IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING APPARATUS FOR MINES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Pieper, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, resident
at 109-110 Gneisenaustrasse, Berlin, S.W., Prussia, for an Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING APPARATUS FOR MINES, a communication to bim
from Arthur Lindenberg, Engineer, residing in Dortmund, Prussia
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carl Pieper at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th December 1883.
CARL PIEPER, Civil-Engineer and Patent-Agent resident at 109-110 Gneisenau-
Strasse Berlin S.W, Prussia, IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING APPARATUS FOR MINES,
a communication to me from Arthur Lindenberg, Engineer, residing in Dortmund,
Prussia,
This invention relates to winding apparatus for mines in which counter-balance
ropes are used for equalizing the resistance which the winding-engine encounters
during the operation of raising a loaded cage and lowering an empty one.
At present such counter-balance ropes are attached with their ends to the bottom
of the two cages, whereby the load to be borne by the winding rope is considerably
increased, so as to lessen its security against breakage and to render necessary the
employment of ropes of greater thickness, which again involves the use of winding
drums and conducting sheaves of greater diameter.
The object of this invention is to so combine the counterbalance rope with the
cages or the winding drums that its weight is not thrown upon the winding rope.
Supposing the two cages to be called A and B, a thin rope having sufficient
strength to bear the weight of the counter balance rope, is attached to one end of
the latter and conducted upward over. a special independent guiding sheave
arranged at a suitable height, and is from there passed downward parallel and close
to the winding rope of the cage B, to be finally connected to the top of this cage.
In a like manner another thin rope attached to the other end of the counter-balance
rope, is passed over another independent guiding sheave and down to the top of the

page_text: cage A, to be fixed thereto. In order to completely fulfil its purpose the counter-
balance rope must be of such weight that it will balance the weight of the winding
rope together with the weight of the said thin rope. Instead of a rope, a chain
may, however, be used as counterbalancing medium.
A modification of this arrangement is as follows: The thin rope attached to the
end of the counter-balance rope which rises and descends with the cage A, is carried
over a sheave to the winding drum for this cage and so fixed thereto that both the
winding rope and the thin rope will be coiled up or uncoiled simultaneously. In
the same manner the thin rope from the other end of the counter-balance rope is
conducted to the winding drum of the cage B and fastened thereto.
Instead of two separate thin ropes attached to either drum, there may, however,
be but one such rope connected with its ends to those of the counter-balance rope
and slung in the proper sense with a single turn around one of the drums.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Carl Pieper in the Patent Office on the 12th June 1884.
CARL PIEPER, Civil-Engineer and Patent-Agent, resident at 109/110 Gneisenau-
Strasse, Berlin SW., Prussia "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDING-APPARATUS FOR MINES,"
a communication to me from Arthur Lindenberg, Engineer, residing in Dortmund,
Prussia,
This invention relates to winding-apparatuses for mines in which counterbalance-
ropes or chains are used for equalizing the resistance encountered by the
winding-engine during its operation.
At present such counterbalance-ropes are attached with their ends to the bottom
of the two cages, whereby their weight is thrown upon the winding-ropes, so as to
lessen the security of the latter against breakage, or to render necessary the
employment of ropes of greater thickness.
The object of this invention is, to so combine the counterbalance-rope with the
cages or the winding-drums that its weight is not thrown upon the winding-
ropes.
The invention is represented on the annexed two sheets of drawings in different
modifications. In all the figures A and B are the two cages, C and C₁ the two
winding-ropes running over guiding-sheaves, as usual, and D D¹ the counterbalance-
rope for which a chain may be used. In Figs. 1 to 4 F and F¹ are the winding-
drums.
According to Fig. 1 a thin rope E having sufficient strength to bear the weight
of the counterbalance-rope D D¹, and which I shall call " suspension-rope," is
attached to one end of the said rope D D¹ and conducted upward over a special
independent guiding-sheave G arranged at a suitable height, and is from there
passed downward, parallel and close to the winding-rope C', to be finally connected
to the top of the cage B. In like manner another suspension-rope E¹ attached to
the other end of the counterbalance-rope, is passed over another independent
guiding-sheave, G¹, and down to the top of the cage A, to be fixed thereto. The
two sheaves G and G' have to be so arranged that one part of either of the ropes E
and E', when hanging plumb, coincides, nearly at least, with the vertical center-
line of either cage, while the other parts of the ropes E and E¹ keep the rope D D'
to a sufficient extent clear of the cages. The rope D D¹ may, however, be close to
the cages, and it may then be passed through guides attached thereto for the
purpose of steadying it. It will be seen that, by the described arrangement of the
ropes, a portion of the weight of either cage-say for instance A-is balanced by
the part D¹ of the rope D D¹, and that, when A is lowered, the said part D¹ will
become longer in the same measure as the hanging part of the winding-rope C
does. The consequence of this is, that, while the traction on the drum F becomes
greater by the increase of length, and therefore of weight, of the hanging part of
rope C, a proportionally greater portion of the weight of the cage A will be
balanced by the rope-part D¹, so that the resulting traction on the drum F and the
strain on the rope C will remain uniform. The same is of course the case with
the cage B, rope-part D, drum F¹ and rope C¹. In order to completely fulfil its
purpose, the counterbalance-rope must be of a weight per lineal foot equal to the
sum of the like weights of one winding-rope and two suspension-ropes, as will
easily be perceived on consulting Fig. 1.
A modification of this arrangement, shown by Fig. 2, is as follows: The
suspension-rope E attached to the end of the counterbalance-rope part D, which
rises and descends with the cage A, is carried over the guiding-sheave G, as

page_text: before; but it is thence passed to the winding-drum for the cage A-i.e. to the
drum F and is so fixed thereto that both the winding-rope C and the suspension-
rope E will be coiled up or uncoiled simultaneously. In an analogous manner the
suspension-rope E¹ from the part D₁ of the counterbalance-rope is conducted over
the sheave G₁ to the winding-drum F¹ and fastened to it so as to be wound up in
the same sense as the winding-rope C¹. When in this case the load to be borne,
for instance by the drum F increases during the descent of cage A in consequence
of the hanging part of rope C becoming longer, this increase will be counter-
balanced directly by the decrease of length of the rope part D. In this arrangement
of apparatus as also in the following ones, the weight per lineal foot of the counter-
balance-rope should be equal to the sum of the like weights of one winding-rope
and one suspension-rope.
f
Instead of employing two separate suspension-ropes E and E¹ arranged to be
coiled on either drum F and F¹, these ropes may be united, as is shown by Fig. 3,
so as to form a single rope, E E¹, which is connected with its ends to the two parts
of the counterbalance-rope, while it is slung with one or more turns in such a sense
around one of the drums that the part D of the counterbalance-rope will be
raised simultaneously with the cage A, and the part D¹ together with the cage B.
The arrangement represented by Fig 1 may be simplified by using a single
suspension-rope and providing the same with means for conveying the tractive
force resulting from the difference in length of the two parts of the counter-
balance-rope alternately to one cage and the other. This modification is shown
with different arrangements of details in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. According to Fig. 4
the part E of the suspension-rope passes freely through the centre of the cage A,
and the part E¹ in like manner through the cage B. Below either cage there
is fixed on the combined ropes a disk lettered a for the parts D and E, and a¹
for the parts D¹ and E¹; and the bottom of each cage is so arranged as that the
said disk may bear against the same. In this case the longer part of the counter-
balance-rope for instance the part D-acts through the suspension-rope and by
means of the disk a¹ in upward direction on the opposite cage B, which is at the
bottom or on the lower half of its course, and thus balances the excess of weight
of the hanging portion of the winding-rope C over the weight of the like portion
of the rope C¹. When the two cages are opposite to each other, the pressure of
the disk a¹ against the cage B ceases, as the two rope-parts D and D₁ are then
equal in length. Hereafter the cage A begins to bear against the disk a, and in
drawing through the suspension-rope on the part D¹ of the rope D D¹, becomes
subject to the counterbalancing action of this rope-part.
The disks a and a¹ must be so fixed on the combined ropes D D¹ and E E¹ as
that there will be a certain amount of play between the cage which is at the top,
or on the upper half of its course, and the corresponding disk, the said play being
requisite to prevent the suspension-rope from being exposed to any strain that
might otherwise arise from inaccuracies in the apparatus, such as a difference in the
diameters of the two winding-drums.
According to Fig. 5 the disks a and a¹ are replaced by chains b b' connecting
the suspension-rope parts E and E' with the top of the respective cages, and thus
acting alternately on one cage and the other with a tractive force, while the disks
press on the cages from below, the effect being in both cases alike. The said
chains are of such length that those of the cage being above the middle of its
course, will always be slack, in order to avoid a straining of the rope E E' in this
case as well as with the disks.
The two latter arrangements requiring the suspension-rope to be carried through
the centre of the cages, are applicable only with cages adapted to receive two
trucks by the side of each other. For cages having room but for one truck, the
disposition shown by Fig. 6 may be adopted, in which a frame c, respectively c¹,
is carried around the cage, the suspension-rope being attached to the top, the
counterbalance-rope to the bottom of either frame, and the said frames being
so constructed as that they may bear against the bottom of the cages, while

page_text: they have sufficient play in vertical direction to avoid undue tension of the
Buspension-rope.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner it is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
correspondent, I hereby claim as new and important features of the same:
In a winding-apparatus for mines, the combination with the counterbalance-
rope or chain D D', of the suspension-rope or ropes E E¹, passing over a sheave or
sheaves, and connected to the rope or chain D D¹, which acts through the said
suspension-rope or ropes on the winding-drums or on the cages, so as to counter-
balance the difference in weight of the hanging parts of the two winding ropes,
substantially as and for the purpose described.
In Witness whereof I the said Carl Pieper have hereunto set my hand and
seal this thirtieth day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and eighty-four.