IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING GRAIN, SAND, COAL, AND OTHER CARGOES, FOR EXCAVATING ANDRED
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cooper, and John Holdsworth, both of Hull, in
the county of York, for an invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
LOADING AND UNLOADING GRAIN, SAND, COAL, AND OTHER CARGOES, ALSO
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cooper and John
Holdsworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd June
1882.
.
WILLIAM COOPER, and JOHN HOLDSWORTH, both of Hull, in the County of
York, "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING GRAIN,
SAND, COAL, AND OTHER CARGOES, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR EXCAVATING AND
DREDGING,"
Our invention has for its object to load or unload grain, coal, sand, mud, and
other materials, to excavate clay, sand or earth, and to dredge river beds, pits,
drains, and other places, without requiring two independent systems of pulleys and
chains or ropes, namely, one for opening and closing the scoops and another for
raising and lowering them. The invention is applicable to ordinary cranes, derricks,
sheers and similar lifting apparatus. It consists chiefly in a pair of scoops or
series of curved prongs pivoted at the top on a common or two different axles.and
meeting each other in a vertical central plane when closed, in combination with
a closing chain attached to a pair of arms, extending upward from the fulcrum
of the scoop, and provided at their ends with weights, if desired, the centre of
said closing chain being secured to a pulley suspended from a fixed pulley block,
or over the sheave in a crane jib, the pulley block (viz a block with two sets of
sheaves one above the other) hanging under the jib; an opening chain or chains
attached at the lower end to the axle of the scoops or to the upper sides of the
latter and hooked at the top to a rope or pulley suspended from the pulley block;
a rope, attached at one end to the pulley block, passing downward under the pulley
of the opening chain, then upward over and under the successive pullies of the

page_text: pulley block, downward under the pulley of the closing chain, upward over a
fixed pulley or crane jib sheave, and finally to the drum of a winch, so that when
the latter is turned, the opening chain pulley and the closing chain pulley rise
and fall with different speeds or at different intervals, which may be regulated
by suspending a movable weight either from the opening pulley or from the
closing pulley.
.
The pulley block and the fixed pulley may be suspended from a crane jib or
other fixed point of support, and instead of using a pulley block the rope may be
passed over a brake-pulley mounted on a shaft of the winch in order to obtain the
necessary friction.
If the opening chains are attached to the top of the scoops right and left of their
axle, the counterweights at the ends of the arms for automatically opening the
scoops may be omitted. For lifting coal or excavating the closed scoops are
replaced by series of curved prongs meeting in the centre. Instead of attaching
the counterweights direct to the arms of the scoop, they may be secured to the
ends of long levers pivoted to the outer edges of the scoops and acting on the
scoop arms.
:

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Cooper and John Holdsworth in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd December 1882.
".
'
WILLIAM COOPER, and JOHN HOLDSWORTH, both of Hull, in the 'County of
York "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING GRAIN,
SAND, COAL, AND OTHER CARGOES, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR EXCAVATING
DREDGING "
AND
Our invention has for its object to load or unload grain, coal, sand, mud and.
other materials, to excavate clay, sand or earth, and to dredge river beds, pits,
drains, and other places, without requiring two independent systems of pulleys and
chains or ropes, namely, one for opening and closing the scoops and another for
raising and lowering them. The invention is applicable to ordinary cranes,
derricks, sheers, and similar lifting apparatus.
For this purpose we use a pair of scoops or series of curved prongs pivoted at the
top on a common or two different axles and meeting each other, when closed, in a
vertical central plane; a closing-chain or chains attached to a pair of arms,
extending upward from the fulcrum of the scoop, and provided at its ends with
weights, if desired, the centre of said closing chain being secured to a pulley
suspended from a pulley-block, an opening chain or chains attached at the
lower end to the axle of the scoops or to the upper sides of the latter and at
the top to a pulley suspended from the pulley block; a rope attached at
one end to the pulley block, passing downward under the pulley of the
opening chain, then upward over and under the successive pulleys of the pulley-
block, downward under the pulley of the closing chain, upward over a fixed
pulley or crane-jib sheave, and finally to the drum of a winch, so that when the
latter is turned, the opening chain pulley and the closing chain pulley rise and fall
with different speeds or at different intervals, which may be regulated by
suspending a movable weight either from the opening pulley or from the closing
pulley.
Instead of the pulley block or in combination with the same, a brake pulley
may be used to produce the necessary friction'; which pulley may be placed at any
convenient spot, for instance on the winch, or crane jib, or attached to the
pulley-block itself.
I
1
For further describing our invention we make use of the accompanying drawings,
of which Fig. 1 represents one form of the apparatus in perspective view, while
Fig. 2 is a diagram of the same form in side view, showing the arrangement of
ropes and chains, and Figs. 3 to 11 represent several modifications.
24
In Fig. 1A, A are the two halves of a scoop which turn on the horizontal axle a
and are provided with arms a' a'. B, B is the closing chain holding with the ends
the upper ends of the closing arms a¹ a¹ and supported in the centre by the strap
of a pulley b under which passes the operating rope D. C, C, are 'the opening
chains attached with their lower ends to the upper sides of the scoop A, A, and
with their upper ends to a weight C¹. E is a pulley-block with three parallel
sheaves and suspended from some fixed point F which may be a horizontal beam,
or the jib of a crane or any other suitable support. G is an ordinary winch
provided with a drum g, which can be set in motion by a crank g' and tooth-
gearing also with a brake g² the strap of which may be tightened or loosened by a
hand lever g or a pedal g. The operating rope is attached at one end to the hook
or bridle C, passes over sheave e¹ of the pulley block, then down round the sheave
attached to the brake-pulley g² of the winch, up again over sheave e³, down through
.

page_text: block 6 of the closing chain, up again over sheave e² of the pulley block or
headblock E and down to the winch barrel.
By applying the brake' (tightening the strap) the scoops can be made to open at
any moment while being lowered, at other times the brake is always off, except for
a few seconds when the machine is filling, for the purpose of keeping the opening
chains or bridles slack, thereby allowing the scoops to dig into the material to be
lifted, this requisite slackness being obtained by allowing the weight C to overhaul
the chain a few inches, after the scoops are landed on their work. The brake
pulley and sheave attached to it are mounted loose on the driving shaft of the
winch, but they may be placed at any other convenient spot of the crane or winch
or other support.
To prevent slipping, the said sheave must have a V shaped groove, if used for a
rope, or be provided with a suitable trail for the chain link, like the sheaves of
differential blocks.
Fig. 3 shows how the brake pulley may be attached to the jib H of an ordinary
crane. The central sheave h runs loose on the axle which connects the chain or
rope pulley h' with the brake pulley h²; h³ is the brake lever with strap which
may be unshipped from the pulley when the crane is required for ordinary work
only. Or the lever may be dispensed with altogether and replaced by a hand
lever J or treadle i placed near the attendant and connected with the brake-band
at the jib by a wire or chain 2, as illustrated by Fig. 4, the band itself being
sufficiently elastic to clear the brake pulley until pressure is applied to the lever by
the attendant. Fig. 5 represents an improved arrangement suitable for a new crane
jib. The brake pulley k only is outside the cheek K, and is connected with the chain
pulley k', while the pulley k² runs loose on the axle on which k and k¹ are fixed.
The relative position of k¹ and ², may however be reversed, or all three pulleys
may be placed inside the cheeks.
Fig. 6 represents a pulley-block L provided with a brake and suspended by
means of two hooks ¹¹ from a fixed beam or other support. Fig. 7 represents an
apparatus with weighted arms M for the scoops, an operating-rope N attached at
one end to the pulley block n, and passing from there downward under the
pulley of the opening chain, then upward over and under the successive pulleys
of the pulley block n, downward under the pulley of the closing chain n², upward
over the fixed pulley or crane-jib-sheave n³ and finally to the drum of a winch.
The opening chain O is attached to the axle of the scoops, and the necessary
friction or reduction of speed for opening the scoops when they are lowered is
obtained by the pulley block n without requiring a brake. An apparatus of this
type is applicable with various means of lifting.
The number of sheaves, length of arms and size of balance weights may be
adjusted that the machine will lower unopened if the weight is removed, and
open, if the weight is replaced.
The pulley-block represented in Fig. 7 might be used sometimes without so
many sheaves so that sufficient friction or retardation would not be caused to open
the scoops when lowering but would require a little more which could be applied
to one of the sheaves by means of a brake pulley, a brake band and connecting
line; this addition would enable the driver to open the machine at pleasure, and
not immediately on lowering taking place; by this arrangement the weighted arms
might be dispensed with, as in the case of the brake sheave on the winch, or jib,
provided the opening chains were similarly attached to the scoops on either side
of the centre bar, and the weight C', Fig. 1 were sufficiently heavy to overhaul
a few inches of the chain after the machine is landed, to allow it to describe its
arc in closing and filling without raising its centre.
Fig. 8 represents a modified arrangement of arms p¹ p¹ whereby the balance
weights p for opening the scoop may be considerably reduced. The arms p¹ are
cranked to give room for the axle p³. Fig. 9 represents scoops with short strong
arms QQcarrying pulleys q q, under which passes the closing chain q¹ suspended
from the block q, and which may be arranged to work inside the scoops if desired.

page_text: Fig. 10 illustrates a pair of scoops.composed of prongs R suitable for excavating
earth, lifting coal, lime, bones and bark.
The prongs may occupy only half the height of the scoops if preferred, and
where great lightness is desired, the scoops may be made of a frame covered with
canvas.
On board grain ships where separating mats are used, the form of scoop illus-
trated by Fig. 11 will be found most suitable. Two or more runners or ledges 8 8¹
are rivetted to the underside of the scoops, to push down any mats and prevent
their being nipped or dragged up with the seed. The scoops may form sectors of
a sphere joined together at their top-edge instead of sectors of a cylinder, which
would be suitable for excavating mud and earth out of cylinders for foundation-
piers, the arms being arranged to drop inside the scoops and provided with pulleys
as indicated in Fig. 9.
The motive power for our improved lifting or excavating apparatus may be
situated at any practicable distance from the spot at which the bucket may be
working. It may be either manual or engine power. The bucket can be worked
at any depth, (as in a pit) so long as a link of chain remains on the barrel (it is
not limited by any opening gear such as weights &c.) and can be opened and shut
at any moment, at any depth, or height or can be lowered the whole way full or
empty, open or shut.
Other modifications in the shape of the bucket or scoops and details of tackle
may be adopted without departing from the nature of our invention, and we do
not limit ourselves to the precise details shown by the drawings.
What we claim is:-
1. The method of opening closing, lifting and lowering vessels, buckets or scoops
of lifting, depositing or excavating apparatus by means of an opening chain or
chains and a closing chain or chains, connected with the said vessel, bucket or
scoop, and one continuous operating rope or chain, passing over a pulley block
adapted to retard or stop when required the motion of one of the chains con-
nected with the vessel scoops or bucket, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
2. The combination of a vessel, bucket or scoops provided with arms substan-
tially as described, or without arms, and with or without counter weights, an
opening chain or chains, a closing chain or chains, a pulley block or blocks
attached to a crane jib or other suitable point of support, a winch with or without
brake and an operating rope or chain connected with the winch, closing chain and
opening chain in the manner substantially as described.
The various forms or modifications of apparatus, substantially as described and
illustrated.
*
In Witness whereof we the said William Cooper and John Holdsworth
have hereunto set our hands and seals this twenty-eighth day of November
WILLIAM COOPER
JOHN HOLDSWORTH (L.S.)
(L.S.)