US1455369A - Hoist - Google Patents

Description

May `15, 1923.

1,455,369, H. S. VALENTINE I HOIST Filed Jan. 51. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet, l

May 15, 1923.

H. S. VALENTINE HOIST Filed Jan.

51, 1922 s sheets-sheet 2 FJGL May 15, 1923.

H. S. VALENTINE HOIST Filed Jan. 3l. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 HERBERT S. 'VALENT1NE, 0F PHTLLADELHEA, ?ENNSY&VNA;

H'GIST Application l'led January 3l, 1922. Serial No. 532,9'l5.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, HERBERT S. VALEN- 'r1NE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident ot the city ci Philadelphia, in the county orn Philadelphia and State of Penn- Sylvania, have invented certain newand useful improvements in Hoists, of which the following is a specilication.

lily invention relates to hoisting,r devices and particularly to those hoists which depend trom and are arranged to travel upon an overhead track, and 'further to those hoists in which the loadblock is operated by an electric motor mounted upon the carriage, and the'carriage is suspended from a rail or beam, the lower flanges ot which i'orm the track for the carriage wheels.

rll'here is a 'marked tendency in modern building construction to reduce to its smallest dimension the distance between the floors oit a factory building, with the result that in many buildings the low head room raises a serious obstacle of the installation and to the use of overhead traveling hoists', because the carriage of ordinary hoists, and the parts mounted thereon, depend for aconsiderable distance below the tracks upon which the' carriage is mounted. The matter ot one foot in headroom will often prevent the successful installation and use ot' an overhead travelling hoist particularly of the mono-rail type.

The amount of lift obtainable .from an overhead mono-rail travelling hoist is necessarily limited or reduced by two factors, namely, (l) vertical-height of the beam Iwhich constitutes the track or tracks on which the carriageftravels, and (2)Y the length of the load-block, but in the lloists .as heretofore constructed the `vertical liftV is still further reduced by the interposition of the carriage and parts mounted thereon between the rail and the block.

The object of my invention is to so construct and arrange a travelling hoist that the vertical `lift is increased to the full height of the room, less the vertical height of the rail constituting the track and the ylength of the load-block, that is t0 say, to provide a construction in which the loadblock may be lifted vertically until the top thereof almost touches the underside of the track rail. Y

further object ofmy invention is to rovi-de a hoist wherein the greatest possililo lift is obtainable with a given headroom.-

.moves 'vertically directly underneath the track, and between the motor and the windingr drum, to and from a position where the pulley or 'topmost portion loli'the'-lifting block just clears, withouttouchini, lle underside of 'the track raillg. i" l f` A further object ot. inyfinvention, is to provide in 'the carriagelfo'f'atravelling hoist a clear spacebeneath v'the trae/lr into lWlimln.

the loadfbloclr may "beiraised` and :lowered without interference :trom the winding drum, the motor, or thegearingftherebef tween.

A further 'object of my invention is. to

mount the winding drum and thegmotorffor supplying the power to operate SaidQdrum.,

on the carriage ot a mono-rail electric hoist that the two parts of the hoist on opposite sides of a plane passing, verticallythrough the middle longitudinal line of the track or tracks are substantially balanced.

A further object of my invention istojso arrange and position on the carriage the winding drum and the anchor for the hoisting cable. that the continued rotation of the driim. will lift the 1oadbloclr until the top of the said block almost touches7 but just 'l clears,'th e underside of the track rail.

Other objects of my invention will appear in the specification and claims below.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification and in which the same ,reiter ence characters are used throughout the various views to designate the same parts, Fig. l is a side elevational view of my improved electric hoist mounted. upon an beam constituting the track of a mono-rail hoist. v

- Fig. 2 is a similar view of the opposite side of the device shown in Fig. 1, and showing the lift-block dropped somewhat below the positionsh'own in Fig. 1. Y

Fig. 3 is' a transverse sectional view on the line 3--3 of Fig. 5 the motor being omitted, and its position indicated in doteferring now to the drawings in which is illustrated one embodiment ofV my invention there is provided an I-beam 1 adapted to be secured to the ceiling or other suitable support, the web2 thereof being vei'-, tical and the lower flanges 3-3 constituting the track or tracks upon which travel the wheels or rollers 4:, turning on axles 5 rigidly mounted in the upper part of thecarria-ge 6. ln suitable bearings 7-7 in the carriage is mounted the shaft 8 of the winding drum 9 the axis of said shaft 8 being arranged preferably parallel to the tracks 3 3 of the Lbeam 1. 0n a bracket 10 and on the opposite side of a vertical plane 11 passing' through the middle longitudinal line of the tracks 33 provided by the -be-am 1, is an electric motor 12, which may be of any Well-known and approved type and construction. The shaft of this motor 12 is provided with a pinion 13 which through a suitable tra-in 14 of spur gearing isI adapted to drive the spur gear 15 rigidly secured to one end of the winding drum shaft 8. This train 14n of gearing will include a lowering brake 16 of any approved type, such, for instance, as one of the Weston type. |This `Weston lowering brake mechanism is a Wellknown construction and will need no further description in connection withi this invention. rllhe construction of such a brake is indicated in my U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,058,497 granted April 8,1913.

The opposite end of the. main shaft of the motor 12 may beand is provided with a solenoid brake 17 of any well-known and approved construction the function thereof being'to apply the brakes to hold theload suspended when thevpower is shut od'. @ne

type of such solenoid brake is also fullv illustrated in my above mentioned Letters Patent. The train 14 of rotation gearing is mounted upon one end of thev carriage 6 and is preferably enclosed in a suitable housing 18.

The wlnding drum 9 is preferably provided with two sets of helical grooves 19-19 each set respectively covering one half of the surface of the drum and inclined or pitched in opposite directions. The two free ends ofA the hoisting cable 2O are respectively secured tothe ends of the winding drum 9 and lie in the outermost convolutions of' the` grooves s matic.

19-1-19. This cable 20 has therefore a loop or bight therein midway between theends thereof, at which point it passes around an equalizing pulley 21 mounted in a yoke 22 rigidly bolted or secured to the carriage 6, this pulley and yoke forming an anchor 23 on the carriage for the middle loop of the cable. rllhe two stretches of the cable between the surface of the winding drum 9 and the anchor 23 pass under two pulleys or sheaves 24 of the load-block 25 which, in addition to the said pulleys. comprises the stud or shaft 26,1upon which the said sheaves are mounted to rotate, the guar'd I27 and the yoke'28 in which theshat't- 26 is rigidly mounted, and from which depends the preferably swiveled load-hook 29.' lt is to be understood however that this load-block 25 may be of any suitable two sheave type and construction, but it is preferably one in which the overall vertical dimension is as short as it can be made, consistent with.

strength and flexibility of the cable to be used in the hoist. nthe opposite end of the Carriage 6 there is mounted t-he usual controller 30 for the motor, operated by suita-ble controlling ropes'or cable 31 depending therefromand by which the speed and direction in which the motor 12 shall rotate is controlled and regulated. Upon the end of the shaft 8 oppositelto that on which the gear 15 is mounted and .within the housing of the controller 30 there may be provided anl adjustable upper and lower limit switch 32 which may be set to automatically stop the operation of the motor 12 when the block has been raised to its uppermost position and also when the cable has been unwound from the drum to any extent desired. This switch 32 may be of any well-known and approved construction, the showing in the drawings of this specification being merely diagram-v The mechanism is such that when the traveler 33, mountedv upon a'screw 34 secured to the shaft 8, reachesa pre-determined position due to the rotation of the shaft' 8 in one direction. it' breaks the electric circuit by means of which the` electric motor 12 is driven. and when the traveler 33 moves in/ the opposite direction to a predetermined position, due to the 4rotation of the shaft 8 inthe opposite direction, the circuit is also broken for the same purpose.

From the-above it will now b'e apparent that the winding drum 9 and the Imotor 12 aremounted on opposite sides of' a plane 11%11' passing midway vertically through the @beam 1 and midway between the tracks 3, and that these heavy parts are so disposed that they tend to balance the carriage and parts carriedvtherebv on each'side ot said plane. This construction also provides a considera-ble space between the winding 'out of contact with the under side ofithe' ilanges 3 of the I-beam l.

In order thatv said block 25 may be lifted to such position, the axis of the winding shaft 8 is located in the carriage 6 above a lhorizontal lane lwhich is below the plane of the un( er surface of the I-bcam a distance not greater than the radii of the pulleys or sheaves 24 of the load-block 25. As above stated the axis of the winding shaft 8 is preferably parallel to the track 3 3 and therefore it is located on one side of the vertical plane 11 and at a distance therefromnot less and preferably a little more than' the sum of the radii of the drum 9 and a sheave pulley 24:. The electric motor 12 is also so located that the inner side of the outside casing or lining thereof is spaced from said vertical plane by a distance sufficient to prevent any contact therewith of the cable 2() between the anchor 23 and the sheave pulleys 24.

The electric motor 12 is also spaced from the middle vertical plane 1l of the tracks at 'a distance not less than the radius of a sheave pulley-24, or one-half the width of the loadblock 25, so that at all times it will be out of contact with the load-block and that stretch if the cable between the load-block and the anchor 23. In this way a free space is provided in the carriage between the motor and the winding drum and underneath the I- beam 1 and tracks 3 suiiiciently wide to perneither the controller 30 of the motor nor the housing 18 for the gearing 14 between the motor 12 and the winding drum 9 extend below the underside of the I-beam 1 a distance substantially greater than the ltotal length of the load-block 25. No part of the carriage or the rigid parts mounted thereon, will interfere with the clear rise of the loadblock 20, to apoint where it almost touches the track beam. No part of the carriage depends below the load-hook 29, when the loadblock 25 is lifted to its highest position.

By reason of the construction and arrangement above described, I am able to effect, in a hoist of the mono-rail type, the greatest vertical lift possible, with a given head room and the increase in thel lift over tha-t obtainable in other hoists of this type is very substantial. Thus, for al two-ton hoist of the` ordinary mono-rail type, the hook of the load-block cannot be I raised higher than ,Y

within about 42 inches from the underside of the rail, and generally, this distance is considerably greater, up to 40 or 53 inches. In my construction, however, the load-hook of a hoist of the same capacity can be readily lifted to within 11 inches of the underside of the rail. This increased lift of from 31 to 42 inches over that obtainable in the ordinary hoist becomes very important whenever the head-room is low.

It is to be understood that the carriage and the parts mounted thereon, including the electric motor, the winding drum, the controller, and the gearing, constitute the rigid parts ofthe hoist', and that these vrigid parts usuallyc decrease the lift obtainable from a hoist by reason of their disposition on the carriage. In my improved hoist, none of these parts depend below the underside of the rail a distance substantially greater than the length of the load-block. i It is'not to be understood, however, that my improved hoist maynot be provided with the usual ropes, cables or chains depending from the (ontroller to a point wit-hin easy'reach from the floor,.but such controller cables or chains are flexible and can be readily swung or deiectcd to any suitable position. out of the way of any object which may be swung from .the hook or anything below the carriage.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desireto protect by Letters Patent of the United States is: 1. In a mono-rail hoist the combination of an overhead mono-rail track, a carriage depending therefrom and adapted to travel on the lower flange thereof, a load-block and i means mounted on said carriage to raise and lower said block in a vertical path directly under said track to and from a position wherein the top of said block is immediately below but out of contact with the under side of said track, no rigid part of said carriage or the parts carried thereby depending below said track a distance substantially greater than the height of said block.

2. In a mono-rail hoist comprisin a mono-rail track, a carriage suspended roln said track and adapted to travel thereon, the

combination of a winding drum, a hoisting .cable secured thereto, an anchor for Said cable, a load-block comprising a pulley restingI in the bight of said cable between said drum and said anchor and hangin -directly beneath said track, said drum an said anchor being mounted on said carriage on opposite sides of a vertical plane in which lies the middle longitudinal line of said' track, and providing between thema clear space for the vertical travel of said block up to substantially the under side ofsaid track the 'axis v'of said drum being horizontal and located above a horizontal plane located be' low the under side of said track a distance not substantially greater than the radius of said pulley and means mounted on said carriage. to rotate said winding drum.

3. ln a hoist comprising a mono-rail track, a carriage depending from .said track, the combination of a winding drum, a cable attached to said drum, an anchorage on said carriage for said cable and a block comprising a pulley and hook mounted in the bight of said cable, said drum and said anchorage being onopposite sides of a vertical plane in which lies the middle longitudinal line of said track and spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the diaineter of said pulley, the axis of said drum and said anchorage being above a plane passing horizontally under said track at a distance not substantially greater than the radius of said pulley, and sald carriage providing an open space extending vertically therethrough below said "track of a size to permit the entrance of said pulley therein, no part of said carriage extending below said rail a distance substantially greater than the length of said block.

4. In a 'hoist comprisingy an overhead mono-rail track a carriage suspended from said trackand adapted to travel thereon, the combination of a winding drurn the axis of which is parallel to the track, mounted in said carriage on one side of a vertical plane in which lies the middle longitudinal line of said track, a cable secured to said drum, an

' anchorage on said carriage for said cable and located on the opposite side of said vertical plane, a block having a pulley and hook suspended on said cable between said anchorage and said drum, a motor mounted on said carriage on said opposite side ol said vertical plane and 'operative to balance the weight of said drum gearing for transmitting power from motor to said drum, said gearing being mounted on one end of said carriage and a housing enclosing said gearing, said winding drum and anchorage being spaced apart horizontally a distance substantially equal to the diameter of said pulley and said cartriage bein provided with a clear space vertically su stantially therethrough beneath said track, no rigid part of said carriage depending below the plane of the underside Lacasse of said trackia distance length of said block.

5. In a hoist comprising a mono-rail` track, a carriage depending therefrom and mounted to travel thereon, the combination of a winding drinn:` mounted on said carria e with its axis parallel m said track, an anc or secured to said carriage, a cable secured to said drum and anchor and depending in a bight therebetween, a load-block provided'with a pnlleyriding in said bight, a motor, and means to transmit the power of said inotor to said drum, said drum being on one side and said motor and anchor on the opposite side of a vertical plane in which is the middle longitudinal line of said track, and providing between them a clear 'space beneath said track of a width greater than the width of said block and the axis ofsaid greater than they ydrum beingabove a horizontal plane spaced 'from the underside of said track by a distance not substantially greater than the radius of said pulley.

6. .ln a hoist comprising a mono-rail track, a carriage depending therefrom, land mounted to travelthereon, the combination with a winding drum mounted on said carriage with its axis parallel to said track, an anchor secured VVto said carriage, a cable secured to said drum and anchor and depending in the bight therebetween, a load-block provided with a pulley riding in said bight,

a motor, and means to transmltrthe power of said motor to said drum, said-drum being on one side and said motor and anchor being on the opposite side of a vertical plane in which is the middle longitudinal line of said track, said anchor being spaced horizontally from said plane at a distancegreater than the radius of said pulley, the axis. of the drum being spaced horizontally from said vertical plane a distance greater than the sum of the radii of said drum and pulley and above a horizontal plane spaced from the under side of said track by a distance not substantially greater than the radins of said pulley.

ln Witness whereof, l have hereunto set my hand this 27th day of January, 1922.

HERBERT S. VALENTNE.

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