A.METHOD OR METHODS OF PUTTING, COALS ON BOARD OF SHIPS, LIGHTERS, AND OTHER VESSELS, SO AS TO PREVENT A GREAT PORTION OF THE BREAKAGE OF THE COALS, WHICH TAKES PLACE IN THE USUAL METHOD OF SHIPPING THEM BY SPOUTS
Year: 1807

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHAPMAN, Iof the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
'
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His most
gracious Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain; bearing date
at Westminster, the Eleventh day of April, in the forty-seventh year of His
reign, did give, and grant unto me, the said. William Chapman, His special
licence that I, the said William Chapman, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such-others as I, the said William Chapman, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree. with, and no, others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and.. lawfully might, make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England,. the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of A.METHOD OR METHODS OF PUTTING, COALS ON BOARD OF SHIPS,
LIGHTERS, AND OTHER VESSELS, SO AS TO PREVENT A GREAT PORTION OF THE
BREAKAGE OF THE COALS, WHICH TAKES PLACE IN THE USUAL METHOD OF SHIPPING
THEM BY SPOUTS;" in which said. Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said William Chapman, by an instrument under my hand
and,, seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and, in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in: His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as

page_text: in and by the same, reference being thereunto nad, win more runy and au
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that my Method or Methods of Putting Coals on
board of Ships, Lighters, or Vessels, so as to Prevent a great Portion of the
Breakage of the Coals which takes place in the usual Method of Shipping
them by Spouts, are, in those cases where coals would have a material fall from
the waggon which conveys them to the staith or shipping place where their
contents are discharged, to cause the waggon to descend from thence, or from
anywhere convenient to it, to or near to the hatchway or open holds of the
ships, keels, or vessels, before the coals are let out of it, and the empty
waggon to return to the place where it commenced its said descent, by the
following means, viz:-
The descent may be on an inclined plane, or in a vertical or a curved
direction. In the first instance, which is shewn by Figures I. and II., the
loaded waggon is run upon a truck, which on its upper or horizontal surface
has a continuation of the railway, upon which the waggon passes. The
lower part of the truck is suited to the declivity of the inclined frame
descending to the ship or vessel, on the side rails of which inclined frame
the wheels of the truck carrying the waggon move up or down. When
the loaded waggon is wheel'd upon the truck, chocks are turned or placed
⚫ against a wheel at each end, to keep the waggon in its place. Then, on
easing a lever or brake, which keeps the truck in its place, by means of
a chain or rope round a barrel, the truck and waggon' are let down the
inclined railway, drawing up a weight of inferior resistance to the loaded
.waggon and truck, but superior to that of the truck and light waggon which
it is capable of returning to their first position. After the loaded waggon
has made its full descent, and during its discharge, the truck supporting it is
kept in its place by the brake before mentioned, which, on again being raised,
- suffers the waggon to return, care of course being had to checking its speed
, before it attains its full ascent, from which the light waggon passes away as
.it came.
The bottom and sides of the truck may be lined, so that should
it not descend immediately over the hold of the vessel, the coals will shoot
forward from the truck as from a spout. Also as vessels rise and fall in a
tide-way, and likewise as their decks or gunwales lower as they become more
loaded, it will be adviseable that the inclined plane which the trucks. run
upon be capable of being extended, so that the truck may come near to the
hatchway or opening of the vessel, notwithstanding its lower position. This
end may answered. by having the upper part of the inclined plane fixed
suitably to high water and light vessels, and a prolongation sliding within it

page_text: on a roller or rollers, with its outer end supported or sustained by a tackle
or tackles from the framework of the plane, or on or from the vessel. If it
slide withinside, the fixed frame wheels of the truck must be wide enough
to travel on the side sills of both the stationary and moveable frames, on which
it may be kept by ledges on the wheels, or on the railways. It is not
necessary that the inclined railway for shipping the coals should be nearly
so steep as shewn in Figure I., because the descent may be commenced so
much sooner as expedient, and if it be sufficiently flat to prevent the coals
from falling off the top of the waggon, the trucks may be dispensed with,
and the rope be attached to the waggon to let it down and draw it up by
means of the counterpoise. Neither is it necessary that the rope, barrel,.
brake wheels, &c., should be where placed in Figure I., because by means.
of one or more leading pullies, the described machinery may be anywhere
most convenient; and also by one or more leading pullies the counterpoise.
weight may be made to descend any determined height, either vertically or
obliquely, in any place convenient to it.
Explanation of Figures I. and II.-Figure I. is the side elevation of the
inclined frame, and of the railway crossing the staith, and Figure II. is the
plan of them. The following references on those two Figures are common
to them both where inserted, viz:-1, 1, the railway to the shipping place;
2, 2, the fixed part of the inclined frame; 3, 3, the moveable part of it;
4, 4, the rollers on which the latter moves; 5, 5, trucks, each sustaining a
waggon; one truck at its highest position, and the other at its lowest, both
of which are shewn here by way of explanation, although only one truck
is used on one frame; 6, the barrel from which the counterbalancing is
suspended; 7, the barrel to which the truck is attached by its rope or chain;
8, the brake wheel to regulate the motions, and retain the truck in any
position.
Secondly, vide Figures III., IV., and V., for the following method, viz*:-
Where the waggon with its load is made to descend vertically, it requires that the
frame sustaining the railway should project over the vessel. In this instance,
the waggon passes upon an open platform, on which there is a continuation.
of the railway. On this platform the wheels of the waggon are chocked, and
on slacking or lifting the brake as before mentioned, the loaded waggon
raises a weight inferior to itself, but superior to the light waggon and
platform. The attendant suffers the waggon to descend as low as expedient,
where he secures it by due pressure on the brake, and after the contents of
the waggon are discharged, by letting down the trap door of its bottom, or
by other means, the waggon again returns to its former position on the brake

page_text: being slacked. By the mode of suspending the platform, and by proper guides,
which every workman knows how to fix, the platform and waggon regain
their former position, from whence the latter wheels off as it came. The
brake must of course regulate the speed of ascent to this position, but lest
it should come too rapidly, and the chain be broken by a sudden stop when
the platform has attained its height, the thwart bars of it may strike under
certain loaded levers, or under any other load which will give way to the
sbock and be of weight sufficient to return the platform and waggon to the
proper level for the latter to run off, previously to which, either by the brake
or other means, the platform must be secured from ascending. If both the
platform and counterbalance be suspended on chains, the counterbalance
weight may be made to ground at a suitable point of descent, otherwise bolts
or stops, capable of being disengaged when the loaded waggon comes on, may
secure it in its place, which will prevent accidents from want of due attention
to or due pressure on the brake. If the brake be depended on alone, it will
be adviseable to have it loaded with such a weight as will fully resist the
greatest tendency the truck or platform can ever have either to rise or
descend, which will easily be effected if the brake wheel act by a pinion upon
a spur wheel on the barrel shaft, as shewn in Figure IX. To cause the plat-
form to return to its highest position in such a manner as to require little
guiding (as will be seen by Figure IV.), it is suspended at the top by a pulley.
fixed to its frame, and of such diameter as to prevent it from any material
variation in its horizontal direction, particularly when approaches its upper
or stationary position. In the Drawings, the upper pulley and standing part
of the rope or chain suspending the platform are in a fixed position, but, if
expedient, they can be supported from the jib of a crane.
↓
Explanation of Figures III., IV., and V.-Figure III. is the side elevation
of the shipping place, shewing a waggon upon its platform, lowered to the vessel
in a position for discharging its coals into the vessel through the opening of the
platform, which is here composed of two side sills and two cross bars, to which
the side bars sustaining the platform are fixed. Figure IV. shews the front, of
the shipping place, with the waggon and platform in their first position, viz, ou
the level of the railway. Figure V. is a separate plan of the rope barrels
and brake wheels, shewn in elevation in Figure III. The following references
are common to all the three Figures, vizt., 1, 1, the railway; 2, the platform
sustaining the waggons; 6, the barrel of the counterbalance rope or chain;
7, the barrel from which the platform and waggon are suspended; 8, the
brake wheel; 9, the counterbalance weight. u, u, the ends of the loaded
levers under which the ends of the cross bars of the platform are brought to

page_text: or retained in the proper position for the waggon to pass off or on the
railway.
Thirdly, the descent in a curved direction is particularly useful in loading
of ships or of two-masted vessels, which cannot approach sufficiently near to
the coal staiths or shipping places, and which at present, in many instances,
frequently take the ground in the falling tide in such a manner as to be
incapable of loading from the spouts they were designed to have been under.
In my method a little irregularity of position is of no moment, and they may
lie anywhere so that the ropes from the mastheads (which eventually sustaini
the platform and waggon over the hatchways) will permit the platform and
light waggon to return to the position from whence they descended.
I shall now proceed, by reference to Figures VI., VII., VIII., and XI., to ex-
plain the process, vizt. :-Two ropes or tackles, one from the maintopmast and
the other from the foretopmast head, are attached to the suspending points of
the platform, and should be of such a length as to sustain the waggon and
platform when let down just clear of the combings of the hatchway. These
ropes will generally be rather slack when the waggon and platform are in
their upper position. Being thus prepared, the loaded waggon is run on to a
platform similar to what has been described for the vertical descent of a
waggon. The descent also in the present iustance will be vertical in its
commencement and until the ropes from the mast begin to tighten, from
which time the action of the platform and waggon will continously diminish,
and finally cease when the waggon becomes vertical to the mastheads, from
which it will in it's descent from the staith or shipping place have described a
portion of a circle from the moment it partially rested on the masthead
suspenders. To suit these deversities of resistance, and to bring the waggon
back to its position prior to its descent, different methods upon the same
principle may be adopted, which will be illustrated by the following, which
I describe as being one of the most simple and expeditious, viz:-The barrel
(6), over which the rope or chain of the counterbalance weight is wound,
must be capable of disconnection with the barrel (7), over which the de-
scending rope unwinds, and the former should diminish in diameter more or
less suitably to the decreased resistance of the descending waggon and plat-
form. Accuracy cannot be obtained, because of the uncertainty of the
distance the vessels may lie at from the point of descent, neither is it requisite
because of the great disparity of weight between the loaded waggon and
platform and platform and waggon after the coals are discharged. It will.
also be seen that the platform and waggon in the latter part of the descent

page_text: will bear very little upon the descending rope connected with the counten-
poise.
Having thus explained the circumstances, I shall now describe the method
to be pursued, viz:-The commencing descent of the waggon must be regu-
lated by the brake, as described in the vertical descent, until the counter-
balance weight has attained a sufficient height, at which time it must be
stopped, and when arrived at this position the descending rope barrel is to be
disengaged from that of the counterbalance, which is prevented from descend-
ing by palls on a ratchet wheel (10, Figures VIII. and IX.), and the waggon
may swing amain until it passes over the hatchway, in which position it may
be retained by raising quickly the bight of a rope on the land side of the
platform; also, if necessary, the brake may be used to prevent the platform
going too far.
Previously to describing the disengagement of the two barrels, and the means
of returning the platform and empty waggon to their upper position, it will be
necessary to explain the Figures VIII. and IX., which are a plan and side eleva-
tion of the necessary machinery shewn on a larger scale than in Figure VI., which
is the side elevation of the whole, of which Figure VII. is the elevation viewed
from the water in front of the shipping place. 6 is the barrel sustaining the
counterbalance weight; 7, the separate barrel on which the platform rope winds,
and which has at each end a spur wheel, one larger than the other, into which
are geered two spur wheels on the prolongation of the axis of the counterbalance
barrel (or on an axis connected with it by a box or other means). One of the
wheels ( or y) on the prolonged axis is always at liberty to turn freely round
its axis, as neither of them will move with the counterbalance barrel unless the
clutch c, c, (which, by means of a groove and feather, slides along the axis
and stands or revolves with it) be moved by its lever a, so as to be engaged
with and carry round the wheel x or wheel y, as circumstances may require;
also by placing the clutch in or near the middle of the axis, between x and y,
both these wheels will turn freely round, and the platform rope will unwind
whilst the barrel of the counterbalance rope stands still, being held by the pall
upon its ratchet wheel. This pall is fixed upon a loaded levers (near its
fulcrum), so that at any time, by raising the lever, the pall may overturn or
disengage, and suffer the counterbalance weight to descend. 8 is the brake
wheel, which acts by a pinion on the larger of the fixed spur wheels on the plat-
form rope barrel, and consequently has sufficient power at a less diameter than
if on the same axis with the rope barrel, either of which will answer the end.
The machinery being now described, it will be seen that the disengage-

page_text: and
ment of the platform barrel to enable it to perform its complete descent was
by the movement of the clutch c, c, towards the middle of the axis between
y, , in which position it is shewn in Figure VIII. Now as the counterbalance
weight only ascended during a portion of the descent of the loaded waggon
and platform, it is obvious that to return the platform and light waggon back
throughout the whole of their descent, the counterbalance weight must either
fall through a greater space than it had ascended, and in the end require
winding up, or it must give an accelerated relative velocity to the ascending
platform, which it has power to do from the great decrease of weight on the
platform, and which will be effected by engaging the clutch c, c, into y, which.
is the larger of the two fast and loose wheels, and which acts on the lessor of
the fixed wheels on the platform rope barrel. The process of returning the
platform and its empty waggon therefore is, that whilst the coals are dis-
charging out of the waggon the clutch is engaged into the wheel y, so as to
be ready to act, then, after pressing down the brake on the brake wheel 8 and
lifting up s, the lever of the pall, high enough to disengage it, the ascent of
the platform goes forward under the regulation of the brake until it reaches its
destination, where, if not sufficiently checked, it will raise the levers or. weights
described under the second article, which will restore the platform to the level.
of the waggon way, and allow the waggon to pass off and give place to a loaded
one; meanwhile the lever s containing the pall, which latter is hung so as to.
rest in a proper position for acting, is let down upon the ratchet wheel of:
the counterbalance weight barrel, and the clutch slipped from the wheel y to
the wheel x, and the whole is then ready for recommencing the operation
described, on which I have only the following observations to make, vizt. :—
That in all the three instances (unless means be taken to retain them in their
proper point of elevation) it will be adviseable that the platform or truck upon.
which the waggons are to be supported should be suspended on such a length.
of chain as will reach round the barrel, lest the elasticity of rope should suffer
the platform or truck to move on receiving or losing the weight of the waggon.
The remaining length to give the descent will do very well of rope. Also in
the use of the third method, it will be adviseable that the points m and n,
from whence the rope or chain which suspends the platform passes, should bo
withinside of the vertical line, above its centre, to allow for the action of the
suspending ropes from the mastheads of the vessel, which will necessarily draw
the platform outwards. On reviewing the methods I have described, it will
be seen that facility of operation and expedition are consulted, without which
it would be better in many instances to submit to the loss of value attendant
on all the breakage of coals than to obtain the remedy accompanied with

page_text: delay and an encreased charge of attendants.
In the two first described
methods, viz, the inclined' plane and the vertical descent, the alternate descent
of loading waggon's and ascent of light ones on two separate trucks or plat-
forms may be substituted for the counterbalance weight, which, where the
height to be descended is uniformly the same, will answer very well; but in a
tideway where heights vary, exclusive of the different heights of the gunwale
of a vessel between the commencement and termination of her loading, incon-
venience will arise from the necessity of frequently lengthening and shortening
the chains, or of submitting to an unnecessary fall and consequent breakage
of the coals. If the alternate mode be preferred, one of the easiest methods
of lengthening and shortening the chains or ropes is, to have their barrel of
communication (on which the brake necessarily acts) in two distinct parts
upon the same axis, one fast to or revolving with the axis, and the other
capable of revolving on it, but held in any necessary position by a pall and
ratchet wheel, by which means the loose barrel is capable of being either hove
up or let
go 'back from its position, so as to lengthen or shorten the rope at
pleasure. To save trouble' in drawing the Plans, the four spur wheels and
the pinion described in Figure VIII. are shewn as plain cylinders, viz*, without
exhibiting their cogs or teeth. Vessels loaded by the method shewn in
Figures VI. and VII., will be heeled on one side by the weight of the waggon
acting öbliquely on their masts, to prevent which, it is adviseable that a boat
or large beam of timber, or other floating substance, should be attached to
the off side of the ship. It has already been said that the waggon may be
suspended from the gib of a crane; in this case, should the length of the gib
not carry the waggon over the vessel's hatchway, the preponderating power
of the loaded 'waggon over the counterbalance weight, which has to draw back
the light waggon, is sufficient to cause the waggon to go considerably beyond
the vertical line of its suspension.
One method out of others of the same description will be explained by
reference to Figure X., in which (a) is the step of a long mast or beam of
timber, serving as the spur shore or diagonal of the outrigger or gib of the
crane, which at its head has a beam on each side of the spur shore, on which
beams the axis of the suspending pulley or wheel may rest. On the inner
end of these beams is an iron strap, like the rudder band of a ship, which by
a bolt passed through it, and two eye bolts or straps fixed to the head of the
shipping stage, forms the upper turning point above, or nearly above, which
must be the guide pulley (7), to direct the rope when the crane is swung into
the shipping place at the extremity of the railway (1, 1). In this shipping
place, as also in that of Figure III., there is shewn the far side sill or loaded

page_text: lever (u), under which the cross bars of the waggon platform are brought to
their proper elevation. These levers turn upon a centre at a proper distance
inwards, and rest when in their permanent position the, cross bar. (a). The
tackle and machinery for suspending the waggon is the same as described
under Number III., and the hauling-out geer is shewn by the strong dotted line
(r, s, t, v). r is the fixed part of the hauling-out rope, which is at that end made
fast to the iron frame of the platform supporting the waggon; it passes through
guide pullies at 8 and t, and at v is made fast, of such a length as will draw
the waggon to its proper position. On the light waggon, being, hoisted the
rope will become slack, and in most cases admit the waggon to swing into its
landing place. When it will not do so the rope at v must be slacked off
sufficiently, and be hauled in again after the gib is swung out previously to
the descent of the waggon. If it be requisite that the waggon should deviate
materially from the vertical line, as shewn in Figure X., it will then be advise-
able that the end of the counterbalance rope barrel-should-decrease in-dia-
meter, as shewn in 6, Figure VIII., because a considerable portion of the weight
of the loaded waggon will be taken off by bearing on the rope (r, s, t, v)
with the force requisite to haul it out, but at the same time it may be on the
same axis with the rope barrel.
21°
In witness whereof, I, the said William Chapman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seven.
WILLM (L.s.) CHAPMAN.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named William Chapman
(being first duly stamped), in the
presence of us,
PEREGRINE GEO. ELLISON,
Clerks to Mr. Walters,
Solicitor,
In Chancery.
Newcastle.
George Ayre, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gentleman,
maketh oath and saith, that William Chapman, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
aforesaid, Civil Engineer, did duly sign, seal and as his act and deed deliver
the Deed Poll hereto annexed in the presence of this Deponent and Peregrine
George Ellison, of the same place, Gentleman, and saith that the name or
characters Will Chapman, thereto set or subscribed as the party executing
George Ayre, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gentleman,
maketh oath and saith, that William Chapman, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
aforesaid, Civil Engineer, did duly sign, seal and as his act and deed deliver
the Deed Poll hereto annexed in the presence of this Deponent and Peregrine
George Ellison, of the same place, Gentleman, and saith that the name or
characters Will Chapman, thereto set or subscribed as the party executing

page_text: the same, is of the proper handwriting of the said William Chapman, and
that the names or characters, Peregrine Geo. Ellison and Geo. Eyre, there-
upon indorsed as the witnesses attesting the execution thereof, are of the
respective proper handswriting of the said Peregrine George Ellison and
him this Deponent.