Improvements in Registering Mechanism, more particularly Designed for Recording the Loads Raised and Delivered by a Crane in Discharging Cargoes from Lighters or other Vessels.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 9th June, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 9th Mar., 1894-Accepted, 21st Apr., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Registering Mechanism, more particularly Designed
for Recording the Loads Raised and Delivered by a Crane in
Discharging Cargoes from Lighters or other Vessels.
I, WILLIAM RAHTZ, of Ruxley House, Parsons Hill, Woolwich, in the County
of Kent, Coal Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to registering mechanism generally, but has more especially
for its object to provide means of automatically recording the number of skip loads
raised and delivered by a crane in the operation of discharging or unloading coal
or other cargoes from lighters or other vessels.
The invention consists in an electrically-operated propelment and counting
mechanism, and in the combination of such propelment and counting mechanism
with a crane in such manner as to be operated by the slewing motion of the crane
each time a loaded skip is hoisted and discharged.
According to my invention, I employ an ordinary counting train which I cause
to be actuated by a step-by-step propelment under the influence of an electro-
magnet which is energised by the closing of an electric circuit through contact
devices so arranged that when unloading a vessel for example, the action of the
magnet is dependent upon the slewing of the crane.
The propelment consists of an anchor or rocking lever having pallets at its
extremities which alternately act on the teeth of a first motion wheel so as to rotate
it to the extent of one tooth to each complete oscillation of the lever, one pallet
being normally held in engagement with the wheel, while the other is normally
held out of engagement and is brought into engagement by the attraction of the
magnet for the armature carried by the lever.
Dated this 0th day of Lun 1802
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Registering Mechanism, more particularly Designed
for Recording the Loads Raised and Delivered by a Crane in
Discharging Čargoes from Lighters or other Vessels.
I, WILLIAM RAHTZ, of Ruxley House, Parsons Hill, Woolwich, in the County
of Kent, Coal Merchant, 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:-
My invention relates to registering mechanisın generally, but has more especially
for its object to provide means of automatically recording the number of skip loads
raised and delivered by a crane in the operation of discharging or unloading coal
or other cargoes from lighters or other vessels.
The invention consists in an electrically-operated propelment and counting
mechanism, and in the combination of such propelment and counting mechanism
with a crane in such manner as to be operated by the slewing motion of the crane
each time a loaded skip is hoisted and discharged.

page_text: ] will describe the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings,
forming part of this Specification, wherein
Figure 1 is a face view of the electrically-operated. counting train, one of the
wheels being partly broken away to shew the propelment anchor and wheel.
Figure 2 shews the dial of the counter and the connections with the crane.
Figure 3 shews the contact on the crane-jib and the swinging contact on the
under carriage of the crane.
Figure 4 is a section of the latter.
According to my invention I employ an ordinary counting train, represented in
Figure 1 and consisting of the wheels and pinions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, which I cause to be
actuated by a step-by-step propelment under the influence of an electro-magnet A
which is energized by the closing of an electric circuit through contact devices B, C,
so arranged that when unloading a vessel, for example, the action of the magnet is
dependent upon the slewing of the crane.
The propelment consists of an anchor or rocking lever D having V-shaped
pallets d at its extremities, which alternately act on the V-shaped teeth of the
first motion wheel 1, so as to rotate it to the extent of one tooth to each complete
oscillation of the lever, one pallet being normally held in engagement with the
wheel by a spring e, while the other is normally held out of engagement and is
brought into engagement by the attraction of the magnet A for the armature a,
carried by the lever D.
The electro-magnet is in circuit with a battery F, the terminals of the circuit g, h,
being the contacts B, C. The contact B is fixed to any convenient position on the
superstructure of the crane, say to the jib, and is in electric connection through
the frame of the crane with the under carriage to which the wire g is connected.
The other contact C is a plate pivoted on an axis c, in ears c' on a base plate c³
insulated from the under carriage and fixed thereon in such position that the
contact B will strike and pass over it when the crane is slewed. This plate C is
covered on one face with an insulating covering i, so that the circuit will not be
closed by the contact B striking it on the return motion of the crane. The
contact C is held in the upright position by a spring k coiled about its pin c,
'the ends of the spring bearing in opposite directions on the base c, so that the
contact C will yield in either direction to the contact B and at once resume its
upright position.
The registering mechanism can thus be placed in an office or elsewhere at any
distance from the crane, and will enable a record to be obtained of the number of
times the crane has been slewed and consequently the number of skip loads
raised.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
The herein described electrically-operated registering mechanism, in combination
with circuit-closing contact devices arranged upon the superstructure and under
carriage of a crane so as to be operated by the slewing motion thereof, substantially
as and for the purpose specified.
Dated this 9th day of March 1801
W. RAHTZ,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.