IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE APP TO CRANES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thompson Mann, of the Firm of
Fawcett, Preston, and Company, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE
Sealed the 24th July 1874, and dated the 28th January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thompson
Mann at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th January 1874.
I, WILLIAM THOMPSON MANN, of the Firm of Fawcett, Preston, and
Company, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO CRANES," to be as follows:-
According to the ordinary method of moving bales or packages from
a jetty to a boat or a ship's hold steam or hydraulic cranes or cranes
In all these cranes great
worked by manual power are employed.
trouble and annoyance, as well as expense, are met with.

page_text: When a steam crane is hooked on to one or more bales it has simply
to raise the bales off the jetty a few inches, or if off a truck an inch or
two. The crane is then swung round and the steam engine lowers the
bales or the packages into the hold; but the engine then has to do the
same work again to get back its chain ready for another bale or bales.
Now according to my Invention I employ a back balance weight for
drawing back the chain instantaneously, the requisite power for lowering
the bale and for lifting this back balance weight being the weight of the
bale itself.
When the truck or cart with bales arrives at the jetty head the crane 1
is hooked on and the bales only require to be lifted an inch to clear the
truck. The crane is then swung round, and the attendant takes a break
in his hand and lets it down sharp. The run down of the bales pulls up
the balance weight and also pulls a little slack over the barrel of the
cranc, and the attendant then tightens the break until the hook is taken 1
out. He then easies the break, and the back balance weight which is
acting over the other side of the barrel of the crane pulls the chain up
immediately. The chain is then hooked on to a fresh bale or bales, and
the operation repeated. All that the attendant has to do is to lift the
bale an inch to clear the truck, the power to lower the bale and raise the 2
balance weight being the weight of the bale itself, and the balance
weight being the power to pull back the chain and hook.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Thompson Mann in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOMPSON MANN, of the Firm of Fawcett, Preston, and Company, of
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year 30
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 William Thompson Mann, Her special

page_text: Licence that I, the said William Thompson Mann, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Thompson
Mann, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO CRANES," (a communication from abroad by
James Watson, of Calcutta), upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Thompson Mann, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the 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 Lotters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Thompson Mann, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
According to the ordinary method of moving bales or packages from
a jetty to a boat or a ship's hold steam or hydraulic cranes or cranes
worked by manual power are employed. In all these cranes great
trouble and annoyance, as well as expense, are met with.
When a steam crane is hooked on to one or more bales it has simply
to raise the bales off the jetty a few inches, or if off a truck an inch or
two. The crane is then swung round, and the steam engine lowers the
bales or the packages into the hold; but the engine then has to do the
same work again to get back its chain ready for another bale or bales.
Now according to the present Invention I employ a back balance
weight for drawing back the chain.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a
back elevation of a crane provided with a back balance weight.
According to this Invention A is the support or crane post, which is
cast hollow to allow the chain to pass down through the centre of it;

page_text: B is the jib; C, the chain wheel provided with suitable corrugations.or
teeth to engage with the chain D. The shaft on which the chain wheel
is keyed is continued through the side frame, and has keyed on it a tooth
wheel F geared into by a small pinion F" on the hand chain wheel shaft.
E is the hand chain wheel provided with a grooved, toothed, or corru-
gated rim to give the necessary biting power to the hand chain or rope
G is the back balance weight working in the well L provided in the
Fi¹.
masonry.
When the bales arrive
The method of working is as follows:-When the truck or cart with
bales arrives at the jetty head the chain of the crane is hooked on to the
bales or bale, and by means of the hand chain and gearing the bales or
bale are raised high enough to clear the truck. The crane is then swung
round the chain wheel, being used as a break.
at the intended position the attendant simply looses his hold on the hand
chain, and the bale lowers itself by its own gravity into the hold of the
ship, and at the same time raises the back balance weight G to its
highest position. On the bale being unhooked the back balance weight
G descends and raises the chain and hook ready for another bale.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the
use in cranes of a back balance weight, substantially in the manner and
for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thompson Mann, have.
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.