US545602A - Device for cleaning out channels - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets- Sheet 1'.

M. M. LOONBY. DEVIQE FOR ULEANING OUT CHANNELS.

Patented Sept. 3', 1895.

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(No Modl.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

M. M, LOONEY. DEVICE FOR CLEANING OUT CHANNELS.

U T STAT S PATENT OF ICE.

MORRELL M. LOONEY, or LA- o'RossE, WISCONSIN.

DEVICE FQRCLEANING O'UT CHANNELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,602, dated September 3, 1895. Application filed May 15, 1895. Serial No. 549,423. (No model.)

. nels, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for deepening and straightening navigable streams.

The special object of the invention is to so direct the fiowage of 'a stream that the current is concentrated and turned toward a portion of the river so that its bed is scoured and washed out, thus deepening the channel and straightening it, as may be desired, without obstructing navigation during the operation. This result is attained by the use of a pair of barges anchored in the river, with accompanying details, as described in the following specification, referencebeing made to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the barge. Fig. 2 illustrates the arrangement of the barges with respect to each other and to the current to get the desired results. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the barge with the apron and spud raised. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the barge anchored-by the spud, the apron being set down into place as in use. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of the apron, showing the guide and stifiener and frictionrollers. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a part of the barge with guide-posts and pulley and the guide.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several parts. In Fig. 1, a represents the barge, and b an 1ron apron suspended by ropes or chains 0 running over the pulleys din the guide-posts e. This iron apron is raised or lowered by means of the crabs or winches f. The fins g are hinged to the side of the barge which is opposite the iron apron, so that they are almost entirely submerged in the water and are controlled by the chain h running to the crab lo. When not in use, these fins are swung back against the side of the barge.

The spuds Z are used to anchor and hold the barge in place in the center of the river. They are raised and lowered by means of pinions m in the crabs m, working into rack- Z. When it is desired to anchor the barge, the spuds are lowered until they reach the bottom of the river, when the motion is continued by means of the crabs m, which has a tendency to raise the barge upward, but by reason of its weight it only drives the spuds into the bed of the river, thus holding the barge securely in place.

Fig. 4; shows the spud as it is when set into the bottom of the river. i

Fig. 6 shows a wrought-iron guide r, bolted to the side of the barge, through which the guide p on the'apron slides, and which as sists in holding the apron in its proper position and guides it as it is raised and lowered. The friction-rollers o 0 (shown in Fig. 5) not only hold the apron against the guide-posts, but help the motion of the apron by'reducing the friction as it slides up and down.

The method of operation is as follows: The barges, two in number, or more, if necessary, are towed to a point in the river just above and adjacent to the place which is to be scoured and deepened. They are anchored by means of the spuds at the upper ends of the barges, so that they hang downstream parallel to and opposite each other the desired bars 11., which are securely bolted to the spuds distance apart, as shown by the dotted rectangles A A in Fig. 2. The two remaining spuds on each barge are raised and free from the river-bed. The fins'g are then thrown out across the current by means of the crabs k. The current striking against these fins swings the lower ends of the barges toward each other around the upper spud in each barge, which is driven into the bed of the river and holds the barges fast against the current. When the lower ends of the barges have swung sufficiently near each other, so that they are only about one-half as far apart as at the upper ends, then the spuds at the lower ends and in the middle are lowered and forced into the bottom of the river, holding the barges firmly in place, so that they lay diagonally across the current, as shown in Fig. 2 byB B.

.When this has been done, the aprons b are released and dropped, so that their lower edges sink into the bottom of the river and .shut off the free fiowage of the stream, forming the sides of a sluiceway, which, acting like a funnel, concentrates and hastens the current, so that it scours and washes before aprons, and spudslconnected to and operated it the soil in the bed of the stream which is by the crabs m and the crab 70 connected to just below the month of the sluiceway thus and operating the fins, substantially as de- I5 formed. 7 1 scribed.

5 These barges can be moved out of the way In testimony whereof I have hereunto set of navigation very quickly and be easily re-t my hand in presence of two subscribing witplaced, so that they would not be called an nesses. obstruction, as will be obvious.

What I claim MORRELL M. LOONEY. 10 The combination of the barges a, the iron WVitnesses: V

aprons I), and the fins g carried by said barges, WVALTER S. WOODS,

and crabs f connected to and operating said I-I. CROSBY.

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