Dr. AUBREY C. BRIGGS, FIEAust., CPEng., NPER

ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENTS

Briggs International, Inc. is headed by the distinguished Dr. Aubrey C. Briggs, the world’s leading designer of heavy duty ship and barge loading equip-ment. Dr. Briggs lives outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Briggs is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Aus-tralia, Chartered Professional Engineer and member of the National Professional Engineers Register. He graduated with the

equivalent of a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, and his many post graduate studies include Advanced Strength and Elasticity of Materials from Melbourne University, and Fundamental Design and Science of Computers from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. Dr. Briggs was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Chancellor College of the University of Malawi.

Dr. Briggs’ long and distinguished engineering and design career has resulted in many notable designs and inventions, including:

Heavy Materials Handling: The world’s largest loading/unloading machines Involute Gearing – new gear design in heavy industrial machinery Equipment used on NASA Apollo missions and moon landing Energy Recycling Self-Cooled Containment Building Supersonic Air Knife

RELEVANT PAST PERFORMANCE: WORLD’S LARGEST MACHINES

Dr. Briggs’ extensive experience in the design of cranes, ship loaders/unloaders, and conveyors is highly relevant to the present project, as both involve similar engineering principles and incorporate common design elements.

Dr. Briggs’ groundbreaking ideas and insight ushered in the development of a new generation of stacker/reclaimers, ship unloaders and loaders, and ore bridges that eventually elevated his company to the international leadership position it enjoyed for many years. Briggs secured the patents for these unique material handling technologies.

We present some examples of Dr. Briggs’ engineering creations in the following pages.

GIANT STACKER RECLAIMER

This behemoth handles iron ore and coal at 6000 tons per hour. It runs on 64 wheels on a railway-type track sitting on a sand base.

(Dr. Briggs may be seen standing in the lower triangle in the upper right of the picture. This also gives an idea of the size of the machine.)

CONTINUOUS SHIP UNLOADER

This continuous unloader is designed to discharge 6000 tons per hour of iron ore from ships up to 350,000 DWT

CONTINUOUS OCEAN BARGE COAL UNLOADER

Located in Tampa, Florida, USA, this coal unloader handles 6000-9000 tons per hour and is reputed to be the largest of its kind in the world.

CLAMSHELL COAL UNLOADER BRIDGE

Located in Sydney, Australia, this clamshell coal unloader bridge is reputed to be the last totally riveted structure of its type in the Western World.

OTHER NOTABLE INVENTIONS

Briggs’ innovation was not confined to heavy materials handling alone. Below we highlight some examples of his inventions that attest to his unbridled creativity and ability to view a problem from a different perspective.

INVOLUTE GEARING Briggs created a novel approach to the design of involute gearing. He developed a new formula which was able to predict when existing gears would fail due to metal fatigue. This he applied to the development of specialized gearing for heavy duty industrial equipment. This revolutionary new gear substantially extended the operating life of heavy duty equipment such as ore bridges, ship unloaders, cranes and the like. This technology continues to influence the design of mechanical equipment in many parts of the industrialized world. The Briggs formula is used in many countries of the world because it provides much greater reliability at reduced cost.

SINGLE THRUST BALL BEARING

Briggs replaced the complex system of equalized wheels by a single thrust ball bearing (see figure), in some applications reaching a diameter of 30 feet. The standard thrust bearing offered by the industry is currently limited to 11.5 inches.

A significant feature of this giant bearing is its ability to tolerate a support structure that is less than perfectly smooth. The manufacturing cost of this unique ball bearing is a fraction of the conventional equalized wheel clusters.

SELF-COOLED CONTAINMENT BUILDING

Briggs has been granted a patent for, and is poised to introduce the “Self-Cooled Containment Building”. This unique building is designed to seal and protect the environment from hazardous products, as they occur, from certain processes that produce substantial quantities of particulate matter, toxic fluids and poisonous gases in company with vast quantities of heat. The building will prevent the escape of these products while cleanup and cooling is taking place. The removal of the enormous amount of generated heat is accomplished by using the very heat that would cause a problem as an energy source to remove the problem. This new technology is directed toward the coke making industry and the waste incineration industry as well as others with similar environmental problems.

SUPERSONIC AIR KNIFE FOR EXCAVATING GAS AND ELECTRIC LINES WITHOUT RISK OF DAMAGE AND REMOVING LAND MINES SAFELY

Briggs introduced to the world the “damage free” technology that guaranteed safety to those involved in excavating gas lines, electrical cables, fiber-optic lines and the like. This was achieved by creating and harnessing a supersonic air jet. The supersonic air knife was born, quickly followed by the supersonic vacuum tube and the “soft” excavator.

In a completely different activity Briggs designed a hypervelocity water cannon that can shatter rock an order of magnitude faster than existing equipment. This research has spanned almost a decade.

AIRBAG BELT

Most recently, Briggs has patented (and is currently refining the design of) an airbag belt to protect the elderly in case of falls. This work is ongoing.

PATENTS

Briggs holds 31 Patents, including the following1:

1. Barge Handling and Unloading System, #3,420,388, January 1,19692. Bulk Material Handling Apparatus, #3,746,150, July 10,19733. Material Handling Apparatus, #3,756,375, September 4,19734. Stacker Reclaimer Material Handling Unit, #3,767,030, October 23, 19735. Bucket Assembly for use in a Material Handling Apparatus, #3,767,060, October 23, 19736. Material Digging and Transporting Apparatus, #3,847,270, November 12,19767. Reeving System for a Scissors-Type Clamshell Bucket, #3,975,044, July 17,19768. Material Handling Apparatus with Load Compensated Counterweight System, #4,004,496,

January 25,19779. Bulk Material Dislodging and Gathering Apparatus, #4,058,203, November 15,197710. Conveying Apparatus, #4,217,981, August 19,198011. Combination Impact and Pressure Liquid Rock Drill, #4,290,496, September 22,198112. Self-Adjusting Rail Clamp Mechanism, #4,377,220, March 22,198313. Self-Training Belt Conveyor with Digging Elements, #4,506,781, June 7, 198314. A Tethered Vehicle for Moving Bulk Material, #4,548,315, October 22, 198515. Accelerating Slugs of Liquid, #4,571,637, March 4,1986 AnU J-f716. Method and Apparatus for Conveying Solids using High Velocity Vacuum, #4,776,731,

October 11,198817. Methods and Apparatus for Excavating Soil and Like using a Supersonic Gas,

#8,613,220 (Franc®), April 28, 198918. Pollution Control Apparatus for Industrial Processes and the Like, #9,100,937,

July 9, 1992

1 A partial list of patents is listed on Justia.com and patentbuddy.com inventor page dedicated to Aubrey Briggs on the following websites

http://patents.justia.com/inventor/aubrey-c-briggshttp://www.patentbuddy.com/Inventor/Briggs-Aubrey-C/8742333http://patent.ipexl.com/inventor/Briggs_Aubrey_C_1.html

Dr. Briggs operates in many countries of the world. His skills lie in essentially five areas:

1. The science of dynamic structures2. Advanced Mechanical Engineering3. Bulk Materials Handling4. Hydro Dynamics5. Thermo Dynamics

PHILANTHROPY

Last but not least, Dr. Briggs is a philanthropist, and has given generously of his own time and financial resources to benefit the needy and impoverished on an international scale.

The following are excerpts from a selection of recent articles featuring the work of Dr. Briggs, also in Malawi, also on an engineering project – not only does this show that he is a philanthropist, it also serves to underscore his familiarity with Malawi and its unique challenges.

MAN DETERMINED TO UPLIFT POORBy Bill Zlatos, Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Sept 15, 2012http://www.questia.com/library/1P2-33653725/man-determined-to-uplift-poor “On a religious mission to the African nation of Malawi, Aubrey C. Briggs noticed women balancing 50-pound buckets of water on their heads while walking two 4-mile round trips each day.

Briggs, 91, of Sewickley Heights vowed to pay for and create a water system to ease their plight.

Nineteen years later, on Sept. 24, he will receive the first World Mission Initiative Award from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in East Liberty for making good on that promise.”

RETIRED SEWICKLEY HEIGHTS ENGINEER'S DEVOTION TO OTHERS GETTING QUITE A WORKOUT IN MALAWIBy Ann Rodgers / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 24, 2012http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-north/retired-sewickley-heights-engineers-devotion-to-others-getting-quite-a-workout-in-malawi-654693/

“In the village of Domasi, Malawi, where women once carried 53-pound buckets of water on their heads for miles, a pipeline now winds down a mountain carrying clean water to their homes.It wouldn't have happened if Sewickley Heights resident Aubrey Briggs hadn't wanted to play tennis as a youth in Australia. Nor would it have happened without a 21-year partnership between Pittsburgh Presbytery and the Synod of Blantyre, Malawi, of the Presbyterian Church of Central Africa

Dr. Briggs, 92, a "retired" engineer, will receive an award tonight from the World Mission Initiative at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary for his Living Waters Project. He designed it, oversaw construction and put in $300,000 of his own money.”

SEWICKLEY HEIGHTS MAN HOPES TO FINISH WORK IN MALAWIBy Ervin Dyer, Post-Gazette, Monday, June 24, 2002http://triblive.com/home/2589745-74/briggs-malawi-bill-deep-designed-engineer-government-mission-pay-system#axzz2i7eMjSMW

“Wanted: bulldozer operator. Must be experienced, willing to work for free, able to travel thousands of miles and have a heart of gold. Sound like you?

If so, you're needed to help complete a $300,000 water system in a small, rural area in Malawi, a landlocked nation in southeast Africa.”

LOCAL ENGINEER HELPS BRING WATER TO MALAWIPittsburg CBS feature, KDKA TV station, September 24, 2012 11:17 PMhttp://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2012/09/24/local-engineer-helps-bring-water-to-malawi/

“While helping rebuild a Presbyterian church in Malawi 20 years ago, Aubrey Briggs of Sewickley Heights was shocked to see women carrying water several miles to make concrete.

“With the bucket and the water it was 53 pounds on their head,” the 92-year-old engineer recalls. “And sometimes one or two babies on their hips. And this seemed to me very wrong. And so I decided there and then really to try and find another way.”