IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFTS FOR HOTELS, WAREHOUSES, AND OTHER PLACES."
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Hinks at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 21st October 1876.
JOHN HINKS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFTS FOR HOTELS, WAREHOUSES, AND OTHER PLACES."
My said Invention consists of the arrangements or combinations of lifts for hotels,
warehouses, and other places herein-after described, whereby the said lifts are made
very efficient in action, easily controlled by the persons having charge of them, and
free from the liability to accidents, such as frequently occur to lifts of the ordinary
construction.
I effect the ascending and descending motions of the lift by means of a long and
strong screw stationed vertically and passing through the middle of the apartment
or cage to be raised and lowered. The said apartment or cage has fixed in its top
or bottom or in both top and bottom a screw box of a size proper for the screw to
work in. The said screw is supported by and turns in bearings fixed respectively
at the top and bottom of the well in which the apartment or cage rises and falls.
On the lower end of the screw a bevil toothed wheel is fixed, to which motion is
communicated by another bevil toothed wheel on' a horizontal shaft. This shaft is
provided with two fixed pulleys and two loose pulleys, the two loose pulleys being
situated between the two fixed ones.
Motion is communicated to the shaft described from a steam engine or other
prime mover by means of bands working over the pulleys described. One of these
bands is crossed and the other uncrossed, so that without reversing the motion of
the steam engine, motion in one or other direction can be cominunicated to the
screw by throwing either the crossed or uncrossed band on to its fixed pulley. When
both bands are thrown on to the loose pulleys the screw is brought to rest.
The bands are thrown on to and off their respective pulleys by means of forked
levers, and these are operated upon by the person in charge of the lift through a
vertical wire passing through the apartment or cage, by raising or lowering which
wire he can give to the apartment or cage either an ascending or descending motion
or bring it to rest. The apartment or cage itself on reaching either the top or
bottom of the well acts upon the forked levers described and brings the screw to
rest. A tube is fixed in the apartment or cage, through which tube the screw
may pass.

page_text: The apartment or cage is provided with antifriction guide rollers, and where the
screw is of great length it may be kept steady by collars fixed in cross heads. The
screw passes through these collars and vibratory motion in the screw is prevented
by them.
The cross heads carrying the collars are not fixed in the well but are capable of
sliding therein within certain limits. As the apartment or cage rises it picks up
these cross heads carrying them with it, and as it descends it leaves them behind in
their respective places.
Instead of employing only one screw, two screws may be employed. In this case
the screws pass through the apartment or cage, near opposite sides thereof, and the
middle of the apartment or cage thereby left unobstructed.