IMPROVE- MENTS IN DREDGING AND IN MACHINERY AND APPLIANCES CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Julius Ball, of No. 9, Bush Lane, Cannon Street,
in the City of London, Civil Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DREDGING AND IN MACHINERY AND APPLIANCES CONNECTED
THEREWITH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Julius Ball at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th January 1882.
CHARLES JULIUS BALL, of No. 9 Bush Lane, Cannon Street, in the City of
London, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN DREDGING AND IN MACHINERY-AND.
APPLIANCES CONNECTED THEREWITU."
"
In the Specification of my previous Patent No. 987* I described a certain
system of dredging by means of a peculiarly formed pump.
I have worked this system for over three years and I have found by my
experimental practice that to complete my dredging system the following improve-
ments are advisable
I place my pumps above the level of the water and, as they are centrifugal
pumps, it is necessary to fill them with water before starting; a foot valve or
retaining valve would therefore be necessary to enable the filling of pumps to be
accomplished. But this foot valve would never work in the case of my pumps
because they pump not only water but mud, sand and stones. I have therefore
devised the following scheme which obviates the necessity of a foot valve and even
of filling the pump. The suction pipe is lowered into the water and an
obturator placed on the end of the delivery pipe. The pump is then placed in
communication with an ejector which, generally, is the bilge ejector itself, or it may
be a special one. A vacuum is rapidly produced, the water rises by the suction
pipe into the pump and on starting the machine the pump starts also. But, to
avoid having to repeat this operation each time the pump is stopped, previous to
re-starting, I cause the pump to deliver downwards and I then bring the piping
through half a circle to the required direction for delivery taking care that the fall
and rise of the pipe is somewhat more than the height of the suction above water
level. By these means the pump cannot empty itself when it is stopped and
is therefore always ready to restart, the pump being practically the top of a
syphon.
.

page_text: Another improvement consists in an apparatus which I call a divider and the
object of which is to return overboard the water or a great part of it which comes
out at the delivery pipes' mouth with the dredged material. To do this I run the
delivery pipe horizontally, and sometimes I increase the diameter so as to diminish
the speed of the current of water. The result is, especially with sand and gravel,
a rapid separation of the dredgings and of the water. I now place a length of pipe
with openings on the under surface through which the material falls with very little
water while the bulk of water rushes on and is disposed of at the mouth of the
delivery pipe. I also use a simple sheet of iron which I insert in the mouth of the
delivery pipe and which I continue and prolong beyond it as far as may be required.
This sheet receives such a transversal shape as to allow the thick material to pass under
and fall down at the mouth of the delivery pipe while the bulk of water passes on and
is carried overboard on the prolongation of the sheet. When, as in certain cases,
it is necessary to deliver the material perfectly dry or free of water, I cause the
material, partially freed from water by the means I have described to fall into
receptacles of the form of a truncated pyramid or cone, the small end downwards
and suspended on a swivel somewhat like a contractors kibble or bucket but so
arranged that the centre of gravity is below that of suspension when empty or
only filled with water and gets above when full of solid material or sand and
gravel. The kibble has an ordinary self-acting catch, which is liberated by the
action of the increasing weight of the kibble as it fills. Nearly at the top of the
kibble is a large opening which by means of a flexible pipe or of a swing joint and
rigid pipe for cheapness communicates with the outside water. The action of this
arrangement is as follows The kibble by its own weight stands upright ready to
receive the material, the solid goes to the bottom, the water floating above. The
latter escapes by the top opening while the solid accumulates until having reached
the overflow opening the increased. weight liberates the catch_and the centre of
gravity being above that of suspension the whole concern turns over throwing out
its contents But instantly as the centre of gravity returns below the centre of
suspension the kibble rights itself, the catch falls in position and the same operation
repeats itself automatically. The conical or pyramidal shape of the kibble allows
the contents to be shot out unfailingly and causes the variation of position of the
centre of gravity. If the kibble's capacity is exactly ascertained and some
mechanical reckoner attached to count the number of unloadings, an easy means is
obtained of knowing exactly what quantities of material have been moved or
dredged.
In some cases I have found it necessary to dredge into railway trucks. To do
so 1 employ a largo box containing the load of a certain number of railway trucks.
This box is carried on pillars or posts and has a number of doors in its bottom.
A temporary line is run under the box and each truck is brought under one of the
doors. The water and dredgings arrive in this box where the solids are deposited
and the water runs away. When the trucks arrive they find their places under
the trap doors, the dredging is stopped and the doors opened. The trucks are
thereby instantly filled and can be taken away. By this arrangement a dredger
of small power can load a train of trucks very rapidly and economically.
I will now describe another portion of my Invention which I call an exhauster
and which is as follows. I provide my pump on the suction pipe with one, two, or
more openings controlled by small sluice valves and from which originate pipes
smaller than the main suction pipe. The ends or nozzles of such pipes can be
placed in an ordinary barge which is being loaded-by a divider as previously
described. The separation of water and material is only partial, therefore some
water say 20% in bulk will accumulate in the barge with the sand but by means
of my exhausting nozzles I fetch up this water and throw it overboard by passing
it through the pump and main delivery piping and through the divider. My
exhaust nozzles are carried by floats so as to be only very little below the surface
so as not to suck up the sand. When I open one two or more of these exhaust
sluices it diminishes the sucking and consequent dredging of the pump so that I

page_text: can regulate the arrival of the material and the evacuation or pumping out of the
water.
I also use for the same purpose a breach piece formed of two pipes forming
themselves into one as in the shape of the letter Y. At the joining point I have a
valve which can be moved from side to side by a rod and handle within reach of
the operator. When this valve is in its central position the main suction pipo of
the pump sucks equally through the two pipos, but by putting the valve more to
one side or the other the suction can be thrown more in one of the pipos than in
the 'other, and even all in one and none in the other. By making one of these
pipes the dredging pipo and the other the exhausting pipe a perfect control is
obtained of the quantity of dredgings and water which occur simultaneously in a
barge.
I now claim as a complement to the above arrangements a system of unloading
barges by means of a pump on shore or on a pontoon sucking out of the barge into
which one or two or more syphons fitted with a small valve to regulate their flow
supply the requisite water and I claim the conveyance of dredged material by pipes
to any distance and height by successive relays of pumps the delivery of one pump
being made without break of continuity into the suction of the next. I have thus
carried material 1320 yards, with (in that case) two relays only. But when
material is thus sent in long pipes it has a tendency to build itself up in the pipes
and to obstruct them. To avoid this I have devised and claim the following
arrangements First To guide the dredging foreman as to whether he ought to
lift or lower his suction nozzle I make use of the variations in the vacuum created
by the pump to work a vacuum guage which is kept under the eyes of the dredging
foreman and I have found that whenever the vacuum begins to increase it is a sure
sign that the pump is taking too much stuff: I use the variations in the pressure
of the delivery pipe to show how matters are going on by another guago or by a
small hole out of which squirts a jet of water which increases or diminishes as the
delivery is obstructed or free.
use the vacuum to open a valve which admits water to the suction pipe when
it sucks too dry and for simplicity I make a row of holes on the nozzle or pipe and
cover them with a band of india-rubber slit opposite each hole When through
sucking too much the vacuum increases theso slits open partially and admit
sufficient water.
I generally place a spiral little angle iron in the delivery pipes to give the water
a slight rotary twist so as to prevent the settling of the heavy material.
As the nozzle is often choked by weeds &c I find it useful to use the forked
piece previously described and to dredge with two nozzles keeping one at work
while the other being shut off by the valve mentioned is being cleaned of any
accumulation on its grating.
When I use floating tubes they are sometimes in the fair way and have to be
removed now and then. To make this operation easy I joint them with india-
rubber rings and I support them on barrels which have a hole in their lower side.
By forcing air into the barrels by a pipe from dredger the water is displaced and.
floating power obtained.-If I want to clear the way I simply open the communi-
cation between this pipe and the open air, the air in barrels escapes, they fill & sink
with the pipe which is sufficiently flexible.
By turning the pressure on again (produced by a steam jet apparatus or
otherwise) the air reaches the barrels, forces the water out by the lower hole and as
they regain their buoyancy they rise again to the surface with their piping.
To avoid the necessity of hopper barges I have devised the following arrange-
ment which I claim and which enables me to use any ordinary cargo boat.
I use two or more pumps one dredges into the boat, the other sucks the water
out by floating nozzles as described. When the boat is loaded and it is desired to
unload it the dredging pump is made by a change of openings to suck out of the
hold by a pipe laid at the bottom and having a number of holes each fitted with a
moveable cover. The material thus removed is sent by this first pump wherever it'

page_text: is wanted.
In the meanwhile the second pump is connected with another set of
pipes so as to throw water into the hold to wash the material down the sides
to the first perforated pipe which sucks up both the sand or material and the
water.
In the first operation the dredging is brought along a central pipe just under the 5
beams with holes towards the bottom of ship, fitted with adjustable obturators
which act as a divider of water and material and a distributor of spoil in the ship
to trim her correctly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Charles Julius Ball in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th-July-1882...
CHARLES JULIUS BALL of 9 Bush Lane Cannon Street in the City of London
Civil Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN DREDGING AND IN MACHINERY AND
APPLIANCES CONNECTED THEREWITH.'
"
In the Specification of my previous Patent I described a certain system of
dredging by means of a peculiarly formed pump.
I have worked this system for over three years and I have found by my
experimental practice that to complete my dredging system the following improve-
ments are advisable.
I place my pumps above the level of the water and as they are centrifugal
pumps it is necessary to fill them with water before starting. A foot valve or
retaining valve would therefore be necessary to enable the filling of pumps to be
accomplished but this foot valve would never work in the case of my pumps
because they pump not only water but wood, sand and stones. I have therefore
devised the following scherno which obviates the necessity of a foot valve and even
of filling the pump. The suction pipe A Fig. 1 is lowered into the water and an
obturator a placed on the end of the delivery pipe E. The pump is then placed in
communication with an ejector which generally is the bilge ejector itself or it may
be a special one. A vacuum is rapidly produced, the water rises by the suction
pipe into the pump and on starting the machine the pump starts also but to avoid
having to repeat this operation each time the pump is stopped previous to restarting
I cause the pump to deliver downwards and I then bring the piping through a
curve to the required direction for delivery taking care that the fall and rise of the
pipe is somewhat more than the height of the suction above water level or in other
words that the vertical space h Fig. 1 is somewhat larger than Fig 1. By these
means the pump cannot empty itself when it is stopped and is therefore always
ready to re-start the pump being practically the top of a siphon.
Another improvement consists in an apparatus which I call a divider and the
object of which is to return overboard the water or a great part of it which comes
out at the delivery pipe's mouth with the dredged material. To do this I run the

page_text: delivery pipe a Fig 2 horizontally, and sometimes increase its diameter so as to
diminish the speed of the current of water.
The result is especially with sand and gravel a rapid separation of the dredgings
and of the water.
I now place a length of pipe b Fig 2 with openings c d e on the under surface
through which the material falls with very little water while the bulk of water
rushes on and is disposed of at the mouth f Fig 2 of the delivery pipe. I also use
a simple sheet of iron b Fig 3 in the shape of half moon or complete tube which
I insert in the mouth d of the delivery pipe a which I continue and prolong
beyond it as far as may be required. The
c of this sheet receives such a
transversal shape as to allow the thick material to pass under and fall down at the
mouth d Fig 3 of the delivery pipe while the bulk of water passes on and is
carried overboard on the prolongation of the sheet or tube b, when as in certain
cases it is necessary to deliver the material perfectly dry or free of water, I cause
the material partially freed from water by the means I have described to fall into
receptacles of the form of a truncated pyramid or cone the small end downwards
and suspended on a swivel, somewhat like a contractors kibble or basket but so
arranged that the centre of gravity is below that of suspension when empty or only
filled with water and gets above when full of solid material or sand and gravel-
the kibble has an ordinary self acting catch which is liberated by the action of
the increasing weight of the kibble as it fills-nearly at the top of the kibble is a
large opening which by means of a flexible pipe or of a swing joint and rigid pipo
for cheapness communicates with the outside water. The action of this arrange-
ment is as follows. The kibble by its own weight stands upright ready to receive
the material-the solid goes to the bottom the water floating above. The latter
escapes by the top openings, while the solid accumulates until having reached the
overflow opening the increased weight liberates the catch and the centre of gravity
being above that of suspension the whole concern turns over throwing out its
contents but instantly as the centre of gravity roturns below the centre of suspension.
the kibble rights itself, the catch falls into position and the same operation repeats
itself automatically. The conical or pyramidal shape of the kibble allows the
contents to be shot out unfailingly and causes the variation of position of the
centre of gravity. If the kibble's capacity is exactly ascertained, and some
Inechanical reckoner attached to count the number of unloadings an easy means is
obtained of knowing exactly what quantities of material have been moved or
dredged.
In some cases I have found it necessary to dredge into railway trucks-To do
so I employ a large box containing the load of a certain number of railway trucks.
This box is carried on pillars or posts and has a number of doors in its bottom. A
temporary line is run under the box and each truck is brought under one of the
doors. The water and dredgings arrive in this box where the solids are deposited
and the water runs away. When the trucks arrive they find their places under
the trap doors, the dredging is stopped and the doors opened.
The trucks are thereby instantly filled and can be taken away-by this
arrangement a dredger of small power can load a train of trucks very rapidly and
economically.
I will now describe another portion of my Invention which I call an exhauster
and which is as follows-I provide my pump on the suction pipe with one two or
more openings controlled by small sluice valves and from which originate pipes
smaller than the main suction pipe. The end or nozzle of such pipes can be placed
in an ordinary barge which is being loaded-by a divider, as previously described,-
the separation of water and material is only partial therefore some water say
20 per cent in bulk will accumulate in the barge with the sand but by means of
my exhausting nozzles I fetch up this water and throw it overboard by passing it
through the pump and delivery main piping and through the divider-My exhaust
nozzles are carried by floats so as to be only very little below the surface so as not
to suck up the sand. When I open one or two or more of those exhaust sluices it.

page_text: diminishes the sucking and consequent dredging of the pump so that I can regulate
the arrival of material and the evacuation or pumping out of the water. I also
use for the same purpose a breach piece formed of two pipes forming themselves
into one as in the shape of the letter Y-at the joining point 1 have a valve
which can be moved from side to side by a rod and handle within reach of the
operator. When this valve is in its central position the main suction pipe of the
pump sucks equally through the two pipes but by putting the valve more to one
side or the other the suction can be thrown more in one of the pipos than in the
other and even all in one and none in the other. By making one of these pipes
the dredging pipe and the other the exhausting pipe a perfect control is obtained
of the quantity of dredgings and water which occur simultaneously in a barge.
I now claim as a complement to the above arrangements a system of unloading
barges by means of pumps on shore or on a pontoon sucking out of the barge into
which one or two or more syphons fitted with a small valve to regulate their flow
supply the requisite water, and I claim the conveyance of dredged material by
pipes to any distance and height by successive relays of pumps the delivery
of one pump being made without break of continuity into the suction of the
next.
I have thus carried material 1820 yards within that two relays only. But when
material is thus sent in long pipes it has a tendency to build itself up in the pipes
and to obstruct them-to avoid this I have devised and claim the following
arrangements.
1st. To guide the dredging foreman as to whether he ought to lift or lower his
suction nozzle I make use of the variations in the vacuum created by the pump to
work a vacuum gauge which is kept under the eyes of the dredging foreman and
I have found that whenever the vacuum begins to increase it is a sure sign that
the pump is taking too much stuff.
I use the variations in the pressure of the delivery pipo to show how matters
are going on by another gauge or by a small hole out of which squirts a jet of
water which increases or diminishes as the delivery is obstructed or free.
I use the vacuum to open a valve which admits water to the suction pipe when
it sucks too dry and for simplicity I sometimes make a row of holes on the
nozzle or pipe and cover them with a band of india rubber slit opposite cach
hole shewn on Sheet 3.
When through sucking too much the vacuum increases, these slits open partially
and admit sufficient water, or a tongue t of any desirable shape can be cut at any
convenient part of the piping and any increase of vacuum will cause it to give
way opening thereby an increased water way. This tongue t is shewn on Sheet 4.
I generally place a spiral little angle iron in the delivery pipes to give the
water a slight rotary twist so as to prevent the settling of the heavy material.
As the nozzle is often choked by weeds &c I find it useful to use the forked
piece previously described and to dredge with two nozzles, keeping one at work
while the other being shut off by the valve mentioned is being cleansed of any
accumulation on its grating.
When I use floating tubes they are sometimes in the fair way and have to be
removed now and then-to make this operation easy I joint them with wide
india rubber rings and 1 support them on barrels which have a hole in their lower
side by forcing air into the barrels by a pipe from dredger the water is displaced
and floating power obtained. If I want to clear the way I simply open the com-
munication between this pipe and the open air-the air in barrels escapes, they fill 5
and sink with the pipe which is sufficiently flexible on account of india rubber
joints.
By turning the pressure on again (produced by a steam jet apparatus or other-
wise) the air reaches the barrels forces the water out by the lower hole, and as they
regain their buoyancy they rise again to the surface with the piping.
To avoid the necessity of hopper barges I have devised the following arrange-
ment which I claim and which enables me to use any ordinary cargo boat.
5

page_text: I use two or more pumps-one dredges into the boat the other sucks the water
out by floating nozzles as described.
When the boat is loaded and it is desired to unload it the dredging pump is
made by a change of openings to suck out of the hold by a pipe laid at the bottom,
and having a number of holes, each fitted with a movable cover. The material
thus removed is sent by this first pump wherever it is wanted.
In the meanwhile the second pump is connected with another set of pipes so as
to throw water into the hold to wash the material down the sides to the first
perforated pipe which sucks up both the sand or material and the water.
In the first operation the dredging is brought along a central pipe just under
the beams with holes towards the bottom of ships fitted with adjustable obturator
which acts as a divider of water and material and a distributor of spoil in the ship
to trim her correctly.
In witness whereof I the said Charles Julius Ball have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twentyfifth day of July One thousand eight hundred
and eighty two.
Witness
EDGAR EDMONDS
Patent Agent
203 Strand W.C.
CHARLES JULIUS BALL. (L.S.)