US429351A - Charles lardner - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shet 1.

G. LARDNER.

DREDGBR.

No. 429,351. Patented June 3, 1890.

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(No M del.)

LARDNER.

DREDGER.

6' Jul 2 an Z i? d Jea i" 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Patented June 3, 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES LARDNER, OF TOPEKA, KANSAS.

DREDGElR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 429,351, dated June 3, 1890.

Application filed February 4, 1890. Serial No. 389,131. (No model.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES LARDNER, of Topeka, in the county of Shawnee and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dredgers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in dredges or excavators.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved excavating or dredging bucket of the type known as clam-shell, and which shall be cheap, simple, and durable in construction, and certain, sure, and automatic in operation. These objects are accomplished by, and my invention consists in, certain novel features of construction, and in combinations of parts more fully described hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the excavatingbucket and its supporting and conveying apparatus, the bucket being shown closed. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective showing the bucket open, one shell of the bucket being partially broken away. Fig. 3 is a section through the two sliding blocks which operate the bucket, showing the same locked together. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are respectively an end view, a longitudinal section, and a top plan of the carrying-car with the supporting pulleys removed.

- This bucket is adapted for dredging under water or excavating on land, or wherever the soil or material is soft or sandy and can be readily picked up by the bucket. The conveyin g and operating construction illustrated in the drawings consists of an elevated supporting or track rope or cable a, extending from the spot from which the earth is to be removed to Wherever the earth is to be deposited or dumped. WVhere the apparatus is to be used as a dredger, a suitable support (not shown) is erected over the portion of the bottom of the body of water to be dredged. The supporting-track is secured at one end shore toward the water-support.

to this support extending above the water, and at the other end to asupport on the shore, and so that the track is inclined from the A stopblock bis carried by said track-cable over the portion of the bottom to be dredged, and is provided with a projecting barbed or shouldered arm 0, extending, preferably, parallel with the track.

The excavating-bucket is supported and suspended from the conveying car or carriage cl. This car is supported by hangers e, containing pulleys ff, running on the upper surface of the track-cable. lThebody of the car suspended from the track "is'h ollow and contains a pair of vertical pulleys "g'g. The bucket'supporting and operating cable h extends from the position of the operator on the shore or dumping-place, where it is provided with suitable operating means, to the traveling car, and into thesame between the guidepulleys t' i and over one of said pulleys g, and

down and around a vertical pulley j, carried by the sliding supporting-block 7c of the bucket, and then up around the other pulley g of the conveying-car, and down again and secured at its end to said main sliding block In.

The bucket consists of the two similar shells Z Z, preferably sharpened at their lower and meeting edges and adapted to swing apart, as shown in Fig. 2, to open the bucket or swing together, as shown in Fig. 1, and close the bucket. At the upper sidesof their ends these shells are provided withthe links m m m m, rigidlysecured to the ends of the shells, and at their outer free ends pivoted to the opposite ends of a horizontal cross bar or head n, rigidly secured to the lower end of a upper end is provided with abeveled shoulder q. A vertically-swinging latch-lever 4" extends through the upper open portion of the block, and is pivoted thereto at one end,

while its opposite end extends outwardly therefrom, and is preferably weighted, as shown at s, to hold the lever in its normal horizontal position. (Shown in Fig. 3.) This lever is provided with a lug or arm 25, extending down into the top of the socket or opening 29, leaving a narrow space between itself and shoulder q. Another block a is confined to slide longitudinally on said main vertical bar below the main block 7tto close and open the shells of the bucket. A pair of crosslinks 1; n are at their lower ends rigidly secured, respectively, to the bottom of each shell, and extend upwardly and radially from the same, and the upper end of each link n U is connected with the bucket opening and closing slide-block by means of the links a a, which, at their opposite ends are pivoted to said block and the upper free ends of said rigid links. A pivoted shouldered latch l)" extends up from the block a and is adapted to enter the socket 1), and thereby lock the two slides together, as the beveled shoulder of the latch is held on the beveled shoulder g by means of the armt of the latch-lever.

The operation of the device is as follows, viz: Suppose the bucket to be filled and raised and on its way to the dumping-ground, as shown in Fig. 1. When the bucket arrives over the dumping-ground, the cord 0',- attached to the free end of the latch-lockin g lever and extendedup between the rollers inthe conveyingcar to the operators stand, is pulled, thereby raising such lever and disengaging its lockingarm t from the latch, whereupon the latch b will slip from the main slide by reason of the shoulder q and the downward pull on the shell-closing slide through the medium of toggle links e and a, caused by the constant tendency of the shell to swing apart and open, and the shelhclosing slide will move down the main vertical bar and the shells will be automatically swung apart and dump their load. The toggle-links, when the bucket is open, fold down, as shown in Fig.- 2. These links are so arranged that when the block a is drawn up on the bar 0 the secured ends of links '2) will be drawn together, and when said block slides down the secured ends of said links will separate and the shells open. When the bucket is closed and the shell-clos ing slide is released, the shell will automatically open, because the means then supporting the shells are secured to the outer edges of said shells and consist of the chains d',secured to the outer and upper corners of said shells and to the main slide-block, and having the cross-chains e secured to the cross-bars n of the shaft or bar 0. These cross-chains limit the parting swing of the shells, while the chains (1 support the shells when open, while the toggledinks mainly support them when closed. After the load has been dumped the open bucket is started back toward the raises the swinging wing g, thereby allowing 7o the stop it on the supporting and operating rope to pass the same, Fig. 3, and hence allowing the bucket to automatically lower as the rope his paid out. \Vhen the bucket strikes the bottom, the operating-rope continues to pay out, and the main slide of the bucket then drops by gravity onto the shell-closing slide, thereby automatically locking the two slides together by reason of the latch before mentioned. The bucket is caused to pick up its load by pulling on the raising and operating rope, thereby drawing up the main slide, and with it the shell elesing slide, and by reason of the peculiar arrangement of the toggle links the shells are caused to close to* gether and at the same time pick a full load of sand or earth by reason of the arrangement of the digging-edges. When the loaded bucket is raised to the proper point, the stop h engages the movable tube 2" and draws the same outwardly, thereby raising the springpawl j from the shoulder of arm 0, through the medium of flexible connection It, and releasing the car cl, so that the car and bucket can be pulled to the dumping-point.

The peculiar conveying apparatus is claimed in an application, Serial No. 296,472, filed De cember 24,- 1889. This bucket is not limited to use with this peculiar conveying apparatus.

It is evident that certain changes might be 100 made in the form and arrangements of the parts described without departing fronrthe spirit and scope of my invention; hence I do not wish to limit myself to the exact construction herein set forth.

\Vhat I claim is--- 1. The combination of the main upright bar having the cross-bar, the clam-shell having rigid arms hinged to said cross-bar, the main slide and chains extending therefrom 11 to the outer edges of said shells, having crosschains to limit the parting swing of said shells, and the slide to open and close the shells.

2. In a clam-shell bucket, the combination I 5 of the upright bar having a cross head or'rod on its lower end, the two clam-shells having rigid arms pivoted on said cross-bar, the shell operating toggledinks rigidly secured to the bottoms of said shells, a slide on said bar, to 12 which said links are pivoted, and a main supporting-slide on said bar provided with supporting connections to the outer edges of said shells, substantially as described.

In combination, the main upright bar I2 5 having a cross-head on its lower end, the two clam-shells hinged to said cross head, the shell operating slide on said bar connected with the bottoms of said shells by togglelinks, the main supporting-slide on said bar 1 0 provided with flexible connections to said shells, and means for locking said slides together, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the main upright bar, the "hinged clam-shells, a slide on said bar for operating the shells, the toggle-links pivoted to said slide and rigidly secured to and extending radially from the bottoms ofto lock said slides together, and flexible supporting-connections from the main slide to the outer edges of said shells, provided with crossconnections secured to said cross-head, substantially as described.

6. In combination, the main upright bar, the hinged clam-shells, the main supportingslide on said bar, flexible supporting-connections from said slide to theouter edges of the shells, the shell-operating slide connected to the bottoms of .said shells to close the same, a latch carried by said slide to engage a shoulder on the main'slide, and a lever to release said latch from the shoulder, substantially as described.

7. In combination, the upright bar having a cross-head on its lower end, the two clamshells having rigid arms secured rigidly thereto and pivoted to the ends of said crosshead, the main supporting-slide on said bar connected with the outer edges of said shells by chains, the arms rigidly secured to and extending radially from the bottoms of said shells, and the shell-operating slide connected with said radially-extending arms, substantially as described.

8. In combination, the upright bar, the clamshells carried thereby, the main supportingslide suspended from the operating-cable and having a beveled shoulder, the shell-operating slide having an upwardly-extending pivoted latch to engage said shoulder and 'hold the shells closed, and a locking-lever carried by the main slide to hold said latch on a shoulder provided with an operating-connection.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses. 7

CHARLES LARDNER.

\Vitnesses: 1 Y

J OE FETTERs, OrIs H. MoCoY.

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