CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MINE-LIFTING MACHINERY
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PALMER, of Tavistock, in the County of Devon, Carrier, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of November, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Palmer, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Palmer, my exors,
adñiors and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Palmer, my
exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,. within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MINE-LIFTING MACHINERY;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Thomas Palmer, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said 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
Thomas Palmer, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in and by the
present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-

page_text: Figure 1 of the said Drawings represents side elevation of so much of a
system of mine-lifting machinery as is necessary to shew my improvements in
their simplest form. A is a ratchet wheel fixed on a winding shaft B as its
axis. C, C, two radial arms which oscillate on the same axis (B). E¹, E³,
are two straight rods which extend downwards from and connect the armis
C, C, to the main reciprocating beam F, which is worked by a steam engine
or other first mover. The arms C¹, C³, carry at their outer extremities two
spring catches c¹, c², or palls, which take into the teeth of the ratchet wheel A,
but in opposite directions, the one pointing upwards, the other downwards.
The action of the apparatus is as follows: On the ascent of the reciprocating
beam F, the two connecting rods E¹, E³, and the two radial arms C², C², are
raised with it, while simultaneously therewith the pall c, at the end of the arm
C², catching against one of the teeth.of the ratchet wheel A, carries that wheel
round through an arc of a circle corresponding with the length of the up stroke.
The beam then descending carries down with it the connecting rods E³, E¹, and
the radial arms C¹, C²; and the pall c², at the end of the arm C², catching in the
downward direction against one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel, carries that
wheel round through another, arc of the circle, and so the action goes on or
throughout any number of strokes, the reciprocating movements of the beam F
producing a continuous rotary motion of the ratchet wheel A and winding shaft
B. Where a greater degree of speed is required than could be obtained by a
machine of the simple kind just described, I employ a double acting rack
apparatus of the description represented in Figures 2 and 3. A, A, is a frame
of the inner sides of which are bolted two racks B¹, B', and which has a
vertical reciprocating motion given to it by the steam engine or other first
mover. D¹ and D are two spur wheels, which revolve loosely upon. the
winding shaft G, and into which the racks. B¹, B, respectively take; these
wheels have catches or palls d², d³, which take (as in the machine first before
described) into the teeth of a ratchet wheel H keyed upon the shaft G... In
the down stroke of the rack frame A the rack B¹ causes the wheel D¹ to turn,
and the catch d¹ to carry round the ratchet wheel H, and with it the winding
shaft G, while simultaneously therewith the rack B³ turns the wheel D³ in the
opposite direction, and the catch d² keeps up the rotary motion given to the
ratchet wheel H and winding shaft G. In the up stroke the same results are
produced, but in an inverse order, while the uniform result is to produce and
maintain a continuous rotation of the winding shaft. A third modification of the
machinery, suitable also for high speeds, is shewn in plan in Figure 4. In this
arrangements there are two sets of wheels M', M², N³, N³, employed, and two
ratchet wheels B³, B³, with teeth set in opposite directions. The ratchet wheels

page_text: are keyed on a boss C, which slides on a key O, fixed on the winding shaft
G', while the wheels M', M, N, N³, revolve loosely on the boss C. D is a
lever which clutches by a forked end e the sliding boss C. When the two sets
of wheels are brought by the lever D into such relative positions that the
interval between them comes directly opposite the racks V¹, Vs, the machinery
is then out of gear; but when the lever is then shifted to either side the
sliding boss causes the wheels on that side to gear with the adjoining racks,
which racks by their motion cause the winding shaft to revolve. P¹, P³, are
pulleys fixed upon the outer end of the shaft, and round which the twisting
ropes are coiled in different directions, as is usual in machines of this
description.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
improvements in mine-lifting machinery is, the producing of a continuous
rotary motion of the winding shaft, from a series of reciprocating or up and
down movements, according to the several modes before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Palmer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.