IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO CAGES OR HOISTS TO PREVENT ACCIDENT ARISING FROM OVER-WINDING OR BREAKING OF THE WINDING ROPE
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lindley, of Clifton, near Manchester, in the
"
County of Lancaster, for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN OR
APPLICABLE TO CAGES OR HOISTS TO PREVENT ACCIDENT ARISING FROM
OVER-WINDING OR BREAKING OF THE WINDING ROPE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lindley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th January 1882.
JOHN LINDLEY of Clifton near Manchester in the County of Lancaster.
'IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO CAGES OR HOISTS TO PREVENT ACCIDENT
ARISING FROM OVER-WINDING OR BREAKING OF THE WINDING ROPE,"
In carrying out my invention I apply to the top rods of cages or hoists a peculiar
arrangement of safety catch which is capable of gripping the pin of a staple
connected to the winding rope. This catch itself consists of a pair of levers or
jaws jointed horizontally together-the lower arms of these levers being again
jointed to the top rods and one of their upper arms being formed on the inner side
with an open slot to receive the pin of the staple herein before mentioned whilst
the other upper arm is provided with a suitable catch or cam provided with a
similar slot and which can be placed in position by the attendant when it is
required to close the safety catch-The action of this safety catch is as follows:―
So long as the cage does not rise sufficiently far to allow the said catch to come in
contact with the stationary framework, the cage remains suspended by its rope
from the staple herein before mentioned but if through overwinding the cage rises
higher the lower arms of the safety catch which are now distanced come in contact
with the sides of the orifice through which the winding rope passes and so become
compressed or forced together the upper jaws open and thus release the pin and in
so doing the slotted cam is turned round upon its axis and so prevents the upper
jaws closing again-These upper jaws are thus prevented closing and the cage or

page_text: hoist remains suspended in safety whilst the engine can go on winding without
fear of an accident arising.
The apparatus to prevent the cage or hoist falling for instance in case of the
rope breaking or from any other accidental circumstances consists in connecting the
lower ends of the top rods hereinbefore mentioned to a pair of levers mounted on
each side of the cage or hoist the other arms of these levers being forked and
connected to opposite ends of a pair of links or cheeks which each embrace the
usual iron or wooden guide rods-these links or cheeks being free from such guide
rods so long as the weight of the cage remains suspended from the rope but as soon
as this weight is removed say by the rope breaking the inner arms of these levers
rise and in so doing force the links or cheeks together owing to the inner sides of
the forks being provided with wedge like projections which come in contact with
similar projections on the sides of the links and thus the cage remains suspended
by the said links having become wedged fast to the guide rods. Suitable springs are
applied to each of the side levers to ensure the immediate action of the apparatus
in case of accident.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Lindley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th July
1882.
JOHN LINDLEY of Clifton near Manchester in the County of Lancaster.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO CAGES OR HOISTS TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS
ARISING FROM OVERWINDING OR BREAKING OF THE WINDING ROPE."
In carrying out my invention. I apply to the top-rods of cages or hoists a
peculiar arrangement of safety catch which is capable of gripping the pin of a
staple connected to the winding rope. This catch itself consists of a pair of levers
or jaws jointed horizontally together, the lower arms of these levers being again
jointed to the top-rods and their upper arms being formed on the inner side with
an open slot to receive the pin of the staple herein before mentioned and with a
suitable catch or cam provided with a similar slot and which can be placed in
position by the attendant when it is required to close the safety catch.
The action of this safety catch is as follows:-so long as the cage does not rise
sufficiently far to allow the said catch to come in contact with the stationary
frame-work, the cage remains suspended by its rope from the staple herein before
mentioned, but if through over-winding the cage rises higher the lower arms of
the safety catch which are now distanced come in contact with the sides of the
orifice through which the winding rope passes and so become compressed or forced
together the upper jaws open and thus release the pin and in so doing the slotted
cams are turned round upon their axes and so prevent the upper jaws closing
again. These upper jaws are thus prevented closing and the cage or hoist remains
suspended in safety whilst the engine can go on winding without fear of an
accident arising.
The apparatus to prevent the cage or hoist falling, for instance in case of the
rope breaking or from any other accidental circumstance consists in connecting the,
lower ends of the top rods hereinbefore mentioned to a pair of levers mounted on'
each side of the cage or hoist, the other arms of these levers being forked and
connected to opposite ends of a pair of links or cheeks which each embrace the
usual iron or wooden guide-rods-these links or cheeks being free from such
guide-rods so long as the weight of the cage remains suspended from the rope, but
as soon as the weight is removed, say by the rope breaking, the inner arms of these
levers rise and in so doing force the links or cheeks together owing to the inner
side of the forks being provided with wedge like projections which come in contact
with similar projections on the sides of the links and thus the cage remains
suspended by the side links having become wedged fast to the guide rods-suitable
springs being applied to each of the side levers to ensure the immediate action of
the apparatus in case of accident.
And in order that this my said invention may be the more readily understood
and carried into practical effect I have hereunto annexed a drawing illustrative of
my improvements and will now proceed to describe the same with the assistance of
the various Figures and letters of reference marked thereon.
Figs 1 and 2 are side views and Fig 3 is a front view of a hoist or cage
having my improvements applied thereto. In Fig 1 the safety apparatus is shewn
out of gear, the cage being suspended from the rope, but in Fig 2 the safety
apparatus is shewn in gear, the parts being represented as they appear in case of
overwinding and also in case of the rope having broken.
In all the views a is the cage or hoist which is of the ordinary construction useil
in collieries being guided up and down upon the ordinary guide-rods bb passing

page_text: through the guide eyes 61 6¹. This cage a is suspended from the winding rope c
by means of the staple c' the pin c² of which is connected to my improved safety
catch as hereinafter described. This safety catch (a front view of which is illus-
trated separately in Fig 1a) itself consists of a pair of levers or jaws d jointed
horizontally together upon the pin e and having their lower arms d' connected as
illustrated to the top rods D of the cage by means of the bolt or pin c¹ passing
through such top-rods and through slots formed in the levers d. The upper arms
of these levers & are each formed on their inner sides with an open slot to receive
and grasp the pin 2 of the staple c¹ and these upper arms are each provided on
opposite sides with a suitable catch or cam f capable of turning partially on its
axis and which can be placed in the locked position (as seen in Figs 1 and 1º) by
the attendant when it is required to close the safety-catch. In order to prevent
the possibility of the safety-catch opening accidentally in case of the slackening of
the rope, we apply a set-screw f' in each of the cams f by means of which an
adjustable pressure may be exercised upon the levers d.
The action of this safety-catch is as follows:-So long as the cage a does not
rise sufficiently far to allow the said catch to come in contact with the stationary
framework the cage remains suspended by its rope from the staple c¹ but if through
over-winding the cage rises higher the lower arms d¹ of the safety catch which are
now distended (or widest apart as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 1") come in contact
with the sides g of the orifice h (see Fig 2) through which the winding rope c
passes and so become compressed or forced together as seen in Fig 2-the upper
jaws have simultaneously opened and thus released the pin c² and in so doing the
slotted cams have turned partially round upon their axes and the backs of such
upper jaws which are suitably formed for the purpose have become hooked on to
the top of the sides of the orifice has illustrated in Fig 2. The upper jaws are
thus prevented closing again and the cage remains suspended in safety whilst the
engine can go on winding without fear of accident.
I will now proceed to describe the apparatus to prevent the cage falling for
instance in case of the rope c breaking or from any other accidental circumstance.
This apparatus consists of a pair of levers i mounted on fixed studs j on each side
of the cage or hoist a having their arms jointed or connected as illustrated to the
lower ends of the top-rods D whilst their other arms which are suitably forked are
connected to opposite ends of a pair of links or cheeks K which each embrace the
guide rods b so as to be free from such rods so long as the weight of the cage
remains suspended from the rope c in which case the levers i rest underneath and
in contact with the fixed studs 12 but as soon as the weight is removed say by the
rope breaking, it immediately becomes transferred to the inner arms of the levers i
which consequently rise in the direction of the arrows and in so doing force the
links or cheeks k closer together owing to the inner sides of the forks being.
provided with wedge-like projections which come in contact with similar
projections m on the outside of the links or cheeks k and thus the cage remains
suspended by the links k having become wedged fast to the guide-rods b-suitable
springs n being applied to each of the lower side levers to ensure the immediate
action of the apparatus in case of accident.
The construction and action of the wedge-like projections will be best understood
by reference to Figs 4, 5, 6 and 7. Fig 4 representing a plan view of one of the
levers i and Figs 5, 6, and 7 a front view, side view and plan respectively of the
links or cheeks k. It will be observed that the links k are jointed to the forked
arms of the levers i by means of the set screws o which are screwed rigidly through
the forked arms and that thus as the forked arms of the levers rise in the direction
of the arrows in Fig 1 the projections are caused to partially revolve and
slide past the projections m on the links and thus the wedging or tightening action
is produced.
In Fig 8 I illustrate a modification of my invention which is specially applicable
to hoists in which the guide-rods are formed of wood. In this arrangement of
apparatus the wedge like projections are dispensed with and the ends of the arms

page_text: of the levers i as also of the parallel arms p which are jointed together by a
parallel motion as illustrated are serrated or notched and thus as such arms rise
at opposite sides of the guide rod in the direction of the arrows, they are caused to
approach each other and so effectually to grasp the guide-rod and prevent the cage
falling in case of the weight being taken off the longer arms of such levers i. In
some cases I dispense with the parallel motion and depend alone upon the shorter
arms of the levers i being serrated.
Although only herein before described as applied to the cage of colliery hoists it
will be readily apparent that these improvements are equally applicable to other
descriptions of hoists.
Having thus particularly described the nature of this my said invention together
with the best methods with which I am acquainted for carrying the same into
practical effect I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise details, relative proportions, or dimensions of the various parts of
the improved safety apparatus hereinbefore described and illustrated on the
accompanying drawing as the same may be considerably varied without departing
from the invention, but what I claim as applied to the cages and other equivalent
parts of hoists or lifts is :-
1st The combination and arrangement of parts forming my improved safety-
catch for preventing overwinding substantially as herein before described and
illustrated on the accompanying drawing.
2nd The combination and arrangement of levers and links or cheeks provided
with corresponding projections when mounted and operating substantially
as and for the purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated on the accompanying
drawing.
3rd The combination and arrangement of levers with, serrated arms when
mounted and operating substantially as and for the purpose herein before described
and illustrated on the accompanying drawing.
In witness whereof I the said John Lindley have hereunto set my hand and
seal this 12th day of July A.D 1882.