IMPROVEMENTS IN GEAR WHEELS FOR SEWING AND OTHER MACHINERY
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Graham Grey, of Queen Victoria Street, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GEAR WHEELS
FOR SEWING AND OTHER MACHINERY."
Sealed the 4th January 1878, and dated the 13th July 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Graham Grey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th July 1877.
$6
JAMES GRAHAM GREY, of Queen Victoria Street, in the County of Middlesex.
IMPROVEMENTS IN GEAR WHEELS FOR SEWING AND OTHER MACHINERY."
My Invention relates to improvements in toothed or cogged wheels employed
for the transmission of motion in machinery of various kinds, and is designed to so
construct such wheels as to prevent the rattling and ringing noise ordinarily
produced in the working of metal gear wheels by the impingement of the teeth of
one wheel in those of another wheel.
The said Invention, although applicable to gear wheels for all kinds of machinery,
is more especially designed for the wheels of sewing machines, in which the
suppression of loud and disagreeable noise is very desirable.
Various contrivances have been used for the purpose of diminishing the noise of
the working of these machines; but, although the noise has been in some cases
somewhat subdued, yet none of these contrivances have proved altogether effectual.
But by my Invention I have provided the means whereby the gear wheels of these
machines may be rendered noiseless in their working, without impairing the strength
of their teeth or other parts.
The said Invention is based upon the principle of destroying or diminishing the
sonorousness of metals by the contact of a body or substance which is practically a
non-conductor of sound.
The said Invention may be carried into practise in various ways, but the
following will be found the most generally convenient in the case of wheels for
ewing and similar machinery:-
Duis id I

page_text: .
The bodies of the said wheels are cast, or otherwise formed, of iron or other suitable
metal, with the teeth formed on them in the usual manner. On one or both sides
of the wheel, at a convenient distance from the teeth of the same, I cast, cut, or
otherwise form an annular groove or channel, which may have a rectangular,
dovetail, or other suitable shape in transverse section. In this groove or channel
I fit and secure a ring of india-rubber, vulcanite, leather, or wood, or other material
which is a non-conductor or bad conductor of sound.
In some instances I may use lead or other soft metal.or alloys for this purpose.
In some instances I form the said channels or grooves only partially around the
wheel; and, in some instances, I may form the wheels with a plain rim on one or
both sides of the teeth, and form the groove or channel in the same; or I may form
radial or other grooves or recesses in the sides of the wheel, the said grooves being
in all cases fitted with pieces of india-rubber, leather, or other bad sound conducting
substance or substances.
Small wheels or pinions may have the entire portion of the body between the rim
and the boss filled with the said india-rubber, or leather, or other sound diminishing
substance; but I wish it distinctly understood that my Invention does not comprise
the forming of the teeth of gear wheels of india-rubber or similar material.
In some arrangements of gearing one or more of my improved noiseless wheels
may be used in combination with ordinary toothed wheels geared with the said
improved wheels.
By the above-described construction I accomplish the object of diminishing the
noise of sewing and other machines without adding to the cost of the same, or
increasing their liability to derangement or otherwise diminishing their efficiency.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Graham Grey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
January 1878.
JAMES GRAHAM GREY, of Queen Victoria Street, in the County of Middlesex
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GEAR WHEELS FOR SEWING AND OTHER MACHINERY."
My Invention relates to improvements in gear wheels employed for the trans-
mission of motion in machinery of various kinds, and is designed to so construct
such wheels as to prevent the rattling and ringing noise ordinarily produced in the
working of metal gear wheels by the impingement of the teeth of one wheel on
those of another wheel.
The said Invention, although applicable to gear wheels for all kinds of machinery,
is more especially designed for the wheels of sewing machines, in which the
suppression of loud and disagreeable noise is very desirable
Various contrivances have been used for the purpose of diminishing the noise of
the working of these machines; but, although the noise has been in some cases
somewhat subdued, yet none of these contrivances has proved altogether effectual.
But by my Invention I have provided the means whereby the gear wheels of these
machines may be rendered noiseless in their working, without impairing the
strength of their teeth or other parts.
The said Invention is based upon the principle of destroying or diminishing the
sonorousness of metals, by combining therewith a body or substance which is
practically a non-conductor of sound.
The said Invention may be carried into practice in various ways, but in the case
of wheels for sewing and similar machinery I prefer to adopt the manner illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing, which shews a wheel and pinion such as are
commonly used in a sewing machine.
Figure 1 shews the face or side of the said wheel, and Figure 2 is a transverse
section on the line x, x, Figure 1; Figures 3 and 4 are similar views of the said
pinion.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
The body a of the said wheels is cast, or otherwise constructed, of iron or other
suitable metal, with the teeth b formed on the same in the usual manner.
On one
or both sides of the wheel, at a convenient distance from the teeth of the same, I
cast, cut, or otherwise form an annular groove or channel which may have a
rectangular, dovetailed, or other suitable shape in transverse section. In this groove
or channel I fit and secure a ring c, of lead or other soft metal or metallic alloy, or
india-rubber, vulcanite, leather, wood, or other material which is a non-conductor,
or bad conductor of sound.
In some instances I form the said channels or grooves only partially around the
wheel; and, in some instances, I may construct the wheels with a plain or pro-
jecting rim on one or both sides of the teeth, and form the groove or channel in the
same; or I may form radial or other grooves or recesses in the sides of the wheel,
the said grooves being in all cases fitted with pieces of lead, india-rubber, leather,
or other bad sound-conducting substance or substances.
Small wheels or pinions, such as that shewn in Figures 3 and 4, may have the
entire space in the body a between the rim d and the boss e filled with the lead,
india-rubber, leather, or other sound-diminishing substance; but I wish it distinctly
understood that my Invention does not comprise the forming of the teeth of gear
wheels of india-rubber or similar material.
In some arrangements of gearing one or more of my improved noiseless wheels
may be used in combination with ordinary toothed wheels geared with the said

page_text: improved wheels, and it will be obvious that the said Invention is applicable to
the various forms of gearing known as spur wheels, bevel wheels, mitre wheels, and
crown wheels.
By the above-described construction I accomplish the object of diminishing the
noise of sewing and other machines, without adding to the cost of the same or
increasing their liability to derangement, or otherwise diminishing their efficiency.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I wish it understood that I claim, the combination with or application to
a metal gear wheel of lead, india-rubber, leather, wood, or other sound-destroying
or sound-diminishing substance, as above set forth and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Graham Grey, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
J. G. GREY. (L.S.)