AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN WINDING COALS OR OTHER MINERALS FROM MINES, WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENT IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Burrows, of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS
EMPLOYED IN WINDING COALS OR OTHER MINERALS FROM MINES, WHICH SAID
IMPROVEMENT IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
"
Sealed the 14th April 1857, and dated the 15th October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Burrows at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
October 1856.
I, JAMES BURROWS, of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ARRANGE-
MENT OF APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN WINDING COALS OR OTHER MINERALS FROM MINES,
WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENT IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel method of counterbalancing or com-
pensating for the weight of the rope, band, chain, &c. employed when winding
coals, &c. from mines, and consists in an improved arrangement of the appa-
ratus, wherein, by the application and use of an extra rope or chain, or other
equivalent counterpoise, attached to each "cage," such effect is obtained. The
extra chain, &c. may either hang from the cage simply, or detached and coiled
upon the bottom of the shaft, or it may be united and attached to the other

page_text: cage, passing under a guide or tension pulley below, and thus forming an endless
chain. This extra counterbalance rope, &c. will effect a self-acting counter-
poise to the rope used for winding, as when one cage is ascending the shaft
the winding rope will be coiled on the winding drum and lessened in weight,
and thus counterbalanced by the chain or rope hanging below the other "cage."
The guide or tension pulley should be capable of some vertical adjustment in
its bearings, so as readily to allow for the strain caused by the increasing
diameter of the winding drum as the rope, band, or chain winds on.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent, filed
by the said James Burrows in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BURROWS, of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Burrows, Her especial license that I, the said James Burrows, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Burrows, 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 "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF
APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN WINDING COALS OR OTHER MINERALS PROM MINES, WHICH
SAID IMPROVEMENT IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the
condition, amongst others, that I, the said James Burrows, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 James Burrows, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-

page_text: This Invention relates to a novel method of counterbalancing or com-
pensating for the weight of the rope, band, chain, &c. employed when winding
coals and other minerals from mines, and consists of an improved arrangement
of the apparatus, wherein, by the application and use of an extra rope or chain,
or other equivalent counterpoise, attached to each "cage," such effect is
obtained. The extra chain, &c. may either hang from each cage singly or
detached, and coil upon the bottom of the shaft, or it may be united and
attached to both cages, passing under a guide or tension pulley below, and
thus forming as it were an endless band. This extra counterbalance rope, &c.
will effect a self-acting counterpoise to the ropes employed for winding, as
when one cage is ascending the shaft, the winding rope will be coiled on the
winding drum and lessened in weight, and at the same time the other cage
will be descending, and the winding rope increasing in weight. These varia-
tions will be compensated for by the balance rope, band, or chain increasing
in weight whilst the winding rope and cage are ascending, and on the other
side decreasing in weight whilst the winding rope and cage are descending, on
the principle of an endless chain, thus counterpoising the winding rope. It will
be evident, that whilst in the ordinary system of winding, the power that is
necessary to perform the operation must be superior in effect to the weight of
coals or other minerals, the rope, and the friction, under this arrangement, the
power required must be superior to coals or other minerals and friction only.
The guide on tension pulley should be capable of some vertical adjustment in
its bearings, so as readily to compensate for any variation in "paying off" and
taking on the winding drums.
"
"
In order that my Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings, having letters of
reference marked upon the parts mentioned in the following description:-
In the illustration, a, a, is the shaft (a single shaft being here shewn by way
of example, within which the cages 6, 6', ascend and descend; and c is the
winding drum, around which passes the winding ropes d, and over the guide
pulleys c, c, which are supported by the framework f. f. f. The guide
pulley g is placed at the bottom or lowest part of the shaft, and is adjustable
in its bearings h for the purpose of compensating for any variation in "1
"paying
off" and "taking on" the winding drums. Supposing that driving power be
given to the winding drum c, it will be seen. that the "cage" b, now at the
top of the shaft, will descend, and the cage will ascend, and consequently
that the winding rope d suspending the cage b will increase in weight as it
descends, and that the rope i attached beneath such cage will decrease in
weight and length, such action being reversed with the cage b' as it ascends

page_text: to the upper end of the shaft. I would here remark that the extra rope may
(if preferred) hang loosely from the cages, and coil upon the bottom of the
shaft, instead of passing under the guide pulley. By the employment of the
extra rope, &c. the descending cage and rope counterbalances the one ascend-
ing, and thus the working of the engine or driving power is rendered more
uniform, and the extent of the power diminished to what is required for over-
coming the weight of coals or other minerals, and friction, instead of, as in
ordinary cases, requiring to be equal to the weight of rope in addition to that
of the coals, &c., and friction.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention, together
with the method of performing the same, I wish it to be distinctly understood
that I claim the novel application, employment, and use of the extra ropes;
bands, chains, or other equivalent counterpoise, for the purpose of counter-
balancing or compensating for the weight of the winding rope or other sub-
stitute employed for winding coals and other minerals from mines, as herein-
before described and set forth, without being confined to their use in a single.
shaft, as the counterpoise, rope, &c. may pass from one shaft to another.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Burrows, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
JAMES BURROWS. (L.B.)