AN IMPROVED APPARATUS TO DEEPEN, EXCAVATE, SCOUR, AND REMOVE THE MUD, SLIME, STONES, AND OTHER FOUL MATTERS FROM THE BED OF RIVERS, STREAMS, AND OTHER WATER- COURSES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of
France, and 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
TO DEEPEN, EXCAVATE, SCOUR, AND REMOVE THE MUD, SLIME, STONES, AND
OTHER FOUL MATTERS FROM THE BED OF RIVERS, STREAMS, AND OTHER WATER-
COURSES." A communication from Joseph Grosley and Louis Albert
Merckens, residing at Kremlin, in the Department of the Seine, Empire
of France, aforesaid.
Sealed the 9th August 1867, and dated the 27th February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th February 1867.
I, HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices,
24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester
Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS TO
DEEPEN, EXCAVATE, SCOUR, AND REMOVE THE MUD, SLIME, STONES, AND OTHER
FOUL MATTERS FROM THE BED OF RIVERS, STREAMS, AND OTHER WATERCOURSES,"
a communication from Joseph Grosley and Louis Albert Merckens, two

page_text: persons resident at Kremlin, in the Department of the Seine, Empire of
France, aforesaid, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved apparatus to deepen, excavate, scour,
and remove the mud, slime, stones, and other foul matters from the bed of
rivers, streams, and other watercourses without the assistance of any other
motive power beyond that furnished by the current of the watercourse itself.
This apparatus consists in a wheel or cylinder bearing teeth and iron buckets
on its periphery which serve to deepen, excavate, scour, and remove the foal
matters at the bed of all running waters, the axis of the said wheel being upheld
by two boats bound together and placed on each side of the said wheel.
Moveable dam boards and hatches or flood gates are placed at the back of the
apparatus in order to intercept as completely as possible the current of the
watercourse, so that all its strength may be brought to bear on the said dam
boards and hatches or flood gates, and compels the boats to follow more or
less rapidly the course of the stream as may be required by means of moorings
which are gradually let go. The downward motion of the boats actuates the
wheel which, in its rotation, digs the bed of the river or watercourse
according to the greater or lesser depth at which the said wheel has been let
down and removes the matters to the upper surface of the wheel, from whence
they are thrown into an overfall or conduit placed above boats which serve to
carry the said matters away.
The accompanying Drawing & references thereto will, with the above
description, fully illustrate my Invention..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 24, Rue du
Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, Her special licence that I, the said Henri
Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others

page_text: "
as 1, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS TO DEEPEN, EXCAVATE, SCOUR, AND REMOVE THE MUD,
SLIME, STONES, AND OTHER FOUL MATTERS FROM THE BED OF RIVERS, STREAMS, AND
OTHER WATERCOURSES," a communication from Joseph Grosley and Louis
Albert Merckens, two persons resident at Kremlin, in the Department of the
Seine, Empire of France, aforesaid, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to bo
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, do hereby
declare the nature of my said 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 an improved apparatus to deepen, excavate, scour,
and remove the mud, slime, stones, dirt, and other foul matters from the bed of
rivers, streams, and other watercourses without the assistance of any other motive
power beyond that furnished by the current of the watercourse itself. This
apparatus consists in a wheel or cylinder bearing teeth and iron buckets on its
periphery, which serve to deepen, excavate, scour, and remove the foul matters
at the bed of all running waters, the axis of the said wheel being upheld by two
boats bound together and placed on each side of the said wheel. Moveable dam
boards and hatches or floodgates are placed at the back of the apparatus in
order to intercept as completely as possible the current of the watercourse, so
that all its strength may be brought to bear on the said dam boards and
hatches or flood gates, and compels the boats to follow more or less rapidly
the course of the stream, as may be required, by means of moorings which are
gradually let go. The downward motion of the boats actuates the wheel;
which in its rotation digs the bed of the river or watercourse, according
to the greater or lesser depth at which the said wheel. has been let down
and removes the matters to the upper surface of the wheel, from whence they
are thrown into an overfall or conduit placed above boats which serve to carry
the said matters away.

page_text: This apparatus is represented in the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 of
which represents a longitudinal side elevation, Figure 2 a view in plane, and
Figure 3 a vertical elevation. Like letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts throughout these Figures.
on
A is the body of each of the two boats bound together fore and aft to
support the apparatus; B, a wheel, the circumference of which is furnished
with buckets C, and with steel or iron teeth D; E, double uprights placed
the body of each boat, supporting the brackets of the shaft F of the wheel B,
which may be raised or lowered by means of the screws G; H, circular sheet-
iron plate supported by the six moveable arms I on the shaft F; J, outer iron
arm fixed on to the said metal plate and furnished with an opening through
which passes the wormed bolt K carrying two nuts, which allow of raising or
lowering more or less the sheet-iron plate H; L, capstan for commanding,
by means of cables and anchors cast into the watercourse, the lowering of the
boats supporting the apparatus; M, moveable dam boards placed behind the
apparatus, opening and closing by means of arms N actuated by means of ropes
winding on the hoist O; P, moveable hatches or flood gates placed behind the
wheel B between the two bodies of the boat; Q, the overfall.
WORKING OF THE APPARATUS.
When it is intended to cleanse, deepen, or scour watercourses the apparatus
is lowered in the position represented in the Drawings, the dam boards M and
the hatches or flood gates P are completely lowered so as entirely to stop the
current; if the width of the watercourse requires it, or if the work is to take
place in its whole width, the extent of the dam boards may be increased or
several apparatus may be juxtaposed so as to intercept as completely as
possible the current of the watercourse. The height of the dam boards and
of the hatches or flood gates, as also the lowering of the wheel, must be reckoned
from the depth of the water where the operation is to take place. As soon as
the current is thus intercepted the water accumulates in front of the apparatus
retained by its anchors, and tends to carry away the whole apparatus by
exerting a pressure either at the front of the boats or on the dam boards
placed at the stern. The moorings connected with the anchors are then little
by little let go by means of the capstans L, and allow of the whole apparatus
slowly to follow the course of the water. In its downward motion the wheel
with its buckets and teeth B, the lowering of which has been reckoned in such
à manner as more or less deeply to dig the bed of the watercourse, and having
a fulcrum on the bed of the watercourse, receives a rotation movement which
causes the teeth on the wheel to dig and the buckets and teeth to bring up

page_text: the earth to the top of the wheel, and then discharges the matters brought up
into the overfall Q. This apparatus may be actuated by any other motive
power besides that of running waters, and necessarily in that case might be
used in cleansing, scouring, and deepening ponds, lakes, fens, and other such
like sheets of water devoid of any sort of current whatsoever.
Having thus described the improvements which constitute the said Invention,
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, we would have it clearly
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the exact details above given
or set forth in the accompanying Drawings, which may obviously be modified
without affecting the principle of the Invention; but what we claim is the
combination of a wheel having buckets and teeth with moveable hatches or
flood gates and dam boards intercepting the current of the water where the
operation takes place, so as to utilize the force of the current in actuating the
wheel which effects the scouring without the assistance of any other motive
power save that furnished by the current of the stream itself.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)