NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRE- VENTING ACCIDENTS IN COAL OR OTHER MINES, BY THE DRAWING OF SKIPS OR CAGES OVER THEIR PULLIES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Dutton, of Tipton, in the County of Stafford,
Whitesmith, and Robert Martin, of Dudley, in the County of Worcester,
Coke Merchant, and Thomas Phillips, of Dudley, aforesaid, Coke
Merchant, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRE-
VENTING ACCIDENTS IN COAL OR OTHER MINES, BY THE DRAWING OF SKIPS OR
CAGES OVER THEIR PULLIES."
Sealed the 29th September 1859, and dated the 19th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Dutton, Robert
Martin, and Thomas Phillips at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition; on the 19th April 1859.
We, ISAAC DUTTON, of Tipton, in the County of Stafford, Whitesmith, and
ROBERT MARTIN, of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, Coke Merchant, and
THOMAS PHILLIPS, of Dudley, aforesaid, Coke Merchant, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PREVENTING
ACCIDENTS IN COAL OR OTHER MINES, BY THE DRAWING OF SKIPS OR CAGES OVER
THEIR PULLIES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of the machinery herein-after explained, whereby
break is put into operation when the skip or cage of a coal or other mine is
raised out of the mouth of the mine shaft, and the drawing of the skip or cage
over its pulley prevented. To the shaft of the drum on which the chain or
rope is wound, which raises the skip or cage from the mine, we connect a
On the said
screw, which said screw rotates with the rotation of the drum.
screw are two screw nuts, one of the said screw nuts being situated near one

page_text: end, and the other near the other end of the screw. The said screw nuts are
capable of being fixed at any desired distance apart on the screw. Between
the said screw nuts is a pulley, the screw passing through the bush of the said
pulley and constituting its axis. As the screw rotates, the pulley which does
not rotate advances in one or other direction on the screw, and the bush of
the said pulley at length arrives at and engages with one of the fixed screw
nuts. The pulley is now made to rotate with the screw, and a chain winding
upon the pulley acts upon a break of the ordinary kind and brings the engine
to rest. The screw nuts, which by engaging with the pulley cause it to rotate,
are fixed at such a distance apart that the pulley advances on the screw
from one to the other of the said screw nuts by the same number of rotations
as are required to raise the skip or cage out of the mouth of the mine shaft.
The ascent of the said skip or cage out of the mouth of the shaft, and the
action of the pulley upon the break occur simultaneously. The engine is thereby
stopped, and the drawing of the skip or cage over its pulley is prevented.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Dutton, Robert Martin, and Thomas Phillips in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ISAAC
DUTTON, of Tipton, in the County of Stafford, Whitesmith, and ROBERT
MARTIN, of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, Coke Merchant, and THOMAS
PHILLIPS, of Dudley, aforesaid, Coke Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Isace Dutton, Robert Martin, and Thomas Phillips, Her special
licence that we, the said Isaac Dutton, Robert Martin, and Thomas Phillips,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Isaac Dutton, Robert Martin, and Thomas Phillips, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PREVENTING
ACCIDENTS IN COAL OR OTHER MINES, BY THE DRAWING OF SKIPS OR CAGES OVER THEIR
.

page_text: PULLIES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Isaac Dutton,
Robert Martin, and Thomas Phillips, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us or them, 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 of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Isaac Dutton, on behalf of myself and
the said Robert Martin and Thomas Phillips, 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
thereof, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists of the machinery herein-after particularly explained
and represented in the accompanying Drawing, by the action of which said
machinery a brake is put into operation when the skip or cage of a coal or
other mine is raised out of the mouth of the mine shaft, and the drawing of
the skip or cage over its pulley thereby prevented.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents our Invention partly in side elevation
and partly in longitudinal vertical section; Figure 2 represents an end elevation
of the same; and Figure 3 represents a transverse vertical section of the same.
The other Figures represent detached portions of our Invention, as herein-after
explained: The same letters are used to indicate the same parts in the several
Figures.
The drum on which the chain or rope is wound, which raises the skip or
cage from the mine, is connected to the machinery which constitutes our
Invention, by means of a toothed wheel on the shaft of the said drum gearing
into the toothed wheel marked a. Or the shaft of the wheel a may be con-
nected with the drum shaft in any other convenient manner. By the rotation
of the said drum shaft the rotation of the shaft bis effected. On the said
shaft 6 is a pinion c, the leaves or teeth of which extend from the point c¹ to
the point c; above the axis or shaft b, and parallel thereto, is a screw d, capable
of turning in its bearings e; f is a toothed wheel, the bush g of which is a
screw box, through which the screw d passes. The wheel f engages with the
pinion c as best seen in Figure 3, and as the wheel a and pinion c rotate the
5 wheel is made to advance in one or other direction upon the screw d.
At h and i are screw nuts fixed upon the screw d, the construction
and action of which said nuts is herein-after explained. On either side of
the bush g of the wheel f, is a tooth g¹. Each of the said screw nuts
at h, i, is composed of two plates u, v, with a washer between them, as herein-

page_text: after explained, but for convenience of description, we will describe the said
screw nuts by the letters h and i, as though they were each made of one piece of
metal. On the inner face of each of the screw nuts at h, i, is a tooth k. When
the wheelf has advanced sufficiently far in either direction upon the screw d,
one of the teeth g¹ engages with one of the teeth k, constituting a clutch
whereby the rotatory motion of the wheel f is communicated to the screw d.
On the end of the screw d is fixed a crank I, shown separately in front and
side elevation in Figure 4, and the crank is connected with the crank rod m.
As the crank is brought into the position indicated by the dotted linen,
Figure 2, the crank rod m assumes the position indicated by the dotted line o,
Figure 2, and the brake rod p, to which the crank rod m is jointed, is made to
operate upon the brake and bring the engine to rest. In order to liberate the
brake, and permit the engine again to move, the handle p² is lifted; by this
means the claw q which holds the crank pin to the top of the slot 7, in the
crank rod m, is lifted out of the said slot r, when the brake rod p and crank
rod m are at liberty to rise. The crank / returns to its vertical position when
the screw d is again at liberty to move by the action of the pulleys, fixed near
the end of the said screw d. A chain t passes over the pulley s, and is fastened
to the said pulleys at a point of the said pulley which is highest when the
crank is in a vertical position, To the lower ends of the chaint a weight is
hung, both ends of the said chain being fastened to the said weight.
The effect of this arrangement is, that the crank is brought into a vertical
position by the said weight whenever the said crank and screw d are at
liberty to move. The screw nuts at h, i, are capable of being fixed at any
required distance apart on the screw d, so as to determine the precise number
of revolutions which the axis b shall make before putting the brake into
operation. By fixing the screw nuts at h, i, at a less distance apart on the
screw d, the brake is brought into operation after a less number of revolutions of
the shaft 6, and by fixing the said screw nuts at h, i, at a greater distance apart,
the brake is brought into operation only after the shaft 6 has made a greater
number of revolutions. The screw nuts at h, i, are constructed and adjusted as
follows: Each of the said screw nuts is composed of two plates u, v, one of
which plates is represented in front elevation in Figure 5, which said plates
screw upon the screw d. The plate represented in Figure 5 is one of the
plates u; the plates resemble the plates u in elevation, but have no tooth or
either of their faces, that is to say, the faces of the plates v are plane and parallel.
Between the said plates u, v, is a washer w, shown separately, together with
a section of the screw d in Figure 6. The said washer w slides upon the
screw d. The washer wis provided with a key or bolt x, and the screw d has

page_text: a slot, as indicated at y in Figure 6. In order to adjust the plates u, u, to the
required distance apart, the said plates are turned on the screw d, and when
they are brought into the right position the plates v, v, are screwed up to the
said inner plates u, u, the washers w being advanced by the plates v, v. When the
plates v, v, have been screwed tightly against the washers wand plates u, u,
the adjustment is completed. As great force is required to screw and unscrew the
plates u, v, we effect this by passing a chain through one of the holes in the arms
of the said plates. This chain we fasten to the rod z, and by a spanner applied
to the square end 2 of the said rod, the plates u, v, may be tightened or slack-
ened. At the back of the crank rod m a slotted guide plate 3, shown separately
in Figure 7, is fixed. By means of a pin 4 engaging in the slot of the plate 3,
the motion of the crank rod m is guided. The distance of the screw nuts at h, i,
on the screw d is so arranged that one of the teeth g' engages with the tooth k,
and thereby puts the brake in operation simultaneously with the ascent of the
skip or cage out of the mouth of the mine shaft. The engine is thereby
stopped, and the drawing of the skip or cage over its pulley is prevented.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied to suit circumstances, without departing from the nature of our
Invention; but we claim as our Invention the new or improved machinery for
preventing accidents in coal or other mines by the drawing of skips or cages
over their pulleys herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, machinery consisting essentially of a screw on which a
wheel is made to advance by the rotation of the drum shaft of the mine engine,
which said wheel having advanced to a certain distance in either direction
upon the said screw engages with a clutch, whereby an ordinary brake attached
to the engine is brought into operation, and the said engine brought to rest.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Dutton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
ISAAC DUTTON. (L.B.)