IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING DOORS IN CONNECTION WITH HOISTS."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Barrett, of Eastburn, in the County of York,
Millwright, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND
APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING DOORS IN CONNECTION WITH
HOISTS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Barrett at the Office
"IMPROVE-
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th December 1881.
JOHN BARRETT, of Eastburn in the County of York, Millwright.
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CLOSING. DOORS IN CONNECTION
WITH HOISTS."
The object of my Invention is to arrange the hoist doors communicating with
the various rooms through which the hoist passes in such manner that the respective
doors are always closed except when the cage is opposition to the door.
I accomplish my object in the following manner-When my apparatus is
arranged to open the hoist doors as the cage is approaching the level of the room
floor without the aid of the attendant, I mount at the head of the hoist a rotating
shaft on to which is secured a barrel having a series of cams corresponding with
the number of floors with which the hoist is in connection. These cams are so
arranged that as the cage is approaching each room the cam corresponding with the
room actuates a toothed quadrant which gears into a pinion that is secured to a
grooved pulley suitably mounted and connected by ropes or chains to the upper
portion of the door, which is made in halves, and so arranged that whilst one half
is rising the other half is lowering, thus opening the doors as the cage approaches,
and directly the bottom of the cage is above or below the floor level the doors
begin to close through the action of the cam.
When the apparatus is arranged to open the doors of any particular room, the
attendant in the cage actuates by means of a handle and shafts a number of sliding
bolts which are made to project beyond the face of cage. In case the cage is rising
the bolts at the top of the cage will come in contact with catches secured to the
upper half of the door, raising the same, the bottom half lowering at the same time
the door being full open by the time the bottom of the cage is level with the floor:
on the cage continuing its course the doors are liberated by means of other sliding
bolts secured to the cage. When the cage is lowering, sliding bolts attached to the
underside of cage come in contact with catches secured to the bottom half of door
carrying the same down the upper half rising at the same time.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Barrett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th June
1882.
JOHN BARRETT, of Eastburn in the County of York, Millwright. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING DOORS
IN CONNECTION WITH HOISTS."
My Invention relates to means of opening and closing doors which communicate
from the well of a hoist or lift to the various floors of a building: the object
which I have in view being to ensure safety by opening the doors as the cage is
approaching the level of a room floor, and the closing of the doors as the cage
continues its upward or downward course, and consists in an arrangement by
which the doors are opened and closed automatically by cams worked in connection
with the head gear of the hoist: and an arrangement by which the doors are
opened with the cage by the attendant moving a handle as the cage approaches
any door in the hoist well.
In order that my Invention_may_be-properly understood I have annexed
_hereunto-explanatory Drawings in which Figure 1 represents the front elevation
of such upper portions of a hoist as are required to explain my Invention: part of
the hoist well is shown in section. Figure 2 is a plan of the same. Figure 3 is a
sectional elevation through the hoist well and cage, the latter being so arranged
that the attendant by turning a handle will cause the cage to open the doors
communicating with the next room in the direction of which the cage is travelling.
Figure is a plan of the hoist well and cage.
The doors A and A' are made to slide vertically, the upper half upwards and the
lower half downwards, the two halves being connected by cords, and are actuated
by tappets B in the following manner. The barrel pulley shaft C receives motion
as hitherto, and on the end of the shaft is secured a pinion wheel D the teeth of
which gear with the teeth of the large wheel D¹ which is secured on the same shaft
as the cam or tappet pulley B'. When the barrel pulley shaft C is in motion, one
of the cams or tappets Braises the quadrant arm E and the teeth F at the end of
same gearing with the pinion wheel G causes the same and the grooved pullies G¹
which are secured to each other to revolve.
To these pullies are attached ropes or chains G² each rope being conducted over a
small guide pulley G³ and secured to the upper portion of a hoist door: thus by
the pullies G' turning and wrapping the ropes or chains around their circumferences
the upper portions of the doors A are raised, the bottom halves A¹ lowering at the
same time both halves being retained in their vertical position by the guide
bars S; and the two halves of the door being connected by the cords H passing
over pullies H¹ and made of such a weight that they nearly balance each other:
the upper half being, however, so much heavier that the doors close automatically
when the quadrant arm E is descending.
Figure 5 is a modified arrangement of the quadrant arm E which when fixed to
the apparatus is mounted and operated upon in the same manner as before
described but in lieu of the teeth F at the end of same I substitute sheaved
blocks B2 for obtaining the multiplicity in the lift of the quadrant arm sufficient for
the raising of the doors. One of the blocks is secured to the quadrant arm, and

page_text: the other to anything that is near and rigid, and when the quadrant arm is raised
by the cams B, the block secured thereto is raised also, thereby seperating the
blocks B and pulling or taking up the tail rope G which is conducted over guide
pullies and secured to the top halves of the hoist doors, opening the same in the
manner as before described.
When my cam apparatus is applied to open and close folding or swing doors
hung on hinges shewn in sectional elevation by Figure 6 and plan by Figure 7, I
dispense both with the teeth at the end of the quadrant arm E and the sheaved
blocks B, and attach a rope or chain O to the quadrant arm which I pass over
suitably placed guide pullies at the top of the hoist, and conduct it down the hoist
well. To the rope or chain O in the hoist well I secure cords O' one of which is in
connection with the doors on each floor, and in order to connect the cord O' with
the door I pass the cord over guide pullies P and P₁ and secure it to the small
quadrant fixed to the swing door A³: and, when in case of folding doors the
other door A is connected to the cord O¹ by another cord 02 which passes round
the guide pulley R, that when the quadrant arm E is raised by the cams, the rope
or elinin O is drawn up the hoist well drawing with it the respective cords O'
and Oround the pullies P and P' and R thereby opening the swing or folding
doors A³ and A' which are closed when the cage continues its course by weights or
springs provided for that purpose.
When the apparatus is arranged for the attendant to regulate the opening of
the doors of any particular room (see Figures 3 and 4) I mount a vertical shaft S³
at the outside of the cage which extends the length of the cage. To this shaft I
fix a handle J, by moving which the attendant actuates the bevel wheels and
shafts K and K' mounted above and below the cage, causing the short arms L
and L or sliding bolts to project from the face or front of the cage, so as to
encounter when the cage approaches any door corresponding projections M and M¹
provided on the two parts of the sliding door. These projections are so arranged
in relation to the arms or bolts protruded from the cage, that as the cage ascends,
the upper half of the door is raised by the arms or bolts coming in contact with
the projections M, the bottom half of the door lowering at the same time, the doors
being connected by cords passing over pullies H in the same manner as before
described, or as the cage descends, the lower half of the door is depressed by the
arms L' coming in contact with projections M', the upper half of the door ascending
at the same time, which when relieved, close in the manner as before described the
top portion of the door being made the heavier.
In order to bring the arins back automatically to their normal position clear of
the projections on the door, I fix "swell" pieces S¹ to the door guide bars S so
that, as the cage is proceeding above or below the floor level, the arms L³ secured
on the shafts K and K' come in contact with one or other of the "swell" pieces,
causing the said shafts to turn in their journals and the arms L and L' back into
their normal position, clear of the projections on the doors; the cage being then at
liberty to move from bottom to top of the well or vice versa without the cage
opening any of the doors.
What I claim as my Invention is :-
The combination of the cams, quadrant arm and connections actuating sliding
doors made in halves communicating with the various floors from the well of a
hoist arranged substantially in the manner and for the purpose as herein before
described.
The combination of the cams quadrant arm and connections actuating doors
turning on hinges communicating with the various floors from the well of a hoist
arranged substantially in the manner and for the purpose as hereinbefore
described.
The combination of the parts whereby sliding doors communicating with the
various floors from the well of a hoist are opened by the cage as it is ascending or

page_text: descending arranged substantially in the manner as described and illustrated by
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof I the said John Barrett have hereunto set my hand and
seal this Twenty second day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty two.
Witness
JOHN WAUGH
Assoc. Inst. C. E.
Bradford.
JOHN BARRETT. (L.S.)