IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO THE CAGES OF COLLIERY AND OTHER HOISTS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wolstenholme, of Radcliffe Bridge, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, and John Woodward, of the same Place, Colliery Engineer,
for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO THE CAGES OF
COLLIERY AND OTHER HOISTS."
Sealed the 18th January 1878, and dated the 25th July 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wolstenholme and John
Woodward at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th July
1877.
JOHN WOLSTENHOLME, of Radcliffe Bridge, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
and JOHN WOODWARD, of the same Place, Colliery Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND APPLICABLE TO THE CAGES OF COLLIERY AND OTHER HOISTS."
Our Invention consists in an improved apparatus for arresting the descent of the
cage when the lifting rope breaks, and it is applicable to those hoists in which wire
ropes are used as conductors instead of the ordinary wood guides.
Our improved apparatus consists of a pair of steel grips with teeth fitting in boxes
on each side of the wire guide ropes; these grips are hinged to links connected
below to levers fixed on short shafts passing through the ends of the cage; to these
shafts are also fixed levers connected to the side bolts to which the lifting rope is
connected.
When the cage is suspended to the lifting rope the side bolts and levers draw the
grips asunder and clear of the wire guide ropes; but when the lifting rope breaks,
the side bolts drop by their own gravity, and the grips are instantly bound against
the wire guide ropes by springs acting on the levers above referred to.
Our Invention is applicable to colliery hoists and to other hoists in which a
inovable cage with wire conductors is used."

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Wolstenholme and John Woodward in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th January 1878.
JOHN WOLSTENHOLME, of Radcliffe Bridge, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
and JOHN WOODWARD, of the same Place, Colliery Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND APPLICABLE TO THE CAGES OF COLLIERY AND OTHER HOISTS."
Our Invention consists in an improved apparatus for arresting the descent of the
cage when the lifting rope breaks, and it is applicable to those hoists in which wire
ropes or rods are used as conductors instead of the ordinary wood guides.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying. Sheet of Drawings.
Fig. 1 is an end elevation; Fig. 2, a plan; and Figs. 3 and 4 are side elevations
partly in section of a colliery cage to which our improvements are applied.
a is the body of the enge which is constructed in the ordinary manner, and b, b, are
the usual wire guide ropes or rods; at each end of the cage are two guide blocks,
the upper ones are marked c, c, and the lower ones d, d. The upper blocks c, c, have
conical or taper recesses, each containing a pair of steel grips e, e, which are provided
with internal teeth to bind against the wire guide ropes or rods; the grips are made
with V projections fitting in V grooves in the blocks c, c, and they are connected by
links to the levers g, g, which are keyed on the short shafts h, h; these shafts are
supported in bushes fixed to the ends of the cage, and to them are also keyed the
levers i, i; these levers are jointed to the side bolts j, j, which are placed in each
corner of the cage, and which are united together in pairs by the cross bars k, k,
and altogether by the diagonal stays 1, 1, similar to those employed in ordinary
cages.
When the cage is suspended to the lifting rope by a hook taking into the ring at
the top of the stays 1, 1, the weight of the cage causes the levers g and i to assume
the positions indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, thereby drawing the gripse, e,
partly out of the blocks c, c, and causing them to open out clear of the guide ropes,
as shewn in Fig. 4; but when the lifting rope breaks the side bolts j, j, drop by their
own gravity, and the grips e, e, are instantly bound against the guide ropes or rods,
as shewn in Figs. 1 and 3.
g or i.
The action of the grips may be accelerated by springs acting on the levers
By this means the descent of the cage is stopped almost instantaneously on the
breakage of the rope to which it is suspended.
Our Invention is applicable to colliery hoists and to other hoists in which a
movable cage with wire or metal conductors is used.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention and described the manner of
performing the same, we declare that we claim, the improved combination of
machinery shewn and described for arresting the descent of the cage when the lifting
rope breaks, and particularly the grips marked e.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wolstenholme, for myself and on behalf of
the said John Woodward, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
second day of January, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.