IMPROVEMENTS IN SCOOPS AND ELEVATORS FOR EXCAVATING
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clark at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th May
1866. A communication from abroad by Augustus Theodore Morris,
of Bloomfield, State of New Jersey, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCOOPS AND ELEVATORS FOR EXCAVATING," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in scoops or elevators which are so
constructed that the same are closed by drawing upon one chain and then
raised, and the said scoop is opened for the discharge of its load by drawing
upon a second chain, the object of the improvement being to simplify the
construction of the apparatus, and to render the same applicable for
excavating mud, earth, loose stones, and boulders for pulling up of piles and
pieces of timber, and for the performance of such work generally as is con-
nected with the construction of docks, wharves, piers, slips, or their repairs.
Two poles extend up a sufficient height and slide in guides as the apparatus
is raised or lowered. At the lower ends of these poles are metal frames
securely bolted to said poles, while a plate of metal is extended across between
the said frames, it being entered between the two thicknesses of wrought-iron
bars composing the said frames. The lower ends of the frames are united
against the sides of tapering blocks by bolts or rivets. The upper ends of
these blocks form the boxes for a shaft that has upon it two pullies, one at

page_text: either end, and a wheel in the middle for the hoisting chain; the boxes above
the shaft are held in place between the parts of the metal frames by suitable
bolts. By this construction the shaft can be taken out without disturbing
the connection of the buckets and metal frames, in case it becomes necessary
to make any repairs in the chains. From the two pulleys the two chains
pass to the eyes upon a cross bar, to which the arms are jointed, which extend
to the buckets or scoops. The ends of the cross bar however slide in the
openings in the metal frames where rollers may be provided. Instead of the
scoops being attached by one binge or cross shaft I can provide a plate at
the lower end of each metal frame connected by bolts and having feathers or
lugs entering the blocks above mentioned, and upon these plates the scoops
are jointed by binged straps that are rivetted to the ends of said scoops.
If the
scoops require repairing they can be removed by unbolting the plates sub-
stituted for the cross shaft, and the separate quadrant scoops swinging upon
hinges some distance apart open further and scrape much more effectually
than the scoops which were formerly only united by one hinge. The edges
of the scoop that come together are provided with fingers or prongs attached
alternately to the opposite edges, so that they penetrate the earth, mud, or
other material and loosen the same so that it may more easily be taken into
the scoop, and these fingers or teeth aid in seizing stones, boulders, timbers,
and other substances, and removing them. In consequence of the scoops
being attached by separate pairs of hinges the bucket will open wider than its
diameter or measure across, thereby increasing its efficiency in scraping up
any article to be excavated or removed.