Volume Ten - Pre-Victorian to the present day - even more aspects - Penarth Dock in 1896 . . .

In addition to the ordinary method which are in operation to prevent breakage of the coal at the time of shipment, there is in use at Penarth Dock " The Despatch " Patent Anti-Breakage Box, this arrangement consists of a steel bucket, made in different sizes to suit the capacity of the varying hatchways of the vessels to be loaded.

◊ " The Despatch " Patent Anti-Breakage Box used at Penarth Dock, T.V.R.

The bucket is divided into two portions, to one of which the handle is rigidly attached in such a manner that the second portion swings freely on a pivot connecting the handle, and the two portions of the bucket together, and is constructed to open along the bottom. The bucket is placed in the ordinary way at the point of the coal shoot, and it is so designed that when being loaded neither the weight nor the thrust of the coal will open the box (although it opens along the bottom), gravity alone suffices to keep the two portions together. When the box is loaded, it is lowered into the vessel's hold and opened automatically by an adjustable tipping chain, and the load gently deposited at the bottom of the vessel, thereby securing freedom of breakage of the very friable South Wales coal ; the box on being re-lifted by a hydraulic crane to the point of the shoot closes by its own weight and is ready to be refilled.

The railway sidings leading to the coal-tipping staiths gravitate towards the tips for the laden wagons, so that a minimum of labour is required, and the wagons, when emptied, run back freely by gravitation over sidings which have an inclination of 1 in 80.

The staiths are fitted with two weighing machines each, so that the wagons may be weighed at the time of shipment both full and empty.