IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR LIFTING IN MINES, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1856

page_text: atent wus
given
preserve
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Vigars at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th March 1856.
I, JOHN VIGARS, of Marytavy, near Tavistock, in the County of Devon,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR LIFTING IN MINES, ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be
as follows:-
My Invention relates to a method of hauling up and letting down kibbles
or buckets from and into the shaft of a mine by machinery connected with the
pump rods of the pumping engine; but it is applicable to other purposes
where a reciprocating motion is required to be converted into a continuous
rotary motion whose direction must be instantly reversable at will.
My Invention consists of the following machinery connecting the pump rod
of the pumping engine with the drum shaft.
The reciprocating motion is converted into continuous rotary motion by
means of two racks fixed on the herein-before mentioned pump rod and
partaking of its motion, gearing into a pinion (presently to be described)
whose rim and teeth are loose upon a boss fixed on the drum shaft.
The pinion above referred to has its rim divided into two equal rings, the

page_text: plane of division being at right angles to the axis so as to act like two pinions.
placed side by side; and each of the racks gearing into one of these halves
gives them motion in opposite directions at the same time.
The above is all that is externally visible of the pinion except a disengaging
gear bolted to its boss, herein-after more particularly described.
Inside each of the loose rings there are ratchet teeth forming an internal
ratchet wheel. Centred loose on the bolts by which the disengaging gear
is firmly secured to the boss (and therefore to the drum shaft) are four
catches or palls, two in each half of the compound pinion, one of which
is always in gear except when the motion of the drum shaft is intended
to be stopped, in which case none of the catches gear into the ratchet teeth;
and the rims revolve in opposite directions without causing the revolution
of the drum shaft. By means of the disengaging gear the catches on the
same side of the drum shaft are alternately kept in gear; thus, although the
two internal ratchet wheels rotate in opposite directions, the motion given to
the drum shaft by means of the catches is continuously in one direction. When
one of the catches is moved by the ratchet teeth of one ring the ratchet
teeth of the other ring are slipping over the other catch, and vice versa, and
the catch in gear changes at each reciprocating motion of the racks. The
other two catches are kept entirely out of gear until, by means of the
disengaging apparatus, the first two are put out of gear entirely and the
second two put in gear alternately, which causes the drum shaft to revolve in
an opposite direction until the first mentioned catches are again put in gear,
which restores the original motion of the drum shaft, and so on. The
disengaging gear consists of the following parts:-
First, a loose collar on the drum shaft, carrying a double threaded screw
and slotted crank.
Second, a nut capable of being moved backwards and forwards on the bolts
securing the disengaging gear to the compound pinion, by which motion the
loose collar is made to partially turn on the drum shaft and move the slotted
crank.
Third, a cam fixed on a centre excentric to the drum shaft, and moved by
the slotted crank on the loose collar by means of an arm and projecting pin
working into the slot of the crank. As this cam works into the tails of the
catches or palls, it depends upon its position which of the two catches in each
half of the pinion acts. The nut and disengaging lever thus, by giving motion
to the screw on the loose collar, enable the requisite direction of rotation to be
given to the drum shaft, by determining which two of the four catches are at

page_text: liberty to act according to the position of the cam. Any other suitable dis-
engaging gear may be used, but I prefer the one described. In order to keep
the palls not in gear from rattling about in the boss, and to enable them to catch
instantly in the ratchet teeth when properly presented to them, a buffer or
spring of india-rubber or other suitable material is fixed to the boss, pressing
the palls towards its circumference. This Invention enables two kibbles and
ropes to be used at once, one ascending and the other descending.