CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING AND DISCONNECTING THE STEAM ENGINE OR OTHER MOTIVE POWER WITH OR FROM THE LOAD OR MATTER TO BE DRIVEN OR MOVED
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
HIGSON, of Clifton, in the County of Lancaster, Mining Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Ninth day of August, in the ninth year of Her reign, and in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Peter Higson, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Peter Higson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said Peter Higson, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING AND DISCONNECTING THE STEAM ENGINE OR OTHER
MOTIVE POWER WITH OR FROM THE LOAD OR MATTER TO BE DRIVEN OR MOVED;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Peter
Higson, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calender months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
annear

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Peter Higson do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say):-
My improvements apply to the coupling or connecting steam engines, water
wheels, and other primary driving power, with shafts and machinery, and dis-
connecting the same, and also in so applying the power again to the load or other
matter to be driven or moved that the rotary motion is reversed as required;
for instance, in winding up coal and other minerals, and alternately lowering
the empty vessels after they have been discharged at the surface of the pit or
mine. By this improved arrangement and construction of connecting, cou-
pling, or reversing machinery or apparatus, the continuous rotary motion of
the motive power is enabled to proceed without interruption, and the shaft
which is in immediate connection with the load or other matter to be driven
is readily and instantly reversed as occasion may require. My improvements
are particularly applicable to mining purposes, such as winding up coals
or other matters from shafts or pits, holding or retaining the vessels or
buckets whilst they are emptied, and again lowering the vessels, and
especially in such situations where the water wheel constitutes the pri-
mary moving power, as its continuous action is thus allowed to proceed
without in any manner interfering with the load when it is not required. In
reversing a steam engine a considerable quantity of steam is unavoidably
wasted, consequently there will be a corresponding waste of fuel, which will
be obviated in every instance where the improved reversing machine is used;
also when an engine has been reversed some time will elapse before it can
attain its maximum velocity, during which period its effective power is
diminished, whereas the load may be reversed by the reversing machine in
half the time it can be reversed by the steam engine or other motive power.
The reserving machine is particularly adapted to water wheels which are
used for the purpose of drawing coal up a perpendicular shaft or inclined
plane at collieries, working wash wheels, callendering machines, hydraulic
presses, &c., or raising or lowering materials for the construction of works, or
in any case where it is requisite to relieve the moving power of the load, or to
reverse its direction, it will be found generally useful on public or private
railways to connect with any moving power which may be applied for
drawing or raising waggons or any load up an inclined plane or shaft, or
for lowering the same, and its great utility will be found at railway stations for
raising or lowering waggons or weights to or from the level of the rails to that

page_text: of the street or road, and also for hoists used at factories. It may be con-
nected with the moving power in various ways, and by means of spur wheels
as well as bevil wheels.
In order that my improvements in such machinery or apparatus may be
more fully explained and perfectly understood, I have attached to these
presents a Sheet of Drawings which will readily illustrate the application of
the mechanism to the purposes required.
Figure 1 represents a plan or top view of the apparatus, as seen from
above, and is supposed to be placed between the water wheel (as a driver) and
the winding shaft and drums of a coal pit, the buckets or vessels ascending
and descending, which, of course, requiring to be raised and lowered, thus
needing a reciprocating or reversed motion, whilst that of the water wheel is
continuous in one direction.
Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken through the line A, B, in Fig. 1, and
Fig. 3 is a ground plan or diagram on a smaller scale, shewing its relative
situation as applied to the water wheel or driving power and the pit or shaft
of a mine, and which will better illustrate the application of my improvements.
a, a, is the main driving shaft of the apparatus, which is mounted, and revolves
freely in the bearings or standards b, b, being connected to the water wheel or
other primary moving power by the bevil wheel c; upon the driving shaft a are
placed loosely two bevil wheels d and e, which are furnished with hollow
friction drums or cones f and g, whose inner surfaces are acted upon by
the pair of friction cones h and i alternately, in the manner and for the
purposes herein-after more particularly described. The pair of friction cones
h and are connected to the main driving shaft a by a feather and
key, shewn in dotted lines at j in Fig. 2, in such a manner as to revolve
with it, but still to allow of their being moved upon the shaft in a
longitudinal direction; thus it will be seen that if the position of these
cones hand is shifted so as to bring the exterior surface of the cone h
into close contact with the interior surface of the friction cone f, the
wheel d will become thereby connected with the driving shaft a, and be caused
to revolve with it, whilst the other wheel e is disconnected and allowed to
revolve freely and loosely upon the shaft; into both of these wheels d and e
the bevil wheel k gears, and consequently, supposing the main driving shaft a
to be revolving in the direction of the arrow, and the cone h to be in contact
with the cone f, then the shaft l, upon which the wheel k is fixed, will revolve
in the direction of its arrow; but as soon as the friction cone i is brought into
contact with the friction cone g, upon the wheel e, the motion of the shaft
will be reversed. This shifting of the position of the friction cones h and i is

page_text: effected in the following manner:-It will be seen, by reference to the sectional
Figure 2, that one end of the main driving shaft a is made hollow or tubular,
so as to allow of the shaft m sliding in it; at one end of the shaft m is a slot or
mortice n, through which a cotter or key o passes; this key o passes also
through the boss of the cones h and i, and connects them to the shaft m; at
the other end of the shaft m is fixed a saddle piece o*, which is supported by
and slides upon the horizontal rods p, p, p, p, to the saddle piece o* ; a nut or
socket is attached, in which a screw r works; this screw is mounted in a
suitable bearing s, and is for the purpose of bringing the one or the other of
the friction cones h and i into close contact with the cone for g, by turning
the spoke or hand wheel t (fixed at its other extremity) either in one direction
or the other. There is a crank pin or stud u upon the spoke wheel t, which
is connected by a series of levers v, v, v, v, to the break w, upon the shaft /;
the position of this crank pin is so arranged that when the cones h and i are
not in contact with either of the cones f and g, the pin u is at its lowest point,
and consequently the break is tightened upon the shaft l, and its further
motion is stopped, in which situation it may be allowed to remain as long as
required. Upon turning the spoke wheel t further in the same direction, the
break is released and the motion of the shaft is reversed. w*, w*, are screws
for the purpose of adjusting the distance between the cones h and i.
In Figure 3, A is the centre line of the water wheel, which, by means of
the bevil geering B, drives the shaft a, a, which is a coresponding one to that
marked a, a, in Figs. 1 and 2; C is the mouth of the coal pit, and D is a
frame for supporting the winding pullies.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, together with the
manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion,
that I have herein shewn and described my Invention as applied to the purpose
of winding coal merely for the sake of illustration (as in Figure 3 in the accom-
panying Drawing). But I claim as my Invention the above-described arrange-
ment of machinery or apparatus in all situations where it may be applied for
the purposes of connecting and disconnecting the steam engine or other motive
power with or from the load or other matter to be driven or moved, or
retaining the load in a state of rest, as may be required, as exhibited in the
Drawings annexed and herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Higson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
PETER (Ls.) HIGSON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Sixth day of February,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Peter Higson came before our Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.