IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING, RAISING, AND DEPOSITING SOIL."
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Peacock Savage, of Hilgay, near Downham,
in the County of Norfolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING, RAISING, AND DEPOSITING SOIL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Peacock Savage
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th October 1867.
I, WILLIAM PEACOCK SAVAGE, of Hilgay, near Downham, in the County
of Norfolk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING, RAISING, AND DEPOSITING SOIL," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for excavating,
raising, and depositing soil. Excavating machines have heretofore been
constructed which are supported by carrying wheels and which as they travel
forwards excavate a groove or trench in between their carrying wheels by
means of a chain of buckets. Such a machine is described in the Specifica-
tion of a Patent granted to me and dated the 5th day of March 1859, No. 584,
This arrangement however is inconvenient in many cases because the trench
which the machine cuts is an impediment to the continuation of the work
except in a forward direction.
My present Invention consists in arranging such machinery with the
endless chain of brackets to cut in advance of the carrying wheels on one
side of the machine, so that the wheels on this side may immediately run

page_text: along the new bottom which the chain of buckets bas cut.
There is a
horizontal axis at the upper part of the frame, it has pullys upon it which
carry endless chains having buckets attached to them, these chains also pass
around pulleys at the further end of an arm mounted so as to be able to
turn on the axis above mentioned. With this arrangement the machine may
at the end of one cut be run back, and having been moved sideways the
width of its cut it may again be set to work and its travelling wheels will
have a flat bottom to run on as before. If desired the machine may have
endless chains of buckets on either side of it, so that it may be used to cut
to the right hand or to the left as may be desired. In place of running
the machine back I prefer to mount on the machine two sets of buckets
on the same side, one to work-in-each direction; then at the end of one cut
one set of buckets goes out of action and the other set is put to work and
cuts in advance of the carrying wheels during the return of the machine; or
machines arranged to cut between the travelling wheels may be enabled to cut
continuously sideways as described by providing them on one side with adjus-
table wheels, which may be set higher or lower so that the machine may cut
along the side of the trench previously made; the higher wheels on one side
then running on the uncut soil and the lower wheels on the other side on the
bottom of the trench. In some cases I arrange a machine with a central
chain of buckets. working in advance of the carrying wheels, but between.
them, and also other endless chains of buckets on each side working in front
of the carrying wheels and clearing tracks for them.
A machine so arranged
becomes a tunnelling machine, as it is capable of removing everything from
its. front, it is also capable of widening its cut in a sideway direction.
each case the buckets deliver the earth on to an endless travelling apron
which conveys it away into carts or otherwise.
In
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Peacock Savage in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PEACOCK SAVAGE, of Hilgay, near Downham, in the County of Norfolk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS: Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent,, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her! beirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Peacock Savage, Her special licence that I, the said William
Peacock Savage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others,
as I, the said William Peacock Savage, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel, Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for" IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXCAVATING, RAISING, AND DEPOSITING
Sori," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Peacock
Savage, 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 William Peacock Savage, 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 machinery for excavating,
raising, and depositing soil. Excavating machines have heretofore been
constructed which are supported by carrying wheels and which as they travel
forwards excavate a groove or trench in between their carrying wheels by
means of a chain of buckets; such a machine is described in the Specification
of a Patent granted to me, and dated the 5th day of March 1859, No. 584..
This arrangement however is inconvenient in many cases, because the trench.
which the machine cuts is an impediment to the continuation of the work
except in a forward direction.
My present Invention consists in arranging such machinery with the endless.
chain of buckets to cut in advance of the carrying wheels on one side of the
machine, so that the wheels on this side may immediately run along the new,
bottom which the chain of buckets has cut. There is a horizontal axis at the
upper part of the frame, it has pulleys upon it which carry endless chains
having buckets attached to them, these chains also pass around pulleys at the
further end of an arm mounted so as to be able to turn on the axis above
mentioned. With this arrangement the machine may at the end of one cut
be run back and having been moved sideways the width of its cut may again
be set to work and its travelling wheels will have a flat bottom
to run on as

page_text: before. In place of running the machine back I prefer to mount on the
machine two sets of buckets on the same side, one to work in each direction
then at the end of one cut one set of buckets goes out of action and the other
set is put to work and cuts in advance of the carrying wheels during the
return of the machine.
.
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 a side view of a machine thus arranged.
a, a, is the frame of the machine; it is mounted at either end on a pair of
wheels b, each of which is provided with a locking frame of ordinary con-
struction, except that it carries upon it an arm b' which at its end is connected
with a nut on a screw which is turned by a hand wheel 6, so that the locking
of the wheels is controlled thereby. The axles of the wheels bare so
constructed and connected with the locking frame that the wheels on the
working side may be set out or in, to or from, the frame a, the leading
wheel b is set in when it is required to put the chain of buckets so deep that
otherwise the buckets would come in contact with the wheel or when the
nature of the soil is such that it is desirable to support the wheels b on a
stout plank; in this case the wheels bare set in and occupy positions corre-
sponding with that marked b✶ in Figure 1, the planks being laid along the
bottom of the cut produced by the machine at its last traverse.
These planks
have angle-iron guide ledges upon them to prevent the machine drawing too
much in towards the cutting face; 63 is a wheel carried by a stem b*, and
which as the drawing indicates is adjustable up and down in the frame a,
this wheel in all cases runs on the newly cut bottom and if the nature of the
soil admits and where a broad level bottom is being cut by repeated traverses
of the machine the wheels b, b, may advantageously do so also, or in some
cases the leading wheel 6 may be set in to run on a plank on the old bottom
whilst the other wheel 6 follows on planks on the new bottom, the wheel ba
being set down to the soil. The frame a receives upon it the portable engine c
which has its wheels removed and is lifted on to a seat prepared for it on the
frame a and there secured. On the crank axle c³ of this engine the chain
wheel c is fixed; and by a pitch chain it drives the wheel d' on the axis d;
this axis by a pinion drives the spur wheel e¹ on the axis e, and e² is a chain
wheel on the same axis driving the chain wheel f¹ on the axis f which is
vertically over the axis e. The wheel f¹ is loose on its axis, but is capable of
being clutched with it, and it then drives the axis f which has upon it the
hexagon pulleys fa around which an endless chain of buckets g like those of a
dredging machine passes. The chain of buckets g also encircles at its lower
end octagon pulleys carried at the end of the arm h and this arm at its
upper end embraces the axis fand. is able to turn about it. F is an axis

page_text: similar to the axis f and also carrying a chain of buckets, it is driven by.
an endless chain passing around the chain wheel F3 which is fast, upon.
it and also around a chain wheel f³ mounted loosely on the axis but
capable of being clutched with the wheel f¹ where this wheel is running
loose on the axis f; F is the hexagon pulley on the axis F; G, the end-
less chain of buckets; H¹ the lower octagon pulley, and H the arm which
carries it; a' are curved racks fixed to the frame a, and with them gear
pinions mounted on the arms H and h; i, i, are spur wheels on the axes of
these pulleys, they are driven by gearing which the Drawing clearly shews, so
that by turning one of the handles the corresponding chain of buckets can
be set in a more or less inclined position and made to cut more or less deeply
into the land or raised out of work as may be required; e is a pinion on the
axis e, it drives a spur wheel on the axis l, and 2 is a pinion on this axis
gearing with the wheel m¹ on the axis m, on which is also a chain wheel m³
gearing with a chain not shewn in the Drawing, and which may be anchored
in front and behind the machine to enable the machine to wind itself to and
fro. Guide pulleys are provided to keep the chain in gear with the wheel
round a sufficient portion of its circumference, or this chain may pass around
pulleys anchored ahead and astern and thence to the outer corners of the
machine where it is hitched over studs carried by weighted levers which tip
and release the chain should the strain become unduly great. These arrange-
ments however are not shewn in the Drawings. n is an endless travelling
apron on to which the chains of buckets discharge the material they raise,
and this apron carries it to the outer side of the machine and delivers it into
a cart or otherwise which may be stationed beneath; n¹ is a chain pulley on
one of the rollers of the endless apron, it receives a chain which also encircles
the chain wheel o¹ on the axis o; o² is a bevilled pinion by which this axis
is driven, it is capable of being made to gear with either of the bevilled
wheels d², d², on the axis d, these wheels sliding with a feather on the axis
and being moved by the lever handle d³. This arrangement is made so that
the apron n may be driven in the same direction whichever way the engine is
running, for the engine will be driven one way to work the buckets 9 and the
other for the buckets G.
In first setting the apparatus to work, say, for example, in commencing a
railway cutting, one of the chains of buckets is let down so as in working to
cut a trench of any desired length and of convenient depth, dependant on the
nature of the soil, at the end of the cut the machine is moved outwards the
width of the trench, and in returning it widens the trench, and so on until a
trench is obtained sufficiently wide to receive the machine and a cart by its

page_text: side. To support the machine securely during this operation the wheels b, b;
are removed from their ordinary position and are placed at the end of
beams b**, which are then temporarily bolted to the locking frame, and these
beams exceed in length the breadth of the trench to be produced, so that the
supporting wheels may never approach unsafely near its edge. This trench is
made to run out to the surface at the ends, so that the machine is readily run
into it. The machine is made to run close along one of the faces of the
trench, the working chain of buckets being then set to cut down to the level
of the bottom on which the wheels run, or if the wheels are running on timber
then to a further depth corresponding with the thickness of the timber. This
machine when not at work is readily moved from place to place. One of the
arms 6¹ is freed from its screw nut and is brought round to the front, locking
the wheels balf round, and a pole or shafts are fixed to it to which horses are
harnessed. By arranging one or more of the carrying wheels to follow in the
track of the chain of buckets great steadiness is given to the machine when
at work, and by arranging the chain or chains of buckets to cut in advance of
the travelling wheels the machine is enabled to cut close up to any obstacle
or to the dead, or closed end of a trench or cutting in which it may be working,
which is a point of much importance. In place of mounting the steam engine
on the same frame with the excavating apparatus the engine may run on its
own wheels, its frame then when at work being by preference rigidly coupled
with the frame of the excavator. In some cases I arrange a machine with a
central, chain or chains of buckets working in advance of the carrying wheels
but between them, and also other endless chains of buckets on either side
working in front of the carrying wheels and clearing tracks for them. A
machine so arranged becomes a tunnelling machine, as it is capable of
removing everything from its front; it is also capable of widening its cut in a
sideway direction. In this, as in the former case the buckets deliver the earli
on to an endless travelling apron or aprons which convey it away. into carts or
otherwise.
Figure 3 is a plan, and Figure 4 a side elevation of such a.machine. a, a,
is the frame mounted upon locking wheels b, b, as before, except that it is not
necessary that these wheels should be adjustable in and out from the frame;
they are set at such a width that they may not interfere with the timbering of
the sides of the cutting or tunnel; c is the engine carried as before, and
driving by the chain wheel c' and a pitch chain a chain wheel d'on the axis d,
which by the pinion.d drives the wheel e¹ on the axis e; e, e, are chain
wheels on this axis driving chains which also encircle chain wheels f¹, f¹, on
the axis f; ff2, are hexagon pulleys on the axis f to receive the five endless

page_text: chains of buckets g, g; h, h, are strong arms also mounted on the axis f, and
able to turn thereon, and at their lower ends they carry the stout shaft i oni
which are the octagon pulleys ¹ around which the endless chains of buckets'
g, g, also pass; k, k, are toothed ares connected with the arms and gearing
with pinions on the frame driven as is shown by worms and worm wheels from
handles I, by which the inclination of the bucket chains is adjusted as may
be required. The material which the buckets remove is delivered by them
into shoots m which lead it on to the aprons n, n; these aprons may be
driven by pitch chains from the axis e; they take the material to the back of
the machine and there discharge it.into carts or trucks beneath. Figure 4
shows the aprons provided with traps at their outer ends to retain the material
for the short time necessary to shift the carts or trucks. This arrangement is
also applicable to the machine shown at Figures 1 and 2. The aprons may
be constructed in the manner indicated at Figure 5, the chains having cross
slats upon them at intervals and being covered by a fabric or flexible material.
The machine is propelled forward to its work in the following manner:
There is a pinion e³ on the axis e, which drives a spur wheel on an inter-
mediate axis carrying a pinion which drives a spur wheel o¹ on the axis o
and the small chain wheel o² on this axis receives a chain which drives a
similar wheel p¹ on an axis p, and this also has upon it a pinion p² gearing
with a rack ġ firmly bolted down to timbers which are pinned down on to the
bottom; or in place of using this means of driving, or in conjunction therewith,
the machine may be driven forward by a screw r working with a nut s'backed
up by the struts t from the sides of the cut. The screw r is connected by a
universal joint with a bevilled pinion which gears with a bevilled pinion' o
on the axis o*, which is driven by the axis o; o is a large chain wheel on the
same axis which may be used with a pitch chain more rapidly to wind the
machine to and fro; i³, 12, are rotating diggers on the shaft i to break down
the ridge of soil left between the chains of buckets, and u is a guard board
which is applied in order that the buckets may more effectually clear the
bottom. In order that the machine may be able to be withdrawn from the
tunnel or cutting which it has produced notwithstanding the timbering which
has been introduced behind it, the outer pulleys are made in two parts
bolted together, and so as considerably to overhang the ends of their axis.
The outer pulleys are also similarly formed. Then to withdraw the
machine from the tunnel these pulleys are taken apart and removed, as
are also the chains which they carry. One or more of the buckets are
removed from the other chains, and in this way as much clearance is obtained
as will be required. I also use a somewhat similar machine, but of much.

page_text: lighter construction, for cutting trenches to receive drain tiles or for similar
purposes; it has but one chain of buckets in the centre of the front of the
machine corresponding with the centre set of the arrangement last described,
but the chain of buckets is adapted to penetrate to a greater depth below the
carrying wheels of the machine. Such a machine can trench close up to any
obstacle and can produce trenches running the one into the other as is
required in draining. In these machines the travelling apron may be omitted,
the buckets delivering the material into a shoot which returns it into the trench
over the tiles.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,--
First. The arranging a machine for excavating, raising, and depositing soil
with the endless chains of buckets to cut in advance of the travelling wheels
at the sides of the machine.
Second. The arranging a machine for excavating, raising, and depositing
soil, substantially in the manner described in respect to Figures 1 and 2.
Third. The arranging a machine for excavating, raising, and depositing soil
with a central chain or chains of buckets working in advance of the carrying
wheels and between them, and also other endless chains of buckets on either.
side working in front of the travelling wheels.
Fourth. The arranging a machine for excavating, raising, and depositing
soil, substantially in the manner described in respect to Figures 3 and 4.
Fifth. The arranging a machine for excavating, raising, and depositing
soil, and adapted especially for cutting trenches, with a chain of buckets
working in advance of the travelling wheels but between them.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Peacock Savage, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight..
W. P. SAVAGE. (L.S.)