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October, 1910 TAE Marine REVIEW 409 A. NEW DESIGN OF GRAB BUCKET ~ HE accompanying il- lustrations s how quite clearly a type of grab bucket which has been perfected after. trials and ¢x- periments extending over 'two years by the Andresen-Evans Co., Chicago, for handling all kinds of bulk materials, ticular from ship to storage, have been very much of one type, consist- ing of hoisting towers equipped with double drum _ engines handling the commonly known clam-shell buckets. Improvements made within the last 10 years in ore handling and storage equipment have also affected the prac- tice in handling coal, and results that were considered satisfactory with the Fic. 1--SrEveN AND ONE-Hatr-Yarp, Type A, Coat Bucket on Conveyor Bruner, OPEN. a @ more especially iron ore, cement clink- ef, COal, etc. Up to within the past few years the greater proportion of plants for hand- ling bulk materials, and coal in par- Fic. 2--Seven anp One-Har-YARD Bucket, Hanpiinc PocAHONTAS Coat, Diccinc 1n Swe Hitt. old type hoist and 1% to 2-yard capac- ity clam-shell buckets are not accept- able to present day management. In some respects a resemblance will be noted to other types of buckets, including the differential drum, but in most others it differs from all other types. One of the essential differences to be noted is that the differential drum is mounted in a separate central frame, which also carries the bearings for the hinge shafts on which the scoops are pivoted. Another differ- ence may be noted in the transmission, in which four two-part chains are used, The common complaint of oper- ators of older types of grabs is that the buckets will not fill to capacity except in hard coal or the easiest- digging kinds of mine-run soft coal, and the latter only after the bucket has been dropped from 15 to 20 feet to obtain penetration. In unloading ships this practice has been productive of great damage to both buckets and ships, and large bills have been at- tendant upon the severe treatment, but the greatest damage from a finan- cial standpoint is due to the excessive breakage of coal and the resultant in- creased amount of slack or screen- ings. With these buckets, the maker's claims are that it will fill to its rated capacity in all such hard-digging coals as splint, black-band, etc., and that it will work equally well in free coal, side-hill, hatch or winging. As will be noted from the illustra- tions, this new grab has, in common with the more familiar clam-shells, a main differential drum for closing, but here the similarity. ends, for the drum is not pivoted on an extension of the scoops but, as already noted, is: carried by a separate central frame in -which the hinge shafts also have their bearing. In this feature of separate pivots for the scoops this bucket dif- fers also from the clam shells, and this is an element in more than one way in securing the good digging re- sults obtained; first it gives an ex- ceedingly wide opening, over 50 per cent greater than the clam shell, and second it gives with a simple motion the peculiar digging path and the cut- ting edge that is obtained in other buckets by the use of separate pivots for front and back of each scoop. This advantageous cutting path, com- bined with the long reach, insures a full bucket, even in cleaning up where the material is somewhat scattered. The closing action is produced by four closing chains, seen in the illus- trations, pulling in a direction practi- cally parallel to the line of resistance and working against. this resistance with a long lever arm, securing there- by a most powerful closing effort, and AND ONE-HALF-YARD BUCKET, CLOSED. Fic. 3--SEvVEN