IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN LOADING VESSELS WITH COAL PROVISIONAL SPFICATION
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Taylor of Penarth in the County of Glamorgan
for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN LOADING
VESSELS WITH COAL
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Taylor at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th September 1883.
GEORGE TAYLOR of Penarth in the County of Glamorgan "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR USE IN LOADING VESSELS WITH COAL
In shipping coal by means of a staith, an inclined shoot is usually employed for
conveying the coal from the railway waggons to the vessel and in order to obtain
sufficient inclination to make the coal run down the shoot, it becomes necessary,
when the waggons enter the staith at a low level, to hoist them up to a
considerable elevation. In shipping coal from a shoot, the coal first shipped at
each hatchway is frequently lowered in skips or boxes to form a conical heap for
the remainder of the coal to fall on, the consequence of which is that the large
lumps roll down this heap to different parts of the hold and are thereby broken to
a great extent whilst the small coal falls into the interstices between the lumps of
the heap, and thus collects to a great extent in one place instead of being uniformly
distributed throughout the cargo. By avoiding this local excess of small coal and
preventing the breakage, the condition and marketable value of the whole cargo
would be improved.
This Invention has for its object to reduce the cost and difficulty of conveying
the coal from the staith to the hatchway, of lowering it into the hold, and of
trimming the cargo or distributing it in the various parts of the hold and to avoid
or reduce the breakage of the coal in these various operations, and the Invention
comprises the employment of machinery for carrying out these operations.
The Invention relates first to apparatus for conveying the coal from the staith to
the hatchway in a horizontal or slightly inclined direction whereby to avoid the
necessity of raising the waggons to a great height in the staith.

page_text: This apparatus consists preferably of a conveyor composed of a series of carrying
plates or platforms working in outgoing and return guides or ways extending
between the staith and the hatchway, these plates being adapted to be pushed
pulled or otherwise traversed along their guides in the form of a train or series,
this motion being produced by power or the force of gravity, and the plates being
adapted to pass from the outgoing to the return ways on arriving at the point of
discharge.
The invention relates 2nd to apparatus for lowering the coal. This apparatus
comprises platforms arranged in series at short distances above one another in
vertical guides within. a tube or shaft extending through and beneath the
hatchway, and of lowering mechanism whereby these platforms are supported at the
proper intervals and are lowered within their guides. The lowering mechanism
may consist of endless chains, and the power derived from the weight of the coal
may be used for actuating the apparatus for conveying the coal from the staith to
the vessel and also the distributing apparatus hereafter described.
This apparatus is similar to that first described for conveying the coal from the
staith to the vessel except that the ways on which these carriers run are movable
about a centre beneath the hatchway so as to radiate therefrom to different parts
of the hold.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Taylor in the Patent Office on the 15th March 1884.
GEORGE TAYLOR of Penarth in the county of Glamorgan
APPARATUS FOR USE IN LOADING VESSELS WITH COAL
"
IMPROVEMENTS IN
1
In shipping coal by means of a staith, an inclined shoot is usually employed for
conveying the coal from the railway waggons to the vessel and when the waggons
enter the staith at a low level it is necessary to hoist them up to a considerable
elevation in order to obtain sufficient inclination to make the coal run down the
shoot. The coal first shipped at each hatchway is frequently lowered in boxes to
form a conical heap for the remainder of the coal to fall on. Under this method
the large lumps roll away over the conical heap, causing much breakage, but the
small coal falls into the interstices of the heap and collects to a large extent in one
place instead of being uniformly distributed throughout the cargo. By avoiding
this local excess of small coal and preventing the breakage, the condition and
marketable value of the whole cargo would be improved.
The object of this Invention is to improve the facilities for conveying coal from
the staith into the hold of the vessel and to prevent its breakage, and also to secure
a uniforın distribution of the small coal throughout the cargo. Under this
Invention horizontal plates are connected together in series by chains and form an
area or surface upon which the coal is received and conveyed. The plates and coal
are supported by guides and travel out horizontally from the staith to the
hatch way where they pass in an inclined direction to the vessels' hold into which
they are lowered down. The coal then passes from this series of plates to similar
plates of another series which travel horizontally in the hold and by means of
which it is carried towards the ends of the vessel and discharged. In both series,
after the coal has passed off from each plate the latter is taken away by the chains
and so returns by means of guides to the place where it started and it is there
reloaded and passes outwards as before described. When the plates travel
horizontally the side framework which supports the guides prevents the coal from
falling off the plates and when the plates descend they are enclosed in framework
which forms a tube or shaft and keeps the coal from falling off.
I have illustrated the Invention in the accompanying drawings and will now
describe it with reference thereto.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus for conveying the coal from the
staith to the hold of the vessel. Figure 2 is a front elevation, and Figure 3 a plan
of the same. Figure 4 is a side elevation with the nearest side removed. Figures 5
and 6 are details showing the mode of transferring the plates from the return to
the outgoing guides, and Figures 7. 8 and 9 show detail views of the plate itself.
A are a pair of side frames braced together and provided with a downwardly
extending leg B B¹ in two or more sections bolted together to suit the depth of
the hold. This frame is suspended by chains attached at points C C from the
staith with the leg B lowered through the hatchway. The apparatus consists
essentially of a conveyor composed of a series of carrying plates or platforms D
working in outgoing guides or ways E E¹ and return guides or ways F, these
plates being adapted to be pulled along their guides in the form of a train or series,
this motion being produced the force of gravity, supplemented by power when
necessary and the plates are adapted to pass from the outgoing to the return ways
on arriving at the point of discharge at the foot of the leg B. These plates D are
each constructed as shown in figures 7, 8 and 9. of a steel or iron plate having at
one end pivots & projecting from each side and passing through a circular link g

page_text: in the pair of endless chains G by which the plates are propelled. These pivots
carry antifriction rollers and project into the grooves of the guides E or F. The
other end of each plate D is notched at the corners and has lugs d¹ fixed to it and
projecting above said notches in such position that this end of the plate will be
supported by said lugs whether upon the horizontal or inclined portion of the
guide El which is formed by the flange of an angle iron fixed to the side frame A.
The chains G pass over guide sheaves H H. I is a pair of endless chains running
on sheaves K and connected by cross bars i which successively arrive at the bottom
end of the inclined part of guide E¹ at the moment that the plates D arrive at the
same point, so that as the front ends of the plates leave the guides they will be
received on and supported by the cross bars 2. The sheaves of the chains I G are
geared together by a pair of endless chains L to ensure the proper correspondence
of the plates and cross bars, all these chain's engaging with the pulleys or sheaves
in any ordinary way to prevent slip and power being applied to the sheaves K
over which chain L runs. All the sheaves except those H are in pairs fixed on
cross shafts, whilst H are separately mounted to admit of the plates D rising
between them in passing from the return to the outgoing guides which is effected
by the following means. M is a switch being a plate hinged to a cross plate m
fixed between the return and the lower of the outgoing pair of guides, the switch
plate being so situated that as the plates D return they will pass under the switch
plate and raise it up, and at the moment that the pivots à reach their extreme
backward position in passing round the sheaves H, the switch will escape from
the plate D and drop into such position that the forward end of the plate D will
on its outgoing motion ride up the switch plate M and be thereby guided onto the
upper pair of guides E¹. N is a curved lifter which is pivoted at one end and
raised at the other by a weight whereby when the forward end of the plate D
comes on the lifter it will be raised sufficiently to ensure its mounting the switch.
In operation, the coal is discharged from the waggon onto the plates D just after
they have passed the switch and entered on the outgoing guides, being prevented
by a short inclined flap or cover plate O from falling on the plates when in the act
of transference from the one set of guides to the other. The coal is carried
outwards and lowered into the hold by the plates which are retained in their
horizontal position by means of the guides and by the chains G and I until they
reach their lowest position in the hold. On arriving at this point the plates in
passing round sheaves H are successively disengaged from their supporting cross
bars, drop and discharge their load. They then return by guides F in the
manner shown. To lengthen the leg the lowermost section B which is supported
by chains P is lowered after having previously disconnected chains I and G and
additional sections B¹ are introduced and corresponding additional sections of
chain I and G with plates D are also interposed.
Figures 10. 11 and 12 show a section, side elevation and plan of the apparatus
for distributing the coal in the hold. This apparatus is practically the same as
that before described without the downwardly extending leg and it is inovable,
being suspended by chains in the hold of the vessel so as to be readily placed in
the required position for receiving the coal from the apparatus before described and
conveying it to the desired spot. The apparatus therefore consists of a series of
plates D pivoted to a pair of endless chains G, their pivots working in outgoing
and return guides E and F and provided with laterally projecting lugs which
work in the same guides E as the pivots d. These lugs d' are made larger than
the pivots & so that they will pass over the opening in the underside of the
guides E just above sheaves H for the pivots d to pass through. On reaching the
point of delivery the lugs d¹ pass off at the end of the guides, the plates D drop
and discharge themselves in passing round the sheaves H and return by the
guides F, a scraper being fixed in such position that the plates must pass
underneath it on commencing their return motion whereby any coal that may
remain on the plates will be swept off. In this case there is only one pair of
outgoing guides E and the switch is not required, the lifter N alone sufficing to

page_text: raise the lugs d¹ into the guides E. In this case the framing A is constructed in
sections and the length of the apparatus can be increased by interposing one or
more additional lengths of framing and chains as in the former case.
apparatus is driven by power applied to the pulleys H¹.
This
Having described the nature of my Invention and the manner of performing the
same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be protected by the
herein before in part Letters Patent is.
1 An apparatus for shipping coal consisting essentially of an endless series of
conveying plates or platforms so guided and supported as to be capable of motion
in a horizontal and vertical direction and of retaining their horizontality during
the outward and downward movements, substantially as herein shown and
described.
2nd The apparatus consisting of a series of conveying plates or platforms pivoted
by one edge to pairs of endless chains, outgoing and return guides for supporting
and guiding the plates and of endless lowering chains, the whole constructed,
combined, and arranged to operate substantially as herein described and represented
in Figures 1 to 9 of the drawings.
3rd The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the several apparatus
for shipping and distributing coal operating substantially as herein described and
represented in the drawings.
In Witness whereof I the said George Taylor have hereunto set my hand and
seal this fifteenth day of March, A.D. 1884.