IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY DOORS FOR MINES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ebenezer Rogers, of Abercarn, in the County of
Monmouth, Mining Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SAFETY DOORS FOR MINES."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Ebenezer Rogers at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declara-
tion, on the 15th December 1855, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO. ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EBENEZER
ROGERS, of Abercarn, in the County of Monmouth, Mining Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY
DOORS FOR MINES," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-.
This Invention consists, first, in connecting a pair of safety doors (each
opening outwards from the space included. between them) by a cord or chain
of rope, metal, or other suitable material, attached by its extremities to the
upper part of each door, at a convenient distance from the hinge, and of such
a length as to be fully extended when one door is shut and the other is
wide open; and, secondly, in hanging upon or attaching to some part of the
said cord or chain a weight or a spring, sufficient to close either door, when,
being open, it is left free.
In applying my Invention, I use guide pulleys at convenient places to keep
the cord or chain out of the way and to diminish friction.

page_text: .
In order, however, that iny Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe it more particularly by the aid of
the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a section of a mine, shewing
my safety doors with their connecting cord or chain applied thereto, and Fig. 2
is a plan or horizontal view of the same.
A, A, represent a pair of safety doors, which may be hung so as to close of
themselves, and either supplied with catches or not, as preferred; B, B, B, B,
are pulleys, to guide the cord or chain C, which is fixed to the doors at the
point C, and is kept stretched by the weight D, which I prefer to run in a
wooden trunk or casing E. The length of the cord or chain must be so
adjusted as not to allow of any further extension after one door is fully open,
the other being close shut; or if the cord or chain is longer than this, then the
play of the weight must be limited by a proper fixed stop, the object being to
prevent the possibility of both doors being blocked or fastened so as to remain
open at once.
nin
It is obvious that the simultaneous opening of both doors for passage may
be prevented by the use of a cord or chain without the guide pulleys and
weight, but I much prefer the use of the guide pulleys and weight.
Instead of a flexible cord or chain, jointed rods or levers, or rods, levers, and
cranks combined with a cord, wire, or chain, may be used, with or without a
weight or spring, as in common bell-hanging, or otherwise, in a variety of
forms, of which one is shewn in Fig. 3 but I'do not recommend any such
form of the Invention. Again, instead of doors working' on hinges, sliding
doors may be used; but neither do I recommend this form of the Invention: -
Now, I claim as my Invention, first, the connection of a pair of safety doors,
by means of a cord or chain, or of rods, wire, or levers, as above described.
And, secondly, the use of a weight or spring to close such doors; in manner
above described.
CA (
....
In witness whereof, I, the said Ebenezer Rogers, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
*.)...
Witness,...
J. T. LIDIARD,
'50, Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn,
Law Stationer.
EBR ROGERS.
(L.S.