IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SINKING CYLINDERS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR SINKING WELLS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Ritchie Walker, of No. 9, Holden
Terrace, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SINKING CYLINDERS, APPLICABLE ALSO
FOR SINKING WELLS."
Sealed the 23rd December 1875, and dated the 16th July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Ritchie
Walker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th July 1875.
I, CHARLES RITCHIE WALKER, of No. 9, Holden Terrace, Pimlico,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SINKING CYLINDERS, APPLIC-
ABLE ALSO FOR SINKING WELLS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
sinking cylinders, applicable also for sinking wells
For the purpose of sinking cylinders I employ a vertical shaft passing
down contrally through the cylinder to be sunk, and at its lower end

page_text: penetrating into the ground upon which the cylinder is resting The
upper end of the shaft above the top of the cylinder passes through a
collar, free to turn in a bearing carried by a suitable framework, so that
the shaft is free to turn and also to move upwards and downwards
through the bearing Upon the upper end of the shaft is also a band
or toothed wheel through which the shaft can move endwise, but by
which it can be revolved Sliding upon the shaft is also a miser or
vessel of a smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the cylinder to
be sunk. The miser can be raised or lowered upon the shaft by means
of chains.
To excavate earth from the bottom of the cylinder the miser is lowered
down by the chains until it rests upon the earth and is revolved by
means of the shaft.
The bottom of the miser is furnished with four or other number of
radial inclined blades which cut into the ground, the soil thus removed
passing over the blades into the interior of the miser. When the miser
has been thus filled it is lifted by the chains to above the top of the
cylinder, and two half cones are brought together from opposite sides
of the cylinder to cover it over at the top, doors at the bottom of the
miser are then opened and its contents allowed to drop on to the cone,
from which they fall on the outer side of the cylinder, and may be filled
into wagons or barrows to be removed, or in place of a cone being used
to cover over the top of the cylinder when the miser is emptied of its
contents it may be covered by an inclined. cover down which the
contents of the miser may pass directly into a wagon or other receptacle
to be conveyed away, or a platform or truck with a slit in it to clear the
shaft may be run below the miser for the same purpose.
To raise and lower the miser the chains which are connected to it may
pass around horizontal barrels carried by a colla upon the shaft near its
Each barrel may have upon it a bevil wheel to gear into a
upper end.
bevil wheel carried by the shaft and free to turn around it. If this
bevil wheel is prevented from turning by means of a stop whilst the
shaft is rotated the bevil toothed wheels upon the rollers will roll around
it and the rollers be caused to wind up the chains and raise the miser.
If, however, the toothed wheel upon the shaft is allowed to run free the
miser descends and remains resting on the ground at the lower end of
the shaft, or in place of this arrangement the chains may at the upper

page_text: end of the shaft be led over guide pulleys on to a drum mounted on the
shaft, and which drum may similarly either be allowed to revolve with
the shaft or be retained by a stop when the chains are to be wound up
upon it.
The bottom of the miser may either be square, that is, at right angles
with the shaft, or it may be conical or hemispherical. In order also to
maintain the lower end of the shaft concentric with the cylinder a ring
of somewhat less diameter than the interior of the cylinder is mounted
upon the shaft just above the miser, the shaft being free to turn within
the ring. By thus means the low cı end of the shaft will at all times be
kept central or nearly so with the lower end of the cylinder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of tuc conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Ritchie Walker in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 14th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
RITCHIE WALKER, of No 9, Holden Terrace, Pimlico, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-ninth
car of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Ritchie Walker, Her special license,
that I, the said Charles Ritchie Walker, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Ritchie Walker, 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 aud 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 SINKING CYLINDERS, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR SINKING WELLS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Ritchie
Walker, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing

page_text: 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 Charles Ritchie Walker, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to 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
sinking cylinders, applicable also for sinking wells.
For the purpose of sinking cylinders I employ a vertical shaft passing
down centrally through the cylinder to be sunk, and at its lower end
penetrating into the ground upon which the cylinder is resting. The
upper end of the shaft above the top of the cylinder passes through a
collar free to turn in a bearing carried by a suitable framework so that
the shaft is free to turn and also to move upwards and downwards
through the bearing. Upon the upper end of the shaft is also a band or
toothed wheel through which the shaft can move endwise, but by which
it can be revolved. Sliding upon the shaft is also a miser or vessel of a
slightly smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the cylinder to be
sunk. The miser can be raised or lowered upon the shaft by means of
chains.
To excavate earth from the bottom of the cylinder the miser is
lowered down by the chains until it rests upon the earth and is revolved
by means of the shaft.
The bottom of the miser is furnished with two or other number of
radial inclined blades which cut into the ground, the soil thus removed
passing over the blades into the interior of the miser. When the miser
has been thus filled it is lifted by the chains to above the top of the
cylinder, and two half cones are brought together from opposite sides of
the cylinder to cover it over at the top, doors at the bottom of the miser
are then opened and its contents allowed to drop on to the cone, from
which they fall on the outer side of the cylinder and may be filled into
wagons or barrows to be removed, or in place of a cone being used to
cover over the top of the cylinder when the miser is emptied of its

page_text: contents it may be covered by an inclined cover, down which the
contents of the miser may pass directly into a wagon or other receptaclo
to be conveyed away, or a platform or truck with a slit in it to clear tho.
shaft
may
be run below the miser for the same purpose.
To raise and lower the miser the chains which are connected to it may
pass around horizontal barrels carried by a collar upon the shaft near its
upper end, each barrel may have upon it a bevil wheel to gear into a
bevil wheel carried by the shaft and free to turn around it. If this
bevil wheel is prevented from turning by means of a stop whilst the
shaft is rotated the bevil toothed wheels upon the rollers will roll around
it and the rollers be caused to wind up the chains and raise the miser.
If, however, the toothed wheel upon the shaft is allowed to run free tho
miser descends and remains resting on the ground at the lower end of
the shaft, or in place of this arrangement the chains may at the upper
end of the shaft be led over guide pulleys on to a dium mounted. on the
shaft, and which drum may similarly either be allowed to revolve with
the shaft or be retained by a stop when the chains are to be wound up
upon it.
The bottom of the miser may either be square, that is, at right angles
with the shaft, or it may be conical or hemispherical. In order also to
maintain the lower end of the shaft concentric with the cylinder a ring
of somewhat less diameter than the interior of the cylinder is mounted
upon the shaft just above the miser, the shaft being free to turn within
the ring. By this means the lower end of the shaft will at all times be
kept central or nearly so with the lower end of the cylinder.
The apparatus above described may be employed for sinking wells.
..
Tuation T

page_text: valves B¹ for preventing escape of the stuff, as shewn in the section,
Figure 5.
.
In the Drawings the miser is shewn to be cylindrical and flat at the
bottom, but it might be conical, hemispherical, or of other suitable
section before stated. C, C, are doors at the bottom of the miser for
emptying the stuff. When the miser is at work the doors may be
secured by chains C¹ hooked on to pins carried by cross bars at the top,
and to discharge the contents the chains may be set free from the pins,
the doors will then open downwards, as shewn at Figure 3; D is the
guide wheel running free at the top of the miser and serving to keep it
in the centre of the cylinder which is being sunk, E, E, are arms, to
which are connected the chains L by which the miser is raised and
lowered. In the centre of the miser is a square trunk embracing the
vertical stem or shaft I so that the miser may move freely up or down
this shaft; F is a collar, through which the upper part of the shaft F is
free to move up or down. This collar turns in bearings carried by a
frame above the top of the cylinder; G is a bevil toothed wheel or other
driving wheel by which the shaft F can be caused to revolve. A square
aperture in the wheel allows the shaft to move up or down. H is a cross
shaft carried by a boss H³. The boss has a square aperture in it through
which the shaft F moves 'up or down freely. On the cross shaft H are
two drums I with bevil toothed wheels upon them, which wheels gear
into the horizontal toothed wheel J. This latter wheel turns freely
around the boss II', but can be held fast whenever desired by the break
K, or by other suitable means. The chams L are secured to the
drums I. When the shaft H is revolved and the wheel J is held fast
the wheels I gearing with the wheel J and being carried round with the
shaft are caused to revolve, and the chains are thus wound up on to
the drums and the miser is elevated. By freeing the wheel J or by
turning the shaft F in the opposite direction the drums give out the
chain again and the miser descends. At each end of the cross shaft H
is a wheel running on a circular rail N carried by a frame N¹; the rail
N therefore carries the weight of the lifting apparatus and the miser
when it is suspended by its chains.

page_text: First. The combined arrangement of apparatus, substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
Second. The construction of what is herein called a miser in such
manner that it is free to move up or down upon a central driving shaft,
and with discharging doors at the bottom, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Ritchie Walker, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Thirteenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
CHARLES RITCHIE WALKER (L.S)