IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF TUBS OR CORVES ON TO AND OFF THE CAGES OF LIFTS."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS, PATENT to George Fowler, of Basford Hall, in the County
of Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR FACILITATING THE CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF TUBS OR CORVES ON TO
AND OFF THE CAGES OF LIFTS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Fowler at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th June 1873.
I, GEORGE FOWLER, of Basford Hall, in the County of Nottingham,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF TUBS OR
CORVES ON TO AND OFF THE CAGES OF LIFTS," to be as follows:-
.
:-
The object of this Invention is mainly to economise the time.
occupied in raising and lowering cages of two or more decks at bank
and pit bottom, to load and unload the tubs or corves, and to save the
wear and tear of ropes and consumption of steam incidental thereto.
For this purpose at the places at which the tubs or corves have to be

page_text: run on to or off the decks of the cage frames having two or more decks
or floors similar to the winding cage are so mounted that the cage may
be brought to rest between them.
Each frame is mounted between slides and appropriately balanced,
so that it can readily be raised and lowered. The frames are connected
to hydraulic presses, by which they can be raised or lowered at pleasure,
thus, at the pit bottom the full corves are placed one by one upon the
several decks or floors of one frame, and when the cage has been stopped
upposite to this frame the corves are simultaneously pushed upon the
winding cage, whilst the empty corves which were upon the cage are
pushed off by them on to the decks or floors of the frame on the
opposite side of the cage. The reverse operation is performed at the
pit top, the empty wagons being pushed from the decks or floors of
one frame, on to the decks or floors of the cage, at the same time
pushing off from the cage the full waggons which were upon it and
delivering them on to the frame at the opposite side of the cage, then
by the hydraulic press to which this frame is connected the frame is
moved so that the corves can be withdrawn on to the bank one by one
as each deck or floor is in succession brought to the bank level.
:
By employing hydraulic power to raise and lower the frames great
facility is afforded for working them. For the purpose of pushing some
or all of the corves or tubs off the floors of the frames or platforms on
to the cage, and from the cage on to the platforms, I also employ the
rams of hydraulic presses, and by preference I construct the presses
in such manner that both the in and out strokes of the rams or buffeters
are effected by moving one tap or valve.
I also apply to the several floors of the winding cage a system of
catches, which allow the off-going tubs or corves to leave the cage freely,
and lock or stop each on-coming tub or corve when it is in the right
position upon the winding cage; to effect this all the scotches or stops
are arranged to be opened by one rod at the time when the corves are
to be run on to and off the cage, and when one corve has been run off
the cage and another run on to it. The on-coming corve by acting
upon a lever in connection with the stops closes the scotch or stop-up
to which it is moving precisely at the time that the movement of the
corve has to be arrested.
i
.
"

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
:
filed by the said George Fowler in the Great Seal Patent Office.
on the 18th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, George
FOWLER, of Basford Hall, in the County of Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of Junc, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Fowler, Her special license
that I, the said George Fowler, my exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Fowler, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF TUBS OR CORVES
ON TO AND OFF THE CAGES OF LIFTS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Fowler, my executors or administrators, by:
an instrunient in writing under my or thecir, 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 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

page_text: incidental thereto. For this purpose at the places at which the tubs
or corves have to be run on to or off the decks of the cage frames,
having two or more decks or floors similar to the winding cage, are so
mounted that the cage may be brought to rest between them.
Each frame is mounted between slides and appropriately balanced,
so that it can readily be raised and lowered. The frames are connected
to hydraulic presses, by which they can be raised or lowered at pleasure;
thus at the pit bottom the full corves are placed one by one upon the
several decks or floors of one frame, and when the cage has been
stopped opposite to this frame the corves are simultaneously pushed
upon the winding cage, whilst the empty corves which were upon the
cage are pushed off by them on to the decks or floors of the frame on
the opposite side of the cage. The reverse operation is performed at
the pit top, the empty wagons being pushed from the decks or floors
of one frame on to the decks or floors of the cage, at the same time
pushing off from the cage the full wagons which were upon it and
delivering them on to the frame at the opposite side of the cage, then
by the hydraulic press to which this frame is connected the frame is
moved so that the corves can be withdrawn on to the bank one by one,
as cach deck or floor is in succession brought to the bank level.
By employing hydraulic power to raise and lower the frames great
facility is afforded for working them. For the purpose of pushing some
or all of the corves or tubs off the floors of the frames or platforms on
to the cage and from the cage on to the platforms, I also employ the
rams of hydraulic presses, and by preference I construct the presses
in such manner that both the in and out strokes of the rams or buffeters
are effected by moving one tap or valve.
I also apply to the several floors of the winding cage a system of
catches, which allow the off-going tubs or corves to leave the cage
freely and lock or stop cach on-coming tube or corve when it is in the
right position upon the winding cage; to effect this all the scotchics
or stops are arranged to be opened by one rod at the time when the
corves are to be run on to and off the cage, and when one corve has
been run off the cage and another run on to it the on-coming corve
by acting upon a lever in connection with the stops closes the scotch
or stop-up to which it is moving precisely at the time that the move.
ment of the corve has to be arrested.

page_text: Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, shewing a three-decked
cage (which has just been raised from the pit) with three full corves
upon it, and also shewing the two frames, one on each side of the cage;
one of these frames has three empty corves upon it to take the places
of the full ones on the cage; Figure 2 is a transverse section, and
Figure 3 a plan of the same.
a is the framework of the cage, and b, b, b, are the, three decks,
which carry rails for the wheels of the corves 61, 61, 61; 62, 62, 62, are the
decks of the two frames; these decks carry rails corresponding to the
rails on the decks b, b, b, of the cage; c, c', are two hydraulic presses,
which support the two frames; these presses are so placed and havo
such a length of stroke that the three decks of the frames may be.
brought in succession to the bank level; d, d, are the hydraulic buffcters
for pushing the corves off the two upper decks.
3
The apparatus is worked as follows:-When the cage containing the.
full corves has been raised to the pit's mouth, as shewn in Figure 1,
the banksmen push the lowest empty corve on the frame against the
lowest full one on the cage, and the buffeters at the same time are caused
to push the other two empty corves against the other two full ones.
In this way the full corves are pushed off the cage on to the empty
frame, and the empty corves are pushed on to the cage.. The cage is
then lowered down the shaft. During the time occupied by lowering
and again raising the cage the frame with the full corves upon it is
unloaded, and the other frame has three empty corves pushed on to it
so as to be ready to repeat the operation when the cage again reaches
the surface with three more full corves upon it.
In unloading the frame the lowest corve is first puslied off on to the
bank, the frame is then lowered by means of the hydraulic press c¹ until
the middle deck is at the bank level, the second corve is then pushed
off and the frame again lowered and the third corve pushed off; the
frame is then raised to its former position to receive, as before, the next.
three full corves from the cage. The other frame is in a similar way..

page_text: lowered step by step by the hydraulic press c to receive three empty
corves, and is then raised to its former position.
At the bottom of the pit the apparatus and its mode of working is
precisely similar.
1
The system of catches which allow the off-going corves to leave the
cage freely and lock and stop each on-coming corve when it is in the
right position upon the winding cage is not shewn in Figures 1, 2,
and 3, but is shewn in Figure 4, the cage in this Figure being empty."
a is the framework of the cage, and b, b, b, are the three decks, as
before; e is a rod for opening the catches; this rod has three slots in
it to receive the ends of the bell-crank levers f,f,f; the levers carry
small arms f, f', f¹ which actuate the stops 9, 9, 9, pivotted at g', g¹, g¹;
the bell-crank levers falso actuate by means of rods, as shewn, the
catches h, h, h.. The mode of action is as follows:-When the cage
with the full corves arrives at the surface the rode is pulled up, and
then again falls by its own weight. By pulling up the rod e the arms
fff, are lifted, which lowers the ends of the stops g, g, g, which
have hitherto been against the axles of the corves on the cage, and thus
leave them free to be pushed off. The lifting the rod e also by means
of the bell-crank levers f and rods raises the catches h, h, h, the levers
and catches being now in the position shewn in the Drawing. Almost
immediately after the full corve on any deck of the cage has been
pushed off by an empty corve from the frame the axle of the empty
corve comes in contact with the catch h, which it knocks down, thus
raising the end of the stop 9, which prevents the empty corve from
running too far. This it does without altering the positions of the
catches on the other decks.
In these Figures I have shewn my Invention as applied to a three.
decked cage, but it must be understood that my. Invention is also.
applicable to cages having a greater or less number-of-decks.-
Figure 5 shews a stop arrangement for holding two corves on each
deck; a is a horizontal rod, on which slides a finger piece b to catch
against the axle of one of the corves. When a pair of corves is pushed
on to a deck the axle of the front one comes against the finger piece b..
and the corve is thus prevented from running too far. With this
arrangement the corves must be taken off in the same direction as they
were put on. >

page_text: By employing the hydraulic buffeters in combination with the
automatic stop system, above described, the corves are pushed on to
and off the several decks of the cage without the necessity of employing
workmen or of erecting stages or platforms for them to stand on while
effecting these operations.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim is,-
1. The arrangement of apparatus for facilitating the charging and
discharging of tubs or corves on to and off the cages or lifts,
substantially as described.
2. The use of charging and discharging platforms or frames actuated
by hydraulic pressure.
3. The use of hydraulic buffeters or rams to push the tubs or corves
off the frame on to the cage.
4. The system of catches for stopping the tubs on the cage,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Fowler, have hereunto sct
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.