AN IMPROVED CRAMPING AND LIFTING APPARATUS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Phillips, Baragwanath at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
March 1867. A communication from abroad by Henry Hitchings,
Baragwanath, of the City, County, and State of New York, United States
of America.
I, JOHN PHILLIPS BARAGWANATH, of the Firm of J. P. Baragwanath & Co.,
Engineers, of No. 153, Upper Thames Street, in the City of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CRAMPING
AND LIFTING APPARATUS," a communication, to be as follows:-
The said Invention relates to an apparatus which is chiefly designed for use
as a cramp or dog for pressing together boards or planks in forming floors,
but which also serves as a lifting jack for raising heavy objects, and for other
like purposes.
The said Invention consists chiefly in the novel means for operating a
movable jaw, and for holding the apparatus in any desired position while the
required force or pressure is being exerted by the same. The working parts
of the apparatus are supported upon a strong frame of cast iron or other
suitable material, which is constructed to stand in the proper position to allow
the apparatus to operate either horizontally or vertically as required. The
movable jaw is fitted to slide freely between guides formed upon or otherwise
securely attached to the frame; the sides of the latter extend upward from
the said guides to the proper position to support a screw nut, through which a
screw rod is fitted to work in a direction perpendicular or nearly so to that of

page_text: the sliding jaw; the lower end of this screw rod is jointed to two levers, one
of which is jointed to the said sliding jaw, while the other is fitted to vibrate
upon a fixed fulcrum pin or stud secured in the opposite end of the frame.
The screw rod is turned in the nut by means of a wheel or handle attached to
its upper end, and is thereby moved endwise in either direction as desired.
The nut is supported so as to have a slight oscillating movement which allows
the lower end of the rod to adapt itself to the movement of the end of the
lever connected to the fixed joint; the movement of this lever imparts to the
end of the screw rod a lateral motion, which by means of the other lever is
communicated to the sliding jaw, the latter, therefore, has an end wise move-
ment equal in each direction to the united lengths of the chords of the arcs
formed by the ends of the two levers. By this combined action of the screw
and the two levers upon the sliding jaw the apparatus is rendered very
powerful, and is at the same time light and portable. The frame is provided
at the end opposite to the sliding jaw with teeth or claws, which are so formed
and arranged that when the apparatus is being employed in laying floors a
firm hold can be obtained thereby upon any portion of a beam while the
required pressure is being applied to the sliding jaw to force the boards
together these teeth are formed of iron, steel, or other suitable metal, and
are firmly attached by screws or other convenient means to the under side of
the frame, and are arranged to project obliquely from the latter in a direction
opposite to the sliding jaw, so that the greater the pressure applied to the said
jaw the more firmly the teeth will hold.
When the apparatus is being used for lifting or pressing where these teeth
are not required it is supported against the pressure of the sliding jaw by a
portion of the end of the frame which is made flat to form a base.