IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING THE BRAKES OF WINDING ENGINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Rollinson, of Pensnett, in the County of
Stafford, Engineer, and William Rollinson, of Brierly Hill, in the
County of Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Rollinson and William
Rollinson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 8th November 1860.
We, JOHN ROLLINSON, of Pensnett, in the County of Stafford, Engineer,
and WILLIAM ROLLINSON, of Brierly Hill, in the County of Stafford, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING THE BRAKES OF WINDING ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
In working the brakes of winding engines (that is to say, engines used for
raising coal and other minerals from mines and for like purposes,) according
to our Invention, we proceed as follows:-At the end of the drum shaft or
shaft carrying the brake wheel; our apparatus is fixed, which consists of a
screw working in connection with the said shaft. Upon the said screw a
screwe! nut or screw box is placed, and over the screw and screw box is a

page_text: hollow axis or stock. The said screw box or nut has a projection, which
engages
in a slot in the hollow stock, and on the rotation of the said screw
the screw nut travels along the screw, the projection passing along the slot in
the hollow stock. When the said projection has arrived at one end of the
said slot the further rotation of the screw causes the rotation of the hollow
stock. On one end of the said hollow stock a pulley is fixed, to which a
chain or cord is fastened. The said chain passes to the lever of the brake,
and is made to operate on the said lever in the following manner :-The long
arm of the said lever works in a quadrant guide, and in a slot in the said
quadrant a spring catch or bolt slides connected with the before-mentioned
chain. In order to bring the brake into operation at the required time the
spring bolt is brought on to the top of the arm of the brake lever when the
brake becomes self-acting. As soon as the drum or fly-wheel shaft has per-
formed the required number of rotations the projection on the screw box
arrives at the end of the slot in the hollow stock; the said hollow stock com-
mences to turn the pulley on its end, and winds up the chain which last draws
down the brake lever, and thereby tightening the brake upon the brake
wheel brings the engine to rest. The mechanism described acts by the rota-
tion of the drum shaft in either direction, and can be adjusted to suit mines
of any depth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Rollinson and William Rollinson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 3rd May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
ROLLINSON. of Pensnett, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, and WILLIAM
ROLLINSON, of Brierley Hill, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Rollinson and William Rollinson, Her special licence that we, the said
John Rollinson and William Rollinson, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Rollinson and William Rollinson,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WORKING THE BRAKES OF WINDING ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said John Rollinson and William Rollinson,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
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 we, the said John Rollinson and William
Rollinson, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists of the improvement or improvements in working the
brakes of winding engines, herein-after particularly described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing; the said winding engines being used for raising
coal and other minerals from mines, and for other like purposes.
The object of our improvement or improvements in working the said brakes
is to make them self-acting, as herein-after explained.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents in front elevation the brake of a winding
engine, together with the apparatus necessary to work it, constructed accord-
ing to our Invention; and Figure 2 is an end elevation of a portion of the
same; Figures 3 and 4 represent portions of the same, separately, as herein-
after explained. At the end of the drum shaft, or shaft carrying the brake
wheel, the apparatus constituting the essential part of our Invention is fixed.
In the winding engine, illustrated in the Drawing, the said apparatus is fixed
on the end of the drum shaft of the said engine. The said apparatus consists
of a screw a fixed to one end of the drum shaft b, the said screw being fixed
by the cross-head c. The screw a works in bearings in uprights d, d, in the
manner herein-after explained. Figure 3 represents longitudinal and vertical
sections of the mechanism at the end of the drum shaft. Upon the said
screw a a screwed nut or screw box e works. The screw box or nute has pro-
jections e, e, on each side, which projections engage in slots in the hollow
shaft surrounding the screw a, and supported in bearings in the uprights d, d,
the screw a being eupported at each end in the necks of the hollow shaft f,

page_text: (see Figure 3,) which said necks are supported in bearings in the uprights d, d.
On the rotation of the shaft 6 the screw a turns in the hollow shaft f without
communicating motion thereto. But as the screw box or nut e is prevented
from rotating by its projections e² engaging in the slots in the hollow axis f,
the screw box e travels along the screw a on the rotation of the said screw.
When the projections e, e², have arrived at one or other end of the slots in
the hollow axis f, the screw box e being incapable of advancing further in that
direction on the said screw the further rotation of the screw a causes the rota-
tion of the hollow axis f. On the end of the bollow axis f a pulley 9 is fixed,
to which a chain his fastened. The said chain h passes over the guide
pullies i, k, and is connected to the brake lever through the box s, in the
manner herein-after explained, the said brake lever working in the curved
guide r. The winding engine being set in motion the drum upon the drum
shaft b winds up the skip or cage. When the said drum shaft 6 has performed
the required number of rotations to raise the skip or cage to the mouth of the
mine shaft the projections e², e², on the screw box e arrive at one end of the
slots in the hollow axis f; the said axis f now commences to turn the pulley g
and winds up the chain h, which last draws down the long end of the brake
lever 1, the short end of the said lever is thereby raised, and the brake m
tightened upon the brake or fly-wheel n, and the engine brought to rest. The
skip or cage raised from the mine shaft to the required height is thus pre-
vented from being drawn over the head gear of the raising mechanism.
order to liberate the engine and allow it to be set to work in the opposite
direction, it is necessary that the chain h be disconnected from the lever 1,
when the balance weight q lifts the said lever, and thereby depresses the
brake m. The detachment of the chain h may be effected in the manner
herein-after explained. The engine being reversed the chain h is unwound
from the pulley g, and is connected again with the lever 1. The action of the
engine is not interrupted again by the brake until the projections e², e², of the
screw box e travel to the other end of the slots in the hollow axis f, when motion
is again communicated to the said hollow axis f and pulley g, and the brake
tightened upon the brake wheel in the manner already described. The engine
is thus permitted to work in either direction, so as to raise the skips or cages
from their respective mine shafts, and is brought to rest when either of the
skips or cages has arrived at the mouth of the mine shaft; and any accident
from the absence of the engineman, or neglect on his part to stop the engine
at the required time when the skip or cage comes to the mouth of the mine
shaft is prevented. Instead of a chain passing over pullies, as described, a
In

page_text: lever, indicated in dotted lines at a, Figure 1, may be employed; the said lever
working below and parallel to the lever l. The chain h, by winding on the
pulley g acts upon the said lever x, and thereby depresses the brake lever / as
effectually as by the use of a chain. In order to permit the brake lever / being
detached from the chain or lever at x, whenever it may be necessary, the
said chain or lever is connected with the brake lever in the manner best seen
in Figure 4. r, Figures 1 and 4 is a curved guide, in which the box s and
brake lever slide. The chain h or lever a is connected to the under side of
the said box s. The said box s carries a bolt t, to which the bell-crank lever 2
is connected. A spring v presses the bolt t into the position indicated in
Figure 4. In order to engage the box s with the brake lever l, the said box
is raised to the top of the guide r. The inclined edge of the bolt t coming
against the lower edge of the lever 1, the said bolt is forced back into its box s
until the lower edge of the said bolt coming over the top edge of the lever /;
the said bolt is shot by its spring v over the said lever 1, and when the said
box s is depressed it carries down with it the lever l. When it is required to
detach the box s from the lever l it is only necessary to press upon the hori-
zontal arm of the lever u, when the bolt t is withdrawn and the lever discon-
nected from the box s and chain h or lever at x. By lengthening or shortening
the slots in the hollow axis f so as to adjust them to the number of rotations,
which the screw e and drum shaft 6 are required to make to bring the skip or
cage to the required height above the mouth of the mine shaft, the apparatus
described may be applied to mine shafts of any depth. The slots in the hollow
axis may be shortened by collars being fixed on the axis, the said collars being
made more or less to cover the slots; but we prefer to make the slots of the
required length for the particular mine shaft to which our apparatus is applied.
Instead of making two slots in the hollow axis f, and two projections on the
screw box working in the said slots, one projection on the said screw box may
be made to work in one slot in the hollow axis f with the same or nearly the
same effect. The motion of the main shaft or shaft carrying the brake wheel
is transmitted to the drum shaft b through the toothed wheels o, p.
Instead of fixing the mechanism constituting the essential part of our
Invention upon the drum shaft of the winding engine, as described and repre-
sented, the said mechanism may, if preferred, be fixed on the shaft carrying
the brake wheel of the said engine.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details herein described and illustrated in the accom-

page_text: panying Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of our Invention; but we claim as our Invention the improvement or improve-
ments in working the brakes of winding engines herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, working the said
brakes by self-acting mechanism constructed essentially in the manner herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Rollinson and William Rollinson,
have hereunto set our bands and seals, this Thirtieth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
JOHN EDWARDS.
JOHN ROLLINSON
(L.S.)
WILLIAM ROLLINSON. (L.S.)