Registering apparatus for use in connection with lifting or hoisting devices.

(Application filed Jan. 17, 1900.) (No Model.)

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United States Patent Office.

WILHELM ADOLPH AUGUST ROPER, OF HAMBURG, GERMANY.

REGISTERING APPARATUS FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH LIFTING OR HOISTING DEVICES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 672,018, dated April 16, 1901.

Application filed January 17, 1900. Serial Ko. Ij784. (Ko model.)

To cM zvhom it may οοιτοοπν:

Be it known that I, Wilhelm Adolph August Roper, a subject of the German Emperor, and a resident of Hamburg, in the 5 German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Registering Apparatus for Use in Connection with Lifting or Hoisting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

io The improved apparatus which forms the subject of this invention serves to register the number of loads transferred or displaced from one place to another, and for this purpose it is affixed to the rope, chain, or the 15 like which is employed for raising or lowering the load.

The apparatus is characterized by the arrangement in a suitable casing, to which a hook for the load and an eye or lug for the 20 hoistiug-chain are attached, of a pivotallysuspended locking device or mousing for temporarily closiug the mouth of or entrance to the said load-hook and a registering mechanism, said registering mechanism being ac25 tuated by the oscillation or displacement of the locking device or mousing, the hook itself exercising nd effect upon it.

In order that my invention may be more fully understood, I will now proceed to de30 scribe the same in detail, and for that purpose reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein—

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus as it appears after the removal of the 35 front plate or cover, the parts being in the locking position; and Fig'. 2 is a similar view showing the parts pushed aside by the load attached to the hook and being about to return into their locking position.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout both figures.

A hook al for suspending the load is rigidly fixed to the casing G, while as a closing or mousing for this hook a spring-actuated 45 tongue or bar cZ is arranged within or upon an oscillating or swinging part or plate δ. This plate b, being under the influence of a spring Zc, is pivotally mounted upon a pin c, which is fixed in the casing. It is provided 50 upon one side of the locking-bar d with a suitable spring-actuated detent or triggerbolt e f, which engages a notch or shoulder r' of the locking-bar d in order to hold this bar in its forward or cocked position against the tension of its spring g. In proximity to the 55 trigger-bolt a keyhole h is provided in the swing-plate b, and this keyhole comes in line with another keyhole i in the wall of the casing G when the swing-plate b or the lockingbar d, respectively, occupies the closing posi- 60 tion, Fig. 1, so that a kej⁷ p may then be inserted through the registering keyholes i and h for operating the trigger-bolt e. Within the casing G is also provided a catch-lever I, having a projection or arm Ϊ at its lower por- 65 tion. This catch is arranged in proximity to the swing-plate b, and a second keyhole m is provided in the casing-wall in order that the catch-lever Z Z' may be disengaged from a nose or projection 0 of the swing-plate by 70 means of a second key n.

The apparatus may be used as follows: Assuming there are loads at the same time to be registered and transferred from one place to another—for instance, from a steamboat into 75 a barge or lighter—then the man on board the ship who attaches the load to the hook of the registering device will receive the key n for operating or releasing the catch Z and the man on board the barge who removes the load 80 from the hook the other key p for actuating the trigger-bolt e and the locking-bar d, respectively, of the registering apparatus, the latter being suspended by means of its lug or ear a? from the chain or rope of the hoisting 85 device. The load to be raised and brought from the steamboat into the barge is hooked or attached by means of a loop s or the like of a suitable sling, sling-dog, strap-chain, &amp;c., to the bill of the hook a' of the registering 90 device, (in the drawings this loop s beingshown by dotted lines.) The man on board the steamboat disengages the catch or ratchet lever Z from the nose 0 of the swing-plate b by turning the said catch or ratchet le- 95 ver by means of the key n into the upright position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, in which position it is retained by its lower arm Z' resting against the face or edge of the swingplate b, as is obvious from Fig. 1. ' On hoist- 100 ing or raising the load (not shown in the drawings) the ear or loop s, with which the load is suspended from the hook, slides down . the curved inner ridge of the hook and causes «Ή

672,013 by its weight the previously-released lockingbar d and its supporting-plate, respectively, to swing against the tension of the spring k toward the shaft or shank of the hook, where5 by the mouth or entrance of the latter is opened and the loop s from which the load is suspended enabled to slide down underneath the lower end of the locking-bar d wholly into the hook. By this inward oscillation of the io lockingdevieealso the previously disengaged catch-lever I, resting or bearing with the arm ΐ or the like against the swing-plate b, is caused to tilt back, so that it now rests or slides with its hook upon the edge of the 15 swing-plate. (See Fig. 2.) As soon as the loop s of the load has passed the locking-bar d the latter or its swing-plate, respectively, is oscillated or turned back by its spring k into its former position in order to again close the 20 mouth of the hook and to prevent thereby any fraudulent removal of the load from the hook. At the same time the locking-bar and the swing-plate, respectively, reach the closing or locking position the catch-lever slides 25 or snaps over and behind the nose of the swing-plate, thus securing the latter against any movement. (See Fig. 1.) On displacement of the locking device, (swing-plate and locking-bar,) whether it be its inward or out30 ward oscillation, or both, a push-rod «, attached to the registering mechanism R and provided with a friction-roller t, is operated by a cam-face b' of the swing-plate b in such a manner as to indicate the suspension of the 35 load. After the load by means of the hoisting device has been transferred to and desposited at the place at which the load is to be removed from the hook—that is to say, after the load has descended into the barge—the man 40 in this craft who holds the second key p— that is to say, the key for the locking device— puts this keyj) in the registering keyholes i and h of the casing and of the swing-plate, respectively, and by turning the said key 45 draws back the trigger-bolt e, whereupon the thus-freed locking-bard shoots inwardly into the casing G, thereby opening or unbarring the mouth or entrance of the hook a' and allowing the load, or the loop s of its attach50 ing means, (sling, sling-dog, strap-chain, &amp;c.,) respectively, to be removed from the hook. The inward position of the lockingbar d is shown in Fig. 1 by dotted lines. After the removal of the load the man in the 55 barge again cocks the locking-bar d by moving the same against its springg outward of the casing and into its former already-described closing or locking position, in which the said locking-bar is again retained by the trigger60 bolt e, as described above, in order to again bar the mouth or entrance of the hook. The cocking or displacing of the spring-actuated locking-bar d may be effected by means of the same key p by which the trigger-bolt e 65 had been previously released. For this purpose the locking-bar d is provided with a shoulder r, upon which acts tlje key p on its being- turned around, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. The hoisting-chain, with the registering apparatus and the barred hook, is 70 then shifted onto the steamboat in order to unload in the same manner as described a second load, and so on.

As the registering apparatus which forms the subject of this invention is arranged for 75 loads of at least some hundredweights, the spring k, retaining the swing-plate b and locking-bolt d, respectively, may be of such strength that the locking device cannot be pressed or pushed away toward the shank of 80 the hook by ordinary manual force in order that the swing locking device may not be liable to be displaced with fraudulent intent.

The device above described is only a constructional example of the hook-lock or clos- 85 ing device. The invention embraces and includes all closing devices owing to the displacement of which the registering mechanism is operated, while the hook itself exercises no effect upon the registering median- 90 ism.