IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS, FOR DIGGING OR PICKING THE EARTH, THE SAID APPARATUS BEING ALSO, APPLICABLE TO BORING PURPOSES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Louis Lacarrière, Chemist, of the City of Paris,
•
in the Republic of France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS,
FOR DIGGING OR PICKING THE EARTH, THE SAID APPARATUS BEING ALSO,
APPLICABLE TO BORING PURPOSES."
Sealed the 23rd April 1880, and dated the 3rd November 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Louis Lacarrière
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd November 1879.
CHARLES LOUIS LACARRIÈRE, Chemist, of the City of Paris, in the Republic of
France. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DIGGING OR PICKING THE EARTH, THE
SAID APPARATUS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO BORING PURPOSES."
The apparatus the subject of the present Invention is triple acting, that is to say,
it digs or picks the earth, collects the broken earth, and discharges it, all which
operations are simultaneously conducted.
The constituent parts of the apparatus may be classified under three heads, viz.,
the digger proper, the carriage requisite for producing an alternate action of the
digger or picker, and an apparatus for removing the earth as fast as it is dug up.
The digger consists of a carriage bearing four superposed arms, or pick bearers, or
discs of circular form mounted on a horizontal shaft having a sufficient space
between each to allow of the passage of the matters, and arranged on the shaft in
such a manner as to avoid leaving any part of the earth unattacked; a backward
and forward motion of the carriage is produced, which actuates the picks in a
vertical sense, and this carriage rests on rollers on a waggon running on rails
placed in a direction transverse to the carriage and parallel with the earth to be
picked.
t
The carriage bears a steam motor transmitting motion to the whole apparatus ;
the said carriage is provided with a crank, causing it to advance on the rails by
means of toothed wheels, and the earth broken by the picks is gathered on an
endless cloth having the requisite inclination for conducting and discharging it in
rear. The endless band is mounted on an hexagonal drum or drums, leading the
loose earth to a hopper in rear of the apparatus, and thence it is carried to a hoist
consisting of a series of buckets mounted in a double iron frame, and is mounted on
supports placed on trucks running on rails in the direction of and following the
picks in their transverse course. This part of the machine is set in motion bý
means of a transmitting belt imparting motion direct from the apparatus by a motor
mounted on one of the trucks referred to.
:
The apparatus may be used for boring by causing the picks to act in a horizontal
manner instead of a vertical one, which is effected by simple means.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Louis Lacarrière in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
April 1880.
CHARLES LOUIS LACARRIERE, Chemist, of the City of Paris, in the Republic of
France. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DIGGING OR PICKING THE EARTH, THE
SAID APPARATUS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO BORING PURPOSES."
The object of this Invention is to dig or pick the earth, collect it when broken
up and discharge it, all which operations are simultaneously conducted.
The parts forming the apparatus may be classed under three heads, viz., the
digger proper, the carriage requisite for the alternate and automatic action of the
digger, and the apparatus for removing or shifting the earth as fast as it is dug up,
each of which parts will be successively described.
In the accompanying Drawings, of which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the appa-
ratus, and Fig. 2 a plan thereof,-
The digger or picker comprises a carriage A, bearing above four or more super-
posed arms A¹ or pick bearers; these picks B are circular, and of even numbers on
one side and uneven on the other, so as to pick the earth without leaving any
part unattacked. These picks, as shown, are metal discs of circular form with
hollows, as seen in the plan, Fig. 2; they are mounted on horizontal shafts A' of
indefinite number, having between them a space sufficient to allow of the passage
of matters and to give free play to the picks.
These shafts or pick bearers thus arranged are placed one on the other on the
frame or carriage A of the machine in such a manner that one of the upper picks
passes in the space left between the picks in the upper or lower set.
The number
of sets of picks shafts is optional, and, as already indicated, they should be mounted
and combined so as not to allow of any part of the ground being unattacked.
The backward and forward motion of the picks is effected by aid of the carriage
A; this carriage is of iron or wood, according to the size or power of the machine;
it receives its forward movement by means of a transverse shaft A¹¹, Fig. 2,
furnished with four bevil wheels b, Figs. 1 and 2, with alternate disconnection
governed by the principal shaft A, which at the same time sets the pick shafts A'
in motion by means of bevil wheels, see Fig. 1.
This carriage, resting on rollers, advances and recedes as required on an ordinary
wagon of four to six wheels f running on rails placed in a transverse sense to the
carriage, or in a direction parallel to the earth to be picked; these rails are laid as
the picking progresses. The carriage bears a steam motor a for transmitting motion
to the whole apparatus; it is fixed to the wagon by two screws D, receiving their
motion from a set of cog wheels with automatic disconnection; these screws cause
the forward movement of the carriage for bringing the pickers into play, and when
the work is completed the disengaging mechanism acts on the transmission and
compels the carriage to recede.
The carriage referred to is provided with a crank, causing it to advance on the
rails by means of gear work placed after the wheels. The earth broken by the picks
is gathered on an endless cloth C, having the requisite inclination for conducting
and discharging the earth in rear of the carriage; this endless band is mounted, as
shown in the plan, on hexagonal drums C³, turning and imparting the necessary
movement for conducting the picked matter towards a hopper C2, placed in rear of
the apparatus, which then leads it to the earth boist H. This hoist H, as shown in
the plan, consists of a series of metal buckets I of suitable dimensions, forming an
endless chain mounted on a double iron frame, in the flanks of which is a gorge to
receive the rollers, placed at the end of the trunnions; these rollers act as guides to
the buckets in their continuous course. This apparatus, used for discharging the
collected earth, is mounted on one or more supports G placed on trucks F running

page_text: This
on rails in the direction of and following the picks in their transverse course.
part of the machine is set in motion by means of a transmitting belt, imparting
motion direct from the apparatus either by a special machine mounted on one of the
trucks, as shown by L of the plan, Fig. 2. This hoist is formed by the union of
detached pieces, so as to admit of more or less increasing its height for throwing out
the earth collected.
It should be mentioned that this apparatus may be converted into a boring"
machine, and performing subterraneous operations with as great rapidity as above
ground.
In order to clearly show what alterations are made to render the apparatus ser-
viceable for under ground work or boring purposes, it is illustrated by the Figs.
3, 4, 5, Fig. 3 being a side view of the complete apparatus; Fig. 4, a front view of
the pick borers; Fig. 5, a plan view generally of the apparatus. The alterations
are, 1st, a novel arrangement which admits of attacking the subterraneous earth to
be picked in a longitudinal sense. The movable frame B is mounted on one or
several pairs of wheels running on rails, and bearing at one of its ends the per-
forating picks C of indefinite and optional number, which are mounted on transverse
shafts.
A steam motor a, placed at the opposite end of the frame to where the picks act,
serves (by means of mechanism represented in the plan, Fig. 5) to advance the pick
bearing frame for conducting the boring. This mechanism consists mainly of an
eccentric placed on the driving shaft of the machine, which causes a toothed wheel
by aid of a lever to advance, transmitting by means of cog wheels a forward move-
ment to one of the wheels on which the motor rests. The advance of the machine
may be calculated at 1 metre a minute. The wheels of the frame and those of the
motor run on the same rails. A governing pulley or cog wheel, according to circum-
stances, transmits the movement of the motor to the driving pulleys of the picks.
An endless cloth set in motion by the motor transports the earth to the front of the
inachine, and by aid of a hopper E empties it in the trucks.
I claim the tripple acting and vertical picker conducting the three operations of
simultaneously picking, collecting, and discharging the earth; I claim also the same
apparatus as modified for boring purposes, the picks then being arranged to act
longitudinally instead of vertically, as and by the means herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Louis Lacarriere, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty third day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.