- Boulders, Stones, or Earth under Water or on Dry Land, and in Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Nov., 1886.
Complete Left, 12th May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 14th June, 1887
RE
-
Boulders, Stones, or Earth under Water or on Dry Land, and
in Apparatus therefor.
I, HENRY CHRISTIAN LÖBNITZ, of The Slip Dock, Renfrew, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer and Shipbuilder, do hereby declare the nature of
this Invention to be as follows, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object to facilitate and expedite the operations of
forming or deepening rivers, canals, harbours, and other waterways, and of making
excavations on dry land for railways, foundations, and other purposes, more especially
in cases in which rocks, boulders, stones, or hardened earth, or combinations of earth
and stone are met with.
In carrying out my Invention I prepare the material for easy removal by first
breaking it up, that is, by cutting or splitting or dividing such hardened and toughened
portions as cannot be dealt with satisfactorily by ordinary dredging or excavating
apparatus. For this purpose I employ powerful rams armed with chisel-like or other
cutting points or heads of steel or iron or other suitable substance, each ram being
armed with one or more cutters or cutting points or heads according to the nature of
the material which has to be operated on; or one cutting point or head may be carried
by two or more rams. The cutter rams are fitted to work in vertical or inclined guides
or between rollers and may be worked by machinery of the kind used for driving piles
or by apparatus like what is used in hammers worked by steam or otherwise. The
cutters or heads may be attached to and move with the rams, or they may be separate
and be held so as to be struck by the rams. The rams and cutters or heads and the
machinery or apparatus for working them are arranged so as to be easily moved from
point to point as the work progresses.

page_text: When the apparatus is to be used under water it may be fitted upon a dredger or
upon a separate special boat or on any suitable support; and when fitted upon a
dredger a number of the cutter rams may be arranged along the sides of the well
through which the dredging buckets work and also in advance of that well, so that the
materials which are broken up may be at once raised by the dredger. The dredger or
boat carrying the cutter rams is, according to one modification, provided with two
vertical pipes or guides near the stern, and with screw or pointed piles which can be
worked in the pipes or guides. When the apparatus is working one of the piles is
forced down and fixed in the hottom of the waterway, and whilst holding the dredger
or boat serves as a pivot about which the dredger or boat can be moved from one side
to the other by warping or any other suitable means. Then the bow of the dredger
or boat is moved across step by step whilst the cutter rams operate over an arc of a
circle. The other pile is next fixed down, the first one being raised and the bow of
the boat is moved across the reverse way over an arc of a circle which will be in
advance of the previous one. The crossing motion is then reversed again; and
continuing in this way, the dredger or boat gradually advances working over a series
of arcs described from a series of advancing centres.
When excavating on dry land the apparatus may be placed on one or more trucks
moving on rails; and may be used by itself or in conjunction with ordinary excavating
apparatus.
Dated this Thirtieth day of October 1886.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.

page_text: Improvements in Breaking up, Excavating, or Removing Rocks,
Boulders, Stones, or Earth under Water or on Dry Land, and
in Apparatus therefor.
I, HENRY CHRISTIAN LÖBNITZ, of The Slip Dock, Renfrew, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer and Shipbuilder, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the saine is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object to facilitate and expedite the operations of
forming or deepening rivers, canals, harbours, and other waterways, and of making
excavations on dry land for railways, foundations, and other formations or structures,
and for getting ores or quarrying or other purposes, more especially in cases in which
rocks, boulders, stones, or hardened earth or combinations of earth and stone are met
with.
In carrying out my Invention I prepare the material for easy removal by first
breaking it up, or dislocating its component parts, that is by cutting or splitting or
dividing such hardened and toughened portions as cannot be dealt with satisfactorily
by ordinary dredging or excavating apparatus. And whilst my improved method of
procedure will be advantageously applicable in many cases in which boring and blasting
operations would not be suitable or convenient; it may also be profitably used in
many other cases as a substitute for such boring and blasting operations. For the
purposes which I have indicated I employ powerful rams armed with chisel-like or
other cutting points or beads of steel or iron or other suitable substance, each ram
being armed with one or more cutters or cutting points or heads according to the
nature of the material which has to be operated on, or one cutting point or head
may be carried by two or more rams. The cutters rams are fitted to work in vertical
or inclined guides or between rollers, and may be worked by machinery of the kind
used for driving piles, or by apparatus like what is used in hammers worked by steam
or otherwise. The cutters or heads may be attached to and move with the rams, or
they may be separate and be held so as to be struck by the rams. The rams and cutters
or heads and the machinery or apparatus for working them may be arranged so as to
be easily moved from point to point as the work progresses.
When the apparatus is to be used under water it may be fitted upon a dredger, or
upon a separate special boat, or on any suitable support; and when excavating on dry
land the apparatus may be placed on one or more trucks moving on rails; and may
be used by itself or in conjunction with ordinary excavating apparatus.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same may

page_text: be properly understood I hereunto append three sheets of explanatory drawings to be
hereinafter referred to and representing examples of the various arrangements of
apparatus which may be used in carrying out my Invention.
Figure, 1, on sheet, 1, of the drawings is a plan of a dredger as fitted with apparatus
for carrying out my Invention, and figure, 2, is a corresponding longitudinal section.
Figure, 3, on sheet, 2, is a diagram explanatory of a mode of working the dredger, and
figure, 4, is a transverse vertical section corresponding to figures, 1, and 2. Figures, 5,
and 6, on sheet, 2, are a plan and sectional elevation of an arrangement of dredger for
working with the help of my improved apparatus, close up to the bank or to the dry
land ahead of the dredger. Figures, 7, and 8, on sheet, 3, are a plan and sectional
elevation showing my improved apparatus as fitted upon a special boat; and figures, 9,
and 10, are sectional elevations as at right angles to each other of the apparatus as
arranged for working on dry land. In these drawings the same reference letters and
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The vessel shown in figures, 1, 2, and 4, is constructed and fitted like a powerful
dredger of an existing type, but with the addition of apparatus for carrying out my
Invention, this apparatus consisting of a number of cutter rams, R, arranged to work
vertically at the sides of the well through which the endless chain of dredging buckets, D,
work, together with apparatus for guiding and working these rams. Framings, F, are
erected at the sides of the well at its forward part, for the purpose of supporting and
guiding the rams, R, these framings being connected to each other by a transverse
girder, 11, at their front ends, and by longitudinal girders, 12, to the framing, 13,
which carries the upper tumbler and upper end of the ladder, L, of the endless chain
of dredging buckets, D. The mode of working the rams, R, as indicated in these
figures, 1, 2, and 4, is by hauling them up and letting them drop from a considerable
height, the hauling chains passing up to pulleys, 14, at the tops of the framings, F,
thence down to guide pulleys, 15, and from these latter pulleys to the tackle pulleys
of bydraulic cylinders, 16. Steam pumps are provided as indicated at, 17, in figure, 1,
for supplying the water under pressure for working the hydraulic cylinders, 16. The
rams, R, are in figure, 2, indicated by full lines as at work at the inner ends of the
framings, F, and as there operating on materials just in front of the dredger buckets, D,
when at their greatest depth. The framings, F, however extend forwards of the
position where the rams, R, are thus shown as at work, and positions of the rams, R,
are indicated in dotted lines where they operate on materials nearer the water surface,
the rams being shifted from one part of the framings to another as may be required.
The dredger or boat carrying the rams, R, is in the modification shown in figures, 1,
2, and 4, provided with two vertical pipes or guides, 18, near the stern, and with
pointed piles, 19, which can be worked in the pipes or guides, 18. When the apparatus
is working one of the piles, 19, is dropped or forced down and fixed in the bottom of
the waterway and whilst holding the dredger or boat serves as a pivot about which the
dredger or boat can be moved from one side to the other by warping or any other
suitable means. Then the bow of the dredger or boat is moved across step by step
whilst the cutter rams, R, operate over an arc of a circle. The other pile, 19, is next
fixed down, the first one being raised and the bow of the boat is moved across the
reverse way over an arc of a circle which will be in advance of the first one. The
crossing motion is then reversed again; and continuing in this way, the dredger or
boat gradually advances, working over a series of arcs described from a series of
advancing centres. The operations thus described will be clearly understood from the
diagram figure, 3, in which the small circles, 20, are the successive positions of the
pivot piles, 19, whilst the arcs, 21, show the successive advances of the operations.
In figures, 5, and 6, sheet, 2, a modification of dredger is shown as arranged for
operating close to the edge of the water, or in other words close to a bank, or for
forming a new canal or waterway, the dredger excavating the dry ground in advance
of it as it proceeds. The cutter rams, R, are arranged to operate at the extreme front
end of the dredger, and at the sides close to the front end, and the framing, F, for
guiding the rams and for carrying the gearing for raising and working the rams is

page_text: erected at the front end of the dredger. Cutter rams, R, actuated in this way on a
dredger or boat may be assisted or supplemented by similar cutter rams, R, worked on
the bank or land, the framing, F, and actuating machinery being carried on a
truck, T.
Figures, 7, and 8, sheet, 3, show an arrangement like that shown in figures, 5, and 6,
but with the rams, R, and their framing, F, carried on a simple boat or lighter not
fitted with dredging machinery; and figures, 9, and 10, show one example of the
various arrangements of apparatus that may be used on dry land. My improved
apparatus may also be fitted on various kinds of dredgers such as hopper dredgers or
dredgers having traversing ladders.
In figures, 6, to 10, hauling chains worked by steam winches are indicated as means
for raising the cutter rams, R, but as herein before stated any suitable machinery or
apparatus may be used either for raising and dropping the rams or for raising and
forcing them down, or for striking them. One convenient arrangement of actuating
mechanism and suitable for the purpose consists of a pair of pulleys, as P, Q, figure, 9,
applied to each ram, R, one pulley, Q, being constantly driven whilst the other, P,
which is not driven is periodically moved to press the ram into contact with the
driven pulley, Q, the ram being thereby raised, and then dropped on the grip of the
undriven pulley being relaxed.
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-The improved system of breaking up, excavating, or removing rocks, boulders,
stones, or earth, under water or on dry land, substantially in the manner and for the
purposes hereinbefore described.
2-The combination with dredging or other apparatus for removing earth and other
materials, or the use as preparatory to the operations of such apparatus, of cutter rams
or equivalent instruments for breaking up or dislocating the materials by cutting or
splitting or dividing hardened and toughened portions, substantially as herein before
described.
3- The system of working a dredger by means of two pivot piles (19) forced down
alternately to act as successive centres about which the front end of the dredger is
moved so as to operate on successive advancing arcs of circles, substantially as and for
the purposes hereinbefore described.
Dated this Eleventh day of May 1887.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.