Discharging Ships' Cargo, Ballast, and other similar Materials.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Sept., 1886.
Complete Left, 31st May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 1st July, 1887.
Discharging Ships' Cargo, Ballast, and other similar Materials.
We, JOHN DOWELL, Metal Merchant, of 2 Springfield Terrace, Glasgow, Lanark-
shire, and WILLIAM WILSON, Traveller, of 60 West Cumberland Street, Glasgow,
Lanarkshire, do hereby declare the nature of our Invention to be as follows:-
Our said Invention has for its object a new or improved mode and means of, or
arrangement of mechanism for, securing and relieving, or locking and unlocking, the
large iron or other swivelling buckets or boxes used for unloading or loading ships or
vessels with loose cargo, ballast, or other such material, by steam winches, cranes,
and other hoisting gear; by which improvements the objects will be much more
satisfactorily done with greater safety to the men employed, and which will save much
time and manual labour, as compared with the modes and means heretofore employed
for the said purposes.
Heretofore these said buckets have been so mounted each on its swivelling centres
on its lifting and swivelling bow, that when empty it is heaviest below the centres and
always rights itself with the open mouth up, and locks itself by a simple catch lever,
fulcrummed to one side of the lifting bow, which falls into a locking notch in the
upper edge of the bucket, all ready for being removed to where it is to be refilled.
But this locking catch always requires a man to stand by where the bucket has to be
emptied to unlock it with a long bar or hook, so that the bucket will be let free to
turn on its swivelling centres and empty itself, which it does by being always top
heavy when filled with the material, and as soon as it has done this, it turns up and
locks itself again as stated.
Each bucket as filled is' hooked on by a man to the hook and chain of the steam
crane, or other hoisting gear, the man attending which, as soon as he gets the signal
to do so, hoists the bucket and swings it round to where it has to be emptied by the
man unlocking it, all as stated, after which the bucket is swung back again and
lowered to be refilled, while another bucket is being hooked on, hoisted, and emptied.
רנס ...

page_text: Our said Invention consists all as follows:-In mounting on one side of the bow
arms of each bucket, by which it is carried on its swivelling and tilting centres, so
as to empty itself when filled and right itself with the open mouth up when empty,-
a catch lever which will by its own weight fall into a locking notch or catch in the
upper edge of the bucket as soon as it righted itself mouth upwards ready for being
refilled, so far much as usual:-But having a new separate arm, or a long arm, on
this lever, so fitted near the line of the hoisting chain of the bucket that a sliding or
rolling heavy weight mounted on this over the end of the lever, and connected by a
light cord or chain passed up over a guide carrying pulley on the jib of the crane (or
fixed part carrying the pulley of the hoisting chain) and conducted down to light
winding and disengaging barrel gear or guide pulley of its own close to the attendant
at the crane, so that he can lower the said weight (or raise it) at any moment he
requires to strike the said long arm of the lever and disengage its catch, and thus
allow the bucket to tilt on its swivelling centres and empty itself, and then lock itself
as soon as the weight was lifted off the lever again. Or otherwise the said light cord
or chain may be directly hooked to the said lever, at the same time as hooking the
bucket to its lifting chain, so that when it was pulled or raised it would lift the lever
to directly disengage the catch, and allow the bucket to tilt and empty itself, but
when let go the slack cord would lower the lever, which by its own weight would lock
the bucket again; the action of the cord and lever would in this case also be assisted
by a light sliding weight on the hoisting chain, for allowing the lever to lock, being
the reverse object for which the former weight described was used, namely, the
striking and disengaging the catch lever. Either of these improved locking arrange-
ments can be worked by the said light cord or chain carried down over a pulley or
barrel to the man at the crane, who could work it at the proper moment he had
brought the bucket to its emptying position; and thus dispence with the man
heretofore required for disengaging the locking mechanism by a bar at the spot where
the buckets have to be emptied.

page_text: Discharging Ships' Cargo, Ballast, and other similar Materials.
We, JOHN DOWELL, Metal Merchant, of 2 Springfield Terrace, Glasgow, Lanark-
shire, and WILLIAM WILSON, Traveller, of 60 West Cumberland Street, Glasgow,
Lanarkshire, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our said invention has for its object a new or improved mode and means of, or
arrangement of mechanism for, securing and relieving, or locking and unlocking,
the large iron or other swivelling buckets or boxes used for unloading or loading
ships or vessels with loose cargo, ballast, or other such material, by steam cranes,
winches or other hoisting gear. By our improvements the objects will be much more
satisfactorily done, with greater safety to the men employed, and will save much
time and manual labour, as compared with the modes and means heretofore employed
for the said purposes.
Heretofore these said buckets have been so mounted each on its swivelling centres
on its lifting and swivelling bow, that when empty it is heaviest below the centres
and always rights itself with the open mouth up, and locks itself by a simple catch
lever, fulcrummed to one side of the lifting bow, which falls into a locking notch in
the upper edge of the. bucket, all ready for being removed to where it is to be refilled.
But heretofore this locking catch always required a man to stand by where the bucket
had to be emptied to unlock it with a long bar or hook, so that the bucket would be
let free to turn on its swivelling centres and empty itself, which it does by being
always top heavy when filled with the material, and as soon as it has done this, it
turns up and automatically locks itself again as stated.
Each bucket as filled is hooked on by a man to the hook and chain of the steam
crane, or other hoisting gear, the man attending which, as soon as he gets the signal
to do so, hoists the bucket and swings it round to where it has to be emptied by
the man unlocking it, all as stated, after which the bucket is swung back again
and lowered to be refilled while another bucket is being hooked on, hoisted, and
emptied.
In order that our said Invention, and the manner of performing or carrying the
same into effect or practice may be properly understood, we have hereunto appended
an explanatory Sheet of Drawings, in which the same reference letters are used to

page_text: indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where shown. Figures 1 and 2 are
sectional side and end elevations respectively of a swivelling tilting bucket A to which
our new or improved disengaging and engaging fittings are shown applied. Figures 3
and 4 are side and front elevations respectively, of a steam swing crane having a
swivelling tilting bucket A attached to its raising and lowering chain D, and all
shown as fitted with one modification of our new or improved arrangements of
mechanism for locking and unlocking the bucket A, in loading or discharging cargo,
ballast or other loose material from ships or other vessels in accordance with our
improvements. Figure 5, is a plan view to an enlarged scale, broken away, of the top of
the crane jib E, to show the guide pulleys c, over which the light wire cords or chains 6¹
pass, for lowering and raising the sliding weight b, which actuates the disengaging
mechanism of the swivelling tilting bucket A, as will hereinafter be described. And
Figure 6 is a sectional view to an enlarged scale taken near the line 1---1 in
Figure 3, to show the barrel shaft e e¹, and gearing fitted to the crane for winding
and disengaging the wire cords or chains 6', which actuate the sliding weight b. And
Figure 7 is a detached view showing the bucket in the act of discharging, after being
operated on by our new disengaging mechanism.
Referring to these Drawings-our said invention consists all as follows:-In
mounting on a fulcrum centre B¹, on one side of the bow arms B, of each bucket A,-
by which it is carried on its swivelling and tilting centres A¹, so as to empty itself
when filled and right itself, with the open mouth up when empty,-a catch lever a (or
lever on each side) which will by its own weight fall into a locking notch or catch A³,
in the upper edge of the bucket A, as soon as it righted itself mouth upwards ready
for being refilled, so far much as usual:-But having an inner long arm a¹, or it
might be a new separate arm, on this lever a near the line of the hoisting chain D, of
the bucket A, and a sliding or rolling heavy weight b mounted on this over the upper
end of the lever a¹, so as to strike it, and connected by light cords or chains 6¹ passed
up over guide carrying pulleys e on the jib E of the crane (or other fixed part
carrying the pulley C of the hoisting chain D) and conducted down to a light winding
and disengaging barrel e¹ e¹, with its actuating gear, (or it might be an equivalent
guide pulley) close to the attendant on the frame of the crane at F, convenient for
him to put in gear the barrel shaft e and lower the said weight 6 (or raise it) at any
moment he requires to strike the said long arm a² of the lever a and disengage
its catch arm a, and thus allow the bucket A, to tilt on its swivelling centres A,
and empty itself, and then lock itself on the lever a again. The lever a may
have a stop a² secured on it to prevent it rising or jerking too high. Instead of
lowering the weight 6 to strike the arm a¹ of the lever a, the weight b may be
held stationary by the cord 61, and the bucket A raised by the chain D, so that
when the arm a¹ reaches the weight the catch of the lever a, is disengaged, and the
bucket tilted as previously described.
Or otherwise one of the said light wire cords or chains 6¹ may be used either directly
hooked to the lower arm a of the lever, or be passed round a pulley d on one of the
bow arms B of the bucket A, and then connected to the upper part of the lever a¹ as
seen dotted-in in Figure 1, (at the same time as hooking the bucket A, to its lifting
chain D) so that when the cord b¹, was raised or pulled it would lift the lever a to
directly disengage it from the notch catch a² and the bucket, and allow the bucket A
to tilt and empty itself, but when let go the slack cord 6' would lower the lever a,
which by its own weight would lock the bucket A again; the action of the cord b¹,
and lever a, might in this case also be assisted by a light sliding weight as b, on the
hoisting chain D, for allowing the lever a to lock, being the reverse object for which
the former weight & described was used, namely, the striking and disengaging of the
catch lever a.
Either of these improved locking arrangements can be worked by the said light
wire cord, rope or chains 6¹, carried down over pulleys c to a barrel e¹, or it might be
a pulley or other equivalent near the man at the crane, who could work it at the
proper moment he had brought the bucket A, to its emptying position; and thus

page_text: dispense with the man heretofore required for disengaging the locking mechanism by
a bar at the spot where the buckets A had to be emptied. When the barrels e¹, e,
are used, their shaft e, would have a brake wheel mounted on it, with a brake strap
and foot treadle lever f¹ for the attendant to hold the barrel and allow the weight to
fall at any moment desired. The shaft e would also have a loose spur wheel g mounted
on it, gearing into a pinion gl on the crank shaft of the engine, with a friction or
other clutch and clutch hand lever 92 for putting the wheel g into or out of action to
wind up the barrel and weight 6 by the wire cords 6' to any height desired and retain
it there by the brake treadle lever f¹, both worked by the attendant controlling the
action of the engine and crane on the foot plate or frame at F; but other arrangements
of gearing may be used for actuating the wire cords 62 and wire b to suit particular
constructions of cranes and winches.
b
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is:-
First. The mode and means, or arrangement and combination of mechanism for
disengaging swivelling tilting buckets used for loading and discharging ships' cargo,
ballast or other material, substantially as herein described, and shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
•
Second. The use of a falling, sliding, or rolling weight actuated by a wire cord or
cords or chains from the crane for disengaging the catch or catch lever of swivelling
tilting buckets, substantially as and for the purposes and advantages herein described,
in reference to and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
Third. The disengaging of the catches of swivelling or tilting buckets directly by
means of a cord attached to a lever or arm on the bucket, and continued so as to
be actuated from the crane, substantially as herein set forth.