IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF CON- STRUCTING AND ARRANGING THE WINDING APPARATUS USED FOR RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS IN COLLIERIES AND MINES, AND FOR OTHER ANALOGOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Wilson, of Rotherham, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF CON-
STRUCTING AND ARRANGING THE WINDING APPARATUS USED FOR RAISING AND
LOWERING WEIGHTS IN COLLIERIES AND MINES, AND FOR OTHER ANALOGOUS
PURPOSES,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the shid Robert Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th March 1878.
I, ROBERT WILSON, of Rotherham, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD
OF CONSTRUCTING AND ABRANGING THE WINDING APPARATUS USED FOR RAISING AND
LOWERING WEIGHTS IN COLLIERIES and Mines, and FOR´OTHER ANALOGOUS PUR-
POSES," to be as follows:—
My improvements relate to winding apparatus as used in collieries and
other mines in which two ropes are used, one of which ropes is ascending
or drawing coal or other mineral or weight from a pit or shaft whilst the
other ropo is desconding or lowering an empty cago, bucket, or other
icht down a nit of shaft

page_text: The ordinary method in which such apparatus is arranged and worked
is by having two drums (or one drum of sufficient width) fixed upon the
same driving shaft or axle, one rope being wound round one of the
drums and the other rope round the other drum in such a way that
when one rope is being wound round its drum the other rope is being 5
unwound. The two ropes are led from the drums to pullies fixed upon
the pit head frame, from which they descend the pit or shaft. In this
form of apparatus it is necessary that one of the ropes should after passing
over the pit head pulley be brought down and coiled round the drum in
the opposito direction to that in which it passes over the pulloy, and in 1
consequence of this opposite bending this rop becomes injured and
worn out more quickly than the rope which is wound round the drum
in the same direction as that in which it passes over the pit head pulley.
My improvements consist in arranging the two drums upon separate
parallel shafts or axles, upon each of which is fixed a toothed wheel by 1
which they are connected together. The shafts or axles are arranged
upon suitable bearings and foundations, and one of them is used as a
driving shaft, and is connected in the usual way to a steam engine or
other motive power. By this arrangement the drums revolvo in opposite
directions, and both ropes may be coiled round them in the same
direction as they pass over the pit head pullies.
Where the ropes are to work in different shafts or pits the axles may
be connected together by suitable toothed gear, so as to be at the
required angle to one another instead of parallel, and the arrangement
described may be used in other cases where it is required that two ropes
shall be wound and unwound alternately in opposite directions.
:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Robert Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Offico on
the 12th September 1873.
L
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT 3
WILSON, of Rotherham, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of March, 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 suc- 3

page_text: cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Wilson, Her special
licence that I, the said Robert Wilson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Wilson, my execu
tors, 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, usc, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING AND ÅRRANGING THE WINDING APparatus Used foR
RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS IN COLLIERIES AND MINES, AND FOR OTHER
ANALOGOUS PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Wilson, 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
5 manner the same was to be performed, and causo the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Latters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Wilson, do hereby declare
tho naturo 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, and accompanying Drawings (that is to
say) :-
My improvements relato especially to the winding apparatus used in
colliorics and other mines, in which two ropes of hemp, wire, or other
› material, and either circular in section or flat, are used, one of such
ropes being made to ascond and draw up coal or other mineral or weight
from a pit or shaft whilst the other rope is descending or lowering an
empty cage, kibble, bucket, or other weight down a pit or shaft.
In the method used and practised in such apparatus as ordinarily
O constructed and arranged, two winding drums or barrels (or ono drum
or barrel of sufficient width) are fixed upon the same shaft or axle, and
ono rope is wound in one direction round one of the drums, whilst the
other rope is wound in the other direction round the other drum, so that
when the shaft or axle is made to revolve one rope is being wound or
5 coiled round ono drum, and the other rope is being unwound or uncoiled
from the other drum (or if one drum only is used from another part of
the same drum). The two ropes after leaving the drum or drums are
led or conducted to two suitablo pullios flxed upon the pit head frame,-

page_text: from which they descend the pit or shaft. It is necessary in apparatus
arranged in the manner just described that one of the ropes should be
brought down after passing over the pit head pulley and coiled round
the winding drum or barrel in the opposite direction to that in which it
passes over the pit head pulley, and the consequence of this alternate &
bending in opposite directions every time the rope is used is, that the
fibres of which it is composed becomo rapidly injured and broken
(especially if wire rope is used), and such rope is very much sooner
worn out than the other rope which is wound round the drum or barrel
in the same direction as that in which it passes over the pit head 1
pulley.
The object of my Invention is to prevent such increased wear and tear
of one of the ropes used as described by a novel arrangement of
apparatus, so that it as well as the other rope shall always be coiled or
bent in the same direction round the drum or barrel and the pit head. 1
pulley. For this purpose I arrange two drums or barrels upon separato.
parallel shafts or axles, upon cach of which shafts or axles is fixed a
toothed wheel by which they are connected together, so that when one
of them is made to revolve in one direction the other one revolves at the
same time in the opposite direction.
The shafts or axles are arranged upon suitable bearings and foundations,
and one of them is used as a driving shaft, and is connected in any of
the methods well understood and practised to a steam engine or other
motive power.
2
Instead of the shafts or axles described being arranged parallel to each 2
other they may be arranged at any desired angle, being connected
together by suitable bevilled wheels, so that the ropes may cach be
conducted to a separato pit or shaft.
My improvements are applicable to round ropes as well as to flat
ropes, and in all cases I prefer to use drums and pullies of as large 8
diameter as possible, so that the fibres or wires of the ropes may be less
bent or injured in passing round them, and where brakes are used on the
winding drums they may be made more powerful and effective.
Sometimes in order to facilitate the first starting of the weight from
the bottom of the pit or shaft (at the time of which first starting the 3
greatest strain is communicated to the rope), I arrange a platform upon
which the waggon or other weight to be lifted is placed, and I support

page_text: their elasticity they aid in lifting the weight, and reducing the shock
when the first strain of the rope is applied to it.
By the use of my Invention round ropes may be employed of much
less weight than flat ropes used in the arrangement ordinarily adopted,
and such round ropes will last for a longer time and requiro less power
to lift them.
Tho arrangements described may be used for other purposes whero
weights have to be alternately raised and lowered, as well as for raising
and lowering weights in collieries and other mines.
The accompanying Drawings are in illustration of my Invention.
In Sheet I. Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of winding
apparatus constructed according to my Invention, and used with round
ropes.
Figuro 8, Sheet II., shows a perspective view of the toothed wheels
and winding drums.
a, a¹, aro two drums round which the ropes b, b³, are coiled in the
same direction; c, c', are toothed wheels by which the shafts or axles are
connected together, so that when the drum a is made to revolvo by
means of the driving shaft d, the drum a' rovolves in the opposito
direction; c, e', represent the pullies round which the ropes pass over
the mouth of the pit.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I claim, the methods of constructing and
arranging winding apparatus so that the ropes used may always bo bent
in the same direction, substantially as and for the purposes described and
shown in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Wilson, havo hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
ROBERT WILSON. (L.S.)