US837A - samuel carson - Google Patents

Description

N, PETERS. PHOYOLITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D

N. PETERS. PHOTmLITHOGRAPHER. wASHmGYoN, D. C,

N UNiTED sri-irasA PATENT. oFFIoE.

SAMUEL CARSON, 0F WOODSIDE, ENGLAD..

APPARATUS EMPLOYED ron rLoA'rrNe AND nArsrNor vEssE-Ls AND OTHER BoDrEsiIn4 i THE WATER, a y Y Specification of Letters Patent No. 837,V dated July 12, 1838.l

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL4 CARSON, of Woodside, in the county of Chester, England, merchant, a subject of the Queenof Great Britain, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements in Apparatus Employed for Floating and Raising Vessels and other Bodies in the Water; and I, the said SAMUEL CARSON, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed and fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the drawing hereunto annexed and to the figures and letters marked thereonthat is to say- My invention relates to improvements in the modes of using air tight flexible bags or vessels and toimprovements in the apparatus in connection therewith in order to giving the necessary supply of air thereto and for sustaining and strengthening such flexible bags or vessels whereby their use is much simplified. and they may according toV my invention be applied with facility in floating laden and other ships and vessels over bars or shallow places Vover which the ship or vessel with her ordinary draft of water would not pass but by means of a judicious arrangement of air bags in combination with my improvedapparatus the same 4l will with facilit y be raised to such a degree l of a woven fabric' I employ a coveringmade' up of a series of staves of lwood or metal that the depth o' draft will be materially decreased and the ship or vessel floated over thebar or other shallow water and in like manner a ship or vessel may when at sea and in. a sinking state be kept afloat and saved and-further the apparatus as improved by me' becomes more useful certain and vsafe in raising sunker ships and vessels andV other bodies than any heretofore practised; and further the yapparatus may also be used in calm weather'even at sea to lay the vessel or ship on one side to examine her bottom in case of her having received damage or otherwise. l

The lirst object of my invention is to improve the construction and mode of applying air tight flexible bags or vessels and this I accomp ish by two modes. According to the various attempts that have been made to employ air tight flexible" bags or vessels for such purposes the same have been simply attached to ropes or chains and inisome instances the bags or vessels have had flat" ropes or fabrics attached at intervals around or over them where the attachment mofthe ropes or chalns are to be made butin all such modes of using the bags there has been vmore or less of the surface unsupported, or" strengthened and as these bags are usually.

constructedof light and thin fabrics joined by a layer or layers of india rubber they are not adapted under such circumstances tobe A employed with 'advar'itage` a In making air tightflexible bags or vessels to be employed for the purposes of my in-V vention I take by preference water and air tight fabrics produced by stitching two thicknesses of fabric together as has heretofore been practised and to which I lay no claim nor do I conline myself thereto, as my invention does not relate to the mode of making such vessels but to the mode `of treatingand applying them to produce the' beneficial effect of my invention which first relates to the employment of an external `covering, of strong woven fabric' to which the attachments of the `ropes chains and tackle are to be made, the air bags or vessels being within such strong woven fabric and `are `thereby supported and preserved from injury and it is desirableto make such outer A,

lcoveringsomewhat less thanY the internal bag ,in order to prevent the inner bags being strained beyond their powers. Or in `place which however are not made intoa vessel but the parts are capable of movementiand hence of being readily applied and removed and the samemay be folded up when out of weight of the ship or vesselpto beraisfedV will depend the number and size of the apparatus used but the same will readily` be l adapted for each particular case but in ,Oir-V der to give the best information in power i I lwill suppose that it is intended "that each t bag or vessel should be capableof floating thirty tons in such case. I prefer the flexi-V use. lIt will be evident that on the size and the warp and weft being made of hemp ,y jor l flax of about a quarter of an inch diameter but this may be varied both in material and dimensions care being observed in making the external covering so strong that it will Y more than support the weight it will be required to sustain this strong woven fabric is to beformed to a similar figure as that of the bag (but as before stated somewhat less) which is to inclose and in such manner that by lacing the air bag may be inclosed with facility and in order to keep these bags dise tended I'apply a bar of the length ofthe bag and by preference to the lower part thereof care being observed so to lace the bar to the outer' cover as to `bring all the cords or strands of the web to bear their equal proportions or as nearly so as possible and to these bars I affix one or more strong at `ropes for going under the keel of the ship or vessel and long enough to be made fast Veither to the side of the ship or on the deck Vship which is being raised.

or otherwise and in such manner that a number of flexible bags may be thus attached and be made simultaneously to act in supporting and floating a vessel. This will become more clear on inspecting the drawing7 Figure l, where an arrangement of apparatus such as above mentioned and explained is applied to a ship in a proper manner for reducing the depth of her water line in order to float her over a bar or other shallow' water, and I would here remark that I prefer that each vessel or ship should at all times carry a suitably arranged apparatus according to my invention by whichl means she would be provided at all times when she had to pass over bars or shallow waters, and further in case of danger of sinking she may have it applied in a very short time as will readily be evident and I prefer that each'air supply pipe of the various bags should be connected toone common air vessel situated on the deck of the ship or vessel whereby the whole of the bags would be simultaneously filled and the ship or vessel progressively raised and the depth of her water line reduced and in case the ship or vessel is being towed by a steam vessel I rec-V ommend the air pump or pumps for supplying the air vessel should be worked by the engines on board and a flexible air pipe connection thereto and to the air vessel (see Fig.V l of the drawing) or the same may be worked by the hands on board the vessel or It may be now desirable shortly to explain the mode of applying the apparatus, Fig. l,

in order to lessen the draft of water that the to this rope one of the flat ropes a is to be made fast and drawn under the keel till the air bag or vessel is sufficiently below the water then another and another'bag orV vesselis successively to be applied observing to draw the rope b of the eye of the next air bag as'it is about to V,be lowered by this means all the bags or vessels will be connected together and when. all are down andthe ropes made fast the air pump or vpumps are to be applied and the inflation will simultaneously go on in'all the air bags or vessels and the ship or vesselv will progressively rise toward thewaters surface till she draws only so muchl water as will allow of her passing over the bar or other shallow water and in case of it being'desired to lay the vessel over on one side 4to examine her bottom the inflation should only go on7 on one side as willreadily be understood.V

Fig. 2 shows the arrangement of a series of staves or narrow boards or of iron or other metal combined together which may be used in place of the woven fabrics before explained. V

'Another part of my invention relates to the mode of constructing air pumps used for inflation air tight bags Vof whatever construction for the purpose of floatingV ships vessels and other bodies in water and the improvement consists in the mode of applying packing whereby the packing becomes more and more effectual as the pressure increases: In Fig. 3 a section of a pump is shown; a is the pump cylinder and Z9 the piston which is completely covered with leather there being an opening where the piston rod passes through and that is covered by a plate 0 in order to make an air tight joint the lower 'part of the leather cover being sewed to the upper-cup or cover of leather. '05 is a hole made vthrough the lower plate of the piston and'through the lower 'ring of leather asis shown in the drawing, hence it is evident that on the downstroke of the pistonV the air will pass up through the hole d and press out the leather covering whichy will insure a close packing and the more so as thel pressure of the airis greater. And further in order to provide against more air being forced into the bags than is required to completely fill Vthem I apply a valve e which Vmay be loadedV fari apparatus for lowering down flexible air tight bags or vessels in order to raise sunken ships or vessels or bodies without the necessity of sending down divers to make such flexible air tight vessels orbags fast to the same. This apparatus consists of a pair of forceps which are so arranged that they may be'made to takeV hold at any lpart of a cable and raised or lowered at pleasure from above. This apparatus isshown at Figs. 5 6 and 7 in various views of the parts composing the same. A A are the two chaps moving on a pin or joint as an axis at B each of these have an opening or bow C and the axis B is embraced thereby and in the axis there is an opening sufficiently large to allow of the passage of the chain or rope on which the `forceps are to move and to hold. D D are two links or connecting rods by which and by pin joints at E E E the chaps A are connected together and F is a ring or shackle by which the iiexible bags or the` external covering thereofV are made fast to the forceps. G is a guard affixed to one of the chaps and within which the other chap moves. I-I is a weight which is applied to one of the chaps A in order to sink the air tight bags and which may be removed when `the apparatus is suiiiciently lowered as is clearly shown by the'drawing the Weight only hanging by a hook. I is a weight hun to one of the chaps A in order to keep 1t open till the apparatus is suiiiciently `lowered and it will readily be understood that so soon as the flexible bags begin to fill and have a tendency to rise they will draw upon the chaps and close themV and the more power the bags exert Athe more closely will the apparatus hold tothe chains or ropes to which the forceps are applied. And it will only be desirable in respect to this part of my invention further to remark that in order to use the same the ship or vessel below the surface of the water 1s to be swept for as is well understood in order to get one 0r more cables around her and from these any number of chains or cables may be used and aiiixed for receiving air bags andthe same be made fast by the apparatus above described. v

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letter Patent, is

l. The forming and applying an envelop to be employed in inflating the bags, constituting an improved packmg for the purposes herein fully shown. y

3. I claim the apparatus consisting of the forceps, and its appendages, as described for lowering down flexible air tight ba s or vessels, which apparatus' is so arrange that the forceps may be made to take hold of any part of a cable, and be raised and lowered at pleasure from above and I Wish it to be explicity understood that the preceding specification must be taken in all things subjectV to this explanation.

Witness my hand `at Liverpool in the count of Lancaster and Kingdom of Great Britaln the thirtieth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty eight.

SAML. CARSON.

Witnesses THo. P, COLLIER, WM. UNDERWooD.

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