METHOD OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING GRAVEL OR EARTH FROM THE BOTTOMS OF RIVERS AND PITS, AND FOR SCREENING AND DELIVERING THE SAME INTO BARGES OR OTHER RECEPTACLES
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HUGHES, of Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Excavator, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third did, by Ilis
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and thirteen, and in the
fifty-third year of His reign, for Himself and His successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
His special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
John Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
"METHOD OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING GRAVEL OR EARTH FROM THE BOTTOMS OF
RIVERS AND PITS, AND FOR SCREENING AND DELIVERING THE SAME INTO BARGES
OR OTHER RECEPTACLES;" in which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said John Hughes, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calendar months next immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same (relation thereunto had) may more fully and
at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Hughes, do hereby declare that my said Invention consists in con-
structing and adapting to machinery now in use an apparatus for screening or
separating the fine sand or gravel from the coarse gravel or stones, and in
placing the said apparatus in such a direction as to convey the sand or small
stuff into one vessel or receptacle, and the coarse gravel, ballast, or stones into
another, by one operation, or to raise the coarse gravel only out of the water,
leaving the sand or small stuff behind. This apparatus I call a drum screen.
One part of this apparatus may be of a cylindrical or polygonal form, and
hollow, nearly resembling the drum of a dressing mill, with part of its length
perforated or grated, to allow the sand or small stuff to fall through. It is
provided with a spiral plate or tube, and adapted to a rotatory motion.
Fig. 1 is a view of this apparatus, of a cylindrical shape, one part of which,
G, II, shews the grating or perforated part for screening, the other shews the
drum part to convey the coarse gravel to another receptacle. F are hoops to
strengthen the drum, if necessary. b, b, b, are bars rivetted or otherwise
fastened to the longitudinal pieces or ribs a, a, a. The bars may be either
cylindrical, rectangular, triangular, or any other shape, according to the
discretion of the proprietor or engineer, and they may be fastened either
parallel with or at right angles, or in an oblique direction to the axis. The
spiral may be a pipe or tube; and fixed either inside or outside of the drum.
An axis is not in all cases necessary.
Fig. 2 is a view of the spiral plate and axis; Fig. 3, view of the receiving end
of the apparatus. d, d, Figs. 2 and 3, are arms fixed on the axis C, C, to support
the spiral (e, e, e,) the outside edge of which should be in contact, or nearly so,
with the inner surface of the drum and grating. g. 9, Fig. 3, is a plate of iron or
other material to keep the gravel or earth from falling out while the machine
is revolving. There may be more than one spiral fixed in the drum when it
is required to deliver the gravel or earth of different coarsenesses, and the
drum may, if preferred, be stationary, and the spiral or spirals revolve within
it. This apparatus may be made of any proper material or materials, but it
is obvious that iron is the best. The spiral may be subtended at any angle, so
that there shall be a greater or less number of curves in any given distance
than shown in Fig. 2, and it need not in all cases be carried to the end of the
drum. The drum may be used either with or without a spiral or spirals, and
with or without a tremulous motion, by giving it an inclination from the
receiving end towards the horizon; but the advantage to be derived by the
spiral is, that it will convey the gravel or earth on an horizontal line, or even
on an ascending inclined plane. The length and dimensions of the appa-

page_text: ratus must be regulated according the work it is intended to perform, and the
distance at which the stuff is required to be delivered from the entrance end.
The grating or perforated part extending from G to I may also be longer or
shorter, according the quantity of fine gravel wanted, and the distance between
the bars or perforated part may be such as the nature of the stuff wanted shall
require. The drum from H to I must be formed of sheet iron or other proper
material. The object of this construction is, that the fine gravel shall be
screened between G and H, and deposited into one vessel, and the coarse gravel
or stones conveyed to the other end of the drum, and there deposited into
another vessel or receptacle. The manner of adapting this apparatus to
machinery, and supplying it with gravel or other substance, will be obvious.
to any mechanic, and requires no description. My method of screening or
separating the earth below the surface of the water is by applying this
apparatus, of any length required, to an engine or engines, and to raise the.
gravel or earth by it out of the bottom of rivers or ponds, instead of applying
the chain and buckets now in use. The drum screen in that case will be fixed
below the surface of the water, and the small stuff will of course be deposited
through the grating of the same in the river.
Fig. 4 is an end view of parts of a vessel and machinery now used for
raising gravel or earth from the bottom of rivers and ponds, shewing my
apparatus for screening and delivering the same, attached to it.
Fig. 5 is a vessel or other receptacle which receives the small stuff or
earth from the grating or perforations of the drum screen II; and Figure 6 is
another vessel or receptacle, which receives the coarse gravel from the end I of
the drum screen during its revolutions. The drum is here represented to be
worked by an endless chain from the rotatory shaft K, Figure 4. L, L, iron
buckets, which bring the earth from the bottom of the river, and empties itself
in the trough or hopper M, which must be covered with a strong iron or other
grating, to receive the shock from the fall of the gravel, and at the same time
to prevent any large lumps of stones or other matter from being conveyed into
the screen or spiral. This apparatus will be of great utility in conveying
gravel, ballast, or coal from one vessel to another in the river; breeze and
other substances may also be sifted, and advantageously conveyed into carts,
waggons, or other receptacles. Another method of screening earth or gravel
into two receptacles at one operation may be formed by a vibrating or stationary
trough, the upper end of which may be made of strong iron (or other) grating,
to receive the gravel or earth falling from the engine, which it will partially
screen. A smaller grating or gratings may be made lower on the trough for
finer sifting. By this means the fine stuff may be made to fall into one

page_text: receptacle, and the coarser roll down and be delivered into another; but this
method cannot be practised without lifting the unscreened stuff to a much greater
height than is required by the application of the spiral.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hughes, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, the Twenty-sixth day of May, One thousand eight.
hundred and thirteen.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
thirteen.