CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROPES AND CARRIAGES EMPLOYED UPON TRAM- WAYS AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE WITH
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth and Company,
Patent Agency at Frankfort-on-Maine (Germany), for the Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROPES AND CARRIAGES EMPLOYED UPON TRAM-
WAYS AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE WITH."-A communication
from George Sigl, Constructor of Machines, residing at Vienna
(Austria).
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Wirth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st May 1873.
I, FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth & Co., Patent Agency at
Frankfort-on-Maine (Germany), do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROPES AND CARRIAGES EMPLOYED
UPON TRAMWAYS AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH (a commu-
nication from George Sigl, Constructor of Machines, a person resident
at Vienna (Austria), to be as follows:-
"
The Invention relates more particularly to those classes of rope
tramway in which the waggons or carriages containing the load are
drawn along rails by means of a continuously revolving endless rope, or

page_text: in which the carriages are suspended by rollers and drawn along at the
same time by an attached rope.
The disadvantage hitherto experienced in the former class of tramway,
upon which the carriages are moved from one place to another along
rails, is that the attaching and detaching of the waggons with the rope
requires that the same shall be stopped, whilst in the former the
suspended carriage, which runs by the friction of its weight alone, is
applicable to limited gradients only. This Invention is designed for the
purpose of overcoming both these disadvantages; first, by enabling the
waggon containing the load drawn along rails to be attached or detached
at pleasure; and secondly, in cases where the load is suspended to permit
of the conveyance of such load upon gradients at an inclination of about
45 degrees.
The Invention consists in apylying and securing to such travelling
ropes at distances apart a peculiar kind of fixed projection or knot,
which may be composed of the wire itself in cases where wire rope is
employed, or it may be composed of a conical metal bush securely fixed
to the rope, upon which is formed a screw thread or other means of
attachment, whereby a metal nut or block in one piece or in halves can
be firmly secured thereon. The fixture of these blocks or projecting
nuts upon the traversing rope is such that when any one of them
comes in contact with the claw of a carriage in their line of route, the
said knots will be sufficiently rigid and large enough to impel such
carriage forward with the rope, and still be enabled to pass between the
grooves of the carrier pullies.
When the rope is employed to propel loads on rail tramways the
carriages belonging to the same are provided with a projecting fork,
which, when in its bearings secured to such carriage, it will rest upon
the rope by reason of its weight, or by means of a spring. Thus it will
be seen that the endless travelling rope, supplied with knots or pro-
jections as above described, will when coming in contact with the forked
projection of the carriages conveying the load on the line of rail or tra-
verse of such rope, cause such carriages to be caught and impelled
forward up to the point where the rope diverges from the line of rail, at
which point they become uncoupled or loosed, so that the take-up of the
carriage and release of the same are effected by self-acting means, and
without any stoppage in the traverse of the rope.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frank Wirth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANK
WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Agency at
Frankfort-on-Maine, Germany, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Frank Wirth, Her special licence that I,
the said Frank Wirth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Frank Wirth, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROPES AND
CARRIAGES EMPLOYED UPON TRAMWAYS AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE-
WITH," (a communication from George Sigl, Constructor of Machines,
a person resident at Vienna, Austria) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Frank Wirth, 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 Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frank Wirth, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The Invention relates more particularly to those classes of rope
tramway on which the waggons or carriages containing the load are
drawn along rails by means of a continuously revolving endless rope, or

page_text: in which the carriages are suspended by rollers and drawn along at the
same time by an attached rope.
The disadvantage hitherto experienced in the former class of tramway,
upon which the carriages are moved from one place to another along
rails, is that the attaching and detaching of the waggons with the rope
requires that the same shall be stopped, whilst in the former the
suspended carriage which runs by the friction of its weight alone is
applicable to limited gradients only. This Invention is designed for the
purpose of overcoming both these disadvantages; first, by enabling the
"waggon containing the load drawn along rails to be attached or detached
at pleasure; and secondly, in cases where the load is suspended to permit
of the conveyance of such load upon gradients at an inclination of about
.45 degrees.
The Invention consists in applying and securing to such travelling
ropes at distances apart a peculiar kind of fixed projection or knot,
which may be composed of the wire itself in cases where wire rope is
employed, or it may be composed of a conical metal bush securely fixed
to the rope, upon which is formed a screw thread or other means of
attachment, whereby a metal nut or block in one piece or in halves can
be firmly secured thereon. The fixture of these blocks or projecting
nuts upon the traversing rope is such that when any one of them comes
in contact with the claw of a carriage in the line of route, the said knots
will be sufficiently rigid and large enough to impel such carriage forward
with the rope, and still be enabled to pass between the grooves of the
carrier pullies.
When the rope is employed to propel loads on rail tramways the
carriages belonging to the same are provided with a projecting fork,
which, when in its bearings secured to such carriage, will rest upon the
rope by reason of its weight, or by means of a spring. Thus it will be
seen that the endless travelling rope, supplied with knots or projections a
as above described, will when coming in contact with the forked pro-
jection of the carriages conveying the load on the line of rail or traverse
of such rope, cause such carriages to be caught and impelled forward up
to the point where the rope diverges from the line of rail, at which point
,they become uncoupled or loosed, so that the take-up of the carriage and a
release of the same are effected by self-acting means, and without any
stoppage in the traverse of the
rope.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent different arrangements and constructions
of knots or projections secured to or formed upon the traversing wire
rope.
The arrangement shewn at A, Fig. 1, is a knot or projection composed
of a portion of the strands of wire from which the rope is made.
The arrangement shewn at B, Fig. 2, is composed of two hemi-
spheroidal blocks firmly secured to the rope by means of the bolts b, b.
The arrangement shewn at C, Fig. 3, consists in first securing a
conical or tapered bush C¹ on the rope, the outer surface of which is
provided with a screw for the reception of the spheroidal block or
knot C.
And the arrangement shewn at D, Fig. 4, consists simply of a spheroid
or block fixed or wormed on to the wire rope.
The foregoing arrangements are shewn as examples of the description
and class of projection or knot I prefer, as it will be evident other
enlargements and projections may be formed upon the cable which will
equally answer the purpose of this Invention.
Fig. 5 represents in elevation, and Fig. 6 in plan a section of the
tramway and cable, shewing the position of the knots and the carriage
propelled by the same through the medium of the vertical forked bar or
claw secured to the carriage.
The fixture of these blocks or projecting knots upon the traversing
rope is such that when any one of the said knots comes into contact
with the projecting fork or claw F of the rod G, secured to and sliding
in brackets fixed to the carriage, shewn at Fig. 5, they will be large
enough and sufficiently rigid to impel such carriage forward with the
traversing rope, and still be enabled to pass between the grooves of the
carrier pullies. Thus it will be seen that the endless travelling rope,
supplied with knots or projections as above described, will when coming
into contact with the projecting claw F, secured to the carriages con-
veying the load on the line of rail or cable way, cause such carriages to
be caught and impelled forward up to where the rope diverges from the
line of rail, at which point the carriages become uncoupled or loosed, so
that the take-up and release of the same are effected by self-acting
means, and without any stoppage in the traverse of the rope.

page_text: Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with
the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I would wish it to
be distinctly understood in conclusion that what I wish more particularly
to claim as the principal features of this Invention are,―
First. The novel application of knots or projections to the ropes of
cable tramways, secured at distances apart, to be employed in the
manner and for the purpose as herein-before described, set forth, and
fully illustrated in the Drawings annexed.
Second. Providing the carriages travelling on such cable tramways
with projecting claws or forks, which are caught by the knots of the
traversing rope, and so carried or impelled in the manner as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Wirth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
threc.