USRE310E - Improvement in endless-chain horse-power - Google Patents

Description

either side form the. traveling bed, which the made to run on rails or Ways forming part of UivrTEc STATES PATENT OEEicEa ALONZO WHEELER ANI) ALEXANDER F. WHEELER, (EXEOUTOR OF VILL- IAM O.f YVIIEELER, DEOEASED,) OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN ENDLESS-CHAIN HORSE-POWER.

Speciiieation forming partei' Letters Patent No. 2,157, dated July 8, 1841; Reissue No. 310, dated May 2?, 1855.

tinct rack in addition to the chains, for such, by producing unnecessary complication and increased liability of parts to shake or get loose, are objectionable. This regular pitched cog-gear produces a smoother and better mesh than an open-link gear; but in all the previous end drum arrangements many disadvantagr s have arisen.

It is desirable, in order to reduce expense and Wear, that the pitch of the endless chain should not be finer or links shorter than is necessary to give the requisite iexibilily to the chain to turn or travel round the ends ot' the power, and iu so turning and meshing with or into the end drums the links gear badly, as the spaces which separate the links where the links are jointed to eachother present or form a varying' angle in effecting the turn, which causes a binding or improper impinging action of such gear, or, in other Words, produces an irregular mesh, and this is more especially the case where the turn is quick or the drums at the ends of the pow( r of moderate diameter, small end drums on this account being altogether inadmissible, for which reason but a comparatively slow revolving driving motion has been practicable under such an arrangement, as the-speed ofthe endless chain or chains is governed by the slow tread of the horse, and a large end cog drum, set in motion by the turn of the chains round it, and forming the revolving driving-power, can only of necessity but make a few revolutions in a minute, compared with the number of revolutions that are required for the purposes. Horse-powers are generally only applicable or Wanted such as foar` driving thrashingmachines, and so forth. Interiuediate gear therefore (objectionable both on account of its wear and expense) has been universally adopted in such arrangements ot' horsepower to get up the required speed on the machine to be driven.

The improvement which forms the novel subject ot' this specification, while employing the cog-link gear, obviates the necessity for all intermediate gear to get up a quick drivin gspeed from the slow tread ot' the horse, and elfects the desired motion in a lrm but easy manner without causing any irregular mesh ofthe cog-links at the spaces separating the To all uhom it may concern:

Be it known that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ot' the improvement on the endless-chain horsepower for driving machinery invented by ALONZO VHEELER and WILLIAM U. WHEELER, formerly ofthe town et' Chatham, in the county of Columbia and State of New York, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which forni part of this specification, and in Which- Figure 1 represents alongitudinal sectional elevation in part; Fig. 2, an outside longitudinal elevation ofthe improved horse-power complete; Fig. 3, a transverse vertical section in part; Fig. 4,a plan view ola portion of the endless chain traveling bed detached; and Fig. 5, a side view ot' two of the cog-links of the endless chain with lag-bolts, et cetera.

Endless chain horsepowers for driving ma chinery have been variously constructed. In some the parallel endless chains, one on either side, have been made with dat or open links, which mesh into and pass round or over toothed Wheels or drums at the cndsof the power, l'or the purpose of supporting the chains, keeping them at their required stretch, and for converting the straight travel of the endless bed operated by the tread of the horse into a revolving driving prime mover, lags or boards extending the whole width across and secured to the links of the endless chains ou horse by its tread sets in motion as or in the manner well known in machines of this description; and to induce an easy and proper run of the chains, anti-friction rollers have been arranged on the outside of the links and the fixed framing. The open-link chain for this purpose, however, is objectionable in practice. `The links do not mesh smoothly or fairly into the teeth or projections on the end drum or drums; and in other arrangements of horse-power of similar character a regular pitched cog-chain, made up of solid links or hinged cast-iron plates with cogs on their one and inner face arranged to mesh into cogs on the peripheries ofthe end drums, and having thelags bolted across or to them on their outer face, have been employed or proposed in place of an open-link chain, not a separateor disjunction of thclinks, which links may also,like those before referred to, be made straight, in preference to the well-known objectionable curved or convergent form of endless-chain links operating wheels or drums in horsepowers of the character herein specified and known to be old.

In the power shown in the accompanying drawings the endless cog-chains of the travel ing bed or platform, A, Figs. 2, 4 are made up ot' links G, Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 having cogs on their inner edges and projections or catches at the extremities of their outer edge, between which catches planks l), Figs. 2, 4, and 3, are placed, being fitted and secured to the links by rods E, Fig. 5. passing through the catches ou thelinks and through the ends of the pla'nks. `These planks form the traveling bed, propelled b vihetread of the horse. Gross-axles B, Figs. i and 5, connect the links ot' the two parallel side chains and form the joint-pins of t`.e links of either chain, and, after extending through the links of the two chains, receive on their ends the anti-friction rollers or running wheels F, Figs. 2, 3, and 4, which serve to support the traveling bed or platform, and guide it in its proper course by their running on rails Gr and H, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, provided with a guard to prevent the wheels F running ol' the cross-axles B. These rails G and H are secured to the inner side of the frame I, Figs. 1 and 2, the upper rails, G, terminating in a semicirele at each end, around which the endless chains turn, and the running wheels or rollers F passing from the upper to the lower rails, H, as the chains continue to move, the endless chain or chains not passing round any revolving wheel or drum at the ends of the power, but, instead thereof, to convert the straight run of the traveling bedv into the required circular movement, there are arranged at some point back ot' the forward end of the power two small pinions, K, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, on a cross horizontal axle, L, which turns in boxes fast to the two side girts of the frame, and which axle is so situated and the pinions K so placed or set on it that they (the pinions) mesh into the cog-links of the chains on either side, and are caused to revolve by the straight travel of the said cog-links. By this means the crossaxle L, which carries these two pinions, is made the driving-shaft of the power, and motion may be taken from it by pulleys M, arranged on either end. Thus the arrangement of the cog-links of the endless chains, it will be observed, working into the'intermediate pinions on either side, as described, gives a simple, iexible, straight rack and pinion, gear .that operates freely and admits of much smaller diameter of revolving pinion being operated by the cog-links than by any end drum arrangement, as before speciiicd, and consequently the drivin g-shai't L ol the power is caused to revolve a greater number of times in a minute, thereby avoiding objectionable multiiilicity of intermediate gear to get up the bcfore-named essential high or fast driving velocity oi' the power, while the cog-links ot' the chains, by this connection ot' them with the small intermediate pinions, are relieved ot' those practical objections bet'ore adverted to of binding or improperly impinging in the mesh ot' the cog-links with the revolving gear, whichtakes place at thejunction ot' the links with each other, by the varying angle of the spaces in effecting the turn at the ends of the power in the end cog-drum arrangements before mentioned. The straight rackgear operation here described not only obviously prevents this, and at the saine time admits of a rapid driving velocity, as spccicd, and without limit as regard the length of the links, but the flexibility of the cog-link racks insures an easy working of the links over and into the small pinions K, which the links of the endless chains, as speciticd, drive, and the ar.

rangement of the two pinions one on either side of the traveling bed is especially and more particularly serviceable where the driven pinions are intermediate et' the ends of the power, as the traveling bed and chains are more subject to vibratory play or shake between than at the ends. The two intermediate pinions, one on either side, prevent or Inatcrially lessen, therefore, this midway shake and prevent one-sided action, leaning run, and binding.

What is claimed herein as new and useful in endless-chain horse-powers for driving machinery, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

The links C of' the parallel endless chains, which carry the traveling bed, formed with cogs on their inner edge, meshing into the side pinions, K, on the driving-shaft, when the latter is arranged back ot' the forward end of the power to receive motion by the straight run of the cog-links over the said pinions, as shown and described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

ALONZO WHEELER. ALEXANDER F. WHEELER,

Erecutor of the last will and testament of WHL am C. Wheeler, deceased.

Witnesses:

E. S. BEDELL, J. H. MELRIK.

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