Improvements in Lifts for Raising Heavy Loads.
Year: 1889

page_text: Late of Application, 22nd Oct., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 12th July, 1890-Accepted, 16th Aug.. 189C
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Lifts for Raising Heavy Loads.
We TANGYES LIMITED of Cornwall Works Soho in the County of Stafford Engineers
ad THOMAS MEACOCK of No. 2 Waverhill Road Handsworth in the County of
Stafford Mechanical Engineer and CHARLES PENDLEBURY of No. 18 Linwood Road
Handsworth aforesaid Mechanical Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this
Invention to be as follows:-
The said invention has reference to that class of lifts for raising heavy loads known
as suspended lifts the motive power used being either water under pressure or steam
or compressed air and the improvements constituting the said invention consist of the
construction and combination of parts hereinafter described whereby the stroke or
protrusion of a ram or piston rod working in a cylinder and actuated preferably by
vdraulic power is made to give the required rotation to the lifting drum shaft to
raise the load.
In constructing a lift according to this invention we use a vertical or horizontal
cylinder in which a ram or externally packed piston operated preferably by hydraulic
ressure works. At the outer extremity of the ram or the rod of the piston a bracket is
fixed in which one or more flat grooved pulleys work. This bracket besides serving
to support the pulley or pulleys also acts as a guide for the ram or piston rod eyes in
the said bracket working upon fixed parallel guide rods. At the end of the fixed
hydraulic cylinder a rotating axis is mounted the said axis carrying one or more
drums at its middle and one at each end of larger diameter. To the middle drum or
drums rotation is given in the manner hereinafter described and to the outer drum
or drums the suspending rope or ropes of the lift is or are attached for raising
the load.
In order to cause the protrusion of the ram or piston rod from its cylinder to give
rotation to the raising drum axis we couple the said ram or rod with the said raising
drum axis in the following manner.
We take a flat rope or band preferably of thin steel and we anchor or attach one
end of it to the fixed cylinder. The said flat rope or hand is then passed over the
flat grooved pulley at the extremity of the ram or piston rod and thence is coiled
several times over the middle drum on the raising drum axis. The number of times
the rope or band is coiled on the middle druin varies with the difference between the
diameters of the middle and outer drums and the height it is wished to raise the load
by a given stroke or protrusion of the ram or piston rod.
The flat thin steel rope or hand which we use being very flexible permits it being
coiled very compactly upon the middle drum.
As the ram or piston rod is protruded from its cylinder the thin steel rope or band
is uncoiled from the middle arum of the raising drum axis and rotation thereby given
to the said axis and to the raising drum or drums thereon and the load suspended
from the last named drum or drums is raised. When the rain or piston rod makes its
return or inward stroke the weight of the descending cage of the lift or weighted end
of the lifting rope causes the unwinding of the thin steel rope or band from the
middle drum ready for the raising of another load.
For elevating goods we use generally a single suspending rope and lifting drum but
or elevating persons we prefer to use two or more suspending ropes and a corre-
ponding number of lifting drums.
A single or a series of parallel ropes or bands may be used for rotating the lifting
rum axis. In the latter case a compensating lever or levers must be used for ensuring
nequal distribution of the strain upon the several ropes or bands.
The rotating lifting drum axis may either be mounted at the end of the motive

page_text: power cylinder in which the ram or piston works or upon the top or underside of the
said cylinder or at any other convenient part.
The lift may be controlled by any of the ordinary raising and lowering valves.
1000
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Lifts for Raising Heavy Loads.
We TANGYES LIMITED of Cornwall Works Soho in the County of Stafford
Engineers and THOMAS MEACOCK of No. 2 Waverhill Road, Handsworth in the County
of Stafford, Mechanical Engineer and CHARLES PENDLEBURY of No. 18 Linwood
Road, Handsworth, aforesaid Mechanical Engineer do hereby declare the nature of
the said invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The said invention has reference to that class of lifts for raising heavy loads known
as suspended lifts the motive power used being either water under pressure or steam
or compressed air; and the improvements constituting the said invention consist of
the construction and combination of parts hereinafter described whereby the stroke or
protrusion of the ram or piston rod working in a cylinder and actuated preferably by
hydraulic power is made to give the required rotation to the lifting drum shaft to raise
the load.
In constructing a lift according to this invention we use a vertical or horizontal
cylinder in which a ram or externally packed piston operated preferably by hydraulic
pressure works. At the outer extremity of the ram or the rod of the piston a bracket
is fixed in which one or more flat grooved pulleys work. This bracket besides
serving to support the pulley or pulleys also acts as a guide for the ram or piston rod,
eyes in the said bracket working upon fixed parallel guide rods. At the end of the
fixed hydraulic cylinder a rotating axis is mounted the said axis carrying one or more
drums at its middle and one at one end or one at each end of larger diameter. To
the middle drum or drums rotation is given in the manner hereinafter described and
to the outer drum or drums the suspending rope or ropes of the lift is or are attached
for raising the load.
In order to cause the protrusion of the ram or piston rod from its cylinder to give
rotation to the raising drum axis we couple the said ram or rod with the said raising
drum axis in the following manner.
We take a flat rope or band preferably of thin steel and we anchor or attach one
end of it to the fixed cylinder. The said flat rope or band is then passed over the
flat grooved pulley at the extremity of the ram or piston rod and thence is coiled
several times over the middle drum on the raising drum axis. As the ram or piston
rod is protruded from its cylinder the thin steel rope or band is uncoiled from the
middle drum of the raising drumin axis and rotation thereby given to the said axis and to
the raising drum or drums thereon and the load suspended from the lastnamed drum or
drums is raised. When the ram or piston rod makes its return or inward stroke the
weight of the descending cage of the lift or weighted end of the lifting rope causes
the rewinding of the thin steel rope or band on the middle drum ready for the raising
of another load.
We will now describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in
which the said invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation partly in longitudinal section and Figure 2 in
plan a suspended lift having a horizontal hydraulic cylinder constructed according to
this invention. The same letters indicate the same parts in both Figures.
a is the horizontal hydraulic cylinder in which the piston works the said piston
being packed watertight by the packing at c and adjustable ring d, the said ring being
adjusted by means of screws in the ordinary way. The rear end of the said hydraulic
cylinder a is provided with the end cover e and foot fas well as with the inlet branch g

page_text: through which the motive fluid is admitted to the cylinder a. The front end of the
cylinder a is also furnished with a foot h. This foot serves for supporting the cylinder
on a foundation when it is fixed horizontally and for bolting the cylinder to a wall or
other support when it is fixed vertically; is the thrust ram or rod of the piston to
the outer end of which ram or rod a bracket is fixed. This bracket carries at its
middle the end sheave 7 through the motion of which the lifting drum axis is rotated
as hereinafter described. The rain j is guided in its motion by the parallel guide
rods m, m² bolted at one end to the mouth of the fixed hydraulic cylinder a, the other
ends of the said guide rods being fixed to the brackets p, p². The ends n, n' of the
bracket are formed into eyes which work upon the fixed parallel guide rods m, m².
The rods m m¹ also act as stops for preventing the ram j completely protruding out
of its cylinder. This is effected by the eye parts n, n¹ of the bracket k coming in
contact with the collars o, o¹ on the guide rods.
At the rear end of the hydraulic cylinder a is a small drum y fixed on the axis t
in line with the end sheave 7 carried by the ram bracket t. On the same axis t is the
lifting drum on which the suspending rope of the lift is coiled for raising the load.
On the side of the lifting drum is an automatic brake drum s the brake band on
which is operated in the manner hereinafter described. The shaft t carrying the three
drums q,, s works in the bearings u, u² u³. The bearings u and u² are shown cast in
one piece with the hydraulic cylinder a but the said bearings may be made separate
from the cylinder. The end or thrust sheave and the small drum 9 on the axis t
are coupled together by a flat thin flexible band or rope preferably of steel indicated
at w but a thin band or rope of other flexible metallic or other material may be used
in place of steel. One end of this flat flexible band w is anchored by a clip at v to
the fixed cylinder. It then passes over the end sheave 1 to the drum q around which
it is coiled several times and is then secured to the said drum. The number of
times the rope or band wis coiled on the drum q varies with the difference between
the diameters of the middle and outer drums and and the height it is wished
to raise the load by a given stroke or protrusion of the ram or piston rod j. The
flat thin steel rope or band which we use being very flexible permits it being coiled
very compactly upon the drum q.
The action of the lift is as follows:-
When a load is to be raised the drum q has the coiled flexible rope or band w
upon it and the ram is at the rear end of its cylinder a and the protrusion drum
sheaf is at the front end of the cylinder a. The motive fluid being admitted to
the cylinder a at the branch g of the inlet pipe the ram or piston rod is protruded
from its cylinder carrying forward the drum sheaf 1. The thin steel rope or band w
is thereby uncoiled from the drum q and rotation given to the said drum and axis t
and through the said axis t to the raising drum r and the load connected with the
said drum r is raised in the ordinary way. The motive fluid being cut off from
the cylinder a and the said cylinder open to the exhaust effected by valves of the
ordinary type the ram or piston rod can make its return or inward stroke the
weight of the descending cage of the lift or weighted end of the lifting rope
causing the thin steel band w to be rewound on the drum q ready for the raising
of another load by the protrusion of the ram or piston rod from its cylinder as
before described.
By means of the automatic brake band on the drums the descent of the load can
be regulated or arrested in case of the breakage of the flat flexible band w. The
automatic brake consists of the band s² the ends being connected together by the weighted
lever attachment 61, 62, 63. The arm 62 of the lever attachment is connected by the
chain a² to the steel band w.
The action of the brake is as follows:-
So long as the long band w is taut the brake band or strap s³ is maintained out of
action by the position of the lever attachment 6, 62, 3 and the tension of the chain a²
but should the said chain a² become slack the weighted lever 61, 63 descends and causes
the brake bands to clip the drums thereby retarding or stopping the rotation of
the said drum and drum shaft.

page_text: For elevating goods we use generally a single suspending rope and lifting drum as
represented in the drawing but for clevating persons we prefer to use two or more
suspending ropes and a corresponding number of lifting drums.
A single or a series of parallel ropes or bands may be used for rotating the lifting
drum axis. In the latter case a compensating lever or levers must be used for
⚫ensuring an equal distribution of the strain upon the several ropes or bands.
The rotating lifting drum axis may either be mounted at the end of the motive
power cylinder in which the ram or piston works or upon the top or underside of
the said cylinder or at any other convenient part; and the lift may be controlled
by any of the ordinary raising and lowering valves.
Instead of working the motive power ram or piston by hydraulic pressure
worked by steam or compressed air.
may be
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed we wish it to be
understood that we claim as the said invention of "Improvements in lifts for raising
.heavy loads"
:
First The combination with a ram or piston and piston rod working in a cylinder
and actuated either by hydraulic power or steam or compressed air of appliances con-
structed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
-accompanying Drawing whereby the outward stroke or protrusion of the ram or piston
rod is made to give the required rotation to the lifting drum shaft of the lift to raise
the load substantially as described and illustrated.
Secondly The combination with the lift claimed in the prior claim of the
automatic brake described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing for arresting
or regulating the descent of the load in case of the breakage of the actuating or
coupling band or bands of the lift.
Dated the Tenth dev of Jule 1800
TANGYES LIMITED,
J. W. Parkins,
Secretary.
THOMAS MEACOCK.
CHARLES PENDLEBURY.