AN IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN EXCAVATING
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bostock Hulme, of Manchester, Surveyor, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN EXCAVATING."
Sealed the 4th April 1868, and dated the 8th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bostock Hulme
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th October 1867.
I, JOHN BOSTOCK HULME, of Manchester, Surveyor, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN
EXCAVATING," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved apparatus to be used for "getting
the earth to be excavated. I employ a pick which instead of being worked
by hand is fixed on a shaft driven by means of a small engine, and I prefer to
give the pick a continuous revolving motion, which may be done by the
ordinary crank motion. The engine and pick are mounted on a suitable
frame, which is supported in such a manner that it may easily be raised, or
lowered, or moved from side to side, as may be required, and so that it may
be turned round to enable the pick to cut in different directions. The most
convenient mode of accomplishing this is to mount the frame carrying the
engine and pick in a bearing made so as to allow it to turn, the bearing being.
supported by a chain or rope from a crane or beam reaching over or across.
the cutting.
The frame is furnished with haudies, by means of which a man may
control the position of the pick so as to direct it to any spot on the face,

page_text: top, or side of the cutting as he may wish. The form of the pick or cutting
tool may be varied to suit the nature of the earth to be excavated. Steam
will generally be found the most convenient power to drive the engine with,
and it may be conducted from the boiler in which it is generated to the
engine through flexible pipes jointed so as to allow of the different movements
of the engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Bostock Hulme in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th April 1868.
TO WHOM TO ALL THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BOSTOCK HULNE, of Manchester, Surveyor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Bostock Hulme, Her special licence that I, the said John Bostock
Hulme, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Bostock Hulme, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 BE USED IN EXCAVATING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Bostock Hulme, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 be 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 John Bostock Hulme, 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:-
My Invention relates to an improved apparatus for "getting" the earth to
be excavated. I employ a pick which instead of being worked by hand is

page_text: fixed on a shaft driven by means of a small engine, and I prefer to give the
pick a continuous revolving motion, which may be done by the ordinary crank
motion. The engine and pick are mounted on a suitable frame which is
supported in such a manner that it may easily be raised, or lowered, or moved
from side to side as may be required, and so that it may be turned round to
enable the pick to work in different directions. The most convenient mode of
accomplishing this is to mount the frame carrying the engine and pick in a
bearing made so as to allow it to turn, the bearing being supported by a chain
or rope from a crane or beam reaching over or across the cutting. The
frame is furnished with handles, by means of which a man may control the
position of the pick, so as to direct it to any spot on the top face or side of
the cutting as he may wish. The form of the pick or cutting tool may be
varied to suit the nature of the earth to be excavated. Steam will generally
be found the most convenient power to drive the engine with, and it may be
conducted from the boiler in which it is generated to the engine through
flexible pipes or through pipes jointed so to allow of the different motions of
the engine.
In the annexed Drawings Fig. 1 is a side view of a machine arranged
according to any Invention; Fig. 2 is a plan of the same; and Fig. 3 is part
of an end view. The same letters refer to all the Figures.
A is a small engine which imparts motion to the pick or cutter B by
means of the gearing C, C. The engine and pick are mounted on the frame
D to which the handles E, E, also are attached. F is a fly wheel. The
mode of connecting the frame to the chain is shewn at G. When the machine
works against the ground or against the side of the cutting it may be steadied
and guided by the wheels I, I.
Fig. 4 shews the general arrangement when the machine is at work.
The steam from the boiler is conducted to the engine through the jointed
tube K.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bostock Hulme, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN BOSTOCK HULME. (L.S.)