IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MOVING SEEDS, FRUITS, AND GRANULAR MATERIALS IN BULK
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Bayzand Ellington, of Chester, in the County of
Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MOVING
SEEDS, FRUITS, AND GRANULAR MATERIALS IN BULK."
Sealed the 2nd April 1878, and dated the 24th October 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Bayzand Ellington
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th October 1877.
EDWARD BAYZAND ELLINGTON, of Chester, in the County of Chester. " IMPROVE
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MOVING SEEDS, FRUITS, AND GRANULAR MATERIALS IN
BULK."
In warehouses, mills, and such like establishments, or in loading or unloading
vessels, it is often necessary to move grain, seeds, granular, and other materials in
bulk from one point to another, as, for instance, from a bin to a pair of millstones,
or from a warehouse floor to a ship's hold; my Invention relates to apparatus for
effecting this without the intervention of manual labour.
For this purpose
lay
upon a floor of the establishment a narrow gauge railway forming a circuit of shape
suited to the dimensions of the floor and the requirements of the business. On this
railway I place a number of trucks at convenient distances apart, and connect them
by a rope or ropes, suitably guided so that they all travel together at a compara-
tively slow rate. For driving them I provide a continuous guided rope, which
passes round barrels of a crab, winch, or capstan fixed in position, the said rope
taking hold in suitable clips on each truck, and these clips being so arranged that
as each truck passes the driving barrels the rope is cleared out of its clips, and the
movement of the truck is in that case continued by its connection with the other
trucks. On each truck I provide a suitable cam-shaped tappet, which, as the truck
passes a given point, acts on a lever or trigger so as to open the door or doors,
of a shoot, whence the material runs into the truck as it passes, the door or doors
closing a little before the truck has passed. The truck thus charged passes on till
D971

page_text: it reaches another point, where a stop acts upon a trigger on the truck bottom so
as to open the same and allow the charge to run into another shoot or receptacle,
after which the bottom of the truck becomes closed by passing over a suitable cam
tappet. Thus the material to be moved is transferred by the successive trucks from
the one point to the other; and in cases where material has to be moved from several
different points to several others it is only necessary to adjust the positions of the
several cam tappets and triggers, so that some of the trucks shall receive and dis-
charge at certain of the points, and others shall receive and discharge at others of
the points.
The railway may be laid in several separate circuits, two or more of which may,
when desired, be combined into one by suitable arrangements of points and adjust-
ments of the connecting ropes.
In cases where a complete circuit is not required, I provide a line of railway
having on it a truck made to reciprocate to and fro like a shuttle, providing the
said truck with suitable cam tappets and fittings as above described, and arranging
also a self-acting reversing motion, so that the truck, as it approaches each extreme
of its course, has its movement reversed. This reversal may be effected at any
desired part of the course by suitable arrangement of reversing stops or tappets, as
in a planing machine.
Although I have above described my apparatus as arranged for a warehouse or
such like establishment, it is obvious that it is also applicable for loading a vessel
from a warehouse or quay by arranging the railway on a platform extending over a
shoot into the vessel's hold, or for unloading a vessel by extending the railway
within range of an elevator or other apparatus for raising the cargo from the
hold.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Edward Bayzand Ellington in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th April 1878.
EDWARD BAYZAND ELLINGTON, of Chester, in the County of Chester. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MOVING SEEDS, FRUITS, AND GRANULAR MATERIALS IN
BULK."
In warehouses, mills, and such like establishments, or in loading and unloading
vessels, it is often necessary to move grain, seeds, granular, and other materials in
bulk from one point to another, as, for instance, from a bin to a pair of millstones,
or from a warehouse floor to a ship's hold; my Invention relates to apparatus for
effecting this without the intervention of manual labour. For this purpose I lay
upon a floor of the establishment a narrow gauge railway, forming a circuit of shape
suited to the dimensions of the floor and the requirements of the business. On this
railway I place a number of trucks at convenient distances apart, and connect then
by a rope or ropes suitably guided so that they all travel together at a comparatively
slow rate. For driving them I provide a continuous guided rope, which passes
round barrels of a crab, winch, or capstan fixed in position the said rope taking hold
in suitable clips on each truck, and these clips being so arranged that as each truck
passes the driving barrels the rope is cleared out of the clips, and the movement of
the truck is in that case continued by its connection with the other trucks. On each
truck I provide a suitable cam-shaped tappet, which, as the truck passes a given
point, acts on a lever or trigger so as to open the door or doors of a shoot, whence the
material runs into the truck as it passes, the door or doors closing a little before the
truck has passed. The truck thus charged passes on till it reaches another point,
where a stop acts upon a trigger on the truck bottom so as to open the same and
allow the charge to run into another shoot or receptacle, after which the bottom of
the truck becomes closed by passing over a suitable cam tappet. Thus the material
to be moved is transferred by the successive trucks from the one point to the other
and in cases where material has to be moved from several different points to several
others it is not only necessary to adjust the positions of the several cam tappets and
triggers, so that some of the trucks shall receive and discharge at certain of the
points, and others shall receive and discharge at others of the points.
The railway may be laid in several separate circuits, two or more of which may,
when desired, be combined into one by suitable arrangements of points and adjust-
ments of the connecting ropes.
In cases where a complete circuit is not required I provide a line of railway
having on it a truck made to reciprocate to and fro like a shuttle, providing the
said truck with suitable cam tappets and fittings as above described, and arranging
also a self-acting reversing motion, so that the truck, as it approaches each extreme
of its course, has its movement reversed. This reversal may be effected at any
desired part of the course by suitable arrangement of reversing stops or tappets,
as in a planing machine.
Although I have above described my apparatus as arranged for a warehouse or
such like establishment, it is obvious that it is also applicable for loading a vessel
from a warehouse or quay by arranging the railway on a platform extending over
a shoot into the vessel's hold, or for unloading a vessel by extending the railway
within range of an elevator or other apparatus for raising the cargo from the
hold.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The accompanying Drawings shew various arrangements of apparatus for carrying
my before-described Invention into effect.
Figures 1 and 2 shew respectively a sectional plan and a cross section of a store-
house or granary, with my apparatus for conveying the grain or other substance
applied thereto.

page_text: Figures 3, 4, and 5 shew respectively a part side elevation, a part plan, and a
cross section of such apparatus to an enlarged scale.
And Figures 6, 7, and 8 shew respectively a plan; side elevation, and end elevation
of one of the trucks to a still larger scale.
A narrow gauge railway A, A, carried by standards B on the floor of the store-
house, is arranged so as either to form two separate closed circuits A, A¹, or by
means of switches at A², they may be formed into one continuous circuit extending
the whole length of the building. On each circuit are placed a number of trucks
C, C, C, for conveying the grain or other substance from the shoots D to any
,desired part of the floor. The trucks of one circuit are all connected together at
any desired distance apart by a rope E held by clamps E¹, so that the trucks can
be readily shifted by loosening the clamps when desired. The trucks are. also
connected by the hauling rope F, by means of which motion is imparted to them
from the steam or hydraulic winch or capstan G, so as to cause them all to travel
round the circuit simultaneously. This rope F is merely held in forks F¹ on the
truck, so that as the latter approaches the winch, the drum of which is at a higher
level than the forks, the rope is raised out of the forks, thus allowing the truck to
pass the winch, the truck being at this time propelled by its connection to the other
trucks by the rope E. After passing the winch the rope F again drops into the
forks. The hauling rope F is led by guide pulleys G₁ to the drum of the winch;
and is kept stretched by being passed round weighted stretching pullies G2.
passing round the curve of the circuit the ropes E and F are kept in position by
guide pullies H, H.
On
The shoots D are made to overhang the railway just above the tops of the trucks;
they are provided with sliding doors D' connected by a lever D2 with a rod D³,
passing down at the side of the rails in such a position that on the truck passing
underneath the shoot an incline C¹ (Figures 7 and 8) fixed at the side thereof pushes
up the rod Ds by means of a tappet thereon, and thus raises the sliding door so as
to let the grain or other substance fall into the truck.
The incline C¹ is formed with a drop C² at its rear end, as indicated by the dotted
lines at Figure 7, so that the door of the shoot is allowed to close again before
the truck has passed entirely from beneath it. The Drawing shows, two shoots D,
the doors of which are opened in succession by the passing truck. The bottom of
the truck is formed of two hinged flaps I, I', the pivots of which are connected by
cranks and a connecting rod J, J¹, in a manner well understood, so as to cause thein
both to open and close together. The pivot of the flap I carries an arm K, which,
when the flaps are closed, is engaged with a spring catch K', and thus holds the flaps
in the closed position.
On the truck arriving at the point where it is desired to discharge its contents a
fixed stop coming in contact with the catch K¹ disengages it from the arm K, where-
upon the flaps drop open. On the truck passing beyond this point, another fixed
stop, in coming in contact with the arm K, raises it again until it again engages
with the catch, whereby the flaps I, I, are again closed.
Between the rails are shoots L, which can be moved into any desired position
into which the contents of the trucks are discharged, and which have fixed near
them the before-mentioned stops for actuating the flap doors.
It will be evident that in place of making the bottoms of the trucks to open, the
sides may be so arranged, or the body of the truck may be inounted on pivots, and
be automatically tipped by a lever or cam connected thereto coming in contact with
a fixed stop at the point of discharge, the body being weighted so as to right itself
again after the contents being discharged in a manner well understood, with tipping
trucks. In order to enable the trucks to run readily round the curves the axles of
their wheels are mounted on pivots, as shown, and they are connected by rods M to
a lever M¹ on opposite sides of its fulcrum, so that when the lever is moved by its
lower end coming in contact with a stop fixed at the commencement of the curve,
the two axles are thereby drawn into radial positions corresponding with the curve,

page_text: and they are held in that position by the upper end of the lever becoming engaged
with a catch M².
On the truck arriving at the end of the curve the tail of the catch (which is
cranked so as not to lie in the same plane as the lever, as shewn a Figure 8) comes
in contact with another stop so as to release the lever M¹ and allow the axles to
assume their parallel position, into which they are brought by springs. Any other
known mechanism may be employed for bringing the axles into a radial position at
the curves.
When it is desired to alter the two circuit arrangement to the single circuit of
double length, the switches at A2 are placed so as to cause the trucks from the
circuit A to run along the straight rails between the two circuits on to the circuit
A¹, and vice versa, and the hauling and connecting ropes E and F of each circuit
being disconnected at X, X, they, together with the trucks on the contiguous curved
parts of the two circuits are placed upon the straight portions A2, and the ropes of
the one circuit are connected to those of the other circuit.
For this purpose the
connecting portions A2 are made exactly equal in length to the semicircular part of
each circuit.
At Figure 2 is shewn in the basement of the warehouse a single truck N, to which
merely a to-and-fro motion is imparted for the purpose of conveying the grain or
other substance from the shoot O, into which it is delivered by the landing crane
O' into the bottom of the elevator P, by which it is raised to the distributing
apparatus above, previously described.
Figures 9, 10, and 11 shew respectively a side view, a plan, and a cross section of
this apparatus to a larger scale. The truck N is connected to an endless rope Q,
passing round a fixed pulley Q¹, and a weighted stretching pulley Q³, and having
a reciprocating motion imparted to it by the steam winch R, so that the truck is
alternately brought underneath the shoot O to receive a charge, and is then brought
over the shoot P¹ so as to deliver its contents into the elevator P. At the side of
the rails S, on which the truck runs, is a rod T, having tappets T', T, at each end,
and connected to the lever of a cock, valve, or slide U of a small hydraulic cylinder
R¹, the piston of which is connected to the valve gear of the engine of the steam
winch. Thus when the truck N arrives at the end of its travel in either direction
it imparts a slight motion to the rod T by means of the tappets so as to reverse the
motion of the hydraulic cylinder R', which in its turn reverses the motion of the
winch so as to cause the truck to perform its return journey.
The valve gear may be so arranged as to cause a sufficient lapse of time to occur
between the stopping of the motion of the winch in one direction and the starting
thereof in the reverse direction, to allow for the proper filling of the truck when
under the shoot O. The truck is provided with an incline or other convenient
device for automatically opening and closing the shoot O, as also with flap doors at
bottom for discharging its contents, arranged in the same manner as described with
reference to the trucks C.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. The use of apparatus for moving seeds and other substances wherein trucks
running on rails are caused by a traction rope or chain to travel from a shoot where
they are charged to a point where they are discharged, the trucks being provided
with mechanism, whereby when they approach the charging shoot they effect auto-
matically the opening and closing thereof, and whereby when they arrive at the
point where they are discharged the contents are automatically expelled, substan-
tially as herein described.
Second. In apparatus for moving seeds and other substances, such as is referred
to in the preceding claim, arranging a series of trucks upon a closed circuit of rails,
the trucks being connected together by two continuous lines of ropes, one of which
is driven by a winch or capstan, substantially as herein described with reference to
Figures 1 to 8 of the Drawings.

page_text: Third. In apparatus for moving seeds and other substances, such as is referred to
in the preceding claim, arranging two or more circuits of rails with their trucks,
in combination with connecting lines of rails and switches in such manner that the
circuits may either be worked separately or be joined so as to form a single circuit,
substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 8 of the Drawings.
Fourth. The arrangement of apparatus, such as is referred to in the first claim,
wherein a truck has a to-and-fro motion imparted to it by means of a reciprocating
rope, actuated by a winch, the motion of such winch being automatically reversed by
the truck at the end of each motion, substantially as herein described with reference
to Figures 2, 9, 10, and 11 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Bayzand Ellington, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
E. B. ELLINGTON. (L.S.)