Improvements in Hauling Devices.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 20th Apr., 1895
[Communicated from abroad by JOHN HALEY BELLAMY, of Kittery Point, York
County, Maine, United States of America, Designer and Wood Carver.]
Improvements in Hauling Devices.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The present invention relates to a hauling apparatus and is embodied in a device
especially adapted for use on board ship in conjunction with hoisting ropes or
halyards, or in the fields or woods for hauling logs, or removing rocks or stumps
from the ground, or branches from trees. The apparatus is small and readily
portable and can be used to advantage in any position where it is possible to secure
a fulcrum pivot upon which to operate the lever.
The apparatus embodying the invention consists mainly of a gripping device
connected to a lever having a relatively fixed fulcrum so that when the said lever
is operated upon it will move the grip, carrying with it any article such as a rope
or cable held by the said grip. The grip itself consists of two members pivotally
connected together and the rope or cable is passed between the two members in
such a manner that when one of the said members is moved upon its pivotal con-
nection in one direction it will approach the other member, thus gripping the rope.
The lever is so connected with one of the said members that when it is operated
upon it will cause a relative movement such as above described of the said members
until the rope is firmly gripped, after which a further movement of the lever will
carry with it both members of the grip and the rope held thereby. At the end of
the full stroke of the lever said lever is returned to its normal or initial position
such return movement moving the member of the grip to which the lever is con-
nected in such a way as to release the rope allowing the grip to move up so that at
the next downward stroke of the lever a fresh hold will be taken on the rope,
which will thus again be hauled down at the next downward stroke of the lever.
It is to be understood that the terms " up" and "down" and the like are used for
convenience assuming that the rope is to be hauled vertically downward it being
understood, however, that the apparatus may be used to pull a rope in any desired
direction.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device shown in connection with the mast
of a vessel, and connected in operative position to a halyard passing down by
the side of the said mast, the slack end thereof being made fast to a belaying
pin, and
.
Figure 2 is a modification showing a portable fulcrum piece for the lever adapted
to be attached by ropes or otherwise between any two fixed objects such as trees,
when the apparatus is to be used on land.
The grip embodying the present invention consists mainly of a member a which
will be hereinafter referred to as the rope-member, and a member b which will
hereinafter be referred to as the lever-member, the said members consisting of flat
pieces or plates of metal or other suitable material clamped or connected together
by metal straps c and provided with transverse pins a² and 62 respectively, passing
through said straps, upon which pins the said members are eccentrically pivoted.
The said straps c are preferably made in the form of a hinge as shown and per-

page_text: manently connected by the transverse screw or rivet a² to the rope-member a but
detachably connected to the lever-member as by the removable pin & so that the
two can be separated and then clamped together around the rope thus obviating the
necessity of threading the said rope between them, which might be a matter of
considerable inconvenience. The strap c may be provided as shown with two or
more holes c² any of which may be engaged by the pin 62 thus rendering the
distance between the members a and b adjustable for ropes of different sizes.
Upon the member a are placed the guides a³ and a consisting of hook-shaped
projections by which the rope A is engaged, the said guides being placed near
the ends of the members a so that the rope extending from one to the other
lies substantially flat upon the gripping surface of said member, passing between
the same and the gripping surface of the member b. In order to clamp the
rope in the said grip and to move the same after it is thus clamped, the
member bis connected by a pivot 63 to a link d which is connected in turn
to the lever the said lever being provided at one end with a handle portion e²
and at the other end with a fulcruming portion e shown as an eye adapted to
fit and surround a projection as e, upon which it may be secured by a split pin e³.
The said projection in this case is shown as part of a plate e secured to
the mast by means of bolts or cap screws e. The pivotal connection of the
lever member b to the rope member a is at a point between the gripping surface
of the said member which is adapted to engage the rope and the pivot 63 by which
the link d is connected to said member, so that a downward movement of said link
responsive to an operation of the lever e tends to rock the member b upon said
pivotal connection and move the gripping surface thereof towards the gripping
surface of the member a. The gripping surface of said member b as shown in
Figure 1, is normally substantially parallel in its general direction to the face of
the member a extending along said face for some distance below the pivot b² so
that when said lever is operated upon as by exerting a downward force upon the
nandle the said member is rocked upon its pivotal connection, i.e. the pin,
causing the lower end thereof to approach the face of the member a thus gripping
the rope A and carrying the said rope thus held as the lever is moved downward, it
being obvious moreover, that the upward strain or resistance of the rope tends to
inove the member in the same direction thus tightening the grip as the strain
increases. The member a is held substantially stationary with relation to the
member by means of a link passing from the lower end of said member to the
link d to which it is pivotally connected by a screw or rivet d2 while the rope is
held in line with the member a by means of the guides a³ and a* and a guide e
upon the lever e.
In order to afford means for "easing off" the rope or cable
which has been operated upon, as when it is desired to lower the halyard of a vessel
without removing the apparatus from the mast, or to lower a rock or stump which
has been lifted from the ground, the upper portion of the member a is provided
with an extension having a cam surface a extending somewhat above the
upper surface of the member while the rope A is held by this surface
somewhat out of the line determined by the strain of said rope acting through
the guide a³ the tendency of the rope acting on the said guide being to rock
the member a on its pivot so that the surface a will approach the upper surface
of the member b. This tendency, however, is resisted by the link and also
by the lateral strain of the rope upon the guide a when the slack rope is being
taken up, during the operation of the device. In order to remove this resistance
when it is desired to lower the rope, the link is removably fastened to the
member a as by a button a passing through the slot f' so that the said link can be
released, allowing the member a to rock on its pivot, the rope being engaged
between the surface a and the upper surface of the member 6 thus affording a
frictional grip upon the rope sufficient to retard it without holding it stationary.
Obviously the surface a' or gripping surface, of the member a is by the same
rocking movement removed from the surface 6 or gripping surface of the member b
- the rope being thus released by the normal working portion of the grip.

page_text: . In order to keep the rope or cable at all times frictionally engaged by the grip
members, so that the first downward movement of the lever may tighten the grip
without any lost motion, the lower end of the member 6 is formed into a toe or
extension adapted to engage as shown, the edge of the link d and prevent the
member from rocking beyond a predetermined distance from its gripping position.
The gripping surfaces a and b of the members a and b respectively, are preferably
corrugated, as shown, thus affording the strongest possible grip. The power of the
device may be adjusted within certain limits by connecting the link d to the lever
at different points, the said link being shown as provided with a clamping socket d'
to which it is connected by a pin d³ the said socket being attached to the lever by
means of a bolt or pin d³ which may be passed through any one of the series of eyes
or holes e in said lever.
In Figure 2 is shown a portable fulcrum socket e70 which may be substituted for
the plate shown in Figure 1, the said socket being provided with a pin eo by
which the lever is attached thereto. The said socket may also be provided with
any suitable means for attaching to it a fixed object such as a tree or post, ropes or
cables e being shown attached thereto as by means of eyes e 600 at the ends of said
socket.
In the use of the apparatus, the slack rope may be taken up and temporarily
secured in any suitable way, as by making a loose half-hitch around any fixed
object, the said slack being shown in Figure 1, as passed around a belaying
pin C2 secured to the rail C near the foot of the inast B.
The slack rope below the grip may thus be drawn taut, it requiring very little
to hold it when passed around the belaying pin or similar fixed article in the
form of a half-hitch, so tied that the rope pulled in one direction to take up
slack will slip, but when pulled in the opposite direction, as by the load upon it,
will bind.
"
Various modifications may obviously be made in the specific construction of the
apparatus, herein described, and it is therefore not intended to limit the invention
to the exact form shown.
<<
It is to be understood, moreover, that the term rope
includes any flexible connector by means of which an object to be operated upon
may be connected to the hauling apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A hauling apparatus comprising two pivotally connected grip members
between which passes the rope or cable to be hauled, a lever having a relatively
fixed fulcrum, said lever being connected to one of said members, as set forth,
to first produce the relative movement of said members by which the rope is
gripped and thereafter to move with said members and the rope gripped between
them, and a connection between said lever and the other member, substantially as
described.
2. A hauling apparatus comprising two pivotally connected members, guides on
one of said members adapted to hold the rope or cable to be operated upon in
alignment with the gripping surface of said member, and a lever connected to the
other member, said lever having a relatively fixed fulcrum as and for the purpose
set forth.
3. A hauling apparatus comprising a lever member and a rope member pivotally
connected together, au operating lever having a relatively fixed fulcrum, said lever
being connected by a link to said lever member, a cam extension on said rope
member movable towards the upper surface of the lever member when said rope
member is rocked on its pivot, a guide on said rope member for the rope, whereby
said rope is withheld from its normal line of strain, and a removable connection
between said rope member and said link whereby said guide is held in position
against the normal strain of the rope, as and for the purpose described.
4. A hauling apparatus comprising two pivotally connected grip members

page_text: between which passes the rope or cable to be hauled, means for adjusting the
pivotal connection between said members to vary the distance between them, a
lever having a relatively fixed fulcrum, and a link connected to one member of the
grip and adapted to be connected to said lever at various points thereon, as set
forth.
Dated this 10th day of March 1905
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.