Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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- ~hiq invention relates to a floating unloading
installation for lighters, comprising a digging means mounted
on a craft which can be brought alongside a seagoing ship,
the digging means being capable of removing bulk cargo'~rom
a lighter. A weighing means may be provided on the craft as
well as a vertical conveyor for raising the bulk cargo so --
that it can reach the hold of the seagoing ship through a
sloping conveying means.
As a result of the depth of the water being insufficient
it i8 often not possible to load larger seagoing ships directly
at a quay w'here', for in~tance, a grain elevator i.s located.
Therefore floatlng unloaders o~ the type describod in tho
opening paragraph are used with whi¢h such sea~oing ship~ can
be handled in mid-stream.
In the known ~loating unloaders the craft is often a
barge Pr pontoon. The digging means is a swivelling grabbing
crane, which removes an amount of bulk cargo from the lighter,
feeds it to the hopper of a weighing installation, that is,
if such a weighing installation is u~ed, after which the
~ 20 weighed material is raised through a vertical conveyor so
- that the material is dumped into the hold of the seagoing ship ;~
by means of an inclined conveying means, for instance a chute.
These known floating unloading installations ha~e the
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~ollowing drawbacks.
In a swivelling crane with a grab the centre of gravity
i8 displaced during swivelling and emptying the grab in such a
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") way that the pontoon is swinging virtually constantly, which re~uIts in the top o~ the vertioal oonveyor with the ohute
winging to and fro to an intolerable extent. Consequently
3 it is neither quite possible to fill a hold through the
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narrow opening~ in the deck, as present in ~hips of the
so-called ~.A.S.H. type ("lighter aboard ship"). The central
hold of ships of this type is used for the overseas transport -
~of filled lighters, in the same way as containers'. The ~paces
between the central hold and the hull o~ the ship are used as
tanks, so-called wing tanks or side tanks. These side tanks
are accessible through ~illing openings located along the
sides of the deck o~ the ship. It will be clear that it 19 .:
di~ficult to dump, for instance, grain accurately in these
openings from fl swinging pontoon.
Another drawback o~ the known installation is that a
~wivelling crane with a grab, which has to empty itoel~ ln,
~or in~tance, thè hopper o~ a weighln~ means~ make~ dust swirl
up and thus causes unallowable environmental pollution.
Still another drawback of the known installation i5
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that th~ lighter to be unloaded, which may have a length of, '"''
,
~or instance, 60 metres, is located at the outerside of the
pontoon - -that is to say, the pontoon lies between the lighter ;~
and the seagoing 3hip - and is much exposed to currents in the '
river.' ~here~ore the lighter often has to be continuously
~' controlled by a tùg during unloading.
This invention aims at removing the above-mentioned
drawbacks of an installation o~ the type described in the
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opening paragraph.
In accordanoe with the invention the cra~t i9 designed
as an assembly o~ two pontoons with a space therebetween so
that' a lighter can be hauled longitudinally between the two
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pontoons, while'a oontinuously operating digging elevator
with a radiu6 covering the width of the hold of the lighter ~'
is mounted in balance on a bridge or portal connecting the two
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pontoons, and in the cross-linkage there are conveying means
for conveying the material scooped up by the elevator to one
of the pontoons on which the vertical conveyor, and i~
desired a weighing means, and the sloping conveying means
are provided.
As instead of a swivelling grabbing crane a continuously
operating digging elevator is used, which is located at one
end of an arm supported on the bridge or the portal and
pivotable about the centre, at the other end of which a
counterweight is located, the displacement of the oentre o~
gravity during operation i9 negligible. Dust only swirls up
a little~at the lower receiving end of the digging elevator
which, ~or that matter, oan be of a known construction i.e.
completely closed and dust tight.
As the lighter lie~ between the two pontoons, which,
for instance, may each have a length of 42 meters, the
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lighter is wel] protected against river currents. ~herefore
it is not necessary to use tugs to control the lighter and
the lighter can be anchored to one of the pontoons by means
-o~ hauling winche~
;; An additional advantage of the stability of the double ~-
pontoon is that, when a weighing means is used, it operates
reliably.
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In a further elaboration of the invention the sloping
conveying means can be constructed a~ a telescopic belt
conveyor. The top of the vertical conveyor has to be at such
a height that if the usual sloping chute is used ~or conveying
~ the bulk material from the lighter into the hold of a ship it
; extends sufficiently far to ~ill an empty and therefore a
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`i 3 light-draught seagoing ship. ~hi~ entails that as soon as the
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ship come~ to lie deeper in the water or as soon a~ it is
not necessary for the conveyor to extend that ~ar, the height
for dumping the materials is useless and results in a high
rate of fall so that again dust is formed causing unallowable
environmental pollution. ~y using, in accordance with the
invention, instead of a sloping chute a telescopic belt
conveyor which, ~or that matter, may be of a known type,
and with which therefore various ranges can be controlled ;
without falling movement~ of the material occurring and the
slope of which belt conveyor moreover can be varied and thus
the heights of various seagoing ships can be controlled, it
i~ possible to control the oonveyance o~ the materlal as noar
a~ po~ible to ito place o:f de~tination and w:Lthout exco0~ive
~ormation o~ dust. ~he belt conveyor may be pivotable with
respect to the seaship so that less hauling has to be done.
; ~he hold of a lighter is often covered by a plurality
o~ hatch covers, usually between 8 and 13. Before unloading
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they have to be taken from the lighter andtemporarily stored,
for whioh purpose a grabbing crane is u~ed in the known
transfer installation.
According to the invention a hatch cover platform
~; extends transversely between the pontoons at one end thereo~
while furthermore a hatch cover cràne adapted to li~t hatch
covers one by one and place it on the hatch cover platform,
can be moved along the hatch cover platform.
An important advantage of the floating unloading
installation according to the invention, comprising two
pontoons and, in between them, accommodation for a lighter
and a vertical conveyor on one of the pontoons and a sloping
0 conveyor for dumping bulk cargo in a seaship, is that with
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a minimum number of hauling movements the entire hold cf the
seagoing ship can be attended to. It is true that according
to the invention the sloping conveying means has a variable
effective length, but it makes an essential difference
whether a normal freighter for bulk cargo, a so-called bulk
carrier has to be loaded or a so-called L.A.S.H. ship. ~or
in normal freighters the central por-tion where the hold is
located has to be covered with the sloping conveying means,
whereas in ~.A.S,H. ~hips the openings at the side of the
ship' 8 deck have to be attended to. In the installation
according to the invention the pontoon a~sembly can be placed
alongside the ~.A.S.H. ship in a po~ition so that the vertlcal
conveyor tower i8 located on the pontoon remote ~rom the
~eagoing ship. It is clear that, in partioular in vlew o~ the
combination with the variable effective length o~ the sloping
conveying mean~, a great number of side tank filling openings
can be attended to without hauling the unloading insta,llation
relative to the ship.
An embodiment of the floating unloading installation
will now be described and elucidated with reference to the '~
accompanying drawing. ',-
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'' ~he drawing shows in perspective a freighter 1 and
, alongside of the freighter a floating unloading installation ,
~ 2, composed of two pontoons 3 and 4. ~etween pontoons 3 and ;
',j 4 there i8 shown a lighter 5, the bulk cargo 6 o~ whioh has
' to be trans~erred, to a hold 7 of the freighter 1. The floating
,' unloading installation 2 is fixed with respect to the anchored
' freighter 1 with the aid of cables 8.
~,' The two pontoons 3 and 4 o~ the discharge installation , ,,
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` 30 2 are interconnected, on the one hand by a bridge or
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portal and, on the other hand, through a hatch cover platform
construction 10. On portal 9 there is located a tubular arm ... ;
11, which is supported near the middle thereof on portal 9 -.
in supports 12, which are ei.ther horizontally swivable about
the vertical axis, or movable to and fro along rails on ;.
portal 9. At one end o~ the tubular arm 11 there is located
an elevator 13, for instance a bucket conveyor, and at the
other end a counterweight 14 is provided so that elevator 13 ;~
i8 substantially in balance and when conveyor 13 makes vertical
1~ swivelling movements virtually no displacements of the centre
of gravity with respect to the pontoon assembly ~ and 4 occur.
In the tubular arm 11 there is located a conveyor (not ~hown),
which convey3 the material rai~ed by elevator 13 in the
direction o~ the horizontal portlon o~ portal 9. Between
supports 12 the material o~ the conveyor in tube 11 is
trans~erred to the conveyor located in the horizontal portion .
of portal 9, which conveys the material to the right-hand side
in the drawing, to an installation having the general re~erence ~ .
numeral 15 in the drawing. In this installation a known per se
weighing means may be present as well as a vertical conveyor
.conveying the material to such a level that it can reach hold
7 of the ship 1 through a sloping conveyor 16. ~he weighing
means and the detalls of the construction of the vertical
conveyor and any other apparatus in the installation 15 will ;
not be ~urther described, because such apparatu3 are known
per se in transfer means o~ the present type.
. According to the invention the 3loping conveyor 16
consi~ts of a telescopic belt conveyor, that i~ to say, a
belt conveyor in which the distanoe between the point where
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the material is dumped and the terminal roll can be changed
by sliding the entire conveyor to and fro under the point
where the material is dumped.
~ he conveyor can also be formed by a succession of
conveyor belts that can be displaced with respect to one
another, or a conveyor belt in which the distance between
the initial roll and the terminal roll can be changed, as
known per se. As it is possible to change the effective
horizontal conveying distance in conveyor 16, optimum ~
adaptation to the height of freighter 1 is possible and the
material can be conveyed as near as po~sible to its place
of destination so tha`t ~ree fall o~ the material and dust form~
ation are minimi~ed.
Hatch cover platform 10, like portal 9, extends
between the two pontoons 3 and 4. At each end of the deok
there ia located a guideway 17 for a carriage 18. Carriages 18
oarry a guideway assembly 19 for a hatch cover crane 22.
With the hatch cover crane 20 the hatch covers of lighter 5
can be lifted and stored on platform 10 during unloading of -~
20 ~ the lighter. `-
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