Improvements in Apparatus for Automatically Operating Safety Gates or Equivalent Parts of Hoists or Lifts
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Nov., 1895-Accepted, 1st Feb.. 1596
Improvements in Apparatus for Automatically Operating Safety
Gates or Equivalent Parts of Hoists or Lifts,
I, JOHN BOTTERILL, of Washington Street, Kirkstall Road, Leeds, in the
County of York, 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 :-
The object of this invention is to provide automatic means for so quickly operating
the safety gates, or fences or their equivalent, such as fire screens (hereinafter
included in the term gates) arranged on the various floors with which a hoist or lift
communicates, as to prevent passengers from getting on or off the cage whilst it is
in motion, and also to prevent anyone falling into the well when the cage is not
opposite a landing place or floor."
In order that my invention may be fully understood I will describe, with the aid
of the accompanying drawings, apparatus constructed in accordance therewith.
Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the said drawings represent in side elevation, horizontal section,
and front elevation respectively, a lift provided with gate-operating apparatus
according to this invention; and
Figs. 4 to 9 inclusive are detail views thereof drawn to a larger scale.
a (Figs. 1 and 2) is a wave-shaped cam formed out of a bar of rectangular section
secured to angle-pieces 6 which are bolted to the cage c. On the vertical guides d
and d' of the hoist, are secured brackets e and f which carry parallel bars g and h
(see Figs. to 9) which are adapted to serve as guides for a carriage i supporting, in
suitable bearings, four rollers k, k¹, k² and k³, of which k and klare adapted to run
on the top of the guide bar g, and 2 and 3 to run along the underside of the
guide bar h. In the centre of the carriage i is a stud which carries loosely on the
end nearest to the cage c, a pulley m which is arranged to roll on the cam a.
The stud carries loosely at its other end a grooved pulley n. One end of the
lifting chain o is secured to an eye p on the bracket and its other end is passed
round the pulley n, thence under a guide pulley 9 adapted to revolve on a stud r
fixed to the bracket f over a guide pulley loosely mounted on a pin u fixed to
a bracket on the vertical guide d' (Fig. 3) thence over a guide pulley w adapted
to revolve on a pin æ in a bracket y fixed in a suitable position over the gate z,
is then secured to the said gate.
an:
If
The arrangement of this apparatus is, therefore, such that as the cage c ascends
or descends, it brings the cam a into contact with the roller m and causes it to
move the carriage i backward into the position shown in Fig. 1, and thereby to
lift the gate into the position shown in Fig. 3, when it is fully opened.
the cage e be now moved upward or downward, the cam a will allow the carriage i
to return to its original position and the gate to close by gravity. In the example
shown, the vertical length of the cam is equal to that of the cage, so that the gate z
is opened and closed by the movement of the cage through a distance equal to its
own length. It will be seen that the passing of the chain o round the pulley n
causes the gate to move twice as fast vertically as the carriage i
horizontally.
moves
It is obvious that the apparatus may be variously modified without departing
from the nature of this invention; thus, the cam a may be formed out of angle iron,
or be cast, and be bolted to the side of the cage c; and the carriage i may be
arranged to move on parallel guides other than the guide bars g and h. Also that

page_text: the chain may be arranged to pass over one or more additional pulleys in order to
obtain a greater lifting movement of the gate than twice that of the horizontal
movement of the carriage i. Fig. 10 shows an arrangement of this kind wherein
the chain is connected at one end to the carriage i and passes over a pulley q¹ having
a stationary bearing, whence it is led around the pulleys n and q as before to the
gate z.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. For automatically operating a gate or equivalent part of a hoist or lift'
apparatus wherein a suitably guided rope or chain connected to the gate or
equivalent part to be operated, passes around a pulley mounted on a carriage that
is arranged to be moved horizontally on fixed guides by a cam on the hoist or lift
cage or platform, the arrangement being such that the said gate or equivalent part
will move through a greater distance than that moved through by the said carriage,
substantially as herein described.
2. For automatically operating a gate or equivalent part of a hoist or lift,
apparatus constructed arranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore described
with reference to and shown in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 25th day of November 1895.
R. E. P. CRAVEN,
Registered Patent Agent,
22 Victoria Chambers, South Parade, Leeds, Agent for the Applicant.