AN IMPROVED MODE OF OVERLEATING DIFFERENTIAL LEVELS. APPLICABLE TO CANALS AND TO OTHER PURPOSES." DIFFERENTIAL LEVELS. APPLICABLE TO CANALS AND TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Seiler, of Paris, in the French Empire,
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF OVERLEATING
DIFFERENTIAL LEVELS. APPLICABLE TO CANALS AND TO OTHER PURPOSES."
DIFFERENTIAL LEVELS. APPLICABLE TO CANALS AND TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 31st January 1862, and dated the 5th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Seiler at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th August 1861.
I, FREDERIC SEILER, of Paris, in the French Empire, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF OVER-
LEAPING DIFFERENTIAL LEVELS, APPLICABLE TO CANALS AND TO OTHER PURPOSES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists primarily in the employment of compressed air, gas,
or other like agent, for raising and lowering boxes or chambers containing
water, for receiving boats, barges, and other vessels to different water levels,
and it is particularly applicable to canals and rivers. The manner in which
I attain the desired object is as follows:-I form, say, two reservoirs at
different levels, and place in each a double box or chamber open at bottom,
and formed at top with a case for containing sufficient water to float whatever
vessel may be required to the raised or lowered; they are also provided with
swing gates, and are in communication with one another by means of a pipe
provided with stop-cocks. To raise a vessel from the lower to the upper
level, the chamber is caused to descend in the reservoir nearest the low level,.

page_text: so that the water therein may be on a level with it, and the vessel enters the
chamber, the gates of which are then closed; compressed air is forced into the
chamber which rises until it reaches the intermediate water level, the vessel
is then placed in the other chamber, and the compressed air allowed to return
from the first to the second chamber, which raises the latter and with it the
vessel to the upper level. To descend from the higher to the lower level
the reverse action takes place. Vessels can by this means be raised and
lowered in reverse directions at one and the same time without any loss of
water. When once the compressed air is forced in, it may be used over and
over again.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by tlie said Frederic Seiler in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
-5th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERIC
SEILER, of Paris, in the French Empire, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederic Seiler, Her special licence that I, the said Frederic Seiler, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederic
Seiler, my 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF OVER-
LEAPING DIFFERENTIAL LEVELS, APPLICABLE TO CANALS AND TO OTHER PURPOSES,".
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederic Seiler, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederic Seiler, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, 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—
My Invention consists primarily in the employment of compressed air, gas,
or other like agent, for raising and lowering boxes or chambers containing
water for receiving boats, barges, and other vessels to different water levels,
and it is particularly applicable to canals and rivers. The manner in which
I attain the desired object is as follows:-I form, say, two reservoirs at
different levels, and place in each a double box or chamber open at bottom,
and formed at top with a case for containing sufficient water to float whatever
vessel may be required to be raised or lowered; they are also provided with
swing gates, and are in communication with one another by means of a pipe
provided with stop-cocks. To raise a vessel from the lower to the upper level,
the chamber is caused to descend in the reservoir nearest the low level, so that
the water therein may be on a level with it, and the vessel enters the chamber,
the gates of which are then closed; compressed air is forced into the
chamber, which rises until it reaches the intermediate water level; the vessel
is then placed in the other chamber, and the compressed air allowed to
return from the first to the second chamber, which raises the latter and with
it the vessel to the upper level. To descend from the higher to the lower level
the reverse action takes place. Vessels. can by this means be raised and
lowered in reverse directions at one and the same time, and without any loss of
water. When once the compressed air is forced in, it may be used over and
over again.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal section, and
Figure 2 a plan, of the arrangement I prefer to adopt for carrying my Inven-
tion into effect, when gas or compressed air is the agent employed; Figure 3,
is a transverse section of a lock fitted with two gas holders for raising and
lowering the water in it; Figure 4 illustrates in vertical section my Invention
as applied to the raising of water through the action of air and water; and
Figure 5 shows on a larger scale the method I prefer adopting for closing the
passages and locks. According to the first arrangement shown at Figures 1
and 2, a, b, c, d, a¹, b, c, d, are eight gas holders, arranged in pairs on each
side of the locks A and B; thus each lock has four gas holders; those in the
lock A are, however, in communication with those in the lock B, in order that
they may act together, consequently the holders a and b are united as well
as c and d; the gas holders a', 6', and c', d¹, are united in a similar manner;
f is a rod for supporting the rods g, g, to which the chambers h, h³, are con-
nected. Each of the holders a, b, c, d, and a, b, c, d, is suspended above the

page_text: chambers i, ¹, in which water is maintained at an even level by means of a
tube in communication with them. Above the level of the water in each
chamber there is a bent tube j in communication with other tubes j, j", in
the chambers, ", whereby a passage for air from one gas holder to another
is formed. To regulate the motion of the chambers h, h', and to keep them
fixed when desired, chains k, k, (shown in red) are placed on each side of the
chambers; the end of each chain is secured to the chamber h, the chain k
passes over the pulley 1, then down and round the other pulley m, where its
other end is fixed; a second chain secured to the pulley m passes in a similar
manner round the pulley 1, the result of which is that when the chamber h
descends the two chains unwind above the pulley m, and that one k which
is seen will descend with the chamber while the other becomes wound round
the pulley ; the reverse takes place when the chamber ascends. n, o, are
pulleys on the frame D, which is fixed to a strong bed for receiving the gas
holders, round which pulleys chains p, p, pass, acting in a similar manner
to those marked k, with this exception, that the chain to the right passes round
the pulley to the left, and the chain to the left round the pulley to the right;
by this arrangement only one break is required for keeping each apparatus
in place when at rest, and it is fitted to either of the pulleys just mentioned.
The following is the manner in which the lock is worked, with reference to
the arrangement shown at Figures 1, 2, and 3. The chamber h being raised
to within a slight distance below the level of the upper water, and the chamber
h being at the bottom of its course, then from the upper water C, I admit
water into the chamber h, which already contains enough to float any
vessel entering it. When the chamber h contains a volume of water somewhat
more than that in the lower chamber h', I release the break as well as open the
tap of communication between the two locks, and immediately the chamber h
descends into the lock A, and the air or gas contained in the holders a, b, c, d,
of the first gas holder will be driven through the pipes j, j, into the holders
a', b, c, d, which it causes to ascend while the others descend. The chamber h
is now on a level with the intermediate water E, as well as with the chamber h',
which has been caused to rise by the ascent of the holders a¹, b, c, d. Sup-
posing a boat is floated into the first chamber h, it will pass down to the inter-
mediate water E, then into the chamber h, and from thence to the lower
water F, and so on for all the succeeding levels. If, on the contrary, the boat
is to be brought up from the lower to the upper level, then it will first pass
into the chamber h', which is kept at a suitable level by breaks; then it is
raised to the level of the intermediate water, at the end of which it enters
the upper chamber h, which is raised to a level with the upper water C, by

page_text: allowing a volume of water greater than that contained in the chamber / to
flow, as before, into the chamber h¹. To ascertain the amount of additional
burden required care must be taken to stop each of the chambers, forming a
section of the canal, as they rise, somewhat below the upper water level, so as
to be able to obtain, by this difference in the level when the gates are opened,
the surplus of water necessary to regulate the speed of the descent. When,
on the contrary, the chambers descend, they are stopped just above the lower
levels, so that when a communication is effected between them and the said
levels, the overplus of water flows out. In applying this part of my Invention
for raising and lowering carriages on railways, the chambers before mentioned
may be employed, fitted with rafts or platforms provided with rails to receive
the train, (or simple bridges) furnished with rails and water reservoirs may be
employed in order to be able (the weight of the train being previously known)
to ascertain the quantity of water or other weight required to produce sufficient
power to raise the chamber or bridge. In the case of a change taking place
in the low-water level, which happens in certain rivers, the operation of the
apparatus would be prevented; but to remedy this I form a double lock, one
passage of which will serve to regulate the level of the other; or I employ a
gas holder of a particular construction, placed at a suitable distance off, capable
of containing four times as much gas as the others, by which arrangement it
will be easy to raise the first chamber to the desired height. To avoid too
great pressure being exerted against the sides of the gates of the locks as well
as those of the chambers, a space between the gate of the lock and that of
the chamber is left, into which water is introduced by a pipe or otherwise; an
equal amount of pressure is thus produced on each side of the gates, and they
were thereby opened with great facility; other means may, however, be em-
ployed for closing the locks, such as sluices, levers, or gates raised, as shown
in Figure 5, or otherwise. When the gates are raised I prefer to place at
each corner of the chambers h, h', an upright q, carrying a winch r at top,
inside which a counterweight S is free to rise and fall to facilitate the motion
of the sluice. I adopt the same plan for the water-course gates.
For the purpose of raising water I employ chambers having at their lower
part a frame or box open at bottom, as shown in Figure 4, but gas holders
may be employed. After what has been previously stated it will be seen that
if I make the chambers in the form of a double dome (Figure 4), and of
different diameters or sizes, say, the diameter of h' equal to half that of h, it
follows that the chamber h¹ will rise twice the distance that h will descend;
consequently, if a certain quantity of water is admitted into the upper part of
the chamber h', it becomes easy to pour it out or draw it off where required.

page_text: If the diameter of the chamber h' is a tenth that of h, the rise of the water in
the chamber h¹ will be ten times greater than the fall of that in the chamber h.
To take advantage of a fall or of a reservoir of water, I fill the upper chamber h
with a weight of water, say, twenty per cent. above that in the upper chamber h¹;
the result will be that when the two chambers reach their destination, and h is
quite empty, if ten per cent. surplus is left in h¹ of the twenty per cent. taken
as a surplus in the chamber h, the weight of these ten per cent. surpluses will
çause the chamber h' to descend and h to ascend, and so on.
By my Invention I am enabled to make use of a water-course at the bottom
of a valley to work, no matter at what height, either by a bridge connecting
two different levels between two hills or any other contrivance for forming a
communication between the two different levels. The employment of gas
holders arranged in manner before described will be found advantageous in
seaports, where cargoes have to be discharged at high and low water; in fact,
two gas holders under the water capable of supporting one or several plat-
forms would be sufficient if made to rise and fall alternately as the vessel is
being discharged. When there are two platforms, one will ascend with the
loads while the other descends empty. At high-water the necessary water is
supplied for working at low water.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the employment
of compressed air, gas, or other like agent for raising and lowering boxes or
chambers for containing water for receiving boats, barges, and other loads to
different levels, substantially in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Seiler, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
FR. SEILER. (L.S.)