Improvements in Apparatus for Conveying Goods or Persons to and from Two Points, especially adapted for Loading and Unloading Ships, Railway-trucks, Carts, and the like.
Year: 1891

page_text: UUMI LEID SI MULTICA
Improvements in Apparatus for Conveying Goods or Persons to and
from Two Points, especially adapted for Loading and Unloading
Ships, Railway-trucks, Carts, and the like.
A communication from HERMANN PRASSER, of Pirna, in the German Empire,
Shipowner.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
M.I.M.E., do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
The subject of this invention is an arrangement more especially intended for the
loading and unloading of ships, but suitable for conveying goods or passengers to and
from any two moderately distant points. The device mainly consists of a rope or cable
bar or equivalent upon which is adapted to run a carrying receptacle and one end
of which is permanently attached to a fixed point while the opposite end is arranged
for moving up and down as desired under the action of suitable elevating mechanism.
By carrying up the movable end of the rope above the level of the permanent point
of attachment of the other end, the receptacle is caused to slide down the incline
thus formed towards the fixed point; and by bringing the movable end of the rope
into a lower plane than that of the fixed end the receptacle is made to run down in
the opposite direction i.e. towards the said movable end.
This principle may be applied in practice to a great variety of purposes
especially to loading and unloading vehicles and craft of any description such as
ships, barges, railway trucks, carts, wherever it is impracticable or undesirable to
bring the vehicle or vessel to the spot, to or from which the load is to be conveyed.
The device will also prove useful for agricultural purposes and in carrying raw
material from place to place in factory yards.
Structural details will of course vary to suit requirements in each particular case.
An example of the device as applied to the loading or unloading of ships is
illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
The assumption is that it is desired to unload the cargo of a vessel and place it
upon the bank or shore say at the spot marked A A. A short distance further
landward and on a higher level than A the wire rope a is securely tied to a post or
tree or an anchor-carriage such as is used in steam ploughs or like contrivances
may be employed for the purpose. The two masts of the lighter B arranged in a
line as shown are each provided with a pulley or block & carrying a cross-bar e
which is thus parallel to the longitudinal axis of the boat. From the cross bar e to
the deck extends the wire-rope which by raising the bar e through the medium
of the block d is stretched taut. Along the wire-rope fis adapted to run the roller
or sheave g to one end of whose supporting strap is attached the wire-rope a while
to the other end of the said strap is secured the end of the rope h passing over the
fast sheave i and leading to a winch k whereby as will readily be understood the end
of a may thus be raised or lowered at will.
On the rope a through the medium of a roller is adapted to travel a receptacle 7.
For the purpose of filling this the pulley g is allowed to descend so as to bring the
receptacle to the position I or lower if required. The pulley g and the end of the
rope a are then raised by operating the winch when the receptacle 1 on assuming
the position II runs down the inclined rope a towards A, i.e. to the position III
where its contents are discharged. Now the rope end a g is lowered again and the
empty receptacle taking the position IV runs back to B to be filled afresh. In
lading it will be understood the operation is reversed.
For stationary plants of any kind the mast c and cross-bar e will of course be

page_text: replaced by a corresponding stationary structure or frame provided if necessary with
a vertical guide rod instead of the rope f.
The receptacles may by any well-known device be adapted to empty themselves
automatically on arriving at their destination.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I claim is :-
An arrangement for loading and unloading vehicles or craft and for carrying
goods or persons from one spot to the other, the carriage or receptacle adapted to
fulfil this purpose being caused to reciprocate on a rope cable or equivalent between
two points which rope or cable is at one end permanently attached at a fixed point
while its other end may by suitable means be raised above or depressed below the
level of the said fixed point thus causing the receptacle to run down in one or the
other direction along the inclined rope or cable substantially as described.
Dated this 18th day of August 1891.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.