US1405649A - Driving means for spring motors - Google Patents

Description

A. v. WILSON.

DRIVING MEANS FOR SPRING MOTORS. APPLICATION FILED p.25, 1918.

1 405, 49 Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

INVENTOR v dtlex'arzderli. il-

WITNESSES v A TTORNEYS PATENT OFFICE.

V ALEXANDER V. WILSON, OF BAR HARBOR, MAINE.

DRIVING MEANS FOR SPRING MOTORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Fen-7, 1922.

Application filed January 26,1918. Serial No. 213,986.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER V.[W1L- soN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bar Harbor, in the county of Hancock and State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Driving Means for Spring Motors, of which the following is a specification.-

My invention relates to improvements in motors, being more particularly an improvement in spring motors, and it consists in the constructions, combinations and arrangements herein described and claimed. An object of my invention is to provide a motor including a power spring which is adapted to drive a power shaft, and which is arranged to be rewound-either continuously by a suitable winding mechanism, or intermittently by a coacting strike plate and lever arrangement.

Another object of the invention isto provide a spring motor as described including a rewinding lever with an arrangement of strike'plat'es so disposed ina floor or other surface, that persons walking across the strike plate willcause by their weight, the automatic rewinding of the spring. I

Another object of the'invention consists.

in the peculiar formation of the double action'pawl which is so designed to always engage the ratchet irrespective of its circumferential relationship to the ratchet.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, reference being had, to the accompanying drawing in which: I

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the spring motor.

Figure 2 1s a cross section on the hne 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail section ofthe' drive v shaft with and Figure 1 is a detail view of the double actthe coacting ratchet and spring;

ing pawl.

In carrying out my invention I provide a the ends. The purpose of the power shaft 1 is tq provide the medium through which the power generated by the power spring is transferred to an external employment. To this end either the large gear or the cranks described may be used, and if" it be not desirable to use these devices, other and more suitable means for taking off the power may be connected with the shaft.

'- Mounted in a bearing 7 in one of the standards 3 is a drive shaft 8 with a square the spring. Upon unwinding of the spring,

the drive shaft 8 is driven in a counterclockwise direction and the power thus derived is taken off by-an arrangement of gears having connection with the power shaft 1. I

This arrangement of gears includes the master gear 13 loose upon the drive shaft 8 adjacent to the power spring 12. The master gear 13 meshes with a pinion '14. onthe power shaft 1. Fixed uponthe drive shaft 8 at the other side of the master gear 13' is a broad ratchet 15. The ratchet 15 is made relatively broad as will be observed by compawl shown in Figure 3, for the'purpose of accommodating the operating lever about to be described.

The double acting pawl 16 is pivoted at 17 to a hub or boss on one of the spokes of the master gear 13. The heels 18 and 18 of the pawl engage the teeth of the ratchet and constitute the'medium through which the master gear 13is rotated in the counter clockwise direction upon unwinding of the power spring 12. The pawl 16 is of a pcculiar deslgn as shown in Figure 4, in that it includes a head 19 making the pawl heavieron one side of the pivot than on the other; Y

This peculiar design was adopted after considerable experimentation, and is found to possess the important and necessary feature of holding either one or the other of the heels in contact with an adjacent tooth of the ratchet, irrespective of the circumferential relationship of the pawl to the .ment mechanism.

Fulcrumed in a bracket 20 on a movable standard 21 is an operating lever 22 with a pawl 23 on one end for driving the ratchet and drive shaft around. The lever 22 has a series ofholes 24L sothat the leverage may be adjusted. 'The standard 21 has a square projection which fits into any one of a series of square recesses 25 in the platform 4. These recesses are directly below the holes 24:, this arrangement preserving the proper location of the pawl 23 with respect to the ratchet 15, no matter to which of the adjustments the standard 21 is moved. The

L pawl 23 is mounted in a bracket on the, end 35 of thelever. 22 and a spring presses the pawl into contact with the ratchet.

Disposed on the end of the lever 22,'is a strike plate 26. In the present instance the strike plate 26 is exposed-in an opening'in the floor 27, the illustration being intended to show that the lever 22 is susceptible to being depressed a certain distance each time a person steps on the strike plate. By this means actual power represented by the weight-of the person and otherwise totally lost, is stored in the power spring 12 as will be readily understood in Figure 2. A coil spring 28 disposed between the end of the lever 22 and an abutment 29, serves to prevent the sudden descentof the lever upon being stepped on, and also to return the strike plate to its former position in the floor opening.

A stop 30 limits the downward movement of the front end of the lever. Thestop 3O 1 is adjustable by meansof the set screw 31 which blnds against the stop where the stop passes through the square collar on the abutment 29. The strike plate 26 may also be arranged alongside of a railroad track in such a position that the flange of the wheel 32 will depress the end of. the lever and accordingly operate the spring motor. The obvious advantage of such an arrangement is, that the lever will be pressed many times during the passage of a train, conse quently offering a ready means for again storing considerable energy otherwise lost.

The operation of the spring motor will be readily understood fromthe foregoing description, but a brief review isthought to be r of advantage. One of the important features of the invention consists of the adaptability of the device to such circumstances where it may conveniently be employed or installed to obtain the benefit of-the successive depressions of the operating lever as for instance, by persons walking across the floor, while the arrangement of the strike plate 26 on the end of the lever in the present instance is of the simplest form, in actual practice, the strike plates may be so arranged a 'in a floor that the weight of the persons walking across the floor may be utilized to the best advantage. Similarly, the strike plates in the event that a plurality is used,

may be arranged alongside of a railroad track to multiply the depressions'of the operating lever 22 and consequently obtain many rewinding impulses for the spring.

The reciprocations of the operating lever 22 revolve the drive shaft 8 in a clockwise direction, throughthe medium of the pawl 23 and-the ratchet 15. The power spring 12 is thus wound. Upon unwinding of the spring, the'drive shaft 8 is rotated in-a counter-clockwise direction, whereupon the power shaft 1 is driven in a clockwise direction through the medium of the master gear 13' and pinion-14:. Although the master gear 13 is loose upon the drive shaft 8, the

constant engagement of one of the heels of the pawl 16 with the ratchet 15,-constitutes a fixed connection between the drive shaft and the master gear during the unwinding of the power spring.

While the construction and-arrangement of the motor as hereinbefore' described,is

that of a generally preferred form, ob-

viously, modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim V V 1. In a spring motor, the combination of the drive shaft, a ratchet fixed on the drive shaft, a master gear loose on the drive shaft adjacent to the ratchet, and a pawl pivoted to the master gear, said pawl in-- cluding a pair of heels one of the heels being disposed midway of a pairof the ratchet teeth while the other is in engagement with a tooth, and a head embodied in the pawl for holding one or the other of the heels in contact with an adjacent tooth irrespective of the circumferentialposition of thepawl. V, I

2. The combination of a driving ratchet of aspring motor, and an adj acently pivoted pawl with a ratchet en agingheel at each side of the pivot,'pr0vi ed with a weighted portion arranged to hold one of the heels in engagement with the ratchet regardless of the circumferential position of the pawl with respect to the ratchet.

3. The'combination of a master gear in a spring motor, a driving ratchet, and a double-heeled pawl pivotally mounted on said gear, with a weighted portion arranged 10 to hold one of the heels in engagement with the ratchet regardless of the clrcumferential position of the pawl with respect to the

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