Fig. 112.
CHAIN HOISTS
Frequent use is made in garages, machine shops and other places, of a special device for hoisting heavy machine parts. The apparatus referred to is known as a chain hoist. These are built to use chain instead of rope and are designed to operate slowly, but with great mechanical advantage. Different types embody different design of movements, some being merely a train of gears attached to a sheave wheel and driven by a worm gear. Others employ the differential principle in which the hoisting chain is double, one end running over a small pulley and the other end running in the opposite direction over a larger pulley on the same shaft. As the small pulley unwinds one end of the chain slowly, the other pulley winds up the other end faster—thus raising the lower end of the chain loop. Chain hoists are made for various capacities, and can be built to raise the load any desired distance, merely by supplying chain long enough. A chain-hoist attached to a travelling crane makes a very satisfactory equipment for a shop where heavy parts are to be lifted and transferred and should be used wherever there is enough such work to warrant the greater first cost.