Improvements in Apparatus for the Removal and Deposition of Excavated Material.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 27th Dec., 1889-Accepted, 19th Apr., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for the Removal and Deposition of
Excavated Material.
1, FERNAND NOUAILHAC-PIOCH, of 95 Boulevard Beaumarchais Paris, France
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In public works the question of the transport of earth from the point where it is
dug or excavated to the place for depositing the same plays a very important if not
predominating part in the rapidity of the execution and in the prime cost.
It is more especially in the construction of large canals for navigation, where
considerable cubes of excavated carth have to be removed laterally by the digging
or excavating tool, that the question of rapidity and economy becomes prominent
in the transport to a definite distance from the place where the operation takes
place.
The enlargement of the Suez Canal, and more especially the completion of the
Panama Canal, under the best conditions as regards rapidity and economy doubtless
depends on the improvement to a greater or less extent of the means now employed
for the extraction and transport of the dug or excavated earth. I will hereinafter
describe improvements in the means of transport by the combined application of the
centrifugal force and the projectile motion.
If the movement of the workman as he throws earth with a shovel is observed
and analysed, it will be seen that he imparts to the material as rapid a rotary motion
as his forces will permit him around the axis passing through the articulation of the
shoulders and that at the moment when he thinks the impulsion given (of which he is
conscious) corresponds with the distance the material is to be thrown he holds back
his shovel at the end of the arms and the material leaves tangentially to the surface
of the shovel with the centrifugal force acquired during the impulsion of the muscles
and the rotation around the articulation of the shoulders, it. then passes on a
parabolic trajectory of a range depending essentially upon the force and the
skill of the workman, and finally. it falls upon the spot where it is to be
deposited.
If also the movement of a child throwing a stone with a sling is analysed it will
be seen that he gradually imparts to his sling a rapid rotary movement around the
fore-arm and then, around the wrist; next, at the moment when he thinks that the
impulsion is sufficient to throw his stone the distance which separates him from the mark
of which impulsion he is conscious owing to the centrifugul tension of the two strings
of the sling, he lets loose one of the two strings, the pocket of the sling moves
laterally and the stone, by reason of the continuance of its movement by inertia,
leaves tangentially to the circle of rotation at an angle of which the child will have
determined the size by its natural skill.
What the workman and the child do, can be automatically performed by a machine
actuated by means of a powerful steam or other engine. It is sufficient for this
purpose and to do this in a continuous manner, First to impart to a drum or
cylinder a more or less rapid motion upon a horizontal axis of rotation: Second, to
introduce into this drum in a continuous manner the dug or excavated earth which is
to be transported to the point where it is to be deposited: Third, to provide the
exterior circumference of the drum or cylinder with a number of movable parts
based in their general arrangement either upon the principle of the shovel when their
opening takes place by movements in the same or in opposite directions in planes
which are perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the drum or cylinder, or upon that
of the sling when their opening takes place by lateral movements perpendicular to

page_text: the preceding movements. Fourth to automatically realize the opening of the
shovels or slings when they successively reach a definite point enabling the escape
of the material to which the circumferential velocity of the drum is imparted, at an
angle determined by experience in order to attain a suitable range.
The idea of using a shovel or sling for throwing earth or projectiles is as old as
these instruments themselves, that is to say contemporary with prehistoric ages, but I
think that as least so far as dug or excavated earth proceeding from public works is
concerned, the idea is novel of devising a machine which reproduces in an automatic
and continuous manner movements similar to those made by the workman operating
with a shovel or by the slinger and using this machine for systematically effecting the
transport of material from one place to another. The means for enabling this idea to
be realized form the subject of the aforesaid invention.
To show that this idea admits of a practical and economical application in public works
generally and at Panama in particular I have established the fundamental formulæ of
the theory of a typical apparatus combining the four conditions hereinbefore stated.
These formulæ determining the various elements of the trajectory of a projectile
in a vacuum are independent of the matter, that is to say all the bodies thrown in a
vacuum with the same initial velocity will traverse the same distance irrespective of
their density.
It is not the same for bodies thrown in the air. Experimental ballistics teach in
fact that the resistance of the air consumes a considerable quantity of the initial force
of a projectile and that the range is much less in the air than in a vacuum.
The more matter or density a projectile has for the same volume and the same
velocity, the more force it will have at disposal for overcoming the resistance of the
air, and consequently the more adapted it will be for continuing at its velocity and
extending its range; the less surface the projection of this body has in a plane
perpendicular to the trajectory of its centre of gravity, the better it will be adapted
for continuing in this motion. The resistance of the air is not only proportional to
the surface of the projection of the body in motion upon the trajectory of its contre
of gravity, or to the square of the diameter of the equivalent circle and inversely
proportional to the weight of the projectile, it is also a function of the density of the
air, of the form of the body and its velocity.
It is evident that for dug or excavated material the parts or elements of which may
be of any form; the formula for the resistance of the air cannot be calculated
practically; it is however not necessary to know the exact value for each of the parts
or elements in order to obtain the same approximation to the range of the dug or
excavated material thrown; it is sufficient to determine the two liniits between which
all the other trajectories will be, the dispersion due to the action of the probable
movement to the side being taken into account.
I am now in a position to estimate the limited ranges which result therefrom,
and which are very nearly correct for rocky dry, or slightly moistened earthy
material, two-fifths and one-third of the range in a vacuum corresponding to the
initial velocity and to the angle at which the escape takes place.
These bases for the calculation having been obtained it is easy to estimate the
effective forces of the motors which it is necessary to employ in order to actuate
the apparatus for throwing the material to increasing distances.
:
Suppose in these movements the angle at which the material is thrown to be
constant and equal to 45 degrees for which the range in the vacuum reaches its
.maximum. In the formulæ for the range and the height of the trajectory in a
vacuum, and in that for the work, or the force for a kilogramme of material
.thrown per second, I give to Va, the initial velocity of the escape, increasing
values of from 25 to 100 metres per second. From this results the following
table, in which the first column is for the initial velocities, the second column for
the squares of the velocities, the third column for one third of the range in a
vacuum the fourth column one third of the height in a vacuum, and the fifth
column the corresponding powers.

page_text: On examining this table it will be seen that by keeping within the limits of the
velocity which are far from attaining the velocities dealt with in ballistics, transports
to very suitable distances are obtained for the dug or excavated material, with a
motive power per kilogramme of material projected in a second, which are not in any
way abnormal in a large yard of public works.
After having demonstrated the possibility of carrying the centrifugal transporter,
into practice, the various conditions to be fulfilled by the same in the problem being
regarded as solved, I proceed to describe the general arrangements which this kind of
apparatus can present.
The transporter comprises essentially a rotary drum or cylinder divided by a
number of partitions into compartments into the interior of which the dug or
excavated material is introduced through the medium of a hopper provided with
an admission orifice. The said partitions have an opening at the periphery of the
drum or cylinder through which the materials will escape tangentially under the
action of the centrifugal force. Each compartment is closed by an automatic device,
the opening of which is caused at a proper point by means of a cam, provision being
made for changing the point where the opening is effected according to circumstances.
The said drum or cylinder being designed to turn at a very high speed is
constructed so as to resist the varicus strains to which it will be subjected.
It is provided with discs of sheet stee! which are mounted upon a nave fixed upon
the driving shaft. These two discs are connected by partitions which divide the drum
or cylinder into compartments, the said partitions arranged radially around the
driving shaft are straight at the inner end and are curved at the outer part in order
to convey the material to the opening of the sectors hereinafter described.
In order to offer more resistance the two discs of the drum or cylinder can,
if necessary, be braced to prevent beating; either by giving them a slightly conical
form, or by connecting them with each other by very strong ties, or by making them
thicker at suitable parts.
If a circumferential velocity of 30 metres cannot generally be exceeded in cast-iron
fly wheels, velocities of from 25 to 100 and more inetres can be well borne by elements
of steel made of proper dimensions.
The dug or excavated material is introduced into the drum in a continuous manner.
For this purpose the front wall is provided with a series of openings arranged
concentrically around the shaft and corresponding to the different compartments
the partitions of which are prolonged to the interior of the truncated cone. The

page_text: aforesaid openings are surrounded by a truncated cone secured to the drum or cylinde
and carried with the same in the rotary motion. In the truncated cone terminate
the extremity of a bent pipe forming a hopper into which the dug or excavated
material is caused to pass directly from the channel of the dredger, excavator or the
like.
The said bent pipe although traversed by the driving shaft is fixed and is held
in its position by a bracket secured to one of the standards or the frame upon which
the driving shaft is supported.
The introduction of the material can be effected by other means, for example, the dug
or excavated material can be admitted through the centre of the axis in which case
the driving shaft is hollow and of steel its internal width being made equal to the
diameter of the lumps to be thrown. It can also be introduced at the circum-
ference of the drum or cylinder but this mode of introduction implying too sudden
changes of velocity, I prefer for the present to use the above described arrangement
in which the dug or excavated earth gradually obtains an increasing velocity
owing to the partitions of the truncated cone and of the drum or cylinder.
The drum for the dug or excavated material being provided in the interior with
partitions equal in number to the number of the openings which it is desired to form in
its circumference it is necessary to provide each of the compartments and its opening
with a movable obturator or device which can automatically move away at a given
moment to allow the escape of the material.
A considerable number of arrangements can be used for effecting this object,
which arrangements may be based either on the shovel or on the sling principle.
The device employed in some cases is an automatic obturating device based on the
principle of a shovel.
The shovel proper is arranged completely on the outside of the drum or cylinder
and is formed of two similar articulated parts so that when they are placed together
they will completely close the opening in the compartment of the drum or cylinder
and when they are apart they will entirely uncover the said opening and permit the
escape of the material contained in the said compartment.
The closing position of the shovel is ensured by centrifugal action which always
tends to bring the two parts together; but, for causing them to move apart the
following arrangement can be employed.
Each sector of the obturating device is provided with a crank or arm connected
by rods to a draw bar carrying a friction roller. This roller is adapted to roll upon
the inner surface of a disc which is mounted upon the said driving shaft but which is
not carried away in the rotary movement of the drum or cylinder. The inner surface
of the disc has a raised part forming a cam arranged in the path of the aforesaid
friction roller so as to cause the latter to be displaced, carrying with it the draw-bar
and the rod and causing the two parts of the shovel to move apart.
In every revolution of the drum or cylinder the above mentioned roller on passing
over the cam compels the obturating device to open, and as soon as the action of the
cam upon the roller discontinues the centrifugal force closes the obturating device
again.
The same is the case with each of the openings in the drum which are provided
with a similar obturating device.
Other arrangements of movable parts or elements based on the use of the shovel can
be employed.
For example, a shovel may be employed which consists of only one part placed in
the interior or on the outside of the drum or cylinder. In this case the shovel makes
an oscillatory movement around a fixed point. The obturating device receives a
swinging or rocking motion around a point which is in close proximity to the said
shovel. The radius of the sector or the angle to be given to it can be determined so
as to obtain the best results.
In these several cases the above mentioned disc is arranged in such a manner that?

page_text: its position can be varied. A worm wheel engaging with a worm enables a circular
displacement to be obtained and an adjusting screw ensures the longitudinal displace-
ment necessary for causing the engagement as hereinafter described. The cam or raised
part on the said disc can therefore be placed at any point in accordance with the
direction in which the material is to be projected.
Other modes of automatically opening the shovels can be employed in the case of
obturating devices based on the use of the sling.
These obturating devices can present various arrangements. In one of these
arrangements the device is adapted to open by means of a hinge on one of its sides,
and is held on the other side by a spring clip of the kind employed for closing locks.
A pressure brought to bear upon the staple by means of an external part causes the
opening of the obturating device.
The said obturating device may also be of T shape or any other symmetrical shape,
the axis of which passes through the articulation this condition being sufficient to
ensure equilibrium in the rotation. A counterweight equilibrates the pressure of the
material until the latter is discharged, which is caused by the action of the cam upon
the free arm of the T-shaped part of the device.
A modification of the obturating device consists in employing two similar parts
of T-shape, provided with counterweights and adapted to turn in opposite directions
for effecting the complete opening, so that the angle through which the device moves
in order to open is less than in the above described cases.
Lastly, use can be made of any kind of closing or obturating means there being
no difficulty in devising the same.
As above stated an adjusting screw enables the longitudinal displacement of the
disc provided with a cam by which the opening of the compartments is effected.
By this movement is optionally caused the disengagement or engagement of the
said cam in order to commence or discontinue the projection of the material in the
rotation of the said drum or cylinder.
Any other suitable arrangement than that above described can be employed, for
instance a lever or ratchet mechanism fulfilling the same object.
The mechanism will accordingly be adapted for throwing a current of material to a
suitable distance. The quantity of the material allowed to escape can be augmented
or diminished by making the aforesaid cam of sufficient size for the projection to be
of conical shape, in such a manner that it will enable the more or less wide opening
of the obturating devices which are in direct connection with the said cam.
If all the parts or elements of the drum or cylinder and of the said cam aro
symmetrical, the motion is reversible and the material can be thrown from one side to
the other by simply reversing the motion of the apparatus.
Motion is imparted to this apparatus by a suitable engine or motor and in any
desired manner. For this purpose the driving shaft is provided with a fixed and a
loose pulley arranged upon any suitable part of the said shaft. A high-speed engine
may also be connected directly with the apparatus for driving the latter.
The advantages as well as the applications of the described centrifugal apparatus are
numerous :-
In public works it can be applied to the rapid removal of earth in the construction
of trenches, canals, railways, roads, and the like. It can be used in the construction
of railways for making banks without the aid of piling by adopting the method of
"running."
In the maintenance of canals for navigating, draining and irrigating purposes
it can be employed for spreading upon adjacent land a jet of material charged with
azotized substances which are very useful for agricultural purposes.
In the maintenance of railways it can serve for the removal of snow from trenches.
In short, it can be employed wherever material has to be removed to variable distances
and heights by the power of one or more motors or engines. This improved apparatus
therefore admits of very extensive application.

page_text: For war purposes it can be employed as a very useful auxiliary to the arms of
corps of engineers and artillery for making banks above the ground, or filling up
ditches of fortifications or performing any other work of a similar character.
It can also serve as a war-engine for throwing flint, pebble, balls grenades, shot, or
any projectiles of small dimensions where no great precision is required and where the
range is not very long.
Dated this 26th day of March 1880
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for the Removal and Deposition of
Excavated Material.
FERNAND NOUAILHAC-PIOCH, of 95 Boulevard Beaumarchais Paris France do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
In public works the question of the transport of earth from the point where it is
dug or excavated to the place for depositing the same plays a very important, if not
predominating part in the rapidity of the execution and in the prime cost.
This will be understood more especially in connection with the construction of large
canals for navigation, where considerable quantities of earth have to be removed
laterally by the digging or excavating tool so that the question of rapidity and
economy becomes an important feature in the transport to a definite distance from
the place where the operation takes place.
The enlargement of the Suez Canal, and more especially the completion of the
Panama Canal, under the best conditions as regards rapidity and economy doubtless
depends on the improvement to a greater or less extent of the means now employed
for the extraction and transport of the excavated earth. I will hereinafter describe
improvements in the means of transport by the combined application of centrifugal
force and projecting or throwing motion.
If the movement of the workman as he throws earth with a shovel is observed and
analysed, it will be seen that he imparts to the material as rapid a rotary motion as
his forces will permit him around the axis passing through the articulation of the
shoulders, and that at the moment, when he thinks the impulsion given (of which he
receives the consciousness) corresponds with the distance the material is to be thrown
he holds back his shovel at the end of his arm, and the material leaves tangentially
to the surface of the shovel with the centrifugal force acquired during the impulsion
of the muscles and the rotation around the articulation of the shoulders, it then passes
on a parabolic trajectory of a range depending essentially upon the force and the
skill of the workman, and finally it falls upon the spot where it is to be deposited.
If also the movement of a child throwing a stone with a sling is analysed, it will
be seen that he gradually imparts to his sling a rapid rotary movement around the
fore-arm, and then around the wrist; next, at the moment. when he thinks that the
impulsion is sufficient to throw his stone the distance which separates him from
the mark of which impulsion he is conscious owing to the centrifugal tension of the
two strings of the sling-he lets loose one of the two strings, the pocket of the sling
moves laterally, and the stone, by reason of the continuance of its movement by
inertia, leaves tangentially to the circle of rotation at an angle of which the child
will have determined the size by its natural skill.
What the workman and the child do, can be automatically performed by a machine
actuated by means of a powerful steam or other engine. It is sufficient, for this
purpose and to do this in a continuous manner, 1st to impart to a drum or cylinder a
more or less rapid motion upon a horizontal axis of rotation; 2nd to introduce into

page_text: this drum in a continuous manner the dug or excavated earth which is to be trans-
ported to the point where it is to be deposited; 3rd to provide the exterior circum-
ference of the drum or cylinder with a number of moveable parts based in their
general arrangement either upon the principle of the shovel when their opening takes
place by movements in the same or in opposite directions in planes which are per-
pendicular to the axis of rotation of the drum or cylinder, or upon that of the sling
when their opening takes place by lateral movements perpendicular to the preceding
movements; 4th to automatically realize the opening of the shovels or slings when
they successively reach a definite point enabling the escape of the material to which
the circumferential velocity of the drum is imparted, at an angle determined by
experience in order to attain a suitable range.
The idea of using a shovel or sling for throwing earth or projectiles is as old as
these instruments themselves, that is to say contemporary with prehistoric ages; but
I think that at least so far as excavated earth proceeding from public works is
concerned, the idea is novel of devising a machine which reproduces in an automatic
and continuous manner movements similar to those made by the workman operating
with a shovel or by the slinger, and using this machine for systematically effecting
the transport of material from one place to another. The means for enabling this idea
to be realized forms the subject of the aforesaid invention.
To show that this idea admits of a practical and economical application in public
works generally, and at Panama in particular, I have established the fundamental
formule of the theory of a typical apparatus combining the four conditions herein-
before stated.
These formulæ determining the various elements of the trajectory of a projectile
in a vacuum are independent of the matter that is to say all the bodies thrown in a
vacuum with the same initial velocity will traverse the same distance irrespective of
their density.
It is not however the same with bodies thrown in the air. Experimental ballistics
teach in fact that the resistance of the air consumes a considerable quantity of the
initial force of a projectile and that the range is much less in the air than in a
vacuum.
The more matter or density a projectile has for the same volume and the same
velocity, the more force it will have at disposal for overcoming the resistance of the air,
and consequently the more adapted it will be for continuing at its velocity and extending
its range the less surface the projection of this body has in a plane perpendicular
to the trajectory of its centre of gravity, the better it will be adapted for continuing
in this motion. The resistance of the air is not only proportional to the surface of
the projection of the body in motion upon the trajectory of its centre of gravity, or
to the square of the diameter of the equivalent circle, and inversly proportional to the
weight of the projectile, it is also a function of the density of the air, of the form of
the body and its velocity.
It is evident that for dug or excavated material the parts or elements of which may
be of any form, the formula for the resistance of the air cannot be calculated
practically it is however not necessary to know the exact value for each of the parts
or elements in order to obtain the same approximation to the range of the dug or
excavated material thrown; it is sufficient to determine the two limits between which
all the other trajectories will be, the dispersion due to the action of the probable
movement to the side being, taken into account.
1 am now in a position to estimate the limited ranges which result therefrom, and
which are very nearly correct for rocky, dry or slightly moistened earthy material,
two-fifths and one-third of the range in a vacuum corresponding to the initial velocity
and to the angle at which the escape takes place.
These bases for the calculation having been obtained it is easy to estimate the
effective forces of the motors which it is necessary to employ in order to actuate the
apparatus for throwing the material to increasing distances.
Suppose in these movements the angle at which the material is thrown to be
constant and equal to 45 degrees, for which the range in the vacuum reaches its

page_text: maximum. In the formula for the range and the height of the trajectory in a
vacuum, and in that for the work, or the force for a kilogramme of material thrown
per second, I give to Va, the initial velocity of the escape increasing values of from
25 to 100 meters per second. From this results the following table, in which the first
column is for the initial velocities; the second column for the squares of the velocities;
the third column for one-third of the range in a vacuum; the fourth column one-
third of the height in a vacuum; and the fifth column the corresponding powers.
On examining this table it will be seen that by keeping within the limits of the
velocity, which are far from attaining the velocities dealt with in ballistics, transports
to very suitable distances are obtained for the dug or excavated material, with a
motive power per kilogramme, of material projected in a second, which is not in any
way abnormal in a large yard of public works.
After having demonstrated the possibility of carrying the centrifugal transporter,
into practice, the various conditions to be fulfilled by the same in the problem being
regarded as solved, I proceed to describe the general arrangements which this kind of
apparatus can present.
The transporter comprises essentially a rotary drum or cylinder divided by a
number of partitions into compartiments, into the interior of which the dug or
excavated material is introduced through the medium of a hopper provided with an
admission orifice. The said partitions have an opening at the periphery of the drum
or cylinder, through which the material will escape tangentially under the action of
the centrifugal force. Each compartment is closed by an automatic device the
opening of which is caused at a proper point by means of a cam, provision
being made for changing the point where the opening is effected according to
circumstances.
In order to render this invention better understood, I will separately describe
the principal parts of this machine with reference to the accompanying drawing in
which:
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of the apparatus.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation with a closing device having a shovel.
Figs. 3 and 4 show modifications of the said closing device.
Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show modifications of closing devices provided with slings.
The said drum or cylinder being designed to turn at a very high speed is constructed
so as to resist the various strains to which it will be subjected.
It is provided with discs A and B of sheet steel which are mounted upon a nave ('
fixed upon the driving shaft D. These two discs are connected by partitions K which
divide the drum or cylinder into compartments. The said partitions, arranged radially

page_text: around the driving shaft are straight at the inner end and are curved at the outer
part in order to convey the material to the opening of the sectors hereinafter
described.
In order to offer more resistance, the two discs of the drum or cylinder can, if
necessary, be strengthened either by giving them a slightly conical form, or by
connecting them with each other by very strong ties, or by making them thicker at
suitable parts.
If a circumferential velocity of 30 metres cannot generally be exceeded in cast-
iron fly wheels, velocities of from 25 to 100 and more metres can be well borne by
elements of steel made of proper dimensions.
The dug or excavated material is introduced into the drum in a continuous manner.
For this purpose the front wall B is provided with a series of openings arranged
concentrically around the shaft and corresponding to the different compartments the
partitions of which are prolonged to the interior of the truncated cone. The aforesaid
openings are surrounded by a truncated cone F secured to the drum or cylinder and
carried with the same in the rotary motion. In the truncated cone terminates the
extremity of a bent pipe G forming a hopper at H, into which the dug or excavated
material is caused to pass directly from the channel of the dredger, excavator or the
like.
The said bent pipe G although traversed by the driving shaft D is fixed and is
held in its position by a bracket or support I secured to one of the standards or the
frame J upon which the driving shaft 1) is supported.
The introduction of the material can be effected by other means, for example the
dug or excavated material can be admitted through the centre of the axis in which
case the driving shaft is hollow and of steel, its internal width being made equal to
the diameter of the lumps to be thrown. It can also be introduced at the circumference
of the drum or cylinder, but this mode of introduction implying too sudden changes
of velocity, I prefer for the present to use the above described arrangement in which
the dug or excavated earth gradually obtains an increasing velocity owing to the
partitions of the truncated cone and of the drum or cylinder.
The drum for the dug or excavated material being provided in the interior with
partitions Kequal in number to the number of the openings O which it is desired to
form in its circumference, it is necessary to provide each of the compartments and its
opening with a movable obturator or closing device which can automatically move
away at a given moment to allow the escape of the material.
A considerable number of arrangements can be used for effecting this object, which
arrangements may be based either on the shovel or on the sling principle.
The device illustrated in Fig. 2 is an automatic obturating device based on the
principle of a shovel.
The shovel proper is arranged completely on the outside of the drum or cylinder,
and is formed of two similar parts L M pivoted at N so that when they are placed
together, they will completely close the opening O in the compartment K, of the drum
or cylinder and when they are widest apart they will entirely uncover the said
opening and permit the escape of the material contained in the said compartment K.
The closing position of the shovel is ensured by centrifugal action which always
tends to bring the two parts together; but for causing them to move apart the
following arrangement can be employed:
Each sector of the obturating device L M is provided with a crank or arm R
connected by rods S S to a draw bar T carrying a friction roller U. This roller U
is adapted to roll upon the inner surface of a disc V which is mounted upon the said
driving shaft D but which is not carried away in the rotary movement of the drum
or cylinder. The inner surface of the disc has a raised part X forming a cam arranged
in the path of the aforesaid friction roller U so as to cause the latter to be displaced,
carrying with it the draw-bar T and the rod S S' and causing the two parts of the
shovel to move apart.
In every revolution of the drum or cylinder, the above-mentioned roller U, on
B

page_text: passing over the cam X, compels the obturating device to open, and as soon as the
action of the cam upon the roller discontinues the centrifugal force closes the obturating
device again.
The same is the case with each of the openings in the drum which are provided
with a similar obturating device.
Other arrangements of movable parts or elements based on the use of the shovel
can be employed.
For example, a shovel M may be employed which consists of only one part placed
in the interior or on the outside of the drum or cylinder (see Figure 3). In this case
the shovel makes an oscillatory movement around a fixed point a.
This apparatus operates in the following manner. Under the action of cams
arranged at the centre and with the aid of the intermediate levers the shovel M is
moved in front of the opening in the exterior circumference of the transporter through
which the material escapes and according to the position which it occupies covers or
uncovers the said opening as shown in full and dotted lines in Figure 3. Figure 4
shows a modification of the same. The obturating device receives a swinging or
rocking motion around a point which is in close proximity to the said shovel. The
radius of the sector or the angle to be given to it can be determined so as to obtain the
best results.
In the arrangement shown in Figure 4 the shovel, oscillating upon its centre, leaves
free, part of the discharge opening through which the materials escapes. When the
arrangement is in the position of equilibrium the shovel will completely close the
discharge opening.
In these several cases the above mentioned disc V is arranged in such a manner that
its position can be varied. A worm wheel Y engaging with a worm Y¹ enables a
circular displacement to be obtained, and an adjusting-screw Z ensures the longitudinal
displacement necessary for causing the engagement as hereinafter described. The
cam or raised part X on the said disc V can therefore be placed at any point in
accordance with the direction in which the material is to be projected.
Other modes of automatically opening the shovels can be employed in the case of
obturating devices based on the use of the sling.
These obturating devices can be arranged in various ways. In one of these arrange-
ments shown in Fig. 5 the device is adapted to open by means of a hinge at c on one
of its sides, and is held on the other side by a spring clip d of the kind employed for
closing locks. A pressure brought to hear upon the staple by means of an external
part causes the opening of the obturating device.
The said obturating device may also be of T shape as in Fig. 6 or any other
symmetrical shape, the axis of which passes through the articulation, this condition
being sufficient to ensure equilibrium in the rotation. A counterweight equilibrates
the pressure of the material until the latter is discharged, which is caused by the action
of the cam upon the free arm of the T-shaped part of the device.
A modification of the obturating-device as represented in Fig. 7 consists in employing
two similar parts I m of T shape, provided with counterweights and adapted to turn
in opposite directions, for effecting the complete opening, so that the angle through
which the device moves in order to open is less than that in the above-described cases.
Use can be made of any kind of closing or obturating means, there being no
difficulty in devising the same.
As above stated, an adjusting screw Z enables the longitudinal displacement of the
disc V provided with a cam by which the opening of the compartments is effected.
By this movement is optionally caused the disenagement or engagement of the said
cam in order to commence or discontinue the projection of the material in the rotation
of the said drum or cylinder.
Any other suitable arrangement than that above described can be employed, for
instance a lever or ratchet mechanism fulfilling the same object.
The mechanism will accordingly be adapted for throwing a current of material to a
suitable distance. The quantity of the material allowed to escape can be augmented

page_text: or diminished by making the aforesaid cam of sufficient size for the projection to be of
conical shape in such a manner that it will enable the obturating devices which are in
direct connection with the said cam to be opened more or less.
If all the parts or elements of the drum or cylinder and of the said cam are
symmetrical, the motion is reversible, and the material can be thrown from one side to
the other by simply reversing the motion of the apparatus.
Motion is imparted to this apparatus by a suitable engine or motor and in any
desired manner. For this purpose, the driving shaft D is provided with a fixed and
a loose pulley P P arranged upon any suitable part of the said shaft. A high-speed
engine may also be connected directly with the apparatus for driving the latter.
The advantages as well as the applications of the described centrifugal apparatus
are numerous :-
In public works it can be applied to the rapid removal of earth in the construction
of trenches, canals, railways, roads, and the like. It can be used, in the construction
of railways, for making banks without the aid of piling by adopting the method of
running:"
In the maintenance of canals for navigating, draining and irrigating purposes it can
be employed for spreading upon adjacent land a jet of material charged with azotized
substances, which are very useful for agricultural purposes.
In the maintenance of railways it can serve for the removal of snow from trenches.
In short, it can be employed wherever material has to be removed to variable distances
and heights by the power of one or more motors or engines. This improved apparatus
therefore admits of very extensive application.
For war purposes it can be employed as a very useful auxiliary to the arms of corps
of engineers and artillery for making banks above the ground, or filling up ditches
of fortifications or performing any other work of a similar character.
It can also serve as a war engine for throwing flint, pebble, balls, grenades, shot, or
any projectiles of small dimensions where no great precision is required, and where
the range is not very long.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of any said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is : :-
The improved apparatus for the removal and deposit of excavated material by
centrifugal force, as above described and represented by way of example in the
accompanying drawings.
ليكم
1
1
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.