Improvements in Load Sustaining Means for Pulley-blocks, Hoists, Lifts and like Raising or Lifting Appliances.
Year: 1897

page_text: Complete Specification Left, 2nd Oct., 1897-Accepted, 19th Mar., 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Load Sustaining Means for Pulley-blocks, Hoists,
Lifts and like Raising or Lifting Appliances.
We, WILLIAM THOMAS EADES,' of 40, Floodgate Street, in the City of
Birmingham, Engineer, and THOMAS MATTHEWS, of 47, Warwick Street,
Leamington, in the County of Warwick, Coal Merchant, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to load-sustaining means for pulley-blocks, hoists, lifts,
crabs, cranes, capstans, winches, windlasses and like mechanical appliances for
raising, lifting and otherwise dealing with heavy weights or bodies, and has for
its object, an automatic load sustainer.
According to our improvements, a considerable mechanical advantage is obtained,
inasmuch as we are enabled to transmit the necessary power for raising a load,
preferably through the medium of spur gearing, with a great reduction of friction,
hence a corresponding reduction in the amount of power required to raise a given
weight, and the said automatic load sustainer is so constructed that whilst ad-
mitting of the main shaft having a free circular movement in one or other direction
for raising and lowering, when turned or driven from one end, the said shaft is
rendered incapable of rotation in either direction on the application-of force or a
resistance to the other end.
In carrying out one form of our invention in connection with a double lift pulley
block, a suitable shaped box or hollow framing is taken and supported by a
swivelling hook or other means, and interiorly provided with a chamber or box
wherein is located a pair of cam or incline-faced circular friction plates or discs,
through central holes in which and suitable bearings in the framing the main axis
or shaft of the appliance, passes, one end of the same being provided with a hand or
sprocket wheel, made fast thereon, whilst the said shaft also carries a fixed arm
or stud adapted to come at the back of one or other of a pair of lugs, respectively
carried by the two incline or helical faced friction plates and adapted to close
together or decrease to their normal breadth the said opposed friction plates, so as
to take their outer and parallel faces out of braking contact with the opposed
faces of the walls or sides of the box chamber, which is made in two parts, the
outer one of which is preferably integral with the framing, whilst the inner wall
is made as a separate plate, rabbeted into the open end of the other part, and
clamped there by the screwing of a nut upon the end of the axle, which has a
shoulder or collar coming at the back of said plate.
Running loose upon the shaft is a pinion, which may intergear with another
wheel intergearing with a pinion. which drives the toothed annulus or box wheel
of the load wheel, said pinions and wheel being mounted on suitable bearings in 'be
fixed frame.
The pinion or wheel loose on the axis has a snug or arm directed from it, coming
between the lugs or projections directed inwardly from the peripheries of the
central openings in the friction plates of the clutch, brake or load sustainer and

page_text: is adapted to separate the said lugs, so as to cause the opposed helical faces of the
discs or friction plates to rotate upon one another and thus increase the normal
combined thickness of the friction plates or the distance between their
outer parallel faces, which are thereby taken into frictional and braking
contact with the walls or sides of the chamber, on the transmission
of lifting power to the hand wheel being released, when the back
check action of the load thus comes into play for putting on the brake,
hence an automatic load sustainer.
or
Instead of the stud for putting on the check or brake being carried by the pinion,
it may be carried by an intermediate wheel, or, where no reduction gear is
employed, then the check stud or arm may be carried upon the load wheel.
It is understood that the load pinion will set up the jambing action in whichever
direction it moves, and that the hand wheel will release in either direction, so as
to give a double sustaining motion and that the loose pinion may be made to
engage with any form of epicycloidal or other modifying gear.
The application of our invention to load sustainers for single and lift pulley-
blocks, and to hoists, lifts, crabs, cranes, capstans, winches, windlasses and like
mechanical appliances for dealing with heavy weights differs in no essential respect
from its application to pulley blocks as herein described.
Dated this 15th day of Santamban' 1807
Improvements in Load Sustaining Means for Pulley-blocks, Hoists,
Lifts and like Raising or Lifting Appliances.
We, WILLIAM THOMAS EADES, of 40, Floodgate Street, in the City of
Birmingham, Engineer, and THOMAS MATTHEWS, of 47, Warwick Street,
Leamington, in the County of Warwick, Coal Merchant, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
f
.
This invention relates to load-sustaining means for pulley-blocks, hoists, lifts,
crabs, ranes, capstans, winches, windlasses and like mechanical appliances for
raising, lifting and otherwise dealing with heavy weights or bodies, and has for
its object, an automatic load sustainer, the said invention being an improvement
upon, or an amplification of, former Letters Patent granted to us and bearing date
the 31st day of July 1897 No. 17948.
According to our improvements, a considerable mechanical advantage is obtained,
over pulley-blocks and the like of the ordinary construction, inasmuch as we are
enabled to transmit the necessary power for raising a load, with a great reduction
of friction, hence a corresponding reduction in the amount of power required to
raise a given weight.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in vertical 'section, a double-
lift pulley-block, fitted or provided with an automatic brake or load-sustainer,
constructed and arranged according to our invention, and adapted, when lifting

page_text: or lowering force is not being transmitted to the hand wheel, to be automatically
put into operation.for checking the descent or falling movement of the load,
through the force exerted by the weight of the said load upon the load wheel, and
to be released or taken off on again rotating the driving or hand wheel in one or
other direction.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of Figure 1, upon the dotted line a¹, showing the
parts in the positions they assume when the brake is off or out of action, leaving
the axle free to revolve in either the one direction or the other for raising or
lowering a weight.
Figure 3 is a like section of the block as Figure 2, but with the parts of the
brake shown in their acting positions for arresting or checking the running down
of the load, the said brake or clutch being taken into operation by the pull exerted
by the said load upon the load wheel.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the discs of the clutch or brake mechanism
separately, but with the parts of the pulley which put them into and out of braking
contact with their opposed friction plates--and also carry them round bodily with
the axle, when out of braking contact, indicated in the positions they respectively
assume when the brake is idle.
Figure 5 represents inside elevations of the opposed helical-formed faces of
the disc segments of the clutch or brake.
Figure 6 is a topside edge view of the said sections of the clutch and Figure 7 is
an underside edge view of the same, both the said views showing the clutch in its
normal out-of-action position, whilst
Figure 8 represents a like view as Figure 6, but with the brake-clutch expanded
to take its outer parallel faces into frictional contact with the opposed sides of the
box or chamber wherein said brake is located.
Figure 9 represents the hand wheel and main axle of the block separately,
showing the driving stud.
Figure 10 represents the pinion loosely mounted on the axle of the gearing,
separately, showing the stud or projection on the end of the same, which comes
between the lugs of the clutch segments and is actuated by the pull of the load to
separate the said segments for putting on the brake.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures
of the drawings.
In the double-lift pulley-block shown in the said Figures 1 to 10, a is the
framing of the apparatus, which is supported by the swivelling hook a², and is
provided with a chamber or box a³, wherein is located a pair of cam or incline-faced
circular friction plates or discs b, c, having central holes or middle apertures b², c¹,
wherethrough the main axis or shaft d, which is mounted in bearings at, a³, passes,
the one end of the same being provided with a hand or sprocket wheel e, made
fast thereon, whilst the said shaft also carries a fixed arm or stud f, adapted to come
at the back edge b, c, of one or other of the pair of lugs 3, 3, respectively carried
at the inner peripheries of the two incline or helical faced friction plates b, c, and
adapted to close them together or to contract them to their normal breadth, so as to
take their outer and parallel faces 64, 4, out of braking contact with the opposed
faces a, of the walls or sides of the box chamber a³, which is preferably made in
two parts a', as, the outer one a', being integral with the framing a, whilst the
inner wall as, is made as a separate plate, clamped against the open end by nuts
and bolts or equivalent connections.
Running loose upon the shaft is a pinion h, which may intergear with
another wheel i, having a pinion ¹, which drives the toothed annulus or box
wheel j, carrying the load wheel k, said pinions and wheels being mounted on
suitable bearings in the fixed frame.
The pinion or wheel h, loose on the axis has a snug or arm h¹, directed from it,
coming between the lugs or projections b, c, directed inwardly from the peripheries
of the central openings b, c, in the friction plates of the clutch, brake or load
sustainer and is adapted, on the transmission of driving power to the hand wheel'

page_text: -being ceased, to separate the said lugs, so as to cause the opposed helical faces b³, c³,
of the discs or friction plates to rotate upon or wipe over, and, run up the inclines
of, one another and thus increase the normal combined thickness of the friction
plates or the distance between their outer parallel faces, which are thereby ex-
panded into frictional and braking contact with the walls or sides of the chamber,
so that the back or check action of the load thus comes into play for putting on
the brake, which, by jambing the gearing of the block, arrests the running down
of the load and holds the same stationary until such time that further driving power
is applied to the hand wheel and through its axle to the stud f, which bears upon
the outer edge of one or other of the studs 63, 3, when the friction plates revolve
upon one another in the reverse direction for a short distance and their outer faces
are returned to the normal distance apart, thus taking off the brake and admitting
of the same being carried round bodily with the axle on the load being now further
raised or lowered.
Instead of the stud for putting on the check or brake being carried by the pinion,
it may be carried by an intermediate wheel, or, where no reduction or intermediate
gear is employed, then the check stud or arm may be carried upon the load wheel.
Figure 11 represents this last-mentioned modification, a being the framing of
the pulley, d the axle, with hand wheel e, fast on its end, and f is the driving stud
thereon, coming against one or other of the lugs of the friction blocks or clutch
segments b, c, located in the casing a³, whilst h is the load wheel, Ioosely mounted
on the opposite end of the said axle and having a stud h¹, coming between said lugs
and operating to separate the same for expanding the normal width of the
segments b, and c, and putting on the brake.
•
It is understood that the driving stud f, instead of being carried on the axle,
may be mounted directly upon the hand wheel, and further, that the load pinion
will set up the jambing action in whichever direction it moves, and that the hand
wheel will release in either direction, so as to give a double sustaining motion and
that the loose pinion may be made to engage with any form of epicycloidal or other
modifying gear other than the particular arrangement herein described and
represented in the drawing.
The application of our invention to load sustainers for single lift pulley-blocks.
and to hoists, lifts, crabs, cranes, capstans, winches, windlasses and like mechanical
appliances for dealing with heavy weights differs in no essential respect from its
application to double-lift pulley blocks as herein described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-
First: An automatic brake or load sustainer for hoists and kindred appliances
operated by an arm, stud or equivalent carried by a loosely mounted wheel of the
modifying gear of the hoist or the like, or by an arm, stud or equivalent carried
directly upon a loosely-mounted load wheel.
Secondly: An automatic brake or load sustainer for hoists and kindred
appliances, operated or put on by an arm, stud or equivalent carried either by a
loosely-mounted wheel of the gearing, or directly upon a loosely-mounted load
wheel, and taken off by an arm, stud or equivalent carried either by the axle of the
hand or driving wheel, or directly upon the said hand or driving wheel itself.
Thirdly: An automatic brake or load sustainer for hoists and kindred appliances,
operated or put on by an arm, stud or equivalent carried either upon a loosely-
mounted wheel of the gearing, or directly upon a loosely mounted load wheel, and
coming between lugs or projecting parts of the segments of an expanding brake or
friction clutch located between confining walls, and taken off or out of operation
by a second arm, stud or equivalent, carried either by the axle of the hand wheel,
or directly upon the said hand wheel itself and adapted to come against the outside
of one or other of the lugs or projections of the brake sections to close them and
drive them round together with the said axle.

page_text: Fourthly: The improvements in automatic brakes or load sustainers for hoists
and kindred appliances, substantially as described and set forth.
Dated this 24th day of September 1897.
WILLIAM THOMAS EADES.
THOMAS MATTHEWS.
By Henry Skerrett,
24, Temple Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants.