Improvements relating to Lift Gates.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Dec., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 7th Sent.. 1893-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION..
Improvements relating to Lift Gates.
We, THE BOSTWICK GATE AND SHUTTER COMPANY, LIMITED, of Baldwins
Gardens, Grays Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturers, and
WILLIAM EDWIN WILLIAMSON, of Whitcomb House, Whitcomb Street, Pall
Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows
Our invention relates to lift gates more especially of the kind known as collapsable
gates but it may also be applied to lift gates of other patterns.
According to the first part of our invention we provide means to prevent the
lift gate being opened except at those times when the cage is opposite said. gate.
In the second part of our invention we provide for preventing the cage being
started either up or down until the gate opposite which the lift is standing has
been closed.
According to one method of carrying our invention into practice we provide a
shaft supported in suitable bearings attached to the door-frame, or side of the well,
preferably near to the top of the gate or door. Short arms or levers are secured
on the said shaft at suitable distances apart so that when the shaft is in one position
the said arms will engage with the pickets or uprights of the collapsable gate and
thereby prevent the gate being opened. We arrange that the shaft shall be
maintained in the position mentioned by means of a spring or springs or by a
weighted arm attached thereto or other suitable means.
We moveover provide a projecting part or cam piece on the front or other
suitable part of the cage in such a position that a short lever attached to the shaft
will be operated so as to move the said shaft against. the force of the spring or
weighted arm when the cage has ascended or descended to the floor level; the arms
on the shaft are thus disengaged from the pickets or uprights of the gate, and the
gate can then be opened. When the cage is again started after the gate is closed the
projecting part thereon no longer engages with the lever or projection of the shaft,
and the locking device is then returned to its normal position by the springs or
weights, and locks the gate
According to the second part of our invention we provide means so that the
We provide a
cage can not be started while the gate leading thereto is open.
gripping device which when the lift gate is open is actuated to prevent the rope
which starts the lift mechanism being operated.
For instance we attach a sleeve or sleeves to the rope by which the lift mechanism
started and arrange that the opening of a gate shall operate a clutch which grips
one or more of the said sleeves as long as the gate is open and thus prevents the
rope from being pulled so as to start the lift mechanism. We may provide a
sleeve firmly secured to the rope at suitable halting places of the cage or we may
arrange that one sleeve shall slide up and down the rope with the cage, the said
sleeve only gripping the rope when the clutch mechanism is operated by a gate
being opened.
We sometimes dispense with a sleeve and arrange that the clutch shall grip
the rope direct but we prefer to arrange the sleeve or sleeves as hereinabove
stated.
We may apply our automatic clutch mechanism to either of the ropes
provided for starting or stopping the lift mechanism or to only one of the
said ropes.
By our invention we avoid a fruitful source of accidents connected with lifts,

page_text: many of which occur through the carelessness of attendants in leaving lift gates
open when the cage is in another part of the well and in starting the cage up or
down before the gates leading thereto have been closed.
Although we have herein described the nature of our invention as applied more
especially to collapsable lift gates, we wish it to be clearly understood that it may
be very casily applied to other kinds of doors or gates which are used to close
the entrance to the well of the lift. We also reserve to ourselves the right of
varying the manner of carrying out our invention in detail without transgressing
the limits of our said invention.
Dated this 7th day of December 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Lift Gates.
We, THE BOSTWICK GATE & SHUTTER Co., LTD., of Baldwins Gardens,
Grays Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturers, and WILLIAM
EDWIN WILLIAMSON, of Whitcomb House, Whitcomb Street, Pall Mall, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to lift gates more especially of the kind known as collapsable
gates but it may also be applied to lift gates of other patterns.
According to the first part of our invention we provide means whereby the gates
of a lift will be prevented from being opened except at those times when the cage
is at the proper level of the gates. In the second part of our invention we provide
a device which will prevent the cage from being started either up or down until
the gate opposite which the lift is standing has been closed.
According to one method of carrying our invention into practice we provide a
shaft journalled in suitable bearings attached to the door frame or side of the well,
preferably near to the top of the gate or door. Short arms or levers are secured on
the said shaft at suitable distances apart so that when the shaft is in one position
the said arms will engage with the pickets or uprights of the collapsable gate and
thereby prevent the same from being opened. We arrange that the shaft shall be
maintained in the position mentioned by means of a spring or springs or by another
weighted arm attached thereto. We moreover provide a projecting part or cam
piece on the front or other suitable part of the cage in such a position that a short
lever attached to the shaft will be operated so as to turn the said shaft against the
force of the spring or weighted arm when the cage has ascended or descended to
the floor level, the arms on the shaft are thus brought out of engagement with the
pickets or uprights of the gate which can then be opened. When the cage is
started again the projecting part thereon no longer engages with the lever or
projection of the shaft and the gates are therefore prevented from being opened.
According to the second part of our invention we provide means so that the cage
can not be started while the gate leading thereto is open. For instance we attach
sleeves to the rope by which the lift mechanism is started and arrange that the
opening of a gate shall operate a clutch which grips one or more of the said sleeves
as long as the gate is open and thus prevents the rope from being pulled so as to
start the lift mechanism. We may provide a sleeve firmly secured to the rope at
suitable halting places of the cage or we may arrange that the one sleeve shall
slide up and down the rope with the cage the said sleeve only gripping the rope
when the clutch mechanism is operated by a gate being opened.
In order that our invention may be more clearly understood we will now proceed
to describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,

page_text: Figure 1 is a front view shewing a collapsable lift gate and cage fitted with our
improved devices,
Figure 2 is a plan view of the same, and
Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line, a Figure 1.
Similar parts are denoted by like letters of reference throughout the drawings.
A is the lift gate which is of the well known Bostwick collapsable type, B is the
cage, and C, C, are portions of the walls of the well of the lift.
D is a rod carried by levers D' 1' pivoted on suitable bearings C1, C1, attached
to the walls of the well. The rod D is furnished with short arms or projections D
at such intervals apart as to engage with the pickets A' of the gate as shewn in the
figures, when the same is expanded and prevent them from being pushed back in
order to open the gate.
The levers D' are furnished with weights D³ which keep the levers in such
positions that the projections D2 of the rod D are in engagement with the pickets
of the gate.
When however the cage B approaches a floor level the front face of
the cage comes in contact with the rounded cam faces D₁ of the weights; the
levers D' are thereby rotated and the projections D2 of the bar withdrawn from
engagement with the pickets so that the gate can be opened or closed. This
position is shewn in dotted lines in Figure 3. When the gate is not at a floor level
the weights D are no longer pushed aside and the levers and rod D return to their
normal position as shewn.
The means provided for preventing the cage being started either up or down
when the lift gate is open are as follows, E is the rope by the pulling of which
the attendant in the cage starts and stops the lift mechanism in the usual manner.
The said rope passes through holes B' in the floor and ceiling of the cage and round
a pulley at the top and bottom of the well in the usual manner. The return part E¹
of the rope we have shown, outside the cage. On the said return portion El of the
rope we provide sleeves such as E2 firmly secured to the rope at the proper halting
places. F is a bar sliding in guides fixed to the side of the well and adapted to
be struck by a projection A2 on one of the pickets of the gate when the said gate
is opened or closed. The said bar is connected by a suitable system of pivoted
levers F, F to a clutch G which is actuated to grip the sleeve E2 and thus lock the
rope when the bar F is pushed inward by the collapsing of the gate. When the
gate is expanded to close the entrance to the well the bar F is pushed out by means
of a spring H and the clutch is opened by the levers F F so as to release the
sleeve and thus permit the rope to be pulled and the lift mechanism started by
the attendant. The action of the levers F1 F2 in opening and closing the clutch G
is very clearly seen on reference to Figure 2, it is obvious that we may use other
well known combinations of levers and links for actuating the clutch when the
sliding bar is moved.
We sometimes dispense with a sleeve and arrange that the clutch shall grip
the rope direct but we prefer to arrange the sleeve or sleeves as hereinabove
stated.
In lieu of providing a sleeve E2 and clutch for engaging therewith at every
floor level we may employ only one such sleeve and clutch arranged to be operated
by each and all of the gates.
By our invention we avoid a fruitful source of accidents connected with lifts
many of which occur through the carelessness of attendants in leaving lift gates
open when the cage is in another part of the well and in starting the cage up or
down before the gates leading thereto have been closed.
Although we have herein described the nature of our invention as applied more
especially to collapsable lift gates, we wish it to be clearly understood that it may
be very easily applied to other kinds of doors or gates which are used to close the
entrance to the well of the lift. We also reserve to ourselves the right of varying
the manner of carrying out our invention in detail without transgressing the limits
of our said invention.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is-
1. The combination, with a sliding lift gate, and with the cage, of a rod supported
by pivoted levers and provided with arms or projections adapted to engage with
the gate and lock the gate when so engaged, said rod being controlled by the cage
in such a manner that the gate cannot be opened unless the cage is opposite the
floor level, substantially as described.
2. The combination, with a sliding lift gate, and with the rope for starting and
stopping the lift mechanism, of a clutch operated by said gate and which prevents
the said rope from being moved to start the mechanism unless the opening to the
well of the lift is closed by the gate, substantially as described.
3. In a lift, the combination, with the lift gates, of the various devices substan-
tially as described with reference. to the accompanying drawings, and operating as
specified.
Dated this 7th day of Sentember 1892
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.