Year: 1886

page_text: I, HENRY NICKLESS, of 86 Collins Street West, in the City of Melbourne, and
Colony of Victoria, Mining Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention has been designed principally for the purpose of enabling coal,
grain, and other loose cargo to be discharged from sea and river going vessels in
an expeditious manner without its having to be carried out from the hold by
manual labour. To accomplish this I form a tunnel or tunnels in the lower hold
or part of the ship or vessel and which tunnels run fore and aft underneath the
deck of the whole cargo space. Tramways are laid in these tunnels to admit of
trucks, skips, &c., travelling on them; and on each side of the tunnels, apertures are
made fitted with doors or slides capable of being worked by lever or other
mechanical appliances, and which apertures are furnished with "shoots" to auto-
matically convey the loose cargo into the trucks and skips. These tunnels are
furnished with doors at their ends to enable them to be used if necessary as
auxiliary water-ballast tanks. Bulkheads are also constructed across the vessel
at convenient places, and apertures are made in said bulkheads similar to those in.
the tunnels. The space between the bulkheads forms an artificial shaft in which
guides are fixed to admit of the trucks and skips being raised and lowered by
steam, hydraulic or other motive power to and from the hold of the vessel to the
raised platform which is constructed above its deck, and from which platform
the cargo is conveyed to any desirable point either by a movable tramway or by
a cable which may be worked partly or wholly from the vessel or from the shore
or wharf. Movable and fixed hoppers fitted with shoots similar to those provided
in the tunnels and bulkheads will be constructed to receive cargo on shore, to
deliver it into drays, railway trucks, bags or baskets, &c., thus again saving manual
labor in the refilling or bagging of the cargo.
Dated this fourteenth day of January. One thousand eight hundred and

page_text: Арриансes Used therewith to Facultate the Discharge ог
Loose Cargo therefrom.
I HENRY NICKLESS, of 86 Collins Street West, in the City of Melbourne and
Colony of Victoria, Mining Engineer, 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:-
This invention has been designed principally for the purpose of enabling coal,
grain or other loose cargo, to be discharged from sea and river going vessels in
an expeditious manner without its having to be carried out from the hold by
manual labor. To accomplish this, I form a tunnel or tunnels in the lower hold
or part of the ship or vessel, which tunnels run fore and aft underneath the deck
of the cargo space.
Tramways are laid in these tunnels to admit of trucks,
skips, &c., travelling on them, and on each side of the tunnels, apertures are made
fitted with doors or slides capable of being worked by lever or other mechanical
appliances to automatically convey the loose cargo into the trucks and skips.
These tunnels are furnished with doors at their ends to enable them to be used
if necessary as auxiliary water ballast tanks. Bulkheads may be constructed
across the vessel at convenient places and apertures may be made in said bulkheads
similar to those in the tunnels. The space between the bulkheads forms an
artificial shaft in which guides are fixed to admit of the trucks and skips being
raised and lowered by steam, hydraulic or other motive power to and from the
hold of the vessel to the raised platform which is constructed above its deck, and
from which platform the cargo is conveyed to any desired point, either by a
movable tramway or by a cable which may be worked partly or wholly from the
vessel or from the shore or wharf. Movable and fixed hoppers fitted with shoots
will be constructed to receive cargo on shore to deliver it into drays, railway
trucks, bags or baskets, &c., thus again saving manual labor in the refilling or
bagging of the cargo.
In order that my invention may be well understood, I will now describe it with
reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate in
Figure 1 a transverse section of the ship, shewing the position of the tunnel
with the trucks in it and the vertical shaft leading up from it, also shewing
a longitudinal elevation of the raised platform or yard on to which the cargo is
delivered.
Figure 2 a side elevation of the ship with parts broken away to show the
position of and arrangement of the tunnels, vertical shafts and movable poppet
frame.
In these figures, A is the tunnel constructed and arranged at the bottom of the
hold of the ship, vessel or steamer, and into this tunnel there leads a vertical
shaft B in which a cage or cages C work up and down in a similar manner to
those in use at mines. Such tunnel runs fore and aft under the cargo space and

page_text: has tramways laid in it to admit of trucks A¹ travelling on them; and each side
of the said tunnel has apertures in it which are covered with sliding or lifting
doors A which are arranged to open and shut by a lever or other mechanical
appliance. Over this sliding door a sheet-iron shoot or trough and a hood A³ is
constructed to guide and automatically convey the loose cargo into the trucks A¹,
which are run close up to and alongside the apertures in the sides of the tunnel,
the sliding doors of which are opened and closed by the truckman. The trucks
are rapidly filled by gravitation, and when filled are run to the bottom of the
vertical shaft B and then placed in the cage, which, upon a signal being given, is
raised to the surface and landed on doors fixed to an elevated platform D, which
is constructed above the vessels deck. From this platform, the loaded trucks are
conveyed and tipped into hoppers from which drays, bags, baskets or railway
trucks, &c., may be filled. The cages C above referred to are raised with full
trucks and lowered with empty ones. The trucks, on arrival at the elevated
platform D, are drawn from the cage, and empty trucks placed in their stead, and
so on in a continuous manner until the whole of the cargo is discharged. The cage
or cages can be worked partly or wholly from the ship's winches D' or from the
shore or wharf by steam, hydraulic or other motive power. The elevated platform,
which is constructed partly movable and partly fixed, is furnished with hoppers E;
and to the bottom of each of these hoppers is fixed a sliding door E¹ worked by
a long lever as hereinafter shewn. At the lower end of the hopper is a hinged
shoot which has attached to its lower end a line E2 which passes over a pulley
fastened at the head of the hopper and which line is worked by the carter or
drayman as desired. The platform D is constructed on the drawbridge principle;
that is to say, two tapering girders of angle iron extend from the wharf at a given
height above the vessel's deck to admit of its rising on becoming lightened of cargo.
This girder platform is hinged at its butt and balanced, and is furnished with
suitable mechanisin to enable the said drawbridge to be raised clear of the vertical
line of the wharf's edge in order to clear the masts and rigging of vessels about to
berth. After the berthing is completed, the tapering girder or platform is lowered
down to re-form its horizontal surface to receive the travelling poppet frame F
which was run back to admit of the platform being lifted. It must be here
mentioned that, for convenience and the more ready manner of directing the
trucks to given points on the platform, rails are laid on or inserted in the floor
or decking of the said platform preferably inserted and rendered flush in order to
admit of other bodies moving over and above the rails without fear of stoppage.
The under portion or base of platform may be used for the purpose of storing
general or other cargo under cover for shipment or delivery. Alongside the vessel
in Figure 1 is shewn a barge or lighter into which the cargo may be discharged
direct from the elevated platform through the medium of a suitable shoot as
shewn.
This overhanging platform D is worked by suitable mechanism which may be
either worked by hand or by steam power; if by steam power, by the donkey
engine G above the gearing; or if by hand, by the handle G¹ as shewn, so as to
lift the platform when a vessel is being berthed. To do this it is first necessary
to remove the travelling poppet frame F, which is accomplished by attaching a hook
on a rope or chain from the donkey engine to it; so that when the windlass is put
in motion, it draws the travelling poppet frame towards the engine, and when
clear of the vertical standard the rope or chain is thrown off and action is at once
given to the mechanism to raise the end platform to its vertical position; the hand
railing F being previously folded down, as it is constructed on hinges for that
purpose; and when it is up, bolts are dropped at intervals to maintain it erect.
The portion of the bridge when open or drawn up is illustrated by the dotted lines
as shewn above the platform already described.
The tunnels A are preferably constructed of iron boiler plate single rivetted and
fastened down to the keelson and combings or ribs, which can be made to unship.
The vertical shafts are constructed with the corners formed of channel or other

page_text: iron and the sides of timber of suitable dimensions. Running vertical to this
timber are skids or guides for directing the passage of the cages through the
vertical shaft; these may be shipped and unshipped when required. The top of
skids are allowed to pass through the poppet frames as the vessel rises through
being lightened of its cargo.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. Arranging in a ship or vessel a tunnel or tunnels which run fore and aft
under the cargo deck and having leading from the crown of such tunnel or tunnels
one or more vertical shafts which rise to the deck and are furnished with skids to
admit of cages working therein and such tunnel or tunnels being furnished with
rails to admit of trucks travelling upon them and apertures at their sides to lead
the cargo to the trucks substantially as herein described and explained and as
illustrated in my drawings.
2. Forming a shoot and hood at the apertures in the sides of such tunnel or
tunnels substantially as and for the purposes described and as illustrated in the
drawings.
3. Arranging the end of the elevated platform in such a manner as that it may
be raised and lowered substantially as and for the purposes described and as
illustrated in my drawings.
4. The combination of the movable poppet frame with the draw or movable
platform substantially as and for the purposes described and as illustrated in my
drawings.
5. The combination and arrangement of the raised platform or yard furnished
with shoots having lower hinged ends with the movable end platform and poppet
frame substantially as herein described and explained.
6. The general combination and arrangement of parts forming the system of
discharging cargo from or loading ships consisting essentially of the tunnel, shafts,
cages, trucks, poppet frame, raised platform and shoots all substantially as described
and explained and as illustrated in my drawings.
Dated this Twentieth day of Santamber 1886