frame, and it is allowed only such a limited
range of up and down motion as to cause of necessity the whole or at least
the greater portion of the weight of the fly wheels C, C, the gearing wheel B',
and the crank shaft itself, to press upon the wheel B of the driving shaft,
and not upon the supplementary frame or bearing wheels A, A; when, under
these circumstances, the crank shaft is made to revolve by the steam power
transmitted from the cylinders, that power is transferred to the driving wheels
of the engine with much more effect than if the connecting rods were directly
connected to the driving wheels or their shaft. To prevent any unsteadiness
of motion in the wheels C, C, they work, when revolving, into the spaces
between the flanges of two guide rollers D, D, mounted on a second shaft
borne by the supplementary frame. A locomotive constructed in the way

page_text: I have described, is particularly available on lines of railway with steep
inclines; but the same method of applying power may, with such obvious
modifications as any well-skilled workman can readily supply, be applied to
the purposes of marine propulsion, and indeed in all other cases of trans-
mitting and applying power, whether such power be derived from a steam
engine or any other source. The mode of applying the power to the crank
shaft E may be varied to suit different circumstances; as, for instance, a
rotary engine or steam wheel may be affixed to it, and may either occupy the
place of one of the fly wheels C, C, or be attached at any other point. It
may further be observed, that the axial line of the crank shaft E2 may, with
advantage in certain circumstances, be placed more or less near to a perpen-
dicular line over the shaft of the driving cels than represented in the
Drawings. Where, for instance, inclines to be ascended are unusually steep,
the crank shaft ought to occupy a position as near as conveniently may be to
a perpendicular line over that of the axle of the driving wheels. For the
purpose of stopping the engine at any point of its progress, a break of any
of the forms now in general use may be employed, or the break may be
applied to the rims of the fly wheels C, C, both or either of them.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I declare, that what I claim as the
Invention is, the employment in locomotive and other power engines of fly
wheels, acting by their pressure or weight on driving shafts in the manner
herein-before exemplified and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Clarence Shepard, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, Onc
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
EDWARD CLARANCE (L.S.) SHEPARD.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Edward Clarence Shepard came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the