CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Taylor, of the firm of James Taylor and
Company, of the Britannia Works, Birkenhead, in the County of Chester,
Engineers, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAISING AND
LOWERING WEIGHTS."
Sealed the 22nd February 1854, and dated the 28th December 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Taylor at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th Decem-
ber 1853.
I, JAMES TAYLOR, of the firm of James Taylor & Co., of the Britannia
Works, Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, Engineers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAISING AND
LOWERING WEIGHTS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the adaptation to the purpose of a pair of engines
coupled together, and their combination or direct connection with the ordinary
erab winch or other suitable mechanical agent, either with or without a
separate framing.
The engines in the general arrangement of their working parts con-
stitute in effect one engine, similar in principle of action to a locomotive
engine.
The engines are coupled together with the cranks at right angles or nearly

page_text: 50, the valve gear being arranged so as to be adapted for raising or lowering
weights, and dispensing with the use of a fly wheel as in stationary engines.
The motion for working the valves should be produced by means of double
eccentrics & links, and regulated by means of one handle or lever. The
valves also should be coupled in a similar manner to those in a locomotive
engine, in order to be capable of supplying the necessary amount of steam at
the particular time required.
The cylinders of the engine may be cast on or bolted to the framing of
the crab winch, or they may be directly connected to it, although mounted on
a separate framing.
The above described hoisting apparatus may be applied to loading and
unloading ships or vessels, and the engines may be used for working deck
pumps. The engines coupled as described may also be combined with other
engines or machines beside the crab winch for the purpose of raising and
lowering weights.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Taylor in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
TAYLOR, of the firm of James Taylor and Company, of the Britannia Works,
Birkenhead, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Taylor, Her special licence that I, the said James Taylor, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Taylor, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RAISING
AND LOWERING WEIGHTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Taylor, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
what manner the saine was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Taylor, 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 Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "Certain Improvements in Raising and Lowering Weights"
is intended to provide a more ready means of applying steam power as a direct
agent therein, in such a manner as to be under easy control, and capable of
adaptation to different loads, and to the varying circumstances under which
weights are required to be raised and lowered. It is more especially appli-
cable to the purposes of loading and unloading ships, whether the machinery
be worked on board the vessels themselves, or on quays or landing places as is
usual with hoisting apparatus.
And my Invention with this object in view, consists in the adaptation to the
purpose of a pair of engines coupled together, and in their combination or
direct connection with the ordinary crab winch or other suitable mechanical
agent, either with or without a separate framing. The engines in the general
arrangement of their working parts, constitute in effect one engine, similar in
principle of action to a locomotive engine, (that is to say,) there are two cylin-
ders working in combination at right angles, the steam being admitted through
a common slide worked by the compound gear, well known as the "link
motion" in its application to locomotive engines.
The engines are coupled together with the cranks at right angles or nearly
so, the valve gear being arranged so as to be adapted for raising or lowering
weights, and dispensing with the use of a fly wheel as in stationary engines.
The motion for working the valves is intended to be produced by means of
double excentrics and links, and regulated by means of one handle or
lever. The valves also should be coupled in a similar manner to those in a
locomotive engine, in order to be capable of supplying the necessary amount of
steam at the particular time required. By this means the power exerted from
the cylinders may be easily regulated, and the load brought under command,
whether it is being raised or lowered through the agency of a simple lever
worked by hand.
The cylinders of the engines may be cast on or bolted to the framing or
the crab winch, or they may be directly connected to it although mounted on
a separate framing. And the cylinders may be supplied with steam from a

page_text: boiler, either united with them as in the case of a locomotive engine, or
separate from them.
'
The above, described hoisting apparatus may be applied to loading and
unloading, ships or vessels; and the engines, with or without the crab winch,
may be used for working deck pumps and windlass. The engines may also be
combined with other engines or machines besides the crab winch, for the purpose
of raising and lowering weights. For example, it may be combined with
cranes in the manner herein-after described.
In order, however, that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Drawings, in
which are represented on one Sheet the general combination of the cylin
ders and "link motion" with the crab winch, the cylinders being intended to
receive their requisite supply of steam from a separate boiler, and on the
other Sheet a mode of combining the engine or engines intended to be supplied
with steam from a boiler united to them with a pair of cranes.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, and "Fig. 2 is an end' elevation of a pair of
engines and crab winch combined in one framing; A, A, are the standards;
B, B, the cylinders bolted to the standards as shown; C is the crank shaft with
the cranks at right angles; D, D, is the compound excentric gear, similar to
the ordinary link motion" used in locomotive engines; E is the starting
and regulating lever through which the excentric gear is made to act upon
the slides, in such a manner as to vary the power exerted from the cylinder,
and change its direction as required to suit different ascending and descend-
ing loads; F, F, is the gearing by which the motion is transmitted from the
crank shaft C to the crab winch G. The rod or handle for acting upon
the clutch boxes so as to throw the apparatus out of gear is shown at 'H;
1 is the admission steam pipe; and J, the exit-pipe; K is a break lever
or treadle connected with an ordinary clamp break; L is a valve box and
valve, by means of which the pressure of the steam used in the cylinders
may be reduced from that in the boiler by any required amount. By the use
of this valve, engines may be worked at different pressures of steam from the
same boiler..
The valve is of the ordinary construction opening towards the cylinders,
and may be loaded to any required amount by either weights or springs,
but I prefer the use of springs as shewn in the Drawing. The action of this
valve is obvious, as on the valve being loaded to, say, ten pounds per square
inch, and the steam in the boiler being thirty pounds per square inch, it
follows that when the pressure of the steam on the engine side of the valve is

page_text: twenty pounds it closes, and thus the pressure of the steam is reduced ten
pounds per square inch.
Now it will not be necessary for me to describe particularly the actions of
the several parts thus referred to, because they are well known as applied to
locomotive engines, and; my Invention relates only to their combination as
shewn in the Drawing and in .any similar manner. It will, therefore, be
suflicient to state that by working the handle or lever E, the valves may be set
in the usual manner, so as to cause the required amount of power to be exerted
from the cylinders, which amount may be thereby regulated to a nicety as is
well known. Thus a load being attached to the crab, winch G, would, by this
means be quite under command while being raised, the lifting power, exerted
being adapted to the load, and by reversing the motion, that is, moving the
rods in their links on the other side of the centres, steam might be admitted
in a regulated quantity on the reverse side of the piston, so as to control the
velocity of a descending load. The cylinders being in duplicate and placed
at or about right angles, they will work easily and smoothly without the aid of
a fly wheel, and the handling of the cylinders being by means of the simple
lever E, by which, as we have just seen, the descent of a load may be
adequately regulated, no break is absolutely necessary, although one might
be applied as shewn in the Drawing in connection with the lever or treadle K.
By means of the lever E the engines may also be stopped as well as worked
cither way without loss of time.
Fig. 3 is a diagram shewing in elevation, and Fig. 4 in plan or horizontal
view on a reduced scale, and without attention to detail, a mode of combining
the engines with a pair of cranes, the whole forming one apparatus in action,
the boiler also being on the same frame with the engines. The apparatus is
thus shewn adapted for loading or unloading two holds of a ship at the same
time from a quay side or other suitable place; a shews the engines; b, the
boiler; c, a moveable frame which carries them, as also the pair of cranes d, d.
This frame is moved along a pair of rails e, e, as may be required; f, f, are
the two holds of the ship. This arrangement may he applied with or without
rails and framing on board ship. In this case also these diagrams sufficiently
indicate the purpose of the Invention, and the mode of working the apparatus
so as to render any detailed description unnecessary, the parts referred to being
well known, and the Invention only relating to their combination.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood, that I do not mean
or intend to confine myself to the precise forms and arrangements of the parts

page_text: shown and described, neither do I claim as of my Invention any of the parts
described, otherwise than as used in combination for the purposes described.
But what I do claim as of my Invention is,-
First, the combination of a pair of cylinders worked by the ordinary "link
motion," with a crab winch, the whole apparatus being under control by means
of a lever as described.
Secondly, the combination of a pair of cylinders worked by the ordinary
"link motion" with a crane or cranes or other engine, or machine for raising
or lowering weights as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Taylor, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JAMES HORNE.
JAMES TAYLOR. (L.S.)