Improved Machinery or Apparatus for Discharging Coals into a Ship's Hold or Barge.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Dec., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 21st Sept., 1899-Accepted, 25th Nov., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Machinery or Apparatus for Discharging Coals into a Ship's
Hold or Barge.
I, THOMAS WRIGHTSON, of the Teesdale Iron Works, Thornaby-on-Tees, in
the County of York, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:
-
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus by which coal or other
material is lowered into the hold of a vessel from the point at which it is dis-
charged from the conveyor shoot or endless belt arrangement by which it is
conveyed from the truck or shoot on the quay to the opening or hatchway over
the hold and in this respect is adapted to be used as part of the apparatus described
in the Specification of my Letters Patent No. 1191 of 1896 as a substitute for
the hanging belt therein described and illustrated separately in Fig. 3.
In the hanging belt therein described the trays or shelves vary in their transit
in this way.
The rate of motion is uniform or the same as the belt when
the tray is running straight with the belt but when the tray is carried round
the bight of the belt the motion of the tray becomes radial like the spoke of a
wheel. The motion of the extreme end of the tray is one of greater speed than
that of the inner end of the tray which is fastened to and moves at the same
velocity as the links of the belt, the tendency being for the tray having the radial
motion to gain upon the tray in advance which has just received a load of coal
or other material and is moving in a straight line again.
Under certain conditions such as a discharge of coal upon a tray to its full
carrying capacity there is a risk of damage due to the quicker motion of the
tray following.
By my present invention I obviate this difficulty and the construction of my
improved hanging belt is as follows.
I provide an endless belt running as before but preferably in the reverse
direction thereby transferring what may be termed the carrier side of the belt
from the over side to the near side relatively to the line of descent of the material
charged on to the said belt. The trays or shelves are hinged to the belt and
hang down on the ascending side thereof but fall over as each passes to the
descending or carrier side of the belt and being adjusted in length to corre-
spond with the casing or trunk are supported in the position of a tray or shelf
the outer edge of which runs down against the said casing with which the trays
form a close box down which the coal descends. As the tray falls over the top
drum the corners of the tray or the friction rollers which may be attached at
the corners engage into a curved guide which prevents the rapid fall of the tray
by gravity and gradually leads it into the inclined position in which it slides
down the casing. As the tray runs down to the lower bight of the belt, the
material charged upon it slides off through the open end of the trunk and the
tray is drawn up in a hanging position on the other side, and so the operation
is continued. A shoot plate and a baffle plate are set at the upper end of the
vertical belt in such positions and to such angles in relation to each other as to

page_text: ensure the discharge of the falling material upon the several trays in turn and
not over the belt to fall down on the other side.
A hanger belt of this kind requires special provision being made on the
charging side so that the trunk can be drawn or tilted towards that side to
any required extent without leaving an opening for the coal to fall outside the
trunk. This necessitates the employment of a flexible hood or shutter which
whilst secured at the point of suspension to the end of the jib belt does not
obstruct the movement or tilting of the trunk. A suitable form of hood consists
of a series of rigid segments hinged together. The hinged segments or their
equivalents extend from the end of the jib belt and the lower end passes into a
groove formed on the frame of the hanging belt and curved to the radius as
taken from the hanging belt pivot and these segments extend downwards and
thread into this groove. As the trunk tilts outwards the groove in the frame
draws away from the flexible shutter and as the trunk tilts inwards the groove
is pushed further on the shutter until the lower segments come out of the groove
and simply hang downwards instead of fouling the framing of the belt.
Dated this 20th love of Dasamihan 1000
G. J. CLARKSON,
Chartered Patent Agent,
Stockton-on-Tees, and Hull, Agent for the Applicant.
Improved Machinery or Apparatus for Discharging Coals into a Ship's
Hold or Barge.
I, THOMAS WRIGHTSON, of the Teesdale Iron Works, Thornaby-on-Tees, in
the County of York, 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 relates to machinery or apparatus by which coal or other
material is lowered into the hold of a vessel from the point at which it is dis-
charged from the conveyor or shoot or endless belt arrangement by which it is
conveyed from the truck or shoot on the quay to the opening or hatchway over
the hold and in this respect is adapted to be used as part of the apparatus described
in the Specification of my Letters Patent No. 1191 of 1896 as a substitute for
the hanging belt therein described and illustrated separately in Fig. 3.
In the hanging belt therein described the trays or shelves vary in their transit
in this way.
The rate of motion is uniform or the same as the belt when
the tray is running straight with the belt but when the tray is carried round
the bight of the belt the motion of the tray becomes radial like the spoke of a
wheel. The motion of the extreme end of the tray is then one of greater speed than
that of the inner end of the tray which is fastened to and moves at the same
velocity as the links of the belt, the tendency being for the tray having the radial
motion to gain upon the tray in advance which bas just received a load of coal
or other material and is moving in a straight line again.
Under certain conditions such as a discharge of coal upon a tray to its full
carrying capacity there is a risk of damage to the apparatus due to the radial
and consequently accelerated motion of the tray on the curve exerting undue
pressure on the coal so charged upon the tray in advance.
By my present invention I obviate this difficulty by providing the hanging
belt of special construction, which preferably runs in the reverse direction thereby
transferring what may be termed the carrier side of the belt from the over side

page_text: to the near side relatively to the line of descent of the material charged on to
the said belt, and thereby reducing the fall of coal in charging each tray. A
hanger belt of this kind requires special provision being made on the charging
side so that the trunk can be drawn or tilted towards that side to any required
extent without leaving an opening for the coal to fall outside the trunk. This
necessitates the employment of a flexible hood or shutter.
With these objects in view I adopt the construction represented in the accom-
panying drawings which show the embodiment of my invention in a convenient
and practical form.
And in order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which the same letters of reference indicate corrsponding parts in
both the figures.
Fig. 1 illustrates in part sectional view the hanging belt and its connection to
the intermediate or jib belt as constructed in accordance with my present invention,
corresponding to which Fig. 2 is an enlarged view taken at right angles to Fig. 1
in transverse section taken on line of Fig. 1 and in elevation in respect of the
hood and trunk to illustrate the threading arrangement by which they are con-
nected together as hereinafter described.
a is an endless belt running as before but preferably in the reverse direction
as indicated by the arrow, thereby transferring what may be termed the carrier
side of the belt from the over side to the near side relatively to the line of descent
of the material charged on to the said belt. The trays or shelves are hinged
to the belt and hang down on the ascending side thereof but fall over as
each passes to the descending or carrier side of the belt and being adjusted in
length to correspond with the casing or trunk c are supported in the position
of a tray or shelf the outer edge of which runs down against the said casing with
which the trays 6 form a close box down which the coal descends. As the tray
falls over the top drum d the corners of the tray or the friction rollers ¹ which
may be attached at the said corners engage with a curved guide e which prevents
the too rapid fall of the tray by gravity and gradually leads it into the inclined
position in which it slides down the casing. As the tray runs down to the
lower bight of the belt the friction rollers & engage with another curved
guide which gradually leads it into the inclined position in which the material
charged upon it slides off through the open end of the trunk and the tray is drawn
up in a hanging position on the other side and so the operation is continued.
f is a bridge plate external to the hanger belt; a baffle plate g is fixed at
the upper end of the vertical belt in such a position and to such an angle as to
direct the falling material upon the several trays in turn.
The special provision which is made on the charging side of the belt so that
the trunk c can be drawn or tilted to any required extent without leaving an
opening for the coal to fall outside the trunk consists of a flexible hood or
shutter which whilst secured at its points of suspension to a suitable position
independent of and external to the hanging belt such as the end of the jib belt
frame shown in the drawing does not obstruct the movement or tilting of the
trunk c.
h
To effect this the hood or shutter consists of a series of segments hinged one
to another at the several positions h¹. The hinged segments or their equivalents
are supported like a curtain from the shaft i. The shaft m of the upper drum d
is also the main shaft on which the hanger belt is mounted, the two shafts m
and i being fixed or constant in their relative positions, so that with m as a centre
the distance between them may be taken as the radius to which the casing of the
trunk from cl to c² is curved to sweep close past the shaft i which may be termed
the curtain rod of the flexible shutter. Grooves are formed at k k to follow this
curve, and the ends of the segments thread into and slide along these grooves.
At the casing takes the form of a ledge extended to reach the flexible shutter,
the two together closing in the trunk in a manner adapted to prevent the coal

page_text: falling through, whatever position the trunk is tilted to. As the trunk tilts
outwards the grooves in the frame draw away from the flexible shutter h and
as the trunk tilts inwards the grooves are pushed further on the shutter until
the lower segments leave the groove one by one as this movement proceeds and
simply hang down instead of fouling the framing or trunk of the belt. In order
to enable the trays or shelves 6 of the hanging belt to retain their inclined position
and rigidity when charged with coal I mount friction rollers in the sides of
the trunk which run in contact with the links of the belt on the descending
side as the hanging belt revolves.
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. In the operation of discharging coal into a ship's hold the employment of an
endless hanging belt provided with a series of trays pivotally mounted thereon
and adapted to spread out as they are drawn over to the carrier or descending side
of the belt, suitable guides such as e and e¹ and friction pulleys being provided
to enable the trays when charged with coal to run down the casing and discharge
their contents substantially in the manner and for the purpose hereinbefore
specified with reference to the accompanying drawings.
2. In combination with a hanging belt of the construction indicated in the
preceding claim, of a flexible hood or shutter slung from a shaft such as i,
suitably mounted in constant or fixed relation to the shaft of the trunk the
framing of which is correspondingly curved and suitably grooved to draw in or
run out the flexible shutter against the ledge of the trunk casing, so that
in all positions of the trunk caused by tilting, the coal is closed in upon trays,
all arranged and operating substantially as described with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 20th day of Santambon 1000.
G. J. CLARKSON,
Chartered Patent Agent,
Stockton-on-Tees, and Hull, Agent for the Applicant.