AN IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING HEAVY BODIES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugene Henri Bernier, of Rue Corbeau, Paris, in
the Empire of France, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
SAFETY APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING HEAVY BODIES."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Eugene Henri Bernier at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration on the 12th February 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
HENRI BERNIER, of Rue Corbeau, Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED SAFETY
APPARATUS POR RAISING AND LOWERING HEAVY BODIES," and have petitioned.
Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn declaration
that I verily believe myself to be the first and true Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Eugene Henri Bernier, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal
fully describes and ascertains the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, reference being had to the
Drawing hereto annexed, and forming part of this Specification, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon -

page_text: My improvements consist in the application to winches or crabs with a
single nut of three new parts, which are, firstly, a second nut similar to the
first; secondly, a safety stretching guide; thirdly, a double self-acting para-
chute for holding the load in case of accident or wrong working. The adherence
of the chain on the single nut gives rise to considerable friction on the cast-
iron frame, from which it results that the chain has a tendency to get displaced
and that the deep bites impair the chain, wear out the frame, and put the nut
out of shape, besides the chain is delivered from the winch or crab with shocks
and in an irregular manner.
To obviate these defects I roll the chain round
two similar nuts turning in opposite directions, and driven one by the other by
the intermediate agency of two pinions of the same diameter. The double nut
has the advantage of having seven links of the chain instead of three, on which
the action is distributed, and consequently produces a greater regularity in the
movement and economy of motive power as the rolling friction of the nuts is
very slight in comparison with the sliding friction for which it is substituted."
To avoid ruptures which are of frequent occurrence through the violent
return of the chain into the nut when loads are let down at a great speed
or from any other cause, and to prevent the chain by reason of the rapid
descent of the load from being presented in kinks or crosswise, I have invented
a simple arrangement which I call a safety stretching guide for forcing the
chain, whatever its speed, to keep always in the same direction and to
pass slightly stretched and straight into the winch or crab. The use of the
stretching guide placed at the foot of the winch and composed of a grooved
pulley V mounted freely above a suspended weight X is especially necessary
in winches or crabs not provided with the self-acting parachute, preventing
any fall of the load whatever may be the wrong working; the use, however, of
the safety stretching guide contributes to the superiority of the action even in
winches provided with the self-acting parachute. The double self-acting para-
chute may also be applied in combination with other apparatus for raising
bodies than to my improved winch, and may also be applied separate from the
winch by acting on a separate safety chain which can be applied for raising
weights in the building trade, or as a parachute above shafts of mines, and in
all cases where additional safety is deemed necessary, its application being
universal as a means of safety to prevent the fall of loads.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the winch or crab; Figure 2, front elevation
of the same; Figure 3, front view of the principal triangular nut; Figure 4,
sectional view of the same; Figure 5, shaft of the driving pinions for a fixed

page_text: pinion, a moveable pinion, the ratchet and two crank arms; Figure 6, end,
view of the shaft on the side of the fixed pinion; Figures 7 and 8, side and.
end views of moveable pinion; Figures 9, 10, and 11, view of the parachute.
catch; Figure 12, parachute support for two catches; Figures 13 and 14,.
buffer or chain guide for two catches; Figure 15, small spiral spring to force
the catch to fall more rapidly on the chain; Figures 16 and 17, small lever,
to raise the catch; Figures 18 and 19, iron brackets to fasten up the winch;
Figure 20, the winch complete with safety chain mounted on a timber frame;
Figure 21, details of the four catches mounted on the safety chain of Figure 20,
and Figure 22, plan of the safety chain.
In Figures 1 and 2 the iron calibred chain a is rolled round two triangular,
nuts b, b, mounted on a cast-iron frame Ċ firmly bolted on a timber piece d,;
the motive nut is forged of one single piece with its axle which carries two
large cog wheels e, f, of different diameters; on one of these wheels e is cast,
the pulley g of the brake which serves to retard or stop the descent movement
either when the driving pinion is cogged with its wheel, or when the nuts and
the wheels are independent of the pinious and crank arms by the uncogging,
of the two pinions h and i. The axle of the motive nut 6 also carries a smail-
wheelj, which communicates motion to the second nut 6 by another wheel j..
similar to the wheel of the motive nut. The driving shaft k mounted on the,
cast-iron frame C which carries the nuts is provided with two pinions h and i,,
one of which i fixed and forged with the shaft drives the brake wheel e, giving
the greatest strength and small speed; on this shaft moveable in the longitudinal.
direction which allows of its being displaced at will is mounted slideways the.
other pinion which gives motion to the wheelf for lighter loads and,
acting at a great speed; this latter moveable pinion is kept in its cogged or,
uncogged position by the fork l, which does not prevent it from turning with:
its shaft, by which it is driven by means of a key fixed on the shaft and slide-
ways in the groove of the pinion. A small ratchet wheel m mounted slideways,
in the same manner as this latter pinion on the moveable shaft serves to,
retain the motive wheels by the intermediate action of the cogged pinion, and
this ratchet as well as the pinions and crank arms z, z¹, ceases to act when the
mechanism is set to lower at a great speed, which must always take place
when the hook of the chain having reached a certain height is lowered in.
order to reduce the time of the operation and avoid turning back the crank
arm; I.effect this by means of the brake. The shaft of the driving pinions
has two circular grooves n, o, the use of which consists in receiving the key p
loaded with a weight q; this key is inserted in the groove n if it is desired to
uncog the pinion i for the small speed, and to cog or not the moveable,

page_text: pinion it is engaged on the contrary in the groove o; if it is desired to
uncog the moveable pinion h and cog the fixed pinon i the key with a counter-
weight is lifted by hand to let the shaft, which is pushed with the other hand,
slide longitudinally to put it in the required position, which being effected the
key is dropped and forthwith engaged in the corresponding groove. The fork
of the moveable pinion carries a flat lever acting as a spring, and which can be
kept in one or other of the two positions, which are regulated by the support r
which serves as a stop to it. The axle of the brake carrying the hinges 8, 8, of
the ring and the lever t oscillates in two iron supports u, u, bolted on the wooden
part d of the winch or crab; to put on the brake the lever t is drawn towards the
operator, and the brake is released by itself as soon as the lever is dropped. The
action of the safety stretching guide serves to keep the chain a stretched and in
the direction which it should always occupy to properly work; this chain carries
at one end the hook of the load, and the other end is united by a hook having the
form of an S above the hook of the load to form an endless chain. This stretching
guide is suspended by a chain at a few inches above the ground to the foot of the
winch or crab; it is composed of a grooved pulley V turning on the axle fixed.
in the cap or top of the cust-iron weight X, underneath which is a small chain,
one end of which is attached to this weight by a strong screw ring, and the
other end is fixed to the winch by the bolt y, which carries a hook, over which
one of the links of this chain is passed.
The machinery mounted in the upper part of the winch consists of a double
self-acting parachute, serving to prevent the fall of loads in case of accidents
which might happen to the winch in consequence of wrong working or other
cause. This system of self-acting parachute consists of two strong forged iron
catches A', A", formed in such a manner as to be able to be engaged in the
intervals of the links of the chain, so as to retain the chain in case of any
involuntary back movement. The chain is thus caught by one or the other
of the catches, and is beld between the clutched catch and the grooved buffer
or chain guide B' firmly fixed on the winch or crab; the two catches A', A",
oscillate freely on the chaiu when the load is going up; they are fixed on axles,
the pivots of which are mounted on the two large forged iron supports C¹, C",
which are firmly fixed to the winch by screw nuts; on the left side of the
winch near the brake the axles of the catches D', D', carry each a small
lever E¹, E, for receiving the abutment of the elbowed branch F of the
lever of the brake t, so that when the brake is worked the catches of the
parachute may be raised to allow the recoil of the chain; when it is desired to
effect the descent either of the load of the hook, or of the chain, as soon as the
brake ceases working the catches of the parachute fall on the chain ready to

page_text: work. The standards C¹, C", and the buffer B' represented of forged iron,.
may be made of a single cast-iron piece well strengthened in all its parts."
Application of my system of self-acting parachute to a safety chain,-
Figure 20 represents a winch with a safety chain G' mounted on 'timber
work; in this application a safety chain may be combined with an apparatus
for raising of any kind, such as a crane, windlass, horse mill, crab, capstan,
or any other like apparatus either with a chain, a rope, or otherwise. The.
object of the self-acting parachute is to keep the load in the air in case of the
breaking of the raising apparatus, or of its rope or chain..
The parachute with its safety chain may be applied in a great many cases,
for instance, when loads or persons are to be raised in the shafts of .colleries,
or other shafts, or in the raising of heavy or precious materials, such as
marbles, statues, columns, and other articles in the construction of monuments;
it may also be applied to raising on inclined planes. Although the parachute
may work with a chain with equal links and rather long I have represented in
the arrangement shewn at Figures 20, 21, and 22 a safety chain the links of
which edgeways H' are longer than the links flatways I' to give more
strength and more play to the catches A', A", A", A, in the intervals of
the links. The iron chain G¹ of large calibre is fastened to the load P¹ at one
end by means of a hook or other means, and is drawn away at the other end
by means of the counterweight K'; it can freely follow the load in passing
in the parachute mounted on the upper part of the timberwork; the frame of
the parachute carries two grooved pulleys L', M', to send back the chain at its
entrance and at its egress. This frame carries four stop catches A', A", A, A,
arranged so that the thread of the chain G¹ is so subdivided that each catch is
lowered alternately on the links edgeways to be ready to keep back the flat
link which has just passed; by this arrangement of four catches the stop is
almost instantaneous, as one or other of the catches is always completely fitted
into the chain, and the least recoil is sufficient to make it bridle. In this
arrangement if the chain a which raises the load P¹ happened to break all
the load would lay upon the safety chain G', and in consequence would cease
to rise until the repaired chain is replaced. To effect the descent either of
the load or of the hooks and raise the counterweight K¹ it is necessary to
raise the four catches from the safety chain; to allow the free recoil of this
chain for this purpose each catch carries a small lever E¹, E", E, E, at
the end of which is a rather large hole in which passes a small rod provided
with four buttons F", F, F, F; the end of this rod corresponds to a
small elbowed lever T, which carries at the end of the other branch a small
cord or chain U'; by drawing this cord all the catches are slightly raised

page_text: simultaneously, and it is merely necessary to release this cord which rises a
few inches to let the catches descend on the safety chain when it is desired to
lift the load.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect what I claim is,-
Firstly, the stretching guide of the chain, as berein-before described and
shewn at V, X, Figures 1 and 20 of the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly, the application of the self-acting safety apparatus or catches A to
retaining the chain of the winch or crab, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2, and
the combined action of the said safety apparatus and brake, as herein-before
described.
Thirdly, the application of the self-acting safety apparatus to retaining the
chain of the apparatus for raising heavy bodies at any required point of its
length, as herein-before described and shewn in the annexed Drawing.
Fourthly, the application of the said safety apparatus, arranged as shewn at
A', A, A, A, to retaining a second chain G¹ for preventing the fall of a
load, as herein-before described and shewn at Figures 20 and 21 of the annexed
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Ilenri Bernier, have hereto set
my hand and seal, this First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
E. I. BERNIER. (L.S.)