CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE THE LOADING OF VESSELS WITH COAL, CULM, OR CINDERS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WOODHOUSE DAY, of Well Field, in the Parish of Castle Eden, in the County
of Durham, Colliery and Land Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixth day of July, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Woodhouse Day, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Woodhouse Day, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said John Woodhouse Day,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE THE LOADING OF
VESSELS WITH COAL, CULM, OR CINDERS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said John Woodhouse Day, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Woodhouse Day, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):-
My improvements in apparatus to facilitate the loading of vessels with coal,
culm, or cinders, consists in the employment of an apparatus which is intended
to operate as an inclined plane to conduct the coal or other materials into the
hold of the vessel, and in so doing distribute them more equally in the hold
than can be done by the ordinary means of loading, which apparatus in a great
degree prevents the injury of breaking the coal, that usually takes place in
letting them fall from a considerable height into the hold of the ship, and also
to a certain extent avoids the necessity of trimming them, as heretofore, and
whereby both economises time and labour in loading the vessel.
•
. In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of
a ship with my improved apparatus temporarily attached thereto for the pur-
pose of loading. This apparatus is shewn more in detail and upon an enlarged
scale in the following Figures. An horizontal view of the apparatus is repre-
sented at Fig. 2, and an elevation or side view at Fig. 3, and the appearance
of the under part is given at Fig. 4. A shaft a, a, is placed across the hatch-
way, as shewn in Fig. 2, and upon this shaft is hung by means of hooked ends
the shoots or conductors b, b, b, b, one of which is shewn detached in the
perspective view, Fig. 5. It will be perceived that the hooked ends of the
conductors are so formed, that on being placed upon the shaft a they
constitute jointed connections, by which means the conductors may be laid at
any desired inclination under the deck of the vessel, as seen in Fig. 1. The
upper parts of the conductors 6 are curved, and have each a raised edge, as
shewn in the transverse section at Fig. 6, and the elongated parts of the
conductors may be slightly curved for the purpose of preventing the coal
lodging on their surfaces; there are further elongated pieces c, c, occasionally
attached to the ends of the conductors b, b, by sockets and bolts, or otherwise,
as shewn in Fig 3 and 4, for the purpose of conducting the coal towards the
extremities of the ship, and the inclinations of the conduct rs are determined
either by allowing them to rest upon transverse beans d, d, see Fig. 1, or be
suspended by chains, as at e, c. The improved apparatus described being
placed in the vessel, as shewn at Fig. 1, the coal is let fall either from waggons,
spouts, or other modes of delivery through the hatchway on to the upper parts
of the conductors b, b, from whence it slides down the inclines, falling over the

page_text: sides and ends of the conductors, and by these means becomes equally distri-
buted over the hold of the vessel, and the large and small portions of the coal
are thereby mixed with tolerable uniformity. By the use of this apparatus an
accumulation of coal immediately under the hatchway is avoided, the breaking
of the larger pieces of the coal is prevented, and the uniform loading of the
vessel is greatly facilitated; besides which advantages, very little trimming is
required to fill all parts of the hold of the ship when it has been loaded by
these means.
Having now described the construction, adaptation, and use of my improved
apparatus, I have only to add that it may be slightly varied in its form, and
mode of attachment, without deviating from the general features or principle
above set out, and that it may be constructed and adapted on different scales
suited for large or small ships; therefore, without intending to confine myself
to the precise shapes and modes of connecting the several parts of the appa-
ratus, I desire it to be understood that I claim, as the subject of Invention
secured to me by the above in part recited Letters Patent, the construction
and adaptation of incliued conductors applied in the manner above stated for
facilitating the loading and distribution of coal, culm, or cinders into and over
the hold of a ship or other vessel.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Woodhouse Day, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.