The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

25° THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL thus allowing the detached trucks to pass over cross-overs. Fig. 358 shows another form of coupling suitable for light loads; this is not unlike the “jockey” described previously. 1 his clip can be so arranged as to automatically detach itself from the rope by the following method : The sheave shown is raised above the centre line of the rope, so that as the clip approaches the sheave the rope is lifted clear of and thus detached from the clip, which latter is turned out of the way by striking the sheave. When connecting to the rope, the clip must be turned back. A sheave, as described above, is placed in a suitable position for the rope to drop from the sheave into the clip. An automatic rope haulage plant, built by Bullivant & Co., fitted with brake gear is shown in Figs. 359 and 360. The loaded trucks are brought to the top of the incline and attached to the rope on the left-hand track (when looking down the incline); the rope passes to the brake gear and thence to a turn-round or terminal wheel and back along the right-hand track (looking down in- cline), and down to the bottom of the incline, a distance of about 4,000 ft.; here the empty trucks are attached to the rope. A capstan is used for conveying the full trucks to the top of the incline, and here, after being connected to the rope, they descend, thereby generating a considerable amount of power which is used for working an air com- pressor connected to the brake gear by a train of gear wheels. The air from the compressor is stored in a receiver, which is shown on the top of the engine-house, and this receiver communicates by means of pipes with the capstans on the top and bottom of the incline, which are used for marshalling trucks. The whole of the winding gear and compressor plant is controlled by levers located on the platform of the control tower, from which a man has the whole incline under his observation. After the full trucks have been detached from the rope on the left-hand track at the bottom of the incline, the empty trucks are attached to this rope, and at the same time those at the top of the incline, on the right- hand track, are replaced by full ones. When this has been completed the order is reversed and the full load this time moves down, on the right-hand track, hauling up the empties on the left-hand one. A truck haulage installation, also by Bullivant & Co., erected on a pier, is shown in Figs. 361 and 362. In this arrangement it will be seen that the haulage rope passes down the inside of the tracks (that is between the two rail tracks) until it comes to the cross-overs. Here it dips down, below the pier level, round two sheaves to the outside of the track, in which position it continues till the cross-over is passed, when it returns via two other rollers to the position between the tracks again ; the return of the rope is effected in