A XEW bfETHOD OF DREDGING.

A NEW METHOD OF DREDGTNG, APPLICABLE TO SOME

KINDS OF MINING OPERATKONS.
BY ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, PH.D., NEW PORK CITY.
I DESIRE to call the attention of the Institute to a novel system of
dredging which, it seems to me, may prove applicable, not only to
river and harbor improvements, but also to certain varieties at 1ea.d
of alluvial and diluvial gold mining; that is, river-mining, bar-
mining, coast-mining, and any other similar operations now carried
on by nwansof coffer-dams or dredging machines.
The simple and effective method to which I refer is the invention
of General Roy Stone, formerly an officer of volunteers, and at present
a civil engineer, engaged under General Newton, of the United
States Engineer Corps, upon the government works in New York
harbor. General Stone has been, since September, 1878, in charge
of operations upon Diamond Reef. This reef, lying between Gov-
ernor's Island and the Battery, is one of the most dangerous in the
harbor. I t s position in the highway of navigation, and the fact that
it is dangerous only to vessels of considerable draught and at cer-
tain stages of the tide, combine to increase the serious nature of the
disasters which it has caused. The reef consists partly of rock in
place, and partly of deposits of glacial clay, bulders, and pebbles,
over all of which lies, or did lie until it was removed, the ordinary
silt and rubbish of the harbor. As the purpose of the present paper
has nothing to do with the special dimensions and other circam-
stances of this particular work, I describe those features only which
are connected with General Stone's ingeuious device.
Various attempts have been made to remove the upper portion of
Diamond Reef and secure a navigable depth at low tide. Some
years ago Maillefert undertook to accomplish this by firing charges
of high explosives, simply laid upon the surface. He accomplished
some good in the removal of projecting points and ridges ; but as
soon as the surface of the reef had become approximately level, his
method was no longer effective.
After the work had been taken up by the Engineer Corps, the
well-known drilling-scow invented by General Newton was brought
into action ; and, SO long as l~oles could be bored and fired in solid
.
rock, this process was effective enough. I n the mixture of hard-pan
A NEW METHOD OF DREDGING. 255
and pebbles, however, boring proved impracticable. The suggestion
of a pile-driver, to drive piles, which could 1)e subsequently with-
drawn to leave holes for blasting, appears to have been made by one
of the officers employed, but never to have been carried out. Under
the circ~lnistances, I should hardly consider this plan worth a trial.
Even if it could be executed, the most satisfactory tesults which
co111d be expected from it would fall fdr short of the simple, rapid,
and cheap performances of Stone's apparatus.
By a thorough examination, General Stone found the whole up-
per portion of the reef to possess apparently one and the same char-
acter, that of an exceedingly compact indurated clay (hard-pan), filled
with boulders, and containing occasional pockets of gravel and sand.
The size of the boulders indicated that no bed-rock existed on this
part of the reef, within the depth required for navigation. The clay
was too hard to be rernoved by ordinary dredging, and, after some
consideration, it was resolved to try the effect of a sort of hydraulic
mining; that is, of the use of powerful stream; of water from a force-
pump. A strong Worthington pnrnp was mounted on the scow,
and divers were sent down with the hose-pipe, but they were unable
to hold it against the reaction of the stream.
The next day, the pipe being lashed to a pole held from the deck
and guided only by the divers, it was found that the hardest clay
was rapidly penetrated and the earth and small stones were washed
away. The effect of the streams appeared to be fully equal to that
which they would have produced if directed against the same mate-
rial on land. As the result of this sticcessful experiment, simple
n~eans were devised to control and guide from the deck the hose
and their nozzles at a depth of 30 feet, and i n the most rapid tidal
currents, when the divers could not remain below. The hose-pipes
fioally employed are of heavy iron, 24 inches in diameter, and 12 to
16 feet long, contracted to I & inch at the nozzle. These preserve
the hose from contact with rocks on the bottom. At 3 feet from the
nozzle, they are attached firmly to the ends of heavy spars, provided
with steam tackle for lifting and lowering, and various other guys,
braces, and tackle to hold the hose in position against the tide and
move i t as required, to hold it down against the reaction of the
stream itself, and to rock and twist it SO that the nozzle may work
its way down among the boulders.
Five or six men are required to each spar, add one at the pump.
A pressure of 150 pounds to the square inch is used. This will peue-
256 A NEW METHOD OF DREDGING.
trate the level surface of hard-pan at the rate of one foot per minute,
making a "pot" from three to five feet in diameter, in which boulders
of 20 pounds weight boil up and rernain suspended until the stream
is withdrawn. On a slope, it is still more effective, and in sand the
pipe sinks almost as if in water. The accumulation of larger stones
in the hole usually stops the descent of the pipe at about 5 feet, the
spar being too large to penetrate atnong them when they are jammed
in the smaller section at the bottom. On face-work, a somewhat
greater depth may be reached, but the stones roll to the foot of the
bank and impede the pipe and spar there so that it is necessary to
rake them away. This is done by the divers at slack water, arid at
other times with a long--handled rake guyed against the tide, and
gilided by hand and hauled forth and back by steam-tackle. The
rake is worked by about the same number of nlen as a atream, and
is fairly effective when it does not encounter rock too large for it to
move.
Beyond the fact thus demonstrated, of the effectiveness of a sub-
aqueous jet, the proceedings of General Stone up to this point have
no special hearing upon mining operations, in which it is required
that the excavated material shall be brought to the surfidce for fi~rther
treatment. The first operations according to the method above de-
scribed washed the sand and earth from the edges of the reef away
into deep water, leaving the larger stones to be removed by grap-
pling ; but as soon as a flat surface had been formed by the cutting
a r d filling, the material began to lodge and to return at the next
tide. I t was evidently necessary to devise a method of carrying it
athwart the tide into the deep water alongside the reef, whence it
could not return.
The customary methods of dredging and dumping, whether with
the ordinary dredges or by pumping, seemed extravagant when the
material needed to be ~noved so short a distance and not to come to
the surfhce at all. I n lien of these it, was suggested to lay a pipe
along the bottom and throw a jet of steam into it to create an in-
duced current (as in the steam siphon) sufficient to move the gravel
and sand ; but this would involve a considerable loss by radiation
in the passage of the steam, however well it might be protected, and
a very great loss by condensation when the steam strikes the water
in the pipe.
Ttle only rernaizing method which occurred to General Stone as
practicable was to create an induced current by water instead of
A NEW METHOD OF DREDGING. 357
steam, a method for which the scow was already provided with the
necessary appliances, except the large pipe for the bottom.
Before obtaining a large pipe, General Stone experimented with the
drill-pipes on the scow. I nt o a vertical pipe 6 inches in diameter,
suspended in the water so as to leave 2 feet of water standing in it,
a 4-inch stream under a pressure of 150 pounds per square inch was
thrown from beneath. When the nozzle was placed 6 inches below
the bottom of the pipe 11oeffect was seen. When placed at the bot-
tom, the water in the pipe was raised 34 t'eet; placed 10 inches above
the bottoni, it raised the water 43 feet and the injected stream did
not penetrate the 14 inches of water above it so as to rise above the
surface.
A pipe with bell-month \vas then sent down and laid horizontally
on the bottom. A 9-inch nozzle was inserted one foot beyond the
bell-mouth, ar ~d one of the divers uqed a similar stream to stir up the
sand and stones near the bell-mouth, while the other observed the
stream en~ergiug from the pipe and endeavored to get samples of i t
in strong glass jars. But the current swept him away from the pipe,
and stones as large as his fist came through with such force as to
bruise his hands. He came up with his hands bleeding and his jars
broken ; and the other diver confirmed his statement of the force of
the stream by saying that his arm had been drawn into the mouth of
the pipe with great force.
The pipe was then brought near the surface, and the stream in-
jected with intent to measure the velocity of the current through the
pipe, but the length of the pipe (10 feet) was not sufficient to get any
appreciable space of time in the passageof an object through it.
When the large pipe, 15 inches diameter and 61 feet long, was re-
ceived, a successful measurement of velocity was made. The in-
jected stream was through a I$-inch nozzle, under pressure of 150
pounds, with a volume of about 400 gallons per minute. The ve-
locity in the large pipe was 10 feet per second, giving a discharge of
5500 gallons per minute, from which, deducting the injected 400,
leaves 5100 gallons per minute as the volume of induced stream.
For the foregoing facts I am indebted to the courtesy of General
Stone, who, besides answering fully my inquiries, placed at my dis-
\
posal his official report of progress. The important cluestion, how
much solid matter can be transported by the induced stream, is not
yet precisely answered. I n the operations at Diamond Reef, from
24 to 32 feet under water, the pipe removes all that the stirring-jet
outside can dig up, and it is the latter which limits the capacity of
VOI.. ~111.-17
258 A NEW I\IETHOD OF DREDGING.
the whole appayatus. The stream there carries from 2 to 5 per cent.
of its volume in the form of solid material. But when the material
to be rentoved is already loose, such as sand or gravel, and does not
need to be bored into and dug up by a hydraulic jet, the induced
current seenis to carry 20 to 25 per cent. A basket or coarse grating
over the mouth of the pipe prevepts the entrance of boulders of ex-
cessive size. Bat stones larger than one's fist are frequently carried
through.
I n the illustrations herewith given, Figs. 1 and 2, the large pipe
Ci s shown suspended by chains M M' from the scow A. A basket-
grating B prevents the entrance of large boulders into the pipe. I
is the interior or propelling, and N the exterior or excavating jet,
the latter being held in its place Dy the disk R, tltrough which it
passes, and which forms the centre-piece of the bas-
ket. The pipe C is represented as horizontal, and
the nozzle N as pointing backward, directly in the
axis of the pipe. This would be the proper position
for both, if the material to be excavated were stand-
ing as at D, and the object were to remove i t hori-
zontally and drop it into deeper water at E. But
Scal e%t ~. to 1 it.
the direction given to the nozzle N may be varied
according to the surface attacked, against which, for maximum egect,
i t should deliver its jet at a right angle. For instance, the pipe C
beil~g horizontal, and the surface of attack also horizontal, the nozzle
N would be directed vertically downward. It is, however, in most
A NEW METHOD OF DREDGING. 259
cases best to incline the pipe C;: so that its discharge may be abo-ve
the surface of the water and continyally open to inspection. I n the
apparatus now employed at Diamond Reef the pipe C is thus in-
clined, so that its lower end touches the reef, while its upper end
projects a foot or 18 inches above tide, and can be observed from the
deck of the scow. I t is by watching the discharge, and noting the
quantity of mud, sand, and stones which i t carries, that the work-
men know when the jet N '' takes hold" (nsually about ten seconds
after operations commence at a given spot), and when it ceases to be
effective, either through obstruction in the pipes, or through the ac-
cumulation of stones before the nozzle. I n the former case, the lower
end of the pipe is easily brought to the surface for exaniination ; in
the latter case, it is moved a short distance under water, to commence
operations at another spot, and dredging is not resnmed at the first
spot until the stones have been removed by raking, grappling, etc.
These operations are controlled by the periodical inspection made by
the divers.
This form of the apparatus seems likely to be very useful in some
kinds of gold mining. Since an interior jet of 14 inch diameter
under a pressure of 150 pounds per square inch will carry a large
colr~mn of water at least a foot above the surface, it is evident that
in reasonably still water there would be no difficulty in causing the
large pipe to discharge its contents into sluices floating upon rafts,
or, even under some circumstances, into sluices set along the shore
of a river. Increasing the pressure of the jet, or diminishing the
size of the larger pipe, would increase the height to which the dis-
charge might be raised.
On the coast of Oregon and Northern California there are, as is well
known, deposits of auriferous sands, which exhibit, when washed up
by the tide, placers of sufficient richness to repay mining. I t is true,
that these sands probably have their origin in bluffs on the shore
which have been gradually eaten away by the ocean ; and it is qaes-
tionable whether dredging under water along this coast would bring
up material of safficient richness to be profitably worked. But if
such be the case, an apparatus of the kind I have described mould
be a very simple and effective means of raising the sands and loading
them upon suitable barges.
A feature which particnlarIy recommends this device for experi-
mental use is the circumstance that it involves little loss in case of
failure. The Worthiugton or other high-pressure steam-pump and
boiler, the scow and tackle, and even the pipe and hose, are all useful
260 A NEW METHOD OF DREDGING.
and salable for other purposes; so that a machine of this kind
would be by no means a dead logs if it should not in a given locality
raise, from a river or ocean bottotn, material rich enough for profit-
able working. The whole apparatus could either be towed or floated
to another locality for further experiment, or it could be brolterl up
and the parts sold separately for other uses.
I do not anticipate that the field in gold mining, for an apparatus
of this kind, will be very large. The use of Qeneral Stone's con-
trivance for dredging of rivers, harbors, canals, and the like will be
far more important and extensive ; but its simplicity, cheapness,
portability, and effectiveness, as well as its novelty, seem to me to
justify calling to it the attention of soch mining engineers as may
have to deal with the problems to which it is apl)licable.
Concerning tlie novelty of this use of water, it ought to bn noted
that Captain Eads has employed, at the mouth of tlie Mississippi, a
similar device in dredging. I have not seen either his contrivance
or precise drawings of it. I understand, however, that in that case
the water undcr pressure is forced through an aunular space illto the
dredging-pipe, somewhat as the accompanying imag-
( 1
inary diagram (Fig. 3) indicates. I t seems to me that the
central jet, as used by General Stone, would be more
effective, since i t would deliver the same amount of
water with less friction ; the friction for a circular
opening being less than for an annular opening of the
i'
same area. Whether there may not also be an advan-
tage in the transniission of power from a central jet,
as compared with the circumferential one, to the main column of
water to be lifted, and whether, moreover, any difference in the ef-
fectiveiless between the two plans could be great enough to make
itself felt in practice, I am not prepared to say. At all events Gen-
eral Stone's arrangement appears to be, for ordinary purposes, the
simpler, and to have no serions defects.
I believe this invention has been made the subject of an applica-
tion for a United States patent, and that the Patent Office having
reported favorably upon it, the patent will shortly issue to General
stone.