Improvements relating to the Construction of Machine Shops and to the arrangement of Shafting, Machines, and the like therein.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Jan., 1898-Accepted, 26th Feb.,
1898
Improvements relating to the Construction of Machine Shops and
to the arrangement of Shafting, Machines, and the like therein.
I, PHILETUS WARREN GATES, Manufacturer, of 650, Elston Avenue, Chicago, Cook
County, Illinois, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of my
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention is intended to be an improvement upon the present method of
constructing machine shops, and upon the arrangement of the main shaft, counter-
shafting, machinery, &c., and has for its object the providing of a simple, economical
and efficient machine shop plant; and the invention consists in the features,..
combinations and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical transverse sectional
elevation of a shop constructed and arranged in accordance with my improvements ;..
and Fig. 2 a longitudinal vertical sectional elevation showing a portion of the shop
with the arrangement of the mechanism thereon.
In illustrating and describing my improved shop, I prefer to show it as applied to
a building in which there is but one room; but it will be seen that with slight
changes in construction it may be applied to a building having two rooms extending
in the direction of the longitudinal length of the building, so that I do not desire to
be limited strictly to the structure shown in the drawings, and which is merely filed
as a part of this Specification.
In constructing my improved machine shop plant and describing the drawings, I
use a building A of the desired size and shape, and having a compartment a extending
in the direction of the longitudinal length of the building.
Arranged between the side walls of the building, and in what I term the central
portion thereof, at or near the floor and extending lengthwise therewith, are two lines
of main shaftings B and B¹, so that they may drive, by means of belts, the lines of
At the
counter-shafting bb bb¹ arranged on proper columnar supports C and C¹.
side of the building, and preferably near the floor, are side lines of main shafting D,.
so arranged that they can belt with counter-shafting d arranged on proper supports
almost directly overhead the same. The machinery E, which may consist of lathes,
drills, shapers, planers and boring machines can be arranged adjacent to the overhead
counter-shafting, so as to be economically driven thereby, and at the same time form
as it were alleys G G¹ and G2 between the main lines of shafting, down through
which heavy articles may be transported from end to end of the building, as will be
more fully hereinafter described.
The side walls of the building are provided with tracks or run-ways H, so that an
overhead traveller I may be arranged thereon and substantially span the space from
wall to wall of the building. This overhead traveller may be constructed in any of
the usual manners and provided with the usual carrier i which supports the piece to
be carried, and by which, in connection with the traveller, the article K may be
transferred from one end of the building to the other, or from side to side
thereof.

page_text: In Fig. 2 I have shown one of the lines of supports for the center shafting Clas
broken one part of the main line of shafting being supplied with a motor B².
These supports are broken, so that where the roof of the building is too low to
permit of articles being carried over the supports, a space L may be had through
which the article K may be moved from side to side of the building. In such
instances as this, it is not necessary to have the main line of shafting in one
continuous length; neither is it necessary to have the columnar supports for the
counter-shafting continuous. On the contrary, they may be broken, as shown in
Fig. 2, for the purpose above specified-in fact, it is preferable to have the supports
for the counter-shafting broken, as indicated in Fig. 2, though the main line of
shafting may be continuous, if desirable or necessary.
The advantages incident to the use of a mechanical plant as shown and
described are:
1. The travelling crane can be economically and efficiently supported by the walls
of the-building.
2. It can span all the way from one wall to the other, and therefore render the
services of the travelling crane available for every foot of floor space beneath the
roof.
3. The travelling crane can be brought as close as possible to the floor, without at
the same time requiring the belt from the main lines to the counter-shafting to be
so short as to render it a nuisance.
4. Several lines of machine tools can be served by one travelling crane, and
they can be located at the side walls, or at any required distance from the side
walls.
5. The whole combination enables the designer to make a smaller and cheaper
building than in the type heretofore used, and at the same time a more effective
-one ; and
6. The main lines of shafting are more readily accessible for the purposes of oiling,
mounting the pulleys, repairing and renewing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A mechanical shop plant, comprising one or more main lines of shafting
arranged at or near the floor and independent sections of counter-shafting arranged
nearly overhead the same on proper columnar supports and arranged to be driven
by the main line of shafting to provide a clear overhead and intermediate space with
regard to the main line of shafting for the transportation of the articles, substantially
as described.
2. A mechanical shop plant, comprising one or more main lines of shafting
arranged at or near the floor, independent sections of counter-shafting arranged
nearly overhead the same on proper columnar supports and arranged to be driven
by the main line of shafting to provide a clear overhead and intermediate space with
regard to the main line of shafting for the transportation of the articles, and an
overhead traveller arranged above the counter-shafting on supports adjacent to the
walls of the building so as to render available all space from wall to wall of the building
to facilitate the transportation of articles, substantially as described.
Dated this 6th day of January 1898.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.