AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING PERSONS, GOODS,
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, of St. Peter's
College, Cambridge, Master of Arts, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING PERSONS, GOODS, OR
Sealed the 21st May 1867, and dated the 23rd November 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Robert Augustus
Glover at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd November 1866.
I, FREDERICK ROBERT AUGUSTUS GLOVER, of St. Peter's College, Cambridge,
Master of Arts, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING PERSONS,
GOODS, OR ARTICLES IN DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention of "An Improved Mode of and Apparatus for Raising and
Lowering Persons, Goods, or Articles in Dwelling Houses and other Buildings "
consists in causing the platform (on which are placed the persons, articles, or
goods to be raised and lowered) to move round a vertical central column or
pillar, in the case (1st) of a staircase in which there is space for the erection
of such column or pillar from top to bottom of the house, and in the case (2nd)
of a staircase in which the balusters of one flight are immediately under those.
of the next flight, then by means of two directing stems, poles, or ropes more
or less rigid and formed preferably of wire.

page_text: My Invention is more particularly applicable to those houses to the stair-
cases of which there is only a narrow well or none at all, up or down which
it is impossible to pass a platform in a perfectly straight vertical line, and the
apparatus is chiefly intended to meet the necessities of invalids, or to lighten
the labours of servants, and the wear and tear of the house in the raising of water,
coals, &c., and in the lifting and lowering of luggage, furniture, and the like.
In carrying out my Invention I place and firmly secure at top and bottom, in
the one case a long vertical column or pillar, in the other case I fix in like manner
at suitable distance apart two vertical stems, poles, or ropes,-as.. aforesaid, or
chains extending from the bottom to the top of the house. The platform on
which the persons or goods to be raised or lowered are placed is connected to
this vertical pillar or column, or to these vertical guides by rings, sockets, or
tubes which run on the pillar or pole, or on the stems, poles, ropes, or chains
as the platform is raised or lowered by means of a chain rope or cord extending
therefrom up to and around a pulley or pullies suitably placed above, and from
thence to any suitable hauling machine, which may be worked by winch,
endless rope, or otherwise. In this manner the platform may be raised or
lowered either with or without an equipoise. Annexed to the platform are
adapted two or more curved guide bars and fenders, one at
above it, and the other at the lower end of it or below it,
end according to the nature of the case to be treated.
raised or lowered, one or other of these guide bars and fenders comes against
the baluster rail or the edge of the stringing of the staircase overhead, and
causes the platform to turn round and surmount the rail so that it may pass
the next ramp of the stairs, upon reaching the baluster rail of which the guide
bar or fenders will again act to turn the platform round, and so in succession on
from the bottom to the top or downwards in like manner but in the reverse way
from the top to the bottom of the staircase. In this way the platform will be
made to perform gyrations round the central pillar or column in the one case
and between the guide stems, poles, ropes, or chains in the other while
ascending or descending, and in this manner the platform will be enabled. to
pass all the ramps in succession.
the upper end or
or both at either
As the platform is
It is to be noted that while case No. 1 is not applicable where there is no
well in a staircase, case No. 2, though not so desirable in some respects, is
applicable in most cases in which No. 1 could be used, the principle of gyratory
action produced by the ramp of the balusters or stringing of the staircase, which
is common to both, being the principle on which the Invention is based.
In order to admit of persons and things being landed at any of the landings
of the staircase moveable hinged platforms are provided; these platformis.are

page_text: binged to the walls or dado, so that when not required for use they may be
lifted up and held in a vertical position, but when required for use they, are
let down and form a horizontal flooring level with the landing on to which the
persons. will walk or the goods raised or lowered may be placed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Robert Augustus Glover in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd May 1867.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
ROBERT AUGUSTUS GLOVER, of Saint Peter's College, Cambridge, Master of
Arts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did,. for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, Her special licence that I, the said
Frederick Robert Augustus Gloyer, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING
AND LOWERING PERSONS, GOODS, OR ARTICLES IN DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER
BUILDINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick
Robert Augustus Glover, my executors or administrators, 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 Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked, thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention of an improved mode of and apparatus for

page_text: raising and lowering persons, goods, or articles in dwelling houses and other
buildings is to enable persons or things to mount or be raised up from
the ground floor to any other floor of the house through a Newel staircase
(that is to say), a staircase which has little or no interval between the flights
of stairs, and also to lower such from above to below the reverse operation
by means of a gyratory lift or chair lift.
Two kinds or arrangements of apparatus may be employed according to the
particular construction of the staircase in which they are intended to be used,
one I denominate the pillar lift, and the other the rods lift; both of these
are shewn in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 represents the
profile of a staircase with the pillar lift adapted thereto. When a pillar is
used as the centre of gyration the lift consists of a sort of chair without hind
legs, as shown at a, Figs. 1 & 2, and with a footboard hanging in front on
which to rest the feet; this chair or seat is fixed to a piece of metal tube 6 of
such diameter as to allow of its travelling freely up and down the iron pillar c
that extends from the bottom to the top of the house; this chair or seat is
lifted or lowered or forced up by either winch or windlass power (or regulated
and moved by equipoise plus power) by a chain passing through or over a
pulley suitably placed at the top of the house, or so near to it as it may be
convenient to fix it at the upper end of the pillar or below if a forcing power
be resorted to by means of a pointed cylindrical chain. As this chair or seat
ascends it is gyrated backwards by causing an iron frame guard d to come
against the stringing of the staircase overhead of the sitter in the chair. As
the chair is being raised or wound up this guard frame, which is made of small
bar iron (say, a half by one quarter inch), is useful to keep the head of the person
seated on the chair from injury from the ceiling of the staircase above him,
and as it comes in contact with the stringing the seat is pushed round back
on its centre of motion, and therefore out of the way of the stringing. On the
other hand as the chair descends its needful gyration is effected by the back
edge of the seat of the chain and by the back edge of the platform or footboard
on which the feet of the sitter rest coming into contact with the slope of the
ballusters, which slope impels the chair to gyrate forwards and downwards
just as the stringing in its ascent had compelled it to gyrate backwards on
being drawn up. Fig. 4 represents the seat detached from the staircase, and
is seen in side elevation..
The Rods Lift. Where there is no side interval between the ramps of the
stairs two parallel upright rods of iron or steel extending from bottom to top
of the house or of wire rope are used instead of an iron pillar or column.
Fig. 3 is a front view of this arrangement; the chair a is in this case of

page_text: similar construction to the chair used in the former case as to principle of
action, but it differs in details of construction, of measurement, and of fittings;
it is suspended from over its centre by a chain f terminated by a moveable
shackle g. The chair is kept in its due position upwards and downwards by
means of two travelling transverse beams or bars h, h, which span the two
vertical side rods e, e; these bars are kept in their due position by being
framed with two uprights of metal bar or tube a', c', b', d'; in the centre of
each of these bars h there is a round socket hole i, i; through these is fixed an
eyed bolt, in which the guard iron d terminates above. The guard iron is
prolonged downwards, and turns under the seat by right angles, and turns on
the under bolt or pivot of the chair at i; to this seat is hung the foot platform.
The eyed bolt above spoken of at 9 joins the chair to the chain above. By
the pliancy of the uprights of wire rope when it is necessary to have recourse
to them, and by the small space occupied by the rods, the travelling of the
transverse bars with their inseparable companion the chair up and down
between the flights of stairs is made passible, or between the flight and its
adjacent landings.
The lift may be variously made, but its most simple form, of which any
other is only some improvement in details, may be thus described :-
The Pillar Chair.-A piece of metal tube 6 of the length of an ordinary
chair leg is made to fit easily the central pillar c; a piece of hard wood
marked j in the detached view, Fig. 4, of the chair, and of some three inches
broad and two thick, and of a length corresponding more or less with the
ordinary breadth of an arm chair, is attached at one end (the broad side
upwards) to the tube b; at or about a right angle with this piece j, thus fixed,
another piece k exactly similar is to be similarly attached at the other end of
the piece of tube b, and then these two pieces of wood are connected strongly
at their two outer ends by a piece of (say) one-half by three-eighths of an
inch iron (so curved as not to interfere with the action of the wooden bars
as they glide downwards in their descent against the slopes of the balluster;
this piece is strongly bolted into the pieces of wood j and k, as near to the
ends as may be convenient; this constitutes the frame and foundation of the
lift chair; on this may be laid, according to taste or to suit the convenience
of those intending to use it, either a seat of a chair or an arm chair on the
upper piece of wood, and a platform on the lower to act as a footboard to the
chair; or it may be widened (hingewise) to carry coals, water, luggage, or
any other thing whatever capable of passing through the existing spaces or
intervals between the flights of stairs hitherto unused for any such purpose
from the bottom to the top of the house. In order to make the passage.of

page_text: the chair downwards as facile and smooth as possible the wooden brackets
above described must be cut on their outer and lower edge, taking care to
round all such parts of their length as shall be found to come in contact in
their descent with the slopes of the balluster rail, and they must be rasped
down and filed to as smooth a surface as may be in a curvilinear form
externally and nicely adjusted to the slope of the hand rail in each case; this
part of the chair cannot be made to order; the exact condition of each case
must be treated by the manipulation of the skilled artificer to whom this, the
chief part of the whole case, is entrusted.
When the chair is intended to be used between the double rods, spoken of
and shewn at Fig. 3, the centre of the circle from which the horizontal arms
must be made to radiate and the guard iron will be exactly under the centre
line of the chair.
It is not necessary to particularize the details of the chain to be used, such
details, whether flat or ordinary chain, or if pullies; are entirely at the option
of the user, their employment being simply a question of inore or less cost..
The winch may be placed on any of the stages of the house, and be worked
from above or below at discretion; this forms no part of the Invention, which
is confined to the construction of the chair, by means of which in connection
with the slopes of the stringing and balluster rail of the staircase the ascent
or descent of the chair is made practicable.
The Invention does not apply to lifts in staircases in which there is an open
well wide enough to admit of a chair and footboard working up and down
from top to bottom of the house as a bucket does in a well, but it applies to all
such cases as those in which the accommodation of a lift is required, and where
a platform of, say, from fifteen by fifteen inches or twelve by eight is
required to be used in moving up and down the house with persons or things.
The interval being too small to allow of the direct ascent and descent of such
matters, recourse must be had by the gyratory process..
The landing at the several stages in the house is secured by means of falling
platforms, which are hinged to bang down from the side of the staircase
opposite to the balluster, as shewn by dots in Fig. 1, and lock in with the foot
platform of the chair; this keeps the chair steady and safe from moving up or
down until the person in the chair shall have either left it or have returned
to it.
Having now described my Invention of "An Improved Mode of and
Apparatus for Raising and Lowering Persons, Goods, or Articles in Dwelling
Houses and other Buildings," and having explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent

page_text: as aforesaid, mounting a platform, chair, or receptacle on a vertical rod or rods,
post, or column or columns, in such a manner that in its ascent or descent it
will be made to gyrate or move round such vertical rod, post, or column, or
between such columns so that it may pass over the successive flights of stairs,
as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, have
hereunto set my band and seal, the Twenty-second day of May, in
as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, have
hereunto set my band and seal, the Twenty-second day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Robert Augustus Glover, have
hereunto set my band and seal, the Twenty-second day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
FREDK. R. A. GLOVER. (L.S.)