Improvements in Apparatus for Operating Railway Wagons upon Inclines.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 28th July, 1887
Complete Left, 14th Apr., 1888
Complete Accepted, 18th May, 1888
Improvements in Apparatus for Operating Railway Wagons upon
Inclines.
I, THOMAS BUCK, Junior, of 169 Newmarket Road, Cambridge, in the county of
Cambridge, Smith and Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be.
as follows:
My invention relates to apparatus for hauling railway wagons up an incline; for
automatically tipping the same at the top of such incline in order to dump or discharge
their contents; and for lowering the said wagons down the said incline after their
contents have been so discharged.
My improved apparatus comprises suitable winding mechanism which is mounted
upon a frame and operated by any desirable means.
The hauling rope or chain passes from the drum over a pulley placed in such
proximity to the inclined plane that the said rope can be suitably attached to the
wagon or car.
Motion is communicated to the winding drum for winding the rope or chain
through the medium of a clutch, one portion of which is connected with a lever
adapted to be operated upon by a bar or projection secured to the wagon, so that
when the said bar or projection, during the hauling of the wagon up the incline,
strikes the said lever the two parts of the clutch will be disconnected and so cease
to impart motion to the drum.
The clutch shaft is driven from a counter-shaft through the medium of gearing
so that the two shafts rotate in opposite directions. Each of the said shafts also
carries a chain-wheel over which a chain passes the chain-wheel upon the counter
shaft is fixed while that upon the clutch-shaft is free to turn thereon. The latter
chain-wheel is provided with ratchet teeth with which a pawl on the drum is adapted
to engage.
Directly the two parts of the clutch are released as hereinbefore described, the
weight of the wagon tends to unwind the rope from the drum, the said pawl, however,
then enters into engagement with the ratchet teeth of the chain-wheel, so that the
drum is only allowed to unwind according to the speed of the counter-shaft. During
the winding of the drum by the clutch the said pawl slides over the ratchet teeth.

page_text: The tipping of a wagon when it reaches the top of the incline is effected through
the medium of a balanced frame. When the loaded wagon passes over a certain
point in this frame it counterbalances the balance weight, so that under the continued
action of the hauling rope the wagon is tipped. The tipping motion is stopped by
the impingement of the said bar or projection against the lever as hereinbefore
described. As soon as the contents of the wagon are discharged the counterweight
returns the balanced frame to its normal position, so that the wagon is free to descend
the incline in the manner set forth.
G. F. REDFERN,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: .
I, THOMAS BUCK, Junior, of 169, Newmarket Road, Cambridge, in the County of
Cambridge, Smith and Machinist, 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 :-
My invention relates to apparatus for hauling railway wagons up an incline; for
automatically tipping the same at the top of such incline in order to dump or discharge
their contents; and for lowering the said wagons down the said incline after their
contents have been so discharged.
My improved apparatus comprises suitable winding mechanism, which is mounted
upon a frame and operated by any desirable means.
The hauling rope or chain passes from the drum over a pulley placed in such
proximity to the inclined plane that the said rope can be suitably attached to the
wagon or car.
Motion is communicated to the winding drum for winding the rope or chain through
the medium of a clutch, one portion of which is connected with a lever adapted to be
operated upon by a bar or projection secured to the wagon, so that when the said bar
or projection, during the hauling of the wagon up the incline, strikes the said lever
the two parts of the clutch will be disconnected and so cease to impart motion to the
drum.
The clutch shaft is driven from a counter-shaft through the medium of gearing, so
that the two shafts rotate in opposite directions. Each of the said shafts also carries
a chain-wheel over which a chain passes. The chain-wheel upon the counter-shaft is
fixed, while that upon the clutch shaft is free to turn thereon. The latter chain
wheel is provided with ratchet-teeth with which a pawl on the drum is adapted to
engage.
Directly the two parts of the clutch are released, as hereinbefore described, the
weight of the wagon tends to unwind the rope from the drum. The said pawl,
however, then enters into engagement with the ratchet-teeth of the chain-wheel, so
that the drum is only allowed to unwind according to the speed of the counter-shaft.
During the winding of the drum by the clutch the said pawl slides over the ratchet-
teeth.
The tipping of a wagon when it reaches the top of the incline is effected through
the medium of a balanced frame. When the loaded wagon passes over a certain point
in this frame it counterbalances the balance weight, so that under the continued
action of the hauling rope the wagon is tipped. The tipping motion is stopped by
the impingement of the said bar or projection against the lever as herein before

page_text: described. As soon as the contents of the wagon are discharged the counter-weight
returns the balanced frame to its normal position, so that the wagon is free to descend
the incline in the manner setforth.
To enable my invention to be clearly understood I will describe the same with
reference to the accompanying drawing, in which
Figure 1 is an elevation showing the general arrangement of my improved
apparatus, and
Figure 2 is a plan of the same.
a indicates an incline and a wagon adapted to run upon the same and to discharge
its contents over the upper end thereof.
c is the hauling rope or chain which is at one end attached to the wagon, and at
the other end to the drum d of the winding mechanism which is carried upon the
frame e.
fis the shaft upon which the drum d is keyed; and g is the counter-shaft, which
is driven by any suitable means from an engine or other motor, say, through the
medium of the pulley h. The motion of the counter shaft g is communicated to
the drum-shaft through the gear-wheels i,, the latter being upon the shaft f
and adapted to rotate thereon.
j is a sliding clutch sliding upon the shaft f by means of a spline joint, and
adapted to engage with the boss of the wheel when it is desired to communicate
the movement of the latter to the shaft.
kis a lever which is pivotted near the upper end of the incline a and connected by
a rod to one end of a lever 1, the other end of which enters a groove in the clutch j,
so that the movement of the lever k upon its pivot will correspondingly move the
said clutch.
m is a stud or projection upon the wagon, which stud is adapted to impinge
against and operate the lever when the wagon reaches a certain point on the
incline.
n is the balanced platform which is located at the upper end of the incline and onto
which the wagon is designed to run, the said platform being pivotted at o and having
the counter weight p.
9, 9, are two chain or sprocket wheels which are mounted upon the shafts and g
respectively, the former being free to rotate upon its shaft, while the latter is keyed to
its shaft. The two wheels q, q¹ are connected by a chain r.
s is a series of ratchet-teeth formed integral with the sprocket-wheel q and adapted
to work in conjunction with a pawl t on the drum d.
It will be understood that when in operation the two shafts ƒ and g move in
opposite directions so that the sprocket wheel with its ratchet teeth also moves in
a reverse direction to the shaft f, the pawl t then sliding over the ratchet teeth.
The operation of my improved apparatus is as follows, that is to say :-
Suppose motion to be communicated to the winding mechanism (the clutch being
in engagement with the wheel i¹ and the lever k-in the position shown in figure 1)
so that the rope c is wound upon the drum to draw the wagon bup the incline a.
As soon as the wagon has passed onto the balanced frame the latter, owing to the
weight upon it, assumes the position indicated by the dot and dash line figure 1;
and as the winding of the rope continues the wagon is tipped, as shown, the stud m
at the same time bearing against the lever k and moving it to the position indicated
by dotted lines in figure 1, so that the clutch is disengaged from the wheel ¹, the
latter being then free to rotate without imparting motion to the shaft f. The weight
of the wagon b upon the drum now has a tendency to rotate the drum and shaft g
in a reverse direction to that in which it previously moved; this backward rotation
of the drum, however, causes the pawl t to engage with the ratchet teeth so that
the said drum is allowed to unwind the rope and lower the wagon down the incline at
a speed corresponding to the speed of rotation of the wheel
The lever kis moved either by hand or automatically to the position shown in full
lines after the wagon has reached the bottom of the incline, the operation hereinbefore
described being then repeated.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. In apparatus for operating railway wagons upon an incline, the employment of
a lever pivoted in such a position as to be moved by the contact of a pin or stud upon
the wagon during the upward motion of the latter, the said lever being connected
with clutch mechanism in such a manner that when moved a certain distance the
winding drum will be disconnected from the driving mechanism, substantially as
described.
2. In apparatus for operating railway wagons upon an incline, the employment of
a balanced platform, at the upper end of such incline, in combination with automatic
clutch mechanism, substantially as described.
3. In apparatus for operating railway wagons upon inclines, the combination with
the winding mechanism of two sprocket wheels connected by a chain or its equivalent
one of the said sprocket wheels being on a counter shaft and the other on the drum
shaft and having ratchet teeth with which a pawl on the drum engages, all the said
parts being arranged to operate substantially as described.
4. The improved apparatus consisting of the parts constructed and combined
substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing,
and operating as, and for the purposes, setforth.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury London,
Agents for the Applicant.