A Helical Loading Apparatus for Briquettes, Coals, and other Goods on Board Steamers and in Warehouses.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Aug., 1888,
Specification Accepted, 28th Sept., 1888
A Helical Loading Apparatus for Briquettes, Coals, and other Goods
on Board Steamers and in Warehouses.
1, AUGUST DAUBER of Bochum, Westfalia, Germany Merchant do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:―
The means provided for loading coals on board of steamers and for bringing
t) an down in the lower compartiments and the coal bunkers of a steamer consist of an
open cylindrical shaft through which the coals are thrown down and which also serves
for ventilating purposes.
The height through which the coals thus fall is rather considerable and therefore a
comparatively large quantity of coal is broken and turned into dust and shingle and so
looses in quality as a combustible.
Briquettes could not stand such a rough treatment and therefore they must be
excluded from the use on board steamers, or else they must be loaded in some other,
more careful manner.
This of course increases the expense and therefore causes that this artificial fuel is
not used as much as it deserves, notwithstanding its evaporating quality which makes
it highly applicable as fuel for boilers, and by their form briquettes recommend
themselves better for being stored on board steamers than any other sort of fuel.
Now in order to facilitate the loading of briquettes so that they can be loaded without
requiring any special care and without being exposed to the danger of getting broken,
I have invented the Helical Loading Apparatus shown in the accompanying drawing
and described hereafter.
I beg to observe that the apparatus is adapted as well for loading all other goods
requiring a careful treatment and having to be brought from higher compartments
to a place lower down.
On the accompanying drawing is shown by
Fig. 1 a vertical section through the helical loading apparatus ;
"
2 horizontal section ;
"
""
3 an outside view of part of the arrangement with an outlet door and a discharge
plane in an enlarged scale ;
horizontal section through fig. 3;
5 vertical section through fig. 3, the door shut ;
4
"
23
"
6
"
"
"
"
Figs. 7-11 show details of construction."
" open;
My helical loading apparatus consists of a shaft or hollow cylinder A, 24-30 inches

page_text: in diameter, more or less as may be desired, made of iron plates and of an inner
cylindrical core B. Into the annular space thus formed between the two cylinders A & B,
I place in a convenient manner the screw C, running from the top to the bottom.
The pitch of this screw or its angle of inclination is such, that this angle is a little
larger than the angle of friction of the goods to be loaded by means of the helical
loading apparatus.
At the top the screw surface adjoins a sort of a table or jetty on the deck of the vessel
on which the briquettes are stored and from which they are simply pushed into the
shaft and then they glide down the screw surface at a comparatively high speed and
reach the bottom or their place of destination without being broken; the inside
surfaces of the screw and of the cylinder being all smooth.
The screw is made of several single pieces ranged together as shown by fig. 10 and
lying at the sides on angle irons which support them as shown by figs. 5 & 6, so that
they can be taken to pieces easily and withdrawn from the shaft, that this may serve
for ventilating purposes as usual.
In order to be able to take out briquettes or other goods at various places from
the shaft and at various heights, I arrange inclined planes D at such places, which
form the tangential continuation of the screw and upon which the goods coming down
in the shaft are carried further to the places desired.
At those places I make doors E in the circumference of the cylinder A, which
can be drawn up and down for being opened or closed. With the doors are connected
diaphragms F, let into the screw surface and forming part of the screw by their top
part when the doors are shut, but stopping the continuity of the screw, or crossing
the passage when the doors are opened and drawn upwards. These diaphragms are
also so arranged that they form the tangent to the inner cylinder B and the briquettes
etc. coming down in the shaft in their spiral way, which by nature have the tendency
to go off in a tangential direction, will follow willingly the direction given them by the
diaphragm without striking against it or being thrust against it, and since all surfaces
are quite smooth and flat and the briquettes are not hurt by any shocks and even the
most fragile goods can thus be loaded by means of my helical loading apparatus and
carried quickly from the deck of a vessel to the lower compartments.
The sloping or inclined planes D can be provided with an endless web and movable
rollers as shown by figs. 1 & 2, in which case the slope of the plane need not be
steeper than the angle of friction of the goods to be loaded, it may be even less..
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
An arrangement for loading briquettes, coals and other goods of a fragile nature
from the deck of steamers into the coal bunkers and lower compartments, or for
bringing such goods from the upper localities in warehouses to lower ones, consisting
of a cylindrical shaft A with an internal shaft B and a screw C, placed in the annular
space between the two cylinders, the pitch or angle of inclination of the screw being
steeper than the angle of friction of the goods to be loaded and which shaft is provided
at various places with outlet doors E and with sloping planes D adjoining the screw
and the shell of the outer cylinder in a tangential direction; and in combination with
the doors diaphragms F crossing the way of the screw in a line forming the tangent
to the inner cylinder B and being so arranged, that when the doors are opened they
direct the goods to the outlet, whereas when the doors are closed the diaphragms are
sunk below the screw, their top forming part of the surface of the latter.
Dated this 8th day of August 1888.
KARL T. MAYER,
Agent for Applicant.