A NEW MECHANICAL CRANE 02 MACHINE, FOR THE PURPOSE OF LIPTING AND SHIFTING OF WEIGHTS CF DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS OR KINDS
Year: 1790

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MORECROFT, of the City of Litchfield, in the County of Stafford, Architect, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Eighth day of
July, in the thirtieth year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said
William Morccroft, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said William
Morccroft, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, or such others as I or they should
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within that part of the Kingdom of Great Britain called
England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in
all His Majestic's Colonics and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A NEW
MECHANICAL CRANE 02 MACHINE, FOR THE PURPOSE OF LIPTING AND SHIFTING OF
WEIGHTS CF DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS OR KINDS;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Morecroft, should, within the
space of one calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in His Majestie's
High Court of Chancery, otherwise the said Letters Patent to be void and of
no effect, as in and by the said Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had,
may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Morecroft, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention of
A New Mechanical Crane or Machine, for the Purpose of Lifting and Shifting.
of Weights of Different Descriptions or Kinds, is contained in the Plan or
Drawing in the margin of these Presents. with the references thereto and
description thereof, as herein-after mentioned, that is to say :-
The crane or machine is constructed with a balance beam (A) to turn
upon a center, and where length and strength is required it should be trussed
or braced, to support and strengthen the same. B, B, the truss supporters
with shoulders to rest on the beam and go down the sides of the beam, and
a strong screw pin through, near the bottom part of the supporters, and
under the beam and through the cap piece and center top. C, a yoke
morticed and tenoned to the top of the supporters to support the trusses
or braces and keep the truss supporters steady; and it will be right to put
braces betwixt the supporters to keep them from racking. E, E, trusses
or bracing barrs, which should be let into holes obliquely bored in the
balance end of the beam, and to have screws, nuts, and ferrills to the
same; and the said barrs should go from the balance end of the beam
over the yoke and to a stirrup or strap of iron, which should be well
screwed or fastened to the said trusses or bracing barrs and go down
the sides and under the botton of the beam, and the beam ends
should be hooped, and the said center should have a strong collar or shoulder,
through which should be a hourizontal hole, and the top above the hole
rounded to fit a coved recess of the cap piece, which may be flat at the top,
and screwed or fastened to the beam for the beam to rest upon, and the said
coved recess of the cap piece rested on the rounded top of the collar of the
said center, will admit of the ends of the beam rising or lowering. F,
the main standerd, which should be hooped at the top and well supported
at the bottom by timber or in the ground if wanted there, and a metal socket let
in the top for the center pin to work in. G, G, two or three laces, which should
be well footed to strong timber or in the ground as required, and well screwed
or fastened to the main standerd to keep it steady and strong. H, a strong
chain, with one end hooked to a strong screwed toothed staple of the beam,
and the other end to the balance carriage, as. at I, which balance carriago is
to be guided, supported by, and to run upon a double circular inclined planc,
as at K, K, which plane may be inclined discretionally, and may be made of
iron or wood, and plated or barred for the wheels to run upon, and may e
made of a discretional diameter, according to the proportional length of the
beam, and the distance betwixt the ribs of he inclined plane may be accordin

page_text: to the said balance carriage, which should run clear betwixt them, and the said
inclined plane may form as much of a circle as the business may require, and
the said balance carriage may be made of wood, say planks about two inches
thick, or metal, with partition botton ends and two circular sides to hold
discretional weights, so as to counterbalance part of the burden when loaded,
and easily be brought back down the inclined plane when unloaded, which
balance carriage should have three or four wheels, with axles, nutts, or
limpins fixed to the sides of the said balance carriage, which wheels should
have groved or fenced edges to run steady upon the inclined plane, except
there is rolers or friction wheels to your balance carriage, to work against the
sides of the circular plane, and there should be likewise three or four more
balance carriage wheels, with axles, mutts, or limpins as aforesaid, to run along
the under side or inverted part of the plane, that when the burthen lifts up
the balance carriage it naturally runs up bill, and when the burthen is
unloaded the balance carriage naturally runs back again down the inclined
plane, and sets itself right to the loading place from whence it came; so, for,
the balance carriage to act as intended, there should be two heights of balance
carriage wheels, or two heights of inclined plane and one height of wheels,
which may act nearly the same as the other way. If the ballance carriage
should be too short to fix the braco ropes to, there may be added, as at L, L,
projecting stays to fasten the ends of the rope to, which rope goes from
thence, and fastened to a staple in the bean, and there should be, as at
all the letters M, M, M, a sufficient quantity of stays or feet, say one in
about a yard in length of the inclined plane, well screwed to or fastened to.
the said circular plane, and well footed to timber or in the ground, to keep
it steady and strong. If the said balance carriage sides are not high enough,
there should be four standards well fastened to the said balance carriage,
to have bushes in the same for the spindles or axel to work in, onc. of
which spindles to have turn-barrel and toothed wheel, and the other spindle
or axle to have windless wheel and handle pinion and windless and ratchet
wheel, with catch to fall into the teeth of the ratchet wheel, to support
the burthen in case a person carelessly or by accident quits his hold, and
one end of the main or drawing rope must be fastened to the turn-barrel,
and go from thence over the two pulleys and pins in the balance beam
through a single or double-sheeved pulley or pulleys with hook or hooks to
ditto; and if there is only one single sheeve or pully and hook, the rope end
should be fastened to the end of the beam; but if more blocks than one, the
rope end should be fastened to one of the blocks, one of which should be
hooked or fastened to the burthen end of the said beam
line which shews the ground or gangway that the men go upon.
N, N, is the dottedl

page_text: The crane or machine is here described with a wheel and pinion and single
sheet pulley, but is not intended to be confined to those powers only; they
are only here mentioned for example, as it is constructed for and may be
used with such other discretional power or powers as may be necessary and
requisite to be applied, according to the business, velocity, and power wanted.
They may be fixed upon the ground, or on any story in a building, or on a
carriage, and in a number of different situations discretionally, the Plan or
Drawing in the margin hereof being as fixed upon the ground, or as it will
appear above the sheeting or gangways to the same in a building. They may
be worked with skips or large turnhods, constructed with bottom, sides, and
back, and a large square bule with a hole at each end, which holes should have
pins put through into the ends of the hod for the kods to be turned over to
discharge the earth or loose materials by drawing of a small cord which is
fastened to a rule joint stay that is fixed to the bule and back part of the hod,
which cord should go from the said joint stay over a pulley in the balance beani
nearly over the hod and to a pulley in the said balance beam nearly over the
gangway and through a pulley and weight, and the cord end fastened to the
bean so as the burthen is drawn up, the said weight comes down towards the
gangway, that a man may draw the cord and discharge the load without
shifting his station; and, if required, the turn-barrel may be made rather
shorter and the ends hooped and higher than the middle, and bushed, to turn
round upon its axle, which axle should have a cross upon it near to thic end of
the barrel, and a stud or catch at the end of the barrel to catch upon the
cross, which, when catched, you may wind up the load, and when the burthen
is unloaded, you may, by the help of a lever, throw the catch off the said cross
and let down the hod or any small burthen quick or softly. If the machine
is fixed upon a naked floor of a building, it must be observed that the main
standard should stand upon a beam, or upon something that will support
the foot of it, and keep it steady; and the standard laces should be well footed
upon or fastened to strong joists, beams, or hearing picces, and the said standard
laces must be well screwed to or fastened to the standard, and the feet of the
circular inclined plane should be well footed or fastened to the beams, banding
joists, of bridging joists, or such timber that will support the feet and keep the
inclined plane steady and strong, and boards may be laid on the said naked
floor to form the gangways without further trouble, and by using different
pulleys or wheels towards the burthen end of the beam, the burthen may be
conveyed to a greater or shorter distance. When the machine is to be usel
upon a carriage, if a long balance beam and a large circular inclined plane is
wanted, the axletrees should be longer and rather stronger than common, with
linpins, hurters, and clouts, in the usual way, and the outside circle should not

page_text: be so much wider than the wheels so that the balance carriage will be to
heavy for the ends of the bearers that support the gangways and feet of the
circular plane. All the bottom part of the said carriage may be made like unto
a four-wheeled brewers' or other kind of strong dray; and it must be materially
observed, that the main standard must stand upon a strong pole or bearing
piece, which should be well fastned to the same, and if a pole is used there
should be laces or feathers from the pole to the bolster, and the standard laces
should be well fastened to the standerd and go from thence to the said ends of
the said pole laces or feathers, and the feet of said standerd laces should be
screwed to the laces or feathers and to the bolster near the ends of the bolster,
and the other standerd lace may be well fastened to the pole towards the
binder end of the carriage and the other end to the standard; and over the top
of the side bearers of the carriage there should be two other side bearers,
higher than the tops of the carriage wheels, which should be well supported
with two standerds from the bolster and two standerds from the hind axletree;
and there should be a sufficient quantity of bearing pieces laid across over the
upper side bearers to support the gangways and the feet of the circular plane;
and if wanted for a large machine, there may be added one or two or more
upper beams, according to the size of the circular plane, towards the middle of
the carriage, which may be supported by laces discretionally from the hind
axletree and fastened to the other bearers, and there should be two laces from
cach bottom side bearer to each upper side bearer or cross bearer, and two laces
from the bolster to the cross bearer over it, and two laces from the hind
axletree to the cross bearer over it, except the bolsters are raised up solid, high
enough to do without laces, as often seen in common timber carriages.
The gangways may be made of strong boards or plank of a discretional
width, so that they are broad enough for the men to go upon and are properly
laid to suit the windless's and inclined plane. If the axles are made long there
should be two picces put across upon the fore axletrees under the side bearers,
for the side bearers or the bolster to work and rest upon, and the pin that is
usually called the drop pin should go from the bottom of the axletree to the top
of the upper bearer, and have a nut and screw to top and bottom and shoulder-
ing to rest upon the bolster, and then the bolster, axletree and bearer will assist
and strengthen each other; and the pin to the middle of the hind axletree should
have a shouldering to stand upon the foot of the standard lace or upon the
axletree, and. a nut and screw to top and bottom of the said pin, one of which
mutts will be at bottom of the axletree, and the other nut and screw at the top
of the bearer over it, which will assist to keep the carriage more strong and
steady. The said carriage may be drawn and guided by common shafts and
welds with all implements thereto belonging, or guided and drawn by a

page_text: coach pole and futchils with all implements belonging to the same; but as the
carriage may run upon planks in general, or upon a good surface, men may
casily take the carriage forward without the help of shafts or horses. This
crane or machine may also be used with double power to take up a burthen
at each end of the bean, for one burthen to balance the other, but in that
case' there should be two balance carriages as a counterpoise certain to each
other, which will be inost particularly wanted when one burthen is taken up
or unloaded before the other. This double working will be only useful in
very singular cases, as nien, burthen, and time will seldom suit each other,
by means of a lever to one or both of the returns of the inclined plane with a
cross piece at one end, each end' of which cross piece to have a centre pin
or pivot to work in bushes in the bearer or bearing pieces betwixt the feet of
the inclined plane, and a forked drop hook fixt to a staple to the under side of
the lever; when the end of the lever is lifted up the forked drop hook rests
upon teeth or studs added to the carriage wheels over which the ballance
carriage is going, and when the lever is lifted up it will stand opposite to the
inclined plane, that when the balance carriage returns down the inclined
plane the rollers that are fixed to the under side of the ballance carriage will
press down the lever and force all the said carriage forward, and a drop catch
may be fixed to the fall into the studs or teeth of the wheels to prevent it
going back again.
In witness whereof, the said William Morecroft hath hereunto set his
hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and ninety.
Scaled and deliverel, being first duly
stampt, in the presence of
NATH. ALLEN,
Lincoln's Inn.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of August, in the yea
of our Lord 1790, the aforesaid William Morccroft came before our said Lor
the King in Ilis Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the tenor of the Statutes
made for that purpose.
inrolled the Third day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand.
seven hundred and ninety.