Improvements in Hauling or Transmitting Gear for Underground and other Purposes.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 17th June, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 9th Mar., 1894-Accepted, 14th Apr., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hauling or Transmitting Gear for Underground
and other Purposes.
We, JOHN SCARISBRICK WALKER, THOMAS ASCROFT WALKER and EDWIN
ROBERT WALKER, all of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In the transmission of power, more especially for surface and underground rope
or cable haulage, it frequently happens that several circuits or roads are worked
from one centre. Hitherto the custom has been to place all the rope drums upon
one shaft which is driven by the necessary gearing from an engine, a primary belt
or other power. Each drum on this working shaft is supplied with a clutch
mechanism which is required to be very powerful and strong owing to the great
leverage. Further, if an accident happens to the gearing, the entire shaft with
the drums or pulleys is disorganised.
Now our invention is designed to lessen the cost and size of the clutch
mechanism and also to decrease the liability to stoppage through accident..
Instead of placing all the drums on the one shaft, we divide the shaft up into as
many different pieces as there are drums, and connect each independently by spur
gearing with a counter shaft, and in some instances divide up the counter shaft
into a similar number of pieces, each geared, independently to the primary shaft,
or it may be divided up into two or more shafts each driving one, two or more
pulleys or drums. On this secondary. shaft or shafts, we place the clutches, and
by this means, owing to the greater speed and smaller leverage, a much smaller
clutch can be used with safety; furthermore, if any gearing gives way, only those
drums driven by that gearing are affected, instead of the entire range as in the
plan hitherto used. Lastly, while in the present plan, the only method of varying
the relative speed of the belts or hauling ropes or chains is by increasing the size
of the drums, by our new arrangement we can design the gearing of each drum
independently so as to acquire difference of speed even if all the drums were the
same size, and thus we avoid the necessity of having abnormally large drums for
quick speed, or abnormally small drums for very slow speeds, when these both are
required to be driven from the same centre.
Dated this 16th day of June 1893.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hauling or Transmitting Gear for Underground
and other Purposes.
We, JOHN SCARISBRICK WALKER THOMAS ASCROFT WALKER and EDWIN
ROBERT WALKER all of Wigan in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical
Engineers, 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 :-
In the transmission of power, more especially for surface and underground rope
or cable haulage, it frequently happens that several circuits or roads are worked

page_text: from one centre.
Hitherto the custom has been to place all the rope drums upon
one shaft which is driven by the necessary gearing from an engine, a primary belt
or other power. Each drum on this working shaft is supplied with a clutch
mechanism which is required to be very powerful and strong owing to the great
leverage. Further, if an accident happens to the gearing, the entire shaft with
the drums or pulleys is disorganised.
Now our invention is designed to lessen the cost and size of the clutch
mechanism and also to decrease the liability to stoppage through accident.
Instead of placing all the drums on the one shaft, we divide the shaft up into as
many different pieces as there are drums, and connect each independently by spur
gearing with a counter shaft, and in some instances divide up the counter shaft into
a similar number of pieces, each geared independently to the primary shaft, or it
may be divided up into two or more shafts, each driving one, two or more pulleys
or drums. On this secondary shaft or shafts, we place the clutches, and by this
means, owing to the greater speed and smaller leverage, a much smaller clutch can
be used with safety: furthermore, if any gearing gives way, only those drums
driven by that gearing are affected, instead of the entire range as in the plan
hitherto used. Lastly, while, in the present plan, the only method of varying the
relative speed of the belts or hauling ropes or chains is by increasing the size of
the drums, by our new arrangement we can design the gearing of each drum
independently so as to acquire difference of speed even if all the drums were the
same size, and thus we avoid the necessity of having abnormally large drums for
quick speed, or abnormally small drums for very slow speeds, when these both are
required to be driven from the same centre.
The invention is best described by aid of the accompanying drawings, in
which―
Figure 1 shows a simple arrangement with two hauling pulleys.
Figure 2 illustrates an arrangement with four hauling pulleys, of which,
however, only two are shown in the drawings.
In these:-
A, is the crank shaft: B B, pinions thereon: CC, spur wheels: D, second
motion shaft: E E, clutch motion thereon: F, pinion working into spur wheel G
on the third motion shaft: H, hauling pulley: I, brake ring.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner-the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The improvement in hauling or transmitting gear for underground and other
purposes which consists in forming two or more drum shafts, preferably one for
each drum; and gearing these shafts each independently with its countershaft,
geared in turn with the primary shaft and upon which countershaft the clutch
gearing is placed, whereby much lighter clutch gearing can be used and greater
freedom in designing the gear can be obtained.
2. In hauling or transmitting gear such as described, the combination of a source
of power, a main shaft driven by that power, two or more secondary shafts driven
from that primary shaft and one, two or more countershafts driven from each of
the secondary shafts, with clutch gearing on the secondary shafts throwing in and
out each hauling or transmitting drum independently, substantially as described.
3. The general arrangement and construction of hauling and transmitting gear
for underground and other purposes substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated this 8th day of March 1894.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and London, Patent Agents.