IMPROVEMENTS IN DREDGING AND EXCAVATING MACHINERY
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Henry Tuck, of Pall Mall, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DREDGING AND EXCAVATING MACHINERY."-A communication.
Sealed the 7th March 1856, and dated the 8th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Henry Tuck at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th September 1855.
1, JOSEPH HENRY Tock, of Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN DREDGING AND EXCAVATING MACHINERY," (being a communication
from abroad,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in adapting and applying to dredging and excavating
machinery the mechanism herein-after described.
In the first place, the mechanism is arranged and combined so as to admit
of the contents of the excavating buckets being discharged as they rise from
the bed of the river or other situation where the operations are being carried
on, and the Invention herein consists in adapting and applying thereto a
tilting tipper and a self-acting catch on the buckets, by the combined action
of which the buckets are successively emptied while proceeding in an upward
direction.
The tilting tipper turns on a pivot or centre on which it is raised by the
ascending bucket, and in falling back again strikes against the tail of the self-
acting catch of the bucket, and allows the bottom of the same to fall open by
turning on a hinge.

page_text: The self-acting catch is so formed and adjusted as to be capable of holding
the hinged bottom of the bucket in a closed position until the tail of the said
catch is struck by the tipper. The said catch is also balanced in such a
manner as to fall by its own gravity upon the hinged bottom or lid of the
bucket in its descent, and thereby to close the same preparatory to the
entrance of the bucket into the water or the soil to be excavated.
And, in the second place, the Invention consists in adapting and applying
to dredging and excavating machinery the following means of keeping the
dredging wheel in working gear with the engine or motive power while the
shaft of the said wheel is raised or lowered. This is effected by means of a
radius bar on each side of the wheel, extending from its shaft to that of the
pinions through which the wheel is set in motion. By means of these radius
bars the shaft of the driving pinions is always kept at the same distance from
the shaft of the wheel. For this purpose the pinion shaft is mounted on a
carriage, which is drawn in or moved out, so as to correspond with the change
of position of the wheel shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Henry Tuck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HENRY TUCK, of Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Henry Tuck, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Henry Tuck,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Henry Tuck, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DREDGING AND
EXCAVATING MACHINERY," being a communication from abroad, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Henry Tuck, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was

page_text: 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 Joseph Henry Tuck, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention of "Improvements in Dredging and Excavating Machinery,"
(being a communication from abroad,) consists in adapting and applying to
dredging and excavating machinery the mechanism herein-after described.
In the first place, the mechanism is arranged and combined so as to admit
of the excavating buckets being discharged as they rise from the bed of the
river where the operations are being carried on; and the Invention herein
consists in adapting and applying thereto a tilting tipper and a self-acting
catch on the buckets, by the combined action of which the buckets arc
successively emptied while proceeding in an upward direction. The tilting
tipper turns on a pivot or centre on which it is raised by the ascending bucket,
and in falling back again strikes against the tail of the self-acting catch of
the bucket, and allows the bottom of the same to fall open by turning on a
hinge. The self-acting catch is so formed and adjusted as to be capable of
holding the hinged bottom of the bucket in a closed position until the tail
of the said catch is struck by the tipper. The said catch is also balanced in
such a manner as to fall by its own gravity upon the hinged bottom or lid
of the bucket in its descent, and thereby to close the same preparatory to the
entrance of the bucket into the water or the soil to be excavated.
And, in the second place, the Invention consists in adapting and applying
to dredging and excavating machinery, the following means of keeping the
dredging wheel in working gear with the engine or motive power while the
shaft of the said wheel is raised or lowered. This is effected by means of a
radius bar on each side of the wheel, extending from its shaft to that of the
pinions through which the wheel is set in motion. By means of these radius
bars the shaft of the driving pinions is always kept at the same distance from
the shaft of the wheel. For this purpose the pinion shaft is mounted on a
carriage, which is drawn in or moved out, so as to correspond with the change
of position of the wheel shaft.
In order, however, that the Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe it more particularly by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings; in which, Fig. 1 represents a dredging wheel

page_text: constructed according to the first part of the Invention; and Figures 2 and.3
represent the.machinery above referred to under the second part of the same,
the dredging or excavating apparatus being shewn in both. Figures:
The dredging wheel, Fig. 1, is represented as mounted on standards in a
vessel, and being composed of two drums and an endless chain with buckets,
the latter, however, being constructed. and disposed. so..as. to be capable of
discharging their contents as they rise from the bed of the river or other
situation where the excavating operations are being carried on, instead of
being carried over the upper drum, and discharged in their descent there-
from as usual. By this arrangement, it will be perceived that the loaded
buckets are carried through a shorter space than usual before they are dis-
charged. A is the tilting tipper, turning on a fixed centre at r; B is a shoot,
on to which the contents of the buckets are successively discharged. As the
loaded bucket rises from the ground, through which it has been carried. by. the
working of the chain, it comes in contact with and. raises the end. of the tipper
A, which, on falling back again after the bucket has passed; strikes against the
tail of the catch c, and liberates the bottom of the bucket, which is then free
to turn on its hinge or pivot at o, and allow the. contents of the bucket to fall
out upon the tipper A, and thence down the shoot B: The catch c of the
bucket is so constructed and mounted, that as the bucket descends it-turns. by
its own gravity on its pivot or centre, and keeps the lid closed until it is
brought in contact with the tipper A. It is thus obvious, that by the working
of the chain in the ordinary manner, the buckets will be successively-lowered
into the water, will have their hinged bottoms. or. lids firmly closed. by the
catch c, be made to operate upon the ground as required, rise therefrom with
their contents of excavated earth, and finally have their contents discharged
as their catch c comes in contact with the tipper A.
I proceed now to describe the second part of the Invention. Fig. 2 is an
elevation, and Fig. 3 a plan or horizontal view, of the machinery: above
referred to. H is the dredging wheel with excavating 'buckets on the outer
circumference. The shaft of this wheel is supported in sliding boxes or
bearings J, by means of which the wheel may be raised or lowered according
to the depth required to be excavated; motion is given to the wheel by pinions
on the shaft K working in the toothed rim or wheel L. E, E, are radius
bars, by which the shaft K. is always kept at the same distance from the shaft
of the wheel H, by drawing the shaft K on its moveable bearings, so as to
correspond with the alteration in the position of the shaft of the wheel H.
For this purpose the shaft K is mounted on the sliding carriage F, and as the
shaft of the wheel El is raised or lowered, the shaft K and the carriage F are

page_text: drawn in or pushed out, as required, by the radius bars E, E, and thus the
pinions on the shaft K are always kept in gear with the toothed rim L of
the main wheel; at the same time the mitre wheel m is made to follow the
movements of the shaft K by sliding on the feathered shaft n. S is a screw
shaft, for the purpose of raising or lowering the main wheel by means of the
chain T, the lower end of which is connected to the sliding boxes or bearings
J; V is a cable, the ends of which are attached to anchors or piles, and by
being passed round the capstan X on the end of the main shaft, cause a
steady progressive movement of the boat while the machinery is in action.
The action of the buckets by the revolution of the wheel H is the same as
that described in reference to Fig. 1.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would remark that the Invention is not
confined to the precise forms and arrangements of the parts represented and
described. But I claim, first, the arrangement of machinery by means of
which the buckets on a dredging chain or wheel may have their contents
successively discharged by means of a tilting tipper as they rise from the
excavated ground, as described.
Secondly, the combination of the tilting tipper and the self-acting catch on
the buckets, the peculiar form and adjustment of which catch cause it to hold
on to the lid or bottom of the bucket until it is struck by the tipper, and by
its own gravity to fall over and catch again before the bucket enters the water,
as described.
And, lastly, the combination of the radius bars with the mechanism above
described, for the purpose of keeping the dredging wheel always in gear with
the driving pinions when the shaft of the said wheel is raised or lowered, as
required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Henry Tuck, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
50, Chancery Lane.
JOSEPH HENRY TUCK. (L.S.)

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Henry Tuck, of Pall Mall, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
Sealed the 7th March 1856, and dated the 8th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Henry Tuck at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th September 1855.
I, JOSEPH HENRY TUCK, of Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN DREDGING AND EXCAVATING MACHINERY," (being a communication
from abroad,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in adapting and applying to dredging and excavating
machinery the mechanism herein-after described.
In the first place, the mechanism is arranged and combined so as to admit
of the contents of the excavating buckets being discharged as they rise from
the bed of the river or other situation where the operations are being carried
on, and the Invention herein consists in adapting and applying thereto a
tilting tipper and a self-acting catch on the buckets, by the combined action
of which the buckets are successively emptied while proceeding in an upward
direction.
The tilting tipper turns on a pivot or centre on which it is raised by the
ascending bucket, and in falling back again strikes against the tail of the self-
acting catch of the bucket, and allows the bottom of the same to fall open by
turning on a hinge.

page_text: The self-acting catch is so formed and adjusted as to be capable of holding
the hinged bottom of the bucket in a closed position until the tail of the said
catch is struck by the tipper. The said catch is also balanced in such a
manner as to fall by its own gravity upon the hinged bottom or lid of the
bucket in its descent, and thereby to close the same preparatory to the
entrance of the bucket into the water or the soil to be excavated.
And, in the second place, the Invention consists in adapting and applying
to dredging and excavating machinery the following means of keeping the
dredging wheel in working gear with the engine or motive power while the
shaft of the said wheel is raised or lowered. This is effected by means of a
radius bar on each side of the wheel, extending from its shaft to that of the
pinions through which the wheel is set in motion. By means of these radius
bars the shaft of the driving pinions is always kept at the same distance from
the shaft of the wheel. For this purpose the pinion shaft is mounted on a
carriage, which is drawn in or moved out, so as to correspond with the change
of position of the wheel shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Henry Tuck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HENRY TUCK, of Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Henry Tuck, Her special license that 1, the said Joseph Henry Tuck,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Henry Tuck, 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, excrcise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Jslands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DREDGING AND
EXCAVATING MACHINERY," being a communication from abroad, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Henry Tuck, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was

page_text: 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 Joseph Henry Tuck, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of "Improvements in Dredging and Excavating Machinery,"
(being a communication from abroad,) consists in adapting and applying to
dredging and excavating machinery the mechanism herein-after described.
In the first place, the mechanism is arranged and combined so as to admit
of the excavating buckets being discharged as they rise from the bed of the
river where the operations are being carried on; and the Invention herein
consists in adapting and applying thereto a tilting tipper and a self-acting
catch on the buckets, by the combined action of which the buckets are
successively emptied while proceeding in an upward direction. The tilting
tipper turns on a pivot or centre on which it is raised by the ascending bucket,
and in falling back again strikes against the tail of the self-acting catch of
the bucket, and allows the bottom of the same to fall open by turning on a
hinge. The self-acting catch is so formed and adjusted as to be capable of
holding the hinged bottom of the bucket in a closed position until the tail
of the said catch is struck by the tipper. The said catch is also balanced in
such a manner as to fall by its own gravity upon the hinged bottom or lid
of the bucket in its descent, and thereby to close the same preparatory to the
entrance of the bucket into the water or the soil to be excavated.
And, in the second place, the Invention consists in adapting and applying
to dredging and excavating machinery, the following means of keeping the
dredging wheel in working gear with the engine or motive power while the
shaft of the said wheel is raised or lowered. This is effected by means of a
radius bar on each side of the wheel, extending from its shaft to that of the
pinions through which the wheel is set in motion. By means of these radius
bars the shaft of the driving pinions is always kept at the same distance from
the shaft of the wheel. For this purpose the pinion shaft is mounted on a
carriage, which is drawn in or moved out, so as to correspond with the change
of position of the wheel shaft.
In order, however, that the Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe it more particularly by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings; in which, Fig. 1 represents a dredging wheel

page_text: constructed according to the first part of the Invention; and Figures 2 and 3
. represent the machinery above referred to under the second part of the same,
the dredging or excavating apparatus being shewn in both Figures.
The dredging wheel, Fig. 1, is represented as mounted on standards in a
vessel; and being composed of two drums and an endless chain with buckets,
. the latter, however, being constructed and disposed, so as to be capable of
discharging their contents as they rise from the bed of the river or other
situation where the excavating operations are being carried on, instead of
being carried over the 'upper drum, and discharged in their descent ithere-
from as usual. By this arrangement, it will be perceived that the loaded.
buckets are carried through a shorter space than usual before they are dis-
charged. A is the tilting tipper, turning on a fixed centre at r; B is, a shoot,
on to which the contents of, the buckets are successively discharged. As the
loaded bucket rises from the ground, through which it has been carried. by the
working of the chain, it comes in contact with and raises the end of the tipper
A, which, on falling, back again after the bucket has passed, strikes against the
tail of the catch c, and liberates the bottom of the bucket, which is then free
to turn on its hinge or pivot at o, and allow the contents of the bucket to fäll
out upon the tipper A, and thence down the shoot B. The catch.c: of the
bucket is so constructed and mounted, that as the bucket descends it turns by
its own gravity on its pivot or centre, and keeps the lid closed until it is
brought in contact with the tipper A. It is thus obvious, that by the working
of the chain in the ordinary manner, the buckets will. be successively lowered
into the water, will have their hinged bottoms or lids firmly closed by the
catch c, be made to operate upon the ground as required, rise therefrom with.
their contents of excavated earth, and finally have their contents discharged
as their catch c comes in contact with the tipper A.
I proceed now to describe the second part of the Invention. Fig. 2 is an
elevation, and Fig. 3 a plan or horizontal view, of the machinery above
referred to. H is the dredging wheel with excavating..buckets on the outer
circumference. The shaft of this wheel is supported in sliding boxes or
bearings J, by means of which the wheel may be raised or lowered according
to the depth required to be excavated; motion is given to the wheel by pinions
on the shaft K working in the toothed rim or wheel L. E, E, are radius
bars, by which the shaft K. is always kept at the same distance from the shaft
of the wheel H, by drawing the shaft K on its moveable bearings, so as to
correspond with the alteration in the position of the shaft of the wheel H.
For this purpose the shaft K is mounted on the sliding carriage F; and as the
shaft of the wheel H is raised or lowered, the shaft K and the carriage. F are

page_text: drawn in or pushed out, as required, by the radius bars E, E, and thus the
pinions on the shaft K are always kept in gear with the toothed rim L of
the main wheel; at the same time the mitre wheel m is made to follow the
movements of the shaft K by sliding on the feathered shaft n. S is a screw
shaft, for the purpose of raising or lowering the main wheel by means of the
chain T, the lower end of which is connected to the sliding boxes or bearings
J; V is a cable, the ends of which are attached to anchors or piles, and by
being passed round the capstan X on the end of the main shaft, cause a
steady progressive movement of the boat while the machinery is in action.
The action of the buckets by the revolution of the wheel H is the same as
that described in reference to Fig. 1.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would remark that the Invention is not
confined to the precise forms and arrangements of the parts represented and
described. But I claim, first, the arrangement of machinery by means of
which the buckets on a dredging chain or wheel may have their contents
successively discharged by means of a tilting tipper as they rise from the
excavated ground, as described.
Secondly, the combination of the tilting tipper and the self-acting catch on
the buckets, the peculiar form and adjustment of which catch cause it to hold
on to the lid or bottom of the bucket until it is struck by the tipper, and by
its own gravity to fall over and catch again before the bucket enters the water,
as described.
And, lastly, the combination of the radius bars with the mechanism above
described, for the purpose of keeping the dredging wheel always in gear with
the driving pinions when the shaft of the said wheel is raised or lowered, as
required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Henry Tuck, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
50, Chancery Lane.
JOSEPH HENRY TUCK. (L.S.)