IMPROVEMENTS IN ELEVATING APPARATUS DESIGNED FOR DISCHARGING GRAIN FROM SHIPS " CHIEFLY
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Walter Blythe at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 17th March 1883.
WALTER BLYTHE, of Rumford Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Commission Merchant, "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELEVATING APPARATUS
DESIGNED FOR DISCHARGING GRAIN FROM SHIPS
"
CHIEFLY
This invention relates to elevating apparatus chiefly designed for discharging
grain from ships, but also applicable for similar purposes. The main object of the
present invention is to provide improved apparatus which can be readily fitted to,
or removed from, a ship when desired, and which will occupy very little space in
the ship when not required for use.
For this purpose I provide a casing or tube which may be square or oblong, and
which is so constructed that its sides can be detached from one another when it is
desired to stow it in the hold, or on deck. This casing or tube may be carried at
all times in the ship, so as to be made available for grain cargoes when carried,
and to be stowed away in the hold or even on deck when not in use. The said
casing is of portable and convenient form and so constructed as to occupy very
little space and not displace much cargo, each tube having four flat sides which are
made so that they can be fastened together by nuts and bolts like a wooden
bedstead, or by hooks and eyes, or the like; and, when taken apart, the said sides
may be utilized as dunnage for cotton or other cargo. The tubes are made of
different lengths to suit the heights of the holds in the ship.
The first or bottom length is made the height of the lower hold from the ceiling
to the coaming of the first deck above and is open at the bottom and arranged to
stand on the floor of the hold, I provide suitable net-work or gratings beneath and
at the sides of the casing so as to admit grain to the buckets within the casing, or
the tube may be closed at the bottom and have sliding doors and openings
protected by bars or network, the said doors being arranged to be opened and shut
by a vertical rod made of gas pipe or other suitable material. The second and
succeeding lengths of tubing are of similar construction and are made to correspond
in number with the decks of the ship and in height with the distance between the
decks, and all the lengths, except those at the top and bottom, are made inter-
changeable. In many steamers the screw shaft tunnel in the after end is not in
the centre of the hatchway, and there is a space of say only about twelve inches

page_text: on one side of the coaming, and thirty six inches on the other side; according to
the present invention each tube can be specially adapted for such irregularities.
When a ship is going on a voyage without a grain cargo, the four sides of the
tube or casing are detached and stowed away in the hold or elsewhere. But if a
ship is to carry grain the tube or casing is fitted in place before the ship is loaded,
so that when the latter arrives at its destination the elevator hereinafter described
can be inserted in the said casing and the grain discharged thereby.
I construct the elevator in such a manner that it will slide in grooves in the said
casing and can be inserted therein, or removed therefrom, at will. This elevator is
made with a frame having two parallel sides; on this frame a suitable length of
chain and buckets is placed and at the lower end of the frame there is fixed a guide
pulley. The chain or band which I prefer to employ is that known as Ley's. An
additional frame is added for each hold and a corresponding length of chain and
buckets attached until the desired height for delivery, say about ten feet above
the coamings on the upper deck, is reached. The chains and buckets are linked
together as the separate lengths of the frame are fitted. By means of the frame
and guiding or friction pulleys the chain and buckets are kept rigid. The tubes, or
lengths of casing are connected by any suitable means and may be secured to each
deck by clamps attached to the coamings or stanchions or by wooden frames similar
to that hereinafter described. On the main deck hatchway a frame of wood,
preferably about four inches square, is placed, enclosing the elevator tubes; this
frame is made in separate adjustable pieces, so as to allow the elevators to be easily
secured in position and fitted to any sized hatch. The pieces composing the frame
are faced with sheet iron or steel on two sides and drilled with holes at suitable
distances apart to receive loose pins for fixing them in position.
The driving shaft is made of such length at each end across the top frame of the
elevators that it can be driven by a steam winch belonging to the ship or it may be
driven by a special engine which will also drive a travelling band when a spout or
chute is not used.
By the use of the above described portable elevators the ordinary steam winches
of the ship with slight alterations in some cases, will be available for elevating
grain, and the barge ordinarily employed for carrying the existing elevators and
the two men in charge of it, can be dispensed with. The cost as regards the
construction and working of portable tubular elevating apparatus as above
described will be about one half of that of the elevators now in use. The said
elevating apparatus can, moreover, be fitted together in a few minutes.