IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LOADING VESSELS FROM LIGHTERS
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Edward Heath at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th July 1883.
THOMAS EDWARD HEATH of Northlands in the County of Glamorgan, South
Wales, Patent fuel manufacturer "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LOADING VESSELS
FROM LIGHTERS
"
My Invention relates to improvements in apparatus intended principally for
loading vessels from lighters with blocks of patent fuel but is also applicable for
loading with other materials
Patent fuel is commonly loaded into vessels from lighters which lie alongside the
block's being thrown up. one by one by men standing on stages-In some cases the
vessels are brought alongside a wharf on which the fuel stands in small trucks or
flats which are picked up by cranes on the wharf and lowered into the hold.-
Moveable rails are laid when required in the hold along which trucks are run to
the fuel stowers. In other cases a Jacobs ladder or endless chain mounted on a
lighter and having shelves for carrying the blocks up the side of the vessel has been
proposed for loading vessels with patent fuel.
Now my invention for loading vessels from lighters consists according to one
arrangement of apparatus in a shoot projecting from the hatchway beyond the
bulwark of the vessel and supported and firmly secured above the deck by a frame
in combination with weights and ropes at such an angle that the blocks of fuel will:
readily run down the shoot to the hatchway (Roller shoots similar to those
commonly used when it is desired to lessen the angle at which the blocks will run
may be used.) From the end of the fixed shoot I hang a guide bar down the side
of the ship from which it can be kept at a short distance, by a boom or other.
suitable means
On a jib projecting above and beyond the fixed shoot are two sheaves round the
inner one of which nearest to the bulwark of the vessel I pass a rope or chain and
attach it to a U shaped bridle bar or carrier from which swings a movable or
elevating shoot-Over the other or outer sheave I pass a rope which is attached to
another U shaped bridle bar or carrier hinged to the outer end of the movable or
elevating shoot the inner end of which nearest the vessel is hinged to a block fitted
to and caused to slide upon the guide bar. The two ropes attached to:

page_text: .
the U shaped bridle bars or carriers are joined together at a convenient distance
and continued as one rope over suitable sheaves to a steam winch hoist or other
motor When a winch or hoist is used it may be attached to the fixed shoot and
overwinding prevented by means of a lever which when the elevating shoot
reaches the proper height is moved into a mid position by a ball on a rope and
moves a slide valve or the link of link motion into a mid. position-the winch
being afterwards started in the reverse direction by a man in the lighter (or
elsewhere) pulling the lever in the opposite direction by a cord.
The movable or elevating shoot is so balanced on the inner U shaped bridle
bar or carrier that the end furthest from the vessel is the heaviest but it is kept in
a horizontal position by the rope attached to its further end until the sliding
block on the guide bar reaches the fixed Shoot
The action is as follows.-The movable or elevating shoot is lowered by the man
at the winch until it rests upon the fuel in the lighter (the under part of the shoot
may be cushioned to prevent damage if lowered quickly) The men standing in
the lighter then rapidly and conveniently fill the shoot with blocks of patent fuel
(or other material when so used) when the man at the winch or hoist reverses his
engine and hoists the movable or elevating shoot until the sliding block on the
guide bar comes in contact with the fixed shoot and 'as this end of the movable or
elevating shoot can rise no further the other end tilts up until the blocks of fuel
run off on to the fixed shoot from which they are lowered to the hold in the usual
manner
I may have a pair of movable or elevating shoots side by side the ropes from
them being wound round the winch drum in opposite directions so that they work
alternately the slack in the ropes being taken up from time to time by any
suitable means; or more than one pair of elevating shoots may be worked from
the same winch or hoist which may be driven by steam, gas, electricity or
hydraulic pressure and placed either in the vessel, lighter, or otherwise-Or the
ropes may be actuated by counter balance buckets hanging from sheaves over the
ship's side and which when raised to their proper height lift a valve in a tank
kept filled by a pumping engine placed in a boat alongside-When the counter
balanced buckets have descended and raised the movable or elevating shoots to the
required height a valve in their bottom is lifted by a cord hanging down and
fixed thereto at the required length whereby the buckets are emptied and the
operation repeated The elevating shoots and counter balance buckets may be
retained in position whilst being loaded by a brake or other contrivance
According to a modification of my invention I use flats or tubs which can be
conveniently attached to a hook and loaded by inen in the lighters whilst alongside
or if enough are provided to fill the lighters they may be loaded at the works-A.
lighter being stationed on each side of the ship opposite the hatchway I provide
wheeled frames to run on rails in the hold and carry the flats when required as
hitherto done.-Upon the deck of the vessel between the hatchway and the
bulwarks on either side. 1 place frames or boxes which are secured by weights or
ropes and upon these I fix two parallel horizontal beams from bulwark to bulwark,
across the hatch way-between these horizontal beams I have two pairs of rocking
poles or jibs hinged to the bottoms of the frames or boxes and sufficiently. far apart
for the flats or tubs to swing between them-The rocking poles or jibs are joined at
their upper ends by a beam so that they rock together over the lighters and
batchway respectively and are prevented from rocking too far by stay ropes.-To
the upper end of each pair of rocking poles or jibs I attach a pair of sheaves-A
chain or rope with a ball and hook at the end is led over the outer sheaves above
the lighter and thence over a sheave at the further end of the horizontal beams
whence it passes over sheaves fixed in suitable positions to a drum which is
mounted loosely on a continually revolving shaft (worked by the winch engine of
a steamer or in a boat alongside or in any other convenient manner and position)
and may be rotated with. the latter when required by a suitable clutch-The drum
has also a brake to check it when. required-The chain or rope has à branch chain

page_text: which passes round the inner sheaves over the hatchway and the end of this branch
chain is attached to a ball and hook
A similar chain is attached to this ball and hook and passes over the inner
sheaves above the hatchway and is also provided with a branch chain attached to
the ball and hook above the lighter and passing over that sheave together-they
pass over a sheave at the other end of the horizontal beam and over sheaves fixed
in suitable positions to a second drum upon the same shaft and similarly actuated
as the first named drum.
The action is as follows A loaded flat or tub is hooked on to the chain
depending from above the lighter and an empty on to the one in the hold and the
man at the drums clutches the first drum into gear and hoists until the balls reach
the sheaves when the rocking beams are pulled over the hatchway and lighter
respectively-He then unclutches the first drum and with the brake lowers the full"
flat or tub into the hold and the empty one into the lighter He then waits till
the full flat or tub is unhitched and an empty hitched on in the hold and until the
empty which has been lowered into the second lighter is unhitched and a full flat
or tub hitched on when he repeats the action with the second drum and so on
lifting alternately from each lighter
If desired in lieu of patent fuel Coal and other materials may be loaded from
lighters into vessels in the same way the elevating shoots flats or buckets being
made of suitable size and shape