Improvements in Apparatus for Shipping or Transferring Coal and other Materials.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Apr., 1888
Rese
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Jan., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 5th Feb., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Shipping or Transferring Coal and
other Materials.
1, WILLIAM SHAPTON of 8 Great George Street, in the City of Westminster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In shipping or transferring coal and other materials it is common to tilt the trucks
emptying their contents down a shoot into the hold of a ship or into boxes or other
trucks. This arrangement has the disadvantage of breaking the coal or other
material.
According to this invention I employ a slide working up and down in guides
in the shoot. At the commencement of the operation the slide is at the top so
that the coal, as it is emptied from the truck, falls a very short distance. As the
top of the shoot becomes filled the slide is allowed to give way, being controlled
by hand or automatically, and it continues to descend as the shoot fills. When
the slide arrives near the bottom of the shoot it either remains there retaining the
coal until it is desired to deliver it, or it is made to uncover an opening so as to allow
the coal to flow out at the bottom of the shoot. I carry out the latter arrangement
in various ways.
Sometimes I curve the guides at their lower ends, a stop being provided to arrest
the movement of the top of the slide, whilst the bottom is still pressed forward by the
weight of the coal behind it. The slide is thus swept around the curved part of the
guides, leaving the end of the shoot open. Or the ends of the guides may be hinged,
and the top of the slide may come against a pivoted rod, which prevents it from
continning to move in a straight line, compelling it to turn about the pivot carrying
the guides with it. Or again-the guides may be straight and the slide may move
from end to end of the shoot an aperture being provided at the lower end of the floor,
so that the coal is free to run out when the slide has passed a certain point.
The slide may be supported by bridles and chains passing around pulleys on a'
hydraulic cylinder and ram and descends as the water is allowed to escape from the
cylinder.
...
. L

page_text: In working the shoot may be kept always full of coal the slide being moved to and
fro to regulate the size of the aperture at the bottom of the shoot so that the delivery
shall not be greater than the supply at the top. Or the slide may be dispensed with
the flow being regulated by an adjustable incline at the bottom of the floor of the
shoot.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Shipping or Transferring Coal and
other Materials.
I, WILLIAM SHAPTON of 8 Great George Street, in the City of Westminster,
Engineer, 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 shipping or transferring coal and other materials it is common to tilt the trucks
emptying their contents down a shoot into the hold of a ship or into boxes or other
trucks. This arrangement has the disadvantage of breaking the coal or other
material.
According to this invention I employ a slide working up and down in guides in the
shoot. At the commencement of the operation the slide is at the top so that the coal
as it is emptied from the truck falls a very short distance. As the top of the
shoot becomes filled the slide is allowed to give way being controlled by hand or
automatically, and it continues to descend as the shoot fills. When the slide arrives.
near the bottom of the shoot the coal or material is allowed to flow out.
+
In order that my said invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect I will proceed to describe the drawings hereunto annexed.
2
our,
***
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
1
Figure 1 is an elevation and Figure 2 is a plan of a coal hoist and tip with an
antibreakage" shoot arranged in accordance with my invention. a is the framing:
of the hoist is the tipping platform and c is the coal wagon upon the platform.
These parts are not novel. When the coal wagon has passed, on to the platform it is.
lifted and tipped as the drawing indicates. The antibreakage shoot of which d d are

page_text: the sides is jointed at its upper end to the framing a and its outer extremity is
suspended by the chains e.
is a slide extending across the shoot it rests upon flanges on the upper edges of
the sides d d and it is provided with rollers so that it is easily movable along them.
The wagon c empties its contents into the shoot immediately in front of the slide.
The slide is then allowed to pass gradually down the shoot, (the gear for doing this is
described further on) and the coal passes down with it. h h are screens in the
bottom of the shoot and any dust there may be is discharged through them. At
there is a sudden drop in the floor of the shoot and when the coal reaches this
it passes beneath the lower edge of the slide and escapes out of the shoot.
kk are
doors which may be provided to control the coal when it is past the slide they are
closed together when it is desired to stop the passage of the coal this is done by
hand gear which being old and not claimed is not represented in the drawings.
I is a door in the bottom of the shoot which may be opened when desired to
deliver the coal by it when it is more convenient to deliver in this way than
from the end of the shoot. m is an hydraulic cylinder for moving the slide f
having a ram n attached to a piston working in the cylinder. On the head of
the ram are four pulleys oo and chains passing around these pulleys are connected
with the slide. On the side on which the cylinder m is situate the controlling
chains are made fast to the side of the shoot at d* dx and then pass up between the
pulleys oo next they go right and left to the pulleys p and q which pulleys lead them
to the attachment fast to the slide to this both the chains are made fast. On the
side of the shoot opposite to that upon which the cylinder m is fixed two chains are
similarly secured to an attachments upon the slide, they pass right and left to
pulleys t and u and after passing over these the chains are led by pulleys and w
beneath the bottom of the shoot. The chains emerge on the cylinder side over
pulleys and having passed over other guide pulleys y y they ascend between
another pair of pulleys oo on the end of the ram. Finally the chains are made fast
to the side of the shoot at z z.
As the ram is forced out of the cylinder by the admission to it of water under
pressure behind the piston the slide is drawn up the shoot. On the other hand when
water under pressure is admitted in front of the piston and that at the back allowed
to escape the ram enters the cylinder and the slide descends, valves of the ordinary
sort control the passage of the water.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. An antibreakage coal shoot with a slide movable along it and controlling the
descent of the coal substantially as described.
2. An antibreakage coal shoot substantially as described and represented by the
annexed drawings.
Dated this 27th day of December 188.