IMPROVE- MENTS IN STEAM NAVVY'S OR MACHINERY FOR DIGGING, CUTTING, EXCA- VATING, OR DREDGING EARTH AND MINERAL BODIES GENERALLY."
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Thomas Parlour, of No. 40, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Engineer and Shipwright, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STEAM NAVVY'S OR MACHINERY FOR DIGGING, CUTTING, EXCA-
VATING, OR DREDGING EARTH AND MINERAL BODIES GENERALLY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Thomas Parlour at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th October 1879.
JOSEPH THOMAS PARLOUR, of No. 40, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Engineer and Shipwright. "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM NAVVY'S OR MACHINERY
FOR DIGGING, CUTTING, EXCAVATING, OR DREDGING EARTH AND MINERAL BODIES
GENERALLY."
The object of this Invention is the construction of machinery or apparatus
suitable for digging, cutting, excavating, or dredging earth and mineral bodies
generally.
For the purposes of my Invention I mount one or more scoops, knives, picks, or
other tools upon the sides of discs, cylinders, or skeleton frames, said discs or frames
having a rotatory motion imparted to them, and arranged that they may be moved
up to the material as the work progresses. The scoops, when scoops are used,
are so arranged that the material moved by them may slide out through apertures
provided for that purpose on to a shoot, and from thence into any vehicle which
may be brought near to it, or into buckets of a travelling chain to enable the
material to be moved to a distance.
According to another part of my Invention I fix cutting or other tools upon
shafts, said shafts being suspended upon trunnions working within boxes that the
The boxes are adjustable in
shafts may be set at any angle to suit the excavation.
a travelling frame, and the shafts are driven by a spur or other gear from an engine
upon the same frame or upon a separate frame.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Thomas Parlour in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
April 1880.
JOSEPH THOMAS PARLOUR, of No. 40, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Engineer and Shipwright. "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM, NAVVY'S OR MACHINERY
FOR DIGGING, CUTTING, EXCAVATING, OR DREDGING EARTH AND MINERAL BODIES
GENERALLY."
The object of this Invention is the construction of machinery or apparatus
suitable for digging, cutting, excavating, or dredging earth and mineral bodies
generally.
For the purposes of my Invention I mount one or more scoops, knives, picks, or
other tools upon the sides of discs, cylinders, or skeleton frames, said discs or frames
having a rotatory motion imparted to them, and arranged that they may be moved
up to the material as the work progresses. The scoops, when scoops are used, are
so arranged that the material moved by them may slide out through apertures
provided for that purpose on to a shoot, and from thence into any vehicle which
may be brought near to it, or into buckets of a travelling chain to enable the
material to be moved to a distance.
According to another part of my Invention I fit cutting or other tools upon
shafts, said shafts being suspended upon trunnions working within boxes that the
shafts may be set at any angle to suit the excavation. The boxes are adjustable
in a travelling frame, and the shafts are driven by spur or other gear from an
engine upon the same frame or upon a separate frame.
My Invention is clearly represented in the annexed Drawings, in which Figures 1
and 2 show a rotating scoop A, having four buckets B, B, at equi-distance upon the
periphery for scooping up the earth or other body to be excavated. One of the
side walls of this apparatus has apertures C, C, in it, that the earth moved by the
buckets B, B, may fall through from the inside to the outside in to a receptacle
arranged at the side, that it may be raised to the surface by an endless chain of
buckets to be discharged into vehicles as desired.
The rotation is effected by the spur gearing D, E, or by any other means.
In
these Figures the rotating scoops rotate vertically, and may be arranged in a frame
F, as in Figure 3, to be moved to and fro, in the front under the action of a
travelling screw G that the earth for the full width of the frame may be removed
by the scoop to be lifted by the endless chain of buckets, or by hand. The frame
F is also capable of an up and down motion, to regulate the height of excavation,
the frame being suspended by chain H and counterbalance weights I. The frame F
is held to the machine J by V grooves in the uprights K.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 represent the scoop A arranged to be rotated horizontally.
The scoop by this arrangement is rotated by chain gearing L from a back shaft M,
and the frame F is raised and lowered as the excavating progresses by the threaded
rods N, this being embraced by the brackets P, which, in conjunction with the
rollers Q, serve to guide the frame F steadily.
Figure 7 shows my vertical rotating scoop A arranged at the lower end of a frame
R depending from, say, the side or end of a barge or vessel that dredging operations
may be effected, the frame R being raised or lowered to suit the depth of water.
The earth, as it is raised by the scoop A, falls into the receptacle S, from which it
can be raised by the endless chain of buckets T, T, to the surface. Pick teeth Z
may be fitted on the rotating scoops, as in Figure 6, if desired.
Figures 8 & 9 represents a side elevation and plan of an excavating machine a
with a rotating cutting screw A. on the fore end of a shaft U. This shaft is carried
by sliding blocks V, V, and can be lifted or lowered by the threaded rods N, N.
The screw shaft or shafts, if more than one screw be fitted, is mounted upon a

page_text: travelling frame W which can be moved along upon the tram rails X as the work
proceeds, a series of pauls Y, Y, being arranged to drop into rack teeth on the sides
of the rails to prevent the frame running back except when lifted by a hand lever
or other appliance.
The screw cutter is somewhat like a ship's propeller, but formed with sharp
cutting edges or blades a, a, as in the detached view, Figure 10, the back of each
blade being raised or lipped, as at b, to form a hollow for directing the earth towards
the axis, and so discharging it within the diameter that it may fall into a shoot
ready for the endless chain of buckets to lift it as desired.
The machine may be moved ahead by endless chains upon drums, one portion
of each chain being clamped to the rails for the purpose.
I purpose mounting an engine upon the main frame, as in Figure 7, that all the
mechanism for digging, cutting, excavating, or dredging earth may be contained in
and upon the one structure.
Instead of threaded rods being used for raising the scoops or the cutting screws,
as before explained, racks and pinions may be fitted.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,—
First. The construction of rotating scoops, vertical and horizontal, as shown by
Figures 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of the annexed Drawings, and their employment in or to
machines adapted for digging, cutting, excavating, or dredging earth, as described.
Secondly. I claim the construction of cutting apparatus shown at Figures 8, 9,
and 10 for the removal of earth and like material, as described.
Thirdly. I claim the combination of apparatus, Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, by which a
raising and lowering and also a to and fro motion of my scoop A may be effected
when such apparatus is employed for digging, cutting, excavating, or dredging
earth or mineral bodies generally, as described.
Fourthly. I claim the apparatus shown at Figure 8 and 9 of the annexed
Drawings and its method of action, especially when fitted with my screw cutting
appliance (shown detached in Figure 10), as and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Thomas Parlour, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
Witness,
H. GARDNER,
Patent Agent,
40, Fleet St.,
London.
JOSEPH T. PARLOUR. (LS.)