IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING. MEANS OF HOLDING AND RELEASING ROPES OR CHAINS, APPLICABLE TO PULLEY BLOCKS AND OTHER USES
Year: 1876

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Henry Williams, of Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING.
MEANS OF HOLDING AND RELEASING ROPES OR CHAINS, APPLICABLE TO PULLEY
BLOCKS AND OTHER USES."
Sealed the 14th October 1876, and dated the 27th April 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Henry Williams at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th April 1876.
THOMAS HENRY WILLIAMS, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING MEANS OF HOLDING AND RELEASING ROPES OR
CHAINS, APPLICABLE TO PULLEY BLOCKS AND OTHER USES."
My Invention has for its object the adaptation and application to rope or chain
pulley blocks and other uses of mechanism or apparatus by means of which ropes
or chains may be grasped and released as required, in order to facilitate the raising
and lowering of weights or heavy bodies, or of suspending the same at any required
height with safety.
When applied to a rope pulley, block this mechanism or apparatus is capable
of grasping and holding the rope without bringing any strain on the pin of
the sheave by pressing the rope against the sheave in the manner hitherto
employed.
And my Invention consists in the combination of a box or socket internally
wedge formed, with a clip or clutch for the hauling rope, capable of sliding in the
wedge-formed groove, and of expanding and contracting laterally therein, so as
to grasp or release the hauling rope, as required. The said clutch is or may
be formed in two parts, the outsides of which are inclined so as to correspond with
the wedge-formed aperture in the box or socket, and the insides thereof form an
aperture through which the hauling rope passes, or in which it is held firmly,
acccording to whether the clutch is at the larger or smaller end of the aperture in
the box or socket.
The two parts or members of the clutch are united, as required, by means of a
tenon in the one part fitting into a mortice in the other part, by which means the

page_text: two parts are capable of separating laterally, so as to enlarge the aperture formed
by their respective interiors, but not longitudinally. One part or member of the
clutch is provided with lugs or projections, one of which is intended to act as a stop
for preventing the clutch from passing out of the box or socket when it has relaxed
its hold on the hauling rope or chain, and the other is intended to retain the clutch
in the largest part of the aperture, so as to prevent it from being carried forward
by the friction of the hauling rope or chain when the weight or heavy body is
required to be lowered, which lowering of the weight or heavy body is performed
by holding the hauling rope or chain either to the right or left, or otherwise causing
it to deviate from its natural position.
When the said box or socket is applied to a pulley block (whether simple or
compound) it is or may be suspended by means of arms or links from a pin at the
upper part of the block, which arrangement will admit of the hauling rope or chain
being pulled at any required angle, the box or socket when thus suspended being
free to turn on the pin as a centre of motion.
The construction of the clutch for the purpose of holding and releasing the rope
or chain in the manner stated may be varied by its having projecting wedge-formed
pieces applied on each side, or otherwise.
The above described combination of a frame, box, or socket with a clutch for
the hauling rope may also be adapted and applied to other uses in which it may
be required to make provision for holding and releasing hauling ropes and
chains.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Henry Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
October 1876.
THOMAS HENRY WILLIAMS, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-ACTING MEANS OF HOLDING AND RELEASING ROPES OR
CHAINS, APPLICABLE TO PULLEY BLOCKS AND OTHER USES."
•
My Invention of "Improvements in Self-acting Means of Holding and Releasing
Ropes or Chains, Applicable to Pulley Blocks and other Uses," has for its object the
adaptation and application to rope or chain pulley blocks and other uses of
mechanism or apparatus by means of which ropes or chains may be grasped and
released as required, in order to facilitate the raising and lowering of weights or
heavy bodies, or of suspending the same at any required height with safety.
When applied to a rope pulley block this mechanism or apparatus is capable of
grasping and holding the rope without bringing additional strain on the pin of the
sheave by pressing the rope against the sheave in the manner hitherto employed.
And my Invention consists in the combination of a box or socket internally
wedge formed, with a clip or clutch for the hauling rope capable of sliding in the
wedge-formed groove, and of expanding and contracting laterally therein, so as to
grasp or release the hauling rope or chain as required. The said clutch is or may
be formed in two parts, the outsides of which are inclined so as to correspond with
the wedge-formed aperture in the box or socket, and the insides thereof form an
aperture through which the hauling rope passes, or in which it is held firmly,
according to whether the clutch is at the larger or smaller end of the aperture in
the box or socket.
The two parts or members of the clutch are united as required by means of tenons
in the one part fitting into mortices corresponding in the other part, by which
means the two parts are capable of separating laterally, so as to enlarge the aperture
formed by their respective interiors, but not longitudinally. The clutch is prevented
from passing out of the box or socket when it has relaxed its hold on the hauling
rope or chain by coming in contact with a flange at the bottom of the box or socket,

page_text: and the clutch is retained (by means of lugs on one of its parts or members) in the
largest part of the wedge-formed aperture in the box or socket, so as to prevent it
from being carried forward by the friction of the hauling rope or chain when the
weight or heavy body is required to be lowered, which lowering of the weight or
heavy body is performed by holding the hauling rope or chain either to the right or
left, or otherwise causing it to deviate from its natural position.
When the said box or socket is applied to a pulley block (whether single or
compound) it is or may be suspended by means of arms or links from a pin at the
upper part of the block, which arrangement will admit of the hauling rope or chain
being pulled at any required angle, the box or socket when thus suspended being
free to turn on a pin as a centre of motion.
The construction of the clutch for the purpose of holding and releasing the rope
or chain in the manner stated inay be varied by its having projecting wedge-formed
pieces applied on each side or otherwise.
The above described combination of a frame, box, or socket with a clutch for the
hauling rope may also be adapted and applied to other uses in which it may be
required to make provision for holding and releasing hauling ropes and chains.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention I will proceed to describe
more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings, in which is represented a pulley block with the mechanism
or apparatus above referred to.
same.
Fig. 3 shows the box or socket in section with the clip or clutch therein; Fig. 4
is an underneath plan or horizontal view of the same.
Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 represent a clip or clutch for a chain pulley block.
In these several Figures the same letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts.
A, A, are the two sides or cheeks of the block; B is the box or socket which is
suspended from the pin C by means of the arms or links D, D, on which pin it is
free to turn as a centre of motion. This box or socket will be seen from Fig. 3 to
be internally wedge formed, and to contain within it, the correspondingly formed
clip or clutch E composed of the two parts or members E' and E, which is shown
in the Figure at the smaller part of the aperture of the box or socket, where the
parts El and E are brought closer and made to nip the hauling rope. The part El
of the clutch has formed in each side of it a groove or mortice to receive a tenon
formed on each side of the part E2 of the same, which tenons are capable of sliding
laterally in the said grooves or mortices, so as to widen or contract the passage
through the clutch for the hauling rope, as required, but they are prevented from
noving longitudinally by the walls of the grooves.
The part E¹ of the clutch has also lugs e, e, by which the clutch is retained in the
largest part of the aperture in the box or socket B by the said lugs coming in
contact with the bottom of box or socket, and the clutch is prevented from
passing out of the box or socket by the bottom of the part E¹ of the clutch coming
in contact with the flange b of the box or socket. By this arrangement it will be
seen that the hauling rope passing through the clip or clutch E will be nipped or
held firmly when the clip or clutch is at the upper part of the aperture of the box
or sccket B, as shewn in Fig. 3, and that it will be released when the clip or clutch
is at the lower part of the same.
On reference to Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 it will be seen that the same construction
of clip or clutch is applicable to a chain pulley block by merely adapting the form
of the internal passage as required.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim as of my Invention is,
the combination of a box or socket internally wedge formed with a clip or clutch
constructed as described for the purpose or purposes of grasping and releasing
hauling ropes or chains, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Henry Williams, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM ANDREW,
Redruth,
Cornwall,
Assay Master.
THOMAS HENRY WILLIAMS. (L.S.)