IMPROVEMENTS IN GROOVED PULLEYS OR GROOVED WHEELS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Vernon Hope, of Wednesbury, in the County of
Stafford, Manufacturer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GROOVED
PULLEYS OR GROOVED WHEELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Vernon Hope at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st December 1880.
JOHN VERNON HOPE, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GROOVED PULLEYS OR GROOVED WHEELS."
My Invention consists in constructing grooved pulleys or grooved wheels in the
manner herein after described, the object of my said Invention being so to construct
the grooved pulley or grooved wheel that the bottom or wearing face of its groove
shall be composed of a separable ring of cast iron or other durable material, capable
when worn of being removed and replaced by a new one.
Grooved pulleys or grooved wheels constructed according to my Invention are
especially useful for supporting wire rope tramways, but they may also be used for
supporting and guiding colliery ropes or chains for transmitting motive power, and
for other like purposes.
In constructing a grooved pulley or grooved wheel according to my Invention I
make it of two halves or parts, the said halves or parts when joined together
meeting face to face in a plane at right angles to the axis of the pulley; and I make
the bottom or wearing face of the groove of the pulley of a separate ring of cast
iron or other durable material, which is enclosed between the two halves of the
pulley. I connect the halves of the pulley together by means of screw bolts and
nuts or cotter bolts, the said bolts being passed through coincident holes in the said
halves.
For the purpose of receiving and enclosing the cast iron or other ring each half
of the pulley is furnished with an annular recess, so that when the halves of the
pulley are fixed together face to face a trough is formed at the bottom of the groove
in the pulley, in which trough the ring is placed and secured.

page_text: The outer face of the ring, which forms the wearing face of the groove of the
pulley, is made concave to follow the curvature of the sides of the said groove.
I make the halves of the pulley either by casting or by stamping.
In connecting together the two halves of the pulley and the ring constituting
the bottom or wearing face of the groove of the pulley, the said ring is placed in the
annular recess of one half of the pulley, and the other half is placed against the
face of the first half and upon the ring. The said ring is thereby enclosed on three
of its sides by the trough in the halves of the pulley, and by means of screw bolts
and nuts or cotter bolts the said halves are fixed together, and the ring secured in
its place. When the bottom of the groove of the pulley or wheel is worn the old
ring is removed and replaced by a new one, the separation of the halves of the
pulley, and the removal of the old ring, and the substitution therefor of a new
ring being effected with great ease without the use of skilled labour.
Instead of dividing the grooved pulley or grooved wheel in the manner herein-
before described it may be divided at its marginal parts only; or one of its flanges
may be made removeable with the same effect.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Vernon Hope in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st June
1881.
JOHN VERNON HOPE, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GROOVED PULLEYS OR GROOVED WHEELS."
In grooved pulleys for wire rope railways, rope traction, and the like, the base or
bottom of the V or groove rapidly wears out, and then the pulley is useless, and
has to be thrown away.
Now my Invention consists in forming the pulley with a second groove at the
bottom of the main groove, and filling up this groove with a filling that as it is
worn can be thrown away, and a fresh one substituted for it. This is done in the
manner set forth in the Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation, and Fig. 2 is a
transverse section of a wheel. A is the main piece or casting of the wheel made in
two parts, and bolted together by bolts B; C is a ring fitting between the two
pieces, and filling the smaller or secondary groove, as shown. This ring is made
thicker on the inner edge of the annulus at its lesser diameter D than at the
outer edge of the annulus or greater diameter E, and the groove is similarly shaped;
by this means if the ring breaks the pieces are still held in position. When
the whole is bolted up this ring is rigidly fixed in place, and remains so till
nearly worn out, when the wheel is unbolted and a fresh ring substituted.
In this way in a wheel weighing, say, fifty pounds, a ring weighing, say, only
ten pounds when new, and only two, three, or four when discarded, is thrown
away and replaced instead of the whole wheel, a great advantage in the diamond
fields where carriage is so costly.
Another advantage too is that the ring can be made of a softer material than the
wheel; I prefer to use cast iron.
Having now described my Invention, and the best mode known to me of
carrying it into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I believe to be new
and desire to protect under the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The grooved pulley split or formed in two parts or series of parts
bolted or otherwise fastened together, and holding between them a separate ring
forming the bottom of the groove.
Second. The construction of a grooved pulley and ring, substantially as described,
with the ring and its containing groove thinner transversely at the outer diameter
of the ring, or at some intermediate point, than at the inner and lesser diameter of
the ring or some intermediate point, so that should the ring break the two
overhanging jaws of the groove shall still hold the parts of the ring and prevent
any of them flying out.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Vernon Hope, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of May, in the year of Our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
Witness,
ALFRED LANE,
Grocer,
Perry Bar,
Nr. Birmingham.
JOHN VERNON HOPE. (L.S.)