IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING AND EMBARKING EARTH FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS AND OTHER WORKS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
JOSEPH AMANT RAMEL, of Lisle Street, Leicester Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Nineteenth day of March, in the first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Louis
Joseph Amant Ramel, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Louis Joseph Amant Ramel, my exors, adiñňors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis Joseph Amant Ramel, my exors,
adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and tho
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR EXCAVATING AND EMBARKING EARTH FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS AND
OTHER WORKS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
said Louis Joseph Amant Ramel, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: wrought iron hinged in a cast-iron hole, or by any well-known mechanical
power, and that for more facility the extremity of the said gudgeon or pin,
which describes a portion of a sphere, does not touch, but by a point to another
portion of the sphere or steel eye placed in the bottom of the said cast-iron
hole. The end of the lever at the moment of rotation is supported by a ropo
or chain, at which extremity is fitted a sinall pulley or pebble rolling under an
iron bar horizontally placed on each side of the axletree, which is a sidelong
standing bar, made round underneath, and then made archwise up to the point
of that portion of the arch of the circle that the end of the lever describes
when carried back to the right or left to perform the unloading of the case.
The fitting wheel of the axletree is shewn with ninety or one hundred teeth,
but the other wheel or pinion has only twelve teeth, and is accompanied by a
hook or click, designed to retain the load at the desired height and to prevent
accidents. I do not confine myself to the size of the wheels here shewn.
I have shewn a stopper or bit surrounding the main wheel, designed to
regulate the motion in the descent of the empty case into the bottom of the
trenching.
It is to be observed, moreover, when not acted on, the end of the lever must
always come down to the iron bars horizontally placed above the axletree, no
matter the height to which the earth is to be raised, since it is only the ropes
or chains which lift up the case that must be lengthened or shortened in pro-
portion as the said case shall be wanted more or less down into the pit, more
or less up from the ground. That as soon as the end of the lever will have
reached on the horizontal bar, the rope at the extremity of which the pebble
is fitted must be attached to the lever, and at the same time that which is
rolled on the bobbin of the axletree will be ungrappled, in order not to be
dragged about during the rotatory motion.
The crane, a Drawing of which is also annexed, does not differ from others
but in being only moveable and rolling on a carriage of six cast-iron wheels,
in order that it may be brought from one part of the trenching to the other.
Although this crane has not the merit of an Invention, its improvement or
perfection with application for the first time to works of levelling, constitute
the right nevertheless of being exclusively used hereafter, and when need
should be. It is designed to make up the insufficiency of the lever, when-
ever it should be required to bring up earth from a depth of more than ten
metres, and which the case of the same lever could not reach. The catch
of this crane is quite alike to that of the lever, but the weight of earth it
can raise is one half less than that of the lever itself, the power of which,
as it has been already stated, is very much superior with respect to the usually

page_text: employed means or contrivances, (that is to say,) two men working with
equal activity will raise with the lever a weight of sixteen hundred pounds,
whilst with the crane the weight will only be of nine hundred ditto.
The grooves that complete the system are intended for the trenching or
cleaning of a section of road or canal in a mountainous country or some part 5
thereof, and when the slopeness is prolonged to heights beyond fifteen and
twenty yards the earth comprized within the triangle of the slopeness has
not been transported or removed up to this very day but through relays of
declevity with wheelbarrows, and it is to supply this slow and expensive usage
that it has been made the construction or plan, and proposed the application
of those machines, simply composed of a centre and two sides, in order that a
workman placed at a vertical height of fifteen or twenty yards, and at an
horizontal distance from twenty to twenty-five ditto, might load himself alone
and without the aid of intermediate hands the waggon or cart placed at the
foot of the slopeness.
The simplicity of these machines is such that the slightest examination of
their Drawings will be more than sufficient to be completely understood; it is
useless, therefore, to give any other explanation thereupon, since it would
rather tire than amuse the attention of the reader. Nevertheless, I think
proper here, and in conclusion, to state and recommend their great and useful
application in levelling grounds where it should be necessary to make earth
slide from a height that is difficult to be overcome with wheelbarrows, wasting
very much time, and employing a considerable number of workmen.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING ABOVE REFERRED TO.
A, side view of the lever; B, front view of ditto; C, end view of the lever
and its case; D, the cap of the axletree and lower part of the lever; E, the
crane to remove the lever when not required to be used; F, the grooves for
conveying the soil from one place to the other; a, windless for raising the
lever; b, the lever; c, the pivot on which the lever turns; d, front view of the
same; e, the iron bar armed with a pebble, which, by means of a chain or rope
fixed in the end of the lever, serves to turn it when required; f, the hook or
click to fix the chain of the pebble in the end of the lever; g, the case or box;
h, the driving wheel to the windlass; i, end of the lever; j, the pulley attached
to the iron bar; o, framework, upon which the lever rests.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Joseph Amant Ramel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
L. J. A. RAMEL. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1888, the aforesaid Louis Joseph Amant Ramel
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.