AN IMPROVED SAFETY CAGE FOR MINES AND PITS, OR APRARATUS TO BE FITTED PROVISIONAL SP PREVENT ACCIDENTS FROM THE FALLING THEREOF
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Simpson, of Preston, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer of Gold Thread, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED SAFETY CAGE FOR MINES AND PITS, OR APRARATUS TO BE FITTED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Simpson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th August 1856.
I, EDMUND SIMPSON, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer
of Gold Thread, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED SAFETY CAGE FOR MINES AND PITS, OR APPARATUS TO BE FITTED TO CAGES
TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS FROM THE FALLING THEREOF," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in fitting in the mine or pit upright shafts, with
ratchet teeth on the inner faces thereof, or with notched plates in lengths,
bolted or secured thereto at intervals, and in suspending the cage from an
apparatus consisting of links, arms formed with eyes and pauls, and springs
placed between the chain, from which the cage is suspended, and the cage.
The eyes fit loosely round the shafts, and depending from and forming part
with the eyes are two legs, which, when the cage is descending properly, are
parallel with the inside and outside faces of the upright shafts, but should the
chain give way or break, springs come into action, depress the inner ends of
the arms, whereby the inside legs are forced against and into the ratchet teeth
on the shafts, and the further descent of the cage is arrested.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edmund Simpson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
SIMPSON, of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer of Gold Thread,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edmund Simpson, Her special licence that I, the said Edmund Simpson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edmund Simpson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the 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 "AN IMPROVED
SAFETY CAGE FOR MINES AND PITS, OR APPARATUS TO BE FITTED TO CAGES TO PREVENT
ACCIDENTS FROM THE FALLING THEREOF," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edmund Simpson, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmund Simpson, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed (that is to
say) :-
-
My Invention consists of a safety cage, or of an apparatus to be attached to a
rope used in raising or lowering men or weights out of or into mines. This
apparatus is a crosstree, having at each end an eye or ring, which slides loosely
over ratchet-shaped notched guide rods, extending from the top to the bottom
of the shaft, or notched plates attached to timbers by bolts, when timbers are
used instead of guide rods. The crosstree is furnished with clicks close to
the rings, so arranged, that in the event of the rope breaking the clicks are
forced by springs into the ratchet-shaped notches on the inner face of both

page_text: guide rods, thereby instantly arresting the descent of the crosstree and what-
ever is attached thereto.
The Drawings hereunto annexed shew the manner in which I carry my
Invention into effect. Figure 1 is a view of the crosstree or guide applied to
iron rods in proper working order; Figure 2 shews the same in the position
it would occupy after the rope or chain has broken; Figure 3 is a sectional
view of a pit or mine with the apparatus fitted thereto; Figure 4 shews in
sectional plan, and Figure 5 in side elevation, the notched plates secured by
bolts to timbers when wooden beams are fitted in the shaft of the pit or mine;
Figure 6 shews one of the links detached, which I use for suspending a cage
or weight from the crosstree; each link is hung from the centre or bolt upon
which each click works. Figure 7 is a top, and Figure 8 a side view, of one of
the clicks or arresters detached; Figure 9 is a plan of the crosstree which I
use with the toothed rods, shewn at Figures 1 and 2; Figure 10 is a plan of the
crosstree I make use of in conjunction with the notched plates attached to the
timbers, shewn at Figures 4 and 5; and Figure 11 is a view of my improved
spring box hook for suspending a cage or weight from the links and crosstree.
In Figures 1 and 2, A, A, are upright iron rods, having formed on their
inner face ratchet teeth a, a, and fixed from the top to the bottom of the
pit; B, B, are eyes, rings, or guides running loosely on the rods A, A; the
lower parts c, c, of these guides are notched to allow the clicks to get into the
ratchet teeth in case the rope breaks. C is the crosstree, which is formed of
metal, and of the shape shewn in plan, Figure 9; a space or slot is provided in
which the arresters or clicks, to be hereafter described, work; this space is
divided in the centre by a wedge-shaped piece of metal, E, E. Figures 7 and 8,
are the clicks or arresters, having a tongue e formed on one end, and an eye or
hook ffixed at the upper side of the other. The clicks are hung on stout
centres or pins g. 9, passing through the crosstree and projecting far enough
on each side to allow the links H, H, to be hung thereon. These links are
connected at bottom to the ring I, to which a cage or other weight is attached,
either directly or through the spring box hook, before named; to the eyes f, f,
the chains F are fixed; these chains unite at the ring G, to which the rope
used for raising and lowering the cage, &c. into the mine is attached. h, h, are
springs, and i, i, pins fixed in the clicks. The springs are screwed by a nut to
the wedge-shaped piece in the centre of the crosstree, and are so arranged,
that when the rope breaks, they press upon the pins and throw the clicks into
action and cause them to engage into the ratchet teeth. The ends k, k, of the
clicks are made wedge-shaped to correspond with the wedge form of the piece
of metal in the centre of the crosstree, so that when the cage is descending

page_text: properly the clicks being jammed against the centre piece keep them clear of
the ratchet teeth; but should the chain or rope break, the upward pressure
on the clicks is instantly released, when the springs h, h, push the tongues e, e,
into the ratchet teeth on the rods A, A, and the cage becomes instantly
stationary in the mine or pit.
At Figure 3 the cage and whole apparatus are supposed to be properly ascend-
ing or descending in the mine; the rope L passes over a pulley M supported in
suitable apparatus over the mouth of the pit or mine. K is the cage, which is
guided in its descent by the travellers 1, 1, running on the shafts A, A; N,N,
are the sides of the pit. In Figures 4 and 5, A, A, are notched plates, which aro
bolted or otherwise secured to the timbers B, B, fixed to the side of the pit or
mine; the notched plates are formed with a groove or thin part a, as seen in
Figure 4. The crosstree which I employ, when using this apparatus, is formed
with a slot b, seen at Figure 10, cut through the end of the eye, guide, or
traveller, and made of a size to allow it to run in the grooves a formed in the
notched plates; in every other respect this crosstree is similar to that before
described. A, Figure 11, is a hollow spring box hook, on the top of which is
an eye a. C is a hook formed on the end of a rod, at the other end of which
rod a piston is attached, which is inserted in the interior of the box A, and at
its under side works through a collar and stuffing box. Between the collar
and the piston I place a series of india-rubber or other suitable washers, shewn
by dotted lines in the Figure. This spring box I attach to the ring of the
crosstree by the eye a, and the cage to the hook at the bottom of the box, so
that in the event of the rope breaking, or any sudden stoppage in the pit, the
india-rubber in the interior of the box yields to the sudden pressure and thereby
reduces the jerk.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the safety appa-
ratus to be fitted to or employed with cages or other weights to prevent the
falling thereof, consisting of crosstree clicks or arresters and springs, arranged
and working in the manner herein before described, and represented in the
Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Simpson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
EDMUND SIMPSON. (L.S.)