Excavating machine and self-dumping earth-box for canal work
Latch-suspended skip, ox-and-men counterweight, and a canal cross-section
The sheet works out a crane-like excavating machine for digging a canal and hauling out the spoil. A large latch (catenaccio) catches the four ropes of the raised earth-box so it hangs by itself, letting the ox-and-two-men counterweight come down and reload, which lightens the pivot at the mast head. Lower sketches show a box with an opening bottom for tipping the earth and a box that splits lengthwise into two when its base strikes a trestle, alongside a dimensioned cross-section of the canal and its embankment.
On this page
Excavating machine, labelled h a K S – n – g
The upper drawing is a large hoisting machine for excavating a ditch, its parts marked with the letters h a K S, n and g. It swings the loaded box up out of the cut and over the spoil-heap.
Cross-section of the canal and its embankment
A section gives the profile of the ditch and its bank in braccia, with lettered reference points o d c b a m. The measures set the width of the channel, the slope of its sides and the height of the embankment.
Latch that holds the raised earth-box suspended
When the earth-box has been lifted to its full height, a latch enters where its four ropes meet, so the box hangs by that latch alone. The ox-and-two-men counterweight can then descend and reload, and the pivot at the mast head bears less weight and turns more easily.
Skip with an opening bottom
A short caption marks a box with an open bottom as the way of emptying out the earth. The load drops straight through once the base is released.
Skip that opens on a trestle
A box 1 and a half braccia wide and 4 braccia long rests over a trestle set on the dumped earth. Every time the loaded box's bottom touches the trestle it opens lengthwise into two pieces, its sides still held by the box.