IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING ASHES FROM SHIPS OR VESSELS BELOW THEIR WATER LINE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Philip Preston, John Theodore Prestige,
Edwin James Preston, and William Alfred Prestige, trading under
the Firm of Josiah Stone and Company, of High Street, Deptford,
in the County of Kent, Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING ASHES FROM SHIPS OR VESSELS
BELOW THEIR WATER LINE."
Sealed the 4th July 1871, and dated the 13th January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Philip
Preston, John Theodore Prestige, Edwin James Preston, and
William Alfred Prestige at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 13th January 1871.
We, FREDERICK PHILIP PRESTON, JOHN THEODORE PRESTIGE, EDWIN
JAMES PRESTON, and WILLIAM ALFRED PRESTIGE; trading under the
Firm of Josiah Stone and Company, of High Street, Deptford, in the
County of Kent, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING ASHES FROM
SHIPS OR VESSELS BELOW THEIR WATER LINE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to discharging ashes from ships or vessels below
their water line by means of a jet or jets of brine or steam admitted
to pans or receivers in which the ashes are placed, the pans or receivers
being fitted with valves which can be opened by suitable mechanism.
We will now describe one form of pan or receiver and other mecha-
nism as an example to illustrate our Invention, but without in any
way limiting ourselves to its precise construction. We take, say, a
tube or circular box, which we term a receiver, with one end rounded
or narrowed, and to this narrowed end, we secure a neck into which we
fit sliding or other valves which can be drawn to and fro by screws
actuated by hand wheels. The lower end of the neck is open to the
sea or river in which the vessel may be. The pan or receiver has
near its upper part a grating, on which the ashes are to be thrown, and
should any clinkers or other refuse be of too large a size to pass through
the grating they can be broken with a hammer and made to pass
above the grating. The receiver is fitted with a shifting cover which can
be made steam-tight.
Through the side of the receiver we introduce a pipe from the ship's
boiler, and lead it down to near the neck, and when it is considered
necessary to empty the receiver the cover is secured in position, the
valves in the neck are opened, and the brine or steam tap turned on,
when the rush of brine or steam will cause the ashes to pass through the
bottom into the water.
The apparatus may be arranged on the stoke-hole floor, so that the
ashes could be thrown into it direct as they are raked from the ash-pit.
In some cases two sets of apparatus would be employed, by this
arrangement one receiver could be open at the top for filling while
the other is closed and being emptied at the bottom, and vice versâ.
The apparatus is capable of many modifications, and the outlet or
outlets may be arranged at the side or sides of the vessel, instead of in
the bottom as before referred to, but in all cases the outlets would be
below the water line..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Philip Preston, John Theodore Prestige,
Edwin James Preston, and William Alfred Prestige in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
PHILIP PRESTON, JOHN THEODORE PRESTIGE, EDWIN JAMES PRESTON,
and WILLIAM ALFRED PRESTIGE, trading under the Firm of Josiah.
Stone and Company, of High Street, Deptford, in the County of Kent,,
Engineers, send greeting.
:
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Frederick Philip Preston, John
Theodore Prestige, Edwin James Preston, and William Alfred Prestige,
Her special licence that we, the said Frederick Philip Preston, John
Theodore Prestige, Edwin James Preston, and William Alfred Prestige,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Frederick Philip Preston, John Theodore Prestige, Edwin James
Preston, and William Alfred Prestige, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein. expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING
ASHES FROM SHIPS OR. VESSELS BELOW THEIR WATER LINE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Frederick Philip Preston,, John.
Theodore Prestige, Edwin James Preston, and William Alfred Prestige,
or one of us, our executors or administrators, by an instrument. in.
writing under our; or one of our or their, or one of their hands. and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal. Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Frederick Philip Preston, John
Theodore Prestige, Edwin James Preston, and William Alfred Prestige,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to discharging ashes from ships or vessels below
their water line by means of a jet or jets of brine or steam admitted to
pans or receivers in which the ashes are placed, the pans or receivers
being fitted with valves which can be opened by suitable mechanism.
We take, say, a tube or circular box which we term a receiver, with
one end rounded or narrowed, and to this narrowed end we secure a neck
into which we fit sliding or other valves, which can be drawn to and fro
by screws actuated by hand wheels, the lower end of the neck being
open to the sea or river in which the vessel may be. The pan or
receiver has near its upper part a grating on which the ashes are to be
thrown, and should any clinkers or other refuse be of too large a size to
pass through the grating they can be broken with a hammer and made
to pass. Around the edge of the grating the receiver is fitted with a
rim with lugs and hinged screws for holding a shifting cover which is
steam-tight when placed in position.
Through the side of the receiver we 'introduce a pipe from the ship's
boiler, and lead it down to near the neck, and when it is considered
necessary to empty the receiver the cover is secured in position, the
valves in the neck are opened, and the brine or steam tap turned on,
when the rush of brine or steam will cause the ashes to pass through
the bottom into the water.
The apparatus may be arranged on the stoke-hole floor, so that the
ashes could be thrown into it direct as they are raked from the ash-pit.
In some cases two sets of apparatus would be employed, by this
arrangement one receiver could be open at the top for filling, while
the other is closed and being emptied at the bottom, and vice versa.
The mode of carrying our Invention into effect will be clearly under-
stood by reference to the accompanying Drawings, in which Figure 1
represents a section of an ash receiver or container a, the upper portion
having parallel sides of tubular or other form, and with the lower
portion.6 narrowed down where it is secured to a neck c, which is pro-

page_text: vided with valves d, e, fitted with nuts and screws, with collars to enable
them to be drawn to and fro to open and close the passage formed by
the neck from the interior of the receiver a to the exterior of the ship or
vessel in which the receiver is fitted. The valves are fitted so as to
prevent the entrance of water from the sea or river into the receiver.
The arrangement and construction of the valves are shown in a
distinct manner in the sectional views, Figures 2 and 3 and the ap-
paratus by which they are moved in Figures 1 and 4. In this case we
have shown the valve rods h, i, as being provided with bevil pinions,
which are rotated by other pinions j, k, on the ends of vertical shafts or
spindles l, m, which on being turned by the hand wheels n, o, cause the
valves to slide, the vertical spindles l, m, as well as the outer ends of
the valve rods h, i, being stepped in the bracket or step piece p, as
shown.
་
The rim or top of the receiver a, Figures 1 and 5, is furnished with a
series of lugs q, which have screws r, r, hinged to them to fall out-
wards from the forks of the lips or projections s, s, on the cover plate t
when the nuts u, u, are loosened by a spanner, that is, when the cover
plate has to be removed from the grating v, to permit of the ashes
falling through it into the receiver, the valves d, e, being closed to
prevent the entrance of the water from the outside of the vessel, and
also to serve as a bottom to the receiver, the valves being fitted steam
and water tight as before spoken of. When the receiver is sufficiently
full of ashes the cover is put over the grating and fitted tight thereon
by the screws and nuts, the valves are then opened for the purpose of
allowing the ashes to pass through the neck into the water, and the
cock in either a brine or steam pipe w which leads from the boiler to the
interior of the receiver is turned on, when the rush of brine or steam
will drive all the ashes out through the neck into the water outside the
ship.
In using brine from the ship's boiler to clear the receiver of ashes
we prefer to fit a small steam pipe led from the ship's boiler into the
upper part of the receiver, which would assist in clearing the ashes, and
at the same time prevent any water being left in the receiver.
The last three views, Figures 9, 10, and 11, shew the top of the receiver
as being nearly level with the stoke-hole floor of an iron armour clad
ship, so that as the ash-pits are cleaned out the ashes can be shovelled

page_text: or swept at once into the receiver and thus save much labour, besides
being the means of the floor being kept free from ashes, clinkers, and
other refuse which accumulate in the stoke-holes of large vessels..
In the foregoing description we have referred to one steam or brine
pipe only as being used to one receiver, but any number of such pipes
can be led thereto, and these may come from the same or from different
boilers as found advisable. If the brine or steam is drawn from several
boilers and in a vessel in which only one receiver is fitted, we propose to
connect them to the pipe already fitted therein, so that either boiler can
be put into communication with the receiver..
In some cases the portion of the brine or steam pipe which is in
the inside of the receiver may have branches on it as shewn in Figures 6
7, and 8, and they may have their ends bent to form nozzles, or they
may be perforated for the brine or steam to issue in jets in any direction
to clear the ashes from the sides of the receiver. We do not in all
cases fit the receiver in the bottom of the vessel, as the neck may
casily terminate in a curved tube leading to the side of a vessel below
the water line.
In some cases instead of using a brine or steam jet, we prefer to
discharge the ashes contained in the receiver by means of a jet of water
forced into the same by means of a suitable pump.
'
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood
that many modifications of apparatus can be constructed for the purpose
of discharging, ashes below the water line of a vessel from a receiver,
therefore the Drawings are not to be taken as representing the only
apparatus that we have invented for the purpose, neither do we confine
ourselves to, the, arrangement or shape of the valves, or the mode of
operating them as shown, but what we do consider novel and desire to
claim by the before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The combination of a steam or water tight. receiver to receive
ashes or other. refuse, and an outlet valve or valves communicating with
the sea under the water line of the ship.
Secondly.. The combination of a steam or water tight receiver to receive
ashes or other refuse with an outlet valve or valves communication with
the sea under the water line of the ship or vessel and a pipe or pipes.

page_text: eading from the ship's boiler into the interior of the container above
eferred to for the purposes herein-before described.
Thirdly. The combination and arrangement of parts, substantially as
herein-before described, and shown in the Drawings, constituting an
pparatus for discharging ashes or other refuse from ships or vessels
below their water lines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin James Preston, for myself
and on behalf of the said Frederick Philip Preston, John Theodore
Prestige, and William Alfred Prestige, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundredand seventy-one.