US396921A - Dredging-scoop - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 2.

N. B. UUSI-IIIIG.

DREDGING SCOOP.

No. 396,921. Patented Jan. 29, 1889.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 3.

N. B. UUSHINGI 'DREDGING scour.

No. 396.921. Patented Jan. 29, 1-889.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

N. (JUSHING. DR-EDGING senor.

No. 396,921. Patented Jan. 29, 1889.

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NICHOLS B. CUSI'IING, OF JERSEY CITY, NEN JERSEY.

DREDGlNG-SCOOP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,921, dated January 29, 1889.

Application filed October 25, 1388. Serial No. 289,109. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NICHOLS B. CUSHING, a citizen of the United States, residing at '72 Grand street, Jersey City, Hudson county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dredging Scoops, fully described and represented in the following specification, and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to such dredgingbuckets as have the jaws or movable sections of the scoop pivoted by links to a headblock and thelever-arms of the sections con nected with a bottom or foot block movable to and from such head-block; and the invention consists in an improved construction for the pulley-gearing used to draw the head and foot blocks together by means of the suspending ropes or chains. The gearing is adapted for application to the so-called clam-shell scoop or grapple having only two jaws, or to I link, I), and arm cl removed and ring 11 in section. Fig. 2 is a plan of the bucket with the parts above line .70 a: in Fig. 1 removed. Fig. is an elevation of the bucket with the scoop-sections opened, with the ring in section where hatched on line 3 y in Fig. 2, and the closing mechanism removed. Fig. 4 is a plan of the same bucket with the parts intermediate to the head-block and the scoop-sections removed and the arms (1 broken off.

Fig. 5 is a plan of the bucket and its arms alone. Fig. 6 is a plan of the pulleys with their bearings and guard. Fig. 7 is an edge view of the top and foot blocks with the in termediate pulleys. Fig. 8 is a view, similar to Fig. 7, of a construction with the pulleybearings on the foot-block, the scoop-section arms jointed directly to the foot-block and the top block in section at its center line.

In Figs. 1 to T the bucket or scoop is shown of nearly hemispherical shape and made of four radial sections, a, pivoted by pins a to the lower ends of the links 1), which at their upper ends are pivoted by pins b to the headblock An arm, (Z, is secured rigidly at its outer end to each of the sections, and is pivoted by pin (1 at its inner end to a link, e, suspended from the foot-block c.

' Bearings f are shown in Figs. 1 and 7 pro jected downward from the blockc to carry the pulley-shaft g, and two pulleys, h h, are mounted close together upon the middle part of such shaft. Each of the said pulleys has fixed to it a hub, j, and the ends of chains in 717' are aiiixed to such hubs on opposite sides and linked by pins Z to the foot-block c. The bearings f and chains 7t 7t thus connect the blocks 0 and 6 adj ustably, and backing-ropes Z Z are shown in Fig. 1 affixed to the rims of the pulleys 72. It, to wind and unwind thereon in a direction opposite to that in which the chains wind and unwind on the hubs j. The drawing up of the backing-ropes thus operates simultaneously upon the opposite sides of the two pulleys, and simultaneously winds up the two chains It It, and draws the footblock toward the head-block to close the sections of the scoop, as it is represented in Fig. 1.

The ropes H are extended upward through an opening or openings, 0, in the head-block 0, above which point they would be connected together and to the hoisting-tackle of the dredging apparatus.

The head-block is shown provided upon its upper side with a lug, m, with which it would also be connected with the hoisting apparatus by a chain. Vtith this construction the bucket would be opened to receive its charge by lowering the block 6, as indicated in Fig. 3, where the sections a are indicated in their open position. Only the two side sections, a, are shown in this figure. The block is lowered, as is usual in such constructions, by backing or lowering the ropes l I, or independently drawing up the head-block c by a chain connected to the lug m.

\Vhen the block 6 is jointed to the ends of the arms d by links 6, it is necessary to tie the fulcrum-bolts a together, as the connection of the arms with the links 6 leaves the sections free to move outward without restraint. Such tie may be provided by merely extending diagonal braces between the several bolts, as shown in the dotted lines b at two places in Fig. 2; but a more rigid construction is shown in full lines in Fig. 2, in the form of a circular frame, N, with four radiatingarms b the ends of which are pivoted to the arms, d by bolts a inserted through the arms adj acent to the bolts a lVhen the foot-block is lowered, the movement of the arms draws the ends of the links 6 outward in nearly a straight line with one another and the block 6, as shown in Fig. This arrangement of the links and block thus forms a toggle-connection betweenthe inner ends of the arms d, by which great force is easily exerted upon the sections when first moving together in the act of closing. The brace b 1)", which carries the fulcra of the sev eral sections, falls during the opening of the sections, as indicated in Fig. 3, and the foot block (2 moves through it without obstruction in operating the arms (I. The pulleys are shown in the drawings with grooves to receive wire ropes, and a guard, at, is provided he neath the pulleys to hold such ropes in the grooves; but it is obvious that chains maybe used by suitably forming the edges of the pulleys. The object of employing the ropes and chains attached to pulleys and to hubs of different relative diameters is to increase the leverage of the force exerted by the pulley-ropes, and where two ropes have been used in connection with two pulleys heretofore they have been applied upon the opposite sides of such pulleys to balance the strain and to cause the suspended bucket to hang vertically beneath the hoisting tackle, as in United States Patent No. 194,651, dated August 28, 1877.

WVhere a single pulley has been used with hubs or drums upon opposite sides to operate two chains for drawing the blocks 0 and c together, it has beenimpossible to make the connections to the pulley and to the hubs both operate upon the center line of the bucket, and the bucket is therefore liable to hang in a tipped position unless the pulley is placed at one side of the center, which is a very illconvenient arrangement where a pulley of large size is used.

By the use of two separate pulleys mounted upon the same shaft or pivot, as in my construction, the balancing of the applied force is perfectly secured without moving the pulley from the center line of the bucket, and the same dimensions can be given to the two pulleys that could be given to a single pulley in the same position. Heretofore in cases where the balancing of the forces has been secured by the use of two pulleys and drums the pulleys have been mounted upon separate axles at a distance from the center line, as in United States Patent No. 194,651, dated August 28, 1877, No. 391,331, dated October 16, 1888, and No. 341,763, dated May 11, 1886.

To secure the greatest leverage for the applied power, it is sometimes desirable to form the pulley as large as possible within a bucket of given dimensions, and yet confine the working parts within the margin of the bucket, so that it may be introduced within a well or tube, if required.

\Vhen the two pulleys which are used to balance the drawing strain of their two ropes or chains are mounted upon separate shafts at opposite sides of the center line, as in Patent No. 341,763, their dimensions are necessarily much less in a bucket of the same size than would be possible with my construction, and the expense of constructing the headblocks and pulley -bearings is materially greater than when a single pulley-shaft is used, as in my construction.

By my invention the utmost simplicity and eheapness of construction are secured, and the parts are closely confined to the center line. In my construction the strains upon the hoisting-chain attached to the lug m and upon the backing-ropes Z I operate to draw them toward the center of the bucket, and the bucket is thus suspended and operated in the most advantageous position.

The function of the pulleys provided each with the hub j and chain or 70 is merely to draw the top and bottom blocks together, and such being the case it is obvious that my improvements may be applied to any device operating as a bucket, scoop, or grapple, and provided either with claws or with two or more jaws operating to form a close receptacle.

The term scoop is used in the claims appended hereto as having a broader significance than the term bucket, because open jaws are adapted to scoop up loose or broken articles, while close jaws of sheet metal are equally adapted to scoop up mud and quicksand, and the term sections, as used herein, is equally applicable to either claws or sheetmetal jaws when movably opposed to one another.

The top and bottom blocks may be made of any convenient form without departing from 4 my invention, the essential feature of the gearing being the arrangement of two pulleys pivoted upon a single shaft, and having chains wound upon their hubs in the manner herein described.

By attaching the pulley-bearings to the head-block and suspending the foot-block from the chains 70 71",, which are wound upon the drums j, the foot-block is afforded considerable freedom of movement when the jaws are closing, and is therefore enabled to yield more or'less in any direction if one of the bucket-scoop sections a encounters an obstruction and offers a special resistance to the movement of the block. The links 6, as will be noticed in Figs. 1 and 2, are socured to the block at four points, and any greater resistance applied to one link than to another would result in tipping the block, and thus prevent any injury that might result to the section if the block were held rigidly and incapable of yielding in any direction. My improved arrangement for the pulleys h h and drums jupon a single shaft may, however, be used in dredging-scoops in which IIO the 1nflley-bearings are attached to the footblock and the arms of the scoop-sections a are pivoted directly thereto. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig. 8, where the head-block is shown in section to show the attachment of the chains 70 7c by bolts Z and the slot 0, through which the ropes Z l are passed. Only the inner ends of the section-arms (l are shown in this figure, and the bolts (Z in their inner ends operate to joint them directly to lugs (i formed upon the block e, instead of to the sockets (1, (shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 7,) to receive the upper ends of the links 6.

The object of the links 6, which are specifically claimed herein, is to facilitate the tipping of the block when one of the sections is resisted more than another in the closing operation, and it is obvious that any form of link would effect the same result, and that a jointed link or piece of chain would be a precise equivalent for the straight bar shown in the link 6 in the drawings.

Having thus set forth my invention, what I claim herein is 1. A dredging-scoop having the scoop-sections linked to a head-block and provided with lever-arms, a foot-block jointed to the said arms, a pulley-shaft fitted to bearings upon one of the blocks, the pulleys h h, fitted to the said shaft, and the chains 7i: 71$, attached to the hubs of the pulleys and to the other block, the whole being suspended and operated substantially as herein set forth.

- 2 In a dredgingscoop, the combination, with the scoop-sections linked. to a headblock and provided with lever-arms, of a foot-block jointed by links to the said arms, bearings projected downward from the top block, a shaft fitted to such bearings across the center line of the scoop, two pulleys side by side upon such shaft, provided each with a hub and a chain attached thereto and to the foot-block, and two ropes or chains attached to the opposite sides of the pulleyrims and extended upward through an opening in the head-block, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a dredging-scoop, the combination, with the scoop-sections a, head-block 0, links Z), and lever-arms d, of the foot block e, jointed by links to the arms (I, bearings f, attached to the top block, the shaft c, the pulleys h h, provided each with hub j, the chains 797a, attached to the hubs and to the footblock 2, and a brace pivotally connected with the arms d, as by the bolts a and operating with the bolts to form fulcra for the movements of the seoopsections, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

NICHOLS B. (BUSHING.

Vitnesses:

THos. S. CRANE, II. J. MILLER.

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