IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS IN THE PITS OF MINES OR COLLIERIES.
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Thomas, of New Tredegar, in the County
of Monmouth, Builder, for the Invention of “IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS IN THE PITS OF MINES OR COLLIERIES.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Thomas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th February 1870.
I, THOMAS THOMAS, of New Tredegar, in the County of Monmouth,
Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “IM-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS IN THE PITS OF MINES OR
COLLIERIES," to be as follows:-
According to the present system of working pits of mines or collieries
a rope is attached to each bond or carriage, and if the rope breaks the
result is the sacrifice of life and property, and there is nothing to
prevent the carriage from falling to the bottom of the pit. The object
of the present Invention is to prevent such a calamitous result should
a rope break, and to this end in addition to the two top pullies usually

page_text: employed a third pulley is placed a little below and at right angles to
the others. This new pulley is provided with an extra rope and is
large enough in diameter to allow the two ropes to travel together.
The extra rope is put twice around the new pulley, and is then attached
to each carriage or bond. It is not quite as tight as the ordinary ropes
which come from the drum barrels, it will therefore be a check to
the other two, and when a strain comes on this extra rope it will be
sufficient to indicate weakness on part of the other two ropes, so that
timely warning of the liability to an accident will be given. In case of
the rope breaking a break applied to the cross pulley will prevent the
heaviest bond from running wild.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Thomas in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
THOMAS, of Tredegar, in the County of Monmouth, Builder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Thomas, Her special licence that
I, the said Thomas Thomas, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Thomas, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING
ACCIDENTS IN THE PITS OF MINES OR COLLIERIES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Thomas, 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 sanie was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Thomas, 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):-
:-
According to the present system of working pits of mines or collerics
a rope is attached to each bond or carriage, and passes over a pulley or
pullies or wheels at the top of the pit to the winding gear in the engine
house. If this rope should break the result would be the sacrifice of life
and property, as there is nothing to prevent the carriage from falling
to the bottom of the pit and being there dashed to atoms. The object
of the present Invention is to prevent such a calamitous result should
a rope break, and to this end in addition to the two top pullies usually
employed as above mentioned a third pulley is placed a little below
and at right angles to the others. The additional pulley is provided
with an extra rope and is large enough in diameter to allow the two
ropes (that is, the ordinary rope and the extra rope) to travel together.
The extra rope is put twice around the additional pulley and is then
attached by its ends to each carriage or bond. This extra rope does
not bind round the additional pulley quite as tight as the ordinary ropes
which come from the drum barrels of the winding gear, it will there-
fore be a check to the other rope or ropes, and when any strain comes
on this extra rope it will be sufficient to indicate weakness on the
part of the other ropes, so that timely warning will be given of the
liability to an accident in consequence of the hauling rope yielding to
the tensile strain to which it is being subjected. In case of the
hauling rope breaking the bonds or carriages will be supported by the
extra rope, and a break applied to the cross pulley will prevent the
heaviest bond from running wild.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a front elevation, and
Fig. 2 is a side elevation shewing my improved safety apparatus adapted
to the hauling gear at the pit's mouth.
a, a, are the ordinary hauling ropes, which pass over the pullies b, b, to
the winding drum in the engine house in the usual manner. An addi-
tional wheel or pulley c is mounted at right angles to the pullies b, b, and

page_text: carries an extra rope d (colored red in the Figures) which passes round
the pulley c and is connected by its ends to the bonds or carriages e, e,
quite independent of the ordinary hauling ropes a, a, so that if the
latter should break the carriages e would still be supported by the extra
rope d and be prevented from falling. A break f acted upon by the a
piston of a steam cylinder 9 will prevent the additional pulley c from
running away when a strain is put upon it by the breaking of the
ordinary rope.
Having now described my Invention of " Improved Apparatus for
Preventing Accidents in the Pits of Mines or Collieries," and having 1
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the
Invention secured to me by Letters Patent_as_aforesaid, the adaptation
-to-the-winding gear at the top of the shaft of an additional pulley and
rope attached to the bonds or carriages, so that should the ordinary
winding or lifting rope break the carriages may still be supported and 1
prevented from falling, as herein shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Thomas, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.