IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC CAPSTANS AND SUCH LIKE HAULING MACHINERY,PARTLY APPLICABLE TO MOUNTING HYDRAULIC ENGINES FOR GIVING MOTION TO OTHER MACHINERY
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Percy Graham Buchanan Westmacott, of
Elswick, in the County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC CAPSTANS AND SUCH LIKE HAULING
MACHINERY, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO MOUNTING HYDRAULIC ENGINES FOR
GIVING MOTION TO OTHER MACHINERY."
Sealed the 16th June 1874, and dated the 5th January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Percy Graham Buchanan
Westmacott at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 5th January 1874.
I, PERCY GRAHAM BUCHANAN WESTMACOTT, of Elswick, in the
County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC CAPSTANS AND SUCH LIKE
HAULING MACHINERY, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO MOUNTING HYDRAULIC ENGINES FOR
GIVING MOTION TO OTHER MACHINERY," to be as follows:
11
Hitherto hydraulic engines have been planted upon fixed foundations,

page_text: or by gearing. This in many instances causes much expense in
foundations and takes up room.
According to my Invention I attach the hydraulic engine to the back
or under side of a plate mounted on axes, and the water under pressure,
and exhaust if necessary I carry through these axes. Upon the upper
side or face of the plate is carried the capstan barrel or other machinery
to be driven by the engine.
By the arrangement above described the foundations required are
simplified and greatly reduced in size; thus decreasing the cost and
rendering the application of such machinery practicable in places
where from contracted space and especially depth it could not otherwise
be applied.
One great advantage derived from the above arrangement or mode of
mounting hydraulic engines, is that all the parts are readily accessible
and can be adjusted with facility if the bed plate be turned on its
hinges and the engine brought uppermost or to the front, and worked
when in this position.
In some cases also in place of employing an ordinary capstan head
mounted upon the upper side or face of the hinged plate I employ a
chain wheel mounted on the engine shaft at the under side or back of
the plate. The chain is led through a hawse hole and over friction
pulleys which may lie level with or project: slightly above the face of
the plate, or the chain can pass over a swivel carrying a conveyance
pulley.
To hold the chain into gear with the chain wheel I prefer to employ
a small hydraulic cylinder to which water under pressure is supplied
whenever it is let on to the engine.
The cylinder acts by preference upon a small wheel over which the
chain passes; thus whenever the engine is started the chain is by this
wheel drawn into gear with the chain wheel, and as soon as the
pressure is taken off the chain falls away from it and is left free to be
hauled out.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Percy Graham Buchanan Westmacott in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PERCY
GRAHAM BUCHANAN WESTMACOTT, of Elswick, in the County of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, send greeting.
Her
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Percy Graham Buchanan Westmacott,
special license that I, the said Percy Graham Buchanan
Westmacott, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Percy Graham Buchanan Westmacott, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HYDRAULIC CAPSTANS AND SUCH LIKE HAULING MACHINERY, PARTLY APPLICABLE
TO MOUNTING HYDRAULIC ENGINES FOR GIVING MOTION TO OTHER MACHINERY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Percy Graham
Buchanan Westmacott, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Percy Graham Buchanan West-
macott, 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 thereof, that is
to say :-
Hitherto hydraulic engines have been planted upon fixed foundations,
and the power conveyed from them either directly from the crankshaft

page_text: plate. The cylinders of the hydraulic engine are supplied with water
under pressure through one of the axes of the bed plate, and the
exhaust is led away through the other axis.
The construction of the hydraulic engine may be greatly varied
according to the power it is required to exert.
In the arrangement shewn it is composed of two oscillating cylinders
working on to a single crank at the lower end of the shaft. The water
under pressure is led by the pipe c through a stuffing box c¹ into one of
the axes a¹, and from there is conducted by the pipe d to the trunnions
of the two oscillating cylinders. The exhaust is similarly led away from
the cylinders through the trunnions to the other axis a¹, and is led away
from thence by a pipe e; fis a starting lever for controlling the passage
of water under pressure to the cylinders. By thus carrying the
bydraulic engine which is to drive the capstan barrel on the under side
of the bed plate and mounting this bed plate on axes through one of
which water under pressure is supplied for driving the engine, the bed
plate may be turned on its axes so as to bring the engine to the front
and give free access to all its parts; and when in this position the
engine can be worked and adjusted with facility. By this means
the foundations required are much simplified and the necessity of
forming a deep pit below the bed plate to give access to the engine
is avoided.
On Sheet 2, Figures 4 and 5, I have shewn a similar hydraulic
capstan set into a recess in a wall.
The construction of the parts is similar to that just described, and the
parts are marked with the same letters of reference so that is unnecessary
to give any further description of them. Hydraulic capstans mounted
in this manner are specially applicable for hauling railway trucks, and
for such like uses.
On Sheet 3, Figures 6, 7, and 8, is shewn an arrangement of hauling
apparatus suitable for hauling railway trucks or lifting goods by a chain
and with the chain wheel on the back of the hinged bed plate.
The engine is composed of two oscillating cylinders which work on to
two cranks on the crank shaft b upon which is carried the chain wheel c.
Water under pressure is supplied to the cylinders through one of the
axes a¹ of the bed plate, and the exhaust is led away through the other,
as in the engines shewn on Sheets 1 and 2.

page_text: When the chain is to be hauled in it is held into gear with the chain
wheel by means of a small chain pulley d being drawn against it by
means of the small hydraulic cylinder e which is supplied with water
under pressure at the same time that water under pressure passes to the
cylinders of the engine; and as the chain is hauled in it is received into
a small well f formed to receive it.
When the chain is to be thrown out of gear with the chain wheel
the pulley d is swung away from the chain wheel. The chain passes up
through a hawse hole in the bed plate; and above the plate are rollers
over which the chain may be led away in any desired direction, or it
might be led away over a swivel pulley, as before stated.
On Sheet 4, Figures 9, 10, and 11, is shewn a modification of the
hauling machinery shewn on Sheet 3. This arrangement differs from
that shewn on Sheet 3 mainly in the construction of the engine for
driving the chain wheel; it is constructed as described in the Specifica-
tion of a previous Patent granted to me (No. 1712, in the year 1863)
in such a manner that three different powers may be obtained from it
for driving the chain wheel according to the power required to be
exerted. But as before stated the construction of the hydraulic engine
may be greatly varied so long as the bed plate which carries it is
capable of being turned on axes, and water under pressure is supplied to
the cylinders of the engine through one of these axes.
I would also state that other arrangements of machinery may have
motion given to them by hydraulic engines mounted as above described.
The hydraulic engines being mounted at the back of the hinged bed
plate, and the machinery to be driven on the front of this plate.
I would also state that although I have herein-before spoken only of
working the motive-power engines by means of water under pressure,
as I prefer that they should be so worked, yet, that the engines may if
desired be worked by steam, air, or other fluid under pressure.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,―
1. Mounting motive-power engines at the back of a bed plate capable
of being turned on axes, through one of which fluid under pressure is
supplied to the engine, so that by turning the bed plate on its axis.
the engine may be brought to the front and adjusted whilst in this
position.

page_text: 2. The construction of capstans substantially as herein described and
shewn at Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
3. The construction of hauling apparatus substantially as herein
described and shewn at Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.
In witness whereof I, the said Percy Graham Buchanan Westma-
cott, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day
of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-four.
PERCY GRAHAM BUCHANAN WESTMACOTT. (L.S.)