IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANICAL APPLIANCES FOR REMOVING SAND BANKS AND BARS, AND DEEPENING WATERCOURSES, RIVERS, AND SUCH LIKE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles James Appleby, of No. 8, Emerson
Street, Southwark, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANICAL APPLIANCES FOR REMOVING SAND BANKS AND
BARS, AND DEEPENING WATERCOURSES, RIVERS, AND SUCH LIKE."-A. com-
munication from abroad by Jan Jacob Van Reitschoten and Willen
Honwons bath of Rotterdam in the Kingdom of Holland
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles James Appleby
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th April 1874.
I, CHARLES JAMES APPLEBY, of No. 8, Emerson Street, Southwark,
in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANICAL APPLIANCES FOR REMOVING SAND
BANKS AND BARS, AND DEEPENING WATERCOURSES, RIVERS, AND SUCH LIKE," to be
as follows:
-
:

page_text: This Invention has for its object to improve mechanical appliances
used for removing sand banks and bars, and deepening watercourses,
rivers, and such like. For this purpose a propeller or propellers are
employed driven by suitable motive power, and working partially in the
material or sand bank to be removed, so causing whirlpools and bringing
the mud or sand into a state of suspension in the water, and utilizing
the agency of the current to carry away the material thus brought into
suspension into deep water. The propeller or propellers are carried at
the ends of beams which at their opposite ends are jointed to a suitable
vessel or barge. The shafts for driving the propellers are carried along
the beams, and are driven from engines which the vessel contains.
The
ends of the beams where the propellers are situated carry rollers to run
upon the mud or sand and prevent the propellers from entering too
deeply into it. Provision is made for lifting the propellers and beams
by chains or otherwise, and the propellers may then be used simply for
propelling the vessel, which may thus be used in broken water where the
use of an ordinary dredger is impossible.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles James Appleby in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
JAMES APPLEBY, of No. 8, Emerson Street, Southwark, in the County
of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in. the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Hor reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles James Appleby, Her special
license that I, the said Charles James Appleby, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles James
Appleby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: .
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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANICAL APPLIANCES FOR REMOVING SAND BANKS AND BARS,
AND DEEPENING WATERCOURSES, RIVERS, AND SUCH LIKE," a communication
to me from abroad by Jan Jacob Van Reitschoten and Willen Houwens,
both of Rotterdam, in the Kingdom of Holland, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles James Appleby, 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 be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: In order that the said Invention may be most fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I will procced to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2, a transverse section of a vessel
fitted in accordance with this Invention.
a is the vessel on board of which is a steam engine driving a transverse
shaft b. The shaft 6 passes through the outside bearings c, and beyond
these the bevilled wheels d, d, are fixed upon it; e, e, arc beams; they
are secured at their ends to the bearings c on which they are able to
turn. The two beams e are connected at their lower ends in the manner
shown at Figure 3, as also in the other Figures; e¹, e¹, are brackets
fixed to the beams; f is an axis hold by these brackets, and able to turn
in them; it has the roller 9 mounted upon it, and also the small bowls
h, h, occupying the spaces between the brackets of each pair; i, i, are
shafts carrying the propellers or stirrers k, k. These shafts are held in
bearings on the beams e, e, and they are driven from the bevilled wheels
d, d, pinions i¹, i, at their upper ends gearing with these wheels. Each
propeller or stirrer k consists of a four-bladed screw of unusual strength,
two of the blades being set in advance of the other two, and being also
somewhat longer; 7 is a crane jib carrying a pulley over which a chain
passes, and it is connected with the beams e, e, The chain is taken to
the steam winch m by means of which the beams e, propellers k, and
other parts carried by the beams can be lifted when desired; n,.n, are
guide streaks on the side of the vessel to guide the beams e, e, as they
are raised and lowered.

page_text: instruments following the undulations of the bottom, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles James Appleby, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.