A Conapsible fo
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 8th June, 1894-Accepted, 11th Aug., 1894
A Conapsible fo
I, JAMES SCHOFIELD of 21 Grove Street, Hull, in the County of York,
Contractor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The object of my invention is to construct a floating dock, which shall be
collapsible for the purpose of allowing the base to be submerged for the ship to be
placed in position, and to be perfectly stable without the use of lateral sides as
beretofore.
beretofore.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1. shows elevation of side of floating dock.
Fig. 2. shows view of side of floating dock with base submerged.
Fig. 3. shows plan of dock.
Fig. 4. is a section of dock through A¹ B¹ showing transverse girders and
struts.
For the purpose of my invention I construct my dock in two separate parts, the
conductor A, and the base B, such base being attached to the conductor (which
preferably assumes somewhat the shape of a musical tuning fork, or the three sides
of a parallelogram) by means of pivotted or hinged struts and girders.
The base forms the lifting part of the dock and is divided into any suitable
number of compartments.
The conductor A, balances the base B of the dock, during the operation of
rising or submerging, the said conductor being ballasted to about half its depth
and remains a fixed balancing vessel.
The operation of submerging or raising the dock can be done by pumping, by
compressed air, or if used in a wet dock by means of a siphon.
To allow the base B to float or siuk independently of the conductor A, I connect
it to such conductor by two, four, or any suitable number of struts C, pivotted to
longitudinal girders D, one at each side of the base and working in the space
between the said base and the inner sides of the conductor, two or more struts C,
being pivotted at one of their ends to brackets E on the base, and at their other
ends, to the longitudinal girder D, one or more (as shown in dotted lines Fig. 2)
may be employed at each end of such girder, and two or more struts C¹ being
pivotted also at one of their ends to brackets on the conductor and at the other
end to the longitudinal girder D, one or more struts at each end of such girder
may be employed as desired.
To allow of the base sinking and rising perfectly parallel to the conductor, I
employ a series of struts G, G, G, G and transverse girders H and H', fitted
between the front of the base B, and the recess in the conductor A. see Fig. 4.
These transverse girders are connected to struts and brackets in the same manner
as the longitudinal girders, and both these girders have to be placed in the
transverse recess at the fore of the dock, as there is no transverse recess in the
after part of the dock to correspond with the two longitudinal recesses between
the base and the conductor.
To the transverse girder H, I pivot four struts, the top two G and G₁ are
pivotted at their other ends to brackets on the conductor A, G being pivotted to
the bracket J, and G' to the bracket K; the other two struts G and G' pivotted
to this said girder, are pivotted at their other ends to two brackets on the base, the

page_text: strut G being pivotted. to the bracket J, and struts G₁ being pivotted to the
bracket K', the series of struts G2 and G³ pivotted to the tranverse girder H' are
also pivotted to brackets in like manner, that is, the two top struts G² and G³ are
pivotted at their other ends to brackets on the conductor A; G2 being pivotted to
the bracket L and G³ to the bracket M, the other two or bottom struts G² and G³
are pivotted to brackets L and M' on the base.
When the base is being submerged, the struts open out in the same manner as
the struts pivotted to the longitudinal girders, as each transverse girder has two
struts pivotted to the conductor, and two pivotted to the base, the pivots allowing
the struts to open as the base sinks, the end of the girder H to which the
struts G, G. G, G, are pivotted, being drawn towards the brackets J, J, K, K',
the girder H' at the same time moving in the opposite direction, this prevents the
base moving from side to side when sinking, guiding it down perfectly straight.
By this means the base or lifting portion of the dock being connected to the
-conductor by the struts pivotted to longitudinal and tranverse girders, the said base
is free to rise or fall in response to the action of the pumps or submerging valves,
parallel to the conductor but in no other way.
My improved construction of floating dock can be towed at sea like an ordinary
raft, and towed into any port, and is ready at any time for docking vessels, after
such docking process it can be moored in any desired part of a bay, river or
habour, where there is a depth of water equal to the half the normal draft of the
vessel docked.
The dock can be made to take any size of vessel, and any number of girders and
struts as found desirable may be used.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is :-
1. Floating docks constructed in two parts, such parts being collapsible and the
base B the only sinking part as shown and described.
2. In floating docks the employment of a separate base B, connected to the
conductor A by pivotted cantilever struts and coupling girders, operating in the
manner and for the purposes, substantially as shown and described.
3. The construction of floating docks, substantially as shown and described.
Dated this Seventh day of June 1801
JOHN E. WALSH,
Saville Street, Hull, and Crossley Street, Halifax,
Patent Agent for the Applicant.