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Lisle's Apparatus to Prevent Overwinding. —A trial of this apparatus, the 
invention of Mr. Roger Lisle, of Sandhurst, was made at the mine of the Red White 
and Blue Company in June last, in the presence of several mining managers and other 
gentlemen interested in mining, who were unanimous in the opinion that it was the 
most simple and effective they had yet witnessed. I regret that, in consequence of the 
incompleteness of the drawings sent to the department, I cannot reproduce here a 
sketch of the contrivance, but the following description of it has been forwarded to me 
by Mr. Inspector Grainger:— 
Fixed to the skid there is a projecting lover about ten feet above the binding brace. A wire is 
attached to this which passes over a bell crank fixed to the skid about ten feet above the lever. This wire 
is conducted to the slide valve over a bell crank under the lloor of the engine-house, and to the levers to 
which weights are attached, being held in position by a pin passing through an eye. From the main wire 
from skid there is another one attached which connects by a pin which enters a slot and holds a thin flat 
bar of iron, also held by a pin with a weight attached to the brake. As soon as the cage overwinds and 
comes in contact with the projecting lever in the skid the wire becomes taut and instantly shuts off the 
steam and applies the brake. The steam is not entirely shut off, only § of the port being open, thus 
preventing the cage again descending even if the brake should fail, a sufficient amount of back steam being 
there to prevent the engine going over her centre. The appliance is very similar to the one at the Ajax 
mine at Castlemaino; in fact, the principle is quite the same. 1 saw a few trials of it, the cage being raised 
at the ordinary speed, and in every instance it acted well. I he appliance at present is only connected to 
the brake on the drum, but it is the intention of the manager to apply it to the brake on the fly-wheel 
also. 
Phillips ’ Apparatus to prevent Over-winding. —Mr. P. E. Phillips, of Camp¬ 
bell’s Creek, who states that he has been connected with mines and mining machinery 
from his youth, in England and in this colony, has forwarded to me a model of an 
appliance invented by him to prevent over-winding, a sketch of -which is here given. 
The machine is simple in its operation. There are two vertical slides working in guides. 
These are fixed above the brace. The first slide is connected to the throttle-valve by 
Should the cage be carried above the landing brace through accident or the 
a wire. 
neglect of the engine-driver, the cage would at once carry the slide in an upward 
direction, and the steam would he at once cut off. Should the engine continue to 
work after this, the cage would come in contact with the second slide, which is 
connected by a wire to a wheel or travelling crank. This applies the brake gradually 
to the fly-wheel of the engine, and the whole machinery is brought to a standstill. The 
brake is held to the wheel by a foot ratchet, and here it remains until it is thrown off 
by the engine-driver, or some one else. This can be done with the foot. Mr. Phillips 
considers that any contrivance which provides for cutting off the steam and stopping 
the engine simultaneously would not be safe when the engine is driven at full winding 
power. His invention provides for cutting off the steam first and allowing the cage to 
travel 20 or 30 feet (if the fly-wheel will cany it so far) before applying the brake. 
The distance which the cage will travel after steam is cut off can he ascertained in 
every case, and the second slide fixed accordingly. 
Safety Hooks .—Writing under date 7th January, 1884, Mr. Inspector Stewart 
(Ballarat) reported:— 
Some time since I got made a model in wood of Humble and King’s safety book (taken from the 
report of the Mines Department for 1880). Since then I have exhibited it at various places, and left it at 
the offices of the Ballarat and Creswick Miners’ Associations. I also sent it to Sandhurst to the annual 
conference of the miners. Many of our milling blacksmiths have taken drawings of it, and, in every 
instance, it is pronounced superior to any other hook. 
In consequence of the miners working in the Lone Hand Company’s mine petitioning their manager 
not to use safety hooks, I lent the latter my model, and on Saturday I saw a model of a hook at the Phoenix 
Foundry from a design by the blacksmith at the Lone Hand mine. The company are going to make six of 
them for their large double cages. The first will be ready next Saturday. I will then see it, after which I 
will forward you drawings. It appears to me to combine simplicity and strength, and, with good catches 
above the brace, it will no doubt answer, but it does not (like Humble and King’s) suspend the cage without 
the catches. A great advantage in Humble and King’s hook is that there is nothing projecting, around 
which the chain or any other thing can catch. All its working parts are hid until it is brought into action, 
and it is tine only hook that I know of that is free from these projections. 
I am sorry to say there is a feeling growing amongst some classes of the mining community against 
safety cages, and an agitation is getting up in favour of doing away with them, but I am still of opinion 
that Allan’s and McKay’s cages, if kept in good order in their working parts, and the springs particularly 
looked after, are fairly reliable. But if plain steel is put in for springs without being tempered (as it 
appears was done in the Duke Company’s cage), then of course they cannot be expected to act, for steel so 
put in would flatten out straight, hut would have no spring in it. 
