Year: 1885

page_text: We, WALTER CLAUDE JOHNSON, and SAMUEL EDMUND PHILLIPS, both of
N° 14 Union Court, Old Broad Street in the City of London, Telegraph Engineers
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
.
-
Our invention relates to apparatus for holding or gripping cables, more par-
ticularly applicable for gripping electric telegraph cables when they have been
raised from the bottom of the sea by grapnels, which apparatus we term "mechanical
cable stoppers."
For this purpose we so arrange two gripping cheeks in combination with wedges
or cam surfaces or connecting links, that on the cable being placed between the
cheeks, a pull exerted on the apparatus by the rope or chain connecting it to the
ship, will cause the wedges cams or links to act upon the cheeks so as to make
these grasp the cable firmly between them.
Various arrangements of the wedges, cams or links and cheeks may be employed
for producing this gripping action. Thus according to one arrangement the outer
surfaces of the cheeks are formed with inclines which bear against corresponding
inclines in a sleeve within which the cheeks are situated; and which has at its
upper end a shackle or eye to which the hauling rope is attached, so that on
introducing the cable between the cheeks (the sleeve being open on one side to
admit of this introduction) and bringing the cheeks in contact therewith by pushing
them slightly down in the sleeve, the drag which will then be exerted by the cable
upon the cheeks will cause them to be drawn downwards upon the inclines of the
sleeve which will consequently force them tightly against the cable so as to hold it
effectually while it is being cut and hauled on board.
The cheeks being loose in the sleeve, they are by preference held in position at
the required distance apart therein before introducing the cable, by means of pins
of soft metal fitting in holes in the cheeks and the sleeve. On the introduction of
the cable, a slight blow or pull upon the cheeks will effect the shearing of these
pins and render the cheeks loose. The cheeks may be provided with lateral
projections at their lower ends by means of which the operator may exert the
pressure of his feet upon them for the above purpose. The cheeks have by preference
inclined grooves formed in their back faces into which enter studs on the back face
of the sleeves, so as to act as guides, and they may also be connected together by a
link pivotted to each cheek and arranged in a very oblique position, so as not to
interfere with their gripping action.

page_text: According to another modification the cheeks may be hinged to each other at the
back and have tails or projections between which fits a wedge or double incline on
the sleeve so that on the cheeks being made to slide in the sleeve as described their
tails will be forced apart by the wedge, thus causing the cheeks to turn on their
hinge as a fulcrum and to grip the rope placed between them.
According to another modification the sleeve may have eccentric or cam-shaped
rollers or segments pivotted thereto against which the outer surfaces of the cheeks
are made to bear, so that when the cheeks are slid longitudinally in the sleeve, the
rollers or segments in turning on their pivots will force the cheeks inwards against
the cable.
Or the shackle to which the hauling rope is attached. may be connected to sliding
toothed racks in the sleeve, gearing with teeth on the cams or eccentric rollers, or
they may be connected by rods to arms on the axes of the cams or rollers so that
by the drag of the cable between the cheeks, the cams or rollers will be forcibly
turned by the hauling rope.
According to another modification we connect the two gripping cheeks together
by two sets of pivotted links in a similar manner to the arrangement of the bars
of a parallel ruler, the one cheek being connected by a shackle to a hauling rope
on board ship, so that on the cable that requires to be held being inserted between
the two cheeks and bringing these in contact therewith, the drag of the cable upon
the free cheek will cause this to approach the suspended cheek by reason of the
linked connection between the two, and thereby to grip the cable firmly between
them. The cheeks are by preference connected by links on each side thereof so
that the cable is enclosed between the two sets of links; in this case the links on
the one side either require to be taken off their pivots on the cheeks in order to
introduce the cable, or the one eye of each link may be formed to open on a hinge
or be formed as a hook, so as to be freed from its pivot by turning upon its connec-
tion to the other cheek, the hinge or hook being held closed by a suitable catch
or pin.
It will be evident that in all the above described arrangements instead of having
both cheeks moveable in the sleeve only one of them may be actuated by wedges,
cams or eccentrics as described, the other cheek being fixed in or formed on the
sleeve in which case the cable would have to slip on the latter until firmly gripped
by the moveable cheek.

page_text: We, WALTER CLAUDE JOHNSON, and SAMUEL EDMUND PHILLIPS, both of
No 14 Union Court, Old Broad Street in the City of London, Telegraph Engineers,
do hereby declare the nature of our invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
Our invention relates to apparatus for holding or gripping cables, more par-
ticularly applicable for gripping electric telegraph cables when they have been
raised from the bottom of the sea by grapnels, which apparatus we term "Mechanical
cable stoppers."
For this purpose we construct a stopper as we will describe referring to the
accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 being a front view partly in section, Fig. 2 a
vertical section and Fig. 3 a plan partly in section.
The
AA are two gripping cheeks which are sloped on their outer faces to an increased
width at the top. These cheeks are fitted between two correspondingly sloped
projecting flanges B B of a frame which is suspended by a shackle C.
cheeks A A have outward bends a a which form stops preventing the cheeks
moving upwards relatively to the frame B. The cheeks A. A are also connected
together by a link D which is jointed to both of them at points far apart so as to
allow them to approach each other without materially affecting their longitudinal
movement. Screws E project from the back of the frame into a recess in each of
the cheeks, and operate against the shoulder of the recess as guides maintaining the
cheeks in contact with the flanges B. When the cheeks are in the position shewn
in the drawing they are held so by a pin of soft or weak metal F. The cable
being then engaged between the cheeks A A causes a drag of them by which the
pin F is bent or broken and then the cheeks move longitudinally relatively to the
frame and so become wedged against the cable tightly gripping it.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
The construction and use of a mechanical cable copper wherein two wedge
cheeks, mounted free to slide longitudinally between sloped flanges of a frame, are
caused by the drag of a cable engaged between them to grip it tightly, substantially
as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings
1.
2
1
1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant,