IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR LOWERING WEIGHTS."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wrightson, of the Teesdale Iron Works,
Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of Durham, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR LOWERING WEIGHTS."
66 IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LOWERING WEIGHTS."
Sealed the 6th December 1870, and dated the 24th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wrightson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th June 1870.
I, THOMAS WRIGHTSON, of the Teesdale Iron Works, Stockton-on-
5 Tees, in the County of Durham, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LOWERING WEIGHTS”.
-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
lowering weights, and the improvements relate chiefly to apparatus
- for lowering the charges into blast furnaces.

page_text: For lowering the charges into blast furnaces I employ an ordinary
bell and hopper at the top of the blast furnace, such as is now commonly
employed. The bell is attached to one end of a lever, the weight of the
bell is balanced by a heavy weight at the other end of a lever, the
movements of which are slightly in excess of those of the bell when
empty, so as to keep it always shut when the charge is put into the
hopper and rests on the bell; the bell would descend, but it is held by a
locking apparatus at the other end.
The means I adopt for governing the lowering of the charge is as
follows-The lever so coupled with a piston working in a small
hydraulic cylinder in such manner that the piston must rise in the
cylinder to allow the bell to descend, and this is regulated by opening'
a valve in a pipe or passage leading from one end of the cylinder to
the other, so as to allow water to pass from the top to the bottom of the
piston at any required speed according as the valve is more or less
opened.
In some cases a lump of material larger than the others gets wedged
in so that the bell will not close. To remedy this I apply on one side
of the cylinder a small hand pump, the barrel of which is open to the
top and bottom of the cylinder, the plunger of the pump is fitted at
the bottom with an india-rubber flap or other kind of clack valve; by
moving this plunger up and down a few times the water is drawn from
the top into the bottom of the cylinder, thus forcing up the piston and
lowering the bell to any required extent. When this pump is not being
worked the passage of water through the pump barrel is stopped by the
closing of a valve. A flat valve or clack may be placed between the
under side of the pump piston and the bottom of the cylinder to prevent
the water coming back during the stroke of the pump. Where the
bell is quite closed the locking apparatus prevents it moving when the
charge is being thrown on. The apparatus may be worked with oil or
water.
Where sufficient pressure of water can be obtained I dispense with
the side pump and use a valve of such a form that the pressure can be
admitted to the under side of the piston, thus lowering the bell.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Wrightson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WRIGHTSON, of the Teesdale Iron Works, Stockton-on-Tees, in the
County of Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Wrightson, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Wrightson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Wrightson, 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 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 APPARATUS
FOR LOWERING WEIGHTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Thomas Wrightson, 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 Thomas Wrightson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
lowering weights, and the improvements relate chiefly to apparatus for
lowering the charges into blast furnaces.
For lowering the charges into blast furnaces I employ an ordinary
bell and hopper at the top of the blast furnace, such as is now com-'
monly employed. The bell is attached to one end of a lever, the weight

page_text: of the bell is balanced by a heavy weight at the other end of the lever,
the moments of which are slightly in excess of those of the bell when
empty, so as to keep it always shut when the charge is put into the
hopper and rests on the bell the bell would descend but it is held by
a locking apparatus at the other end.
The means I adopt for governing the lowering of the charge is as
follows: The lever is coupled with a piston working in a small hydraulic
cylinder in such manner that the piston must rise in the cylinder
to allow the bell to descend, and this is regulated by opening a valve
in a pipe or passage leading from one end of the cylinder to the other,
so as to allow water to pass from the top to the bottom of the piston
at any required speed according as the valve is more or less opened..
In some cases a lump of material larger than the others gets wedged
in so that the bell will not close. To remedy this I apply on one side
of the cylinder a small hand pump, the barrel of which is open to the
top and bottom of the cylinder, the plunger of the pump is fitted at
the bottom with an india-rubber flap or other kind of clack valve; by
moving this plunger up and down a few times the water is drawn from
the top into the bottom of the cylinder, thus forcing up the piston and
lowering the bell to any required extent. When this pump is not being
worked the passage of water through the pump barrel is stopped by the
closing of a valve. A flap valve or clack may be placed between the
under side of the pump piston and the bottom of the cylinder to prevent
the water coming back during the stroke of the pump. When the bell
is quite closed the locking apparatus prevents it moving when the charge
is being thrown on. The apparatus may be worked with oil or water.
Where sufficient pressure of water can be obtained I dispense with the
side pump and use a valve of such a form that the pressure can be
admitted to the under side of the piston, thus lowering the bell.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shown apparatus, such as
is above described, for lowering charges into a blast furnace. Figure 1
shows a side elevation of the apparatus partly in section. Figure 2
shows on a larger scale a vertical section of the hydraulic cylinder.

page_text: Figure 3 shows a side elevation partly in section, and Figure 4 a plan
view of the same. A is the hopper at the top of the blast furnace; B, the
bell for closing the same; this bell is suspended from one end of a lever
beam C turning on a fulcrum at C¹; at the opposite end of the lever is
a weight C² to overbalance the weight of the bell. To this end of the
lever is also jointed a rod D by which the lever C can be locked and
the bell thus retained from descending when the charge is put into the
hopper, this rod can be lengthened or shortened by the screw coupling E.
On the rod D is an arm D¹ which by turning the rod by the arm D*
upon it can be brought under a fixed stop F as shewn at Figure 1. The
end of the lever has also jointed to it the upper end of the piston rod G,
the piston on which works in the hydraulic cylinder H; this cylinder is
supported on trunnions as shewn. H₁ is a pipe or passage connecting the
top and bottom of the cylinder, in this pipe or passage is a regulating
tap K, by opening which more or less the flow of liquid from one end of
the cylinder to the other can be governed. L is the barrel of a small
hand pump, the upper end of which is connected by the passage L' with
the top of the cylinder H, whilst the lower end of the pump barrel is
connected by the pipe L' with the bottom of the cylinder; in this pipe
is a stop valve M by which the passage of liquid from one end of the
cylinder to the other can be entirely closed when the pump is not in use.
N is a valve for preventing liquid passing from the bottom of the cylinder
into the pipe L³. O is a small supply tank for containing a supply of
liquid to replace any leakage which may take place. P is a valve which
can be opened and closed by the screw P¹ to open or close the commu-
nication between the cylinder and supply tank. The action of the
apparatus is as follows:-When the bell B is closing the bottom of the
hopper A the piston G' is at the bottom of its stroke in the cylinder H,
and the beam is retained by the locking rod D as before explained.
When a charge has been placed into the hopper the rod D is turned to
release the lever beam and the bell then descends, its descent being con-
trolled by the degree to which the regulating valve K is opened; when
the charge has descended from the hopper into the blast furnace the
lever is brought back by the counterbalance weight upon it, and the
bell is caused to again close the bottom of the hopper. If, as in some
cases happens, a lump of material gets wedged in between the bell and
the hopper, so that the bell cannot close, the regulating tap K is closed,
the valvo M opened, and the plunger of the pump barrel is worked to
and fro by the pump handle Q, and liquid is drawn from the top and

page_text: forced into the bottom of the cylinder, thus forcing up the piston G³,
and lowering the bell to any required extent. When the obstruction
has been removed the regulating tap K is again opened, and the bell is
so allowed to rise, and when it closes the bottom of the hopper it is
again locked as before explained. As before stated the side pump L
may be dispensed with in cases where a continuous supply of water
under sufficient pressure for raising the piston G¹ can be obtained, in
this case a valve for controlling the admission of water under pressure
to the bottom of the hydraulic cylinder is employed in place of the
pump, and a small tap for permitting the exhaust water from the top of
the cylinder to escape. A similar arrangement of lowering apparatus
to that herein-before described may be employed for lowering waggons
in blast furnace plants, and for lowering other weights.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner
of performing the same I would have it understood that what I claim
is, the combined arrangement of apparatus substantially as herein
described for lowering charges into blast furnaces, and for lowering
other weights.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wrightson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of December One
thousand eight hundred and seventy..