IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CRANES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles James Appleby, of the Firm of Appleby,
Brothers, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London, Engineers, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CRANES."
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CRANES."
Sealed the 10th November 1865, and dated the 15th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles James Appleby
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th May 1865.
I, CHARLES JAMES APPLEBY, of the Firm of Appleby, Brothers, of Grace-
church Street, in the City of London, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CRANES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in an improved form and arrangement of gearing
for propelling steam and other cranes on railways or ordinary roads. The
radiating gear is generally and by preference as follows, viz., a worm on a
shaft (usually the crank shaft) gives motion to a worm wheel, on the under
side of which is a clutch box to take a friction clutch. This worm wheel is
carried in suitable bearings on the side frame or other part of the crane and
revolves (by the motion given by the worm above named) at right angles
with the frame of the crane. A vertical shaft with a pinion at the bottom
gears into a wheel which is fixed on the crane post and immediately above the
base plate, or into internal gear on the base plate itself. This pinion is at rest

page_text: excepting when the clutch is thrown into gear with the clutch box and worm
wheel, and the crane then radiates or revolves round the cranes post in the usual
In order to make the crane travel on its wheels I have a large
wheel with gear on its outer diameter, which is loose (not keyed) upon the
crane post, but the pinion gears into it and is worked in the manner above
described. On the under side of the large wheel last named I have bevil gear
and a pinion gears into it which is keyed on to a shaft. This shaft is carried
in suitable bearings below the base plate, and has a pinion on the other end
which gears into a wheel or wheels on the one or other of the axles which
carry the travelling wheels of the crane, or I have a second motion shaft as I
find most convenient, which drives the travelling wheels. In order to travel
the crane backwards or forwards in whatever position the jib may be
relatively with the travelling carriage I have a friction strap on the crane post
or any other convenient mode of fixing the crane jib in the position it is
required to be, and I then throw the friction clutch on the vertical shaft in
gear; this causes the large wheel to revolve on the crane post, and thus gives
motion to the gearing connected with it, and propels the whole machine
backward or forwards as may be desired, as more power is exerted in moving
the crane than in radiating or revolving it. When the friction strap or other
mode of fastening the crane in the position required is released the crane
radiates or revolves in the usual manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles James Appleby in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES,
JAMES APPLEBY, of the Firm of Appleby, Brothers, of Gracechurch, Street,
in the City of London, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters;
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles James Appleby, Her special licence that I, the said Charles James
Appleby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles James Appleby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all, times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might

page_text: make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for:
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CRANES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that 1, the said Charles James Appleby, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,.
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles James Appleby, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say :-
This Invention consists in an improved form and arrangement of gearing
for propelling steam and other cranes on railways or ordinary roads. The
radiating gear is generally and by preference as follows, videlicit, a worm on a
shaft (usually the crank shaft) gives motion to a worm wheel, on the under
side of which is a clutch box to take a friction clutch. This worm wheel is
carried in bearings on the side frame or other part of the crane and revolves
(by the motion given by the worm above named) at right angles with the
frame of the crane. A vertical shaft with a pinion at the bottom gears into a
wheel which is fixed on the crane post and immediately above the base plate,
or into internal gear on the base plate itself; this pinion is at rest excepting
when the clutch is thrown into gear with the clutch box and worm wheel, and
the crane then "radiates" or revolves round the crane post in the usual
In order to make the crane travel on its wheels I have a large
wheel with gear on its outer diameter, which is loose (not keyed) upon the
crane post, but the pinion gears into it and is worked in the manner above
described. On the under side of the large wheel last named I place bevil gear
and a pinion gears into it which is keyed on to a shaft. This shaft is carried
in bearings below the base plate, and has a pinion on the other end which
gears into a wheel or wheels on the one or other of the axles which carry the
travelling wheels of the crane, or I use a second motion shaft as I find most
convenient, which drives the travelling wheels. In order to travel the crane
backwards or forwards in whatever position the jib may be relatively with the
travelling carriage, I employ a friction strap on the crane post or adopt any
other convenient mode of fixing the crane jib in the position it is required to
be, and I then throw the friction clutch on the vertical shaft in gear; this
manner.

page_text: causes the large wheel to revolve on the crane post, and thus gives motion to
the gearing connected with it and propels the whole machine backwards or
forwards as may be desired, as more power is exerted in moving the crane
than in radiating or revolving it. When the friction strap or other mode of
fastening the crane in the position required is released the crane radiates or
revolves in the usual manner.
The accompanying Drawing represents a vertical section through the centre
of the crane shewing the improved radiating and moving machinery.
A is the crane post secured into B, the base, which is mounted on the
travelling wheels C; C; D, D, are break blocks; E is a friction block or
clutch; F is a double wheel with spur toothed gear on its periphery and
spur bevil gear on the under side; G is a bevilled pinion working into the
bevilled gear; H is a spur pinion working into the gear on the periphery of
the wheel F; I is a worm wheel rigid with the friction clutch E¹, and J is the
shaft from which the motive power is transmitted. The shaft J has a worm on
the end of it gearing into the worm wheel I; K is the vertical shaft upon
the lower end of which is keyed the pinion H, and at its upper end the male
part of the friction clutch E¹; L are the steam cylinders; M is the oblique
shaft carrying the bevilled pinion G and the mitre wheel N; P is the chain
barrel for raising and lowering the derrick jib by means of the mitre wheels
N2 and N³ and worm and wheel I'; Q is the lifting barrel set in motion by
the spur gear in connection with the shaft J.
The method of working is as follows:-When the attendant desires to
swing or radiate the crane round the axis A the lever a is raised, and by this
means the friction blocks or clutches E are taken out of contact with each other,
and by the same operation the break blocks D, D, are brought into contact
with the travelling wheels C, C, by means of the rod b and crank b', and the
crane is thus prevented from moving upon the rails. When the shaft J is put
in motion the worm wheel I together with the friction clutch E' are made to
revolve; on raising the lever c the vertical shaft K is put in motion and the spur
pinion gears with the wheel F and causes the crane to revolve on its axis.
When the attendant wishes to make the crane travel upon the rails the lever C
is depressed and the breaks D, D, are released from the wheels C, C, at the
same time as the grooved friction blocks (one of which is prevented from
turning on the column by a cotter d) are brought into contact with each
other, and the crane is thus prevented from revolving around the crane post
The wheel F which is not keyed upon the craue post being now free to revolve
when the shaft J and K are set in motion, it is evident that the wheel F will
revolve and that in its revolution motion will be imparted through the shaft M

page_text: to the mitre wheels N and N', and the crane will be thus travelled upon the
rails. This arrangement of working parts may be modified to suit circum-
stances.
And having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim" as my Improve-
ments in Steam Cranes,-
First, the means of obtaining a longitudinal travelling motion from the
same gear, which imparts a radiating or swinging motion, as herein-before
described.
And, second, constructing steam cranes combined and arranged substantially
in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles James Appleby, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
C. J. APPLEBY. (L.S.)