IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM DIGGING APPARATUS SUITABLE FOR DRAINING AND EXCAVATING PURPOSES; PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO REAPING
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Pierre Philippe Celestin Barrat
and Jean Baptiste Barrat at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 25th August 1856.
We, PIERRE PHILIPPE CELESTIN BARRAT and JEAN BAPTISTE BARRAT, of
Paris, in the French Empire, Doctors, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM DIGGING APPARATUS SUITABLE FOR
DRAINING AND EXCAVATING PURPOSES; PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO
REAPING," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of improvements in and modifications of the steam
digging machinery, patented on our behalf, and as a communication from us,
by J. H. Johnson, on the 10th May 1858.
The improvements consist, first, in placing the large motive or running wheels
behind the furnace, for the better adjustment of the weight.
Second, in forming the wheels with a sheet iron felloe, bolted or rivetted to
flat or T-iron spokes, shaped like a truncated isosceles triangle, converging to
and supported by the nave.
Third, in dividing the nave of the large wheels into two parts, so that the
wheels may slightly incline on the axle..

page_text: Fourth, in having a certain amount of play between the nave and axle.
Fifth, in substituting for the chain wheels used for throwing the motive or
running wheels out of gear, an arrangement of couplings or clutches, forks,
and levers, allowing the axle to turn freely in its bearings, and attaching it by
couplings or clutches to the running wheels, in such manner that one wheel 5
might be thrown.out of gear without stopping the revolution of the axle.
Sixth, in modifying the arrangement of gearing for driving the fore carriage
wheels simultaneously with the large motive or running wheels, by employing
bevel wheels mounted on a shaft gearing into other and corresponding bevel
wheels, placing a chain wheel on the centre of the axle, and providing chain 1
wheels supported by couplings and cotters.
Seventh, in placing shoes, skids, or guards on the peripheries of the motive
wheels.
Eighth, in so arranging the axle of the fore carrriage, that it may follow
the undulations of the soil, which is done by surrounding the axle by clutches,
against which press springs, connected to a shaft with pins or studs, carrying a
beam, which is bolted to stays or bars fitted under the lower platform.
Ninth, in employing steam to tilt or incline the fore carriage in working a
curve or turning the machine.
Tenth, in connecting in a straight line the digger frame or carrier and the
framework of the engine.
Eleventh, in so arranging the digger shaft that it may be moved nearer to
or further from the soil without interfering with the other parts of the
machine.
Twelfth, in effecting the up and down action of the diggers, by cams and
connecting rods, by toothed wheels, or by cranks and levers.
Thirteenth, in the employment of a stop on the frame, to regulate the back
stroke of the diggers, elastic washers being provided to break the force of the
shock of the diggers against the stop.
Fourteenth, in the employment of two diggers or digger cylinders of different
lengths on the same stock, placed at a greater distance from each other than
the thickness of the strip of soil to be loosened, and contrived to effect a better
division or loosening of the soil.
Fifteenth, in the employment of three or more diggers or digger cylinders
on the same stock, at a greater distance one from the other than the thickness
of the strip of earth to be loosened, the length increasing as they approach the
bottom of the stock.
Sixteenth, in applying the machinery for excavating and digging canals and
drains

page_text: Seventeenth, in mounting forks or teeth behind the engine driver's seat or
the digger carrier, to pulverize and break up the earth.
Eighteenth, in employing fixed cylinders (instead of oscillating cylinders)
with connecting rods, for transmitting the action of the piston to the levers
which carry the digging shaft.
Nineteenth, in dispensing with one of the shafts which carry the gearing
wheels (and employing other gear wheels.)
Twentieth, in applying the apparatus for reaping by employing reaping
apparatus in place of the diggers.