IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPRINGS, AND FOR THEIR NEW APPLICATION TO THE WORKING OP MACHINERY
Year: 1858

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
: by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by R. B. Huygens de Lowendal at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th April 1858.
I, R. B. HUYGENS DE LOWENDAL, of 89, Chancery Lane, London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF SPRINGS, AND FOR THEIR NEW APPLICATION TO THE WORKING OP
MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, of the forming or shaping metallic or other
springs in such manner as that they shall have more than one curvature, so that
in one portion of the spring at least there shall be a duplication of the curve.
The form of curve will be generally the elliptical, although I do not confine
myself to that one shape, and the spring may be curved in three or four con-
volutions. By the use of a spring with a double curve I find greater pro-
portionate power may be obtained than from an ordinary spring with one
curve, and that this reacting force may be usefully employed in a variety of
ways.
And my Invention consists, secondly, of using springs of two or more cur-
vatures as auxiliary to ordinary motive power in propelling, in driving
machinery, turning agricultural and other implements, and for other similar
purposes.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawing shews a spring with a double curve, and

page_text: Fig. 2 shews one of the modes in which I intend to employ a series of my
improved springs in aiding any prime mover, or, in other words, of diminishing
the amount of power which would be otherwise required. This spring, with
one or more curvatures, may also be applied to clocks & watches instead of
the ordinary spring; it may also be applied to paddle wheels and various
descriptions of mechanism.
In Fig.
this description of spring is applied to a toothed-wheel; one of
the ends a of the spring is fixed near the centre, and the other end is fixed
near the periphery of the outer disc B. The discs C, D, E, F, are separate,
and work in friction grooves made in each other, as shewn in dotted lines.
A square shaft is fixed at H in the central disc; when this shaft is turned
round by means of a crank in the direction of the arrows, the springs colored
red in the Drawings are tightened or compressed by the projections I, I, I, I,
pressing against the curvatures of the springs. When the pressure is relaxed,
the disc B is carried back by the force of the springs; and if the disc is
carried round in the opposite direction to the arrows, the disc G is forced
against the curvatures of the springs at J, and the springs are compressed in
the opposite direction. It is proposed to apply springs shaped in this manner
to clocks & watches, so that if the clock or watch happens to be wound in the
wrong direction, no harm will ensue to the clock or watch spring, as it is
found that the spring will not snap if it is turned in either direction when it is
supplied with two or more curvatures. It is also proposed to apply springs of
this description to the floats of paddle wheels; one end of the spring is
attached to the paddle wheel shaft in the manner shewn in Fig. 1, or it may
be applied to a disc fixed upon this shaft, and the other end is applied to the
paddle float itself, so that the float may strike the water gradually, and when
it rises out of the water the elastic force of the spring may give an impetus to
the shaft.