IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS. AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR TRANSPORTING, REMOVING, AND CARRYING WEIGHTS AND PERSONS FROM PLACE TO PLACE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Studdy Leigh, of No. 8, Old Jewry, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS.
AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR TRANSPORTING, REMOVING, AND CARRYING WEIGHTS
AND PERSONS FROM PLACE TO PLACE."-A communication from abroad
by Charles Edward Wilson Bunster, of Valparaiso, Chili, South
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Studdy Leigh
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st January 1873.
I, JOHN STUDDY LEIGH, of No. 8, Old Jewry, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR TRANSPORTING, REMOVING, AND CARRYING
WEIGHTS AND PERSONS FROM PLACE TO PLACE," to be as follows:
-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus and.
arrangements for transporting, removing, and carrying weights and
persons from place to place, and is of that class known as.the suspended
railway or tramway, which I call an aerial tramway.

page_text: According to this Invention the part supporting, bearing, or carrying
the load or part to be removed or transported is supported at intervals
on revolving sheaves, discs, bosses, pullies, or other suitable means
which are attached to or connected with the supports carrying the loads
and supporting the bearing or carrying part of the apparatus. Pullies,
sheaves, or friction rollers are or may be placed so as to be in contact
with the sheaves, discs, bosses, or pullies supporting the bearing or
carrying part so as to prevent them coming apart. The sheaves, discs,
bosses, or pullies are free to revolve on their axes or the spindles which
attach them to the portions supporting the apparatus.
In some cases these revolving sheaves, discs, bosses, or pullies are
provided with inclined straight or curved radial arms, and on which
revolving rollers may be placed which interlock with each other (or
toothed wheels or their equivalent may be provided) and sustain the
rope, chain, or other arrangement of the supporting or bearing part,
and revolve on their axes by the motion of the rope, chain, or other
bearing part in those cases where the supporting or carrying part moves
between or upon them, and allow the rod, link, or connection by means
of which the load to be moved is sustained upon, or by the bearing or
carrying part of the apparatus to pass freely between them.
In other cases the revolving sheaves, discs, bosses, or pullies may be
formed with a groove or a portion of a groove or channel round the
inner edge without the radial arms, and placed with a sufficient in interval
between them to admit of the rod, link, or connection bearing the load
to pass freely between them, guiding parts being provided, if desired, to
ensure their passing into the space, whilst the rope, chain, or other
bearing or carrying part lies or passes in the space formed by the groove
or partial grooves.
The load or the receptacle or receptacles for containing or carrying
the same is or are suspended by one or more rods, links, or connections
of such number as may be required, which pass directly downward from
the rope, chain, or other bearing or carrying arrangement, and the form
and arrangement of these sheaves, discs, bosses, or pullies enable the
rods, links, or connections to pass them freely when the load is in
motion.

page_text: ment, and so that they allow the load to be readily attached and
detached when it arrives at its required destination without rendering it
necessary to stop the progress of the rest.
At those points where it is desired that the load should be detached
from the rope, chain, or other carrying or bearing arrangement, a fixed
or movable inclined bar or bars, surface or surfaces, arranged to be self-
acting if desired is or are provided in order that by means of the same
the weight of the load may be taken off the chains, rope,. or other
bearing or carrying arrangement, and so enable it to be readily stopped
and detached whilst the progress of the rope, chain, or other bearing or
carrying arrangements is not arrested.
The pillars, uprights, or bearings which support the apparatus and
load may be of any convenient or suitable material, such as iron, brick,
or stone columns, or wooden posts set in the ground or supported on
barges or other suitable floating bodies or structures where it is required
to use them on the water.
The rope, chain, or other carrying or bearing arrangements may be
single or double, or may be in one, two, or more lengths as suited to the
requirements of the case, and fixed at either or both ends with the
required amount of tension to prevent its "sagging," or bending too
much between the end or intermediate supports. In this case the load
or portions to be transported is or are caused to move along the rope,
chain, or other carrying or bearing arrangement by means of a rope,
chain, or other suitable means attached to or connected with the portion
or portions to be moved, and the said rope or chain may be arranged so
as to form an endless connection for moving the load or loads in either
or both directions, and pass round sheaves, pullies, or drums placed in
the required position at either or both ends of the space to be. worked
over, and be actuated by any suitable power or means applied for this
O purpose in any of the various ways well known to engineers.
The rope, chain, or other carrying or bearing arrangement may be
arranged so as to form an endless connection or a double or any suitable
number of the same, and be caused to move with the load or loads
being actuated by any suitable power, and it may pass round sheaves,
5 pullies, or drums placed vertically, inclined, or horizontally at either or
both ends of the space to be worked over, to which sheaves, pullies, or
drums the motive power or means for operating the apparatus may be
annliad

page_text: Where it is necessary to divide the line into sections in consequence
of its being inconvenient to work the whole in one length, inclined
sheaves, drums, pullies, or surfaces may be used for the rope, chain, or
other carrying or bearing arrangement to pass round, and an inclined
surface or surfaces for the load to pass over so as to admit of the load or
loads being readily transferred from one section to the other, or steam
cranes or other means may be used for transferring them. When used
in separate sections independent motive power may be applied to each
separate section.
When desired, buffers or other suitable means may be employed for
preventing inconvenience when passing the intermediate supports, or
being transferred from one section to another, and suitable means for
lubricating the working parts may be provided.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Studdy Leigh in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
STUDDY LEIGH, of No. 8, Old Jewry, in the City of London, send'
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Studdy Leigh, Her special
license that I, the said John Studdy Leigh, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Studdy Leigh,
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 AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR TRANSPORTING, REMOVING, AND CARRYING
WEIGHTS AND PERSONS FROM PLACE TO PLACE," a communication to me from
abroad by Charles Edward Wilson Bunster, of Valparaiso, Chili, South

page_text: America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Studdy Leigh, 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 John Studdy Leigh, 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 and
Arrangements for Transporting, Removing, and Carrying Weights and
Persons from Place to Place." The apparatus is of the class known
as the suspended railway or tramway; I call it an aerial tramway. For
this purpose a travelling rope is employed, and the loads are suspended
from it. The rope is supported at intervals between discs or wheels
provided with arms which cross each other, so that the rope cannot
descend between them, but nevertheless by their rotation they allow the
links upon which the loads are hung to pass freely.
The suspending links are formed with jaws, and are so constructed
that the weight hung upon them causes them to grip the rope. At the
places where the loads are to leave the rope landing platforms are pro-
vided. As soon as the load becomes supported upon the landing
platform the jaws of the suspending link open and release the rope.
In order that the said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
unto annexed

page_text: these discs or wheels crossing each other and supporting between them
the endless rope d, d; e is the bucket or carrier suspended from the
rope d by links e¹. At each end of the aerial tramway the rope d passes
around a pulley in the manner shewn in Figure 2. In Figure 3 a
section of one of the discs or wheels with its arms c¹ is shewn
together with part of the frame a and the stud b; Figure 4 is a plan of
a portion of one of the discs or wheels with its arms; Figures 5 and 6
shew suspending links both closed and open. They consist of gripping
jaws ff, for grasping the rope, they are jointed together at f¹, and
their stems are also jointed to the pieces g, and these are similarly
connected to a rod h which is fixed to the bucket or carrier in which
the load is placed. When the bucket or carrier reaches the landing
platform the forked end h¹ of the rod h comes in contact with a rail
(which is there provided), and is raised thereby into the position shewn
in Figure 5 until the jaws f, f, are opened sufficiently to release the rope
which runs on continuously, but leaves its load behind; the loads can be
placed upon the rope and started in a similar manner.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim the use of discs or wheels with arms crossing each other to support
an aerial tramway, substantially as described.
I also claim the method of constructing the links for suspending the
loads upon an aerial tramway, so that when the link is relieved from the
weight of the load it may release the travelling rope, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Studdy Leigh, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the