Hulett Ore Unloader in 1:32th

[Bernhard]

Here are two more photos of the dismantling of the last two machines on Whiskey Island in early 2024.





(Photos: Tim Murphy)

[Bernhard]

There were apparently two different types of buckets:

A bucket that opens and closes symmetrically. I have found several original drawings of this type.


(Drawing: Wellman – Seaver – Morgan Co.)

A bucket with a telescoping function, just like the one used on Whiskey Island. I only found a functional sketch of it. But I didn't really understand it until I saw the original buckets.



So how does this thing work?
The triangular levers attached to the top of the bucket shells have two guide rollers. The upper one connects both levers and initially runs in a vertical guide. The lower one runs in a horizontal guide that can be moved sideways. The light blue push lever, which is hinged to the right bucket shell, is pushed to the right by the opening chain. In doing so, it presses on the bucket shell, thereby opening it to the green position. Since both gripper shells are connected by the upper guide roller, the opening process is symmetrical.
Now the upper guide roller enters the horizontal guide. By pulling further on the opening chain, both gripper shells are now moved together to the right (red position). This made it possible to reach under the hatch edge in the ship with the bucket and pick up material there.
It's not easy to explain (and the translation from German to English probably doesn't make it any clearer), but these two animations show how it works:
Animation 1
Animation 2

And here you can see an endless loop of the closing process:
Loop closing process

Once I understood how it worked, all I had to do was put it into practice.
I used the measurements I took of the bucket in Euclid as my starting point.



Once I understood how it worked, all I had to do was put it into practice.
I used the measurements I took of the bucket in Euclid as my starting point.

[Bernhard]

Now I have a solution that probably isn't 100% correct, but it's an acceptable compromise for me, and it will work.

Bernhard