A NEW. SELF-DISCONNECTING · CIRCULAR HOOK."
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Francis Enright, of Shinrone, King's County,
Ireland, M.D., for the Invention of "A NEW. SELF-DISCONNECTING ·
CIRCULAR HOOK."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Francis Enright
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd November 1874.
I, JOHN FRANCIS ENRIGHT, of Shinrone, King's County, Ireland, M.D.
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW SELF-
DISCONNECTING CIRCULAR HOOK," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the combination of mechanical parts having
for its object the disengagement or release of a weight or other body
suspended on the circular hook when the weight or body touches the
ground or other resistive matter.
I employ a piece of metal or other suitable material having an
ordinary hook at one end, to which a rope or chain is attached, as may
be required. The other part of this piece of metal or other suitable

page_text: material is split down the centre so as to allow the plate of the circular
hook, herein-after mentioned, to fit into it and revolve or work freely in
it on a central axis.
The plate, which may be made of metal or other suitable material, is
a flat piece or disc, and circular in form, except that a portion of it is
cut away so as to form the hook and allow the hook belonging to the
weight or body to be disengaged to fit into the space and hang on the
hook of the circular flat piece or disc. The part cut away forms part of
a circle of which the central axis of the circular flat piece or disc is the
centre. Another part of the circular disc above the part cut away is
made thicker than the remaining portion in order that when the weight
or body suspended on the circular hook touches the ground or other
resistive matter such thicker and heavier portion of the circular disc
falls by its own gravity and displaces the circular hook, and allows the
weight or body to be disconnected from the circular hook.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Francis Enright in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FRANCIS ENRIGHT, of Shinrone, King's County, Ireland, M.D., send 2
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and 2
grant unto me, the said John Francis Enright, Her special licence that
I, the said John Francis Enright, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Francis Enright, my cxe--
cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the a
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW SELF-
DISCONNECTING CIRCULAR HOOK," upon the condition (amongst others) that

page_text: I, the said John Francis Enright, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Francis Enright, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, and on reference being had to
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say:-
This Invention, which relates to the construction and application of a
new self-disconnecting circular hook, consists of the combination of a
circularly hooked and segmentally weighted circular disc with a bifur-
cated depending or suspended support, and it has for its object the self-
disconnecting (or disengagement and release) of the hook from any
weight or other body suspended thereby immediately the weight rests
upon the ground or meets with any other equivalent resistance (sufficient
to relieve the hook of its weight) when being lowered.
The Invention is especially applicable to the saving of manual labor
and loss of time in unhooking, to the lowering of heavy bodies from
aloft in mills and warehouses, to the unloading of ships and railway
carriages, and to the lowering of lifeboats at sea, as it secures the
simultaneous self-disengagement of both hooks in the boat.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention I will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to
be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that
the same may be distinctly understood I have annexed hereunto one Sheet
of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with Figures
of reference corresponding with those in the following explanation
thereof, that is to say :-
-
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings 1 represents the circular
disc, which is slotted or cut away at the part 2 circularly and concen-
trically with its periphery in such a manner as to form the hook 3; it is
also made at the segmental part 4 at or near the mouth of the slot 2

page_text: much thicker, and consequently heavier than at its other parts, and at
its centre it is suspended so as to work freely on an axis 5 carried by
the arms or bifurcated part 6 of the depending support 7, which at its
upper end is suspended by an ordinary hook 8, forming a connection
between it and the lowering and raising rope or chain 9. The disc 1 {
and support 7 may be made of metal or wood or of any other suitable
material.
The action of the improved combination of parts is as follows:-
When desired to raise or lower a weight 10 or other body of any descrip-
tion.it-is hung or connected by a ring or hook 11 or by a chain or other :
suitable appliance upon the hook 3, which is turned to and retained by
the weight in the position shown in Figure 1, but when in being lowered
into position the weight or body rests upon the ground, or meets with
any equivalent resistance, as it is then thereby supported, the hook 3 is
released of its weight, which allows the weighted part 4 of the disc 1 by
the attraction of gravity to revolve to the position shown in Figures 2
and 3, which thus disengages the hook 3 from any connection with the
weight or body.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, together with the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I
would remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention, the combi-
nation of a circularly hooked and segmentally weighted circular disc
with a bifurcated depending or suspended support (substantially as in
the manner above described and as illustrated on the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings) for the self-disconnecting (or disengagement and release)
of itself from any weight or other body (being raised or lowered thereby)
upon the latter resting upon the ground or meeting with any other
equivalent resistance (when being lowered), by which it becomes sup-
ported, and its further application to the uses mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Francis Enright, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
JOHN FRANCIS ENRIGHT, M.D. (L.S.)