US684429A - Visual indicator for submarine boats. - Google Patents

Description

N0. 684,429. Patented 00f. l5, 190i. J. P. HOLLAND.

VISUAL INDICATOR FOR SUBMARINE BOATS (Application filed Sept. 27, 1900.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

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No. 684,429. Paiahiflbt. l5, l90l. J. P HQLLA-ND. VISUAL mmqgr dir FOR SUBIIABINE BOATS. (Afihication filed Sept. 27, 1900.) (No Model.) S 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

INVENTOR f BY WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN P. HOLLAND, OF NEWARK, NElV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY, OF NEW JERSEY.

VISUAL INDICATOR FOR SUBMARINE BOATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 684,429, dated October 15, 1901.

Application filed September 27, 1900. Serial No. 31,220. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it hwy concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN P. HOLLAND, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Visual Indicators for Submarine Boats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the class of visual indicators whereby the commander or steersman of a submarine boat may ascertain by simple inspection at any time the degree of inclination and the depth of submersion of a submarine boat; and the object is to combine all of these indicating devices in one simple apparatus, so that the person conning the boat may ascertain all of the conditions or the entire situation at a glance.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate an embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a view showing a fragment of a submarine boat and representing the indicating apparatus in front elevation, and Fig. 2 is a side view of the apparatus as seen from the right in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the apparatus on a larger scale than the principal views. Fig. 4 is a rear view, and Fig. 5 a plan, of the indicating apparatus on a scale double that of Figs. 1 and 2.

Mounted at the side of the cabin or conning-turret of a submarine boat is a plate a, cut in the image or semblance of a submarine boat. This plate will be fixed in such a position that a transverse vertical plane through the center of buoyancy of the boat will pass through the corresponding part of the boat image a. At this point there is or may be an aperture b in the plate. Mounted slidably in guides back of the plate a and adjacent thereto,is a rod d. This rod is upright at right angles to the axis of the boat and in the same transverse plane as the center of buoyancy thereof. Pivotally suspended at e from the upper end of the rod or carrier (1 is a card f, ruled horizontally to space its surface equally.

vWhen this card is freely suspended and the boat is floating with its ballast-tanks empty, the ruled lines on the card should be horizontal and the upper line, which may be the up per margin of the card,- will correspond with the Water-line a of the boat image a, and the point e, where the card is suspended, will be at the center of buoyancy of the said imagethat is, at the point of the center of buoyancy of a boat constructed according to said image. The spacing of the lines or graduatious on the card represents feet in depth of submergence. The rod d is coupled at its lower end by a link 9 to a lever h, fulcrumed at i, and this lever is also coupled to a rod j, connected at its other end to a diaphragm 7c in a casing m, said casing being open to the water in which the boat floats or is sub merged through a pipe at. This pipe should tap the shell of the boat in about the same transverse plane as that in which the rod 61 is situated. On the rod cl is a spring 0, which antagonizes or opposes the hydrostatic pressure on the diaphragm k.

The operation is as follows: Then the boat is floating at the surface,the longitudinal turn or undue depression at the head or stern, if any, will be indicated by the obliquity of the upper edge of the cardf or the lines ruled thereon with the water-line a, marked on the image a, and when the boat dives the inclination of its axis with the horizon will be indicated in the same way, for the card swings freely about the point e and its lines may always be taken as parallel with the surface of the water in which the boat is submerged. As the boat descends in diving the hydrostatic pressure on the diaphragm is will proportionately increase and the rod d will be gradually moved upward, carrying with it the card f, and the number of graduations elevated above' the waterline mark a on the boat image a will indicate at the aperture b in the image the number of feet of submergence. To insure this, the tension of the spring 0 must be regulated to resist the pressure on the diaphragm 7a to just the proper extent. This regulation of the tension of the spring may be effected by a nut 12 on the rod cl below the swing or by any suitable device of a similar character. The card f may or may not have the lines thereon numbered. This is a mere matter of convenience, and it has not been deemed necessary to show such numbers on the card in Fig. 1. Fig. 3, however,

shows a part of the device on a larger scale with numbers atthe lines. In this view the card is in the position it will assume when the boat is diving and has reached a depth of about eight and one-half feet. The lower edge of the cardfmay, if desired,be weighted, so as to maintain the horizontal level of the lines thereon, and obviously the spring 0 and diaphragm is may be so disposed that the latter will move the card downward instead of upward as the boat descends in diving; but the arrangement shown is preferred, as the boat image a should appear to decend as the boat descends. The card swings as a pendulum, and it may be of any suitable material. The plate or boat image a might be wholly or in part of transparent material, so that the lines on the card could be seen through it.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In an indicating apparatus for a submarine boat,the coactive combination with a diaphragm device, actuated by the water of submergence, and a visual depth-indicator, operated by said diaphragm device, of means controlled by the inclination of the longitudinal axis of the boat for visually indicating said inclination conjointly with said depthindicator.

2. An indicating apparatus adapted forsubmarine boats, consisting of a fixed plate which partakes of the longitudinal inclination of the boat, a marked or lined pendulum-card adjacent to said plate, a carrier for said card, said carrier being movable perpendicularly to the axis of the boat, whereby the card is moved past said plate, and means controlled by the pressure of the water in which the boat is submerged for operating said carrier.

3. An indicating apparatus for a submarine boat, comprising a plate a, fixed in a horizontal position in the boat at the same distance from the stem thereof as the center of buoyancy and extending fore and aft, a slidable upright carrier back of said plate, a pendulum-card, pivotally suspended from said carrier and bearing horizontally-disposed markings or lines, a spring which acts to move said rod longitudinally in one direction, and

a diaphragm, acted upon by the pressure of the water of submergence, which tends to move said 'rod in the opposite direction, substantially as set forth.

4. An indicating apparatus for a submarine boat, comprisinga plate a, simulatinga submarine boat and having a water-line a marked thereon, said plate being fixed .in a substantially horizontal position in the boat when horizontal the same distance from the stem thereof as the center of buoyancy and extending fore and aft, a card f pivotally sus- I pended in the manner of a pendulum behind said plate, and means for moving said card past said plate in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the boat to an extent proportional to the depth of submergence of the boat, sub

stantially as set forth.

5. In a visual depth and inclination indi eating apparatus, the combination with the '7 plate a, fixed horizontally in the boat in the 7 In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 20th day of September, 1900, in

the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN P. HOLLAND.

WVitnesses:

PETER A. Ross, L. N. LEGENDRE.

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