IMPROVEMENTS IN GRAIN ELEVATORS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Edward Newton of the Office for Patents
66 Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex Civil Engineer for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRAIN ELEVATORS." Communicated to
him from abroad by John Francis Rojer of Vienna in the Empire of
Austria
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd July 1882.
HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of the Office for Patents 66 Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex Civil Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRAIN ELEVATORS."
[Communicated to him from abroad by John Francis Rojer of Vienna in the
Empire of Austria.]
The present improvements relate to that class of elevators in which an endless
belt carrying a series of buckets is used for raising grain.
In elevating grain, and particularly in transferring it from the hold of a ship or
barge, the elevator leg, or that part of the apparatus which carries the endless
belt, has to be gradually lowered in proportion as the grain is removed by the
buckets from the hold of the vessel. Generally shear-legs have been employed for
lowering the elevator leg.
According to the present improvements the use of shear legs is dispensed with
and the elevator leg is hung to a carriage which is arranged to slide on an inclined
frame. By moving this carriage down or up the incline by means of chains and
a winch, the elevator leg is lowered into or raised from the hold as required.
A chain passes from the carriage to a drum or axle, onto or off which this chain is
wound by means of an endless chain passing round a pulley fixed on the drum or
axle and worked by a crank with suitable gearing or in any other convenient
manner. The elevator belt is driven in the usual way by means of an engine
working a chain passing over a pulley fixed to the shaft of the drum or axle over
which the elevator belt runs. The pulleys in connection with this driving chain ·
are of course so arranged that the lowering of the elevator leg will not interfere
with the driving of the elevator belt by means of the said chain.
The elevator leg will be provided with the usual shoot to convey the grain to
the wharf or other place of storage.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Henry Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th December 1882.
HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of the Office for Patents 66 Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex Civil Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN. GRAIN ELEVATORS,"
being a Communication to me from Abroad by John Francis Rojer of Vienna in
the Empire of Austria.
The present improvements relate to that class of elevators in which an endless
belt carrying a series of buckets is used for raising grain.
In elevating grain and particularly in transferring it from the hold of a ship or
barge, the elevator leg, or that part of the apparatus which carries the endless
belt, has to be gradually lowered in proportion as the grain is removed by the
buckets from the hold of the vessel. Generally shear-legs have been employed for
lowering the elevator leg. According to the present improvements the use of
shear-legs is dispensed with, and the elevator leg is hung to a carriage which is
arranged to slide on an inclined frame. By moving this carriage down or up the
incline by means of chains and a winch, the elevator leg is lowered into, or raised
from, the hold as required. A chain passes from the carriage to a drum or axle,
onto or off which, this chain is wound by means of an endless chain passing round
a pulley fixed on the drum or axle and worked by a crank with suitable gearing
or in any other convenient manner. The elevator belt is driven in the usual way
by means of an engine working a chain passing over a pulley fixed to the shaft
of the drum or axle over which the elevator belt runs. The pulleys in connection
with this driving chain are of course so arranged that the lowering of the
elevator leg will not interfere with the driving of the elevator belt by means of
the said chain.
The elevator leg will be provided with the usual shoot to convey the grain to
the wharf or other place of storage
In the accompanying drawing fig: 1 is a side elevation of the improved
elevator adapted to a barge, and fig. 2 is a front view of the elevator. A is the
"elevator leg" or frame carrying the endless chain of buckets. This frame is
attached to a carriage B arranged to slide up or down inclined ways, C, which are
supported at their upper end by the uprights K, the lower ends being secured to
the deck of the barge or in any other convenient position As the grain becomes
gradually exhausted from the barge (thus necessitating the letting down or
lowering of the "elevator leg") the carriage B is lowered on the inclined ways C.
By means of this arrangement of elevator the employment of the expensive and
inconvenient shear legs is dispensed with.
The moving of the carriage B on the inclined ways C is effected by means of an
endless chain D which passes round a pulley I at the bottom of the inclined
Iways C, and over a pulley L at the top of the ways C. The pulley I may be
turned by a winch handle, or in any other convenient manner. To the axis M of
the pulley L is secured one end of a chain E; the other end being attached to the
carriage B.
It will thus be seen that by rotating the pulley L the axis M will be
turned and the suspending chain E will be wound up thereon, or unwound; and
thus the elevator leg carried by the carriage B will be raised or lowered on the
inclined ways C as required.
The elevator itself, or the endless chain of buckets, is worked by means of an
endless chain H which passes round a suitable pulley or drum H¹ worked by a
steam engine O and over a pulley H suitably mounted above the highest point

page_text: that the carriage B is intended to attain. The chain then passes over a guide
pulley carried by the carriage and under a pulley mounted on the axle of the
upper bucket wheel, and over. a second guide pulley to the pulley or drum H'. By
means of this arrangement whatever the position of the carriage B, the driving
chain H will always be kept taut. The grain as it is raised will be conducted to
the store or other receiver by means of the shoot P.
Having now set forth the nature of this Invention of Improvements in grain
elevators and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, as
communicated to me from Abroad, I wish it to be understood that I claim.
First. In grain elevators in which an endless chain of buckets is used for
raising the grain, the employment of a carriage such as B for supporting the
"elevator leg" or endless chain of buckets such carriage being arranged to move
up or down on inclined ways by means of an endless chain as herein shewn and
described
Second. The arrangement of grain elevator as herein described and shown in
the accompanying drawing
In witness whereof I the said Henry Edward Newton have hereunto set
my hand and seal the twentyeighth day of December in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.