IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFTING HEAVY BODIES UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, SUCH AS MINERALS OR OTHER SUBSTANCES FROM MINES TO THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH, OR FROM ONE STORY OF AN EDIFICE TO ANOTHER, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR SUCH PURPOSES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Royds, Manager, Thomas Roscow, Coal
Master, and James Lord, Gentleman, all of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFTING HEAVY BODIES
UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, SUCH AS MINERALS OR OTHER SUBSTANCES FROM
MINES TO THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH, OR FROM ONE STORY OF AN EDIFICE
TO ANOTHER, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR SUCH
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 1st January 1858, and dated the 3rd July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Royds, Thomas
Roscow, and James Lord at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd July 1857.
We, THOMAS ROYDS, Manager, THOMAS Roscow, Coal Master, and JAMES
LORD, Gentleman, all of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFTING HEAVY
BODIES UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, SUCH AS MINERALS OR OTHER SUBSTANCES
FROM MINES TO THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH, OR FROM ONE STORY OF AN EDIFICE
TO. ANOTHER, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR SUCH PURPOSES," to
be as follows:-
The said Invention is applicable to such purposes as the raising of coals
from coal mines, the transfer of goods from a lower to a higher part of a mill
or warehouse, and vice versa, of railway waggons from one platform to another,
and other operations of similar character. It consists in raising or lowering
the matter to be moved by attaching it to a moveable nutt, cylinder, or barrel

page_text: formed with an internal screw, corresponding to an external screw or thread
upon a vertical shaft, which shaft passes through the aforesaid screwed nutt,
cylinder, or barrel. The screwed shaft being put in motion round its axis,
while the nutt or cylinder is prevented from turning, the latter, together with
its load, is compelled to move along the line of the shaft. The machinery by
which we accomplish this consists of the screwed shaft before mentioned, and
its corresponding nutt or cylinder, together with suitable gearing or mecha-
nism for communicating the necessary revolving motion to the screwed shaft,
from the first mover of the subordinate parts for restraining the screwed nutt
or cylinder from moving round its axis, for attaching the load to the said
screwed nutt or cylinder, for fixing and retaining the apparatus in its place,
and for throwing the motive power in and out of gear, &c. Two or more
screwed shafts, with corresponding subordinate parts, may be used if necessary
or preferred.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Royds, Thomas Roscow, and James Lord in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
ROYDS, Manager, THOMAS Roscow, Coal Master, and JAMES LORD, Gentleman,
all of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of July, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Thomas
Royds, Thomas Roscow, and James Lord, Her special licence that we, the
said Thomas Royds, Thomas Roscow, and James Lord, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Royds, Thomas
Roscow, and James Lord, our executors, administrators, or 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 of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LIFTING HEAVY BODIES UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, SUCH AS MINERALS
OR OTHER SUBSTANCES FROM MINES TO THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH, OR FROM ONE
STORY OF AN EDIFICE TO ANOTHER, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR
SUCH PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas

page_text: Royds, Thomas Roscow, and James Lord, by an instrument in writing under
our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particu-
larly 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 we, the said Thomas Royds, Thomas Roscow, and
James Lord, do hereby declare that the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by this present instrument in writing, reference being had
to the annexed Drawings.
Our Invention consists in a new application of the screw to the purpose of
raising and lowering heavy bodies under circumstances wherein that mecha-
nical agent has not heretofore been used. The raising of minerals from
mines, the transfer of goods from a lower to a higher story of an edifice, and
vice versa, may be adduced as examples of the uses to which our Invention
is intended to be applied. We say a "new" application of the screw,
because we are aware that the same mechanical agent is already used for
elevating heavy bodies slowly through small spaces or distances in the well-
known portable instrument called the "screw jack." The method of raising
heavy bodies by means of the last-mentioned instrument and that which con-
stitutes our present Invention have one element in common, that is to say,
the use of the screw as the principal mechanical agent employed; but we
restrict our Invention to the new and hitherto unpractised application of the
screw for the class of purposes and in the manner herein-after specified and
described, and which application will be found to differ from the use and
application aimed at in the "screw jack," the objects or purposes contemplated
in our Invention being of a kind to which the "screw jack" is not in any-
wise adapted.
Our said Invention, so far as regards its mode of operation and general
character, consists in raising the matter to be moved by attaching the same to
or suspending it from a moveable nutt, cylinder, or barrel, formed with an
internal screw or thread answering to an external screw or thread upon a
fixed or stationary vertical shaft passing through the aforesaid nutt, cylinder,
or barrel. The screwed shaft being put in motion round its axis, whilst the
nutt or cylinder is prevented from revolving, the latter, together with the
attached load, is compelled to move in a line parallel with the axis of the
shaft. Two or more screws and nutts may be used in combination.
.
So far as regards the mechanical means or apparatus employed, our Inven-

page_text: tion consists in the combination of the screwed shaft before mentioned with
the nutt or cylinder, and with suitable gearing or mechanical connections for
communicating the requisite motion from the prime mover to the screwed
shaft or shafts, together with the other subordinate parts necessary for restrain-
ing the nutt or cylinder from revolving with the shaft, for fixing and retaining
the stationary parts of the apparatus in their respective places, and for con-
necting and disconnecting from time to time the moving power. Many of
these subordinate parts admit of variation in their forms and characters
according to circumstances, the, elementary feature of the nutt and screw
being nevertheless always-retained...
The better to elucidate the following statement, we have annexed to these
Prosents two Sheets of Drawings explanatory of the general character of the
Invention, and illustrating the mechanical arrangements convenient for putting
the same into practice, by two or three examples or cases of supposed appli-
cation of an ordinary character, and-which-we conceive to be fully sufficient
to convey. such a knowledge of the. manner of carrying the Invention into-
effect as will render the details of construction easy and practicable in any
The parts of the Drawings or Figures are referred to by alphabetical
and numerical characters marked thereon, and when any of these occur more
than once it is to be understood that they indicate the same or similar. things
or parts.
case.
Sheet 1. contains five Figures, illustrating the general principle of our
Invention. Figure 1 is a side view partly in section, shewing the screw
and its accompanying parts. Figure 3 is a plan view of the stage or plat-
form, and the nutt or cylinder, the screw and casing being in section. Figures
2, 4, and 5, are detached parts; A, A,, is a vertical screwed shaft, the foot of
which turns in the footstep shewn in section at B. The pieces or lengths of
which the screwed shaft A, A, is composed may be joined by means of squares
and sockets, as shewn in the detached views Figures 4 and 5, the square A*
forming a tenon, and the socket shewn in dotted lines at A³ being the mortice
which receives it; the screwed shaft A, A, may thus be made of any required
length by connnecting a sufficient number of pieces. On one extremity of
the screwed shaft A, A, is placed a toothed bevil wheel A*; this wheel is not
keyed fast on the shaft, but has slots or grooves in its boss which, embrace
feathers or keys bedded in the shaft A, A; one of these is seen at A'. 'The
shaft passes through a bush or bearing A, resting upon and fixed to a cross
beam, the section of which appears at C, C, and the boss of the bevil wheel.
A rests upon the upper face of the bush A. By this arrangement the
screwed shaft A, A, is allowed to expand and contract under the influence of

page_text: variations in temperature without disturbing the position of the wheel A*.
The latter gears with and is turned by one or more other bevil wheels
receiving motion from some suitable prime mover, in such manner as cir-
cumstances render most convenient. D, D, D, is a casing enveloping the
screwed shaft A, A. The form of its horizontal section is shewn at D, D,
Figures 2 and 3, and will be seen to be cylindrical, with a longitudinal
opening in one direction, the sides of which opening project outwards, so
as to form two parallel flanches bounded by faces D', D', in the samo
plane. In Figure 1 the casing D, D, D, is shewn in side view or profile
at the upper part, half of the lower part being represented as cut away,
so as to expose the interior. The casing may be supported in its place by
lugs or attachments D2, D3, made fast to beams or masonry. The different
lengths of the casing are connected by flanches bolted together, one joint
being partly seen at D³, Figures 1 and 3. F is the traversing nut, cut with
an internal thread to correspond with that upon the screwed shaft A, A;
its horizontal or plan view is seen in Figure 3. Its form externally is
cylindrical, filling the cavity of the casing D, D, D, but having a flanch or
projection F extending along one side of it, and. protruding through the
lateral opening in the side of the casing. This projection terminates in a
T head F², the sides of which overlap and slide in contact with the external
faces D', D', of the flanches of the casing. To the external part of the nutt
is attached the load, which we may suppose to be tram waggons or corves,
borne by a stage or platform attached to the nutt. The construction of the
stage or platform is optional; that shewn in the Drawing will be sufficiently.
understood without verbal description. If the screwed shaft A, A, be
conceived to have a motion of rotation imparted to it through the bevil
wheel. A', it will be evident that the nutt F will be compelled to traverse
along the screwed shaft A, A, with its load, the direction being governed
by that of the motion given to the screw.
This outline will serve to make manifest the general principle of our
Invention, it being understood that the accessaries, such as the mode of
supporting the shaft and casing, the mode of communicating the driving
power &c., are not essential, but given only by way of example, and subject
to variation.
Having stated the nature of our Invention, we shall now proceed to describe
more particularly the mode of carrying the same into practical effect by
examples of its application, illustrated by the Drawings in Sheet 2.
.
The first example is one shewing its application to the raising of coals by
nicans of an engine employed at the same time in pumping water out of the

page_text: mine. Figure 6 is a side view, in which part of the mine, shaft, or pit and
the head gear over the same are shewn in section made by a vertical plane
along the dotted line 1, 2, Figure 7. The engine is shewn in side elevation.
Figure 7 is a plan view, and Figure 8 is.an enlarged sectional view, of part of
the mine shaft, with the platform or cage in profile; Figure 9 shews the
latter in plan view. a is the cylinder, a¹ the beam, and as the connecting rod,
of an engine of adequate size and ordinary construction applied to give rotary
motion to the fly wheel shaft a through the crank a; a' is the fly wheel; a
is a wheel on the shaft a³, which gears with and drives at a retarded speed
another wheel 6 on a shaft 6, formed with two opposite cranks b³ and b³.
These cranks operate through the connecting rods and b, and the bell
cranks or L levers 6 and 67 upon the pump rods, one of which is seen at 6° in
Figure. 6.6 is one of the pumps. The machinery so far is of a well known
and usual character. a' on the shaft a³ is a spur wheel, which gears with and
drives at an accelerated speed a smaller-spur wheel-c,-on the countershaft c¹;
the latter carries a drum c embraced by the driving strap c³, c. d is the
casing of the screw d, firmly supported in the mine shaft by attachments to
beams d³, ds, d³, ds, d², d. The casing and screw are constructed in accordance
with the previous description, and provided with the traversing nutt as before
described. To the latter is attached the stage, platform, or cage, best seen in
Figures 8 and 9. The cage consists of a framework of wood, carrying two
floors e, e, each of which is large enough to admit two corves or tram waggons.
The
cage is furnished at each side of its upper extremity with a friction roller
and at each side of its lower extremity with another and similar friction
roller, e, are two vertical rails of angle iron of the sectional form
shewn in Figure 9, and attached to the same beams as serve to support the
casing of the screw. It will be seen that the rails e³, e, are formed with
flanches projecting inwards, which flanches form the paths upon which the
friction rollers or wheels e, e, travel, the one on the outer, the other on
the inner face. By this arrangement, the tendency of the gravitating power
of the load to cant over the cage is counteracted, and prevented from straining
the screw. ff, are two standards, only one of which is seen in Figure 6.
They are braced together by the cross beam f¹ near the top. This beam
serves also to carry the bush or bearing fs, which supports the bevil wheel d³
at the top of the screwed shaft d. The standards f, f, also carry in steps f³, f³,
the shaft g. This shaft is furnished with three pulleys g¹, 9, 9, and two
bevil-toothed wheels g', g'; the two latter gear with the bevil wheel d³ at the
top of the scrow shaft. The middle pulley g is a loose pulley, so that when
the driving strap is cast on it no motion is communicated to the shaft g. The

page_text: pulley g' is keyed fast on the shaft g, and one of the bevil wheels g³ is also
keyed fast on the same, so that when the strap is thrown on the pulley 9', the
shaft g and bevil wheel g³ are caused to rotate and communicate motion to
the screwed shaft d' in the proper direction for raising the load. The
remaining pulley g³ is not fast upon the shaft, but upon the boss of the other
bevil wheel g, which latter is also loose on the shaft g, so that when the strap
is thrown on the pulley g³, the bevil wheel g' turns the screwed shaft d' in a
direction which is the reverse of the former one, or that which is required for
lowering the cage. The position of the driving strap c³, c, is governed, by a
guide or strap fork h, which rises from a horizontal rod h having endwise
or sliding motion in its bearings h³, h³. The rod h¹ has a grooved collar at h³,
embraced by the prongs of a forked lever h* radiating from the rod ho, which
latter has motion round its own axis only. The rod he is furnished with a
radial lever or arm ho, projecting over the edge of the pit; from. this a rod h
depends, reaching nearly to the bottom of the mine, and armed with stops
h³ and ho. The former of these, near the top of the rod, is caught by a pro-
jection from the top of the cage when the latter has risen to the extreme.
height limited for it, by which the rod h³ being turned partly round, causes.
the strap guide to move the driving strap from the pulley g' on to the loose
pulley g³, and thereby, arrests the further motion of the screw. The stop h³ at
the bottom of the rod h', acts in like manner to shift the strap from the
pulley g¹ to the loose pulley when the cage reaches the bottom, so that
self-acting means are provided for preventing the cage from proceeding too
far in either direction in case of neglect on the part of the attendant. But it
is intended that the movements of the apparatus shall be governed by the
attendant moving the rod h' by hand, as occasion requires, the rod being.
placed near the side of the pit, so that it is within the reach either of a
person in the cage, or on the bank, or at the bottom of the pit.
A second example of a mode in which our Invention may be applied for
the same purpose as in the last is illustrated by Figures 10, 11, and 12. Of
these Figure 10 is an end view in elevation of the engine and winding
apparatus at the pit head, the shaft of the mine being shewn in section, with
half the lifting apparatus and cages. Figure 11 is a front or side view in
elevation of the engine and head gear, the shaft in section as before. Figure
12 is a plan view. .In this case two screws are employed, shewn with their
casings at k, k, k, k. They are supposed to have their threads cut in opposite
directions, but both may be cut in the same direction, the positions of the
driving bevils being altered accordingly. In Figure 11 one of the casings is
shown in section, exposing the screw, the other casing. being shewn in side

page_text: view; k¹³ is one of the traversing nutts or cylinders; ², k, the bevil wheels at
the tops of the screwed shafts; l, l, the bearings or steps on which they rest;
and the cross beam which carries the latter; m, m, m, m, the beams
supporting the casing. All these parts are similar to those of the same kind
before described, and therefore need no detailed explanation. n is a bridge or
cross beam attached to and connecting together the two nutts k³, k¹, and
moved along with them. The cages n¹, n¹, n¹, n³, n¹, n¹, for the reception of
the waggons n, n², n³, n³, n³, n³, are suspended from the bridge n by the
rods n³, n³, n³, n³. The screws are driven by the bevils o, o, on the shaft o¹;
p is the cylinder, p³ the piston rod, and p³ the connecting rod of a high-
pressure engine which acts directly upon the shaft o' through the intervention
of the crank p³. The motion of the engine will consequently require to be
reversed at each change in the direction of the motion of the load. To effect
this the valve gear is arranged as follows:-The. valve lever r works in a ball
and socket.carried by a sliding piece which moves freely in a slotted horizontal
link r¹. The two ends of the link are attached by rods 7, 73, to two eccentrics
7³,³, fixed on the shaft o¹ in opposite directions, so that as one end of the
slotted link moves upwards the other moves downwards, and vice versa. The
movements of the slide will therefore depend upon the end of the slotted link,
which is occupied by the sliding-piece-or ball and socket.. The slotted link
is connected by a rod or link 2, with the upright arm of a right-angled
lever pivoted on a stud in the pillar, the horizontal arm of which
serves for a handle by which the attendant can move the horizontal. slotted
link nearer to or further from the pillar r, so as to reverse the motion of
the engine at pleasure. The whole arrangement is similar to that commonly
adopted for governing the valve motion in a locomotive engine.
.
J
Figure 13 is an elevation of part of a building, and Figure 14 a plan view
thereof, shewing the application of our Invention to the purpose of a hoist for
raising goods to any of the upper stories of a warehouse or other edifice. 8, 8, is
à recess in the front of the building into which doors &³, s², s¹, s¹, open from the
different floors; &, Figure 14, is the threshold of one of the doors; t, t, t, t,
are four guides fixed to the masonry of the building and serving to steady the
cage v, which has clips or forks v¹, v, v, v, at its corners embracing the said
guides; vis the cage suspended from the nutt ; a¹ is the casing attached to
the masonry of the building; and the screwed shaft. These parts are:
precisely as in the other examples, except that the screwed shaft is represented
in this case as being turned by bevil gear at its foot instead of at the top; a³ is
the bevil wheel keyed on the screwed shaft, and a' the driving bevil keyed on
a shaft a³, carried in bearings which rest upon the standards y, y, and turned

page_text: by manual power applied to the winch handle x. The whole of the driving
gear is shewn as occupying a recess z in the cellar or basement story of the
building, but it may of course be transferred to the highest part of the building
reached by the screwed shaft, if more convenient.
In conclusion, we desire it to be understood that we do not intend by
anything herein contained or expressed to represent ourselves as being the
Inventors of any of the parts of the engines, pumps, or other ordinary mechanism
therewith connected, or of any other of the things introduced into the fore-
going statement for purposes of illustration or explanation only; and that we
make no exclusive claim to the use of the screw as an agent or instrument for
raising heavy bodies, so long as the same is confined to short distances only, as
in the common screw jack, and that we restrict our claims of Invention and
privilege as follows, that is to say, we claim,-
Firstly, the raising or lowering heavy bodies through distances exceeding
five feet, by means of a revolving screwed shaft or shafts imparting progressive
motion to a nutt or nutts formed with corresponding internal screws or
threads, as herein-before explained.
Secondly, the combination of a vertical screwed shaft or shafts with a fixed
or stationary casing or casings, traversing nutt or nutts, and other parts
herein-before described, as the mechanical means for raising or lowering heavy
bodies, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lord, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Signed and sealed by the said James Lord,
in the presence of
J. TAYLER, Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JAS LORD. (LS.