IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING PASSENGERS, GOODS, AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Leonard Cooper, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND
APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING PASSENGERS, GOODS, AND OTHER ARTICLES,"
-A communication from abroad by Myles Cooper, of Buenos
Ayres, in the Argentine Confederation in South America.
Sealed the 28th March 1871, and dated the 3rd October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Leonard Cooper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd October 1870.
I, LEONARD COOPER, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING PASSENGERS, GOODS, AND OTHER
ARTICLES," being a communication to me from abroad by Myles Cooper,
of Buenos Ayres, in the Argentine Confederation in South America, to
be as follows :-
This Invention is particularly applicable for transporting the cargo to
and from ships in those ports where the ship cannot get alongside a
quay, but it may be used for other purposes.

page_text: The machinery consists of two endless wire or other ropes passing
around pulleys, to which motion is given by steam or other power.
One pair of pulleys is mounted on land, and the other pair on a floating
stage. The trucks for conveying the passengers, goods, or other articles
to and from the ship are connected to the upper and lower parts of the
ropes, which are supported at intervals by guide pulleys mounted on
piers or scaffolding. Each truck is provided with four wheels on which
it runs when on land or on the floating stage, and the trucks are con-
nected to the ropes by clips or other equivalents. The trucks are
disconnected from the ropes by self-acting slide bolts attached to the
ends of the trucks, which are acted upon by an inclined lever or other
unlocking apparatus placed near each end of the rope. In order to
facillitate the passage of the trucks over the piers each pier is provided
with two pieces of bent rails over which the wheels of the truck travel,
and by which they are raised sufficiently to lift the ropes above the
groove in the guide pulleys, but as soon as the truck has passed the
ropes drop again into the guide pulleys. The axles of the pulleys at one
end of the ropes are mounted in bearings which are adjusted by screws
or otherwise to keep the ropes at the proper tension.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Leonard Cooper in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEONARD
COOPER, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Leonard Cooper, Her special licence
that I, the said Leonard Cooper, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Leonard Cooper, 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

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN'
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING PASSENGERS, GOODS, AND OTHER
ARTICLES," being a communication to me from abroad by Myles Cooper,
of Buenos Ayres, in the Argentine Confederation in South America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Leonard Cooper,..
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Leonard Cooper, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention is particularly applicable for transporting the cargo
to and from ships in those ports where the ship cannot get alongside
a quay, but it may be used for other purposes..
The machinery consists of two endless wire or other ropes passing
around pulleys, to which motion is given by steam or other power.
One pair of pulleys is mounted on land, and the other pair on a floating
stage. The trucks for conveying the goods or other articles to and from
the ship are connected to the upper and lower parts of the ropes, which
are supported at intervals by guide pulleys mounted on piers or
scaffolding. Each truck is provided with four wheels on which it runs
when on land or on the floating stage, and the trucks are connected to
the ropes by clips or other equivalents. The trucks are disconnected
from the ropes by self-acting slide bolts attached to the ends of the
trucks, which are acted upon by an inclined lever or other unlocking
apparatus placed near each end of the rope. In order to facilitate the
passage of the trucks over the piers, each pier is provided with two
pieces of bent rails over which the wheels of the trucks travel, and by
which they are raised sufficiently to lift the ropes above the groove
in the guide pulleys, but as soon as the truck has passed the ropes drop
again into the guide pulleys. The axles of the pulleys at one end of the
ropes are mounted in bearings which are adjusted by screws or otherwise,
to keep the ropes at the proper tension.

page_text: And in order that the Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents a convenient mode of
transporting passengers and goods from a vessel to the shore; and vice
versa; Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are detached views of part of the same; and
Figs. 5 and 6 are a side view and end view of one of the trucks to be
used on the improved endless ropes.
In Fig. 1 a, a, are two endless wire or other ropes passing around the
pulleys b and c, the former are driven by means of the steam engine d,
the foundation of which is secured to the quay or shore end of the ropes;
this engine is supplied with steam from the boiler e, but I wish to remark
here that the pulleys 6 may be driven by any other arrangement of
gearing or motive power. The axles of the pulleys c are mounted in
adjustable bearings on the floating stage f, which is moored at any
convenient distance from the quay, and which is shewn best in Fig. 2.
Between the quay and the floating stage the ropes a are supported at
intervals by guide pulleys 9, mounted on the piers or trelliswork
scaffolding h, one of which is shewn in Fig. 1, and the construction of
which is more fully shewn in Figs. 3 and 4. These piers are fixed into
the earth by screw piles or other convenient means. When the pulleys b
are at work in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, it is evident that the
upper portions of the ropes will move in the direction from the floating
stage to the land, and the lower portions will move in the contrary
direction, or from land to the floating stage, consequently the trucks i, i,
one of which is shewn detached in Figs. 5 and 6, when connected to the
wire or other ropes convey the cargo from a vessel moored near the
floating stage to the land, and other cargo for reloading the vessel from
the land to the floating stage. The quay and the floating stage are
made with floors at two levels to facilitate the connection and discon-
nection of the trucks to and from the ropes, and as it is of the utmost
importance in the proper working of this Invention that the ropes should
be kept taut, the axles of the pulleys c are mounted in carriages j, running
on wheels or rollers as shewn in Fig. 2, which are adjusted by screws or
other equivalents to take up the slack of the ropes or to keep them at
their proper tension. The trucks i are each provided with four wheels k,
on which they are supported when on land or on the floating stage, and
at the under side of the truck are two V grooves shewn best in Fig. 5,
in which the ropes a, a, cnter, the trucks being connected to the ropes

page_text: by the lever clips / or other equivalents. The outer arms of these levers
project beyond the sides of the trucks, and they come in contact with
the unlocking stands n which are fixed on the quay and on the floating
stage, as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, when the truck has to be released from
the ropes. The apparatus for locking and liberating the trucks may be
considerably modified. To the piers h are fixed the bearings of the guide.
pulleys g, g, and within these guide pulleys are fixed the curved or bent
rails m, over which the wheels k ride, to partially lift the trucks as they
pass to and from the land to the floating stage, the object of which is to
raise the ropes above the circumference of the grooved pulleys g, but
as soon as the truck has passed the curve of the rails m allows the ropes
to drop again into the groove of the guide pulleys.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The cargo that is discharged
from the vessel on to the floating stage is piled on the trucks i, the wheels
of which can run on rails or otherwise, and as the trucks are loaded they
are brought immediately over that part of the floating stage at which
the ropes pass. As soon as the lever clips I have been turned to bind
the ropes into the V grooves, the trucks are carried towards the shore
by the advancing ropes, and as soon as a truck arrives near one of the
piers or scaffoldings h the fore wheels / come against and gradually run
up the curved points of the rails m, as shewn at the lower part of Fig. 4.
When the truck is over the middle of the pier the rails m hold the ropes
out of the groove in the guide pulleys g, as shewn in the upper part
of Fig. 4, to allow the truck to pass the supports of the ropes without
hindrance; and as the truck is being carried beyond the pier the curved
points of the rails m allow the ropes to drop gradually into the grooves
of the guide pulleys. In like manner each truck passes the piers in
advancing towards the shore or in moving towards the floating stage.
When a truck arrives at the quay or at its destination the lever clips
come against the stands n to release the truck a little before the wheels k
come on to the surface of the quay, on which the truck then advances
by its own momentum, or it is pushed away by hand, while the ropes a
descend below the level of the upper part of the quay and are then
carried over the pulleys b. The cargo to be loaded on board ship is
3 deposited on the trucks on the lower level of the quay, and after being
secured to the ropes in the manner before described, they are carried
towards and deposited on the lower level of the floating stage f, which
is also provided with stands to release the trucks from the ropes,

page_text: which are then carried over the pulleys c. By this it will be seen that
the same ropes form two uninterrupted means of transport between a
floating stage and the shore, or between any two points on land, and that
the ropes may be conveniently set at an inclination so as to load and
discharge at different levels.
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention as communicated to
me by the within-named Myles Cooper, and described a convenient mode
of performing the same, I wish to observe that I do not limit myself
to the details given, as the same may be varied or modified to suit the
peculiar locality and the purpose to which the improved machinery is
applied, and I claim,―
First. The improved arrangement of machinery and apparatus for
transporting passengers, goods, and other articles consisting of two
endless ropes passing around pulleys and forming two parallel ways
between the points of departure and arrival, as shewn and described.
Secondly. The mode of keeping the ropes at their proper tension, as
shewn and described.
Thirdly. The mode of connecting the trucks or wagons to the ropes,
and the self-acting apparatus for disconnecting them therefrom, as shewn
and described.
And, fourthly. The mode of raising the ropes clear of the intermediate
guide pulleys, as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Leonard Cooper, have hereto set
my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-one.
מדו-
ATTE