IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING HEAVY BODIES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Arkell, of Syntaff House, Cheltenham,
in the County of Gloucester, Coach Builder, for the Invention of
Sealed the 10th September 1870, and dated the 14th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Arkell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th March 1870.
I, WILLIAM ARKELL, of Syntaff House, Cheltenham, in the County
of Gloucester, Coach Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING
HEAVY BODIES," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to raise and lower trains of
railway carriages, so as to enable them to be placed on board steam
ferries, and when removed therefrom to be raised to the level of the
railway upon which they are intended to continue their journey. The
Invention, however, applies also to the raising and lowering of loads

page_text: generally, the object being to effect a considerable economy in the cost
of construction and working of lifting apparatus.
In applying my Invention to the raising or lowering of a train of
carriages I provide a platform of any given length, which is intended
to receive the train. This platform I support on vertical screwed shafts
of a length somewhat superior to the height of lift required. These
screwed shafts will be arranged in two parallel lines and at equal
distances apart, the lines extending the whole length of the platform.
The shafts will be mounted in top and bottom bearings and will each
carry a chain wheel cither at their upper or lower ends. A chain or
chains will pass around these pullies to and from a capstan or capstans,
or their equivalent, which when set in action will impart an axial
motion to all the screwed shafts simultaneously. The transverse beams
of the platform will carry at their ends female screws or tapped sockets
to receive the screwed shafts. As, therefore, these shafts are rotated
the platform will be raised or lowered as desired. To facilitate the
action of the apparatus and to enable a heavy load to be raised by the
expenditure of a minimum of power counterweights will be attached to
the platform, the same being pendent from wire ropes or chains passing
upward from the platform over guide pullies. By means of these
weights I propose to counterbalance the whole weight of the platform
and about half the weight of an ordinary load. For these weights I
propose in some cases to use vessels which may be filled or partially
filled with water, as desired, supplied thereto through flexible pipes
connected with main supply pipes. When the engine is not required to
be transported with the train it may be used to operate the screwed
shafts. To effect this object it is only necessary to attach it to one end
of the actuating chain or chains and to back it on the railway until
the requisite amount of motion is given to the screwed shafts. Instead
of chains and pullies worms and worm wheels or other toothed gearing
may be employed for transmitting motion to the screwed shafts.
It will be obvious that my arrangement of lifting screws and counter-
balance weights may also be employed for raising and lowering guns in
battery and ships when supported by a cradle or platform.
In applying the Invention for the purposes of an ordinary lift, such,
for example, as the lowering and raising of passengers to and from a
tunnel or viaduct, I construct a cage, say with two platforms (one for
first and the other for second class passengers) one above the other.

page_text: Through the cage passes a central screwed shaft, which works through
tapped sockets carried by the framing of the cage; counterbalance
weights are attached by ropes or chains to opposite sides of the cage,
and a chain or gear wheel is fitted to the screwed shaft. To this wheel
motion is communicated by a capstan or winch, or its equivalent, and
the rotation of the central screwed shaft will raise and lower the load.
The advantage of this arrangement is that manual power will suffice to
set the lift in action and thus the use of steam engines now commonly
employed for such a purpose will be avoided.
› SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Arkell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARKELL, of Syntaff House, Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester,.
Coach Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Arkell, Her special licence, that
I, the said William Arkell, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Arkell, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND
LOWERING HEAVY BODIES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Arkell, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Arkell, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, 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 Drawings hereunto
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
The chief object of this Invention is to raise and lower trains of
railway carriages, so as to enable them to be placed on board steam
ferries, and when removed therefrom to be raised to the level of the
railway upon which they are intended to continue their journey. The
Invention, however, applies also to the raising and lowering of loads
generally, the object being to effect a considerable economy in the cost
of construction and working of lifting apparatus.
In applying my Invention to the raising or lowering of a train of
carriages I provide a platform of any given length which is intended to
receive the train. This platform I support on vertical screwed shafts of
a length somewhat superior to the height of lift required, and by means
of these screwed shafts assisted by an arrangement of adjustable balance
weights I raise and lower the platform with its load.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings I have shewn my Inven-
tion as applied to the raising and lowering of an engine and its tender,
but it will be readily understood that the apparatus may be extended in
length to accommodate a train of railway carriages.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional clevation of the hoisting apparatus,
the section being taken through about the centre of the same; Fig. 2 is a
plan view shewing a portion of the platform broken away, the better to
illustrate the construction of the parts beneath it; and Fig. 3 is a
transverse section taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 2, referring to Fig. 1.
A, A, and B, B, are the two levels of the railways to and from which
it is intended that the hoisting platform C shall raise and lower its load.
These railways are supposed to lie parallel to and one above the other,
and a chamber of brick or stone work is made through them to receive
the hoisting apparatus which is designed to do the duty of the inclines
now used for connecting two levels together, mounted in step bearings
below the level of the lower railway B are two parallel lines of screw
shafts D, D, which shafts are set at equal distances apart, and arc
arranged lengthwise of the platform; the upper ends of these shafts
are supported by bracket bearings, and fitted to these shafts are trans-
verse beams E, E, which serve to support the longitudinal timbers F

page_text: that carry
the platform C; secured loosely to the opposite ends of the
beams E, see Fig. 4, are screwed sockets e in which the threads of the
screw shafts work. Keyed to the lower ends of the screw shafts are
chain wheels d, round which I pass a chain or chains G leading to or
from a capstan or capstans. Between the beams E, E, are other and
similar beams H, to which are attached chains h; these chains pass
over antifriction rollers h², mounted in suitable brackets of cast iron h³.
The chains / carry at their pendent ends counterweights I, I, which
counterweights consist of vessels fitted with a discharge valve at bottom,
and are intended to receive water in a regulated quantity from an
adjacent reservoir. The quantity of water received by these vessels will
depend upon the weight of the load carried by the platform. It will
now be understood that as the chain G is drawn in one direction, it
will give a corresponding rotary motion through the chain wheels & to
the screw shafts D, and thereby raise or lower the beams E connected
therewith and consequently the platform with its load. If I desire to
raise a train, weighing say two hundred tons, I raise the counterbalance
weight to, say two hundred and five tons, and with the apparatus thus
adjusted I am enabled, with a very small expenditure of power, to raise
the train from the lower to the higher line of railway. If now the
next train to be operated upon is a train which is to be lowered from
the higher to the lower level, and its weight corresponds or nearly so
with the train last raised, I make no further adjustment of the counter-
balance weight, but if the next train submitted to the action of the
apparatus is to be raised like the preceding one, I require to run off the
two hundred and five tons of water in order to lower the platform to
receive the train. It will therefore be understood that it will be desirable
as far as possible to regulate the work to be done to suit the requirements
of the apparatus. Again, supposing the raising of the train weighing
two hundred tons to be followed by the lowering of a train, say thirty or
forty tons heavier or lighter then it will be necessary to increase or
diminish the counterweight to a proportionate extent, always keeping the
counterweight slightly superior to the weight of the platform.
I may here remark that in positions where an abundant supply of
water is not attainable I propose to balance the platform and half the
average weight of the train and to employ a railway engine for working
the apparatus. In this case the ends of the chain G will be laid cach
around a barrel but in opposite directions, and each capstan being pro-

page_text: vided with a draught chain the engine may be attached to either draught
chain and moved slowly along the line away from the capstans. This
will give a traverse motion to the chain G, and thereby cause it to
impart rotary motion to the shafts D and raise or lower the platform
with its load according to the direction of traverse of the chain G.
In adapting my Invention to the raising and lowering of guns in a
battery, I fit the platform with a turntable on which I mount the gun
in the usual way. If the gun is of large calibre I support the platform
say by six screw shafts and connect the same together by an endless
chain which is carried round a capstan and worked by a winch or hand
levers, the counterbalance weights being the exact weight of the gun
in this case.
In applying the Invention for the purposes of an ordinary lift, such,
for example, as the lowering and raising of passengers to and from a
tunnel or viaduct, I construct a cage which shall fit the vertical tube
leading to the tunnel, and through the cage I pass a central screwed
shaft which works through tapped sockets carried by the framing of
the cage. Counterbalance weights being attached by ropes or chains
to opposite sides of the cage will facilitate the working of the apparatus
and render the use of steam engines (now commonly employed for such
purposes) unnecessary.
The Figures in Sheet II. illustrate the application of my Invention
to the lowering and raising of passengers to and from a tunnel ; Fig. 5
is a sectional elevation of the entrance to a tunnel with my apparatus
applied thereto; Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section of the same;
Fig. 7 is a plan view of the apparatus, and Fig. 8 is a sectional plan
taken in the line 3, 4, Fig. 6.
A, A, is the vertical shaft leading to the tunnel B, in this shaft is
mounted a cage C which is supported by a central screw shaft D that
turns in bearings E, E¹. The screw shaft D is provided with one or
more quick threads and the cage is fitted with threaded nuts correspond-
ing to the pitch of the screw shaft D.. On the outside of the cage are
formed guides which severally embrace a feather or guide bar running from
the top to the bottom of the shaft A. The cage C is also fitted with
lugs c to which are attached chains G for carrying the counterweights
for balancing the load. These chains are laid over antifriction rollers,
and their pendent ends enter tubes H one on either side of the shaft A.
These tubes H are intended to receive the counterweights I which
g

page_text: consist of vessels as before described capable of holding water. These
vessels are fitted at bottom with poppet valves i for discharging the
water therefrom, and the spindles of these valves project below the
counterweight and are intended in their descent to strike upon a stop
(removable at the option of the attendant) and thereby raise the valves
when it is desired to discharge the water from the vessels; I, K, and K'
are pipes shewn best at Fig. 7 for supplying water to the counterweights
I. The pipes K serve to deliver the water to these vessels when raised
to their highest point, and the pipes K' supply the vessels when they
are in their depressed position, or the vessels may take up water from
the reservoir if the water is kept at the level I*. The tubes H, H,
connect at their lower ends with a reservoir L into which the water
from the vessels I is discharged when it is necessary to reduce the
gravity of the counterweights. The supply of the water is regulated
by cocks in the pipes, which cocks are under the command of the
attendant. The reservoir should be connected with a force pump for
raising the water as it accumulates therein. The cage is entered from
doorways formed in the side of the shaft A, and at the upper part
thereof. The shaft is closed at top, and its cover A¹ serves as a
platform for the attendant; bolted to this platform are standards which
carry a cross shaft M; this shaft is fitted with a bevil pinion m which
gears into a bevil wheel d keyed on to the upper end of the screw shaft D.
A winch handle m¹ is fitted to the cross shaft M, and by this means
rotary motion is given to the screw shaft D. As therefore this shaft
is rotated the cage will be raised and lowered, and being properly
balanced by the means described a comparatively small amount of power
will be required to operate the apparatus.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Apparatus for Raising and Lowering Heavy Bodies," and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that I lay no claim to the raising and lowering of loads on counter-
weighted platforms supported on rotating shafts however applied and
operated, but what I claim under the above in part recited Letters
Patent is,―

page_text: And, secondly. The arrangement of apparatus described with reference
to Sheet II. whereby a cage or platform with its load may be operated
and sustained by a central screw shaft.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Arkell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM ARKELL. (L.S.)