US474221A

US474221A - Shallow-water indicator

Info

Publication number: US474221A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1892-05-03
Anticipated expiration: 1909-05-03

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1..

A. G. GROSSMAN. SHALLOW WATER INDIGATOR.

No. 474,221. Patented May 3, 1892.

W/TNESSES A TTOHNEYS ms nnams PETERS co, warn-mun msumswu, u. c.

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2.

A. G. OROSSMAN. SHALLOW WATER INDICATOR.

No. 474,221. Patented May 3, 1892.

W/TNESSES. INVENTO/Y UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

ALONZO G. OROSSMAN, OF HUNTINGTON, NEI/V YORK.

SHALLOW-WATER lN DICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,221, dated May 3, 1892. Application filed December 30, 1890. Serial No. 376,193- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALONZO G. CROSSMAN, of Huntington, in the county of Suffolk and State of New York,have invented a new and Improved Shallow-WVater Indicator, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a shallow-water indicator adapted for use upon boats or vessels when near land and when the presence of shallow water is suspected to indicate the fact.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple device capable of being manipulated by any person of ordinary intelligence and of being employed When the vessel is under way or forging ahead.

Another object of the invention is to provide a means whereby when the device engages with the bottom an alarm will be automatically sounded and whereby also the character of the bottom will be disclosed.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts,

as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims. a

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure l is a perspective vlew representing the application of the device to the vessel. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device. Fig. 3 is an edge view thereof, and Fig. t is a bottom plan view. Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on the line 0c 00 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a front view of the device. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the reeling mechanism and the alarm connected therewith. Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a drag or float used in connection with the device at times. Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the device, indicating the angle it assumes when in the water and set to touch the ground; and Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a slightly-modified form of the device.

The body A of the device is made of wood or other light material capable of readily floating. The body is preferably made as thin as possible consistent with strength and is of mfich greater length than width. The

stern is somewhat narrow, having a gradual taper, and is provided with a rudder 11, secured thereto in any approved manner, usually through the medium of screws, as illus trated, in order that it may be shifted laterally in the event the forward portion of the body should warp.

At or near the center of the body an opening is made, into which a correspondinglyshaped metal block 12 is fitted and secured, which block is integral with a keel 13, located centrally upon the under face of the body and extending from a point at the rear of the center of the body to the bow and beyond the same. The keel is constructed of metal and is pointed at each end, the rear end being also flatten ed, and the said keel is beveled upward from each side of its center. The keel is further provided with a longitudinal groove 14 in the central portion of its under face and a longitudinal slot 14*, which is also extended through the block 12. The upper face of the keel at the bow is preferably flush with the upper face of the body, the keel being to that end thickened at the bow and the body recessed to receive the offset 15 of the keel, as shown in Fig. 2. The keel extends some distance beyond the bow of the body, and the said body at the bow is preferably beveled or rounded off at its sides. 7

In connection with the body a spear B is employed, comprising a shank 16 and ahead 17. The upper surface of the shank .at its rear is provided with a lug or ear 18,having, preferably, a curved recess 19 in its rear edge. The ear or lug loosely fits into the slot of the keel and its block and is pivoted therein, the pivotal attachment being so effected that when the shank of the spear lies in the groove of the keel the mouth of the recess 19 will be below the plane of the upper face of the body, as shown in Fig. 3, whereby any object located in the recess is prevented from falling out. The spear-shank 16 is curved downward, as shown at a, where said shank joins the head 17, and the head is shaped somewhat like an elongated arrow-head, the line of its upper face being approximately that of a compound curve, as is best illustrated in Fig. 3. The convexity of the surface of the head is very slight and is located next to the shank. In the broad convexed surface of the head a cavity 20 is produced adapted to receive and to carry to the surface a sample of the bottom.

At the bow or forward end of the body the lowerend of a draw-bar 21 is pivoted, the pivotal extremity of the bar being preferably bifurcated and connected with the body at each side of its center, as shown in Fig. 2. The draw-bar has pivotally connected at its upper end a lock-bar 22, which terminates at its lower extremity with a loop or eye 23, adapted to enter the recess 19 of the spear. The spear is normally held parallel and in engagement with the keel by a spring-tongue 24, secured at its inner end to the upper face of the body A. The tongue extends through a channel 25 in the offset 15 of the keel beyond the front edge of the offset and through a bail 26, pivoted upon the shank of the spear.

It will be observed that the device somewhat resembles an inverted kite and that it is exceedingly simple and durable in construction. spear near its head and the peculiar curve of the upper face of the head causes the spear to offer but slight resistance to the water in its passage through the same and tends to prevent any undue pressure upon the latch of the device. which consists of thetongue 24 and the bail 26.

In Fig. 9 I have illustrated a slightly-modified form of the device, in which the body A is more kite-shaped than is the body illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, the bow being curved and the stern decidedly beveled at its sides. In this form of the device the keel is dispensed with and the body is made in two sections 1) and b, the two sections being mortised to overlap, and the sections are connected by a metal hinge 19 The shank of the spear is pivoted in an aperature in the body, the said spear being of similar construction to that described. The draw-bar 21 is pivoted in a slot in the bow of the body bet weentwo flanges arranged one at each side of the slot, as best shown in Fig. 10, and the tongue 24 passes beneath the draw-bar outward beyond the bow.

In applying the device the cable 28 is sometimes attached to the draw-bar 21, and the inner end of the cable is attached to a drum 29, located preferably at the stern of the vessel, which drum has a second cable 30 secured thereto, connected in any suitable or approved manner with a bell 31, gong, or other alarm mechanism. The drum is provided with a suitable brake, and the cable 28 is weighted, the weights being preferably applied to the drum 29 in any approved manner.

In operation the eye of the lock-bar 22 is entered in the recess 19 of the spear when the spear is unlatched and located at an angle to the body. When the lock-bar has been connected with the spear, the spear is carried upward to its normal position, which is parallel and in engagement with the under surface of the body, and the tongue 24 is sprung through the bail or staple 26. The device, set in the manner described, is thrown over- The curvature a in the shank of the board astern and a sufficient amount of cable is run out to correspond to the depth of water at which, when reached, an alarm is to be sounded, and is connected with the cable 30. The line of cable 28 is very thin, preferably a slight wire, and therefore offers but little resistance. When the vessel forges ahead and the deviceis overboard, it assumes the position shown in Figs. 1 and 9 and extends toward the bottom nearly the length of the cable. If the cable, for instance, is forty fathoms in length, when the water shoals to a little less than about forty fathoms the head of the spear will engage with the bottom and the tongue 24 is released from connection with the spear, whereupon the spear is carried backward in the direction of the stern and assumes a horizontal position again, and as it turns or reverses the lock-bar 22 is released, whereupon, instead of the cable drawing from the center and bow of the device,

which is the case when the device is locked, the cable draws upon the draw-bar 21 only, and the said bar falls to a horizontal position, or practically in the same plane with the body of the device. Thus the device is drawn straight ahead and will rise to the surface. The very moment that the latch is released and the spear reverses, most of the tension which has been exerted upon the cable 28 is removed, and the weight connected with the cable, acting upon the drum, causes the cable 28 to be wound thereon and also causes the cable 30 to draw upon the alarm device to such an extent as to sound an alarm. In the event that the sea is very rough, a float 32 is thrown overboard, which is preferably oval in general contour, and to the float one end of a line 33 is attached, the other end of the' line being secured on board the ship, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. The float is provided with a friction-pulley 34, over which the cable 28, attached to the device, passes. The float or drag serves to steady the device in heavy seas and causes it to be drawn forward upon an essentially straight line. When the float or drag is used, the device does not feel the motion of the vessel, as the cable takes its downward course from the float.

By constructing the body of the device in sections, as shown in Fig. 9, and hinging said sections when the device is thrown overboard and drawn after the vessel, the upper face of the bod yis capable of assuming somewhat of a con vexed contour, thereby materially assisting in the descent of the device, and when the spear has been released and tension is exerted upon the front of the device only, the two sections can assume a position in the same plane, their upward movement being limited by stops located on the bottom of the body, as indicated in dotted lines.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A shallow-water indicator for ships and smaller craft, acting on the principle of an IIO inverted kite, comprising a body portion flexibly connected to the vessel, a spear or lever pivoted to said body-portion adapted to engage the ground at one end and near its pivotal point detachably connected to retaining mechanism, which releases one of the guy ropes or rods of the equalizing-bridle, by which said indicator is towed, and said retaining mechanism.

2. As a means for determining the shallowness of water within certain limits from a vessel in motion, a submerged mechanism, serving on the principle of an inverted kite, said mechanism comprising a body flexibly connected at its upper face to the vessel and provided with a pivoted spear, the distal end of which projects beyond the front end of the body for engagment with the ground, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The shoal-alarm described, consisting of a body A, adapted to be trailed at a depth below the vessel, provided at its lower side with a pivoted spear, the distal end of which projects beyond the front end of the body, and a latch and trip mechanism connected with the spear, substantially for the purpose specified.

4. The shoal-alarm described, consisting of an elongated body adapted to be trailed at a depth below the vessel, having a flexible connection therewith and provided with a longitudinally-extending pivoted spear on its under side, the distal end of which projects beyond the front end of the body, a latch separably connecting the body and spear in front of its pivot, a draw-bar connected to the upper side of the forward part of the body, and a trip-bar connected at its upper end with the upper end of the draw-bar and at its lower end separably connected with the inner end of the spear to be released when the spear swings 011 its axis, as and for the purpose specicified.

5. The shoal-alarm described, consisting of an elongated body adapted to be trailed at a depth below the vessel, having a flexible connection therewith and provided with a pivoted spear on its under side, the distal end of which projects beyond the front end of the body, a latch separably connecting the forward part of the spear with the body,a drawbar pivoted to the upper forward part of the body, a trip-bar pivotally connected to the said draw-bar and adapted at its lower end to separably connect with the pivoted end of the spear, and a drag or float located between the device and the vessel, engaging the line connecting the two, substantially as specified.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination, with a body constructed of a material. capable of floating and having curved front and rear ends, of a spear pivotod at one end beneath the body, projecting at its distal end beyond and separably connected thereat with the body,a draw-barpivotally connected with the body at its bow, and a trip-bar pivotally connected with the upper end of the draw-bar and having a detachable connection at its lower end with the spear at its pivoted end, as and for the purpose specified.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination, with a kite-like body provided with a rudder at its stern, of a spear pivoted at or near the center of the lower side of the body, the pivotal end of the spear being extended up through the body and provided with a recess and the distal end projecting in front of the body, a draw-bar pivoted at the forward end of the body, a tripbar connected with the upper end of the draw-bar and with the recessed portion of the spear, a keeper attached to the forward part of the spear, and a spring-latch secured to the front end of the body and engaging the said keeper, as and for the purpose specified.

8. In a device of the character described, the combination, with a body constructed of a material capable of floating and having akitelike outline, a rudder secured to the stern of the body, and a metal keel attached longitudinally to the bottom of a body, of a spear, the rear end whereof is pivoted in the keel and projects above the top of the body, being provided in its projecting portion with a recess, and the distal end of the spear projecting in front of the body, a draw-bar pivoted to the bow of the body, a trip-bar connected at its upper end with the upper end of the draw-bar and at its lower end with the recessed portion of the spear, a keeper attached to the forward portion of the spear, and a spring-latch secured to the front end of the body and engaging with the keeper, as and for the purpose specified.

9. A shallow-water indicator for ships, acting on the principle of an inverted kite, comprising a body portion having a tow-line to connect with the vessel, a drag-line leading from the vessel to the tow-line, a spear or lever pivoted to said body portion adapted to engage the ground at one end and near its pivotal point detachably connected to retaining mechanism, which releases one of the guy ropes or rods of the equalizing-bridle, by which the indicator is towed, and said retaining mechanism.

ALONZO G. OROSSMAN.

Witnesses:

J. FRED ACKER, O. SEDewIoK.