IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR RETARDING. AND STOPPING THE TRAVEL OF WIRE AND OTHER ROPES AND CHAINS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR LIFTING PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Walker, of the Firm of Emerson, Walker,
and Company, of London Street, in the City of London, Windlass
Manufacturers, and William Clarke, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, in the
County of Durham, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR RETARDING. AND STOPPING THE TRAVEL OF
WIRE AND OTHER ROPES AND CHAINS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR LIFTING
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 18th February 1873, and dated the 16th October 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Walker and
William Clarke at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 16th October 1872.
We, EDMUND WALKER, of the Firm of Emerson, Walker, and Com-
pany, of London Street, in the City of London, Windlass Manufacturers,
and WILLIAM CLARKE, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, in the County of Durham,
65 IM-
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR RETARDING AND STOPPING THE

page_text: TRAVEL OF WIRE AND OTHER ROPES AND CHAINS, AND IN APPARATUS POR LIFTING
PURPOSES," to be as follows :—
This Invention relates to apparatus or appliances for retarding and
stopping the travel of wire and other ropes and chains, such as are used
for raising or lowering weights or goods into or from ships, mines, ware-
houses, and other places or structures.
The apparatus or appliance for retarding and stopping consists of one,
two, or more falling and rising arms, jaws, cams, blocks, links, or
surfaces grooved or shaped on their or one of their faces to nip or grasp
the rope or chain when moving in one direction and to permit the rope
to run freely in the other direction. One of the jaws, cams, or blocks is
a fixture in or upon a fraining, the other being movable and free to rise
and fall under certain conditions. The movable jaw, cam, or block is
connected to the framing of the fixed jaw by one, two, or more links or
checks, and fitted to or in a piece with one of the links is a lever or
handle, the depression or the lift of which will produce a positive bite or
relieve the bite upon the rope or chain to stop it entirely or to allow it
The links are preferably set at an angle, so that the movable
block will always bear upon or against the rope or chain with a pressure
due to its own weight or to that of the lever, or both combined, while
the rope is travelling in one direction, but the friction against the block
in the return or reverse travel of the rope' together with its weight
causes it to descend and nip or grip the rope sufficiently to retard or to
stop the travel of it. In some cases the jaw, cam, or block is dispensed
with and the link or links shaped to grip or nip the rope or chain.
to run.
The link lever may be weighted if desired, but this is not essential for
most cases; a cord can however be connected and arranged in com-
bination with a treadle, particularly when the rope or chain is worked
by steam or other auxiliary power, as would be required for coal
whipping or other similar purposes, for which our apparatus is specially
intended, so that the descent of the basket can be regulated to the
greatest nicety by a depression of the treadle or the pull of a cord or
the reverse action of them, as the case may be.
The lever handle can be separate from the blocks or combs and bo
provided with a lump, the nose of which can be made to act upon the
block or the cam to release or control the grip of the rope or chain.

page_text: The apparatus or appliance for lifting consists of an endless chain
over and upon a chain wheel arranged upon the barrel of a windlass,
and also upon a pinion upon the main driving or the crank shaft, by
which the motion is communicated, a messenger chain being employed
in combination for lifting, say a ship's cable from the locker when the
ordinary windlass gear is out of action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edmund Walker and William Clarke in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 16th April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Edmund
WALKER, of the Firm of Emerson, Walker, and Company, of London
Street, in the City of London, Windlass Manufacturers, and WILLIAM
CLARKE, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, in the County of Durham, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Edmund Walker and William Clarke, Her
special licence that we, the said Edmund Walker and William Clarke,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Edmund Walker and Edmund Clarke, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR
RETARDING AND STOPPING THE TRAVEL OF WIRE AND OTHER ROPES AND CHAINS,
AND IN APPARATUS FOR LIPTING PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Edmund. Walker and William Clarke, or one
of us, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or one of our, 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

page_text: 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 we, the said Edmund Walker and William
Clarke, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:
:-
This Invention relates to apparatus or appliances for retarding and
stopping the travel of wire and other ropes and chains such as are used
for raising or lowering weights or goods into or from ships, mines, ware-
houses, and other places or structures.
The apparatus or appliance for retarding and stopping consists of one,
two, or more falling and rising cams, jaws, blocks, links, or surfaces
grooved or shaped on their or one of their faces to nip or grasp the rope
or chain. when moving in one direction and to permit the rope to run
freely in the other direction. One of the jaws, cams, or blocks is a
fixture in or upon a framing, the other being movable and free to rise
and fall under certain conditions. The movable jaw, cam, or block is
connected to the framing of the fixed jaw by one, two, or more links or
checks, and fitted to or in a piece with one of the links is a lever or
handle, the depression or the lift of which will produce a positive bite or
relieve the bite upon the rope or chain, to stop it entirely or to allow it
The links are preferably set at an angle, so that the movable
block will always bear upon or against the rope or chain with a pressure
due to its own weight, or to that of the lever, or both combined, while
the rope is travelling in one direction, but the friction against the block
in the return or reverse travel of the rope together with its weight causes
it to descend and nip or grip the rope sufficiently to retard or to stop the
travel of it. In some cases the jaw, cam, or block is dispensed with
and the link or links shaped to grip or nip the rope or chain.
to run.
The link lever may be weighted if desired, but this is not essential for
most cases. A cord can however be connected and arranged in com-
bination with a treadle, particularly when the rope or chain is worked
by steam or other auxiliary power, as would be required for coal
whipping or other similar purposes, for which our apparatus is specially
intended, so that the descent of the basket can be regulated to the

page_text: greatest nicety by a depression of the treadle or the pull of a cord or
the reverse action of them, as the case may be.
The lever handle can be separate from the blocks or cams and be
provided with a knuckle or lump, the nose of which can be made to act
upon the block or the cam to release or control the grip of the rope or
chain.
The apparatus or appliance for lifting consists of an endless chain
over and upon a chain wheel arranged upon the barrel of a windlass,
and also upon a pinion upon the main driving or the crank shaft by
which the motion is communicated, a messenger chain being employed
in combination for lifting, say, a ship's cable from the locker when the
ordinary windlass gear is out of action.
The Invention will be well understood by the aid of the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings and by the following detailed description :-
Figures 1, 2, and 3 are respectively a side, an end, and a plan view of a
rope or chain retarder or stopper constructed according to our Invention.
A is the base or bed plate to be firmly fixed to the deck of a vessel or
on the floor of a warehouse from which goods have to be lowered; B is
a vertical rib with the upper part C splayed out to form a bearing with
a grooved top, in which groove the rope or chain D is free to run in one
direction, such as when hauling up a rope or chain in the direction of
the arrow is being effected, the hauling-up action causing the rope or
chain to lift the upper grooved jaw F from the lower one and thereby
giving it freedom, but on the rope or chain moving in a contrary
direction the upper grooved jaw E descends and bites the rope or chain
sufficiently to retard its action and in most cases to stop it entirely. The
upper movable jaw E is connected to the rib by links F by bolts or
pins G, and the links being of the same length an equal fall of the
entire length of the upper jaw takes place to prevent the rope or chain
being pinched or nipped at any one part that would tend to sever it.
The lower bolt or pin of one of the links is extended to one side, and
this portion carries a lever or handle H with an eye J at its free end, to
which a cord can be attached for enabling an attendant to lift the lever,
and consequently the upper jaw, to allow the rope or chain to run, he
feeling intuitively after a little practice the speed at which to allow the

page_text: times.
In some cases the lever I can be weighted so that whatever the
weight of the goods being lowered may be the lever would be sufficient
to stop the descent at any given spot, so that in shifting goods from one
floor to another or into a vehicle the same facilities are obtained as for
lowering buckets of minerals, grain, or produce into ships or boats.
In the case of hauling material from ships or mines the sudden
descent from the breaking of a rope or chain is prevented, as the
instant a rope or chain broke and began to run back an almost instan-
taneous bite of the jaws upon the rope would commence, which would
increase in proportion to the speed, and thus almost instantaneously
stop the travel. By this means our apparatus is a safeguard against
such accidents if arranged between the hauling mechanism and the
outside sheave say of the crane or lowering appliance.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 are views of a rope or chain retarder or stopper in
which the movable jaw is suspended by links F, F, between the two
side cheeks K, K, of the base plate, there being a separate pin or bolt L
for the lever I to work upon, so that the mechanical lift of the jaw
from contact is by a knuckle or thumb piece M as in dotted lines in
Figure 5. This method dispenses with two of the links, the side checks
preserving the vertical parallel movement of the jaw E. The rope or
chain in this instance travels in a groove in the base plate and enables
the rope or chain to run ucarer the floor or the deck, as the case may be,
than in the apparatus previously described.
The links of the last arrangement when brought nearer the vertical
position form the biting position of the jaw, while in the former one the
angular position of the links forms the biting position of the jaw, the
reverse action in each case forming the releasing action of the rope or
chain.
Figures 7 and 8 are end and side views of a rope or chain retarder or
stopper, in which the movable jaw is formed by the bowed or looped
portion N of the two links F, F, which are shaped like a shackle to
embrace the central rib B, the two shackle links being connected by a
short horizontal link P to ensure their parallel movement when acted
upon by the lever H or by the rope or chain.

page_text: Figures 9, 10, and 11 are views of another construction of apparatus.
Here a quadrant or eccentric-shaped plate Q is centred upon a bolt or
pin R at the upper part of and between two side cheeks K, K, so that
when the rope or chain D travels in one direction it is permitted to run
freely, but on the travel taking place in the reverse direction the rope or
chain draws the quadrant plate Q and causes the pinch to occur, which
pinch can be released or relieved from time to time by the attendant
acting upon the lever H to put the knuokle or thumb piece M into
pressing contact with the plate.
According to the arrangements of the apparatus shewn in Figures 1
and 8, a double action upon the rope or chain for retarding or stopping
purposes can be effected, one of which is automatic and the other
mechanical. The first of these we have already described and the other
is by lifting the lever high enough; the jaw then can be thrown over
the link centres to form a mechanical bite or retarder upon the rope or
chain in its reverse travel, an advantage of importance in some cases
over the automatic method only, particularly when employed in con-
nection with coal-whipping mechanism, in which a partial descent of the
basket after the main lift has been completed is necessary. The
quadrant-shaped plate may be double, so as to act automatically in one
direction and mechanically on the pull of the lever cord in the other
direction.
The lever cord can be operated upon by means of a treadle if found
essential; the attendant would then have his hands at liberty to guide
the basket clear of the hatchway in its upward travel or lift, thereby
dispensing with an extra hand or man usually employed for that
purpose.
It will be understood that a larger number of jaws than one or two
can be arranged upon or to the same base plate to grip the rope or chain
at more than one or two places, or more than one single apparatus can
be used to one rope or chain, the lever cords of each of them being
spliced to one main cord within reach of the attendant, so that he could
act upon all of the appliances at one time to release or to bite the rope
or chain at the same instant.
The last part of our Invention is represented in Figures 12 and 13
with it applied to a windlass previously patented by us, the windlass

page_text: being only shown to render this last part clear to the reader. S is the
main driving or crank shaft usually employed for operating the lifting
pauls of the whelp or chain wheels T, T, when weighing an anchor.
The shaft S in this case has a small chain wheel U upon it, which can
be thrown over or on to a feather by clutches to cause its rotation with
the shaft, and consequently the travel of the endless chain W which
embraces it and another chain wheel X upon the shaft Y of the wind-
lass barrel so that the windlass drum or the surging head can be used for
lifting purposes on a rope or chain being wound temporarily round the
drum or the head of the ship's windlass. By throwing the clutch wheel
out of action a lowering of the rope or chain can take place, the descent
being regulated by the friction or break in the usual manner. The main
driving shaft has a pinion Z upon it, and this being in gear with the
pinion Z¹ would cause the rotation of the barrel and of the surging
heads in the opposite direction to that produced by the endless chain, a
method that would facilitato the lifting of a ship's cable from the
locker, the main shaft S being worked by power direct or by a winch
handle.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,―
Firstly. The combination of appliances for retarding and stopping the
travel of wire and other ropes and chains, as shown in the several
Figures 1 to 10 of the Drawings annexed.
Secondly. We claim the retarding or stopping of ropes and chains by
the apparatus described in reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the
Drawings annexed.
Thirdly. We claim the apparatus described with reference to Figures 4,
5, and 6 of the Drawings for the purposes set forth.
Fourthly. We claim the apparatus described with reference to
Figures 7 and 8 of the Drawings annexed, together with the modified
method of action of the same, and of the apparatus shown in Figures 1,
2, and 3.
Fifthly. We claim the quadrant plate arrangement of appliances for
retarding and stopping the travel of ropes and chains described in
reference to Figures 10, 11, and 12, also the modification of the same as
described.

page_text: Sixthly. We claim the fitting of an endless chain and chain wheels
to a ship's windlass in the manner and for the purposes described with
reference to Figures 13 and 14 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edmund Walker and William
Clarke, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Tenth day
of April One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.