IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC CAPS FOR WINDING SHAFTS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent
Solicitors, at Frankfort on the Main, in the Empire of Germany, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC CAPS FOR WINDING SHAFTS."
A communication from Nicolaus Frantz and Fritz Westmeyer, of St, Johann
on the Saar, in the Empire of Germany.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Wirth at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th May 1881.
FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Solicitors, at
Frankfort on the Main, in the Empire of Germany.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
HYDRAULIC CAPS FOR WINDING SHAFTS." A communication from Nicolaus
Frantz and Fritz Westmeyer, of St. Johann on the Saar, in the Empire of
Germany.
The improvements relate to the cap, stage, or platform lifts of shafts of mines,
and consist in the application of two or more double levers worked by hydraulic
rams, and serving as supports for the frame carrying the cap, said levers being
placed in position by the weight of the cap frame in such a manner as to allow the
frame to pass and said levers to return automatically to their former position by
hydraulic pressure, the whole being intended as an automatic safety apparatus
for holding the cap at any desired level when the skips, wagons, or materials
thereon may be readily transferred. The hydraulic arrangement consists preferably
of four rams connected by pipes, the piston or head of each ram is provided with
a double lever, the fulcrum of which is in the piston, said lever turning on a bolt
or nut. One end of the lever is secured by a pin, the other supports the cap frame.
The rams are raised by water passing through the pipes from an accumulator.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frank Wirth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th November
1881.
FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Solicitors, at
Frankfort on the Main, in the Empire of Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HYDRAULIC CAPS FOR WINDING SHAFTS." A communication from Nicolaus
Frantz and Fritz Westmeyer, of St. Johann on the Saar, in the Empire of
Germany.
This Invention relates to hydraulic caps for winding shafts, and has for its object
to allow of the carrying frames or stages descending without requiring such frames
to be previously lifted from these caps.
In the annexed Drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation, Figure 2 a plan, and
Figure 3 a cross section of an apparatus embodying this Invention, while Figs. 4
and 5, are detail views.
The improved cap consists principally of 4 cylinders or barrels e, provided with
stuffing boxes and ram pistons, said barrels being connected with each other by
means of wrought iron tubes f.
Each ram is provided with a double lever g having its fulcrum h in the ram.
One end of the double lever rests against the fixed axle i, and the other end supports
the carrying stage.
The rams, and with them the double levers g, are raised by means of an accumu-
lator communicating with the barrels through a pipe. This communication may
be interrupted by closing a tap l.
When the pistons are in their highest position and the stage Fig. 3 rests on
the levers, the tap 7 is closed.
For lowering the stage, the tap is opened by means of a crank m, after which
the stage depresses by its own weight the rams and with them the levers, thus
forcing its way downwards (see Fig. 4).
The piston of the accumulator has meanwhile moved proportionately upwards.
As soon as the bottom of the stage has passed the levers g, the rams return into
their highest position owing to the pressure of the accumulator, and the levers g
reassume their horizontal position (Fig. 3), after which the tap 7 is again closed.
During the ascent of the stage the bottom of the latter arrives under the ends
of the levers g and forces them upwards, see Figure 5; but no sooner is the bottom
past the levers than the levers return into their horizontal position and the stage
is seated on the levers.
An arrangement for filling the apparatus and for providing against losses of
water is applied at the top of the barrel or cylinder of the accumulator, said
For letting
arrangements consisting of a wrought iron pipe provided with a tap.
the air escape in filling the barrels, a screw is adapted on each of the barrels e, said
screw being provided with two perforations situated at right angles to each other.
Figure 6 shows a stage winding arrangement with four trucks.
CLAIM.
The construction of the double levers g, which have their fulcrums in the rams e,
and serve as supports for the carrying frame, said levers being placed in such a
position by the weight of the descending stage that the stage is allowed to pass
freely without previous lifting, and the levers return automatically into their
former horizontal position by means of hydraulic pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Wirth, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of November A.D. 1881.
CLAIM.
The construction of the double levers g, which have their fulcrums in the rams e,
and serve as supports for the carrying frame, said levers being placed in such a
position by the weight of the descending stage that the stage is allowed to pass
freely without previous lifting, and the levers return automatically into their
former horizontal position by means of hydraulic pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Wirth, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of November A.D. 1881.
'IT LATT AL
ATVATT