IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING OVERWINDING' IN MINES, WHICH INVENTION IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO HOISTS AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Landless at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
November 1870.
I, JAMES LANDLESS, of Burnley, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING OVERWINDING' IN MINES, WHICH
INVENTION IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO HOISTS AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to
be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to afford the engineer or other person.
in charge a certain and visible means of ascertaining at all times the
exact position of the cages in the shaft, in fact to enable him to watch
their ascent and descent and so stop their movement at any desirable point,
at the same time that should the engineer or other person in charge be
absent or from any other cause neglect his duty the apparatus will ring
an alarm bell, and if this is not attended to and either cage rises above
its proper or ordinary height, then the apparatus will instantly shut off
the steam from the engine and apply the break and so prevent any
accident from occurring. In a convenient situation in the engine house
I place a pillar or case containing two vertical screws geared together by

page_text: a pair of spur wheels so that they turn in opposite directions, being driven
by means of bevil gearing from the crank shaft of the engine. Upon
these screws work nuts connected to two miniature cages placed visibly
in front of the pillar or case and working against a graduated scale
representing in miniature the shaft of the pit or mine. The pitch of
the screws and the gearing are so proportioned that the ascent and
descent of the corresponding cages and their motion will be reversed at
In order further to
precisely the same time and in the same manner.
"
carry out the idea, miniature head gear, pulleys, and chains may be added
if thought proper, but this would be merely an ornamental appendage
and is not at all necessary to the working of the apparatus. In the
centre of the pillar or case is a special mark indicating the point where
the two cages pass each other, and at or near the top is another mark
corresponding with the "bank or mouth of the pit. Here or slightly
below this point is a trigger against which a finger on the inner side of
either miniature cage acts and rings an alarm bell to announce the
arrival of the cage at the pit's mouth, and above this are two levers
connected to a claw which holds up a weighted rod or lever by means of
a catch or tooth. Whenever either of the cages is drawn higher than its
normal or proper position above the pit's mouth, and before it arrives at
the head gear the finger of the corresponding miniature cage lifts its
lever and withdraws the claw from the catch or tooth allowing the
weighted rod or lever to fall, and the latter acts on a slotted rod which
shuts off the steam from the engine and at the same time applies the
steam or other break, and thus brings the whole machinery to a standstill
and prevents the possibility of accident.
It will be evident that a slight modification of this arrangement is
equally applicable to hoists at railways, warehouses, and hotels, and in
other similar situations where a check on overwinding is desirable.