AN IMPROVEMENT IN HOISTING APPARATUS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN HOISTING
APPARATUS."-A communication from abroad by Charles Rollin Otis
and Norton Prentiss Otis, both of Yonkers, in the State of New
York, United States of America.
Sealed the 16th April 1872, and dated the 20th November 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th November 1871.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN HOISTING
APPARATUS," to be as follows:-—
The Invention relates to hoisting apparatus in which two or more
hoisting ropes are used for raising and lowering the platform or cage, and

page_text: in which such ropes are so connected with stop pawls operating in
vertical ratchets attached to the upright guides provided for the plat-
form or cage that in case of the breakage of the ropes or their becoming
slack the pawls are thrown into the ratchets and thereby caused to
prevent the descent of the platform or cage.
The improvement consists in the connection of the ropes with the
stop pawls by means of a swinging yoke, which in case of either rope or
set of ropes breaking or becoming slack will be operated in a positive
manner, in addition to the action of the ordinary spring, by the tenison of
the other rope or set of ropes, to throw the said pawls into and hold
them in action. The yoke swings on a fixed pin carried by a pair of
standards, the hole in the yoke through which the pin passes being
elongated to ensure to it a free swinging action. The yoke is formed
with a flange at its lower end, which flange enters between a pair of
bowles fitted to the lifting bar and is intended to act upon the bar like a
cam (when an accident to either of the ropes occurs) and thrust it for-
ward, thereby driving or assisting to drive the pawls into contact with
the ratchet teeth. On either side of its pivot pin the yoke is connected
to the lifting ropes; if therefore the rope on either side becomes broken
the other yoke will rock the yoke on its pin and thereby cause it to force
down the lifting bar and throw the pawls into action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th May 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED 2
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty- g
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN HOISTING APPARATUS," being a communication to me
from abroad by Charles Rollin Otis and Norton Prentiss Otis, both
of Yonkers, in the State of New York, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say) :-
This Invention relates to hoisting apparatus in which two or more
hoisting ropes are used for raising and lowering the platform or cage, and
in which such ropes are so connected with stop pawls operating in
vertical ratchets attached to the upright guides provided for the platform
or cage that in case of the breakage of the ropes or their becoming slack
the pawls are thrown into the ratchets and thereby caused to arrest the
descent of the platform or cage.
The improvement consists in the connection of the ropes with the stop
pawls by means of a swinging yoke, which in case of either rope or set
of ropes breaking or becoming slack will be operated in a positive
manner (in addition to the action of the ordinary spring) by the tenison
of the other rope or set of ropes to throw the said pawls into and hold
them in action.
In the accompanying Drawing Figures 1 and 2 are vertical sections
at right angles to each other of a hoisting apparatus with two hoisting

page_text: ropes having the improvement applied, shewing both hoisting ropes in
proper operation and the stop pawls out of gear; Fig. 3 is a section
corresponding with Fig. 1, but shewing one of the ropes broken and the
.stop pawls thrown into operation. Similar letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A, A, represent the uprights of the hoistway, and B a portion of the
travelling platform or cage; C, C, are the racks on the sides of the said
uprights for holding the cage against tipping or accidental descent in
case of the lifting ropes breaking or hanging loose, the said racks serving
on tension being removed from a lifting bar or attachment D to hold the
cage or platform by means of stop pawls E, E, attached to crank levers
F, F, under the control of a spring G, which under breakage or disar-
rangement of the ropes as described causes the pawls to engage with the
racks. This is the usual action of the pawls whether one, two, or more
ropes be used, but to make said pawls E, E, applicable to the two ropes
H, H, so that in case of either rope breaking or hanging slack the said
pawls will act not merely under control of the spring G but in a positive
manner as derived from the tension of the other rope, there is mounted
on the cage a standard or standards I, arranged to carry a cam-like yoke
J, which works on a fulcrum pin or pivot 6 by or through a slot c in it
that allows of up-and-down play to insure the proper action of the pawls.
This cam-like yoke engages with the lifting bar D by the fit of its flange
between rollers d, d, carried by the bar. The ropes H, H, are fastened
to this pivoted or 'swinging cam-like yoke on opposite sides of its
fulcrum, and pass over guide pullies P, P, to the hoisting drum R.
In case of both ropes breaking or fouling and hanging loose then the
spring G operates as heretofore in single rope hoists, to throw the stop
pawls into operation with the racks on the uprights. In case of only one
of the ropes becoming disarranged or breaking a like action takes place,
with the additional effect of the tension on the other rope operating by
the swinging of the yoke J to push down the bar D and attached ends of
the pawl levers F, and thereby aid in a positive manner the action of the
stop pawls to make them engage with the racks. The spring G further
serves to hold the pawls in action after the cam-like yoke has been swung
out of gear with the rollers on the lifting rod, as shown in Figure 3,
which disengaging action it is preferred the yoke should have at the
close of its swinging stroke, and so that the yoke when slipping out from
between the rollers on the slackening of one of the ropes as described,

page_text: and after it has performed its function of locking the stop mechanism,
will be thrown back or out of the way by the tightening of the other
rope and be prevented except by special adjustment from entering again
between the rollers on the lifting rod to unlock the stop pawls.
The two hoisting ropes may be wound up by the same drum or on
separate drums, and instead of there being only two ropes, one attached
to each end of the yoke J, there may be two sets of ropes, one set
attached to one end and the other set to the other end.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improve-
ment in Hoisting Apparatus," as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondents, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
First. The combination with the stop pawls or their mechanism of
a pivotted or swinging cam-like yoke, arranged to operate on said
mechanism by tension of one of a pair or one of two sets of ropes, which
ropes are attached to the yoke at opposite sides of its pivot, substantially
as specified.
Second. The combination of the pivotted cam-like yoke J with the
spring G, the lifting bar D, the levers F, F, and the pawls E, E,
essentially as shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of May, in