IMPROVEMENTS IN ÅDDARATING FOR EXCAVATING BELOW WATER."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Webb, of No. 2, Charterhouse Buildings,
Goswell Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
" IMPROVEMENTS IN ÅDDARATING FOR EXCAVATING BELOW WATER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Webb at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th September 1871.
I, GEORGE WEBB, of No. 2, Charterhouse Buildings,, Goswell Road,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXCAVATING BELOW WATER,"
to be as follows:—
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1
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
excavating below water. For this purpose I employ a malleable or
wrought-iron cylinder with a steel bottom, formed into a screw of
1
suitable pitch. The screw does not completely close the bottom, but a.

page_text: sector of about one-sixth of the circle is left open. The top of the
cylinder is also for the most part closed by a suitable cover, a sector
of about one-third being cut away above the portion of the bottom
which is left open. A portion of the side of the cylinder is also cut
away to correspond with the openings at the top and bottom of the
cylinder, and the edge which passes up from the leading edge of the
screw bottom forms an inclined cutting edge. On the cover are
lugs under which an iron bar forming part of a bow-shaped or other
frame enters. The bow-shaped or other frame is capable of sliding up
and down on a vertical square rod, which at its lower end enters a short
distance into the ground where the excavation is to be made, and the
frame is suspended by a cord or chain. When the cylinder has been
sunk on to the ground it is caused to rotate by rotating the square rod
at its upper end by a clamped capstan or otherwise, the bow frame
on the rod taking under the lugs on the top of the cylinder then causing
the cylinder to rotate. The screw shaped bottom of the cylinder then
enters the ground, and so soon as the cylinder is sufficiently filled the
bow or other frame is disengaged from it by a quarter turn backwards
of the square rod. The bow shaped or other frame is then raised by
the cord or chain by which it is suspended. This frame is connected
by two chains to the sides of the cylinder, one chain being connected to
it on one side of the opening before mentioned, and the other on the
opposite side, and as the frame is raised the cylinder is turned over into a
horizontal position with the opening in its side uppermost, and is then
raised up to a stage at the surface where it can be emptied.
To facilitate the turning over of the cylinder after it has been screwed
into the ground the inclined cutting edge at the side of the cylinder
is caused to cut a hole somewhat larger than the diameter of the
cylinder.
When the cylinder has been emptied it is placed vertically on to the
bar, the centre of the top and bottom of the cylinder being cut away
to fit around it, the bow shaped or other frame is then hitched under
the lugs on the cylinder cover, and the cylinder is again slid down the
bar and again filled by being screwed into the ground, and is again
raised as before described.
.
The square rod is made in lengths and is connected together by flush
joints which offer no impediment to the cylinder or bucket and the bow
or other frame sliding down it. For this purpose I form a circular

page_text: .
projection at the end of one bar to enter a corresponding recess in the
end of another bar, and a key is passed through both to hold them
together, and at opposite sides of the projection on one bar are other
projections to take into corresponding recesses in the other bar, and
these take the torsional strain which is placed on the bar when it is
rotated.
i
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Webb in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th March 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WEBB, of No. 2, Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, tho said George Webb, Her special license
that I, the said, George Webb, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Webb, my executors
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully 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
APPARATUS FOR EXCAVATING BELOW WATER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Webb, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Webb, do hereby declare

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
excavating below water. For this purpose I employ as herein-after
described a cylinder or bucket so formed that it may first be caused to
screw into the ground wherever an excavation is to be formed
below water, and may afterwards when sufficiently filled be raised
together with the earth contained in it, and be emptied on to a stage
or into barges or vessels.
The Drawings hereunto annexed shew an excavating apparatus
constructed according to my Invention. Figure 1 shews an elevation
of the apparatus with the cylinder or bucket ready to be screwed
into the ground; Figure 2 shews a similar elevation with the cylinder
or bucket in the position it assumes when being raised; Figure 3 shews
an under side view of the cylinder or bucket. .
A is the cylinder, the sides of which are by preference of wrought or
malleable iron, B is the bottom of the cylinder formed into a screw of
suitable pitch, and closing the bottom with the exception of a sector of
about one-sixth of a circle. The top of the cylinder is also closed by a
cover in which is a somewhat larger opening as shewn, and the side of
the cylinder is also cut away as shewn to correspond with these openings.
The top and bottom of the cylinder are also cut away to allow of the
cylinder or bucket sliding centrally upon the square rod C. On the
cylinder cover are lugs D, under which the bar E' which forms part of
a bow-shaped frame E can pass. The frame E is capable of sliding up
and down on the rod C but cannot turn around it, and it is suspended.
by a cord or chain F. The bar E' is connected by two chains G to the
cylinder, one chain being connected to it on one edge of the opening in its
side, and the other connected to it on the opposite edge of such opening.
The rod C is lowered down in a vertical or it might be in a somewhat
inclined position at the spot where an excavation is to be formed,
until its lower end rests on and enters a short distance into the ground.
The cylinder or bucket is then placed on to the rod C and the cylinder
is turned to cause the lugs D to hitch over the bar E' of the frame E.
This frame is then lowered down the rod O by the chain or cord
attached to it, and when it has arrived at the bottom it is caused to
screw into the ground by turning the rod C. The rod C is turned by.

page_text: 1
means of the capstan arms H which can be clamped to it at any desired
height, and the capstan arms are worked by men on a floating or other
stage. Other arrangements for turning the bar C might however be
adopted. When the cylinder or bucket has been sufficiently filled by
thus screwing it into the ground the bar E¹ is disengaged from it
by giving a quarter turn backwards to the rod C, and the frame E
is then raised by the cord or chain attached to it. As the frame is
raised the chains G by which it is connected with the cylinder or
bucket become taut, and hauling on to the cylinder turn it over into a
horizontal position, as shewn at Figure 2, and the cylinder or bucket
is raised in this position on to the stage or platform above where it
can be readily turned over and emptied. The cylinder or bucket is then
again hitched on to the bar E' and again lowered to be filled. The rod C
is shifted from time to time as the excavation proceeds, so as to continue
the excavation wherever it is desired to be formed. The turning over
of the cylinder after it has been screwed into the ground as .above
described is readily effected by reason of the leading point B¹ of the
screw bottom and the inclined cutting edge A¹ at the side of the
cylinder or bucket projecting somewhat further from the centre than
the other parts of the cylinder or bucket, and thereby the bucket is
caused to cut a hole somewhat larger than its own diameter, this allows
it to be readily turned over. The rod C is formed in lengths which
are by preference connected to one another by joints such as are shewn
at Figures 4. A tapering circular projection is formed at the end of
one length to enter a corresponding recess in another length, and a
key is passed through both as shewn. The ends of the key are cut
away to be flush with the outer surface of the bar in which the
socket is formed. On two opposite sides of the tapering circular
projection before mentioned at the end of one length are projections C',
to take into corresponding recesses in the end of the other length in
which the socket is formed; these take the torsional strain which is
placed on the bar when it is turning the cylinder or bucket to screw it
into the ground. By connecting together the several lengths of which
the rod is composed in the manner above described the frame E and
cylinder or bucket are free to slide down it without encountering
any impediment at the joints.

page_text: is, the combined arrangement of apparatus substantially as herein
described for excavating below water.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Webb, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.