IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING HEAVY BODIES IN MINES
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
AUGUSTUS PUIS, of Paris, in the Kingdom of France, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of
December, in the eleventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Pierre Augustus Puis, my exors,
admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Pierre Augustus Puis,.my exors, admors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Pierre Augustus Puis, my exors, admors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS
FOR RAISING AND LOWERING HEAVY BODIES IN MINES;" being a communication;
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Pierre
Augustus Puis, should cause a particular description of the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's

page_text: High 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 thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Pierre Augustus Puis, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention, com-
municated to me, is fully described and ascertained in and by the following
description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention relates, first, to improvements in apparatus where the pressure
of the air is employed for the purposes of raising or lowering heavy bodies;
and, secondly, to improvements in mechanical apparatus for raising or lowering
bodies. But in order that the Invention may be more clearly understood
I will proceed to describe the Drawings:-
In the Drawing No. 1 I have shewn several ways in which the apparatus is
used by the aid of the atmospheric air. I employ tubes closed at top, having
pistons sliding up and down, to which are attached the buckets or cases into
which the materials to be raised are placed. Figures 1 and 2 show one of
these tubes A placed in a shaft B when it is required to raise at one time
several boxes. At the upper end of this tube is a chamber C, supplied with two
doors or valves a, a¹; by withdrawing the air in the upper part of the tube by
any suitable means I raise each piston above the open valve a.
When one
of the pistons is raised to the upper part of the tube a the other piston below
remains suspended, then by closing the slide a and opening the door a¹ a free
passage is given to the bucket raised up by the upper piston; the door a¹ is
then shut and the door a slided open, and having withdrawn a fresh quantity
of air from the mine, the next piston will rise up into position, as described
with respect to the first piston. When it is required to raise only one piston
at a time (as when the apparatus is used for raising the workpeople) the
valve a is not required, and all that will be required is (when the piston is in
the position of the upper one shewn) to open the valve a. If two tubes of this
description are joined at their lower part, by an arrangement similar to that
which I have applied to other tubes, to be hereafter described and shewn in
Figure 5, the cases or buckets will rise in one tube and descend in the other,
and may be equally adjusted, but then they will have to be supplied with
similar arrangements as at C at their lower ends. d is a small tube, which
runs down the side of the other tube, extending into the mine or pit, and
which serves for two purposes. First, for the supply of air into the tube A,
or for rarifying the air below the pistons, so as to accelerate their descent.
The form of the piston is round, with double cup leathers. The speed at

page_text: which these pistons descend may be regulated by the admission of the air into
the upper part of the tube, or by its discharge at the lower part. The peculiar
character of this part of the Invention is the employment of close tubes, having
a chamber above the piston or chambers above and below, and having the
materials to be raised attached to the pistons; and this system of tubes may
also be employed for raising water from mines.
Another arrangement of tubes is shewn in Drawing No. 1, Figures 3 and 4.
In this case the sides are slit in such manner as to allow of a free passage to
bars or projections which are connected to the pistons, and to which bars the
buckets or cases containing the materials to be raised are attached. A¹ is the
tube, having the side slit as at e, and there being suitable materials placed to
render the joint air-tight; up and down this slit the bars f, f, pass, and they
are connected to the piston, and to them are suspended the frame E, on to
which is placed the articles that are required to be raised up. To aid in the
descent of the piston, the air at the lower part of the piston may be exhausted
by means of a tube d, the arrangement of which is similar to what is proposed
in the Figures 1 and 2, in which case it will be necessary to have the pistons
above and below the bars f. If, on the contrary, it is found that the piston
descends too rapidly, it can be checked by introducing air into the tube at the
place where the air escapes at the lower part.
Figures 5 and 6 shew another arrangement, in which two slit tubes A2, A³,
are used, which are in communication with each other at the upper and lower
parts by means of pipes g, g, or i, i, and slide valves h and j. When it is desired
to lower down one of the buckets, the communication to each tube is opened,
and the air being withdrawn from above the piston in one tube and forced into
the other tube, one piston will rise and the other descend. The peculiar cha-
racter of this part of the Invention is the employment of slit tubes, the slits being
suitably closed so that the pistons within will slide up and down by means of
the pressure of the air and carry with them the materials required to be raised
as described. The position of these tubes may be concentric to the shaft of
the mine, as shewn at Figures 2 and 4, or excentric, as shewn in Figures 6,
7, 8, and 9. The tubes are affixed to the sides of the shafts by cross pieces,
as shewn at Figures 3 and 4. The tube is constructed of small cylinders m,
connected together at their ends by hoops n, having washers between them, as
shewn at Figures 10 and 11; they may also be formed, as shewn at Figures 14
15, and 16, of half cylinders p, p', so joined together that the lower part ŕ of
one half cylinder corresponds to the middle of the length of the opposite half
cylinder. Figures 17 and 18 shew another mode of forming these tubes, in
which the cylinders are covered; the circular end of one of the internal parts

page_text: correspond to the middle of the length of one of the external parts. I would
remark, that any of the systems now known for the use of tubes or atmo-
spheric tubes may be employed in the arrangement of those slit tubes with the
elastic openings. In some the openings in the tubes are kept apart by the
. aid of small rollers V, which roll against the sides, and which are particularly
shewn on the Drawings at Figures 4, 7, 9, and 19. The Figures 9 and 19
shew the openings e, e¹, kept open by means of the rollers V. The axis of each
roller should be slightly inclined to the middle plane of the bar; the rollers
may also be placed on the inner part of the tube for the purpose of keeping
the opening in its proper position. I place the frames at the outer part of the
tube and give them a free passage, as shewn at Figures 4 and 8. In these
frames (which are suspended from the bars f) are affixed uprights to secure
the materials that may have to be raised; these frames may also have applied
to them conducting rollers to roll against the outer surface of the lips of
the tube for the purpose of closing them. Figures 4, 7, and 9, shew this
arrangement. An opening x may be made in these frames to allow of the
passage of a man who may have to ascend the ladder y when the appa-
ratus is not at work. Several of these frames may be attached to each other,
as shewn at Figure 5. Figure 8 shews two of these frames semicircular,
worked by two tubes, which are distinct from each other, or they may com-
municate and act in such manner that when one of them rises up the other
will fall down, and vice versa.
I will now describe the second part of the Invention, which consists of
improvements in mechanical apparatus for raising weights. I would first
remark, that the mode of giving motion to the apparatus may be varied in
any suitable manner, so that in working mines the steam engine or any other
power that is in use may be employed. Thus, at Figure 20, a beam or con-
necting rod 6 will receive a rectilinear alternating movement from a crank or
from an excentric mounted upon the shaft of the steam engine, and this beam
or connecting rod is attached to the two rods F, F, by two cranks t, t. 'The
arrangements shewn in the Drawings at Figures 20 and 20° consists of two
pulleys P, P, which by means of cranks receive two connecting rods b, which
communicate an alternate circular movement to the pullies P. The chains or
cords c, c, transmit this movement, rendered rectilinear to the rods F, between
which are placed pinions, as shewn at Figure 20%. The great difference
between the diameter of the pulleys and of the arms of the crank enable me,
notwithstanding the position of the course of the pistion of the steam engine, to
give a long course to each oscillation of the rods F. I would remark, that the
result of each of these arrangements will be, that each rod F, F, will be drawn

page_text: and not pushed if the rods are connected at the lower part by a pinion and
rack, as at Figure 24, when they will not be liable to get out of order.
I will now describe the raising or lowering the matters by the alternate
transition from one rod to the other. For the ascension, the mode of the
bodies which passes from one rod to
transition of the point of pressure of the
the other is shewn in the arrangement at Figure 20° and Figure 21, in which
are employed two rods; two spring hooks a, a¹, are inserted in the notches in
the rods F, F, or in the connecting pieces b, b, shewn at Figures 22 and 23
attached to the rods; the rod which in rising up draws up the hook and the
case suspended thereto until it meets with the upper hook of the other rod,
which rising up in its turn draws its hook and the case connected therewith,
so that the weight to be raised, supported by the two hooks at each part of
the notches, is carried alternately through one or the other of the hooks for
each upward motion, during which time the hook which is not carried slides
along the rod. For the descent, the hooks which act as springs are removed
from the notches, as shewn at Figure 25, and then the body to be lowered is
suspended from a bolt or roller, which takes into other notches formed on the
two rods (see Figures 20%, 22, and 24,) and descend always with the descend-
ing rod, the transition taking place at each coincidence of the notches. i, i, are
smaller rods, which are affixed to the rods F, filling up the spaces between
them, and so applied that the bolt of the frame which carries the case or
charge cannot pass the joint but at the moment of meeting of the two joints.
When the rod arrives at the bottom of the shaft, the bolt passes out from the
lower notch, and the spring hooks again take their places to operate for again
rising up. The ascent and descent may be made alternately with a single pair
of rods, but they may also be made simultaneously by means of two pairs of
rods, the one constantly rising with the spring hooks, and the other descending
with the bolt on the inner part of the rods, as shewn at Figure 32, when
acting together. The frames will be required to be supported.
Figure 24 shows a mode of producing equilibrium in the rods F by the
employment of tooth wheels taking into a rack at the ends of the rods. In
general all the variations of the principle of the mechanical transition where
there is a small fall, will require that springs should be placed between the
roller carrier and the charge to check the effect of the fall upon them, and also
to soften the effect of the hoops upon the notches. Another mode of producing
the descent is as follows:-The charge is attached to the axis of a roller which
rests upon one of two inclined frames h, h³, seen at Figures 27 and 28, fixed
upon a part of the two rods. F, F, a tongue piece, which runs along the whole
length of the rods which carries the other frame, and prevents the roller from

page_text: rolling towards the rod, and consequently the roller and the frame with it
descend with the first rod without any danger; but at the moment when the
movement of the first rod ceases, the roller is no longer in front of the tongue
piece; then the roller rolls and falls upon the next frame of the other rod, which
descends in its turn, charged with the case or bucket. A tongue piece attached
to the first rod prevents the roller from turning towards it before it has finished
its ascending movement, see Figures 27 and 28. Figure 30 shows another
plan for effecting the transition where the axis of the roller is caused to enter
an inclined groove in the framing of the apparatus 1, 1, fixed to the sides of
the shaft of the mine.
I would also remark that the hooks which aid in raising the weights may
work in notches formed in different faces f of the rods F, as shewn at Figures
31, 33, and the two faces z, z, may be supplied with frames to carry the buckets
during their descent; then the side f, f, will serve for the ascent and the
sides Z, Z, for the descent, or both the ascent and descent may be continuously.
When the buckets or cases arrive at the end of either the upper or lower end
of the apparatus they are detached from one of the ends to be attached to the
other. This can be done by means of guides in such manner that the apparatus
will not have to stop for the purpose of making the change.
I also employ for the purpose of aiding in the transition and for guiding the
roller carrier, in the whole extent of the course, (guide rods, shewn at Figure 29,
distinct from the moveable rods F, F, and in which the axis of the roller travels,
and placed partly on a slightly inclined direction and partly in a vertical one,
which follow the axes between two transitions. The oscillating rods may
be employed for raising water from mines, in which case the vessels would
descend attached to the bolts or roller which moves between the two rods and
rises upon or suspended to the hooks, as before explained; or the rods may be
connected to the body of the pumps and the water pumped up through tubes.
I also employ a rod turned round on an axis in the form of a spiral screw. This
screw carries three rollers or wheels fixed by a framing to which is suspended
the weight; this framing forms a kind of nut which cannot turn round the axis
of the screw, as it will be stopped by the vertical guide lines against which it
slides by means of rollers, and consequently it will descend parallel to the axis
of the screw.
In Fig. Z will be seen the cylinder of a pneumatic machine P, which is
placed at the entrance of the mine, and which communicates with another
cylinder P¹, the piston of which is connected to the rod t of a pump P", placed
at the bottom of the mine; at each upward motion of the piston P, the air
being rarified above the piston P₁, that piston rises and raises the rod t with

page_text: the piston P", which passes through a stuffing box, and the water above this
piston rises in the tube K, which conveys it out of the mine, and the rods of the
piston will descend by means of a valve being opened.
Several such cylinders may be employed working in a similar manner to the
one at P¹ by having to each a pump P" and a pipe capable of being used
alternately as an exhaust or admission pipe, as shewn at Drawing No. 2.
I would remark that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein
given, so long as the peculiar character of either part of the Invention be
retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Augustus Puis, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.