Improvements in Hoists.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Nov., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 15th Aug., 1894-Accepted, 15th Sept.. 18.94
TRUVIDIONAL DE MULTIVA
Improvements in Hoists.
We JOHN DUXBURY of the Firm of Lomnitz & Duxbury of Blackfriars
Street, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, and of Mill Hill, Bolton in the
same county, Merchant and ROBERT OWEN in the employment of the said firm
at the latter address, Mechanic do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:—
Our invention relates chiefly to hoists for use in warehouses and in other places
where the entrance to the hoist on each floor is guarded by a door or grille sliding
in vertical ways as is well understood. Hitherto in hoists having such doors and in
which the power of the hoist has been utilised to raise the doors there has always
existed a difficulty in raising the doors, on the floors above the ground floor when
the hoist is descending. In ascending the practice has been to provide a catch on
the hoist door which engages with a movable lever on the cage, so that the ascent
of the cage results in the raising of the door.
But in descending if it should be desired to take in or discharge goods or
passengers at any of the floors above the ground floor, it has been customary and
necessary to lower the cage beneath the level of the floor so as to permit the lever
on the cage to engage with the catch on the door and then cause the cage to ascend
to the level of the floor, raising the door as it does so. This of course brings about
a considerable loss both of time and of power. The object of our invention is to
remedy this defect. The doors are suspended by chains or lines which pass over
pullies fixed in the well or doorway and carry two or more counterbalance weights
by which arrangement the door is moved easily up and down. We then arrange
catches on the cage which can be slid horizontally so as to come in contact with or
pass, stops, which are fixed to the counterbalance weights.
When the cage is descending and it is desired to open a door upon halting at any
of the intermediate floors all that is necessary is to push out those catches so that
as they descend they will catch the stops on the counterbalance weights. The
weights are thus pulled down with the cage in its descent and as a result the door
is lifted to the required extent. When the cage is ascending the doors are raised
by the existing means hereinbefore referred to or by other suitable means, the same
forming no part of our invention. The catches on the cage may be operated singly,
by hand, or they may be operated in any other convenient manner. For example
they might be actuated simultaneously from a weigh shaft running across the cage,
the said weigh shaft being worked from a lever by the attendant. A convenient
means however is to work the catches from the cross shaft which at present exists
in some hoists, to move a lever towards and away from the catch on the doors for
the purpose of opening the doors during the ascent of the cage.
It may be said that in some instances this lever and cross shaft are moved
automatically by means of swells or depressions on the ways of the hoist, a handle
being provided to check this automatic movement when passing floors at which it is
not intended to stop. The same handle may be utilised to govern the movements of
the counterweight catches. Our method of opening the doors on the descent of the
cage may however be used either in combination with the indicated arrangement
or in combination with any other arrangement to which it is capable of being
applied.
To cause the sliding door to hang perfectly square and so obviate any tendency
to jamb in the ways we prefer not to attach the suspending ends of the chains fast

page_text: to the door, but pass the chain ends round small pullies and connect the ends by a
sliding bar with stops to limit its play.
The chain is thus allowed to give and take a little at the points of suspension
and the door is allowed to hang perfectly parallel with the ways in which it
slides.
Dated this 14th day of November 1893.
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.
Improvements in Hoists.
We JOHN DUXBURY of the Firm of Lomnitz & Duxbury of Blackfriars
Street, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, and of Mill Hill, Bolton, in the
same county, Merchant, and ROBERT OWEN in the employment of the said firm
at the latter address, Mechanic, 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 and accompanying drawings:-
Our invention relates chiefly to hoists for use in warehouses and in other places
where the entrance to the hoist on each floor is guarded by a door or grille sliding
in vertical ways as is well understood.
Hitherto in hoists having such doors, and in which the power of the hoist has
been utilised to raise the doors, there has always existed a difficulty in raising
the doors on the floors above the ground floor when the hoist is descending.
In ascending, the practice has been to provide a catch on the hoist door which
engages with a movable lever on the cage, so that the ascent of the cage results in
the raising of the door.
But in descending if it should be desired to take in or discharge goods or
passengers at any of the floors above the ground floor, it has been customary and
necessary to lower the cage beneath the level of the floor so as to permit the
lever on the cage to engage with the catch on the door, and then cause the cage to
ascend to the level of the floor, raising the door as it does so. This of course
brings about a considerable loss of both time and power.
The object of our invention is to remedy this defect.
For the purpose of more clearly ascertaining our improvements we have attached
hereto a sheet of drawings to which we will now refer.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a hoist well, showing the doors and floors and also
containing a cage fitted with the appliances which constitute the bulk of our
invention.
Fig. 2 is a similar section at right angles to Fig. 1.
Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views of the sliding stop handles.
The doors a on the different floors are suspended by chains or lines 6 which pass
over pullies c fixed on the sides of the well or doorway and carrying two or more
counterbalance weights d by which arrangement the doors a are moved easily up
and down. We also arrange catches e on the cage A which are carried in brackets f
and can be slid horizontally so as either to come in contact with or to avoid stops g
which are carried by the counterbalance weights d.
When the cage A is descending, and it is desired to open a door upon halting at
any of the intermediate floors, all that is necessary is to push out these catches e, so
that as they descend they will catch the stops g on the counterbalance weights d, as
plainly shown at the lower part of Fig. 2. The weights are thus pulled down
with the cage A in its descent and as a result the door is lifted to the
required extent.

page_text: When the cage is ascending, the doors are raised by the existing means herein-
before referred to, or by other suitable means, the same forming no part of our
present invention. These existing means consist generally of sliding stops h
carried in brackets i and capable of being slid to and fro in the same manner as
the catches e.
The catches e on the cage may be operated singly by hand, or they may be
operated in any other convenient manner. For example they might be actuated
simultaneously from a weight shaft extending across the cage, the said weight shaft
being worked from a lever by the attendant. A convenient means however is to
work the catches e from the cross shaft k which at present exists in some hoists,
to move the catches h towards and away from the catches on the doors for the
purpose of opening the doors during the ascent of the cage.
The handle by which this cross shaft k is worked, is marked m and a double
lever n may work both the old catches h and the new catches e.
In some instances the levers and cross shaft are moved automatically by means
of swells and depressions on the ways of the hoist, the handle m being then utilised
by the attendant to check the automatic movement when passing floors at which
it is not intended to stop.
To operate the catches from the swells and depressions on the ways o a lever p is
fixed on one end of the cross shaft k the said lever carrying a bowl which rolls on
the way o
When the bowl is rolling on the higher part of the way (as shown in
Fig. 2) the catches e are pushed in so as to strike on the catches g on the counter-
balance weights d, as the cage descends and thus open the door a. To cause the
catches to miss the fixed stops 4, if so desired, during the ascent of the cage, the
attendant holds the handle mi down to prevent the bowl g from dropping into
the depression in the way o and so sliding the catches h forward.
The points of the catches h are made to fold upward so as to yield when striking
any obstruction during descent.
Thus although the hoist as illustrated, when left to work automatically, would
lift the door at each floor, both in ascending and descending, nevertheless the
attendant can so govern it by the handle m that it will miss any door when so
required.
To facilitate this manipulation of the catches as in the illustrated example, we
make the lever p and the handle m in one part, as illustrated in the perspective
view Fig. 3.
The lever and handle, spring from a common boss t which is carried loosely on the
cross shaft k. The handle m is fitted with a spring detent u, the spring u¹ tending
always to push the sliding finger u³ into a hole in the cross shaft k and thus to key the
boss t to the cross shaft. Now suppose that in descending it is wished to pass any inter-
mediate door without opening it, the attendant seizes the handle m and by operating
the detent u detaches the boss t from the shaft. Thus the movements of the lever p
have no influence on the cross shaft k and the springs on the ends of the catches e
keep them pulled back and out of the way of the stops g on the counterbalance
weights.
In their normal positions, and when the operator releases the handle, the
spring u pushes the finger u back again into the shaft, and so locks the boss to
the shaft.
The catches can thus be manipulated to hit or miss at the pleasure of the
operator.
Our method of opening the doors on the descent of the cage may however be
used either in combination with the indicated arrangement or in combination with
any other arrangement to which it is capable of being applied.
To cause the sliding doors a to hang perfectly square and to obviate any tendency
to jamb in the ways, we prefer not to attach the suspending ends of the chains b
fast to the door, but pass the chain ends round small pullies r r on the door and
connect the ends by a bar s which may have stops to limit its play.
The chains bare thus allowed to give and take a little at the points of suspension

page_text: and the door a is allowed to hang perfectly parallel with the ways in which it slides.
and cannot so easily jamb.
This method of suspending the door is shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing.
In the drawing the cage A is shown at the foot of the well or at an intervening
Hoor and the door a is shown raised so as to allow egress from the cage.
The upper door a is shown closed, thus guarding the mouth of the well and
preventing accidents.
As it is usually insisted upon by inspectors of factories, that hoist doors thus
guarding the well should be locked, we make provision for such locking.
The pulley is carried on the upper end of a bar sliding in ways attached
to the door. At a suitable point in the depth of the door, we provide a bell
crank latch w loosely pivotted at w¹ and connected by a pin wo with the bar 1.
When the door is down as is the case with the upper door in Fig. 1, this latch w
falls into a notch in the side way of the hoist well.
cage.
As the cage rises it strikes the stop at the foot of the bar and throws up
the latch wo bringing it out of the notch and leaving the door free to rise with the
When the door falls, the latch drops into the notch and so locks the door
again. When the door is opened during the descent of the cage the pull on the
chain 6 on the latch side of the cage, jerks up the bar and unhooks the latch
leaving the door at liberty to be raised.
Thus the doors are automatically unlocked before being raised, and automatically
locked when they are lowered.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is,
1. The general arrangement, construction and combination of improved hoist
substantially as described and shown.
2. In connection with hoists of the indicated nature, the general arrangement,
construction and combination of parts constituting our improvement whereby
the door or grille on each floor can be raised at pleasure during the descent of the
cage substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated.
3. In a hoist of the indicated nature the provision of sliding catches such as e
adapted to be slid to and fro, either manually or automatically so as to engage with
stops on the weights or other counterbalancing parts of the doors, and so raise the
doors during the descent of the cage, substantially as described and shown.
4. Suspending the doors of hoists of the indicated nature upon endless chains
or bands passing under or around pullies or their equivalents on the doors, so
as to prevent tilting and jambing of the doors, substantially as described
and shown.
5. The improved means for automatically locking and unlocking the doors of
hoists substantially as described and as illustrated.
Dated this 11th day of August 1894.
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.