AN IMPROVED Apparatus for GRIPPING OR ARRESTING THE TRAVEL OF ROPES, CORDS, AND CHAINS."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Nicholas Floyd, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
Apparatus for GRIPPING OR ARRESTING THE TRAVEL OF ROPES, CORDS, AND
CHAINS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Nicholas Floyd
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
on the 30th October 1873.
I, JOHN NICHOLAS FLOYD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GRIPPING;OR ARRESTING THE TRAVEL OF ROPES, CORDS,
AND CHAINS," to be as follows :-
This Invention has for its object the affording a simple and ready.
means for gripping or holding fast a rope, cord, or chain for any purpose,
and consists essentially of a short tubular guide capable of turning on
a pivot at one end to an angle of about 90 degrees, and having a slot

page_text: V shaped or otherwise made therein on one or both sides and from one or
both ends. The pivot or centre of motion of the said tubular guide
may be fitted to the lower part of the frame of a pulley block or to any
other convenient fixed point, and the rope, cord, or chain to be gripped
or held fast is passed through the said pivotted tubular guide. On
pulling or allowing the rope, cord, or chain to travel directly and longitu-
dinally through the guidé in the direction of the strain no grip or hold
will be exerted thereon, but on pulling the rope, cord, or chain out of
its direct course so as to cause the gripping guide to pivot on its centre
the rope, cord, or chain will enter one of the V slots and be held fast
by the combined action of such slot, and the sharp angle or bend which
is put into the rope by the pivotting of the guide. The release of the
rope is instantly effected by so pulling the free end as to restore the
tubular pivotted slotted guide to its normal position again.
For some purposes the tubular guide may be left open along one side:
for the facility of laying a rope therein in lieu of threading it there-
through. Either arrangement may be combined with a swivelling plate
or made to assume any other convenient form.
The principle may be further modified by removing various portions
of the pivotted tubular guide, or retaining those parts only (or their a
equivalents) which are essential to the gripping or holding of the rope
from slipping.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Nicholas Floyd in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NICHOLAS FLOYD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors
give and grant unto me, the said John Nicholas Floyd, Her special
license that I, the said John Nicholas Floyd, my executors, adminis:

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Nicholas Floyd,
my 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 for "AN IMPROVED APpa-
RATUS FOR GRIPPing or Arresting the Travel of ROPES, CORDS, AND CHAINS,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Nicholas
Floyd, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 John Nicholas Floyd, 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 accompanying
Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
-
This Invention has for its object the affording a simple and ready
means for gripping or holding fast a rope, cord, or chain for any purpose,
and consists essentially, as shown on the Drawing annexed, of a short
tubular guide a capable of turning on a pivot b at one end to an angle
of about 90 degrees (as shewn by the red lines) and having a slot c
V shaped or otherwise made therein on one or both sides and from one
or both ends. The pivot or centre of motion 6 of the tubular guide a
may be fitted to the lower part of the frame d of a pulley block or to any
other convenient fixed or moveable point, and the rope, cord, or chain e
to be gripped or held fast is passed through the said pivotted tubular.
guide a. On pulling or allowing the rope, cord, or chain e to travel
directly and longitudinally through the guide a in the direction of the
strain no grip or hold will be exerted thereon, but on pulling the rope,
cord, or chain out of its direct course, so as to cause the gripping guide to
pivot on its centre, the rope, cord, or chain will enter one of the V slots c
and be held fast by the combined action of such slot and the sharp angle
or bend which is put into the rope by the pivotting of the guide, as
shewn clearly by the red lines. The release of the rope is instantly

page_text: effected by so pulling the free end as to restore the tubular pivotted
slotted guide a to its normal position again.
For some purposes the tubular guide may be left open along one side
for the facility of laying a rope therein in lieu of threading it there-
through. Either arrangement may be combined with a swivelling plate
or made to assume any other convenient form.
The principle may be further modified by removing various portions
of the pivotted tubular guide, or retaining those parts only (or their
equivalents) which are essential to the gripping or holding of the rope
from slipping.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The construction and use of the peculiar pivotted and slotted
tubular guido a, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before
described.
Second. The application and use of the said pivotted and slotted
tubular guide a in combination with the frame of a pulley block or con-
nected to any other fixed or moving object, substantially as and for the
purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Nicholas Floyd, have to this
JOHN NICHOLAS FLOYD. (L.S.)