A NEW OR IMPROVED ROPE COMPRESSER
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William McGlashan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th June 1881.
WILLIAM MOGLASHAN, of Leith, in the County of Midlothian, North Britain,
Engineer. "A NEW OR IMPROVED ROPE COMPRESSER."
This Invention which relates to improvements in apparatus more especially
adapted for compressing wire rope has for its object to effect the same with greater
efficiency than has been attained hitherto, and consists in constructing the apparatus
with one or more wedges working upon corresponding inclined planes or surfaces,
and so arranged consecutively and connected together that when urged forward the
said wedge or wedges is or are caused to press against a movable block between
guides, tho said block being caused to press the wire rope as it is passed through.or
rests within a grooved portion of the apparatus; the compressing block may be
also grooved to suit the shape of the rope. The said block is preferably attached
to the wedge or wedges by a dove-tailed tongue and groove, or by equivalent means,
so as to relieve the rope from pressure when the wedges are slacked or drawn back.
The wedges may be operated by a lever or by a screw, or by any other suitable
means, whereby the necessary amount of power can be applied to the said wedge
or wedges.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William McGlashan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th October 1881.
WILLIAM MCGLASHAN, of Leith, in the County of Midlothian, North Britain,
Engineer.
"
"A NEW OR IMPROVED ROPE COMPRESSER.'
My Invention relates to a new or improved apparatus more especially adapted
for compressing wire rope and braking or retarding the movement of the same, and
has for its object to effect the same with greater efficiency and convenience than
has hitherto been attained.
In apparatus constructed according to my Invention a moveable wedge or
inclined surface, or more than one such wedge or surface, is or are arranged to work
against another fixed inclined plane or surface, or more than one such plane or
surface, so that when the said moveable wedge or wedges is or are urged in one
direction against the fixed inclined surface or surfaces the rope is compressed
between a bearing surface carried by the said wedge or wedges and a bearing
surface upon a stationary part of the apparatus, and when the said moveable wedge
or wedges is or are released or moved in the other direction the rope is relieved
from pressure. The bearing surfaces are of a serpentine or curved figure to give a
firm hold upon the rope.
And in order that iny said Invention may be properly understood I now proceed
more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or under which
the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:-
Figure 1 represents in plan with the top cover removed an apparatus constructed
according to my Invention; Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same; Figure 3
is a side elevation partly in section on the line 1,2; Figure 1 and Figure 4 is a
transverse section taken on the line 3, 4, Figure 1.
The base plate A of the apparatus is fixed in convenient position in the place at
which it is to be used. Formed on or fixed to the said base plate A at one side
thereof are two inclined planes or surfaces B, B, and at the other side of the said
base plate is formed or fixed a projecting portion C. In the recess between the
inclined planes B, B, and the projecting portion C is a double wedge piece D, the
two inclined surfaces thereof bearing upon the fixed inclined surfaces B, B. This
double wedge piece D is moveable end wise or longitudinally, so that the wider
portions of its inclined surfaces approach the wider portions of the fixed inclined
surfaces B, B, and the double wedge piece D is consequently caused to have
imparted to it as it is moved longitudinally or endways a sideways movement,
causing it to approach the projecting portion C. Stops at a, a, limit the longi-
tudinal movement of the double wedge piece D. The said wedge piece D carries
a face piece D2 which may be fastened thereto by bolts as shown, or by a dove
tail and groove or otherwise. The bearing eurface of this face piece D³ and the
opposite bearing surface of the fixed projecting piece C are preferably curved to suit
the contour of the rope, and they both have preferably a serpentine or wave-like
contour the more firmly to grip the rope between them, as seen clearly in Figure 1.
The curved projecting portions c² of the projecting part C are shown as being
inserted in dove-tail recesses in the said part, but they may be otherwise attached
to or formed on the said part C. The longitudinal movement of the double wedge
piece D is imparted to it by the lever E having its fulcrum upon the pin e³ carried
in lugs f on the fixed cover plate F fastened down to the fixed part of the apparatus.
The tail e of the lever E engages in a slot 6 in the double wedge piece D. The

page_text: rope to be compressed by the apparatus is led between the bearing surface of the
face piece D on the one side and the bearing surface of the projecting fixed piece Con
the other side, the said rope passing freely there between when uncompressed by the
apparatus. When the rope is to be compressed the lever E is pulled in the direction
of the arrow in Figure 3, and its tail e by pressing on the side of the slot b moves
the double wedge piece D longitudinally, its inclined surfaces bearing upon the
fixed inclined surfaces B, causing the said double wedge piece D to move also
sideways and compress the rope between the bearing surface of the face piece D²
and the bearing surface of the fixed projecting piece C, and thus give completo and
convenient control over the said rope. The longitudinal motion of the doublo
wedge picce D is preferably in the reverse direction from that which the rope takes
in its travel. To retain the lever E in position any suitable means may be
employed, for example, a pinching screw or through going bolt g is used, passing
through the larger of the lugs f and bearing on or taking into a recess or recesses
in the said lover E.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or
may be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that
I do not limit myself to the preciso details hereinbefore described, as the same may
bo varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; for example, there
may be but one stationary inclined plane or surface, and one moveable wedge or
inclined surface bearing thereupon, or there may be more than two such fixed and
moveable surfaces, and the longitudinal movement may be imparted to the moveable
incline surface or surfaces by any suitable or convenient arrangement, for example,
such movement may be effected by means of a screw, but what I consider to bo
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
The new or improved rope compresser, wherein the compression upon the rope
is obtained from a moveable wedge or wedges, or inclined surface or surfaces, and a
fixed inclined plane or surface, or fixed inclined planes or surfaces, essentially as
hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William McGlashan, have hereunto. set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty-one.
WILLIAM MYGLASHAN,
(L.S.)