CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF CRANES
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEMUEL
WELLMAN WRIGHT; of Mansfield Street, Borough Road, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His Majesty King George the Fourth, in and by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Seventeenth day of August last, for Himself, His heirs and successors,
did give and grant unto me, the said Lemuel Wellman Wright, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole privilege,
and authority, that I, the said Lemuel Wellman Wright, my exors, adors,
and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and
their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said
Lemuel Wellman Wright, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
any time agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF CRANES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said Lemuel Wellman Wright, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Lemuel Wellman Wright, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by the Plans
or Drawings hereto annexed, and the following description thereof (that is
to say):
My Improvements in the Construction of Cranes consist, first, in the
application of the combined powers of the crank lever and wedge acting
on friction rollers mounted on wheels, which wheels are attached to the drum
or barrel, on which the draft rope or chain winds; and, secondly, in the appli-
cation of rotary engines, alternating rotary engines, or common vertical or
horizontal cylinder engines to cranes of any description, the motive power to
work such engines, and thereby to work the cranes, being the expansive force
of compressed atmospheric air.
Sheets 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings exhibit the first part of
my improvements. Figure 1 represents a plan or horizontal view, and
Figure 2 a side elevation, of my improved crane, adapted as a warehouse
or what is usually termed a housing crane. Figure 3 is a longitudinal
section taken vertically through the middle of a crane for the same purposes;
but varied in its construction from the preceding. Figures 4 and 5 repre-
sent my improvements as adapted to quay cranes, and the same letters refer
to the same parts in all these several Figures. a, a, a, a, are the two
side standards or frames connected to each other by horizontal bolts or
stretchers, and upon which the working parts of the crane are mounted; bis
the axle of the drum or barrel c, round which the draft rope or chain d is
wound in the act of raising any heavy body; e, e, are two wheels affixed to the
axle of the drum c, and by bolts through their arms to the drum itself; these
wheels carry a series of friction rollers f, f, mounted on pins projecting alter-
nately on each side of the rims of the wheels, which may be secured in their
places by nuts on the ends of the pins; 9 is a four-throw crank shaft, which
turns in the swinging frame j; to each of these cranks is attached one of the
levers h, h, h, h, with wedged-formed ends, and the fulcrums of these levers
are bolts i, i, i, i, in the tops of the rocking crutches k, k, k, k; these crutches
have their bearings on one of the bolts or stretchers connecting the side
standards, at one end of the crank shaft there is a fly wheel to regulate the
motion of the parts. On the power being applied to the cranks g by the
winch handles m, or by any other means, the cranks as they revolve towards
the drum wheels project forward the levers h, h, h, h, and their wedge-formed
ends successively pass under and raise the rollers f, and when past the centre
revolving from the drum wheels the cranks depress the longer arms of the
levers, and raise the shorter arms with the rollers, and thus successively drive

page_text: round the rims, and with them the drum or barrel. To throw the machine
out of gear the ends of the levers h, h, h, h, must be withdrawn from the friction
rollers f, to do this the pauls n, n, must be removed from supporting or wedging
up the back of the swinging frame j by lifting up the handle o on the shaft p,
when the frame, with the crank shaft and levers, may be drawn back against
a rest q seen in Figures 3, the crank and levers being thus out of gear the
barrel is at liberty to turn the reverse way for the purpose of lowering the
weight suspended, and the velocity of the descent is to be regulated by a two
part break, as shewn in the Drawing; when it is required to put the machine
into action the counterbalance weight r, hung over the pulleys by a chain or
rope from the swinging frame j, will assist to bring the swinging frame up into
its working position, when the pauls n will fall down where it is desirable to
have the draught rope or chain suspended, so as to raise the weight directly
under the barrel without any gin wheel or jibb head; the shorter,ends of the
levers may be made with the wedge or inclined planes the reverse way to those
already described, when they will, by acting on the upper side of the rollers,
force them downwards, and turn the barrel the reverse way to that already
described. In Figure 3 the parts are the same, except that the levers h, h, h, h,
work upon friction rollers i, i, turning on a cross stretcher, which friction
rollers i, i, become the fulcrums of the levers h, h, h, h, instead of the rocking
crutches before described. Figure 4 is a side elevation. Figure 5 an end
elevation of the sort of cranes usually called quay cranes, with the several
parts of my improvements as applied in a vertical position in these Figures;
the break is shewn as acting on the outer edge of one of the wheels which
carries the friction rollers, so as to keep the parts of the machine all within
the frames. The frames in which this machinery may be set can be made of
any form and size which the amount of power required in the crane, or any
local causes, may render advisable; and a crane may be made in this manner
by using two-throw, four-throw, six-throw, or eight-throw cranks, and corre-
sponding wheels with friction rollers on each side to cach pair of cranks and
levers.
Sheets 3 and 4 exhibit the second part of my improvements. Figure 6 is
a side elevation, and Figure 7 is a ground plan, of a crane of the common
construction, in which a is a toothed pinion to which power is to be applied to
turn the large toothed wheel b, and with it the drum or barrel c. d represents
an alternating rotatory engine to be worked by the expansive force of com-
pressed atmospheric air, as before stated, which power of compressed air may
be communicated through pipes in any convenient manner from a reservoir
previously filled by any suflicient power working a force pump to fill the reser-

page_text: voir to the required degree of compression or density, and admitted through
the induction pipe e and two-way cock f into the engine, which engine is
more particularly represented in Figures 8 and 9, whereon the shaft of the
engine shewn at 9 is the cylinder h, carrying the piston i, which works in the
air channel j, j; the air, being admitted from the induction pipe e through the
passage and induction opening of the cock into the channel ; in the
direction of the arrows marked 1, exerts its expansive power against the
piston i, which is to be packed with hempen gasket in the common or usual
way of packing engine pistons, and impels it round to the position shewn by
dots on the opposite side of the stop piece l, driving out the air previously in
the channel j, through the bent part of the passage m and eduction opening o
in the direction of the arrows marked 2. The two-way cock f is now to be
turned so as to bring the induction opposite the passage m, and the eduction
opening o opposite the bent end of the passage k, when the compressed air
exerting its force on the opposite side of the piston drives it the reverse way,
the air which has been exerting its force in the engine, escaping through the
bent part of the passage k and eduction opening o to the atmosphere in the
direction of the arrows 2. The motion being thus given to the engine is
communicated through a crank p on its axis, and the connecting rod q to the
crank r on the shaft of the pinion a, and the difference of radius between the
cranks and p is so calculated that one alternation of the crank p is equal to
one complete revolution of the crank r, and consequently the connecting rod
will bring the crank r into the position shewn in Figure 6, when the impetus
already given to the fly wheels on the pinion shaft will carry the crank r past
the centres, and thus maintain the rotatory motion of the pinion a. The
cock fis worked by an eccentric cam upon the shaft of the pinion a, connected
by a rod to the cock. The pinion a is to be thrown out of or into gear by
sliding it along the shaft and key by the lever t shewn in the Drawing.
Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13, are representations of rotatory engines adapted to
work cranes in this manner. a, a, are the induction pipes; b, b, two piston
leaves or hinge joints to each engine; c, c, are trip levers, which, as the engine
goes round, strike against the friction rollers d so as to throw them up into the
position shewn in the Drawings, when the expansive force of the compressed
air carries them round until they pass the eduction pipes e, when the stop
piece f causes them each successively to close as they pass under it to come
into that situation where each respectively is thrown up again by the trip lever
and friction roller, and the motive power of these engines may be communi-
cated direct to the pinion shaft or crank shaft of any description of cranes.
In Sheet 4, Figures 14 and 15 represent a mode of applying a common

page_text: vertical cylinder engine, with an alternating piston, to work that description of
cranes commonly called quay cranes by the operation of compressed air
brought in any convenient manner from a distant reservoir, and allowed to
exert its expansive force on and under the piston, the induction and eduction
being conducted and regulated by any kind of valves, cocks, or slides now in
use in common steam engines. a is the induction pipe fitted on a stationary
jacket surrounding the lower part of the crane, but allowing it to turn freely in
an air-tight packing, whence the air proceeds up a passage through the lower
part of the crane into the valve box 6 attached to the cylinder c, with the
piston and piston rod d working on a paralel motion; e is the connecting rod
to a crank f on the shaft of the driving pinion, the other parts of the crane
being similar to those already described.
I now claim as my Invention of certain improvements in the construction
of cranes,
First, the combination of the mechanical powers of the crank, the lever,
and the wedge acting in conjunction with friction rollers in the manner above
described, for the purpose of raising or lowering heavy bodies, or for any
purposes to which cranes are applicable. And,
Secondly, I claim as my Invention the improved construction of machinery
which is herein specified to work cranes of any description, such machinery
being impelled and put in motion by the expansive power or force of compressed
atmospheric air in the manner therein described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth
day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred