Apparatus for Loading and Unloading Barges and other Vessels.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 1st July, 1893-Accepted, 19th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Loading and Unloading Barges and other Vessels.
We, HENRY GRAHAM HARRIS, of No. 5 Great George Street, Westminster, in
the County of London, Civil Engineer, and EDWARD MONTAGUE NELSON, of
No. 15 Dowgate Hill, in the City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to apparatus for loading and unloading barges and other
vessels, this apparatus being so arranged as to command a barge at various levels
due to tides or floods and at various distances from a quay wall or from the side of
a vessel. For this purpose, we provide a travelling chain having hooks, arms,
boxes or other holders suited to the goods which have to be moved, this chain
passing over guide pullies so arranged that one portion moves in a vertical or nearly
vertical line, and another portion in a horizontal or nearly horizontal line. The
pulley at the end of each portion is mounted on the plunger of a hydraulic cylinder.
By relieving the one plunger from pressure while the other is subjected to pressure,
or by making the one plunger of greater area than the other and subjecting it to
pressure, the vertical portion can be raised or lowered while the horizontal portion
is moved horizontally, the total length of chain remaining always the same, and thus
the apparatus can be adjusted to the level of the barge or other vessel which has
to be loaded or unloaded.
Besides the hydraulic cylinders above mentioned we provide other hydraulic
cylinders having plungers arranged to move at right angles or nearly so to the
others respectively. Thus by means of a plunger moving horizontally we can
deflect the one portion of the chain more or less from its vertical attitude, and by
means of a plunger moving vertically we can deflect the other portion of the chain
from its horizontal attitude. The chain may be caused to travel by any suitable
motor driving a pulley or sprocket wheel over which it passes.
Although we have spoken of a single chain, it is to be understood that there may
be two or more parallel chains arranged to operate as described.
Dated this 1st day of October 1892.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Loading and Unloading Barges and other Vessels.
We, HENRY GRAHAM HARRIS, of No. 5 Great George Street, Westminster, in
the County of London, Civil Engineer, and EDWARD MONTAGUE NELSON, of
No. 15 Dowgate Hill, in the City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to apparatus for loading and unloading barges and other
vessels, this apparatus being so arranged as to command a barge or its cargo at
various levels and at various distances from a quay wall or from the side of a vessel.
For this purpose, we provide a travelling chain having hooks, arms, boxes or other
holders suited to the goods which have to be moved, this chain passing over
guide pulleys so arranged that one portion of the chain moves in a vertical or
nearly vertical line, and another portion in a horizontal or nearly horizontal line.
The pulley at the end of each portion is mounted by preference on the plunger

page_text: or piston rod of a hydraulic cylinder. By relieving the one plunger from pressure
while the other is subjected to pressure, or by making the one plunger of greater
area than the other and subjecting both to pressure, the vertical portion can be
raised or lowered while the horizontal portion is correspondingly moved horizontally,
the total length of the chain remaining always the same, and thus the apparatus
can be adjusted to the level of the barge or other vessel or of the cargo therein
which has to be loaded or unloaded.
Besides the hydraulic cylinders above mentioned we provide other hydraulic
cylinders having plungers arranged to move at right angles or nearly so to the
others respectively.
Thus by means of a plunger moving horizontally we can deflect the one portion
of the chain more or less from its vertical attitude and by means of a plunger
moving vertically we can deflect the other portion of the chain from its horizontal
attitude.
The chain may be caused to travel by any suitable motor driving a pulley or a
sprocket wheel over which it passes.
Although we have spoken of a single chain it is to be understood that there may
be two or more parallel chain arranged to operate as described, and that for the
chain in each case a band may be substituted.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a side view of one arrangement of
loading and unloading apparatus according to our invention.
Fig. 2 is an end view,
Fig. 3 is a transverse section at X in Fig. 1,
Fig. 4 is a plan at Y in Fig. 1;
Fig. 5 is a plan drawn to an enlarged scale of the parts at Z in Fig. 1, and
Fig. 6 is an end view of the parts at Z' in Fig. 1.
A pair of sprocket wheels S S driven from a suitable motor move in the direction
indicated by the arrows (or in the reverse direction for loading) a pair of parallel
chains which pass over guide pulleys P1 P2 P3, one portion of the pair of chains
moving vertically the other portion horizontally. The pulleys P₁ are mounted on
a frame which is carried on the plunger of a hydraulic cylinder C' provided with
pivots or trunnions at T, the lower end being carried in a frame F¹ which is fixed on
the plunger of a hydraulic cylinder C2 mounted on trunnions T2. The pulleys P' are
mounted on a carriage D which runs on rails R and is fixed to the plunger of a
hydraulic cylinder C the front end of which is carried on a standard D' its back
end being fixed to the frame E on which the sprocket wheels S S are mounted. The
chains have fixed on them a number of carriers H on which are placed the loads to
be raised from (or to be lowered into) a barge B. In discharging the cargo, these
loads are carried up the vertical portion of the chains, then along the horizontal
portion until they reach the place Z' when they pass over a convex guide K' and
are led off by a pair of curved guides K K from the carriers of the chain. When
required, the plunger of the cylinder C¹ can be pushed out by pressure acting in
that cylinder, while the pressure in the cylinder C is relieved (or, as already
mentioned, the pressure may be maintained in both cylinders, but the same motion
may be attained by differential areas, thus diminishing loss of water under pressure)
also the plunger of C may be pushed out, and thus the parts may be made to take
positions such as are indicated by the dotted lines, the pulley P₁ being moved to pl
over a barge B', P³ being moved to p³ and the frame F¹ to f¹.
When loads are to be delivered into a barge, the movement of the chains is
reversed; the loads are placed on the chains at p³ and are carried over S and down
to p' when they drop off or are removed from the chains.
Although the plungers of the hydraulic apparatus have been spoken of as the
portions which are to communicate motion to various parts of the apparatus to vary
the position of delivery or reception of the articles to be moved, it is obvious that
the plungers may be stationary and that the cylinders containing them may be
made to move, and, although we believe that hydraulic power is the best to be
employed for the purposes of these movements, it is also obvious that other well

page_text: known modes of producing the requisite motions, such as screws, or racks and
pinions, worked by power or by hand, may be employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. Apparatus for loading and unloading barges and other vessels, consisting of
chains or bands travelling partly vertically, partly horizontally over guide pulleys
the positions of which can be moved to lengthen the vertical and shorten the
horizontal portion, or conversely, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2. In combination with the apparatus above referred to means for deflecting the
vertical portion of the chain or band, substantially as described.
Dated this 1st day of July 1893.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.