IMPROVEMENTS IN HOISTS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Brown of Hill Top, Walkden and William Brown
of Little Hulton near Bolton both in the County of Lancaster for an Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HOISTS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Brown and William
Brown at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th August
1883.
THOMAS BROWN of Hill Top, Walkden, and WILLIAM BROWN of Little Hulton,
near Bolton, both in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN HOISTS FOR
RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS."
Our invention has for its object the prevention of accidents from the breakage of
the rope, band, or chain by which the "cage," or other such arrangement is held
or suspended, and consists in a novel arrangement of apparatus for arresting or
stopping the descent of the "cages" employed in mines and other shafts, which
are provided with round iron or iron-wire guide rods, oxtending from the top to the
bottom of the shaft.
On each side of the "cago" two or more levers are situated, one on each side of
the round iron or iron-wire guide rod. These lovers turn upon pins firmly secured
to the sides of the " cage," and which form the centres or bearings for such levers
to work upon. The ends of the levers nearest the iron or wire guide rods, are
provided with hinge joints, from which extends upwards or otherwise suitable rods,
having rollers or bowls concaved to the diameter of the guide rods, with the sides
extending sideways, having flat circular surfaces, in order to have a more perfect
and effectual "grip" or hold on the guide rods and inclined planes, the latter being
suitably fixed to the sides of the "cage." The opposite ends of the levers are each
secured by a hinge joint, to connecting rods or other equivalents, which are united
together above the "cage" by tie rods, to which a link is attached for securing the
'cage" to the winding rope.
14
When the "cage" is suspended the rollers or bowls are drawn away from the
iron or wire guide rods and the inclined planes; the whole weight of the “cage”.

page_text: and its contents being supported upon the pins or centres of the levers, tho
connecting or tie rods forming the connection between the rope and such centres or
fulcrums; but in the event of the rope or any of the connections breaking, the
whole weight of the "cage" and its contents are thrown upon the centres, and not
suspended by the connecting rods; this causes the suspended ends of the levers to
fall, and consequently the other ends rise with the rollers or bowls into the
inclined planes and grips the guide rods, whereby the “ cage is supported by
its own weight acting upon the rollers or bowls in the inclined planes, thus
preventing its falling or descending the "shaft" when unattached to the rope or
other equivalents.
"
To ensure the levers operating quickly, we employ springs pressing upon the
levers, so as to force them against the guide rods immediately upon the breaking of
the rope.
In case of accidents whereby the "cage" might be left in the "shaft," it is very
inconvenient to repair the breakage in such a position, to overcome this, we provido
suitable gearing, connected to the centres or fulcrums of the sustaining levers,
consisting of levers and screw or worm gearing, by which the rollers or bowls can
be eased slightly, so as to allow the "cago" to slide gently down the "shaft," where
it can be safely emptied of its contents and repaired at will.
Another part of our invention relates to the bottom guides on the "cago," which
we-substitute by placing-flat or concaved circular rollers or bowls fixed on pins or
centres for carrying the same: The object of these revolving guides is to reduce
_the_friction, at the same time reducing the wearing of the guide rods to a minimum,
which is very essential to preserve the life of the¯¯guide rods, which are very
expensive; resulting in economy.
cage;
The novelty of our invention consists in apparatus for arresting or stopping the
"enge" when the rope or other equivalents break, when used in connection with
round iron or wire guido rods, together with the means for releasing the "
so as to descend gently or otherwise to a more convenient part of the "shaft" for
repairs. Also in improved guides to reduce the friction to a minimum, at the same
time prolonging the life of the guide rods.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Brown and, William Brown in the Patent Office on the
5th February 1884.
THOMAS BROWN of Hill Top Walkden and WILLIAM BROWN of Little Hulton
near Bolton both in the County of Lancaster "IMPROVEMENTS IN HOISTS FOR
RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS."
Our invention has for its object the prevention of accidents from the breakage of
the rope, band or chain, by which the "cage" or other such arrangement is held
or suspended, and consists in a novel arrangement of apparatus for arresting or
stopping the descent of the "cages" employed in mines and other shafts which are
provided with round iron or iron-wire guide rods extending from the top to the
bottom of the shaft.
On each side of the "Cage" two or more levers are situated one on each side of
the round iron or iron-wire guide rod These levers turn upon pins firmly secured
to the sides of the "Cago" and which form the centres or bearings for such levers
to work upon. The ends of the lovers nearest the iron or wire-guide rods are
provided with hinge joints from which extends upwards or otherwise suitable rods
having rollers or bowls concaved to the diameter of the guide rods with the sides
extonding side-ways having fat circular surfaces in order to give a more perfect
and effectual "grip" or hold on the guide rods and inclined planes the latter being
suitably fixed to the sides of the "cage" The opposite ends of the lovers are each
secured by a hinge joint to the connecting rods or other equivalents, which are
united together above the "cage" by tie rods to which a link is attached for
securing the "cage" to the winding rope
When the "cage" is suspended, the rollers or bowls are drawn away from the
iron or.iron-wiro guide rods and. the inclined planes. In the event of the rope or
any of its connections breaking the suspended connecting rods and the ends of the
levers to which they are connected fall consequently the other ends rise with the
rollers or bowls into the inclined planes and grips the guide rods whereby the "cago"
is supported by its own weight acting upon the rollers or bowls in the inclined
planes thus preventing its falling or descending the "shaft" when unattached from
the rope or other equivalents
"
To ensure the levers operating quickly we employ springs pressing upon the
levers so as to force them against the guide rods immediately upon the breaking of
the rope
In order that our invention may be fully understood we will now proceed to
describe the drawings upon the sheet hereunto annexed the same letters of reference
being used throughout all the figures to indicate the same or corresponding parts of
our invention
"
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a winding cage used in coal or other mines with our
improvements applied for arresting it in case of the breakage of the rope or other
suspending means when the operation of winding is being performed, being guided
up and down the "shaft" on round iron, iron-wire or other analogous guide rods
On the sides of the "cage a are firmly secured the pins or centres b, on which
are placed the swivelling levers c; to the ends d of the levers c are secured by
suitable pins the hinge joints or guide, levers e being supplied with the concaved
rollers by which they are secured with the pins or centros g The concaved
rollers are provided on each side the concave with the circular flat boaring
surfaces w which operate on the inside of the inclined planes h the latter being
securely fixed to the sides of the cage a For the purpose of guiding the rollers f
and the levers e in the correct or true position the sides of the cage are provided
with the inclined slots i in and through which the pins g extend being held in
position by the nuts j inside the cage. To the ends of the levers dare coupled
the connecting rods k being secured at the top end to the crossbar to which the
suspending or winding rope m and its connections are coupled.

page_text: Fig. 1. shews the position of our improved apparatus when the cage is suspended
by the winding rope m in which case the pin to which the rope m is attached
is at the extreme top end of the slot o, above the cage, which by the connecting
rods and levers c draw the concaved rollers f from the guide rods p by the
pins g in the inclined slots thus allowing the "cage" to ascend and descend
without hindrance
When the cage is suspended the weight of the "cage" is concentrated on the
rope m and the bridle rods thus relieving the safety apparatus from any undue
strain beyond its own weight. In case the rope m breaks in the "shaft" when
winding the pin or centre drops to the bottom or nearly so of the slot o as shewn
in Fig 2 by which the connecting rods k descend and operate the levers c causing
the guido levers e to rise with the concaved rollers finto the inclined planes /
thus bringing the concaved rollers f against the guide rods p and the flat circular
surfaces w against the sides of the inclined planes which causes them to firmly.
grip the guide rods p whereby the cage a is beld and supported by its own weight
or its weight and the contents in which case the greater the weight the firmer the
grip" on the guide rods thus preventing the cage falling or descending the shaft
in case it becomes unattached from the rope.
"
To ensure the levers o operating quickly and press or force the rollers f into the
inclined planes h the flat spring 8 is provided which acts on the lever c or it can
be substituted with the spiral spring & shown on the left hand side of the cage a
in Fig 1.
The greatest strain on the pins or centres b takes place when the rollers faro
being released-from-the-guido rods p and inclined planes h after tho broken rope
has been repaired or replaced when the pin is again raised to the top end of
the slot o thus liberating the cage when winding can be commenced In case any
of the pins b break when releasing the rollers f no danger will result from it as
the cage will be suspended or held by the rope m and bridle rods when they can
be renewed at will.
In winding cages provided with four guide rods one set of our improved
apparatus is placed at each corner as shewn in the drawings in case of three rods
two being on one side and one on the other side the two are placed as shewn on
the drawing in Fig. 1 the third one being placed in the centre or other position
to suit the guide rod Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of concaved rollers ƒ and
leverse through line A. B.
Fig. 4 is a sectional plan of concaved rollers f and leverse through line C. D.
Having thus stated the nature of our invention and described the mode of
performing the same we would have it understood that we do not limit ourselves to
the exact arrangement of parts shown as the same may be varied or modified without
departing from the principle of our invention according to the class or arrangement
of cage to which it may be applied, but what we claim to be secured to us under
the above recited Letters Patent is, the use of the rollers for any mero modification
thereof when used in combination with inclined planes for the purpose of gripping
round iron; iron-wire, or other analogous guide rods for the purpose herein set
forth substantially as described and as shewn on the drawings
In witness whereof we the said Thomas Brown and William Brown have
hereunto set our hands and seals this thirty first day of January in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty four.