IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MOVING MUD, SEWAGE, SAND, SMALL GRAVEL, OR OTHER SIMILAR MATTER FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Burt, of Wandsworth, in the County of
Surrey, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
AND APPARATUS FOR MOVING MUD, SEWAGE, SAND, SMALL GRAVEL, OR OTHER
SIMILAR MATTER FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER."-A communication from
abroad by James Burt, of Velsen, North Holland.
Sealed the 10th September 1867, and dated the 12th March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Burt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th March 1867.
I, THOMAS BURT, of Wandsworth, in the County of Surrey, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MOVING MUD, SEWAGE, SAND,
SMALL GRAVEL, OR OTHER SIMILAR MATTER FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the removal of mud, sewage, sand, small
gravel, or other similar matter from one place to another, and consists
of certain improvements in machinery and apparatus for facilitating
such removal and dispensing with the ordinary floating, locomotive, and
other appliances usually employed therein.

page_text: The means by which I propose to effect the object of my said Inven-
tion are as follows:-I make a rotating pump by fitting two or more
vanes upon a vertical shaft; these vanes I partially enclose in a cylin-
drical case having an outlet formed at one side and a valved inlet at top
and bottom. To the top cover of the pump I fit a cylinder or receiver
into which the mud or other matter to be removed is placed; to the
bottom cover of the pump I fit a pipe for admitting water. The quan-
tity of mud, sand, or other matter admitted into the case or body of the
pump is regulated by opening and closing the valves before mentioned.
The pump may be worked by steam or other power, as the mud, sand,
or gravel is admitted at the top the water is admitted at the bottom of
the pump case and the materials are thus rapidly mixed and driven out
through the side opening before mentioned. To this opening I connect
a number of flexibly jointed tubes or pipes through which the semi-fluid
matter is impelled by the pump and conducted and deposited as
required. The top and bottom valves are capable of being opened and
closed independently of each other, so that should any stoppage occur
in the conducting tubes or pipes they can be flushed with water only,
and cleared by closing the top and opening the bottom valve only. By
making the pipes or tubes with flexible joints the pump machinery can
be fixed to a dredger and move with it without altering the position of
the delivering end, or the latter can be readily moved while the pump
remains in one position. When it is required to conduct the matter
across water I fit the nines or tubes with floats.

page_text: "
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MOVING MUD,
SEWAGE, SAND, SMALL GRAVEL, OR OTHER SIMILAR MATTER FROM ONE PLACE
TO ANOTHER," a communication to me from abroad by James Burt, of
Velsen, North Holland, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Thomas Burt, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Burt, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery and
apparatus for moving mud, sewage, sand, small gravel, or other similar
matter from one place to another. In order to remove mud, sand, small
gravel, the deposit from sewers, or other similar matter from the bottom
of a watercourse, and to convey it to the shore or land at the side of
the watercourse a floating steam dredger is employed, but in place of
causing this dredger to discharge the material which it raises into
barges, as is usual, there is applied to it in order to receive the material
raised an apparatus formed by fitting two or more vanes upon a vertical
shaft; these vanes are partially enclosed in a cylindrical case, having
an outlet formed at one side and a valved inlet at top and bottom. To
the top cover of the pump there is fitted a cylinder or receiver into
which the mud or other matter to be removed is thrown by the dredger;
to the bottom of the pump case there is fitted a pipe for admitting water.
The quantity of mud, sand, or other matter and water admitted into
the case or body of the pump is regulated by opening and closing the
valves before mentioned. The pump may be worked by steam or other
power. As the mud, sand, or gravel is admitted at the top the water
is admitted at the bottom of the pump case, and the materials are thus
mixed and driven out through the side opening before mentioned; to
this opening pipes are connected which are arranged to float on the
water in the watercourse. The pipes are coupled together with flexible

page_text: joints so that whilst one end of the system of pipes is on the shore or
bank and the other end connected to the floating dredger the dredger
may be free to travel forward for some distance before it is necessary
to vary the arrangement of the pipes; the semi-fluid matter is impelled
by the pump through these pipes, and is conducted and deposited as
may be required. The top and bottom valves are capable of being
opened and closed independently of each other, so that should any stop-
page occur in the conducting pipes they can be flushed with water only,
and cleared by closing the top and opening the bottom valve.
machinery or apparatus may also be employed otherwise than in com-
bination with a floating dredger, and in a stationary position, as, for
example, when excavating a dock or other construction to convey away
the earth therefrom to the shore or bank, or in other cases where it is
desired to convey earth to a distance.
The
And in order that the said Invention may be most fully understood
and readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a vertical section, and Figure 2 is a plan of the machinery
and apparatus. a, a, is a cylinder or receiver fixed to the side of the
dredger or otherwise suitably to receive the earth or material it is
desired to convey; b is the pump case fixed at its lower end, and it
should, as is indicated in the Drawing, be just below the level of the
water from which the pump takes its supply; c is the water supply pas-
sage adapted to an opening in the bottom of the pump case, and d is
a valve within the passage c which can be opened and closed by the
lever d' and handle d²; e is a bridge piece fixed to the pump casing and
passing through the passage c to carry the step or lower bearing of the
pump axis f, and which has also an upper bearing at the top of the
cylinder or receiver a; g, g, are bevilled wheels by means of which the
axis is driven, by preference from a steam engine; f¹ are the pump
blades fixed on the axis f; a' is an opening in the cylinder or receiver a
by which the earth or material is supplied to it by the dredger or other-
wise; this opening should be six feet or more above the bottom of the
cylinder or receiver. h is a conical valve or cover to regulate the passage
of the earth or material from the cylinder or receiver through the open-
ing in the top of the pump case; this valve has two rods h¹, h¹, fixed to
it, and which pass through guides i, i, to a forked lever k, to which they

page_text: are jointed. The lever k extends out through the side of the cylinder
or receiver, and is jointed to a rod / which at its lower end is forked and
holds a screw nut m; this nut works on a screw, the stem of which is
carried in a bearing, and has the bevilled pinion n upon it gearing with
another similar pinion on the axis of the hand wheel n', so that by turn-
ing this wheel the valve h can be raised and lowered; the valve is
guided by the fixed guide rods h³. There is a tangential opening in
the pump case 6 which receives a casting o to which the pipes for convey-
ing away the water and material are connected. A plan of the arrange-
ment of pipes is shown on a smaller scale at Figure 3. P is a wooden
pipe made with staves like a cask, and bound together with hoops; it
is connected with the casting o by a leather connecting tube q, which is
clipped on to the casting and on to the pipe by metal hoops drawn to-
gether by screws, as is shown. At the other end of the pipe p another
leather tuber of some length is adapted which forms a freely flexible
joint, connecting it with the wooden pipe s. The tube is kept in
form by a coil of thin flat iron rivetted to the leather. By similar flex-
ible joint tubes the pipes is connected with the succeeding pipes of
the series t, u, and v, v, v, which series is continued to the shore where
the material is to be deposited. Each of the pipes of this series is
formed with floating pieces at its sides, as is shown in section at Figure
4, to sustain it in the water. The three tubes s, t, and u are combined
together to make them more readily manageable in such manner that
although the ends of the coupled pipe can be moved to and from each
other other movement is restrained by booms w, w', w³. The centre and
larger boom w¹ is pin-jointed at the centre to a float or saddle piece at
the centre of the pipe t, and the outer ends of this boom are pinjointed
to the booms w and w³, the centre pins of the joints being fixed upon
floats x, x. The other ends of the booms w and w³ are jointed at the
junction of the pipes p, s, and u, v, respectively. It will be seen that at
each of these junctions, and wherever the flexible leather joint tubes
are left free to bend the strain is taken off the flexible tube by means of
planks y, y, fixed on each pipe float over the pipe and pinjointed to-
gether at their ends. When the position of the apparatus is such that
require to be conveyed over water there will be
substituted for this flexible system of floating pipes any ordinary
arrangement of pipes.
the material does not
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,

page_text: the arranging machinery and apparatus for moving mud, sewage, sand,
small gravel, or other similar material from one place to another, as
herein-before described.
I also claim the combining with a rotating pump a cylinder or
receiver which receives mud or other matter and conveys it into the
pump case so that it may be mingled with the water which the pump
draws and then driven on with the water to the position where it is
required to be deposited.
1 also claim the combination with the other parts of the machinery
and apparatus of the system of floating and flexible jointed pipes, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Burt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
THOMAS BURT. (L.S.)