IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE TRANSPORT OF CASKS AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Franklin Stevens, of Henrietta Street,
Covent Garden, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE TRANSPORT OF
CASKS AND OTHER ARTICLES."-A communication from abroad by
William Johnson Reid, of the City of New York, United States of
America.
Sealed the 2nd June 1874, and dated the 24th March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Franklin
Stevens at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 24th March 1874.
I, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS, of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE TRANSPORT
OF CASKS AND OTHER ARTICLES," a communication to me from abroad by
William Johnson Reid, of the City of New York, United States of
America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improved apparatus to be employed for
facilitating the lifting, hauling, and propelling of casks, crates, and

page_text: other articles for the purpose of effecting their removal or transport, and
consists in the use of a peculiar arrangement of grippers or tongs, by
means of which the cask or other article may be gripped or held and
drawn or driven along from place to place as required by either manual
or horse power. These grippers or tongs are composed of a pair of arms, &
which are jointed or pivotted together at their upper end, and are made
of an open or expanded form below so as to surround and clasp or grip
the cask or other article to be transported or removed.
The arms are provided with handles for the purpose of manipulating
or actuating them, and which also serve to facilitate the draught or pro- 1
pulsion, and they also carry at their lower ends at the part where the
article is gripped or held small wheels or rollers, which are so centred or
pivotted as to admit of their revolving freely, and thus form an
imaginary centre or axis, on which the cask or other round body may
turn whilst being drawn or propelled along. An adjusting screw is also 1
employed for the purpose of enabling the range of motion of the arms
to be regulated as desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Franklin Stevens in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN STEVENS, of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Franklin Stevens, Her special
license that I, the said Benjamin Franklin Stevens, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Benjamin Franklin
Stevens, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great

page_text: Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE TRANSPORT OF CASKS
AND OTHER ARTICLES," a communication to me from abroad by William
Johnson Reid, of the City of New York, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Franklin
Stevens, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain tho
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 Benjamin Franklin Stevens, 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
Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
-
This Invention relates to improved apparatus to be employed for
facilitating the lifting, hauling, and propelling of casks, crates, and
other articles for the purpose of effecting their removal or transport, and
consists in the use of a peculiar arrangement of grippers or tongs, by
means of which the cask or other article may be gripped or held and
drawn or driven along from place to place as required by either manual
or horse power. These grippers or tongs are composed of a pair of arms,
which are jointed or pivotted together at their upper end, and are made
of an open or expanded form below so as to surround and clasp or grip
the cask or other article to be transported or removed.
The arms are provided with handles for the purpose of manipulating
or actuating them, and which also serve to facilitate the draught or pro-
pulsion, and they also carry at their lower ends at the part where the
article is gripped or held small wheels or rollers, which are so centred or
pivotted as to admit of their revolving freely against the inner circum-
ferential edges of the chimes of the cask or other round body, whereby
the latter turns on or with the said wheels or rollers whilst being drawn
or propelled along. An adjusting screw is also employed for the purpose
of enabling the range of motion of the arms to be regulated as
`desired.

page_text: 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
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 is a side clevation of my improved apparatus; Figure 2, an
end elevation of the same; and Figure 3, a perspective view of the same
applied to a cask.
A', 'A, are peculiarly-shaped bars or levers pivotted together by the stud
or pin B so as to form grippers or tongs. The upper arm of each lever A
is straight and inclined from the vertical position as shewn whilst the
lower arm of each lever 'A is curved outwardly or expanded so as to par-
tially embrace a cask or other article as hereafter described, and is formed
at its lower extremity with an inwardly projecting arm having a slight
downward inclination and terminating in a stud or pin, on which revolves
freely a wheel or roller C, the face of which is slightly inclined from the
vertical position, the two rollers C, C, being opposite to each other as
shewn.
a, a, are handles at the ends of the upper arms of the grippers or
tongs 'A, 'A, for the purpose of operating and facilitating the draught or
propulsion of the latter; 6 is a screw or other contrivance adjustable in
the upper arm of one of the levers A, and forming a stop to the upper
arm of the other lever for the purpose of enabling the wheels or
rollers C, C, at the lower ends of the grippers or tongs A, A, to be
adjusted to the varying lengths of the casks or other articles.
The manner in which the latter are lifted, drawn, or propelled along
by the apparatus here described is as follows:-The grippers or
tongs A, A, being first opened out their lower arms are caused to
embrace the cask or other article as seen in Figure 3, they are then
closed and the extreme inclined points of the peripheries of the wheels
or rollers C, C, bearing hard against the circumferential corners or
junctions x, x, between the ends and the projecting edges or chimes of
the cask or other article (but without pressing upon the said ends them-
selves) the latter is thereby effectually gripped or held, power is then
applied to the handles a, a, and by the action of the grippers or
tongs A, A, the cask or other article is drawn or propelled from place to
place, and during this operation revolves freely round or with the wheels

page_text: or rollers C, C, being thereby transported with much greater facility than
by the ordinary method.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
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 and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is the appli-
cation and use of grippers or tongs in combination with wheels or rollers,
and with an adjusting screw or other contrivance to casks or other
articles, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described and
illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Franklin Stevens, have
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth
day of September, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.