US25003A - Windlass - Google Patents

Description

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MOSES G. FARMER, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

WINDLASS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,003, dated August 9, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Moses G. FARMER, of Salem, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Vindlasses; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the construction andr mode of use of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon.

Figure I, shows the position of the tripod when in use. Fig. VI, is a side view of the apparatus. Fig. VII, is a front view of the Same. The other figures are hereinafter' referred to.

The obj ect of my invention is the raising or lowering of heavy weights ,-weighing ships anchors ;-extracting stumps and all work of that description.

My machine consists of a strong upright frame of hard wood or of metal,-a roller or axle with a ratchet wheel on one end, or on both ends of it,-a toggle-joint, ratchet and lever for actuating` the ratchet wheel with its axle,a retaining pawl or click for securing the progress made in turning the ratchet wheel,-and an apparatus for governing the pawls or ratchets, so that a weight can be lowered by the windlass with the same facility that one could be raised.

Fig. VI is a side view of the machine showing the roller A; the ratchet wheel B,-the lever C,-which with the actuating ratchets D forms a toggle-joint at E.

F is the retaining click which serves to prevent the ratchet-wheel from being moved backward by the weight while the lever is being raised. A chain or rope r may be attached to the roller A, to which any heavy body may be connected that it may be desirable to raise.

I-I-H are two arms which support the axis I, of the lever Cg-upon this axis is the collar J, which carries a spring K, that when properly adjusted, can act upon the arm L, projecting from the click F. From the collar J, there projects a hook M, which serves (when the collar J, is properly adjusted) to act upon and bend the spring N, which projects from the actuating ratchet or click D. The use of the collar J -spring K- arm L- hook M- and spring N, is to follows.

enable one to lower a weight by the action of the lever C. The two main posts of the machine are seen at C, 0,-they are held together by the two crossed bars P, Q, at the upper ends of these posts there is a roller R, having near the middle a mortice U, to receive the end of the supporting lever V, thus forming a tripod, which may be held together if necessary by suitable clamps or stays.

I will now describe the action of the machine when employed to raise a weight which may be attached by a chain or rope to the roller A;-raise the lever C sufficiently far to allow the ratchet D, to engage a tooth of the wheel B, and turn the collar J to the right so far that the hook M cannot interfere with the spring N,-then depress the lever C. This will enable the ratchet- D, to cause the wheel B to advance, in-the direction of the arrow, one tooth. Near the end of the downward motion of the lever C the click F will fall into a tooth of the wheel B and prevent its being turned backward by the action of the weight r when the pressure is removed from the lever. The outer end of the click F is the heaviest and serves by the action of gravity to cause the short arm to engage in the wheel B. If now the lever C be again raised until the ratchet D engages another tooth, the rotation of the wheel may be again advanced, and' this repeated as often as desirable.

If a weight is to be lowered by the action of the machine, it may be accomplished as The collar J is fitted to the axis I so that it can be turned and fixed in any desired position, and may have a set-screw or pin Z to prevent it from turning. This col lar J is so placed that when the lever C is raised nearly as far as would be necessary to take hold of another tooth, the spring N shall abut against the end of the curved arm M, and the further raising of the lever C would cause the spring N to lift the ratchet .D from the teeth of the wheel B. If now the lever C be depressed, the ratchet D will take hold of one of the teeth of B;-the spring N will leave the arm M g-the spring K will strike against the arm L projecting from the click F, and tend to unlock this click, which it will do so soon as the ratchet D presses against a tooth of B and takes o the strain from the click F. Now, if the lever C be raised, the wheel B will be rotated backward by the action of the weight acting through the chain or rope on the roller A.

As the lever C moves upward, the spring N strikes against the arm M, and when a tooth of the wheel B has caught the click F, (which has been released by the upward motion of the lever from the action of the spring K) the spring N, which has previously come into contact with the hook M, and is thereby bent, will release the ratchet D from that tooth of the wheel B, with which it is connected; and now if the lever C be again depressed, the spring N will not leave the hook M in season for the ratchet D to take the same tooth which it did before,- but it will advance and coming over its point will engage the tooth next in advance of the one it was previously acting upon, and near the end of the downward motion of the lever will move the wheel B slightly forWard,-enough to allow the spring K to disengage the click F ;-now if the lever C be again raised, the wheel B will be suffered to revolve backward another notch, and then a weight may be lowered notch by notch, with as much facility as one can can be raised.

It is evident that the action of the ratchet D is dili'erent from the usual action of a lever-ratchetand toothed wheel, which are usually arranged as in Figs. II and III.

In Fig. II the ratchet D acts somewhat in degree as in my invention at t-he commencement of the downward stroke of the lever,-but if the motion in Fig. II were continuous until the ratchet D and lever C were parallel, the point of the ratchet D would slip from the teeth of B while in mine the joint E is so placed that the nearer D and C come to being parallel, the more powerfully the ratchet D acts to cause rotation in the wheel B.-It is plain that the powerful principle of the toggle-joint cannot be applied to a ratchet with a hook as in Fig. III, since the toggle-joint only acts by thrusting while the ratchet in Fig. III acts by pulling.

In Fig. IV is shown the commencement of the stroke of the lever and in Fig. V is shown the end of the stroke in my machine. It is evident that the thrusting power of the ratchet D upon the wheel B is proportioned to the power applied at C; also to the ratig plied to the end of the lever C,-then the force exerted to turn the wheel B will be nearly CI IW X Xiix and to the ratio and since the ratio increases from the commencement to the end of the stroke,-so the advantage or purchase of the machine will increase in proportion to the shortness of the stroke ;-consequently for a ships windlass it might be advisable to make a wheel with numerous teeth so that when a heavy strain came, it could be overcome by taking a single tooth at a lift,-and when under a lighter strain the work wouldv progress faster by taking hold at intervals of two or three teeth.

I claim- 1. The combination of the roller A, the ratchet wheel B, the retaining ratchet F and the actuating ratchet D-with the lever C and toggle joint E, so arranged that the thrusting power of the toggle joint E shall be wholly exhausted when the lever C is fully depressed and the joint E brought into a straight line which intersects the axis I and the point of the actuating ratchet which is in contact with a tooth of the wheel B.

2. I claim the means herein described, of permitting the backward motion of the roller A, vizby causing the motion of the lever C to release alternately the actuating and retaining ratchets through the agency of such means as the springs N K, the projecting arms L M, and the roper position of the collar J, substantia ly as herein described.

MOSES Gr. FARMER. [n s.]

In presence of- SAM. BATCHELDER, Jr., J. M. BATCHELDER.

Images