CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RAISING OR LIFTING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS OR PONDEROUS BODIES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOHNSON, of Grosvenor Wharf, Milbank, in the City of Westminster, Gentle-
man, send greeting:
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the First day of December, in the tenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Johnson, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said William Johnson, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend; within England, Wales, the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RAISING OR LIFTING
AND LOWERING WEIGHTS OR PONDEROUS BODIES;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Johnson, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High

page_text: Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Johnson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say): —
My Invention of Improvements in Machinery for Raising or Lifting and
Lowering Weights or Ponderous Bodies consists in a peculiar application or
adaptation of steam power to a drum, barrel, or cylinder, round which a band,
rope, or chain is passed, the band, rope, or chain having the weight suspended
from its other end, and the weight being raised by the rotary motion of the
draft, barrel, or pulley. The power is exerted by the movement of a piston
within a steam cylinder to the outer end of the rod, of which piston a chain,
band, or rope is attached, that coils round a winding drum of small diameter,
fixed upon the axle of the draft barrel.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure'l represents the apparatus in eleva-
tion, a portion of the frame being removed to shew the internal parts of the
machinery more perfectly. Figure 2 is a horizontal view of the same; and the
similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts of the machine-in' both
Figures. A, A, A, A, is a rectangular franie' of iron, which contains and
supports the machinery. This may be fixed firmly into the ground, or it may
be mounted upon wheels, and enabled to be transported from place to plaće,
as to different parts of a wharf or warehouse. I shall, however, in the first
instance, describe it as stationary. In or near the centre of 'this frame A the
working cylinder of a steam engine B is fixed, its piston rod C, C, passing
through both ends of the cylinder for the purpose of rendering the machinery
capable of raising and lowering heavy bodies through the agency of cranes
fixed at each end of the frame; but 'I don't intend, in all cases, to 'make my
improved machinery double acting, therefore, when single acting only, it
is obvious that the duplicate parts of the apparatus may be dispensed with.
D, D, are the upright posts or standards of two cranes with the usual jib E,
and pulleys F. 'G is a horizontal axle turning in plummer blocks, fixed
upon the bottom of the frame. This axle carries 'a conical pulley H, which
has several grooves formed in it of different diameters, for the purpose of
receiving severally the draft chain or rope of the crane, the different dia-
mcters of the conical pulley being designed to effect different powers of draft,

page_text: This pulley is enabled to slide laterally upon the axle G, for the purpose of
bringing either of the grooves into a line of coincidence with the leading
pulley of the crane; and the pulley is confined to the axle when it revolves
by a key or rib upon the axle passed through a notch in the pulley, or it may
be by the axle in that part being formed square. Upon the axle G there is
also a smaller pulley I, which is securely fixed to the axle, and always turns
with it. This pulley is intended to receive the coiled chain attached to the
end of the piston rod C, so that as the piston recedes in the cylinder, the chain
may draw the pulley I round, and with it the axle G, and the cone pulley H.
It will be seen in the Drawing that there is a cone pulley H connected to a
draft chain and crane at each end of the working steam cylinder B, and that
upon the axle to which this cone is keyed there is affixed a small pulley I,
with a chain connected to the end of the piston rod as before described, thus
making the machinery double acting, that is, when a heavy weight is raising
at one crane a heavy weight may be lowering at the other crane. But, as I
before said, I do not intend in all cases to employ such reciprocating action, as
a machine acting upon one crane only may, in most instances, be sufficient.
In working this machinery steam at a high pressure is to be provided in a
boiler contiguous, from whence the steam is to be communicated to the
working cylinder B by a pipe K, shewn broken off in the Drawing. The
steam when passed through this pipe will occupy the steam box L, and, by the
sliding of the valve within the box, the steam will in the usual way be
admittted into the cylinder at its ends for the purpose of working the piston.
The action of the slide valve I intend to produce by the hand of a workman
applied to the lever M, so that the operations of the machine shall be always
under command. Supposing that the piston in the cylinder B is by the
pressure of the steam passing from the right-hand end of the cylinder to the
left, the chain connected to the piston rod and to the pulley I will draw
round the pulley I, its axle G, and the cone pulley H; and the draft chain of
the crane being attached to the periphery of the pulley H, as the pulley
revolves the chain will draw up the weight suspended from the jib head. Now,
to prevent the raised weight suspended to the crane from descending, the
pulley H must be made fast, which I do by means of a break formed by a
band N and lever O. The band being passed round the pulley H, as shewn
in Figure 2, and the hand of the workman moving the lever O, will cause the
band N to be drawn tight round the pulley, and prevent its rotation; the
lever being held in its position by a click or pawle resting in the teeth of a
ratchet P, as shewn in Figure 1, and in lowering the weight the break may be
gently released until the weight has reached its proper situation. The steam

page_text: may be allowed to escape from the cylinder by a pipe Q into the air, and
it will be seen that a similar arrangement of parts being adapted to the
reverse end of the machine, heavy weights may be either raised or lowered by
their reciprocating actions.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Johnson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
R. RICHARDS.
WILLIAM (L.s.) JOHNSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same First day of June, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Johnson came before our
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same First day of June, in the year above written.