US229026A - N-petehj - Google Patents

Description

(No Modem' -T.. J. BELL Mechanism for Converting Motion.

Patented June 22,1880.

Yfitneses F252 PETERS, PHOTO-UTNOGRIPHER. WASHINGTON. D c.

" NlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS J. BELL, OF GRANTVILLE, NEVADA, ASSIGNOR OF ONEFO URTH OF HIS RIGHT TO THOMAS MITCHELL, OF SAME PLACE.

MECHANISM FOR CONVERTlNG MOTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,026, dated June 22, 1880,

Application filed April 22, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS J. BELL, of Grantville, county of Nye, and State of Nevada, have invented an Improvement in Mechanism for Converting Motion; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to certain improvements in steam-engines; and my improve- IO ments consist in providing the pitman or extension of the piston rod with rack bars or teeth, which alternately engage with and run free from oppositely-placed toothed wheels on shafts provided with gears engaging with a common spur-wheel on the driving-shaft, so as to convert the reciprocating into a rotary motion without the intervention of cranks and without having any dead-points.

It also relates to a certain means of arranging the teeth on the pitman and combining them with slides carrying braces or lugs for shifting their bearings and causing them to engage with the gear-wheels on either desired side, so that the motion of the driving-shaft 2 5 may be reversed at will without the necessity of changing the valve-motion.

It further relates to certain details of con struction by means of which this reversing action is accomplished, as is more fully described in the accompanying drawings, in

which Figure 1 shows my improvements as applied to a stationary engine which is to run in one direction all the time and with no reversing 3 5 mechanism. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same. Fig. 3 showsmy improvements as applied to a reversible engine. Fig. 4 is atransverse section of the same.

A represents a sliding pitman moving hori- 0 zontally in guides B, this pitman being connected direct to the piston-rod of the cylinder and moving in line with it. This pitman is made like a rack-bar, having teeth a a on both upper and lower sides.

5 A shaft, O, above the pitman, has a wheel, 0, which has teeth 0 on part of its periphery, as shown, the remainder being smooth, and these teeth are adapted to engage with those on the rack-bar or pitman. Below this pitman is another shaft, D, provided with a (N0 model.)

wheel, D, having teeth cl on part of its periphery, the remainder being smooth, asshown, these teetll being adapted to engage with the teeth a on the lower side of the rack-bar or pitman. 5 5

On the shafts O D are gears E E, both meshing with the spur-Wheel F on the shaft F, carrying the belt-pulley G, from which the power is communicated to the counter-shafts at any desired point.

As the piston is moved back and forth in the cylinder the teeth on the pitman engage alternately with the toothed sections of the wheels 0 D, these wheels moving in the same direction at all times. As the pitman goes forward its teeth are engaged by the teeth 0 of the Wheel 0 on the shaft (J, and the gear E, by meshing with the spurwheel F, rotates the shaft F with its belt-pulley. At the end of the stroke and as the pitman moves back its lower teeth, a, engage with the teeth d on the wheel D, thus rotating the shaft D, gear E, spur-wheel F on the shaft F, and belt-pulley. The instant the teeth 0 on the upper wheel, O, leave the teeth a of the racked pitman, at that instant the teeth d of the wheel D engage with the teeth a on the same pitman on its backstroke, so the motion is continuous. When the teeth of the upper wheel are engaged with the racked pitman the smooth part of the lower wheel revolves without contact with the lower teeth on said pitman, and vice versa, the teeth of each wheel alternately engaging and disengagin g. Motion is thus maintained on the engine continuously, and all dead-centers are avoided.

The partially toothed wheels O D, when very large, may be alternately toothed and left smooth, so it would take more strokes to make one turn of the wheel. Asthis is specially 0 adapted to slow motion, eccentrics could be attached to either of the shafts.

For a reversing-engine a slightly different construction is necessary, as shown in Fig. 2. The cog-wheels U D have teeth all the way 5 round, like an ordinary cog-wheel, no smooth place being left.

The pitman is recessed on both sides, and in these recesses are tumbling or dodging teeth or cogs b, pivoted or swung in said recesses, 10o

as shown. On each side of this pitman is a slide, H, having studs or braces b, as shown. The reversing-dog I is connected with the slides H, as shown, and is provided with a rod, N, attached to a lever, (not shown,) for moving the rod back and forth and turning the dog on its pin 2', so that when it is moved the slides are moved in opposite directions to each other a short distance. Under the teeth or tumbling cogs b I place springs or an elastic substance, (not shown,) which will give under pressure and spring to place when relieved.

N 0w when the engine is running in one direction the tumbling cogs will bear against one side of the studs or braces b, and rotate the cog-wheels O but on the back motion the tumbling cogs will pass down by the studs or braces b as the teeth of the wheel touch them, and the wheel 0 will rotate freely and not engage with the teeth. As soon as the teeth are thus depressed and the cog-wheel teeth pass by they are thrown up by their springs, ready to engage with the wheel in the next motion.

While this cog-wheel O is thus acting with the tumbling cogs on the upper slide the lower cog-wheel, D, is acting the reverse way with the lower tumbling cogs-that is, as the pitman is going forward and the tumbling cogs are actuating the wheel 0, then the lower tumbling cogs are idlers, and do not gear with the teeth of the wheel D but when the upper tumbling cogs drop below their stops and are idlers, then the lower tumbling cogs strike against the studs or stops and rotate the wheel'D.

By having the studs or stops on the slides, and having said slides adjustable with reference to the tumbling cogs or teeth, the studs may be brought to engage with said tumbling cogs on either side, so they will engage with the teeth of the wheel when going in either direction desired. For instance, when running steadily in one direction, the tumbling cogs or teeth on the upper side will engage with the upper wheel, 0, on the forward stroke of the piston, while in said same forward stroke the lower tumbling cogs will be idle with reference to the wheel D, and on the backstroke said lower tumbling cogs will-engage with the wheel D, and the upper ones will run idle with reference to the wheel 0.

To reverse the motion of the engine, instead of changing the valve-motion, it is only necessary to move the reversing-lever, when the slides carrying the studs or braces are moved by each other so as to engage with the opposite sides of the tumbling cogs from which they engaged before. Then, on the forward stroke of the piston, the tumbling cogs on the upper slide will run idle with reference to the upper wheel, 0, and engage with it on the backstroke, and on the same forward stroke the lower tumbling cogs will engage with the lower cog-wheel, D, and rotate it; but they will be idle with reference to it on the backstroke. This, of course, reverses the motion of the driving-shaft F.

There is in this device no necessity of workin g the valves with eccentrics to reverse. By working the slide on the pitman the bearings of the tumbling cogs are shifted,and they gear the reverse way, so as to reverse the motion.

The studs or braces are reversed from one side of the tumbling cog to the other by means of the slides, which move each set simultaneously.

This engine needs but a small balance-wheel,

as it has no center to overcome, and it gives a steady power.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isp 1. In combination with the pitman A and the oppositely-placed gear-wheels O D, the tumbling pivoted cogs b b, with their elastic bearin gs, adapted to be controlled by the lugs or catches b on the slides H, whereby the motion of the driving-shaft may be reversed without reversal of the en gine-valves, substantially as herein described.

2. In an engine-pitman provided with the tumbling cogs b 1), adapted to engage alternately with the oppositely-placed gears O D, the slides H, with their braces or lugs b, and the reversing-dog I, whereby the fixed bearin g for the teeth or cogs may be brought to either side, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

3. The improvement in reversing steam-engines consisting in providing the pitman with tumbling cogs b 1), controlled by braces b on the slides H, said slides being adapted to be reversed to shift the bearings of the tumbling cogs, said cogs alternately engaging and running free with reference to the oppositelyplaced gear-wheels O D, which wheels are on shafts provided with gears engaging with a common spur-wheel on the driving-shaft, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

THOMAS J. BELL. Witnesses:

S. G. Posr,

A. W. SAILOR.

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