Patent GB-123420-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Mine Signalling Apparatus.
Inventor: KING CHARLES
IPC: B66B19/06
Filed: 1918-03-05
Abstract: 123,420. King, C., and Smith, W. March 5, 1918. Mine and colliery signals. -Signalling apparatus for use in the engine room of winding apparatus for mines and quarries and of the kind in which a visible as well as an audible signal is received in the engine room by connexions operable at the bottom of the shaft, &c., is so constructed that each audible signal is accompanied by a visible signal which is seen through a different opening, and the visible signals remain visible until the winding operation is complete, and so serve as a temporary record which is deleted on safe completion of the operation, but which remain as a check in case of an accident or the like. The device may be oper. ated electrically or mechanically, but is described in connexion with a mechanical apparatus in which a hand-lever 12 situated at the bottom of a mine &c. operates a striker 17, which actuates bell mechanism 18, 19. The striker 17 is on a drum 14 operated by a chain 13 attached to the lever 12, and a weight 15 returns the drum 14 to normal position. Each movement of the drum 14 to operate the bell mechanism is caused to operate a visible recorder consisting of a slide 5, which is raised in steps corresponding to each sound of the bell by means of a vertically reciprocating slide 8 which is actuated from the drum 14 by means of a chain 20. The slide 5 is raised by the action of a hinged dog 9, on a projection 10 on the slide, and each slide is held in the raised position corresponding to the number of rings of the bell by a pivoted catch 6, which engages projections 7 on the other side of the slide 5. The catches 6 are hinged to a plate 41 which is normally kept raised by a spring 42, and an annular plate 47 normally prevents the downward movement of the catches 6. The slides 5 move in a rotary member 1 which is enclosed in a casing 22 provided with slots 21, 21<a>, &c., which permit the numbers on the slides 5 to be seen. The member 1 is rotated intermittingly after each signal has been sent and recorded by ratchet mechanism comprising a ratchet 24, and a pawl on an arm 25 connected to a weight 28'by a chain 27, and to a drum 23 freely mounted near the drum 14 and normally prevented from rotating by means of a clawker 29 which engages a recess 30 in the drum 23. In operating an audible signal, the lever 12 is restricted by the engagement of a catch 33 in a recess 35 in a fixed member 37. After the required number of sounds has been transmitted, the catch 33 is released by a trigger 34, and the lever 12 returned to the position shown by dotted lines 38. A projection 32 on the drum 14 thereupon releases the clawker 29 and permits the drum to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction under the action of the weight 28, and the member 1 is rotated a portion of a revolution, the extent of rotation being limited by the engagement of a lever 39 actuated by the weight 28 with a projection 40 on the underside of the member 1. At the end of the winding operation the indicators 5 are re-set to zero by depressing the plate 41, Fig. 4, by means of a lever 45 which depresses a collar 44 connected by rods 43 with the plate 41. The lever 45 is operated by a connexion 46 by the winding engine or other moving part.