IMPROVEMENTS' IN DREDGING MACHINERY
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wingate, junior, of the Firm of Messieurs
Thomas Wingate and Company, Engineers and Iron Ship Builders, of
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS' IN DREDGING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 2nd June 1863, and dated the 9th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wingate at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
December 1862.
I, THOMAS WINGATE, junior, of the Firm of Messieurs Thomas Wingate
and Company, Engineers and Iron Ship Builders, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DREDGING MACHINERY," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention has for object to improve the working of the endless chain
of buckets forming the principal feature of dredging machinery. The endless
chain of buckets is passed round an upper and a lower tumbler or pulley
being actuated by the upper tumbler. These tumblers are formed each with
four or more flat sides, and the buckets have hitherto been connected together
by intermediate links of about equal lengths with themselves, so that the
buckets apply themselves in succession to each alternate side of the tumbler:
By the present Invention, however, the buckets are, according to one modifi-
cation, connected directly to each other, so as to apply themselves to every side
of the tumbler. The number of buckets for a given length of chain may be

page_text: varied, but if the number of buckets is about the same as usual there will
necessarily be greater spaces between the joints of the endless chain, and the
tumblers or pulleys will require to be made larger. In this case the back of
each bucket, or the links to which each bucket is attached, will be larger, and
the proportions of the parts will permit of a much better action of the bucket
in passing round the lower tumbler or pulley, at which part it has to cut
through and fill itself with the materials being dredged.
According to another modification a very short link is introduced between
each bucket to facilitate the repairing of the joints, but every side of the
tumbler still receives and cants a bucket. The tumblers or pulleys may be
made with any convenient number of sides. One advantage resulting from
the improved arrangements is that with the same number of buckets the
upper tumbler may be driven at one-half the speed necessary with the old
arrangements.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Wingate in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WINGATE, junior, of the Firm of Messieurs Thomas Wingate and Company,
Engineers and Iron Ship Builders, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight. hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Wingate, junior, Her special licence, that I, the said
Thomas Wingate, junior, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas Wingate, junior, 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 DREDGING MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Wingate, junior, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: 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 Thomas Wingate, junior, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention. has for object to improve the working of the endless
chain of buckets forming the principal feature of dredging machinery.
'
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing the
same, may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to and showing the appli-
cation of my improvements.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a longitudinal sectional Diagram,
showing so much of a dredger as will render the description and explanation of
my improvements easy to be understood by those acquainted with the details of
dredging machinery; Figures 2 and 3 are enlarged views, showing different
modifications of bucket links.
In dredging machines of the class to which the present Invention relates,
the endless chain of buckets A is passed round an upper tumbler or pulley B,
and round a lower tumbler or pulley C, being actuated by the upper one B.
These tumblers B, C, are formed each with four, and in some cases more than
four flat sides, and, the buckets A have hitherto been connected together by
intermediate links of equal lengths with the links attached to themselves, so
that the buckets have applied themselves in succession to each alternate side
of the tumbler. By the present Invention, however, the buckets A are,
according to one modification (shown in Figures 1 and 2), connected directly
to each other, so as to apply themselves to every side of the tumbler. The
number of buckets for a given length of chain may be varied, but the
number of buckets is made about the same as usual there will necessarily be
greater spaces between the joints of the endless chain and the tumblers or
pulleys B, C, will require to be made larger. In this case the back of each
bucket A or the links D, to which each bucket is attached will be larger, and
the proportions of the parts will permit of a much better action of the bucket
at E in passing round the lower tumbler C, at which part it bas to cut through
and fill itself with the materials being dredged. The links D may be jointed
together in the same manner as the links of chains of buckets, as ordinarily
constructed.

page_text: According to another modification, as shown in Figure 3, a very short
link F is introduced between each main link D, which may in some cases
facilitate the repairing of the joints, but every side of the tumbler B still
receives and cants a bucket. The tumblers or pulleys B, C, may be made
with any convenient number of sides. One advantage resulting from the
improved arrangements is that with the same number of buckets, the upper
tumbler B may be driven at one-half the speed necessary with the ola
arrangements.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated; but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is the combining of dredging
buckets in an endless chain in such a way, and in such a relation to one or
both tumblers, that the upper or driving tumbler cants. a bucket with every
one of its sides or faces, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wingate, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
THO. WINGATE, Jr. (L.S.)