US1443882A - Safety retaining mechanism for mine cages, lifts, and the like - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 30, 1923. 1,443,882

H. LYDEARD. SAFETY RETAINING MECHAN'SM FOR MINE CAGES, LIFTS, AND THE LIKE; FILED JuNE19. 1922.

of the cage upon failure of the Patented Jan. 30, 1923.

tli'iE ST-TS HERBERT LYDEARD, or SWINDON, ENGLAND.

SAFETY RETAINING MEorrANIsi/i: EORMINE cases, mars, AND THE LIKE.

Application filed. June 19,

Tov all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HERBERT LYDEARD," subject of the King of Great Britain, resid ing at 96 Beatrice Street, Swindon, W'iltshire, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety Retaining Mechanism for Mine Cages, Lifts, and the like; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description in the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a safety device for mine cages, lifts and the like which will serve to arrest the downward motion of the cage or the like should the lifting cable or its equivalent break, and has for its object to provide a simple .device which will be more eflicient in action than existing devices of this type.

According to my invention a guide member is provided having normally freely disposed therein a ball or balls adapted to be brought into engagement with a guide rope or stay or the equivalent thereof in such manner as to arrest. downward movement supporting means.

In carrying my invention into practical have appended hereto one sheet of. drawings illustrating same wherein Fig. 1 is a view showing my inventionapplied to a mine cage of known construction.

F 2 is a diagonal sectional view 'of a cage illustrating the embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a gripping device in the inoperative or free position.

Fig. i is a sectional view of a gripping device in its operative or gripping position.

Referring .to the drawings the cage 1 which may be of any known type is supported for lifting or lowering by means of a cable 2 connected to any suitable operating mechanism not shown, whilst the usual guide ropes or stays 3 are provided passing through suitable guides at each corner of the cage.

The cable 2 supports the cage by being connected either directly or indirectly to a weighted member 5 slidably supported within a sleeve 6 firmly secured to the roof or other suitable part of the cage. For this purpose the upper end of the weighted member is provided with a loop 7 or other suitable means for the attachment of the cable 1922. SerialNo. 569,403.

9 or a connecting piece 2. The upper end of this weighted member is alsov flanged at 3 to prevent it falling through thesleeve t3. Secured to thelower end of 'theweighted member is an enlarged base portion 5. which serves to support the cage and further gives additional weight to the member 5.

' This base 9 is provided with a circumferential groove 10 adapted to receive the ends of a number of fulcrumed levers 11 fulcrumed to brackets 12 depending from the roof or other suitable part of the cage. These fulcrumed levers are provided with horizontal arcuate ends 13 for this purpose so that they fit freely in and conform to the curvature of the, circumferential groove 10. The outer ends-of the'levers 11 are each formed with a blfurcated portion 14 which engages in a circumferential groove 15 provided around a'plunger 16. Each of these plunge-rs 16 is cylindrical and bored through its axial centre to receive a guide rope 'or stay 3 and has a sliding fit through a collar 1'? screwed on to the base of a guide 1,

so that the plunger is mainly disposed with- H in the guide 4.

The upper end of each of these plungers 16 is flanged at 18 so as to prevent it falling through the collar 17. This flanged portion is tapered downwardly from the centre on its upper surface upon which freely rests a number of balls'l9 which owing to the taper of the upper surface of the plunger tend to roll away from the guide rope or stay 3, and normally'i. e. when thecageis in working order, do not engage the said guide rope or stay but bear against the inner 1 wall of the guide 4.

The guides 1 are of truncated cone formation having'their walls converging upwardly so that should the plungers 16 move upwardly relatively to the said guides the balls 19 will be gripped tightly between the guide ropes or stays 3 and the inner walls of the guides 4:, thereby preventing movement of the guides and consequently the cage along the guide ropes or stays 3.

The operation of the device is as follows :Normally the lifting cable 2 exerts a pull upon the weighted member 5 so that the inner ends of the fulcrumed levers 11 are maintained in their uppermost position whilst the outer ends are maintained in their lowermost position so as to exert a pull downwardly upon the plungers 16 in which position the balls 19 rest freely against the which would leave the cage unsupported by such cable, the weightedmember 5 would immediately owing. to its own weight move downwardly Within the sleeve 6 and so more the outer ends of the fulcrumed levers 1.1 upwardly which will cause the plungers 16 also to move upwardly within the guides 41:

and so grip the balls tightly between the guide ropes or stays and the inner walls of the guides 4 whereby further downward motion of the cage will be immediately arrested.

it will be clear from the foregoing that the greater the weight of the cage and its contents the more positive ill be the gripping action. of the balls upon the guide ropes should the cable break, so that it will be no disadvantage from the point of view of the eiliciency of the safety device to have excessive weights in the cage.

It will .be apparent that in some cases a pair of gripping. devices would serve the purpose instead of four. I

Hitherto it has been proposed to provide a safety device comprising a guide member having a tapered inner surface in whichis relatively movable a sleeve carrying a number of balls in its wall, this sleeve being adapted to be moved within the guide member by a weighted lever or spring, one end of the weighted lever being connected to the lifting cable.

What I claim is 1. The combination with guide stays, of a lift normally suspended by. suitable tackle and mounted for movement along said stays, of means to arrest downward movement of the lift upon failure of its suspension means comprising a plurality of gripping devicesone of which is associated with each guide stay, a plurality of levers each of which is movable to predetermined raised and lowered positions and one of which is associated with each gripping device, said levers being operable when in raised position to hold said gripping devices released with respect to said stays and being operable when in lowered position to cause said gripping devices to grip said stays, a guide sleeve secured to the lift, a weight guided by and movable through said sleeve to preiaeasea determined raised and lowered positions, said weight having an annular groove, one end of each of said levers being disposed in said groove whereby all of the levers are movable simultaneously and correspondingly with the weight, said weight being maintained normally raised by said suspension tackle thereby to maintain the levers raised and the gripping devices released, so that upon failure of the suspension tackle said weight moves to lowered stay passing therethrough, and a plunger reciprocable within said guide member, said plunger having its upper end tapered downwardly and outwardly, and.havinga plurality of balls resting thereon, whereby upon upward movement of said plunger said balls are forced inwardly into gripping engagement with the guide stay by the upwardly tapered wall of said guide member and whereby upon downward movement of said plunger said balls roll down the tapered upper end thereof and outwardly away from said guide stay; and a connection between the suspension tackle and each of said gripping devices whereby said plungers normally are held in a downward position to maintain the balls out of gripping relation with the guide stays and whereby upon failure of the suspension tackle said plungers are caused to more upwardly thereby to cause the balls togrip said stays.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two witnesses. I

' HERBERT LYDEARD. in the presence of G. HUGHES,

C. L. HUGHES.

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