IMPROVEMENTS, APPLICABLE TO THE GOVERNMENT OR REGULATION AND REGISTRATION OF: EXCESSIVE SPEED IN HOISTING APPARATUS AND RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marcus Brown Westhead, of Manchester, in the-
County of Lancaster, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS,
APPLICABLE TO THE GOVERNMENT OR REGULATION AND REGISTRATION OF:
EXCESSIVE SPEED IN HOISTING APPARATUS AND RAILWAY CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 9th August 1861, and dated the 15th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marcus Brown Westhead
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th February 1861.
I, MARCUS BROWN WESTHEAD, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS APPLICABLE TO THE GOVERNMENT OR REGULATION AND REGISTRATION OF
EXCESSIVE SPEED IN HOISTING APPARATUS AND RAILWAY CARRIAGES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in providing a means of obtaining a visible or audible
indication when moving bodies have attained an excessive or undue speed.
To this end I provide any well known or suitable arrangement of mechanism
falling under the designation of a "governor " or "indicator," and mount it in
such a position that the passing or moving body whose speed is required to be
noted will, say, by friction of contact, act thereon and impart motion thereto.
When this action exceeds a certain predetermined amount, the governor or
indicator will give the visible or audible signal, but until this excess is reached
it will be powerless to give that indication.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Marcus Brown Westhead in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARCUS
BROWN WESTHEAD, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Marcus Brown Westhead, Her special license that I, the said Marcus
Brown Westhead, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Marcus Brown Westhead, 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 THE GOVERNMENT OR REGULATION AND REGISTRATION
OF EXCESSIVE SPEED IN HOISTING APPARATUS AND RAILWAY CARRIAGES," upon the
condition, amongst others, that I, the said Marcus Brown Westhead, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Marcus Brown Westhead, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (and accompanying Drawings) that is to say:-
My Invention consists in causing the excessive speed of the cage or lift
employed in mines and of railway carriages to bring mechanical arrangements
into operation so as to give notice of such excess. To this end I use a
"governor," which being put in motion by the moving body will, upon
excessive speed having been attained, cause a bell, whistle, or other indicator
to be brought into action, so as to warn the miner or other attendant.
The mechanical arrangement for carrying my Invention into operation may
be varied to a considerable extent, but I will proceed to describe an arrange-
ment which will answer the desired object, making use of that apparatus

page_text: known as the "governor " in steam engines, and which was specified as applied
to the regulation of speed in hoists under a Patent granted to Hugh Baines,
dated Seventh November One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven,
No. 2821; in that case, however, the said governor was employed for the
purpose of bringing breaks into action so as to arrest or retard the motion of
the cage, whereas, according to my Invention, I cause it to give notice only,
and the break power can be applied by hand, and that gradually.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 represents the cage or hoist of a
coal or other such pit in side elevation; and Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof.
d
The ordinary guide rods or runners are shewn at a, and the cage at b; to
this is attached a bracket carrying a pulley c, over which a strap & passes, and
from thence to another pulley c, also carried by the cage, and bearing against
one of the guide rails a. As, therefore, the cage descends, the last-mentioned
pulley necessarily imparts rotatory motion to that shewn at c. Upon the axis
of the pulley c is a bevil pinion f, taking into another g, which is attached to
the top of a governor h. The governor h is provided with a tappet i, which,
therefore, revolves, and is so situate as to move during the descent of the cage
at the proper speed within a recess formed in a bent lever k, but should the
governor rotate beyond a certain speed, then the tappet i will be drawn
upward by the expansion of the balls, and will in its revolutions strike against
the end of the lever k, so as to cause it to turn sharply upon its centre and
strike a bell with its other end by means of a spring m. As this striking of
the bell can only take place when an undue speed of the cage has been
attained, those who are descending, the engineer or other attendant, will know
at once that something is wrong, and will receive notice to take measures for
the prevention of accident. This may be accomplished by providing the cage
with a break to be put on by hand, and in the accompanying Drawings I have
shewn one arrangement thereof, but others may be employed as desired.
Attached to the upper part of the cage is a bar n, the ends of which project
across the guide rods a; on the other sides of these rods are levers o, mounted
so as to be capable of turning upon centres p. The levers o are provided at
their inward ends with links q, which are jointed to a nut r placed upon a
screws mounted in bearings carried by the cross bar n and framework of the
cage. Should the bell be struck as above described, a pulley handle u upon
the screws is turned, by which means the not r is traversed, so as to cause
the levers o to turn upon their centres p, and then acting in conjunction with
the fixed bars n will constitute clips upon the guide rods a, so as to arrest or
retard the descent of the cage accordingly as more or less pressure is applied

page_text: through the agency of the screws; at c is a ratchet wheel to prevent the
pulley handle u being turned in the wrong direction.
My Invention as above described applies to hoists only, but is equally
applicable to railway carriages, and the method of applying it will be evident
to practical engineers from the foregoing description, it being merely necessary
to connect the governor and bell shewn in the Drawings to any rotating or
other such moving part of a locomotive engine or carriage, whereby notice of
.excessive speed may be given. It will also be evident that such excess of
speed may be registered by causing a pencil or other tracer to be moved by
the governor over a surface of paper, which is caused to travel by connexion
with a moving part. I have above described a particular description of brake,
which may be used in conjunction with my Invention as applied to boists, but,
as before stated, many arrangements which will suggest themselves to all
:competent persons may be employed. I would also observe in reference to
that portion of the foregoing description which refers to the giving warning,
and which is the essential feature of my Invention, that I do not limit myself
to the parts shewn and described, either separately or in combination; but I
claim as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent, causing
the excessive speed of hoists or railway carriages to bring "governors" or
other mechanical arrangements into operation, so as to give notice by sounding
a bell or other alarum.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marcus Brown Westhead, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
year of
MARCUS BROWN WESTHEAD. (L.8.)