IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WORKING LOCK GATES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Percy Graham Buchanan Westmacott, of
Elswick, in the County of Newcastle-upon-Tync, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WORKING LOCK GATES.”
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WORKING LOCK GATES.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Percy Graham
Buchanan Westmacott at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th May 1874.
I, PERCY GRAHAM BUCHANAN WESTMACOTT, of Elswick, in the
County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WORKING LOCK GATES,"
to be as follows:-
:-
Hitherto in machinery for working lock gates it has been the practice
to attach the fast end of the chain (used for turning the gate) to the
gate, and to haul by machinery placed upon the masonry at opposite
sides. This necessitates 2 hauling machines with roller boxes for each
machine.

page_text: I now propose to fix the fast end of the chains to the side of the
masonry of the lock, and to place the machine for hauling upon, the
gate itself carrying this power to the same through a hinged joint over
the heel post, or otherwise, or the chains may be conveyed back to a
point behind the heel post, where one machine would be placed to work
both the opening and closing chains. Or the same object may be
effected by means of shafting similarly worked from one machine. By
such an arrangement a large saving is effected not only in the amount
of machinery required but in the construction of the masonry by reason
of the chain ways and machine foundations being dispensed with.
I prefer to employ a hydraulic engine for working the chains, and
use either one continuous chain or two chains, and to attach a hand
apparatus in case of the power being laid off.
The exhaust water from the hydraulic engine I carry down by pipes
to the front and back of the roller in order to flush the roller path in
advance of the travel of the roller. With the view of keeping the roller
path, heel post bearings, or other parts round about the gate or other
portions of the lock free from deposits of mud I place pipes either on
the gate or walls with nozzles at the bottom end, and at the same time
that I force pressure water through the same against the deposits I
cause the pipe to rotate and also where required to lift up and down.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Percy Graham Buchanan Westmacott in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 9th November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PERCY
GRAHAM BUCHANAN WESTMACOTT, of Elswick, in the County of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Percy Graham Buchanan Westmacott,
Her special license that I, the said Percy Graham Buchanan West-
macott, executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,

page_text: the said Percy. Graham Buchanan Westmacott, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR WORKING LOCK GATES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Percy Graham Buchanan Westmacott, executors or admi-
nistrators, 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

page_text: On Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn an
arrangement of machinery for working lock gates, in which the hauling
machinery is placed upon the gate itself.
Figure 1 is a plan view and Figure 2 an elevation of part of the lock
gate and of the hauling machinery. In this arrangement two chains
are used, one for opening and the other for closing the gate. Each
chain is led on to a small chain wheel a upon an axis having upon it a
brake wheel and toothed wheel c. With the toothed wheels c gear
pinions & on the crank shaft e of an hydraulic engine, as shewn; the
pinions d are loose upon the shaft, but can either of them be coupled
to it by the clutch g. The chain for closing the gate is marked h. It
is fixed at one end to the side masonry and is conducted over the
pullies k, l, to the chain wheel a and to the receptacle m; n is the chain
for opening the gate, this chain is also connected at one end to the side
masonry and bed over a pulley on the outer side of the gate to the
pulley o on its top, from which it passes to the chain wheel a and to the
chain receptacle p. The water under pressure for working the hydraulic
engine is conveyed to the engine by flexible pipes, or by pipes jointed
near to or over the heel post. In place of two chains and two chain
wheels being used the opening and closing chains may, as before stated,
be in one and be worked by one chain wheel, which can be driven in
either direction according as it is desired to open or close the gate.
In place also of the chain wheels being worked by an hydraulic engine
carried upon the gate the chain wheels may be worked by means of
shafting carried back behind the heel post and driven by an engine at
the side of the lock; or the hauling chains may, as before stated, be
led over the heel post in the manner shewn by the diagram view,
Figure 3, Sheet 2, and be worked by hauling apparatus carried by the
masonry in the vicinity of the heel post.
Figure 4 shews a plan view, and Figures 5 and 6 elevations on a
larger scale of the hauling apparatus I prefer to employ, but other
arrangements of hauling machinery worked by water, steam, or other
power, or by men, may be adopted if desired. The hauling apparatus
shewn at Figures 4, 5, and 6, is constructed to be worked by means of
water under pressure, and is similar in its construction to the hydraulic
machinery previously described, with the exception that the crank shaft
of the engine has in addition fixed upon it a bevil toothed wheel », into

page_text: which gears a bevil pinion s on a vertical axis carrying sockets to receive
handspikes, so that the engine may be worked by hand in case of the
supply of water under pressure being shut off; t, t, are brake levers to
apply a brake to either of the chain wheels a; u is the clutch lever;
and v, a lever for opening and closing a valve for admitting water to the
engine.
The arrangement of the chains for opening and closing cach of the
gates is clearly shewn by the Drawing, Figure 3.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim as my
improvements in machinery for working lock gates,―
1. Fixing the fast end of the chains used for opening and closing the
gate. to the masonary of the lock and placing the hauling machinery
upon the gate itself.
2. Fixing the fast end of the chains used for opening and closing the
gate to the masonry of the lock and working the chains by hauling
machinery placed in the vicinity of the heel post of the gate, or partly
behind the heel post and partly on the gate itself.
In witness whereof, I, the said Percy Graham Buchanan West-
macott, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day
of November in the year of Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-four.
PERCY G. B. WESTMACOTT. (L.S.)