AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF ELEVATOR
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF ELEVATOR."
- A communication from abroad by Reuben Martin Van Sickler, of
New York City, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 24th May 1867, and dated the 17th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th December 1866.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF ELEVATOR," to
be as follows:
This Invention relates to an elevator suitable for storehouses and other
localities, it being mounted on a car in such a manner that it can be readily
pushed to the desired place and used to pick up boxes or other heavy articles
and deposit them where required; the car is provided with two sets of wheels,
the axles of which are at right angles to each other, and one set of these
wheels is so arranged that they can be raised or depressed by means of
crank levers. By these means either set of wheels can be brought into
operation at will to give the car either a forward or a lateral motion. The
platform which serves to receive the goods to be elevated is secured to a

page_text: carriage which travels in vertical tracks, and is provided with suitable friction
wheels to facilitate its motion. The tracks are connected and hung on
gudgeons so that they can be adjusted at any desired inclination, and the plat-
form is provided with an extension, whereby the loading and unloading of goods
in some localities is facilitated. The two grooved tracks are connected together
by suitable cross bars, and mounted on the car by pivots or gudgeons which
admit of the tracks being adjusted in a vertical or in an oblique position as
occasion may require by means of a hand lever. If desired the tracks may
be rigidly connected to the car, and made in sections to be connected by
couplings so that they can be shortened or loosened; the grooved tracks form
the guides for a carriage or sliding frame to which the platform intended to
receive the goods to be elevated or lowered is attached; this carriage is
provided with friction wheels to ease its up-and-down motions in the tracks.
The platform is rigidly attached to the carriage, and is provided with slides
which when drawn out receive and support an extension piece, which facili-
tates the operation of loading and unloading goods from the platform. When
the extension platform is used two sliding feet attached to the sides of the
car are drawn out to prevent the same from tipping over if the weight of the
goods bears on the extreme end of the platform. The sliding carriage is
suspended from a chain which passes over a roller carried by a cross bar on
the tracks near their upper ends; this chain is connected to a windlass secured
in a cage attached to the back of the tracks, or in some cases it may be
preferable to have the windlass on the same side with the platform, and con-
nected to the same or to the sliding carriage, so that persons standing on the
platform can raise and lower themselves without difficulty.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Alfred
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto, me, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent

page_text: Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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
CONSTRUCTION OF ELEVATOR," being a communication to me from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
, 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 per-
formed, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being bad to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention relates to the construction of travelling elevators suitable for
storehouses and other localities. The elevator is mounted on a carriage that
will admit of its being readily pushed to the desired place and used to pick up
boxes or other heavy articles and deposit them where required. The carriage
is provided with two sets of wheels, the axles of which are at right angles to
each other, and one set of these wheels is so arranged that they can be raised
or depressed. Either set of wheels can thus be brought into operation at will
to give the carriage either a forward or a lateral motion. The platform which
serves to receive the goods to be elevated is secured to a carriage which
travels in vertical tracks, and is provided with suitable friction wheels to
facilitate its motion. The tracks are connected and hung on gudgeons, so
that they can be adjusted at any desired inclination, and the platform is
provided with an extension, whereby the loading and unloading of goods in
some localities is facilitated.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents the improved elevator in
longitudinal vertical section; Fig. 2 is a transverse section thereof, and Fig 3
is a horizontal section of the same. Similar letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts.
A represents a carriage, which may be made of wood or other suitable
material and of any desirable shape and size; this carriage is provided with

page_text: two sets of wheels B, B'. The wheels B are mounted on stud axles a rigidly
attached to the sides of the carriage, and the wheels B¹ run on axles a¹
placed at right angles to the axles a, and having their bearings in the ends of
bell-crank levers 6 pivotted at c; these levers 6 are connected by suitable
rods so that they can be moved simultaneously by the action of a hand
lever C. By throwing this hand lever in the direction of the arrow marked
near it in Fig. 1 of the Drawing the wheels B' are depressed and brought to
the ground, and the carriage is thereby raised, so that the same instead of
being supported by the wheels B rests on the wheels B', and can be moved in
a direction at right angles to that in which it moves on the wheels B. From
the carriage A rise two grooved tracks D which are connected together by
suitable cross bars and provided with gudgeons 6', so that they can be adjusted
to a vertical or an oblique position, as occasion may require; these gudgeons
have their bearings in suitable boxes secured to the carriage A, and a hand
lever E connected by a link to the lower end of the tracks is used to adjust
the same to the required position. If desired the tracks may be rigidly
connected to the carriage, and they may be made in sections to be connected
by couplings, so that they can be shortened or loosened. The grooved tracks
form the guides for a carriage or sliding frame F, to which is attached a
platform G which is intended to receive the goods to be elevated or lowered.
The sliding frame is made of wood and iron combined, or of any other suitable
material, and it is provided with friction wheels on top and bottom (see
Fig. 2), so that it works easily up and down in the tracks, and the said tracks
themselves keep the sliding frame in the proper position while being raised
or lowered. The platform G is rigidly attached to its frame, and it is pro-
vided with horizontal slides H, which when drawn out receive and support an
extension piece I, by this extension of the platform the operation of loading
and unloading goods from the platform is materially facilitated. It must be
remarked that the extension of the platform can be effected in various different
ways, and I do not wish to confine myself in this respect to the precise arrange-
ment shown in the Drawing. When the extension platform is used two
sliding feet M attached to the sides of the carriage A are drawn out to
prevent the same from tipping over should the weight of the goods bear on
the extreme end of the platform. The sliding frame F is suspended from a
chain or cord f which passes over a grooved roller 9. and thence down to a
windlass J. The roller g is supported by a cross bar h attached to the tracks
D near their upper ends, and the windlass is secured in a cage K secured to
the back of the tracks, or in some cases it may be preferable to have the
windlass on the same side with the platform and connected to the same or to

page_text: the sliding frame F, so that persons standing on the platform can raise and
lower themselves without difficulty, or the windlass may be secured in any
other convenient position. In practice two chains will be used instead of one,
and the drums or windlasses on which they wind will be connected by gear
wheels, so that they can be operated by one and the same crank.
This elevator is of particular advantage for stores and warehouses where
heavy boxes have to be piled up in tiers, and many times a box has to be
taken down or put up in a very narrow space, requiring four or five men to
perform the operation, while one man with the aid of the improved elevator
can do the work in less time and without particular exertion.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Construction of Elevator" as communicated to me from abroad, and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the arrangement of
parts above described constituting the improved construction of elevator.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S:)