IM- PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING, LOWERING, MOVING, OR TRANSPORTING HEAVY BODIES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING, LOWERING, MOVING,
OR TRANSPORTING HEAVY BODIES."-A communication from abroad by
མ་་་
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd November 1866.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention'
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING, LOWERING,
MOVING, OR TRANSPORTING HEAVY BODIES," a communication to me from
abroad by Charles Le Blanc, of 'Paris, in the Empire of France, to be' as"
follows:
This Invention relates to a peculiar combination and arrangement of
travelling crane, and consists in combining together two windlasses in such a
manner that they may be coupled or geared together and operate conjointly,
or disengaged so as to admit of one windlass being operated whilst the other
remains stationary. The barrels or drums of these windlasses may be adapted
for the use of ropes or ordinary or flat linked chains; in the case of using chains
the ordinary provision should be made for causing the chain to gear or engage

page_text: with the winding pulley, drum, or barrel. Each barrel carries a spur wheel,
but one of these wheels is caused to slide along its axis by the aid of a clutch
lever, so as to enable it to be thrown in or out of gear with the spur wheel
fast on the second barrel. A ratchet and detent arrangement should also be
applied to each barrel in order to retain them fixed or stationary when
required. When ropes are employed each barrel winds and unwinds a
separate rope of its own, but as the barrels are of equal diameter it follows
that when geared together (the ropes being coiled round both in the same
direction) that one rope will be unwound just in proportion as the other is
wound. One of these ropes passes over an overhead guide pulley on the end
of the travelling rails of the crane, which are supported by uprights at each
end; it thence passes longitudinally between the rails and over a pulley in a
travelling block or carriage, and its pendent end may either be attached
directly to the weight or the rope may be passed under a snatch block and
returned to the carriage again, to the frame of which it is secured. The other
rope from the second windlass also passes over a guide pulley at the end of
the travelling rails, and thence proceeds longitudinally above such rails to a
guide pulley on the opposite end thereof and back to the carriage, to the
frame of which it is secured. When it is simply required to raise or lower a
weight without traversing or moving it horizontally, then the last-mentioned
windlass is held fast, and the spur wheel on the other is slid out of gear with
its neighbour, and the second windlass rotated in the required direction
according as the weight is to be raised or lowered, using for that purpose an
ordinary winch handle or steam or other power. When the weight has been
sufficiently elevated it may be transported or moved horizontally by gearing
together or coupling both the windlasses, when as the one gives out just as
much rope as the other takes up the carriage will be caused to travel in either
direction along the rails.
One important advantage secured by this Invention is that the travelling
rails need not necessarily be either perfectly rectilinear or level, which in cases
of very uneven ground and where portable cranes are used is a great
desideratum. By using a chain and chain pulley in lieu of a smooth drum
or barrel a less length of chain will be required, as in that case the two chains
may form one, which will be actuated by both windlasses without influencing
the amount of slack chain which should hang between the two chain pulleys,
the one taking up no more chain than is given off by the other.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent 'Office on
the 22nd May 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 Mau, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING, LOWERING, MOVING, OR
TRANSPORTING HEAVY BODIES," a communication to me from abroad by
Charles Le Blanc, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 accompanying Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
travelling crane, and consists in combining together two windlasses in such a
manner that they may be coupled or geared together and operate conjointly, or
be disengaged so as to admit of one windlass being operated whilst the other
remains stationary. The barrels or drums of these windlasses may be adapted
for the use of ropes or ordinary chains, or flat linked chains; in the case of
using chains the ordinary provision should be made for causing the chain to

page_text: gear or engage with the winding pulley, drum, or barrel. Each barrel carries
a spur wheel, but one of these wheels is caused to slide along its axis by the
aid of a clutch lever, so as to enable it to be thrown in or out of with the
gear
spur wheel fast on the second barrel. A ratchet and detent arrangement
should also be applied to each barrel in order to retain them fixed or stationary
when required. When ropes are employed each barrel winds and unwinds a
separate rope of its own, but as the barrels are of equal diameter it follows
that when geared together (the ropes being coiled round both in the same
direction) that one rope will be unwound just in proportion as the other is
wound. One of these ropes passes over an overhead guide pulley on the end
of the travelling rails of the crane, which are supported by uprights at each
end; it thence passes longitudinally between the rails and over a pulley in a
travelling block or carriage, and its pendent end may either be attached
directly to the weight, or the rope may be passed under snatch block and
returned to the carriage again, to the frame of which it is secured. The
other горе from the second windlass also passes over a guide pulley at the end
of the travelling rails, and thence proceeds longitudinally above such rails to
a guide pulley on the opposite end thereof and back to the carriage, to which
it is secured. When it is simply required to raise or lower a weight without
traversing or moving it horizontally, then the last-mentioned windlass is held
fast, and the spur wheel on the other is slid out of gear with its neighbour,
and the second windlass rotated in the required direction according as the
weight is to be raised or lowered, using for that purpose an ordinary wrench
handle, or steam, or other power. When the weight has been sufficiently
elevated it may be transported or moved horizontally by gearing together or
coupling both the windlasses, when as the one gives out just as much rope as
the other takes up the carriage will be caused to travel in either direction
along the rails.
One important advantage secured by this Invention is that the travelling
rails need not necessarily be either perfectly rectilinear or level, which in
cases of very uneven ground and where portable cranes are used is a great
desideratum. By using a chain and chain pulley in lieu of a smooth drum or
barrel a less length of chain will be required, as in that case the two chains
may form one, which will be actuated by both windlasses without influencing
the amount of slack chain which should hang between the two chain pullies,
the one taking up no more chain than is given off by the other.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
I shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto

page_text: annexed, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures..
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents an end elevation of
the improved crane; Figure 2 is a corresponding side elevation of the same;
and Figures 3 and 4 represent respectively a side elevation and end view of
the windlasses drawn to a larger scale.
C is the principal windlass barrel, and H the auxiliary windlass barrel; so
long as the two windlasses are not geared together each of them may be
worked independently. The shaft of the barrel C has a spur wheel K.keyed
thereon, whilst the shaft of the other barrel H carries a similar spur wheel G
also keyed thereon, but capable of sliding along the shaft so as to be brought
into gear or thrown out of gear with the spur wheel K on the main barrel C.
Each barrel moreover may be provided with a ratchet wheel and detent, and
with an ordinary or other break. The chain q of the main barrel C.
passes
over a guide pulley L fixed to the end of the tramway B of the traversing
carriage T nearest to the windlasses; it thence passes over the pulley S fixed
to the carriage T, and is finally attached either to the load or weight either
directly or through the intervention of a block and pulley, as shewn in the
Drawing. The chain p of the windlass H also passes over a guide pulley U
attached to the end of the tramway next the windlasses, thence passes round
the pulley V at the opposite end of the tramway, and is finally secured to the
frame or body of the traversing carriage T, as shewn clearly in Figure 2.
When the barrel H is thrown out of gear, and locked by its ratchet wheel and
detent, the main windlass C may be used alone for raising or lowering the
weight without any motion of the carriage T, which is retained in position by
the chain 9 of the barrel H; if on the other hand the two windlasses C
and H be geared together, and if one of them be actuated, the weight will be
moved horizontally, as the carriage T will travel along the tramway in one
direction or the other according as the barrel C or H is actuated; this
represents only one of the numerous arrangements that may be adopted either
as a double-geared windlass or as a traveller crane to which such windlass is
applied. The crane is portable, and consists of four parts, viz., the double
windlass, the two standards or uprights A, A', and the cross beam and tram-
way B. The cross beam is secured to the uprights A, A', and the windlass C
to one of such uprights A, and the angles between the uprights and the cross
beam are fixed by the corner braces or stays E of variable length.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel

page_text: and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the construction of traveller cranes with two windlasses or barrels
capable of working either separately or in combination, substantially as and
for the purpose herein-before described.
Second, the peculiar construction and arrangement of traveller crane and
double-geared windlasses operating as herein-before described and illustrated
by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my
Specification hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day
of May, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S:)