US506150A - Signaling between vessels upon water - Google Patents

Description

L. I. BLAKE. SIGNALING BETWEEN'VESSELS UPON WATER. No. 505,150.

(No Model.)

Patented Oct. 3, 1893'.-

m MEX" is indicated a. sooutl-proiiociog apparcws of varying den'siiy imaging over the Water fiC the essential ports of lire invention are illus- EiGiiALENG BET *V'Eiii i "i lrr eoiir @rrrce.

BLAKE, OF LAXVREI CE, KANSAS.

3*! WATER.

PEGIEIGATXQN forming part of Letters Paieni; No. 508,151 dated Getoioer 3, 1893;

Application filed Cvctohcr 1, 1889. Serial No. 325,685, (No Inoc'lcl.)

To ('l/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known ihet I, LUcIEN I. BLAKE,e ciri- 'zon of rho Uniteol Statics, residing at Lawrence, in the county of Douglas and State of Kansas; have invented certain new and use 1 ul 1m provomen its Relating to Submarine Signailing, of which theiollowing is o specifier tion.

The porpose, primarily, is to prevent col.- lisioos between vessels in timeof fog and at eight, by warning them of each others urescnce, and in like manner. to prevent ship- Wrecks by warning vessels of the proximity of a dangerous shore; and e secondary object is to furnisl o meeus'of communication between vessels, or between vessels and the shore, dependently of ilie state of the Weather.

Having thus mentioned the purpose of my invention, 1 wiil proceed to describe it, at first, in general end-then in detail, reference bole-g mode to tiie accompanying drawings, in which trcicd.

' Figure 1 shows two transverse sections of ihe hell of a vessel; in the ieia-brmcl one iiiere whicirie shown more in detail, insocizic'ncl View, in. Fig. 3. In the right-hand section of Fig. 1 there are indicated two soumi-rceeiving'mechanisms, one of which is shown more in detail, in sectional View, in Fig. 2.

ii: iea. well knowil fact in science and in. practice that the atmosphere is exceedingly uncertain and variable in its capacity for the transmission of sound to any considerable distance; that the wind and the strata of air obstruct and e'iefiecx'; the sound, so that fog horns and sirens and ociis are often unreliable means of signaling even to small dis tmices.

Experience shows that collisions beiween vessels in the fog or at night generally occur through ignorance on the out of tire veseols, oi each others presence, although attire time each may be sounding its fog signals. in such cases the. air has failedio transmit the somois or has deflected them away. Water es .9, medium of communicating souoci ie not mi'bj eci: to the some iiiificuity. Sounds ro not meierieilga lieaiecicd or obstructed at any rate the conditions of fog and storm thetmeke the atmosphere utterly-unreliable as a sound trensmiiter do not seriously afieci: the conductivity of the Water. leis upon this superiority oi water as a sound medium that i rely in my invention. i

In its general form, my method embroces, first, the proriuolioo iothc water of certain sounds, oorrsiiimting characteristic and intelligi ole eiguelgby means of suitable apoliances iocaicrl upon ilie vessclor oonfiected Wiiii the shore as the case my be; second, the transmission. of these sound signals by and throiigii the water to distances limited only by sloe iiiizeosii-y of the sounds; third, the reoepiioo of iliese signals fliliJOf the water by r eciiebio' appliance which I have chosen to designate by the term hydrophone.-

I will first proceed to a description of the hydrophozie. have orovod by experiment mo eozuuii vile: i-ions traversing the water will import themselves to and will pass through ccomor e. diaphragm of metal c T811 inches thick. Teking advanfeci, the liyorophooo consists esplate, preferably or mete-l, bev irom several square inches to S9?- erei Eiqli r fe-er, occordieg Lo circornstences of Replica-moo, and a thickness sciiicient to resieo the gressure and commotions of the water inflehicli it may be immersed, and the striking of foreign. substances; as ice, &c., against it. This plate, in the preferred construction, serves as a diaphragm to a. resoceotieliy oing on are jnonce chamber, whose other sides may be oi any suitable material and whose simpe and size may be suitably varied. to adapt the structure to the special conditions of its use. Connected with and projecting from this resocence oirembcr are one or more ear-tubes or souogi coodnotors, leading to any place or places in the vessel convonientffor an ob-- server. Preferably the observers room should be placed low down in the bull, so as to be affected as lime aspossible by the dash of the waves.

While, as above indicotecl, the sound-receiving diaphragm is preferably 05. metal, yet menifesely other eouorous maiorials may be iherei'or; me so also, instead. or, inseri o coco-lei to off eo'ooroiis me scriei icon aperture formed in the walls of a vessel, the walls themselves, or a sclectedvportion of the walls -especially in the ease of iron or steel, vessels may be utilized as a diaphragm, the\ part thus selected being made to form one side of a resonance chamber constructed immediately behind it, or' being made otherwise to receive upon its inner face the sound-receiving apparatus.

In the Vessels interior, and against the side or portion ofthe side selected as the dia phragm, oragainst the inserted plate, is built the resonance chamber. Any sound vibrations traversing the water will be com municated to and will produce corresponding molecular vibrations in the diaphragm. "hese vibrations ofthe diaphragm incite sonorous vibrations in the air column of the hydro phone, which in turn arecornmunicated by the ear-tubes to the ear of the observer. Sounds feeble in the water are thus intensified and rendered efficient as signals. By employing two or more hydrophoncs, placed in difierent partsof a vessel, with ear-tubes communicating to common place of observation, the direction ofthe ori in of the sound signals may be determined, and thus the direction or position of a vessel or of the shore nlay be more accurately determined. The resonance chamber of the hydrnphone, although receiving all sounds, intensifies sounds of one particular pitch above all others. If the sounds employed as signals are predominantly of the fundamental pitch of the h'ydrophone, then is the sensitiveness of the hydrophone intensified in regard to them, and other sounds extraneous and disturbingare relatively deadenedl The accuracy in the receptiou'of the'signals is thus increased. Referring to the drawings, 15.,in Fig. 1, represents the hull of ship in which there shown two hydrophones, B, B, with sound tubes, 0 c, from the resonance chambers to the observers room D. Theconstruction of the hydrophone is shown more in de tailin Fig. 2, in which E is a metallic plate bolted the Walls of an opening in the side of a Wooden vessel; F being aresonance chamber constructed upon the interior of said platen-nil c the sound tube leading thence to station.

piece of the purely mechanical hydroue just described, an electromechanical hgorophcne, of the nature ofua telephone, constructed as follows: In lieu of the satanic-en {the other parts of the mechanieal Jone remaining the same) a circular made in thc'rescuance chamber, six re or less in diameter, over which mhranc of any suitable elastic maas goldb'ealers skin, or any light thin ""ghliy stretched. Connected with e, or formed in part by it, may as microphone or electrical sound- -smitter, in'circuit with any suitable telenil?) phonic receiver, '30 that vibrations of the air the siren and column of the hydrophone inry be communicated by means of the membrane to the n; crophone and thus to the telephone located in any convenient part of the'vessel. Further, the resonance or air chamber may be entirely dispensed with, and the microphone attached directly to the diaplirngin ln the walls of the vessel; in which case, the molecular vibrations of the diaphragm, which have been produced by the sound signals arr v ng through the water are directly the exciting cause of the microphouic action, without an intermediate pulsating air column. p

The preferred mode of producing the slgnals, add this in itself is a distinctive part or feature of the iuvcnliomwis by the use of some apparatus, such for instance as a water siren which will produce a rapid and regular succession of blows upon the water, and will thus create a musical tone, as distinguished from a more ordinary and undefined sound. Such sounds as have a distinguishable pitch or are characterizable as musical sounds or tones will be found to have much greater penetrating power than any others.

A water siren I define as an apparatus such as an ordinary siren in which the usual an:- or steam jet is replaced by a water jet and whose disk may be revolved by power other than that of the issuing water. The Whole siren may be immersed in the water about the vessel, and by means of short and long blasts and pauses the Morse telegraphic code may be employed for communication; Such a construction of sireuis shown, in vertical section, in Fig.3 of the drawings. G isa disk of metal mounted on a shaft to which is attached apulley for drivingit by any available power at the required speed.v This disk is pierced with series of holes which as the disk revolves register pcriodicaily'with holes piercing the Wall of the vessel. H is acham- "oer surrounding the disk and constitutes the channel whereby water or steam forced through th feed tube I is delivered to the face of the dish. This siren is shown inelevaiiouon a smaller scale in Fig. 1. v

Although in the two views, Figs. 2 and 3, the hydrcphonc are shown as having; approximately the same area, yet in actual construe the vessel K of ion it. will be found that the siren ca n- .he madevery much. smaller than the sound receiver. Y

It will of coursebe understood from what has been said above, that for the purpose of enabling passing vessels to communicate with the shore and to receive signals therefrom, a suitable submerged diaphragm together with a suitable sound producing apparatus, constructed on the plan of the hydrophone and of the sound transmitter above described, may be established near to and in communication with the shore station.

What is claimed as new is- 1-. The hereinbefore described improve ment in the art of submarine signaling, which consists in producing in the water, by means of a rapid and regular succession of blows or chamber, for reinforcing the sound vibrations impulses thereon musical sounds or tones, taken up from the water. 5 and taking up the vibrations by a suitable 4. The combination of a submerged diasubmerged receiving instrument. phragnr placed in or forming a part of 'the 2. In combination with the walls of a ship walls of a ship orothcrvcssel, andaresonance or other vessel, and forming a part of the chamber which is attuned to the pitch of a same, asubmerged diaphragm and sound-rc-- sound producing apparatus placed on the 20 ceiving apparatus as herein setforth, as a shore or on another vessel.

means of taking up sound vibrations trans- T I AKF mitted through the water. LUCIEB I) l 3. In combination With a submerged dia- Witnesses:

phragin placed in and forming a part of the \V. C. SPANGLER, 7

wells of a ship or other vessel, a resonance Winona NETCALF.

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