AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TRANSFERRING VESSELS PROM A HIGHER TO A LOWER LEVEL, OR FROM A LOWER TO A HIGHER LEVEL, ON CANALS, AND ALSO FOR THE MORE CONVENIENTLY RAISING OR LOWERING OF WEIGHTS, CARRIAGES, OR GOODS ON RAILROADS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONATHAN
BROWNILL, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Cutler, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the First day of May, in the ninth year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Jonathan
Brownill, His especial licence that I, the said Jonathan Brownill, my exors,
adiiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jonathan Brownill, my
exors, admors, 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 of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF TRANSFERRING VESSELS PROM A HIGHER TO A LOWER LEVEL, OR FROM A
LOWER TO A HIGHER LEVEL, ON CANALS, AND ALSO FOR THE MORE CONVENIENTLY
RAISING OR LOWERING OF WEIGHTS, CARRIAGES, OR GOODS ON RAILROADS, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Jonathan Brownill, 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 inrolled in Ilis said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jonathan Brownill, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in an improved apparatus for raising or lowering goods from one level
to another on canals or railways, by means of which the weight to be raised is
suspended over a double set of pullies, and between two balance weights
instead of one, as heretofore, such balance weights being vessels containing
water, the quantity of which may be adjusted exactly to compensate the
weight to be raised in a new manner. And in further compliance with tho
said proviso, I, the said Jonathan Brownill, do hereby describe the manner in
which my said Invention is to be performed by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annoxed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In the Drawing marked A, Figure 1 is a plan of my said apparatus, which I
call a double-union safety lift, as applied to canals. C is the lower level of the
canal. D is the upper level. E, E, E, is what I call the shaft, divided into thrco
compartments, and answering to the lock now in use. F, F, are two shafts or
axes, strongly supported on the bearings marked G, which rest on the partition
walls of the compartments, and each carrying in this case five pullies. II is a
caisson intended to hold water, and into which the boats or barges are to be
floated. Lis intended to represent a coal barge in the caisson. I and J are two
sluices or shuttles, one at each end of the caisson, in which i, i, i, are smaller
shuttles for allowing the water to flow between the shuttle I and J till it
stands at one level with the water in the caisson, and K is a sluice at the end
of the upper level of the canal. There is a similar sluice at the end of the
lower level, not shewn in this Figure. M, M, are the balance weights, and
consist of two vessels or smaller caissons, containing water sufficient to balance
the weight of the large caisson II. These balance weights are suspended
to one end of the cords which pass over the pullies, and which are fastened at
the other end to the great caisson. N, N, are two spur wheels, working into
each other, to preserve an uniformity in the motion of the two sets of pullies
on the shafts F, F, and, if found inconveniently large, smaller spur wheels may
be used, with connecting motion wheels between them. Z is a false bottom
to the caisson, made water tight. X, X, are two reservoirs, with pipes leading
from them to the false bottom of the caisson, for the purpose of regulating its
weight, by adding to or drawing off the water by means of the sluices or
cocks Y, Y. It will be well here to observe that the same letters will be used
to denote similar parts in all the Figures describe:I.

page_text: Figure 2 is a side elevation in section of the shaft, the two levels, and of my
said apparatus. In this Figure the sluice to the lower lever is shown at O;
and the only explanation that this Figure will require more than Figure 1 will
be with reference to the part marked P, which is a contrivance for keeping
the caisson II close to the end of the upper level, so as to prevent the escape
of water when the boat is passing from the caisson into canal. For this
purpose P is a projecting inclined plane; R is a lever, turning on the pivot S,
with a friction roller T at one end. This lever is heaviest at the end V, and
thus rests upon the release lever or crank W while the caisson is rising up the
shaft. When the friction roller strikes against the under side of the pro-
jection P that end of the lever is depressed sufficiently to pass over the
projection, but as soon as it has passed the projection P it resumes its former
position; and and then if the caissons be allowed to descend a little the roller
end of the lever will act against the inclined plane, and press the caisson for-
ward against the end of the canal to any degree required. It will be seen
that there is a similar arrangement at the bottom of the shaft to keep tho
cassoon against the end of the canal at the lower level.
It will now be necessary to describe the manner of using my said Inven-
tion, which is as follows:-The boat having arrived at the sluice O, on the lower
level C, the caisson H must be lowered to the same level, and the sluices (
and I being opened, the boat must be suffered to enter the caisson. The sluice I
must then be cut, and the caisson raised to the upper level by admitting a pre-
ponderating weight of water into the smaller caissons or balance weights. When
the large caisson II has reached the top, and is pressed against the end of the
canal at the upper level by means of the projection P, as herein-before described,
the sluices J and K must be opened and the boat allowed to pass out of the
caisson into the canal at the upper lever; of course it will only be neces
sary to reverse the operation when it is required to lower a boat from the
upper to the lower level. Stuffing of some kind should be used between the
end of the caisson II and the end of the canal at the upper level for caisson to
bed against, so as to prevent the water from escaping when the sluices J and K
are opened. It should here be stated, that in order to give effect to the action
of the lever R against the projection P, there must be a portion of water
always in the bottom of the compartments which contain the smaller caissons.
Thus the impetus gained by the ascent of the large caisson H will be checked
on the smaller cassons immersing themselves in the water, and their buoyancy
causing them to rise again a little; or corresponding descent of the large
caisson II will take place sufficient to bring the lever R into action against

page_text: the projection P, as herein-before described. These parts are shown larger at
Figure 3.
When it is required to apply my said apparatus to railroads, a platform
on which to roll the carriages will be substituted for the large caisson II;
and water must be supplied for the purposes of my said apparatus by
reservoirs placed at different elevations at each different level, in manner
shown by the Drawing marked B. In this Drawing a, b, c, d, are four
reservoirs of water, placed side by side one another, and at different heights.
e, f, g, and h, are four other reservoirs, placed at the next end of the level in
the same manner. Each of these reservoirs has a pipe leading from it to one
general main pipe m, which is common to all of them. It will be seen that
each reservoir is furnished with a stopcock to cut off its communication with
the rest. n is the high level of the railroad. p, p, are the two walls of the
shafts, which descend to the lower levels q, q, and in which the double union
lift works. When it is required to raise a weight from r to s, the platform is
brought down to the low level at 7, and the two smaller caissons or balance
weights of the lift being empty are raised to the reservoirs, and filled from
them, beginning with the lower one d, which will only fill them to a certain
height, when recourse must be had to c, then to b, and lastly to a, from which
as little must be drawn as possible. When enough water has been drawn out
to cause the load to rise, the stopcocks of a and e must be opened, so that the
water in these two reservoirs may find its level. The stopcocks of these must
be shut, and the cocks of the next below opened in like manner and for the
same purpose, and so on till the water in all the corresponding reservoirs are
at the same height; then if a load is to descend from s to r it is rolled on to
the platform from the high level, and, descending, brings up the balance
weights or small caissons, which must now be emptied by letting out as much
water as the upper reservoir will receive first, then as much as the next below
will receive, and so on till the vessel is empty, when the water in the two sets
of reservoirs must be equalized as before by means of the stopcocks, and in
this manner very little water will be wasted, while the little that is wasted
must be supplied by some artificial means. It will be seen by this arrange-
ment that the same water is transferred to either end of the level at pleasure
to be used in working the lift, and this mode of transferring the water power
to the necessary elevation enables me to apply my said double-union lift to
various other purposes, such as cranework and other uses where great weights
are to be raised and lowered.
Now whereas I claim as my Invention the arrangement of a caisson with

page_text: a double bottom, connected with reservoirs, or of a platform as aforesaid, and
for the purposes aforesaid, suspended between two sets of pullies and two
balance weights in manner aforesaid, and the mode herein-before described of
forcing the said caisson against the canal head by the projection P and the
lever R, as also the arrangement of reservoirs and connecting pipes for trans-
ferring water with very little waste backwards and forwards, as occasion may
require, to work, my said double-union safety lift on railroads and in other
situations; and such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I verily believe this
my said
Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve or disguise,
with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege
to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonathan Brownill, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.
JONATHAN (L.S.) BROWNILL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the First day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid Jonathan Brownill came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the First day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.