IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING WINDLASS AND OTHER BARRELS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
WILLIAM LENOX, of Billiter Square, in the City of London, Chain Cable
Manufacturer, and WILLIAM ROBERTS, Foreman to Messieurs Brown, Lenox,
and Company, of Millwall, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth
day of February, One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the thirteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said George William Lenox and William Roberts, our
exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said George William Lenox and William Roberts,
our exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George
William Lenox and William Roberts, our exors, adñiors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no other, 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, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING WINDLASS AND
OTHER BARRELS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we,
the said George William Lenox and William Roberts, or one of us, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said Ma-

page_text: jesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately 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, we, the said
George William Lenox and William Roberts, do hereby declare that the
nature of our Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists,-
First, of employing flexible metal bands embracing windlass and other
barrels in such manner that by such bands being caused alternately to contract
so as to embrace such barrels, and then expand so as to be out of contact
therewith, the barrels are caused to be worked. And this part of our Inven-
tion also consists of apparatus for causing the same metal bands to act as
brakes on windlass and other barrels.
Secondly, our Invention consists of applying brakes to rotating stoppers for
cables.
And in order that our Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued by us.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a front view of a windlass, with apparatus to work the same
according to our Invention; Figure 2 shows a transverse section thereof;
Figure 8 shows another windlass with a single barrel, actuated by both ends
according to our Invention. Figure 4 shows a transverse section of Figure 3;
and in like manner may other barrels for raising weights be fitted up. In
these Figures the same letters of reference are used to indicate the same parts;
and such is the case in regard to Figures 5, 6, and 7, where some of the parts
are shewn on a larger scale than in the previous Figures. A, A, are friction
bands of metal provided with means of adjustment at a, a, by screws and nuts.
One end of the metal band A is fixed by a pin joint to the lever B at C, and
the other end is affixed by a pin joint to one end of the link A', the other end
of such link is fixed to the lever B by a pin joint; hence when the lever B is
raised it will cause the two ends of the flexible metal strap to embrace the
barrel and hold it fast, and by its ascent cause the barrel to turn partly round,
and the descent of the lever B will cause the metal strap to open and be free
of the barrel; hence the descent of the lever B will have no effect on the barrel,
by which arrangement the repeated ascent of the lever B will cause the wind-

page_text: lass or other barrel to which this apparatus is applied to rotate. The lever B
is alternately raised and lowered by the lever X and the rods K, as shewn, or
by other convenient apparatus. The windlasses shown in the Drawing each
have two metal bands, and they come into action in succession. When it is
desired to pay away the cable, the palls L are lifted out of the way by
means of the lever M, on the axis of which is an excentric N, which lifts the
palls out of the way when the lever is brought down into the position of dotted
lines m.
In order to keep the metal bands in use as brakes, or to hold then
out of action altogether and allow of the same rotating freely when the cablo
is running out, the lever II is used, which moves on an axis at one end, as
shewn. F is a beam moveable on an axis carried by the lever H, as shewn ;
E, E, are connecting rods attached by pin joints to the levers B, by which the
metal straps are kept under control of the lever H.
We would remark that we are aware that it has before been proposed to
give motion to windlass barrels by straps, but in such case the strap was lined
with wood, which is highly objectionable; we do not therefore claim the use
of metal straps for such purposes when so lined with wood; but we form such
metal bands so that metal surfaces may come against the barrel which is to be
moved thereby; and we form the end of the levers B next the upper part of
the band A at 6 square, so that when the strain is taken off the lever B the
parts A may not open farther than is necessary to free the barrel, and which
are important improvements in such apparatus.
The second part of our Invention consists of improvements in stoppers used
with chain cables. Figure 8 shews a plan, Figure 9 a side view, and Figure
10 & 11 sections of apparatus according to this part of our Invention. O is
a barrel formed with a groove, into which the vertical links of a chain cable
enter whilst the horizontal links come against the horns or projections o, o,
and if no impediment be offered to the rotation of the barrel O as the chain
runs out, the barrel O will rotate by reason of the horizontal links of the
cable coming against the projections o, o, in succession; but the object of this
part of the Invention is to employ a brake to such barrels, so that the running
out of the cable may be controlled and stopped when desired. P is a metal
brakes, which is caused to press more or less on the barrel so as to retard its
rotation, or, if desired, stop it altogether, and when it is desired to hold the
barrel from further rotation, the screw Q is screwed down so as to retain the
friction strap in contact with the barrel.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the details herein shewn and described, as the same may be varied,