Improvements in Hoisting and Conveying Apparatus.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Oct., 1896-Accepted, 12th Dec., 1896
[Communicated from abroad by JEREMIAH CAMPBELL, of Chelsea, in the County of
Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Merchant.]
Improvements in Hoisting and Conveying Apparatus.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 :-
The invention relates to a hoisting and conveying apparatus comprising a steam
shovel or similar device which is organized or arranged to automatically fill itself
from the material upon which it is permitted to land or come, either in the hold of a
barge or vessel or elsewhere, and which is automatically hoisted and transferred or
conveyed to an unloading or dumping position and there automatically opened to
release or discharge its contents and then in its opened condition automatically
transferred and lowered to engage or take another load.
In the accompanying drawings I have represented the apparatus as organized to
discharge coal from the hold of a coal barge in which
Figure 1 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section of the apparatus and its
operating devices indicating the relation which they bear to the barge and to a tram-
car into which the coal is delivered.
Figure 2 is a view in elevation and section of the same parts representing the
shovel or device at the end of its downward movement and as about to automatically
load itself.
Figure 3 is a view principally in plan, enlarged, of the operating engines, and
Figure 4, is a view in perspective of an automatically loading and unloading steam
shovel or device.
A is the steam shovel or conveying device. It is constructed to automatically open
and close in any desired position and to be hoisted and transferred either opened or
closed and it is also adapted to be closed. Ordinarily it is conveyed opened from the
point where it discharges its load to the point where it takes it and is then automatically
closed upon the material to load itself and then transferred in its closed condition with
the load to the point of delivery where it is automatically opened to release the load.
To open and close the shovel or device there is usually employed an opening or closing
rope or device which in the drawing we have lettered B. This extends from the
opening and closing devices of the shovel or device A over a roll carried by a movable
trolley C and over a pulley c¹ at the upper end of the frame D to the winding drum e
of the engine E.
To hoist the shovel a rope or chain F is employed which extends from the shovel or
device over the roll e carried by the trolley Cover a pulley at the upper end of the
frame work D in line with the pulley c¹ to the winding roll el of the engine E. The
operations of closing and opening the shovel or device, or in other words of loading
and unloading it and the operation of hoisting and transferring it are both controlled
by the engine E which is operated by an engineer or operator who is stationed at the
window E therein from whence he can watch the position of the shovel.
The drums e, el are adapted to be operated separately or simultaneously and each
is connected with the operating shaft of its engine by a clutch or connecting

page_text: mechanism in the control of the said operator, the means for actuating the clutches
extending to the position adjacent to said window, as do also the devices connected
with the throttle for starting and stopping the engine.
The horizontal movement of the shovel is accomplished by moving the trolley C
upon the boom or support G. This is accomplished by the engine G having the
winding drum g. The trolley has the rolls or wheels which run upon the tracks on
the boom or support G and it also has attached to its forward end its operating rope gl
which extends over a pulley g2 at the outer end of the boom and over a roll g³ secured
to the frame-work D to the said winding drum g. This engine G is run by a second
engineer stationed at the window E³ of the engine house. The winding drum is
connected with its actuating shaft by a clutch mechanism and is adapted to be thrown
into and out of engagement with it and the devices for actuating the clutch and for
opening and closing the throttle of the engine are brought together at g* adjacent to
the window E³. It is the duty of the engineer running the opening and closing and
hoisting drums to load the bucket or shovel by closing it when in its lowest or loading
position and to then hoist the same and to open the shovel or carrying device when it
has been moved to its unloading position which in the drawings is over the chute H
which is attached to the said engine house and which is adapted to deliver the material
dumped there into a tram or dump car H' movable upon the tracks h¹ below it or to
any other conveying device. The engineer operating the engine G¹ moves the
trolley C horizontally and therefore varies the horizontal position of the shovel or
device A as it is falling to enter the hatchway of the barge and to direct it horizontally
to a loading position and also as it is being hoisted, for without this horizontal
movement of the trolley C the shovel would rise and fall in the same vertical plane,
therefore the said engineer causes the trolley to be moved and therefore varies the
horizontal position of the shovel while the other engineer is hoisting or lowering it,
these operations going on conjointly. The trolley is moved outwardly by the winding
drum g and actuating rope g' and inwardly by the weight of the shovel."
The engine room, the frame D and shovel and other actuating devices are mounted
upon a truck or support having wheels or rolls J. (see Figure 1) which bear on the
rails extending in any desired direction, in this instance along the side of the pier
or wharf and this affords means whereby the location of hoisting and conveying
devices may be changed from one barge to another or from one position to another.
The shovel shown in the drawings has the two parts or sections a, a' which are
connected together by the arms a² a³ extending from each, the first to the part a* and
the second to the part a and these parts are pivoted at a to each other. The opening
and closing rope extends about a drum a7 attached to the part a¹ and upon the same
drum is a smaller drum which actuates the rope as extending from it about the
pulley a attached to the section a of the shovel and extending to a where it is
secured to the section a¹. The hoisting rope or chain extends about the pulley a
attached to both of the parts a', a about the pulley a¹ upon the part a and then to
the housing of the pulley a". I would not be understood, however, as limiting the
invention to this form of automatic steam shovel or device, as the invention is equally
serviceable with any shovel adapted to be closed, opened, hoisted and transferred as
herein indicated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. An apparatus for hoisting and conveying, comprising a shovel of the character
specified and means for automatically closing and opening the same and for
automatically hoisting and transferring the same, as and for the purposes described.
2. An automatic hoisting and conveying apparatus of the character specified.
3. An automatic hoisting and conveying apparatus of the character specified and
means for varying its operative position.
4. In an automatic hoisting and conveying device the combination of a shovel or
similar device adapted to be automatically closed and automatically opened by means

page_text: of a rope extending from the shovel to the winding dram of an engine, means for
hoisting and lowering the said shovel comprising a hoisting rope extending to the
drum of an operating engine, means for varying the horizontal position of the said
shovel comprising a trolley over which said opening and closing and hoisting ropes
extend, and a rope or chain extending to the drum of an operating engine.
5. The combination in a hoisting and conveying apparatus of the character specified
of the shovel A, its opening and closing rope or chain B, its hoisting and lowering
rope or chain F, the engine E having the winding drums e, e¹ with which said ropes are
respectively connected and which drums are adapted to be actuated independently or
conjointly as specified, the horizontally movable trolley C having rolls over which
said opening and closing rope or chain and said hoisting and lowering rope or chain
extend, the rope or chain g' for moving said trolley C, the engine G having a
winding drum g with which said rope is connected, all as and for the purposes set
forth.
Dated this 20th day of October 1896
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.