US1373672A - Device for raising sunken vessels - Google Patents

Description

J. W. RENO.

DEVICE FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 23,1920.

1 ,373,672. Patented Apr. 5, 1921..

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

INVENTO 7 BY m J. W. RENO.

DEVICE FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23, I920.

1,373,672. Patented Apr. 5,1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

i i 2 6 I I l ..1 I 1 l I 1 I0 I I l l /5 4-4fi L FIG 6 8 j Ls S W 9 ,S/MFP I5 00000000 I 1 6 l 6 FIG. 4 F I G. 5 INVENTOR flax BY UNITED STATES JESSE W. RENO, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DEVICE FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

Application filed July 23, 1920.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jnssn W. RENO, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York, in the county of NewYork and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Devices for Raising Sunken Vessels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the art of raising vessels sunk beneath the sea on the bottom thereof and has for its object to devise sev eral means or devices to be sunk into the sea at the site of the sunken vessel and be attached thereto in holes formed in the hull of the vessel for that purpose, as will more fully appear hereinafter.

More particularly stated, my invention consists of an improved buoyant pontoon to be attached to a sunken vessel for raising the same, consisting substantially of a cylinder vertically disposed in the sea and attached to the vessel, and closed at the top and open at the bottom, the length of the cylinder being approximately five times its diameter, though of course the statement thereto does not mean to limit the dimensions of the cylinder to those stated above.

Further my invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for attaching the pontoons to the vessel.

In the accompanying drawings showing my invention, Figure 1 is a view of my improved hook frame.

Fig. 2 is a footing frame therefor.'

Fig. 3 is a view of the hook and footing frames assembled together.

Fig. 4 shows my improved pontoon attached by means of cables to my hook frame, the frame being shown mounted on the footing frame.

F ig. 5 shows the hull of a sunken vessel; my hook and footing frames at the side thereof; my improved submarine tractorborne drilling mechanism, the point of a drill passing through a hole in my hook frame and through the outer plating of the vessel.

Fig. 6 shows a horizontal section on line a-b, Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 shows my pontoon and hook frame hooked into holes in the hull of the sunken vessel.

My improved pontoon, 1, is preferably made of thin sheet metal; at a point somewhat below the middle line of the cylinder 0r pontoon I supply a band 2around the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 5, 1921.

Serial No. 398,481.

circumference of the same in order to increase the strength of the walls of the pontoon to resist the very heavy pulling strains applied to the pontoon by the weight of the suspended vessel. These strains, because of the great buoyancy of my larger pontoon's, say for example, of dimensions twelve (12) feet in diameter by sixty-six (66) feet long, add up the. total pull on the cables and hooks which support the vessel substantially of about two-hundred and twelve (212) tons. It will be understood, in order to transfer that great weight to the comparatively thin sheet metal comprising the. body of the pontoon, it is highly important to form the band of reinforcingmaterial at the Zone.

where the strains occur, and into which the necessary attachments and braces can be properlyframed. It is obvious that I can frame the band separately or integrally with the material of the pontoon. The cables, 3, which support the weight of the vessel, are attached by bolts, 4, and shackles, 5, to a pair of channel struts, 6, inside of the band and which preferably may be welded to the central band of the pontoon. The cables are brought together at their free. ends and terminate at a ring, 7, at their lower ends, and the ringiis adapted to be slipped over a hook, 8, formed on a special multiple hook frame, 9, which I invented especially for that purpose, andwhich frame I will describe later on.

I also provide, fitted to the exterior of the pontoon, a thrust block or shoe, 10, the side thrust being transmitted to the shoe by a horizontal strut, 11, connecting the channel struts, 6, with the interior wall of the pontoon. The shoe, about six (6) feet long and of suitable dimensions otherwise, is very important and useful as it serves to distribute the side thrusts, due to the inclined position of the lifting cables, over a considerable area of thevessels side. Furthermore, the shoe presents abroad, fiat sur face to the side of the vessel and maintains the pontoon in substantially a vertical plane parallel to the vessel, and will prevent any tendency to turn about its vertical axis.

The construction which I have shown does not require the equalizing levers in my previous application for a patent, Serial No. 361092, filed February 25, 1920, in order to equalize the strains of the lifting cables in case of the vessel rising with either end higher than the other,

hook frame from its support, the footing "frame against the ship.

My present construction permits the vesscl to rise in an inclined position and, notwithstanding that inclination of the vessel, the pontoon will maintain its vertical position and the strain on the lifting cables will remain the same. Furthermore, by my construction, I am enabled to distribute the lifting strain of the pontoon on the ships hull over a larger area by means of a lar e number of holes in the plating of the ship and hooks hooked in the holes and secured to the lifting cables, thus subjecting the hull of the ship toonly a moderate strain at any one point. 7

I will now proceed to describe the method by which I accomplish that distribution of strains.

The first operation consists in lowering to the sea bed, adjacent to the side of the ship, S, the hook frame, 9. This frame is preferably 'a steelcasting of more or less triangular shape in outline as shown, and is very strong. The hook frame has a series of holes, 12, which register in line ,with hooks, 13, formed on the frame below the holes. The holes are intended to serve as a templet to guide the drill, 14:, working through the deep water working chamber, 15, carried on a tractor, 16. The hook frame is temporarily supported in the footing frame, 9

, comprising vertically braced upright guide bars, 17, and horizontally braced footing'bars,*18, the bars being braced together by other bars, 19. The footing frame rests on the sea bed and braces the hook When all the holes have been drilled through the ships plating in the manner above related, the pontoon is drawn down by the drum, 20,"on the tractor, winding up the cable, 21, secured to the pontoon. In the drawing I have shown my improved means for drawing down the pontoon disclosed in my application for a patent, Serial Number $70,664:, filed April 2, 1920..

When the pontoon has been drawn down,

the ring, 7, is hooked over the hook, 8, by

which means the pontoon and the hook frame are connected together, as shown in Figs. 4c and 7. The pontoon is then permitted to rise very slowly which frees the frame, and continuing to rise, and at the same time being pushed with considerable force against the side of the ship by the adjusting rod, 22, mounted in the working chamber, 15, the series of hooks, 13, are caused to enter into and engage their respective holes in the hull of the ship, and thus to secure the pontoon to the vessel. It

is important to have a considerable number 7 of the hooks, 13, so as to distribute the strains over a large number of holes which have been drilled into the ships plating. When the strain of the ship comes upon the pontoon, it is well taken care of by the band of material reinforcing the pontoon and the shoe, as has already been described.

7 What I claim is:

1. A pontoon, having a closed upper end and open lower end, adapted to be vertically disposed in the sea, and lifting cables eX- tended up to the pontoon to the approximate middle line thereof, and at which point secured to the walls of the pontoon.

2. A pontoon, with a reinforced band in the zone of its length or height where the strains occur, for attachment of lifting cables and to distribute the vertical strains over the thin walls of the pontoon.

3. A pressure shoe, adapted to be placed between a sunken ship and the wall of a pontoon, to relieve the wall of the pontoon from the thrust of the lifting cables as it is forced against the'hull of the ship.

1. A hook frame, adapted to be connected to a pontoon, the said frame having a series of hooks adapted to hook into holes in the hull of asunken vessel.

5. A hook frame, adapted to be connected to a pontoon, having a series of holes to constitute a templet for a drill to form holes in the hull of a sunken vessel, and

position to facilitate the work of entering the hooks into the holes. i In testimony whereof, I have. signed my name to this specification.

' JESSE W. RENO.

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