USRE8607E - Improvement in flexible shafts - Google Patents

Description

N. STOW,

Assignor to S. S. WHITE.

Flexible Shaft. No. 8,607. Ressued Mar. 4, |879.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoEc NELSON STOVV, OF BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNR TO SAMUEL S. WHITE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT I`N FLEXIBLE SHAFTS.

i Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 130,253, dated August 6, 18725 Reissue No. 5,939, dated J une 30, 1874 Reissue No. 8,607, dated March 4, 1'879; application filed J annary 17, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NELSON -STOW, of Binghamton, in the county of Broome and AState of New York, have made an invention of certain Improvements in Fexible Shafts and their Appurtenances, of which the followin gis a speciiieation:

or a rope, as distinguished from a hollow helical coil of spring-wire, such as the helical-wire shaft of the Thirion English patent of 1858, and the Kennedy American patent of 1866.

The invention consists, also, of some combinations of the said devices with a peculiar construction of compound wire-cord shaft. The said devices are the following, viz: a

' rigid driving-shaft, which is an inflexible shaft that may be revolved in a bearing or bearings, and tted with a belt-pulley, and

which is employed,` to impart motion to the flexible wire shaft; a driving-shaft bearing., in which said rigid driving-shaft is sustained with the capacity to revolve on its axis; a rigid journal or spindle at the outer end of the flexible wire shaft, or that end which is farthest from the driving-shaft, which journal is inflexible, and has a smooth circular surface, so that itis Well adapted to revolve in a socket or sleeve bearing, and forms a convenient means of connecting the exible wire shaft with the article to which the revolving motion is to be transmitted a'socket bearing or sleeve in which the said rigid journal is iitted to revolve, this socket-bearing being movable with the rigid journal and outer end of the Wire-cord shaft, so that the rigid journal and the article to which the exible cord shaft transmits motion may be manipulated by the operator grasping the socket-bearing; a'flexible Wire casin g coveringthe exible wire-cord shaft; a 'exible cover for the wire casing, to prevent the engagement of objects in the crevices between the wires of the casing; a driving-shaft bearing-socket, which is a tubular socket inclosing the end of the drivingshaft, and forming a convenient means of securing the inner end ofthe shaft-casing.

The peculiarity of the compound Wire-cord I shaft is, that it is compounded of two sets of wires, which operate jointly, the one set being twisted into a cord which forms the core of the shaft, and the secondi set enveloping the said core.

The various combinations and constructions which constitute the invention are set forth in the claims at the close of this specification. In order that they may be fully understood, I have represented them in the accompanying drawings, andwill proceed to describe a ilexible wire-cord shaft and its appurtenances einbodying my entire invention in the best form in which it was (in my opinion) embodied by me previous to my application for the original patent.

Figure 1 ofthe accompanying drawings is a perspective view of the said flexible wirecord shaft and its appurtenances, with portions `of the exible cover and wirecasing removed. Fig. 2 represents a portion of the compound wire-cord shaft detached. Fig. 3 represents an enlarged view of the driving-shaft and a portion of the exible wire-cord shaft, with the bearings of the drivin g-shaft and other devices in section. Fig. 4 represents the outer end of the exible wire-cord shaft, with the adjacent devices in sect-ion. Fig. 5 represents a transverse section of the flexible wire-cord shaft audits compound easing.

In the said drawings, C is the exible wirecord shaft, which is composed of a central cord or core, l), and of a layer of envelopingwire, d. The core, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5,

is composed of several strands of steel wire,

which insures its strength and elasticity. The core is inclosed by a layer, d, of brass wires, wound at the same pitch and direction as those of the core. This layer gives the shaft additional strength without materially diminishing its flexibility.

E is a driving-shaft, which is a rigid shaft fitted to revolve in ordinary bearings, and is connected with the inner end of the lflexible wire shaft C. F is the driving-shaft bearingsoc-ket, which is secured to the bearing a, in

' H. The end of this journal is provided with a collar, b, for connections when the communicated motion is to be continued in one direction. Then the flexible wire-cord shaft is used to impart motion directly to a tool or appliance whose positions are to be consecutively changed, the collar may be dispensed with and the appliance attached to the journal or spindle to be guided by hand. The free end of the shaft may then be readily adapted to communicate motion to an article at any point within its reach on the bench of the machine, or for many domestic purposes. The peculiarity of its construction will also allow of its use for driving heavy machinery. The ilexible wire-cord shaft is incased by a iiexible wire casing, B, which is made of spirally-coiled wire, inclosing a tubular cavity sufficiently large to permit the exible wire-cord shaft to revolve freely within it, and this wire casing is covered Vby the flexible cover A, made of leather or other flexible material.

In the present case the compound casing formed by the ilexible Wire casing B and the :flexible cover A is` secured at its inner end to the driving-shaft bearing-socket F, and at its outer end to the socket-bearing H.

'lhe compound casin g, beingthoroughl y iiexible throughout its length, adapts itself to the curvature of the shaft, and prevents articles from being wound upon or otherwise affected by its revolution. When both ends of the compound casing are secured to the sockets, I havefound it expedient toconstruct the driving-shaft, as represented in Fig. 3, with journals of greater length than the lengths of its bearings, so that the driving-shaft may move endwise in its bearings, or, in other words, that there may be endwise movement of the casing and iiexible shaft relatively to each other, to adapt the combination of the two to variations which may occur in their endwise relationship by reason of the greater or less xtent to which the flexible wire-cord shaft is ent.

Y 1 claim as my inventionl. .The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the flexible wire-cord shaft, the driving-shaft, the bearing of the drivingshaft, the tubular socket connected with the bearing of the driving-shaft, and the flexible wire casing.

2. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the-flexible wire-cord shaft, the driving-shaft, the bearing of the drivingshaft, the tubular socket of the driving-shaft bcarin g, the flexible wire casing, and the ilexiv ble cover therefor.

3. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the tiexible wire-cord shaft,

the rigid journal thereof, and the flexible Wire caslng.

4. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the flexible wire-cord shaft, the rigid journal thereof, the flexible wire casing, and the'iexible cover therefor.

5. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the'iicxible wire-cord shaft, the rigid journal thereof, the `socketbearing of said journal, and the flexible wire casing.

6. The combination. substantially ashereinbefore set forth, of the flexible wire-cord shaft, the rigid journal thereof, the socket bearing of said journal,'the flexible casing, and the flexible cover thereof.

7 The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the rigid driving-shaft, the flexible wire cord shaft, the rigid journal thereof, the socket bearing of said journal, and thc compound casing for said cord-shaft, the whole so connected that the endwise relationship of the wire-cord shaft and the compound casing'may vary when the two are bent.

S. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the rigid journal with a compound flexible wire-cord shaft com posed of core-wires and enveloping-wires.

9. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the rigid drivingl shaft with a compound iiexible wire-cord shaft composed of core-wires and enveloping-wires.

10. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the rigid driving shaft, the rigid journal, and the iiexible wire cord shaft, composed of core-wires and envelopingwires.

`NELSON lS'IOW. Witnesses:

JOHN B. BOWEN, UHAuLEs O; Roo'r.

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