AN IMPROVED SAFETY HOIST AND PORTABLE SCAFFOLD
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lauritz Dietrichson, of Lancaster Road, Notting
Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED SAFETY HOIST AND PORTABLE SCAFFOLD."
Sealed the 15th March 1872, and dated the 20th September 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lauritz Dietrichson.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th September 1871.
I, LAURITZ DIETRICHSON, of Lancaster Road, Notting Hill, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SAFETY HOIST AND PORTABLE SCAFFOLD,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an apparatus or combination of parts forming
a mechanical arrangement, by means of which a workman or workmen
may be enabled to execute any kind of work on the face of a building in
safety and security, and to raise or lower the working platform at will to
any part of the building as may be required.

page_text: DOX, the sides of WHICH Lay
stage or platform, its internal area being sufficient to accommodate one,
two, or other number of workmen as may be required, with their
working materials.
The platform has formed in its floor two openings through which
pass two uprights or vertical guides, and the platform is made to slide
easily up and down these uprights. The uprights are by preference
lengths of timber of a square or rectangular figure (and with or without
the edges rounded off) to permit of the platform sliding readily
up and down; or the uprights may be made in separate longitudinal
pieces fitted together by means of socket joints, so as to be capable
of adjustment, and adapted to the height of the work to be done.
The uprights pass through the openings in the floor of the
working stage, and when reared against the face of a building are
similar to the two uprights or sides of an ordinary building ladder.
At the upper part these uprights are connected by means of a strong
cross piece arranged between the uprights, and serving in part to keep
them parallel. The cross piece terminates at each end in a metal
strap, which passes round its contiguous guide, and is secured thereto
either by means of bolts or other suitable appliance that will admit of
the cross piece being fixed at any desired part of the uprights. To the
cross piece may be firmly attached two broad flat hooks or holdfasts, by
means of which the apparatus is firmly hung or secured either to the
parapet of a building, a window sill, or other suitable projecting part,
whilst the lower ends rest upon the ground like an ordinary ladder. As
an additional security against the slipping of the uprights, as well as in
cases where it may not be necessary or it may be impracticable to secure
the upper part of the uprights by means of the hooks, the lower ends of
the uprights are slipped into corresponding openings formed in a broad
plank or base piece, which is laid upon the ground. In some cases it
may be desirable to have the means of fixing the uprights in a vertical
or nearly vertical position, and this may be done by means of moveable
other
brackets that admit of being easily fixed to a window sill or
suitable part of a building. The brackets consist of a pair of curved or
hooked bars, each having a sliding and adjustable clip or jaw piece, which
is fastened to the main bar by means of a bolt which enters screwed
holes made at intervals along the face of the bar. The hooked bars

page_text: extend inside the window sill against the wall, and are securely fixed
thereto by means of the adjustable clip or jaw piece. The free end of
cach bar extends outwards from the building and is pierced with holes,
so that it may be secured by a bolt or other suitable means to its con-
tiguous upright and so held in the required position.
The workman raises or lowers the hoist by means of a pulley arrange-
ment suspended from the cross piece, the running tackle being carried
down to a winch' arranged between the uprights, or at any suitable part of
the hoist; or in place of this arrangement a differential pulley suspended
from the cross piece may be employed for raising or lowering the hoist
at will.
As an additional element of safety in the arrangement of this hoist,
one face of each upright may have a rack fitted in a longitudinal groove
formed therein; a pawl is fitted to the hoist or box so as to fall into the
teeth of each rack, and be held therein by means of a spring or other
equivalent therefor. This arrangement offers no obstacle to the upward
movement of the hoist, but it cannot descend until the pawls are with-
drawn from the teeth of the racks, and this may be effected by means of
a lever and rod connected to the pawls, and actuated by the foot or hand
of the workman when he desires to disengage them from their respective
racks: On the other hand, should the sustaining rope or chain break or
slip from its fastening, no injury can arise to the workman, as the stage
remains immoveable and firmly upheld by the retaining pawls, which
hold fast to the teeth of the racks and cannot be disengaged unless at
the will of the workman. The front part or side of the hoist is hinged.
to the floor, so that it may where necessary be lowered down in order to
approach more nearly to the front of a building. A further extension of
the working stage is obtained by fixing strap pieces to the under side of
the floor, through which are passed bars or timbers, or other supports,
extending beyond the front part of the floor, and on these extending
portions planks are laid to support the workman.
By means of the foregoing arrangement or combination of parts, the
workman has the hoist under perfect control, and he can at any moment
either raise or lower himself with the greatest facility, and work with
perfect freedom and security from accident.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Lauritz Dietrichson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th March 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAURITZ
DIETRICHSON, of Lancaster Road, Notting Hill, in the County of t
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
in the
'
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Lauritz Dietrichson, Her special licence
that I, the said Lauritz Dietrichson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Lauritz Dietrichson, 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
SAFETY HOIST AND PORTABLE SCAFFOLD," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Lauritz Dietrichson, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 immediately after the date?
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Lauritz Dietrichson, do hereby declare
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 :-
:-
This Invention relates to an apparatus or combination of parts forming
a mechanical arrangement, by means of which a workman or workmen
may (be enabled to) execute any kind of work on the face of a building

page_text: in safety and security, and to raise or lower the working platform at will
to any part of the building as may be required.
As a "hoist" arranged for external work, the apparatus consists of a
box the sides of which may be made moveable wholly or in part, and it
forms a working stage or platform, its internal area being sufficient to
accommodate several workmen with their working materials.
The platform may have formed in its floor either one long or two
shorter openings, through which pass the two uprights or vertical
guides, and the platform is made to slide easily up and down these
uprights. The uprights are by preference lengths of timber of a
square or rectangular figure, and with or without the edges rounded off,
to permit of the platform sliding readily up and down; or the uprights
may be made in separate longitudinal pieces fitted together by means of
socket joints, so as to be capable of adjustment, and adapted to the
height of the work to be done. The uprights pass through the openings
in the floor of the working stage, and when reared against the face of a
building are similar to the two uprights or sides of an ordinary building
ladder. At the upper part these uprights are connected by means of a
strong cross piece arranged between the uprights and serving in part to
keep them parallel. The cross piece at each end may have a metal strap
which passes round its contiguous guide, and is secured thereto either
by means of bolts or other suitable appliance that will admit of the
cross piece being fixed at any desired part of the uprights. To the cross
piece may be firmly attached two broad flat hooks or holdfasts, by means
of which the apparatus is firmly hung or secured either to the parapet of
building, a window sill, or other part of the building, whilst the lower
ends may rest upon the ground like an ordinary ladder, or be fitted into
a sleeper or bottom sill piece. In some cases it may be desirable to
have the means of fixing the uprights in a vertical or nearly vertical
position, and this may be done by means of moveable brackets that
admit of being easily fixed to a window sill or other suitable part of
the building. These brackets may consist of a pair of curved or hooked
bars, each having a sliding and adjustable clip or jaw piece, which is
fastened to the main bar by means of a bolt which enters screwed holes
made at intervals along the face of the bar. The hooked bars extend
inside the window sill against the wall, and are securely fixed thereto
.

page_text: extends outwards from the building, and is pierced with holes so that
it may be secured by a bolt or other suitable means to its contiguous
upright, and so hold it in the required position.
The workman raises or lowers the hoist by means of a differential
pulley arrangement or block and tastil suspended from the cross piece;
in the latter case the running tackle or "tackle fall" should be carried
down to a winch arranged between the uprights or at any suitable part
of the hoist for raising or lowering the hoist at will.
As an additional element of safety in the arrangement of this hoist,
one face of each upright may have a rack fitted in a longitudinal groove
formed therein; a pawl is fitted to the hoist or box so as to fall into the
teeth of each rack and be held therein by means of a weighted lever,
spring, or other equivalent therefor. This arrangement offers no obstacle
to the upward movement of the hoist, but it cannot descend until the
pawls are withdrawn from the teeth of the racks, and this may be
effected by means of a lever and rod connected to the pawls and actuated
by the foot or hand of the workman when he desires to disengage them
from their respective racks. On the other hand, should the sustaining
rope or chain break or slip from its fastening, no injury can arise to the
workman, as the stage remains immoveable and firmly upheld by the
retaining pawls, which hold fast to the teeth of the racks, and cannot be
disengaged unless at the will of the workman. The front part or side of
the hoist, box, or chamber may be hinged to the floor so that it may,
when necessary, be lowered down in order to approach more nearly to
the front of a building. A further extension of the working stage is
obtained by fixing strap pieces to the under side of the floor, through
which are passed bars or timbers, or other supports, extending beyond
the front part of the floor, and on these extending portions planks are
laid to support the workman. The extension of the floor or platform of
the box or cage by the lowering of the front or side thereof may be
guarded at the sides by means of duplicate ends being made to slide out
from them, or by their being hinged to the ends of the box or cage so
as to shut on to and enclose the extended platform or stage.

page_text: Workman as the hoist under perfect control, and ne can at any moment
either raise or lower himself with the greatest facility, and work with
perfect freedom and security from accident.
In the several views the same letters are employed to denote like or
corresponding parts of the apparatus.
".
I have shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings one arrangement of apparatus, and in Figures 6, 7, and 8 I
have shewn another arrangement of the parts of the Invention, slightly
differing therefrom in some of the details, being differences in the first-
mentioned set of illustrations, viz.: the uprights are of greater section or
large size, and are connected or stayed together by rounds, rings, or cross
bars, whilst in the other they are not so connected or framed together
at long intervals apart like a ladder, but with few rounds, and the
bottom of the box or cage forming the working platform has in the first
case two openings only large enough to admit of the uprights passing
freely through them, whilst in the other case there is an opening in the
bottom of the box or cage which extends in length the full width apart
of the two uprights; also in the first arrangement the cross bar from
which the cage or box is suspended, not having to pass over the rounds
or stays when being slidden or moved up and down, is shewn as a pieco
of timber of the thickness of the uprights, whilst in the other case, as
the cross piece has to be slid up and down over the rounds between the
uprights, it is shown as formed of two thicknesses of iron, the spacc
between the inner faces of which allow of its passing over the rounds
and being slidden up and down the uprights; the box or cage in this
latter case is suspended from a projecting boss in which there is shewn
an eye bolt to which the differential pulley or hoisting tackle is
attenbod
Figure 1 is a front elevation of an apparatus constructed according to
my Invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a
plan view of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a detached view of the box or cage

page_text: stayed and framed together in the manner of a ladder having a few
rounds or rungs wide apart; a sill piece receives the lower ends of the
uprights. The cross piece from which the cage is suspended is here
shewn as two cast-iron plates, from the face of one of which a boss or
bracket piece projects, to which is suspended the differential pulley or
tackle.
Figure 7 is a side elevation of Figure 6, and Figure 8 is a plan view of
Figures 6 and 7. A, A, are the uprights; B, the sill piece; C, the rounds,
rungs, or cross stays between the uprights; D, the box or cage; E, the
cross piece, from which the box or cage is suspended by means of the
differential pulley or tackle F; G, the slings between the box or cage
and the hoisting tackle; H, H, two arms or adjustable bracket pieces
by which the upright timbers and the apparatus may be kept in a
vertical or inclined position against the building and at suitable distance
therefrom, and be firmly and securely held in position thereby; I, I, are
two put-locks or timbers sliding in cleats or clip irons secured to the
bottom of the box or cage for the purpose of extending the working
platform either by lowering the hinged front or side of the box thereon,
or for receiving planks or flooring pieces; K, K, racks let into the
uprights, and L, L, the pawls attached to the bottom of the cage for
taking into the racks; and these pawls are raised and held out of gear or
withdrawn from the racks when the cage has to be lowered; M, M, are
the sliding or hinged ends.

page_text: safety hoist and portable scaffold, as herein described and illustrated
in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lauritz Dietrichson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord 1872.
Witness,
LAURITZ DIETRICHSON. (L.S.)
WILLIAM HENRY SMITH,
19, Salisbury Street,
Strand.