IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND REGISTERING THE SPEED OF REVOLVING MACHINERY & OF CERTAIN OTHER MOVING OBJECTS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marshall Arthur Wier, of 33, Abchurch Lane,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND REGISTERING THE SPEED OF REVOLVING
MACHINERY & OF CERTAIN OTHER MOVING OBJECTS."
Sealed the 14th August 1874, and dated the 27th April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marshall Arthur Wier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th April 1874.
I, MARSHALL ARTHUR WIER, of 33, Abchurch Lane, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND REGISTERING THE SPEED OF
REVOLVING MACHINERY OF CERTAIN OTHER MOVING OBJECTS," to be as
follows:-
The Invention has for object the production of an apparatus which
shall indicate, and if needful record, automatically the speed or number
of revolutions in a given time of prime movers, machinery, and certain
other moving objects in such manner that the said speed or number of

page_text: revolutions can be ascertained by simple inspection, and without counting
or reference to a timepiece, and consists in applying to the object of
which the speed of rotation is to be ascertained a spiral or helical fan or
screw which is caused to revolve at a speed proportioned to and regulated
by that of such rotating object. The blades of the fan or screw revolve
in air or liquid, and the fan or screw being free to slide to a certain
extent along the axis on which it is placed, the oblique action of the
said blades upon the air or liquid in which they revolve cause this sliding
of the fan or screw to take place against the counter resistance of a
spring or weight to a greater or lesser extent in proportion to the speed
of rotation. This sliding motion of the fan or screw is transmitted to a
pointer, causing it to be deflected more or less, according to the speed of
the revolving object, a scale being applied thereto indicating the amount
of the deflection, and inferentially the speed at which the object is
actually revolving at the moment of the observation. The sliding motion
of the fan is also transmitted when required to a pencil or pointer
working against a uniformly moving strip of paper, in order to indicato
graphically thereon the various rates of speed during any particular
period of time, or it may be transmitted to any other well-known
indicating apparatus applicable to such purpose.
In some cases an ordinary counting apparatus may also be applied to
the fan or screw to register the total number of revolutions made by it
or by the revolving object.
Instead of a helical fan or screw as above described I sometimes
employ a centrifugal apparatus somewhat similar to the well-known
centrifugal governor as applied to the regulation of the speed of prime
movers, the centrifugal action, which also takes effect against a
counter resistance of a spring or weight, as in the case of the fan or
screw herein-before referred to, being transmitted by suitable levers or
otherwise to the indicating pointer or pencil.
The above-described apparatus is applicable not only in cases where
the ascertaining of the speed of rotating bodies is the direct object, but
also in cases where the speed of a body in rectilinear or other motion is
required to be known, when such rectilinear or other motion is produced
by or can be made to produce rotary motion in other bodies, as for
example, the speed of carriages, that of the wind, rivers, and the like.
The indicating pointer or pencil may be placed at a distance from the

page_text: apparatus, measuring the speed, the necessary motion being conveyed
from the latter to the former by mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, or
clectric means, as may be found most suitable or convenient.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Marshall Arthur Wier in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARSHALL
ARTHUR WIER, of No. 33, Abchurch Lane, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the.
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Marshall Arthur Wier, Her
special licence that I, the said Marshall Arthur Wier, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Marshall Arthur
Wier, 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND REGISTERING THE SPEED OF
REVOLVING MACHINERY AND OF CERTAIN OTHER MOVING OBJECTS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Marshall Arthur Wier, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly 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 Marshall Arthur Wier, do hereby
declare 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings:-
J

page_text: My Invention has for its object the production of an apparatus which
shall indicate, and if needful record, automatically the speed or number
of revolutions in a given time of prime movers, machinery, and certain
other moving objects in such manner that the said speed or number of
revolutions can be ascertained by simple inspection, and without counting
or reference to a timepiece, and consists in applying to the object of
which the speed of rotation is to be ascertained a fan or screw, preferably
of a helical or spiral form, which is caused to revolve at a speed pro-
portioned to and regulated by that of such rotating object. The blades
of the fan or screw revolve in air or liquid, and according to one
arrangement of the apparatus the fan or screw is free to slide to a certain
extent along the axis on which it is placed, the oblique action of the
said blades upon the air or liquid in which they revolve cause this
sliding of the fan or screw to take place against the counter resistance
of a spring or weight to a greater or lesser extent in proportion to the
speed of its rotation. This sliding motion of the fan or screw is
transmitted to a pointer, causing it to be deflected more or less, according
to the speed of the revolving object. A graduated scale indicates the
amount of the deflection, and inferentially the speed at which the object
is revolving at the moment of the observation.
In the Drawing Fig. 1 represents a front elevation partly in section
of an apparatus constructed in accordance with this arrangement, in
which the screw revolves in a liquid; Fig. 2 represents a back clevation
of the same. A is a cylindrical vessel containing the liquid, which may
bo water, oil, or any other suitable fluid; but I prefer glycerine, or a
mixture of glycerine and water in the proportion of about three parts by
measure of glycerine to one part by measure of water; B, the fan or
screw, capable of sliding on the axis C, but constrained to turn therewith
by means of a key or feather. Motion is imparted to the screw B from
the revolving object, the speed of which it is desired to ascertain, by
means of a band passing therefrom over the pulley D on the axis E,
which drives the axis C through the mitre wheels F, or by any other
convenient means. G is a double collar on the fan or screw%; H, a lever
centred at I, and having a forked end which takes between the flanges
of the double collar G. A link H' connects the lever H to the lever H*,
which has fixed to it the sectoral toothed rack J gearing with the
pinion K on the axis of the pointer L, arranged to move over the
graduated dial face M. The levers H, H³, and fan or screw B are held,

page_text: when the latter is at rest, in a normal position by the springs N, O, the
pointer L then standing at zero on the scale of the dial plate. It will
now be understood that rotary motion being imparted to the fan or
screw B in one direction, the resistance of the liquid to the motion of
the oblique blades thereof will cause it to rise in the vessel A, and by
the double collar G to raise levers H, H³, and sectoral rack J turning
the pointer in one direction, and to an extent proportionate to the speed
of rotation of the screw, and consequently of the object by which it is
driven. If the driving object is made to revolve in the opposite direction,
the screw and levers are depressed, and the pointer L also turned in the
opposite direction, the scale on the dial being suitably graduated and
marked in both directions from the zero point; the number of revolutions
in a given time may be ascertained by simple inspection, as also the
direction in which the object may be rotating. The springs N and O
tend to return the screw towards its normal position, and consequently.
the pointer towards zero whenever any diminution of the speed takes
place.
When it is desired to register graphically the times, speeds, and
changes of direction of motion, the lever H2 is extended as at P, and
made to carry a pencil at its end, or rpeferably in the link of a parallel
motion, as shown at P'. The pencil traces a line on a sheet of suitably
ruled paper wound on the bobbins Q, Q¹, an uniform motion being
imparted to the paper by clockwork contained in the case R in the well-
known manner. When the screw is stationary the pencil traces a
straight centre line on the paper; when the screw is set in motion the
pencil traces a line more or less above or below the centre line, according
to the speed and direction of rotation, fluctuations of speed being shown
by a zig-zag line, the distances of which from the centre line being
measured on a suitable scale indicate the various speeds, whilst the
distance along the centre line indicates the time.
When the screw revolves in air instead of a liquid, a similar arrange.
ment of apparatus may be employed, but the fan or screw then requires
to be made larger and to be driven at a higher speed.
In some cases an ordinary counting apparatus S may also be applied

page_text: Figures 3 and 4 represent a modification of the apparatus, in which a
screw B revolves in a chamber A containing air; or, if preferred, the
fan B¹ revolving in the casing A¹, shown in dotted lines in Figure 3,
may be employed. A pipe T leads from the chamber A or casing A¹, as.
the case may be, to a glass syphon tube V, V¹ (open to the atmosphere.
at the top of the branch V¹), containing mercury or other suitable fluid.
The screw or fan being made to revolve as before explained, the air in
the vessel A or in the passage leading from the casing A¹ to the tube T
and in the tube T itself is compressed, and exerts a pressure upon the
surface of the fluid in the arm V of the syphon, depressing it and raising
the fluid in the arm V¹ to an extent proportionate to the speed of
rotation. When the fan or screw is made to revolve in the reverso
direction, the air in the tubo T is rarified, and the surface of the fluid in
the arm V is raised, whilst that of the fluid in the arm V₁ is corre-
spondingly depressed. The positions of the surfaces of the liquid in the
syphon above or below zero being referred to a scale, thus indicate the
speed of the revolving object. The syphon tube V, V', may be placed at
a distance from the screw chamber A or fan casing A', the pipe T being
extended, as may be required.
Figures 5 and 6 represent an arrangement similar to that last above
described, but in which a liquid is employed in the chamber A. A single
tube V open at the top is connected to the lower end of the latter, so
that when the screw is at rest the liquid in the chamber A and in the
tube V stands at the same level, but when the scrow is made to revolve
in one direction a portion of the liquid is forced from the chamber A into
the tube V, raising the level of such liquid. When the screw is made
to revolve in the reverse direction, a portion of liquid is withdrawn from
the tube V, and the level of the liquid therein is lowered, the raising of
the level of the liquid in the tube V being in proportion to the speed of
the screw in one direction, and the lowering of the level in proportion to
the speed in the reverse direction. The position of the level in relation
to the zero point, as indicated by the scale W, shows the speed and
direction of rotation at any moment.
Instead of making the tubes, Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6, of glass, they may
be made of metal tube, and the position of the surface of the fluid in
them indicated by means of a float operating by means of a cord or
chain upon a pointer on a dial face, in a manner similar to that employed
in the well-known wheel barometer, or a light rod resting upon the

page_text: surface of the liquid and having its upper end extending above the top
of the tube may be employed, to indicate on a suitably disposed scale the
position of such surface.
The apparatus and the modifications thereof above described are
applicable not only in cases where the ascertaining of the speed of
rotating bodies is the direct object, but also in cases where the speed of
a body in rectilinear or other motion is required to be known, when such
rectilinear or other motion is produced by or can be made to produce
rotary motion in other bodies, as for example, the speed of carriages, that
of the wind, of rivers, and the like.
The indicating pointers and scales or pencil may be placed at a
distance from the apparatus measuring the speed, the necessary motion
being conveyed from the latter to the former by mechanical, pneumatic,
hydraulic, or electric means, as may be found most suitable or con-
venient.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to or may be performed, I would have it
understood that what I claim as my Invention is,--
First. The employment of a fan or screw revolving in air or liquid,
and imparting motion to a pointer, pencil, column of liquid, or other
indicating instrument, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated by the several Figures 1 to 6 of the Drawing, and for the
purpose set forth.
Second. The general arrangement and combination of apparatus for
indicating and registering the speed of rotating objects, substantially
as herein-before described and illustrated by Figures 1 and 2 of the
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marshall Arthur Wier, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October One
MARSHALL A. WIER. (L.S.)
Patentee.