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

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Craven, of Wakefield, in the County of
York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OB
APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING HEAVY BODIES."
Sealed the 10th September 1870, and dated the 16th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Craven at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th April 1870.
I, JOHN CRAVEN, of Wakefield, in the County of York, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING HEAVY BODIES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to winding drums employed in collieries &
other places for lifting & lowering weights, & has for its object the
facilitating the use of an ordinary round rope in substitution for the
more expensive flat ropes, by preventing the rope from riding along

page_text: the drum or chafing against the sides of the coils already contained on
the drum.
The essential feature of this Invention consists in moving the winding
drums, whether cylindrical or conical, laterally during the time of
winding or unwinding the rope so as to keep that part of the drum on on
or off which the rope is being wound or unwound in a true line with or
directly opposite to the centre of the rim of the head gear pulley &
weight to be lifted or lowered. This lateral adjustment or traverse
motion of the drums is self-acting, & may be accomplished in various
ways, as, for example, by means of screw spindles of suitable pitch of
thread according to the thickness of the rope, such spindles working in
bushes or nuts in the drums, & being rotated by having spur wheels
fast on their end gearing by a sun & planet motion into a stationary
spur wheel, through the centre of which the drum shaft passes &
revolves freely.
Other modifications of this arrangement may, however, obviously be
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Craven in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CRAVEN, of Wakefield, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, 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 John Craven, Her special license that
I, the said John Craven, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Craven, my executors, adminis-
trators, or 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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
RAISING AND LOWERING HEAVY BODIES,” upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said John Craven, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and scal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
nanner 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 John Craven, do hereby declaro
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:―
My said Invention relates to winding drums employed in collieries
and other like places for lifting and lowering weights, and has for its
object the facilitating the use of an ordinary round rope in substitution
for the more expensive flat ropes by preventing the rope from riding
along the drum or chafing against the sides of the coils already
contained on the drum.
The essential feature of this Invention consists in moving the winding
drums, whether cylindrical or conical, laterally during the time of
winding or unwinding the rope so as to keep that part of the drum on
or off which the rope is being wound or unwound in a true line with or
directly opposite to the centre of the run of the head gear pulley and
weight to be lifted or lowered. This lateral adjustment or traverse
motion of the drums is self-acting, and may be accomplished in various
ways, as, for example, by means of screw spindles of suitable pitch of
thread according to the thickness of the rope and diameter of the drum,
such spindles working in bushes or nuts in the drums, and being rotated
by having spur wheels fast on them at one end gearing by a sun and
planet motion into a stationary spur wheel, through the centre of which
the drum shaft passes and revolves freely.
Other modifications of this arrangement may, however, obviously be
employed for carrying out the essential feature of my Invention.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in both the
Figures.

page_text: Figure 1 of the Drawings is a vertical section of one arrangement of
my improved winding drum for a colliery, and Figure 2 represents the
same drum in side elevation.
A is the winding engine or drum shaft, and B a conical drum; C, the
fly and break wheel; D, the pit ropes in line with the head gear pulley
(not shown in my Drawings). The drum B is free to slide upon the
shaft A from 6 to 6 (Figure 1), which in the arrangement shewn is
accomplished by the following means:-E is a spur wheel cast on to a
wall plate which is bolted to the wall e¹, and through the centre of
which the engine or drum shaft A runs freely; next to this fixed
wheel E is a disc F keyed fast on to the shaft A. The disc F carries two
or more screws f and having pinion wheels f³ and f* keyed thereon,
and gearing into the fixed wheel E, thus forming a sun and planet
motion. The sliding of the drum B may be effected along keys a' and a³
(Figure 2) fixed on the shaft A, or along driving guide bars G, or along
both keys and guide bars, as shewn, of which there may be any required.
number. The screws f' and f work in bushes fitted to the drums.
The driving bars G are keyed fast into the disc plate F at one end, and
at the other end into the fly and break wheel C, as shewn in dotted lines
in Figure 1 on the annexed Drawing. The engine is supposed to be in
the position to commence lifting a loaded and lowering a discharged cage.
On starting the drum the pinions ƒ and f* revolve round the fixed
wheel E, and by means of the screws fr and f to which they are keyed
give a horizontal or lateral traverse movement to the drum, keeping that
portion on which the rope should coil in a direct line with its work over
the head gear pulley. By reversing the engine as usual after each lift
the drums travel by the same action either to the right hand or to the
left, thus preventing all tendency to chafe the ropes, and enabling a
round rope to realize all the advantages of the flat rope. The driving
and sliding bars G are introduced in order to avoid all risk or tendency
to cut when employed on heavy work of which there would be a risk
when depending on the keys a' and a³ alone. The drum can be actuated
by means of one, two, or more of these bars with or without the keys
a', a³, but these bars G enable any amount of strength to be imparted to
the sliding arrangement.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I

page_text: consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The constructing and arranging of winding drums for collieries,
mines, and other like purposes in such a manner as that the said drums
shall by self-acting mechanism, set in motion by the drums themselves,
be adjusted or moved laterally to and fro along their carrying shaft for
the purpose herein-before described.
Second. The combination of traversing screws and a sun and planet
motion for the purpose of traversing a winding drum laterally to and fro
along its shaft upon keyways and guide bars or both, substantially as
and for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated by my
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Craven, have to this my
Specification set my hand and scal, the Twelfth day of October
One thousand eight hundred and seventy.