Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Dec., 1887
Complete Left, 7th Feb., 1888
Complete Accepted, 9th Mar:, 1888
I BARROW TURNER of 4 Victoria Street Westminster in the County of Middlesex
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In hydraulic lifts which are not direct acting but in which the cage is suspended
by a rope or chain, it is usually considered desirable that some provision should be
made to prevent the cage from falling if the suspending rope should break.
In such lifts, the rope by which the cage is suspended passes over various sheave
pulleys, by means of which, the stroke of the ram on which the hydraulic pressure
acts, and which is a fractional part only of the total travel of the lift cage, is
multiplied to the extent desired to make the cage travel between the extreme limits
required.
The appliances for securing safety consist either of catches actuated by springs or
of other well known devices all of which are so arranged as to fix the cage to the
guides of the lift in the event (and only in the event) of the suspending rope
breaking.
In some cases, also, safety is sought for by supplementing the single suspending
rope by one, two or more additional ropes and in other instances again these various
methods have been combined and applied to the same lift.
In the general way,
however, when so-called spare ropes are used the weight and the wear are distributed
more or less equally amongst all the ropes, so that all are probably wearing out at an
equal rate and it is impossible to say that any one of them is a spare rope in the proper
sense of the term.
Moreover, it is usual to make all the ropes pass over the same wheels which leads
to them chafing one another and so increasing the wear. My invention is designed
to avoid these objections; and, in carrying it out 1 suspend the cage by a rope of
sufficient strength to carry the whole load with an ample margin of safety, and in
connecting it with the cage I apply one of the usual well known forms of safety
catches to grip the guides of the lift and prevent the cage falling if the rope should
break. In addition to this I supply other ropes, preferably two in number but there
may be more, each of the full strength of the main rope but so arranged as to bear
under ordinary circumstances only a light straining load sufficient to keep them taut.

page_text: 1
These I call the safety ropes and I make each of them of equal strength to the main
suspending rope; so that, if the suspending rope should break, and the safety catches
fail to act, the cage will still be safely suspended by ropes of ample strength which
have not been subjected to, nor weakened by, much wear. To prevent the chafing of
the ropes against one another I make each rope run over separate and distinct pulleys.
Thus, while the main suspending rope runs over pulleys bored to fit the shafts or pins
forming their axes and taking the weight and strain, the safety ropes pass over other
pulleys running on projections formed on the bosses of the main pulleys. In the
ordinary way the group of pulleys will act and revolve as one, but any little inequality
caused by the variation of diameters of pulleys or size of rope will be compensated by
the safety rope pulleys turning slightly on the main pulley bosses. To avoid
inconvenient crowding and complication of ropes and pulleys when the former have
to pass more than once around the cross head of the rain I mount each group of
pulleys on separate shafts one placed in advance of the other, instead of allowing the
various multiplying pulleys to work on the same shaft, as is the custom where, for
instance, only a single rope or chain is used.
Dated this 7th day of December 1887.

page_text: Improvements in Hydraulic Lifts.
I BARROW TURNER of 4 Victoria Street Westminster in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
In hydraulic lifts which are not direct acting but in which the cage is suspended
by a rope or chain it is usually considered desirable that some provision should be
made to prevent the cage from falling if the suspending rope should break. In such
lifts the rope by which the cage is suspended passes over various sheave pulleys by
means of which the stroke of the rain on which the hydraulic pressure acts, and
which is a fractional part only of the total travel of the lift cage is multiplied to the
extent desired to make the cage travel between the extreme limits required.
The appliances for securing safety consist either of catches actuated by springs or
of other well known devices all of which are so arranged as to fix the cage to the
guides of the lift in the event (and only in the event) of the suspending rope breaking:
in some cases also safety is sought for by supplementing the single suspending rope
by one two or more additional ropes and in other instances again these various
methods have been combined and applied to the same lift. In the general way,
however, when so-called spare or safety ropes are used the weight and the wear are
distributed more or less equally amongst all the ropes so that all are probably wearing
out at an equal rate and it is impossible to say that any one of them is a spare rope in
the proper sense of the term. Moreover, it is usual to make all the ropes pass over
the same wheels which leads to them chafing one another and so increasing the
wear.
My invention is designed to avoid these objections and in carrying it out I suspend
the cage by a rope of sufficient strength to carry the whole load with an ample
margin of safety and in connecting it with the cage I apply one of the usual well
known forms of safety catches to grip the guides of the lift and prevent the cage
falling if the rope should break.
In addition to this I supply other ropes, preferably two in number but there may
be more, each of the full strength of the main rope but so arranged as to bear under
ordinary circumstances only a light straining load sufficient to keep them taut.
These I call the safety ropes and I make each of them of equal strength to the main
suspending rope so that if the suspending rope should break and the safety catches
fail to act the cage will still be safely suspended by ropes of ample strength which
have not been subjected to, nor weakened by, much wear. To prevent the chafing of
the ropes against one another I make each rope run over separate and distinct
pulleys.
.
Thus while the main suspending rope runs over pulleys bored to fit the shafts or
pins forming their axes and taking the weight and strain, the safety ropes pass over
other pulleys running on projections formed on the bosses of the main pulleys. In

page_text: the ordinary way the group of pulleys will act and revolve as one, but any little
inequality caused by the variation of diameters of pulleys or size of ropes will be
compensated by the safety rope pulleys turning slightly on the main pulley bosses.
To avoid inconvenient crowding and complication of ropes and pulleys when the
former have to pass more than once around the cross head of the rain, I mount cach
group of pulleys upon separate shafts, one placed in advance of the other, instead of
allowing the various multiplying pulleys to work on the same shaft as is the custom
where, for instance, only a single suspending rope or chain is used.
In order that my invention and the manner of performing the same may be
properly understood I hereunto append a sheet of explanatory drawings.
Figure 1, represents the cage, A, of the lift and the course of the ropes suspending
it, by which it will be seen that they pass over wheels B, C, D and E by which the
stroke of the ram in the cylinder F is multiplied to give the necessary height of travel
to the cage A.
By reference to Figure 2 it will be seen that there are three ropes. Of these, the
centre one only is secured and made fast to a lug, K, on the cylinder: the two outside
ropes pass over the small wheels G, G, and have weights, HH, suspended to their
free ends to strain them sufficiently to keep them taut. All three of the ropes are
secured and made fast to the cage, the middle rope being attached to one of the usual
safety devices, by which, in the event of its breaking the cage would become firmly
fixed to its guides and so prevented from falling.
In the event however of the safety gear failing to act the weight of the cage would
come upon the two outside ropes raising the straining weights H H a few inches and
until they reached certain strongly fixed stops provided for the purpose, when the
whole weight would be sustained by the two outside or safety ropes.
Figure 1 also shows the method I adopt of mounting the multiplying wheels C
and E on separate axes, one in advance of the other. If more multiplication of the
stroke of the ram in cylinder F be desired, than is shewn in the drawing other wheels
can obviously be added on other axes further in advance of wheels C and E and also
at the top end of cylinder above the axis of wheel D.
Figure 3 is an enlarged view of one of the sets of three wheels by which it will be
seen that the main suspending rope passes over the central wheel, L, that this wheel
has its bosses extended on either side and that on those extensions are mounted the
wheels M M over which the two safety ropes pass. Thus the wheel L revolves freely
on the axle, and the wheels M M are free to revolve on the bosses of wheel L.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is.
1. The application of safety ropes to hydraulic lifts in the manner hereinbefore
described whereby they do not bear any considerable proportion of the weight under
ordinary circumstances and are therefore not liable to such wear and weakening as the
main suspending rope is.
2. The arrangement of the multiplying wheels on separate axes in advance of one
another.
3. As applied to hydraulic lifts, the method of mounting the wheels over which the
safety ropes pass, on the bosses of the wheels over which the main rope passes.
BARROW TURNER.