IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EXCAVATING UNDER WATER, AND FOR RAISING AND LOWERING MATERIALS IN OR OUT OF WATER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Fothergil Batho, of Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR EXCAVATING UNDER WATER, AND FOR RAISING AND LOWERING MATERIALS
IN OR OUT OF WATER."-A communication from abroad by William
Duff Bruce, of Calcutta, India.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Fothergil Batho
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th May 1873.
I, WILLIAM FOTHERGIL BATHO, of Westminster, in the County of
5 Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iч-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR EXCAVATING UNDER WATER, AND FOR RAISING AND
LOWERING MATERIALS IN OR OUT OF WATER," a communication to me from
abroad by William Duff Bruce, of Calcutta, India, to be as follows:-
The Invention is primarily an improvement on the method of digging
0 or excavating under water. The apparatus consists of a set of spades or

page_text: excavators connected to a centre spindle by levers and connecting rods
so arranged as to make the spades or excavators open or close when
acted upon from above through the chains by which the machine is
lifted and lowered.
The centre spindle on which the spades or excavators are hinged is
hollow and a rod which acts on one end of the levers so as to close the
excavators works inside. A second set of connecting rods is attached at
one end to the outer end of the levers and at the other to a collar free to
move on the hollow spindle. By releasing the chain attached to the rod
working in the centre spindle and pulling on the chain attached to the
collar, the spades or excavators are opened and by releasing the chain
attached to the collar and pulling on that connected to the centre spindle,
and when necessary, (that is, when working in stiff soil) acting on the
collar by means of a weight or small monkey working round the centre
spindle the spades or excavators are closed.
The apparatus can be used either for the process of excavating or
for raising, lowering, and depositing material of any description.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Fothergil Batho, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
FOTHERGIL BATHO, of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Fothergil Batho, Her special licence
that I, the said William Fothergil Batho, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Fothergil Batho, 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,

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR EXCAVATING UNDER WATER AND FOR RAISING AND LOWERING MATERIALS IN OR
OUT OF WATER," (a communication to me from abroad by William Duff
Bruce, of Calcutta, India,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Fothergil Batho, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was 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 William Fothergil Batho, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings
(that is to say):——
The Invention is primarily an improvement on the method of digging
or excavating under water, and the apparatus consists of a set of spades
or excavators connected to a centre spindle by levers and connecting rods
so arranged as to make the spades or excavators open and close when
acted upon from above, and although there may be any convenient
number of spades three are preferred.
The centre spindle on which the spades or excavators are hinged is
hollow, and a rod, which acts on one end of the levers so as to close
the spades or excavators, works inside, and a second set of connecting
rods is attached at one end to the outer end of the levers, and at the
other end to a collar free to move on the hollow spindle. By releasing
a chain attached to the rod working in the centre spindle and pulling
a chain attached to the collar, the spades or excavators are opened, and
by releasing the chain attached to the collar and pulling that con-
nected to the centre spindle, the spades or excavators are closed, and
when necessary (that is when working in stiff soil) there is a monkey or
rammer acting on the collar round the centre spindle..
The apparatus can be used either for the process of excavating or for
raising, lowering, and depositing material of any description.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figs. 1, 2, and 3 are views
illustrating one arrangement of apparatus; and Figs. 4, 5, and 6, views
of detached parts.

page_text: In this apparatus there are three spades marked A, A, A, so shaped
and placed as to form when together a hemisphere or a portion of a
hemisphere. The spades are fixed to levers K, K, K, hinged on pins a
projecting from a centre boss a', Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, on the level of the
centre from which the curves of the spades are struck, the levers being
bent so as to cross each other and kept in their places on the pins by
ordinary nuts screwed on the ends of the pins. To the centre boss a¹
is securely fixed a tube 6 having in it a spindle e and by means of
a steel cotter or key passing through long slots at each side of the
tube b, the lower part of the spindle e is securely fastened to a collar c,
Figs. 2, 3, and 6, sliding loosely on the tube b. To lugs on the
collar c are hinged rods m, m, m, having their lower ends jointed to the
inner ends of the levers K, K, K, and on the tube b above the collar c,
another collar d, Figs. 2, 3, and 5, slides loosely. To lugs on the collar d
are hinged rods f, f, f, having their lower ends jointed to the outer ends of
the levers k, k, k, or other convenient attachment fixed to the rims of the
spades A, A, A, and the rods f, f,f, are made sufficiently strong to bear a
blow from the monkey or rammer g, Figs. 2 and 3, falling on the collar d,
which is used when necessary to drive the spades into the soil, and to
the top of the spindle e and the collar d are attached the ropes or
chains h, i, for working the apparatus, the action of which when used
for excavating is as follows:-By hauling on the rope or chain h, Figs.
and 3, fastened to the top of the spindle e and slacking the rope or
chain i, the spades are closed as in Figs. 1 and 2, and may be lifted
or lowered, closed, and by hauling on the rope or chain i attached to
the collar d and slacking the rope or chain h the spades are opened and
may be lowered or raised open. In excavating the apparatus is lowered
open by the chain or rope i, and when within a few feet of the stuff to
be lifted it should be allowed to drop so as to bury the spades in the
soil. If it is not considered necessary to use the monkey or rammer
the apparatus may be at once raised by the chain or rope h, the strain
being put on gently until the spades have closed, and to empty the
contents of the closed spades the chain or rope i is made fast and the
chain or rope h is slacked out. For lowering material the apparatus
would be lowered by the rope or chain h, the chain or rope i being left
quite slack, and when required to deposit the material the rope i is made
fast and the lowering continued by the chain or rope until the spades
are opened and the contents deposited.

page_text: The apparatus B, Figs. 2 and 3, which I do not claim as part of my
Invention, consists of a chain rider for working the excavator (or other
machine of similar action) by means of a common winch or crane withi
one chain barrel, the chain h being the one by which the apparatus is
raised and lowered, and i the chain by which it is opened and kept open.
Two triangular cheeks are joined (a sufficient distance apart to allow the
chain / to slide easily between) by two bars n and o (Fig. 3) the said
bars being edged and spaced so as to catch on the flat sides of two links
of the chain / but on opposite sides of the chain, and a pin p, Fig. 3,
also joins the two triangular cheeks. The chain rider B swings by the
pin p on the chain i a sufficient distance from the collar d to allow the
excavator to close without dragging the chain rider over the swivel at
the top of the rod e and a short arm q, Figs. 2 and 3, projects from one
of the triangular cheeks of the chain rider for the purpose of working it,
the action of the rider being as follows:-
When the excavator is about to be worked it is heaved up to the
necessary height by the chain h, after which the winch is stopped and
the slack of the chain i taken up by hand and the chain made fast, the
said chain being passed over a common block or sheave as nearly
overhead as possible. When this is being done the chain rider hangs in
the position shewn in Fig. 2, both the bars n and o being clear of the
chain h, the back of the bar o bearing on the chain i and keeping tho
chain rider in the position shewn, and when the chain i is made fast the
chain his lowered to cause the excavator to open. The chain h is then
stopped, a steady pull is taken at the rope attached to the arm q and
the chain or rope i let go gently, and then the chain rider will bite the
chain with its two bars n, o, and keep the excavator open. The
apparatus is then lowered, plenty of slack being allowed to the chain i
until within a few feet of the stuff to be excavated when it is allowed
to drop as previously described, and when the strain is taken off the
chain by the grounding of the excavator the said chain will be slackened
and the chain rider will immediately lose its grip and slide down close
to the top of the rod e (as shewn in Fig. 2) and then the apparatus can
be closed and heaved up by the chain h.
In order to keep the joints of the centre boss a³, the levers k, l, k, the
pins a, and also the nuts, keys, or other means which keep the levers in
their places water and sand tight, I prefer to employ at the inner sides
of the levers packing rings (not shewn in the Drawings) and at their

page_text: outer sides covering caps d'. The rings are made of india-rubber covered
with canvas or other suitable material and are placed in concentric grooves
formed in the sides of the levers and the caps are fastened to the levers
after the packing has been so tightened as to keep out the water and
sand, but not to interfere with the proper working of the levers.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood that
I do not intend to claim any of the mechanical parts of the apparatus
before described separately or apart from the application and combination
thereof as herein-before described, but what I do claim is,--
1. The mode of closing and opening the spades of the excavator by
means of a rod passing through a hollow tube or spindle in combination
with a collar d sliding on the tube and connected with the spades,
substantially as shown and described.
2. The application of a rammer or weight sliding on the tube or hollow
spindle so as to force the spades into the material to be excavated as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Fothergil Batho, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.