IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW GILL BOXES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rothwell, of Carr House, Midgley, in the
Parish of Halifax, and County of York, Mechanic, and Thomas Watson;
of the same Place, Overlooker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SCREW GILL BOXES."
Sealed the 2nd March 1860, and dated the 7th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rothwell and
Thomas Watson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 7th September 1859.
We, WILLIAM ROTHWELL, of Carr House, Midgley, in the Parish of Halifax,
and County of York, Mechanic, and THOMAS WATSON, of the same Place,
Overlooker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SCREW GILL BOXES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to means of gradually lowering the fallers of screw
gill boxes from the upper bed to the lower, and the improvements consist in
the employment of a tappet or tappets of suitable form applied in such
manner as to operate a suitably formed lever or levers at the proper time,
which receive the fallers as they are projected off the upper bed, and which,

page_text: by the rotation of the tappet or tappets, gradually lower the fallers, thus
diminishing the wear and tear thereof, and also preventing the noise caused by
their dropping suddenly from one bed to the other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Rothwell and Thomas Watson in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 7th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAN
ROTHWELL, of Carr House, Midgley, in the Parish of Halifax, and County
of York, Mechanic, and THOMAS WATSON, of the same Place, Overlooker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said William Rothwell and Thomas Watson, Her special licence that
we, the said William Rothwell and Thomas Watson, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Rothwell and
Thomas Watson, our 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 IN
SCREW GILL BOXES," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said
William Rothwell and Thomas Watson, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, 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 Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Rothwell and Thomas
Watson, do hereby declare the nature of our said. Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
The Invention relates to means of gradually lowering the fallers of screw

page_text: gill boxes from the upper bed to the lower, and the improvements consist in
the employment of a tappet or tappets of suitable form applied in such manner
as to operate a suitably formed lever or levers at the proper time, which
receive the fallers as they are projected off the upper bed, and which, by the
rotation of the tappet or tappets, gradually lower the fallers, thus diminishing
the wear and tear thereof, and also preventing the noise caused by their
dropping suddenly from one bed to the other.
Our improvements will be clearly understood by reference to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings. Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a screw gill box
partly in section, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken through the line
A, B, in Fig. 1, or such portion thereof as is requisite to shew the application'
of our improvements, C are the fallers; D, the beds or bearing pieces; E the
screws for impelling the fallers forward or backward; and F, the shafts and
gear wheels for giving motion thereto, all of which parts are shewn as usually
constructed, and which are well understood by persons conversant with screw
gill boxes; G is a shaft supported in bearings attached to the framing of the
machine, and receives motion from the lower screw shaft by spur gear H, and
by means of bevil gear I gives motion to a cross shaft K, on which are fixed
tappets or cams L of suitable form; M are levers attached at one end to the
framing by studs on which they oscillate. The other ends of the levers are
bent or turned up suitably to meet and receive the fallers as and when they
are projected or pushed off the end of the upper bed by the action of the upper
screws. These levers rest upon the tappets, which, as they rotate, actuate the
said levers, alternately lifting and lowering them. N are slot plates fixed to
the framing for guiding and steadying the levers M in their motions. Fig. 3
shews the form of the tappet we have found best adapted for the purpose of
actuating the levers. It will be seen that if the shaft K, carrying the
tappets L, is geared to rotate at the same speed as the screws E, and the said
tappets arranged so that the levers M shall be at the highiest point in the lift
at the time when a faller is pushed off the upper bed, it will be received
thereby, and gradually lowered to the lower bed, and thus prevent the wear
and tear of the parts, and consequently the noise occasioned by a sudden drop
from the upper to the lower bed.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is performed or put into practice, we would have it understood
that we are aware it is not new to retard or gradually lower the fallers from
one bed to the other, as various means have been heretofore employed for such
purpose; but what we claim, as of our Invention, and which we believe to be

page_text: new within the realm, is retarding the fall or drop of the fallers in screw gill
boxes by a combination of tappets and levers arranged and actuated in manner
substantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Rothwell and Thomas Watson,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM ROTHWELL. (L.S.)
THOMAS WATSON.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named William Rothwell and
Thomas Watson, in the presence of
WH TASKER,
Patent Agent,
Halifax.
(L.B.)