IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY APPARATUS FOR LIFTS OR HOISTS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Stannah, of Southwark, in the County
of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY
APPARATUS FOR LIFTS OR HOISTS."
Sealed the 31st March 1876, and dated the 28th October 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Stannah at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th October 1875.
I, JOSEPH STANNAH, of Southwark, in the County of Surroy,
5 Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY APPARATUS FOR LIFTS OR HOISTS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for preventing
the sudden descent of the cage and balance weight of lifts or hoists, in
case the lifting rope or chain breaks or becomes detached. For this
purpose a light rope or chain is connected from the balance weight of
the lift or hoist to a series of eccentrics or cams, mounted on axes
attached to the box, cage, or platform in such manner that if the main

page_text: lifting rope or chain becomes detached or broken, the box, cage, or
platform will remain suspended owing to the eccentrics or cams being
caused to bind against the guides. The eccentrics or cams are pre-
vented from binding when the lift is in proper working order.
According to another part of these improvements, one or more cams,
tumblers, or eccentrics, and a light cord or chain are attached to or
combined with the balance weight in such manner, that in the event
of the main rope or chain breaking the balance weight will be prevented
from falling; or the same object may be obtained by making the
additional rope or chain sufficiently strong to bear the weight of the
balance weight in case the main lifting rope or chain breaks or becomes
detached.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Stannah in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
STANNAH, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Stannab, Her special
license that I, the said Joseph Stannah, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Stannah, 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
SAFETY APPARATUS FOR LIFTS OR HOISTS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Stannah, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of

page_text: the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Joseph Stannah, 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 :-
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for preventing.
the sudden descent of the cage and balance weight of lifts or hoists in
case the lifting rope or chain breaks or becomes detached.
And in order that my Invention may be clearly understood and
readily carried into practice, I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations of a lift or hoist, having safety
apparatus applied thereto in accordance with my improvements. For
this purpose a light rope or chain a is connected from the balance
weight of the lift or hoist, shown in Figures 1 and 2, to a series of
eccentrics or cams c, mounted on axis g, attached to the box, cage, or
platform d in such manner that if the main lifting rope or chain e
becomes detached or broken the box, cage, or platform & will remain
suspended, owing to the eccentrics or cams c being caused to bind
against the guides h. The eccentrics or cams c are prevented from
binding when the lift is in proper working order.
According to another part of these improvements one or more cams,
tumblers, or eccentrics c', shown in Figures 3, 4, and 5, and a light
cord or chain a' are attached to or combined with the balance weight 6'
in such manner that in the event of the main rope or chain e¹ breaking,
the balance weight 6' will be prevented from falling; or the same
object may be obtained in the application of this part of my improve-
ments to light lifts, by making the additional rope or chain sufficiently
strong to bear the weight of the balance weight in case the main lifting
rope or chain breaks or becomes detached.
Should it be inconvenient to apply the light chain or rope at one end
to the balance weight or to a balance weight, it may be secured to the