Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Lifting and Gripping the Ropes, Cables, or Chains of Rope or similar Railways.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Aug., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 14th May, 1900-Accepted, 16th June, 1900
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Lifting and Gripping
the Ropes, Cables, or Chains of Rope or similar Railways.
I, WILLIAM PELHAM BULLIVANT, of 72, Mark Lane, in the City of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to apparatus for use on rope, or similar, railways, anu
has for its object to improve, and render more effective and reliable, the devices
employed on locomotives, brake vans, or other vehicles, for lifting and gripping
the ropes, cables, or chains, of these railways.
According to my invention I provide the locomotive, or other vehicle, with
two manually-operated devices for lifting the rope, cable, or chain, (herein-
after termed the cable), and between these a cable-gripper operated by steam,
or other motive agent (I will, for simplicity, refer to the motive agent as steam).
The two cable-lifting devices are arranged to operate together, and are of
similar construction, and each comprises two pivotted jaws, each carrying, at
its lower end, a preferably flanged, and somewhat pointed, roller to pass beneath
the cable and lift it up to the level of the gripper. These jaws are pivotted to
a slide which can be moved vertically in a fixed frame by means for example
of a screw-actuated lever and link mechanism controlled from any convenient
part of the vehicle.
The two jaws are connected, by links, to a two-armed lever secured to a
vertical sliding shaft mounted in bearings on the slide, and passing through a
bearing secured to the fixed frame, this last-named bearing serving to support
a lever-arm which is keyed to the vertical sliding shaft so that the said shaft
can move vertically but not rotate relatively to the said lever-arm, which lever-
arm is connected by lever-and-link mechanism with an operating lever at any
convenient part of the vehicle, a locking bolt and quadrant, or the equivalent
being, if desired, provided for retaining the jaws in their open and closed
positions.
The jaws are provided with stops for limiting their inward movement and a
roller is provided on the underside of the slide, which comes in contact with
the cable when the slide is lowered and thereby indicates to the operator that
the slide is in the position necessary to enable the jaws to be closed preparatory
to lifting the cable.
The gripper, which, as previously mentioned, is situated between the two
lifters, comprises a strong frame rigidly secured to the locomotive, or other
vehicle, and two gripping jaws, one rigidly secured to, and the other moveable
on, the frame. The moveable jaw is connected to the frame by hinge bars, or
radius rods, and toggle-links, so that the parallelism of the two jaws is main-
tained. The said moveable jaw is provided with a stud which projects through
a curved slot in the frame, and is connected, by a vertical shaft and lever-
and-link mechanism, to the rod of a steam-operated piston, the steam for
actuating which is controlled by devices situated at any convenient part of the

page_text: vehicle. The piston rod is preferably guided by a cross-head working on guide-
bars which are provided with buffers to prevent, or absorb, shock.
Supposing the apparatus to be in its inoperative position with the jaws open
and that it is desired to lift and grip the cable the operator first lowers the
before-mentioned slides so as to bring the rollers thereon into contact with the
cable which thereby indicates to the operator that the jaws are in position to
enable the rollers on the jaws to pass beneath the cable. He thereupon closes
the jaws and raises the slide, together with the jaws and cable, until the cable
comes in contact with the gripper, the jaws of which are open to receive the
cable. Steam is then admitted to behind the piston so as to cause the moveable
gripping jaw to approach the fixed gripping jaw and grip the cable and pre-
vent it from slipping through the gripper whilst maintaining a constant grip
on the cable, and preventing any momentary release of the gripper which
might be due to difference in speed between the vehicle and the cable.
To release the cable it is only necessary to open the jaws and admit steam
to the opposite side of the piston which operates the gripper to open its jaws
and allow the cable to fall to its normal position.
By operating the gripper by steam, or equivalent motive agent, as herein-
before described, the action of the said gripper is rendered practically instan-
taneous so that the destructive abrasive action on the cable, which is incidental
to the hand-operated grippers hitherto employed, is reduced to a minimum.
Dated this 14th day of August 1899.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Lifting and Gripping
the Ropes, Cables, or Chains of Rope or similar Railways.
I, WILLIAM PELHAM BULLIVANT, of 72, Mark Lane, in the City of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to apparatus for use on rope or similar railways and has
for its object to improve, and render more effective and reliable, the devices
employed on locomotives brake vans, or other vehicles, for lifting and gripping
the ropes, cables, or chains, of these railways.
I will describe my invention by reference to the accompanying drawings
in which
Fig. 1 is a front elevation &
Fig. 2 a side elevation of the cable lifting device.
Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of a part of the vehicle shewing the general
arrangement of the cable lifting and gripping apparatus thereon.
Fig. 5 is a plan of Fig. 4.
Fig. 6 is a longitudinal vertical section of the cable gripping device.
Fig. 7 is an underside view thereof with the cover removed and
Fig. 8 is a transverse section of the said gripping device.
According to my invention I provide the locomotive or other vehicle with two
manually operated devices for lifting the rope, cable or chain (hereinafter termed
the cable) and between these a cable-gripper operated by steam or other
motive agent (I will for simplicity refer to the motive agent as steam).

page_text: The two cable-lifting devices are arranged to operate together, and are of
similar construction, and each comprises two pivotted jaws A, each carrying,
at its lower end, a preferably flanged, and somewhat pointed, roller B to pass
beneath the cable C and lift it up to the level of the gripper. These jaws A
are pivotted to a slide D which is moved vertically in a fixed frame E by means
for example of a screw-actuated lever and link mechanism X controlled from
any convenient part of the vehicle and arranged to operate both lifting devices
simultaneously.
The two jaws A are connected by links F to a two-armed lever G keyed to a
vertical sliding shaft H mounted in bearings I on the slide D and passing
through a bearing J secured to the fixed frame E this last named bearing (J)
serving to support a lever arm K which is keyed to the vertical sliding shaft H
so that the said shaft can move vertically but not rotate relatively to the lever-
arm K. The lever arm K is connected by lever and link mechanism K¹ with
an operating lever Y at any convenient part of the vehicle the two sets of
jaws being simultaneously operated by the same lever a locking bolt and quad-
rant, or the equivalent being, if desired, provided for retaining the jaws A in
their open and closed positions.
The jaws A are provided with stops a for limiting their inward movement
and a roller L is provided on the underside of the slide 1) which comes in
contact with the cable C when the slide is lowered and thereby indicates to the
operator that the slide is in the position necessary to enable the jaws A to be
closed preparatory to lifting the cable.
The gripper, which as previously mentioned, is situated between the two
herein before described lifters, comprises a strong frame M rigidly secured to
the locomotive, or other vehicle, and two gripping jaws N, O the jaw N being
rigidly secured to the frame M and the jaw Ŏ being movable on the said
frame. The moveable jaw is connected to the frame M by hinged bars or
radius rods P which maintain the parallelism of the two jaws N, O and the
lateral movement of the jaw 0 for gripping the cable is effected by toggle
levers interposed between the back of the said jaw and the frame M. The
moveable jaw O is provided with a stud R which projects through a curved
slot S in the frame M and is connected through a link h¹ and arm h² to a
vertical shaft T which is connected by a lever T and link T Fig. 5 to the rod
of a steam-operated piston working in a cylinder Z the steam for which is con-
trolled by devices situated at any convenient part of the vehicle. The piston
rod is preferably guided by a cross head U working on guide-bars V which are
provided with buffers W to prevent or absorb shock.
Supposing the apparatus to be in its inoperative position with the jaws A
open and that it is desired to lift and grip the cable C which is then in the
position in which it is shewn in dotted lines in Fig. 1 the operator first lowers
the before mentioned slides D so as to bring the rollers L thereon into contact
with the cable which thereby indicates to the operator that the jaws are in
position to enable the rollers B to pass beneath the cable. He thereupon closes
the jaws A and raises the slides I together with the jaws and cable, until the
cable comes in contact with the gripper the jaws NO of which are open to
receive the cable. Steam is then admitted to behind the piston in the cylinder Z
so as to cause the moveable gripping jaw 0 to approach the fixed jaw N and
grip the cable C and prevent it from slipping through the gripper whilst main-
taining a constant grip on the cable, and preventing any momentary release of
the gripper which might be due to difference in speed between the vehicle and
the cable.
To release the cable it is only necessary to open the jaws A. and admit steam
to the front side of the piston in the cylinder Z which piston then operates to
open the jaws of the gripper to allow the cable to fall to its normal position.
By operating the gripper by steam, or equivalent motive agent, as herein-
before described, the action of the said gripper is rendered practically instan-

page_text: taneous so that the destructive abrasive action on the cable, which is incidental
to the hand operated grippers hitherto employed is reduced to a minimum.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. For use in cable traction the combination with a cable lifting device and
a cable gripping device of motor mechanism operatively connected with the
gripping device substantially as set forth.
2. For use in cable traction the combination with a slide and devices for
operating it by hand, of two jaws pivotted to the slide, flanged rollers mounted
on the jaws, devices for opening and closing the said jaws by hand, and a roller
on the slide, for lifting the cable, substantially as set forth.
3. For use in cable traction the combination with a slide and two cable
lifting jaws pivotted thereon of the stops on the said jaws for limiting their
pivotal movement substantially as set forth.
4. In a rope gripper for use in cable traction the combination with the move-
able jaw thereof and with motor mechanism for operating the said jaw of a
vertical shaft connected at its opposite ends by lever-arms and links to, respec-
tively, the moveable jaw and the motor mechanism, substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
5. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the apparatus for
lifting and gripping the ropes, cables or chains of rope or similar railways sub-
stantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
1000
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.