AN IMPROVED STEAM DREDGING BOAT
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Stevens, of No. 1, Welbeck Street, Caven-
dish Square, London, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED STEAM DREDGING BOAT."-A communication from abroad
by Yollet. Babin and Gâche ainé. of Paris in the Empire of France
Sealed the 13th March 1860, and dated the 29th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Stevens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
September 1859.
I, CHARLES STEVENS, of No. 1º, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED STEAM DREDGING BOAT," & that it has been communicated
to me from abroad by Yollet, Babin & Gâche ainé, of Paris, in the Empire of
France, to be as follows:-
The object of the present Invention is a vessel to replace the old dredging
apparatus constructed of an endless chain of buckets. These, independent of the
inconveniences which they offer by carrying off with the mud a large quantity
of water, and the waste of power necessary to raise this mixture to a relatively
considerable height in order to throw it into the boat for carrying it away, are
also difficult to remove from one spot to another, nearly always requiring a
steam tug to conduct them to the sea.
The present Invention entirely remedies these evils, being in itself both a

page_text: dredging machine and boat capable of transporting its load to the place
desired. The vessel or boat is of ordinary size, and is divided into 8 compart-
ments, the bottoms of which are above water mark when empty, and in
communication with the sea by means of wells furnished with valves, on the
raising of which the mud of each compartment can be at one and the same
time emptied. A steam engine placed in the boat moves alternately the shaft
of the screw (by which the boat is moved from place to place), and another
shaft passing beneath the mud compartments, and having at one end a
pinion gearing with two other wheels, each of which are furnished with a
crank pin on which a main connecting rod is coupled, and which serve to
move the balance beams to which the connecting rods of the pump pistons are
attached. The bottoms of the pumps are in connection with suction pipes by
means of knee or joint pipes, permitting the wallower or core barrel of the
tubes to be lowered by means of a windlass to a depth of about 36 feet, for
the mud is to be pumped up above the water, and then when the vessel is
loaded it carries it off to the sea. Pipes or troughs are arranged so that the
mud runs into the different compartments. Thus, this vessel combines the
two operations, that of dredging or pumping up the mud, and the transporting
of it to a convenient place for emptying, where by means of valves it can at
once be discharged. The adaptation of movable suction pipes forms the basis
of the Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Stevens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
STEVENS, of No. 1, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Stevens, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Stevens, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Stevens, 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,

page_text: exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
STEAM DREDGING BOAT," a communication from abroad by Yollet, Babin &
Gâche ainé, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Stevens, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 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 Charles Stevens, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The apparatus hitherto used for dredging or removing mud or other matter
from the bottom of harbours, ports, orewhere, have many inconveniences;
among others may be mentioned the large proportion of water which is
brought up by the endless chain of buckets, and the necessity when the
dredging boat is full of mud of a tug steamer being employed to transport it
to a convenient spot for emptying.
By means of the improved steam dredging boat these inconveniences are
entirely remedied; the boat combines in itself both a dredging apparatus and
a screw engine, and is thus capable of transporting its load to the desired spot
for emptying. The vessel or boat is of ordinary size, and is divided into eight
compartments A, the bottoms of which are above the water line when empty,
and in communication with the water by means of the wells D, so that on
raising the valves E the mud of each compartment can be at one and the
same time emptied. A steam engine F moves alternately by means of the
shifting handles f, the shaft G of the screw, and the shaft G₁, which passes
beneath the mud receptacles; this shaft bears at one extremity a pinion H
gearing with two wheels h, each of which is furnished with a crank pin, on
which the main connecting rods I are coupled. These two main connecting
rods serve to move two balance beams J, to which the connecting rods K. of
the pump pistons L are fixed. The bottoms of the pumps are in communication
with the suction pipes M by means of joints N permitting the wallower or
core barrel of the pipes to be lowered by aid of the windlass P to a depth
of about 35 feet, when it is desired to pump up the mud and to be raised
above the water, when the cargo being completed it is to be carried out to sea.
Qare troughs by which the mud flows into the different compartments.

page_text: Fig. 1, Plate I., represents a longitudinal section, showing the arrangement
of the several parts; Fig. 2, Plate I., a plan of the vessel; Fig. 1, Plate II.,
Jongitudinal view of the vessel; Fig. 2, Plate II., section through the line
5-6; Fig. 3, Plate II., section through the line 3-4; Fig. 4, Plate II.,
section showing boiler and the windlass P.
A, the receptacles for mud; B, sloping bottoms of the reservoirs above the
water line when the vessel is empty; C, windlasses raising the valves;
D, wells by which the mud is discharged; E, valves; f, shifting levers;
G, screw shaft; G³, shaft working the pumps; H, pinion fixed on the shaft G,
h¹, wheels gearing with the pinion H; I, main connecting rods serving to put
in movement the balance beams J; J, balance beams; K, connecting rods of
the pump pistons; L, pumps; M, moveable suction pipes of the pumps;
N, joints of the pipes; O, wallower or core barrel of the suction pipes M;
P, windlass for raising or lowering the pipes by aid of the masts R; Q,
troughs for conducting the mud; R, masts or stays furnished with pullies, by
aid of which the windlass raises or lowers the pipes M; S, valves of the
troughs; T, boiler.
Having thus described my Invention and the manner in which the same is
or may be carried into effect, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters
Patent are,
1st, the arrangement by which the double operation of pumping up the
mud and the transportation of it to a convenient place, is effected in one and
the same vessel.
2nd, the disposition and arrangement of the several parts composing the
mechanism.
3rd, the application of moveable suction pipes which form the basis of the
system.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Stevens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 15th day of March, in the year of our Lord One 3
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
CHARLES STEVENS. (L.S.)