IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS."
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edmond Donisthorpe, of Leeds, in the
County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED
WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edmond
Donisthorpe at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th April 1863.
I, GEORGE EDMOND DONISTHORPE, of Leeds, in the County of York, do
hereby declaro the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
USED WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used when
getting coal and other minerals; when using a carriage with picking or other
cutting apparatus mounted thereon for getting coal and other minerals it has
been usual in order to resist the vibration consequent on the regular suc-
cessive impacts or actions of the picks or other cutting tools to make the
carriage of considerable weight.
Now the object of the present improvements is to obtain the requisite stability
and capability to resist vibration when a light carriage is employed; this is
accomplished by applying a wheel or wheels to the carriage to act against the
roof of the working in addition to the wheels which rest on the rails or ways
along which the carriage is moved from place to place in the coal or other
mine which is being worked, and such additional wheel or wheels is or are

page_text: pressed elastically against the roof of the mine; this is most conveniently done
by means of a piston in a cylinder containing compressed air acting directly
or by interposed levers on the axis of the wheel or wheels in contact with the
roof; other suitable means of obtaining the requisito pressure may however be
resorted to. By these means a comparatively light carriage may be employed!
when working picks or cutting tools by compressed air or other suitable
nower.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Edmond Donisthorpe in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDMOND DONISTHORPE, of Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Edmond Donisthorpe, Her special licence that I, the said George
Edmond Donisthorpe, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER
MINERALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Edmond Donisthorpe, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 George Edmond Donisthorpe, 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 has for its object improvements in apparatus used when

page_text: getting coal and other minerals. When using a carriage with picking or
other cutting apparatus mounted thereon for getting coal and other minerals
it has been usual in order to resist the vibration consequent on the regular
successive impacts or actions of the picks or other cutting tools to make the
carriage of considerable weight.
Now, the object of the present improvements is to obtain the requisite
stability and capability to resist vibration when a light carriage is employed,
this is accomplished by applying a wheel or wheels to the carriage to act
against the roof of the working in addition to the wheels which rest on the
rails or ways along which the carriago is moved from place to place in the
coal or other mine which is being worked, and such additional wheel or wheels
is or are pressed elastically against the roof of the mine; this is most con-
veniently done by means of a piston in a cylinder containing compressed air
acting directly or by interposed levers on the axis of the wheel or wheels in
contact with the roof; other suitable means of obtaining the requisite pressure
may however be resorted to. By these means a comparatively light carriage
may be employed when working picks or cutting tools by compressed air or
other suitable power.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
Figure 1 is a side view, Figure 2 an end view, and Figuro 3 a plan of
apparatus for getting coal or other mineral arranged according to my Invention,
and in the manner I prefer; Figures 4 and 5 show some of the parts
separately.
a, a, is the framing or carriage of the machine; it is mounted on wheels b, b,
which run on tramways c, c; d, is a horizontal cylinder fitted with a piston,
and suitably arranged for being worked with compressed air; it is firmly
secured to the frane or carriage a, a. is the rod of the piston working in
the cylinder d; its outer end is passed through the bar f", forming part of the
sliding or travelling frame f, and is there secured between nuts d², d. A
smaller cylinder e is cast on the cylinder d, and in the cylinder e suitable
piston valves work to admit compressed air alternately on either side of the
piston in the ylinder d, so as to cause the piston with its rod and parts con-
nected therewith to move to and fro. A flexible pipe is employed to conduct
the compressed air to the apparatus from the air pumps or other machinery
employed to condense it. The valve rod e' employed to actuate the valves

page_text: may either be worked by a lever handle e, worked by hand as shown, or, if
desired, the valve may be made self-acting. g is another cylinder also cast
in the same piece with the cylinder d; it stands vertically upon it; and within
the cylinder g is a plunger h; it is furnished at its lower end with metallic
packing to cause it to fit the cylinder air-tight, and it has two lugs h', h',
cast upon its
upper end. Between the two lugs h' a frame consisting of two
plates or cheeks h³, h², is received, and pin-jointed at h³. Four or other
convenient number of rollers h*, h, are mounted between the plates or cheeks
h2, h3, and the studs on which these rollers revolve serve to hold together the
plates or checks h. By opening a cock provided for the purpose compressed
air can be admitted to the cylinder g, and the plunger h is caused to rise until
the rollers press against the ceiling or roof of the working to steady the
cutting apparatus whilst in action; h³ is a groove or recess formed in the
plunger h; a key g' fixed in the mouth of the cylinder 9 enters this groovo in
order to prevent the plunger h from turning in the cylinder; i, i, are the
cutters, they are slidden into the grooves or channels f³ of the frame f, and are
held securely by cotters i³, i¹.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edmond Donisthorpe, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.