AN IMPROVED LIFTING, LOWERING AND HAULING APPARATUS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GEORGE ARMSTRONG, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Esquire, Fellow of the Royal
Society, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirty-first day of July, in the tenth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
George Armstrong, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William George Arm-
strong, my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
George Armstrong, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "AN IMPROVED LIFTING, LOWERING AND HAULING APPARATUS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
William George Armstrong, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William George Armstrong, do hereby declare that the nature of my said

page_text: Invention consists in an apparatus of pullies or racks connected with pistons
and piston rods working in cylinders, for lifting, lowering, and hauling heavy
bodies by the action of the said pistons or piston rods, which action is governed
or directed through the medium of crank-handled indices, and in certain
appliances for stopping the motion of heavy bodies in certain cases, without
injury from the momentum they may have acquired in the course
motion
motion
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Note. In this description similar letters are used to denote similar parts
in all the Figures of both Sheets of Drawings.
In Sheet Number 1 of the Drawings, Figure 1 represents a side view or
elevation of the apparatus as applied to lifting and lowering weights by means
of a crane. A is a cylinder containing a water-tight piston, attached to the
piston rod.B.
C, C, is a feed pipe, which communicates with the main
supply pipe D, and by which water under pressure is caused to enter or
escape from the cylinder, as the case may be, the direction of the flow being
determined by the action of a box slide valve E. D³, D³, and D³, are three
sheaves or pullies, two of which (namely D¹ and D³) turn on fixed bearings,
while the remaining one D³, travels with the moveable carriage F, attached
to the end of the piston rod B, the said carriage F being supported upon the
friction rollers G, G, two of which are placed at each side of the carriage, and
run upon rails H, H, also placed at each side of the carriage, as shewn in
Plan at Figure 2. I is a hollow cast-iron pillar, forming the fixed centre
round which the moveable parts of the crane turn, and t, t, t, is a cast-iron
frame to which the pillar I is fastened, and which frame is bolted to the
foundation. J, J, J, J, J, J, is the chain to which the load is suspended, and
by which it is lifted or lowered; and this chain J passes downwards through
the centre of the pillar I, and after passing over the pullies D³, D³, and D³, as
represented in the Drawing, is fixed to one end of the moveable carriage F.
Now, it is evident from this arrangement, that when water conveyed in a
pipe D from any sufficiently elevated source is admitted into the cylinder A
through the feed pipe C, C, the piston and rod B will be put in motion by
the pressure of the water, and at the same time will lift the load attached to
the end of the chain, while the extent of the piston's action being multiplied
three fold by means of the sheaves or pullies D¹, D³, and Ds; the load is
lifted to a height equal to three times the space passed through by the piston,
and when the water is allowed to escape from the cylinder A through the
pipe C, C, by the opening of the passage in the box E, which communicates

page_text: with a waste pipe L, and the closing of that which communicates with the
main pipe D, the piston returns towards its former position and the load is
lowered. The cylinder A is placed in an inclined position, in order that the
weight of the moveable carriage F, with its sheaves and appendages, may
facilitate what is called the overhauling of the chain by means of a counter-
weight K. For the purpose of causing the crane to turn round in either
direction also by the action of water, I use the following apparatus :-M is a
cylinder containing a piston, which differs from that last described in being
acted upon by pressure on both its sides, and which moves in either direction
according to the side of the piston upon which the pressure of the water acts."
The piston rod of this piston is connected with the rack N, which travels
between guides O, O. The teeth of this rack work into corresponding teeth
surrounding the lower margin of the collar P, to which collar P and to the
cap Q, the framework of the jib is fixed. R, R, and S, S, are the pipes by
which the water under pressure is conveyed to or from the cylinder M at
either end, and the admission and emission of the water are regulated by a box
slide valve T. U, V, are two valves which I call the relief valves, and which
I fix one upon each of the pipes R, R., and S, S, of the cylinder M. The
object of these relief valves is to prevent the circular motion of the jib being
too suddenly arrested by the closing of the slide valve in the box T, which
regulates the admission and emission of the water to and from the cylinder M,
and will be better understood by reference to Figure 3, which is a sectional
view of one of the relief valves U, representing a portion of one of the pipes
or waterways S, upon which the relief valves are fixed. d is a small pipe
communicating with the main supply pipe D, and is a small pipe communi-
cating with the waste pipe L, and a small cistern W, which is kept charged
by the waste water from the cylinders A and M. In these relief valves there
are clacks, each opening upwards, as is represented at Figure 3; which
Figure shewing the relief valve U in section, I will now proceed to describe:
S, S, is part of one of the feed pipes leading from the slide valve box T to
the cylinder M. d is a small pipe leading from the top of the relief valve
to the main supply pipe D; and is a small pipe leading from the bottom of
the relief valve to the waste pipe L and cistern W. The two clacks are
lettered X and Y, and both open upwards. The manner in which these
relief valves act may be described as follows:-Suppose the jib of the crane
to be swinging round by the action of the water upon the piston of the
cylinder M, and suppose the pipe S to be acting for the time being as the
egress passage of the cylinder M, then on the sudden closing of the slide
valve in the box T', the water on the egress side of the piston being deprived

page_text: of its outlet, would suddenly stop the progress of the piston, and subject the
whole turning apparatus to a violent shock from the momentum of the jib,
were it not for the clack X, which then gives vent to the confined water, and
allows it to return into the main supply pipe D, as soon as the compression
caused by the momentum of the jib becomes sufficient to raise the valve
against the resistance or weight of water operating on its upper side; and thus
the piston, instead of being suddenly stopped, is only powerfully retarded, and
the jib is brought to rest quickly, but without a shock. In the next place,
suppose the pipe S to be acting as the ingress instead of the egress passage
of the cylinder M, then on the closing of the slide valve in the box T, and
while the momentum continues to impart motion to the piston, water would
be sucked up through the clack Y from the waste water cistern W, to supply
the void which would otherwise be left on the influx side of the piston. It
will therefore be perceived, that by applying what I call a relief valve to
each of the waterways R, R, and S, S, of the cylinder M, the detrimental
effects which might otherwise result from the momentum of the jib would
be obviated, in whichever direction the piston may be acting, and at the same
time the cylinder would be kept always fully charged with water on both
sides of the piston, which would therefore receive an immediate impulse from
the renewed pressure, the instant the admission valve was re-opened.
•
Reverting to Figure 1, Z is what I call the index table, the internal arrange-
ments of which will be described hereafter, and are such, that the operator,
turning the indices by means of a crank handle to each, has the entire con-
trol of the operation of the crane; the handle and index on the right directing
its revolving movements, and that on the left its hoisting and lowering opera-
tions. The whole of the apparatus comprised in Figure 1, with the exception
of the jib and pillar of the crane and index table, is placed underground, so
as to avoid encumbering the surface; and the excavation in which the machi-
nery is placed is covered over with flags or boards, Figure 4 is an elevation
of the jib and pillar of the crane as viewed from behind.
In Sheet Number 2 of the Drawings, Figure 1 represents a mode of ar-
ranging three cylinders for the purpose of obtaining various degrees of power
for lifting or hauling, by the power of water under pressure. When the lowest
power only is required, the water is admitted into the centre cylinder alone,
and while the travelling sheave is drawn along by the action of the middle
piston rod B, the two outer piston rods (each of which is passed through a
hole in the cross head) remain at rest, the cross head sliding over or along
them. When the second power is required, then the water is to be admitted
into the two outer cylinders and shut off from the middle one, in which case the

page_text: centre cylinder A exerts no force upon the travelling sheave, but the piston
rods of the outer cylinders having stops or heads upon their extremities, which
prevent their withdrawal from the holes in the cross head through which they
are passed, exert their combined force upon the cross head and upon the sheave
with which it is connected, and merely carry the middle piston and rod with
them. And lastly, when the power of all the three cylinders is required, the
water is admitted simultaneously into all of them, and the three piston rods
then operate in concert upon the travelling sheave. The power may also be
varied either when one piston or several are used, by varyng the number of
sheaves or pullies employed, or throwing part of them out of gear.
Figure 2 represents a mode of arranging the sheaves or pullies, in cases
where very long lifts are required (as for lifting into lofty warehouses). The
sheaves a, a, each of them turn upon fixed bearings, while the sheaves 6, e, are
moveable, the one of them being attached to the head of the piston rod f,
and the other to one extremity of the rope or chain 9, which passes over the
two sheaves nearest to the cylinder. In the case here represented, the motion
of the piston would be multiplied ninefold; and by carrying out the same
principle to a greater extent, the motion derived from the single and com-
paratively short stroke of a piston may be multiplied to any greater extent
that may be found desirable.
Figure 3 is a sectional view of the vertical cylinder shown at Figure 2,
drawn to a larger scale.
Figure 4 is the top of the index table Z, drawn to a larger scale than that
shown in Sheet Number 1;
the lower end in
The pointer n is
And Figure 5 is the remainder of the apparatus connected with the index
table, drawn to a similar seale, and drawn partly in section in order to show
how the turning of the cranked handles of the index table gives motion to the
slide vales in the boxes E and T, and to the pointers n, n.
For this purpose
the crank handle i is fixed upon a rod b, which terminates at
a screw or spiral in the hollow head m of the valve rod x.
fixed upon a tube which turns freely round the rod b, and which has a cogged
wheel h fixed to the lower end. The rod 6 has also a small cogged wheel or
pinion g fixed upon it, and which pinion g works into a larger cogged wheel k,
to which is fixed another pinion j, which in it's turn works into the larger
cogged wheel h, attached to the tube which forms the axis of the pointer n.
The object of this series of cogged wheels is to communicate from the rod b
a reduced motion to the tube axis of the pointer n, so that while the cranked
handle i makes a sufficient number of turns to move the slide valve from one
extremity of its range to the other, the space traversed by the pointer n shall
be confined within a single revolution.

page_text: Figure 6 is a view of the slide valve box E, shown in section, and drawn
to a larger scale than shown elsewhere; and Figure 7. is a similar view of
the slide valve box T.
Figure 8, is a species of safety valve which may be placed upon the main
supply pipe D to prevent its bursting by the sudden increase of pressure
which is liable to take place in the pipe when the flow of water through it is
from any cause abruptly stopped. The power of the water, operating on the
piston r, overcomes the resistance of a spiral spring attached to the lever p
and opens for a moment the escape cock g, which relieves the strain upon
the pipe.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which it is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
confine myself, in the application of my Invention, merely to those cases
where the simple pressure of a column of water is the source of motive
power, for it is evident they would also be applicable in cases where the
pistons and piston rods were moved by the power and action of force pumps;
or in some cases, and us regards some parts of my Invention, even where
they were moved by the pressure of steam or other aeriform fluid.
But what I claim as my Invention is,―
First, the use of sheaves or pullies in the inverted order of the ordinary
block and pully, connected directly or indirectly with piston or piston rods,.
for the purpose of multiplying the extent of motion of a piston and piston
rod in a cylinder, and thereby elongating the lift or haul, which may be per-
formed by a single stroke, or by a portion of a single stroke, of a piston or
piston rod.
Secondly, the use of a rack and pinion connected with a piston or piston
rod, for giving circular motion by means of hydraulic pressure to the jib of
a crane, as shown in the Drawings annexed, or to a railway turntable, or other
like machine or apparatus.
Thirdly, the combining of three or more cylinders with pistons and piston
rods, in manner herein-before described, for varying the power of the machine
they are applied to, by causing the cylinders to act separately or in concert,
according to the degree of power required.
Fourthly, the arrangement of the index table, and the mode of connecting
the indices and their cranked handles, through the medium of multiplying
wheels and pinions, with the slide valves, as applied to the action of a crane,
and which may be also applied in all cases where such an apparatus, worked
by the pressure of water, as is here shown, is used.
And, lastly, the relief valves as here shown, as applied to prevent injury
from the momentum of the jib when its motion is required to be checked or 4

page_text: stopped, and which may be equally applied for the same purpose to other
heavy moving bodies put in motion by similar apparatus, as well as to cranes.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely
new and never before used in that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said Dominion of Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Speci-
fication of my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William George Armstrong, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being
first duly stamped) by the within-
named William George Armstrong,
W. G. (L.S.) ARMSTRONG.