IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edmund Donisthorpe, of Leeds, in the County
of York, Top and Noil Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edmund Donis-
thorpe at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th December 1865.
I, GEORGE EDMUND DONISTHORPE, of Leeds, in the County of York, Top
and Noil Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER
MINERALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object "Improvements in Machinery employed
when Getting Coal and other Minerals." Heretofore it has been proposed to
employ machines carrying reciprocating cutters for cutting grooves into coal
and other minerals, the machines being for this purpose caused to move for-
ward progressively on a rail or tramway.
The first part of my Invention relates to an arrangement of apparatus for
progressively moving forward such machines along the rail or tramways upon
which they are supported. For this purpose I employ a screw working into
a nut. Either the screw or the nut may be carried by the machine. When
the screw is carried by the machine I form the screw: so as to project out
beyond its forward end, and cause it to work into a nut supported by a pillar

page_text: in front of the machine. This pillar is made capable of extension, so that it
may be caused to wedge between the floor and roof of the mine and be thus
fixed in position, and the lower end of the pillar is formed to run on the rails
that support the cutting machine. The screw carried by the machine may be
caused to turn by any suitable means. When the machine has been drawn
forward by the screw so as to come up to the pillar carrying the nut the
pressure that previously held fast the pillar is released, and the pillar is
wheeled forward a distance and again set fast, the machine can then again
be drawn forward up to the pillar by turning the screw. When the nut is
carried by the machine, I, by preference, carry the screw between two such
pillars, one in front and the other at the back of the machine, and the pillars
I connect together near their upper ends by a bar. Each pillar at its lower
end is formed to run on the rails that support the cutting machine, and each
pillar or the bar that connects them together is provided with apparatus for
pressing against the roof of the mine, so that the pillars may be set fast. In
this arrangement the machine is drawn forward by causing the nut to revolve,
and the pillars are moved forwards a distance at intervals when required. I
also employ similar pillars placed in front and at the back of the machine to
steady the machine when at work and prevent it from getting off its rails.
The pillars are for this purpose made capable of being wedged or fixed
between the floor and the roof of the mine, and are by preference connected
together by a bar so placed that some part of the machine shall come against
it if the machine should rise off its rails.
Pillars such as above described, and placed in front and at the back of the
cutting machine, may at their upper ends be arranged to support a rail for a
pulley pressed upwards from the machine (as described in the Specification of
a former Patent granted to me on the 28th day of April 1868, No. 1072) to
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Edmund Donisthorpe in the Great Seal Patent 80
Office on the 5th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDMUND DONISTHORPE, of Leeds, in the County of York, Top and Noil Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 35
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord One

page_text: thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, Her special licence. that I, the said
George Edmund Donisthorpe, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, 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 MACHINERY EMPLOYED
WHEN GETTING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly 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 Edmund 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 machinery employed
when getting coal and other minerals. Heretofore it has been proposed to
employ machines carrying reciprocating cutters for cutting grooves into coal
and other minerals, the machines being for this purpose caused to move
forward progressively on a rail or tramway.
The first part of my Invention relates to an arrangement of apparatus for
progressively moving forward such machines along the rail or tramways upon
which they are supported; for this purpose I employ a screw working into a
nut; either the screw. or the nut may be carried by the machine. When the
screw is carried by the machine I form the screw so as to project out beyond
its forward end, and cause it to work into a nut supported by a pillar in front
of the machine; this pillar is made capable of extension, so that it may be
caused to wedge between the floor and roof of the mine, and be thus fixed in
position, and the lower end of the pillar is formed to run on the rails that
support the cutting machine. The screw carried by the machine may be
caused to turn by any suitable means. When the machine has been drawn
forward by the screw so as to come up to the pillar carrying the nut the.
pressure that previously held fast the pillar is released, and the pillar is wheeled

page_text: forward a distance and again set fast; the machine can then again be drawn
forward up to the pillar by turning the screw. When the nut is carried by.
the machine, I, by preference, carry the screw between two such pillars, one
in front and the other at the back of the machine, and the pillars I connect
together near their upper ends by a bar. Each pillar at its lower end is
formed to run on the rails that support the cutting machine, and each pillar,
or the bar that connects them together, is provided with apparatus for pressing.
against the roof of the mine, so that the pillars may be set fast. In this.
arrangement the machine is drawn forward by causing the nut to revolve, and
the pillars are moved forwards a distance at intervals when required. I also
employ similar pillars placed in front and at the back of the machine to steady
the machine when at work and prevent it from getting off its rails. The
pillars are for this purpose made capable of being wedged or fixed between
the floor and roof of the mine, and are, by preference, connected together by.
a bar so placed that some part of the machine shall come against it if the
machine should rise off its rails.
.
Pillars such as above described, and placed in front and at the back of the
cutting machine, may at their upper ends be arranged to support a rail for a
pulley pressed upwards from the machine (as described in. the Specification of
a former Patent granted to me on the 28th day of April 1863, No. 1072), to
run on.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows an end view, and Figure 2 a side view of a pillar such as
is above first described, the pillar being arranged to carry a nut for a screw
carried by the machine to work in. The pillar at its lower end is provided
with a pair of wheels a, a, to run on the rails used for supporting the machine
which is to cut the grooves in or above or below the coal; the pillar at its
lower end is also formed at b, b, to slide upon and embrace the rails, as shewn,
the nut cinto which the screw carried by the machine is to work is capable
of being set at any desired height on the pillar by screws and nuts, as is shown.
At the top of the pillar is a cylinder which receives a plunger that forms the
top of the pillar; into the lower part of this cylinder compressed air can be
admitted through the inlet d in order to press the plunger. upwards, and so
wedge the pillar between the floor and roof of the. mine. When employing a
pillar such as is above described, the pillar is placed at such a distance from
the machine employed for cutting the grooves as the length of the screw
>

page_text: carried by the machine will admit of; the pillar is then fixed in its place by
admitting compressed air into its air cylinder; so pressing upwards the plunger
and wedging the pillar between the floor and roof of the mine. The cutter or
cutters carried by the machine are then set to work and the machine is drawn
by the screw carried by it, being rotated at intervals. When the machine has:
drawn itself forward up to the pillar the upper half of the nut c is released by
turning the handle,c', and is raised away from the screw, the screw is then by
hand raised out of the lower half-of the nut, and the pillar is moved forward a
distance and again set fast; the nut c is then again caused to engage with the
thread of the screw, and the machine again set to work. In place of the
pillar that carries the nut being made capable of extension by an air cylinder.
and plunger as described, other modes of extending the cylinder may be
resorted to.
In the arrangement shown at Figure 3 the nut is on the machine, and the
screw carried by two pillars, one in front and the other at the back of the
machine; these pillars may, if desired, be arranged at their lower ends to run
on the rails, as above described, but I prefer to arrange them in the manner
shown in the Drawing; the lower ends of the pillars, as there shown, are
formed to drop into holes formed in the sleepers to which the rails are fixed ;
the upper ends of the pillars are each made capable of being extended by a
screw, as shown, and the upper end of each screw is formed into a head; these
Leads support between them a bar e, which they press upwards against the
roof of the mine. The under side of this bar will then form a rail for a roller
to run on that is pressed upwards from the machine as described in the former
Patent before alluded to.
In the arrangement shown in the Drawing the screw has a hand wheel
upon it by which it can be turned by hand to draw the machine forward when
at work. When the machine has thus been drawn forward to the foremost
pillar, the pillars are released and are carried forward and inserted into the
> holes of other sleepers, and again set fast. In place of the cutting machine
being steadied when at work by a pulley pressed upwards from it being caused
to bear against the bar e, a bar supported between two pillars, one in front
and the other at the back of the machine, may be otherwise arranged to steady
the machine when at work and prevent it from getting off the rails.
Another arrangement of employing a screw and nut for drawing the machine
forward when at work is shown at Figures 4 & 5; in this arrangement the
portion of the machine that carries the cutting tool or tools is arranged to
slide on a bed that runs on the rails; the bed carries a screw that works into
a nut on the sliding portion of the machine, and at one end of the screw is

page_text: a hand wheel by which the screw can be turned. At each end of the bed is a
pillar which can be extended (as in the arrangement shown at Figures 1 and
2), to fix the bed in its place. When the machine is at work the bed is held
in its place by the pillars at its two ends, and the sliding portion which carries
the cutters is drawn forwards by turning the screw by its hand wheel.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edmund Donisthorpe, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.