provements in or relating to Crab Winches and other Hoisting and Lowering Appliances.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Nov., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 19th July, 1900-Accepted, 25th Aug., 1900
PROVISIONAL SIMULTIUATION
Improvements in or relating to Crab Winches and other Hoisting
and Lowering Appliances.
We, WILLIAM THOMAS EADES, of 142, Walford Road, Sparkbrook, in the City
of Birmingham, Engineer, and EDMUND ALLDAY, of Fulford Hall, Hockley Heath,
near Birmingham aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention has relation to crab-winches, and other hoisting and lowering
appliances, and also to clutches to be employed in connection with the load-
sustainers or brakes of such appliances.
In carrying out one form of our invention as applied to a crab winch, the winch
consists of an axis mounted within bearings of a suitable frame and having
winch handles on its ends, outwards of the frame, whilst made fast upon other
parts of it, two separate pinions, one of which intergears with a large toothed
wheel on the winding drum which works on another axis carried by the frame,
whilst the second pinion intergears with a toothed wheel loose upon, but coming
against a stop collar or other abutment carried by a third and non-rotating axis
or countershaft, which has strung upon it, the brake-mechanism of the winch.
A two-way clutch is also arranged to work upon the first or driving shaft to
lock either one or other of the pinions.
The toothed brake wheel carries or has made fast to it, the half of a clutch,
having on its face a laterally advancing helix or circular inclined plane working
against the corresponding inclined plane of a disc which runs loose upon the
shaft, the termination of the said helices having right angled studs which con-
stitute stops against the over-expansion of the halves or discs of the clutch, the
plain face of the outer dise of one of the said clutches comes against a non-
rotating pressure-plate, constrained to slide, without turning, upon the shaft,
by gaps upon it, working within feathers or ribs on the framing.
The clutches before referred to are preferably of the same type as those emploved
in connection with the load sustainers for pulley blocks and the like described in
the Specifications of Letters Patent granted to W. T. Eades No. 6032 of 1897
and to Eades & Matthews Nos. 17948 and 21233 of 1897.
The end of the carrier shaft which is supported in a suitable bearing of the
frame, is right-hand screwed, and the wormed part is encircled by the screw boss
of a lever, which, when rotated, either advances or releases the pressure plate.
The weight of the lever which actuates a screwed nut in the end of the shaft,
although only slight, is sufficient to cause the helical discs to be always fully en-
gaged when the load is rising and if the winch handles are suddenly let go, their
expansion will create sufficient friction to retain the load. If the pressure on
the feathered plate is relieved by raising the lever, it allows the helical discs to
separate until they can expand no further, when the right-angled studs meet and
the weight is under full control by the running of the nut on the screwed end
of the shaft.

page_text: Instead of employing a lever screw boss, the boss may be made in the form of a
sheave pulley having an endless chain running over it, with a weight.secured to
one side of the loop so as to constantly exercise the thrust in the proper direction.
This part of our invention is also applicable in connection with single-way
clutches and the invention is also applicable to pulley blocks, hoists, and other
lifting and lowering appliances.
Thus, in carrying out our invention as applied to a pulley block or hoist, the
framing, which is suspended with a swivelling hook, or provided with means
of attachment to a suitable support, carries a horizontal shaft having loosely
mounted upon it, the lifting wheel, the load wheel connected therewith, the clutch
elements and the advancing pressure plate, which may have a bush or sleeve
extending through the framing to receive the thrust of the take-up boss, which
is preferably in the form of a sheave pulley with a weighted chain running over
it, and is inside screwed as before to take onto the wormed end of the spindle.
Or instead of the take up nut being kept home by a weighted chain, it may
he actuated by a lever or by a spring so as to exert a constant pressure against
the thrust plate.
Dated this 24th day of November 1899
WILLIAM THOMAS EADES.
EDMUND ALLDAY.
By Henry Skerrett,
Agent for Applicants.
Improvements in or relating to Crab Winches and other Hoisting
and Lowering Appliances.
We, WILLIAM THOMAS EADES, of 142, Walford Road, Sparkbrook, in the City
of Birmingham, Engineer, and EDMUND ALLDAY, of Fulford Hall, Hockley Heath,
near Birmingham aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly de-
scribed and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention has relation to crab winches and other hoisting and lowering
appliances, and also to clutches to be employed in connection with the load-
sustainers or brakes of such appliances.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents an end elevation of a two-
speed crab winch constructed, arranged and provided with load-sustaining or
brake mechanism in accordance with our invention.
Figure 2 represents a side elevation of the said winch, with a detail part in
section.
Figure is a sectional plan of the winch, the section being taken upon the
dotted line, Figure 1.
Figure 4 represents, upon an enlarged scale, a side elevation of the two elements
of the load-sustaining clutch, whilst Figure 5 is a front elevation showing the
helical face of one of the said elements.
Figure 6 is another view of the said clutch, showing the parts in the positions
they assume when the brake is on.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several
figures of the drawings.
The winch consists of a driving axis a, mounted within bearings 61, of a suit-
able frame b, and having winch handles a², made fast to its opposite ends, out-
wards of the frame, whilst loosely mounted upon a part of the said spindle within

page_text: the frame, are the high and low speed driving pinions c, d which are confined
upon the spindle between a pair of fixed stop collars or keyed-on abutment
plates e, and, with a two-way clutch device e located between them whereby
either the one pinion or the other is operatively connected to the driving shaft
according to the weight of the load to be raised, or the speed at which the lifting
is to be performed. This clutch may consist of a right hand thread e', formed
upon the part of the spinille between the two pinions, and surrounded by a corre-
sponding screw box or sleeve e² which is prevented from rotating by a counter-
poise e³, but is traversed along the spindle, in one direction or the other, according
to the direction in which the said spindle is rotated by means of the winch
handles, and by either pinion being thus clamped between the end of the sleeve
and its particular stop collar, it is made fast io, and transmits power from, the
spindle.
The high speed pinion e intergears directly with a large toothed wheelf made
fast on the winding drum g, which works on another axis g¹ carried by the frame,
whilst the low speed pinions d intergears with a toothed wheel h loosely mounted
upon a third and non-rotating axis or countershaft i, which has strung upon it,
the brake mechanism of the winch.
The toothed wheel is connected with a pinion ¹ gearing also with the large
toothed wheelf on the winding drum, so that when the low speed pinion is made
fast to the driving spindle by the clutch e motion is transmitted from it to the
said wheelf through the wheel and pinion h, h', the high speed pinion meanwhile
running idly round the driving axis.
The brake device consists of an opposed pair of friction plates j, j', respectively
keyed to the non-rotating spindle i and made fast to the outer face of the toothed
wheel h, which latter is capable of a sliding movement along the said spindle à
for the purpose of taking its friction plate into or out of contact with that upon
the fixed spindle.
Located within a chamber or sinking in the end face of the pinion ¹, is
the fixed half of an expanding clutch k, consisting of a bush or sleeve, encircling
the spindle and screwed into the chamber of the pinion, with which it rotates,
whilst its outer end is formed into a laterally advancing helix or circular inclined
plarie opposed to, and working against, the similarly formed helical face of
the second clutch element 2. This second part consists of a sleeve or bush, also
surrounding the fixed axis i but loosely mounted thereon and arranged to have
a sliding and rotating movement within a bearing, in the main framing,
whilst also located within the said bearing but having only a sliding movement
therein, is a feathered washer or plate m, which takes the thrust of a nut in con-
nection with the brake lever. The terminations of the helices on the faces of the
clutch elements have steps or shoulders, which come together when a load is
being raised and ensure that the two parts of the clutch shall rotate with the other
parts of the gearing. The clutch elements are also provided with stops for limit-
ing their expanding action, which stops may be in the form of right angled
pegs, see Figures 4, 5 and 6.
The extreme end of the fixed carrier shaft is threaded, at and the wormed
part is encircled by a nut or inside screwed boss n, which is made fast to the end
of a brake lever, which is placed in the position represented in full lines in
Figure 1 when a load is about to be raised, and thus takes the inner face of the
nut up to the pressure plate, the weight of the said lever, although only slight,
being sufficient to ensure that the helical faces shall be always fully engaged
when a load is being raised.
Thus assuming that a heavy load is about to be raised by the winch through
the medium of the low speed gear, in order to ensure that the load shall be
sustained by the automatic application of the brake during any cessation of wind-
ing, the brake lever is thrown over from the position represented in dotted
lines in Figure 1 to that shown in full lines, by which means the nut is compelled
to travel along the screwed end of the fixed spindle i, and take its bearing against

page_text: the pressure plate m. So long as the wheel and pinion h, h¹ are rotating in the
desired direction for raising the load, both the elements of the clutch rotate with
them and there is no change in their relative positions, but should there by any
cessation of winding, then as soon as the weight of the load begins to act upon
the gearing and turn the gear wheel backwards, the clutch elements are separated
by the helical face of the member (which turns back with the pinion h¹) wiping
over the opposed helical face of the other and relatively fixed member and by
this expansion movement, the wheel and pinion are forced laterally inwards and
the friction plates jj, taken into braking contact and the load is sustained.
In running down the load under control of the brake, whilst the winch handles
are stationary, the driving axis is first turned by means of the handles in such a
direction and to such an extent as will place the clutch sleeve in an intermediate
position between the high and low speed pinions, and then the brake lever is
turned over in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1 to an extent
sufficient to relieve the inward pressure of its nut against the feathered washer.
which allows the clutch elements to be separated by the pull of the falling load
to the full extent permitted by the stops 18, 19, and as soon as these stops come
together the clutch is no longer capable of applying the brake, as this function
is transferred from the clutch to the screw nut of the brake lever, by means of
which the running down is kept under perfect control, it being understood that
after the clutch has fully expanded, the brake becomes hand controlled, and the
brake pressure created by screwing up the nut more or less by means of the lever
is transmitted through the non-rotating washer and the two members of the
clutch, to the brake wheel, which is forced into contact with its braking sur-
faces by the lateral thrust thus created.
We wish it to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to any particular
form of stop for preventing the over expansion of the clutch and thereby trans-
ferring the brake power to the nuts as we may employ a pin on the face of one
part engaging in a slot on the other part, or any equivalent device which will
permit of only a limited movement between the two elements.
Instead of employing a lever screw boss, the boss may be made in the form of a
sheave pulley having an endless chain running over it, with a weight secured
te one side of the loop so as to constantly exercise the thrust in the proper
direction.
Our invention may be used in connection with single-way clutches, and is also
applicable to pulley blocks, hoists, and other lifting and lowering appliances.
Thus, in carrying out our invention as applied to a pulley block or hoist, the
framing (which is suspended by a swivelling hook, or provided with means of
attachment to a suitable support) carries a horizontal shaft having loosely mounted
upon it, the lifting wheel, the load wheel connected therewith, the clutch elements
and the advancing pressure plate, which may have a bush or sleeve extending
through the framing to receive the thrust of the take-up boss, which is preferably
in the form of a sheave pulley with a weighted chain running over it, and is
inside screwed as before to take onto the wormed end of the spindle.
Or instead of the take up nut being kept home by a weighted chain, it may
be actuated by a lever or by a spring so as to exert a constant pressure against the
thrust plate.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is: -
First In crab winches and analogous lifting appliances, the employment of
brake or load-sustaining mechanism comprising an expanding clutch, one part
of which is made fast to the brake wheel of the gearing whilst the other has a
sliding movement upon a fixed axis carrying the brake wheel, with the expansion
movement or separation of the clutch elements being limited by stops; in com-
bination with a hand-brake nut working upon a screwed end of the said fixed

page_text: axis and having a bearing against the sliding part of the clutch, the arrange-
ment and operation of the mechanism being such that the braking pressure is
applied automatically by the expansion of the clutch during lifting, but by hand
through the medium of the screw nut when running down the load under control,
substantially as herein described.
with
Secondly-In crab winches and analogous lifting appliances, the combina-
tion with a load-sustaining brake, automatically actuated for sustaining the
load during lifting by means of an expanding two-part clutch arranged in
conjunction with a gear wheel provided
a friction surface, and
loosely mounted on a fixed spindle provided with another braking surface;
of stops or means for limiting the expanding action of the clutch, and a nut or
screw box, rotatable by means of a hand lever or equivalent on a screwed part
of the fixed spindle, and adapted to impart a lateral movement to the elements
of the clutch and the brake wheel, thus constituting a hand screw-brake for con-
trolling the running down of the load, substantially as herein described and also
as set forth in the accompanying drawings.
Thirdly In a two-speed load-sustaining crab winch, the combination with
two-speed lifting gear comprising a pair of loose pinions mounted on the handle
shaft and operatively connected therewith by means of a two-way speed-changing
clutch, such as e, with the high-speed pinion engaging directly with the large
toothed wheel on the winder drum, and the low speed wheel driving onto the
said wheel indirectly through the medium of an intermediate wheel and pinion,
such as h, h, loosely mounted on a fixed shaft of a load-sustaining brake,
actuated automatically during raising, by an expanding clutch arranged in con-
nection with the loose gear wheels, and by hand during the running down of a
load, by means of a rotating nut on the screwed end of the fixed shaft, the whole
being arranged and operating in the manner and for the purpose substantially
as herein described and set forth.
PT1
1000
WILLIAM THOMAS EADES.
EDMUND ALLDAY.
By Henry Skerrett,
24, Temple Row, Birmingham,
Agent for Applicants.