IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC LIFTS
Year: 1884

page_text: JOHN SANDERS STEVENS and CHARLES GEORGE MAJOR, both of Janus Works
Queen's Road, Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Engineers do hereby declare
the nature of our invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC LIFTS," to be as
follows:-
This invention is an improvement upon that for which letters patent were granted
to John Sanders Stevens and Charles George Major N° 4375-September 14th
A.D. 1882-and relates particularly to Suspended Hydraulic Lifts, in which the
motive power is exerted in a multiplying cylinder, with a stroke short in proportion
to the travel of the lift.
Our object is to obtain a lift running with a minimum of friction,-and of such a
design as to afford special facilities for rapid construction, and to suit all sizes and
powers which are likely to be in demand-And farther, the invention applies more
particularly to those cases in which the pressure of water used is comparatively
high, and the cylinders and rams therefore comparatively small.
We put our invention into practice as follows:-
:-
In the patent No 4375. A.D. 1882. previously referred to, the weight of the ram
when protruded from a horizontal cylinder, is to some extent supported by the
peculiar disposition of the chain wound upon the smaller drum-But with higher
pressures involving smaller and lighter rams, the upward pull of the chain is more
than sufficient to support the weight of the ram, and in such cases we fit the ram
head with a chain sheave, over which the chain is passed, and then carried back to
the lower side of the cylinder, to which it is secured-The centre of the chain sheave is
placed at a higher level than the centre line of ram; the chain takes a horizontal or
nearly horizontal course from the anchorage at cylinder to the under side of sheave ;-
but from the upper side of sheave to the point of contact with the winding drum, the
chain is sometimes taken in an upward inclined course-Either the peculiar position
of the sheave, or the course taken by the chain, or both combined, will produce a
lifting effect at the head of the ram, and the amount may be modified to suit
various cases, by altering the relative centres of chain sheave and of ram, or by
altering the course of the upper chain-This lifting effect relieves the guides of the
ram of a considerable amount of its weight, and thereby reduces the friction.
For the purpose of still farther reducing friction, we mount the spindle of the
winding drum in bearings bored much larger than the journals, the intervening
PD

page_text: space between the journal and the bearing being filled up with a circle of rollers,
which roll round the interior surface of the bearing as the spindle revolves-By
these means rolling contact takes the place of sliding contact.
The sheave on the ram head is treated in the same manner as the bearings.
In order to give greater facilities for speedy manufacture, and to obtain sound
material in the barrel portion of the cylinders suitable for withstanding very high
pressures, we construct the cylinder of several separate pieces-The Stuffing box,
having a foot for securing bolts, suitable attachments for the ram guides, and an
anchorage for the chain, forms one piece.
The back or closed end of cylinder is provided with a foot for securing, and with
an inlet for pressure pipe, and forms a second piece-It is sometimes made without
a foot.
The Bracket for carrying the bearings of drum spindle is also constructed with
a foot, and sometimes with a chain anchorage-It forms a third piece, and usually
occupies a position between the other two-But it is sometimes placed at the back
end of cylinder, and then serves also as a closed end, enabling the second piece to
be dispensed with.
These pieces may be made of a standard pattern,-produced in numbers, and kept
in stock, regardless of the size of lift which may be required.
The barrel proper of the cylinder, is then the only portion which is left dependent
upon special requirements-This we usually make in Wrought Iron, or Steel, which
may be readily cut to the required lengths, and screwed into, or otherwise secured
to, the pieces already described-By this method a cylinder may be completed at a
few hours notice.
We sometimes make the barrel portion of cast iron-in that case, as all pro-
jections, swellings, brackets &c are provided on the first described portions of the
cylinder our method of construction conduces to the soundness of the barrel
portion, which is required to carry pressure.
The diameter of the ram, and of the cylinder, need seldom be varied; nearly all
the powers likely to be in demand can be produced by varying the length of the
cylinders, and suitably proportioning the winding drums.
In extreme cases the cylinder diameter may be retained, and the ram diameter be
reduced, a bush being inserted in the neck of the Stuffing box.

page_text: JOHN SANDERS STEVENS and CHARLES GEORGE MAJOR, Engineers both of
Janus Works Queen's Road, Battersea in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of our invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC LIFTS and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention is an improvement upon that for which Letters Patent were
granted to John Sanders Stevens and Charles George Major N° 4375 September 14th
AD 1882, and relates particularly to Suspended Hydraulic Lifts, in which the
motive power is exerted in a multiplying cylinder, with a stroke short in proportion
to the travel of the lift.
Our object is to obtain a lift running with a minimum of friction, and of such a
design as to afford special facilities for rapid construction, and to suit all sizes and
powers which are likely to be in demand. And farther, the invention applies more
particularly to those cases in which the pressure of water used is comparatively
bigh, and the cylinders and rams therefore comparatively small.
In the accompanying drawings the same or equivalent parts are similarly lettered
in all the figures.
We put our invention into practice as follows. In the Patent N° 4375 A D 1882
previously referred to, the weight of the ram C fig. 1. in accompanying drawings
when protruded from a horizontal cylinder D is to some extent supported by the
peculiar disposition of the chain E wound upon the smaller drum F. But with
higher pressures involving smaller and lighter rams, the upward pull of the chain E
is more than sufficient to support the weight of the ram C, and in such case we fit
the ram-head G with a chain sheave H, over which the chain E is passed and then
carried back to the lower side of cylinder D, to which it is secured at I. The
centre of the chain sheave H is placed at a higher level than the centre line of
rain; the chain E takes a horizontal or nearly horizontal course from the
anchorage I to the under side of sheave II: but from the upper side of the sheave
to the point of contact with the winding drum F the chain is sometimes taken in
an upward inclined course. Either the peculiar position of the sheave H, or the
course taken by the chain E, or both combined, will produce a lifting effect at the
ram head G, and the amount of such effect is varied to suit varying cases, by
altering the relative centres of sheave H and ram C, or by altering the course of
the upper portion of chain E. This lifting effect relieves the ram guides J of
a considerable amount of the weight of ram C, and thereby reduces the friction.
For the purpose of still further reducing friction, we mount the spindle K, of the
drum F, in bearings M, bored much larger than the journals, the intervening space
between the journal and the bearing being filled up with a circle of rollers N
figs. 10 and 11, which roll round the interior surface of the bearing as the spindle
revolves. By these means rolling contact is made to replace sliding contact.
The sheave H, on ram head G, is treated in the same manner as the bearings,
and is shewn to an enlarged scale in figs. 5 and 6.

page_text: In order to give greater facilities for speedy manufacture, and to obtain sound
material in the barrel portion of the cylinder, suitable for withstanding very high
pressures, we construct the cylinder of several separate pieces. The stuffing box O
having a foot for securing bolts, suitable attachments for the ram guides J, and an
anchorage I for the chain E, forms one piece. The back or closed end of cylinder P
is provided with a foot for securing bolts, and an inlet for pressure pipe Q, and
forms a second piece. For cases where the bearings M are situated near the back
end of cylinder, the closed end P is made without a foot as in figs. 7 & 8.
The bracket R, fig. 4, for carrying the bearings M, is also constructed with a
foot, and sometimes with a chain anchorage II fig. 12. It forms a third piece and
usually occupies a position between the other two. But it is sometimes placed at
the back end of the cylinder as in fig. 13. and then serves also as a closed end
enabling the second piece P to be dispensed with.
These pieces may be made of a standard pattern, produced in numbers and kept
in stock, regardless of the size of lift which may be required.
The barrel proper of the cylinder is then the only portion which is left dependent
upon special requirements. This we usually make in wrought iron, or steel, which
may be readily cut to the required lengths, and screwed into, or otherwise secured
to, the pieces already described. By this method a cylinder may be completed at
a few hours notice.
We sometimes make the barrel portion of cast iron. See figs. 14 and 15. In
that case as all projections, swellings, brackets, &c, are provided on the first
described portions of the cylinder, our method of construction conduces to the
soundness of the barrel portion, which is required to carry pressure. Fig. 15 is a
detail of the attachment of the cylinder to the bearing bracket.
The diameters of the ram and of the cylinder, need seldom be varied; nearly all
powers likely to be in demand can be produced by varying the length of the
cylinder, and suitable proportioning the winding drums.
In extreme cases, the cylinder diameter may be retained, and the ram diameter
reduced, a bush S, fig. 17, being inserted in the neck of stuffing box, and a corre-
sponding bush T in gland figs. 16 and 17.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is
(1.) The construction and use of Hydraulic multiplying cylinders with ram-head-
sheave, chain, and winding drum, substantially as and for the purpose described.
(2.) The construction and use of Hydraulic multiplying cylinders built up and
consisting of several parts substantially as and for the purpose described.