Improved APPARATUS FOR LIFTING SACKS WHEN FILLED WITH CORN, SEED, FLOUR
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred William Tooley, of Dunstable, in the
County of Bedford, Corn Merchant, for the Invention of "Improved
APPARATUS FOR LIFTING SACKS WHEN FILLED WITH CORN, SEED, FLOUR,
Sealed the 21st December 1874, and dated the 25th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred William Tooley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th June 1874.
I, ALFRED WILLIAM TOOLEY, of Dunstable, in the County of Bedford,
Corn Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LIFTING SACKS WHEN FILLED WITH CORN, SEED,
FLOUR, COAL, OR OTHER PRODUCE OR MERCHANDIZE," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to lift sacks (when filled) into a position
convenient for moving them into a cart or van, or for a man to take them
on his back in order that they may be carried to any place where they
may be counted. To this end my improved apparatus consists of a

page_text: vertical frame (which if desired may be mounted on wheels for the con-
venience of removal from place to place). A moveable platform on
which the loaded sack is to be placed is adapted to this frame, and is
capable of being raised and lowered in guides formed in or attached to
the vertical standards.
The platform is suspended from chains, which pass over guide pullies
at the top of the standards, and are connected at the opposite ends to
grooved cams or wheels on the ends of a horizontal shaft mounted in
bearings in the vertical frame. On the end of this shaft is fitted a hand
lever, whereby it may be rotated in its bearings, and by so doing the
grooved cams or wheels are rotated, and by means of the chains attached
thereto will lift the platform with the loaded sacks thereon to any desired
altitude within the limits of the frame, and the platform with the sack
thereon is held in this position by means of a pawle and ratchet wheel on
the horizontal shaft.
In order to support the loaded sack in an upright position on the plat-
form a vertical rod with a cross piece at the top thereof is adapted to a
tubular socket fixed on the under side of the platform. When the latter
is at its lowest position ready to receive a sack (which is to be lifted) the
supporting rod with its cross bar will extend up at the back of the
platform, and will act as a support to the sack when the latter is made
to lean against it. The weight of the sack will hold the rod in position,
and will prevent it from dropping in its socket while the platform is
being elevated, but when the lateral pressure of the sack is removed
from the rod it will drop down out of the way, so that the sack may be
pushed forward on to a trolly, truck, barrow, or other equivalent device
whereby it may be wheeled into a van, cart, or other conveyance placed
to receive it.
To facilitate the transport of the sack from the lifting apparatus to the
van or other carriage horizontal rails may be temporarily attached to the
apparatus and made to rest on some convenient part of the van so that
the trolly or truck may run thereon.
When the sack has been removed the platform may be lowered ready
to receive another sack, the pawle having been lifted out of the teeth of
the ratchet wheel so as to release the horizontal shaft and allow it to

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred William Tooley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
WILLIAM TOOLEY, of Dunstable, in the County of Bedford, Corn
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred William Tooley, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred William Tooley, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said. Alfred William
Tooley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LIFTING SACKS WHEN FILLED WITH CORN, SEED,
FLOUR, COAL, OR OTHER PRODUCE OR MERCHANDIZE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred William Tooley, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 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 Letters Patent.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred William Tooley, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
The object of my Invention is to provide a simple mechanical con-
trivance for lifting sacks (when filled) into a position convenient for
transferring them to a cart or van, or for a man to take them on his

page_text: back in order that they may be carried to any place where they may
be wanted.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my
improved apparatus; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the same; and Fig. 3
is a partial sectional elevation showing the moveable platform and its
adjuncts.
A. is a vertical frame of cast iron fitted with a pair of wheels in front
for the convenience of traversing the machine from place to place; Bis
a movable platform for receiving the sack to be lifted. This platform is
secured by straps or otherwise to a horizontal bar B terminating in
T shaped ends (see Fig. 3), which enter guides formed for them in the
standards A¹ of the frame A. Connected to these T shaped ends of the
bar B¹ are chains C, which pass over guide pullies D at the top of
the standards A', and are connected at their opposite ends to grooved
cams E keyed to the opposite ends of a horizontal rock shaft F, which
has its bearings on the frame A. To the end of this shaft F is fitted a
hand lever G, by the depression of which the grooved cams will be
rocked, and thereby caused to take up the chains C attached thereto,
and lift the platform B with its load to any desired altitude within the
limits of the frame.
The platform B with the sack thercon may be held in an elevated
position by means of a pawle on the frame taking into the teeth of a
ratchet wheel on the rock shaft, but I prefer as more simple the counter-
balanced catch H pivotted on to the frame A in such a position as to hook
on to the depressed hand lever G and retain it in the depressed
position.
In order to maintain the filled sack in an upright position on the
platform while being lifted it is necessary to the object of my Invention
to provide such a support as will present no obstacle to the tipping of
the sack on to the trolly or other temporary receptacle to which it is to
be transferred from the platform. To this end I adapt to the lifting
platform the support described in the Provisional Specification filed in
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the Twenty-first day of
October, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, the advantage
of which is that from its being mounted on trunnions it will not only
permit of but facilitate the tipping of the sack on to the trolly and
similarly when it is to be received on to the back of a man.

page_text: Affixed to the platform B are bracket pieces I, I, the upper ends of
which form bearings for the trunnion extremitics of a curved cross bar K.
To this bar is made fast by rivets a frame L, which is by preference
covered with sheet iron, and is furnished with a foot L³ for receiving the
filled sack, it being itself supported by the platform B.
The mode of operating with this apparatus is as follows:-The sack
having been placed on or against the frame L the platform B is raised to
the desired height by the depression of the hand lever G, which is
furnished with a tread piece G¹ to facilitate the operation. When the
lever G has been brought down to the dotted position of Fig. 1 it is
caught by the hook of the weighted catch and thereby held securely
until released by the attendant. The elevated frame L with the sack
thereon is then tilted by hand or in any other convenient manner, and
the sack is allowed to slide mouth downwards into the trolly, cart, or
other conveyance intended to receive it. The frame L is then brought
back into a vertical position and the platform B is lowered into its place
ready to receive another sack to be raised. G2 is a spring catch for
retaining the lever G in its raised position until required to be used for
rocking the shaft F and its grooved cams E, E, as already explained.
To facilitate the transference of the sack from the lifting apparatus to
the van or other carriage intended to receive it, a platform is applied to
the frame A in the following manner:-M (sec Figures 1 and 3) is a
cranked tie rod of the standards A' and supported by a strut M¹. To this
cross rod M may be temporarily attached by hooks or otherwise the
platform N, as shewn at Fig. 3, the other end of the platform resting
upon the van to be loaded. Over this platform the trolly or truck
bearing a sack may be run to and from the lifting apparatus, and thus
the loading of the van will be greatly facilitated.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improved
Apparatus for Lifting Sacks filled with Corn, Seed, Flour, Coal, or other
Produce or Merchandize," and having 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 lifting apparatus constructed and
operating as hercin set forth, and consisting substantially of the sus-
pended movable platform B operated by the hand lever G and grooved

page_text: cams E, controlled by guides and provided with a support which shall
offer no obstruction to the tipping of the raised sack.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred William Tooley, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-four.
ALFRED WILLIAM TOOLEY. (L.S.)