A Noiseless Winch.

Progress, Volume III, Issue 4, 1 February 1908, Page 118

A Noiseless Winch.

The mechanical handling of goods, whether on land or sea, has hitherto been a noisyprocess. In a workshop the ceaseless racket prevents conversation and interferes with the clear hearing of orders ; end on board ship the noise of the winches has always been regarded as a bugbear. One might, indeed, go so far as to say that the life of the passenger when cargo is being handled, is rendered unbearable by the ceaseless clang and clatter of the machine. Attempts have been made to remedy the evil, notably by the provision of electrically-driven winches. But cost, speed, and wet decks have, so far, combined to make these unremunerative investments, even when they keep going in order long enough to complete any considerable amount of work. Messrs. David Wilson and Co., of Iyiverpool, have been carrying out experiments for a long time past and have succeeded in producing a silent steam winch, which they have just put upon the market. This firm have had many years experience in the design and construction of this class _of machinery, having built, amongst hundreds of others, the winch used for taking the 60ton lifts out of the wrecked warship Montagu. The improvement in the present instance consists mainly in adapting a sprocket wheel and roller chain drive instead of the toothed gear wheels. The chain is made of stamped steel, with pins of drift steel and rollers of the best solid drawn weldless steel tubes. The chain engages on four sprockets of the smallest wheel and three-fourths of those of the main barrel wheel. The arrangement not only ensures absolute silence, but also safety. All the motions of the ordinary steam winch apply to the approved type, which can be applied single or double geared, and can be reversed as quickly as its predecessor — and silently. The improvement will prove of the greatest assistance to all winch users. Engineers are all familiar with the difficulty of repairing the ordinary gear wheels, the cutting off the broken teeth, drilling holes and inserting plugs while the work is stopped, or in freezing weather c t sea . Such trouble is impossible with the new winch. Art additional advantage is that, if the driving shaft _of an ordinary winch becomes bent the machine has to be put out of commission, whereas with the improved pattern the winch will work even with a bent shaft. There are no teeth and pinion to carry away. If need be a newchain can be fitted in a few minutes ; the defective length can be cut out at leisure and used again. Any ordinary steam winch can be converted at a smell cost in a couple of days. The cost of conversion is certain to pay for itself in a single voyage in the avoiding of repairs. The weight is practically the same as an ordinary winch and the space occupied identical.