IMPROVEMENTS IN BLOCKING OR SECURING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS WHILST BEING REMOVED, EXAMINED, OR REPAIRED
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas William Miller, of Her Majesty's Dock-
yard, Portsmouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLOCKING OR
SECURING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS WHILST BEING REMOVED, EXAMINED, OR
REPAIRED."
:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas William Miller
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th March 1859.
I, THOMAS WILLIAM MILLER, of Her Majesty's Dockyard,. Portsmouth,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BLOCKING OR SECURING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS WHILST BEING REMOVED,
EXAMINED, OR REPAIRED," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the application of hydraulic power or fluid pressure.
employed in a series of pressers or cylinders and rams fitted or fixed upon the
cradle or platform of hauling-up slips or slip ways, the ram heads or piston
heads of which may be fitted with beams, cross heads,, or vibrating arms or
levers, capable of adjustment to the form or angle of the ship's side or bottom,
and such arms may be fitted with friction rollers, or be-so. formed as to act as
buffers, or the heads of the rams may come into direct contact with the sides
of the vessel without the intervention of vibrating arms or friction rollers.
A number of cylinders, of suitable dimensions, with rams or pistons are fixed
in such positions as may be convenient for taking-in and supporting any class
of ships, for which the slipway, cradle, pontoon, raft or platform is calculated.

page_text: or capable of supporting, and such cylinders and their fittings should vary in
length, and be otherwise adjusted to the position in which they are fixed, and
to the part of vessels against which they are intended to operate.
The cylinders on each side of the keel-blocks or line of the keel are to be
connected by means of a pipe or pipes with the forcing pumps, from which the
pressure is communicated, and these supply pipes or connections may either
be fixtures to the cradle, or may be detachable therefrom, but each cylinder
should be fitted with one or more stop-cocks for shutting off the supply or
pressure, and retaining the fluid contents of the cylinder, and maintaining the
position of the ram head against the side or bottom of the vessel.
To compensate for alterations in the position of the cradle or its equivalent,
flexible tube connexions or pipes are attached, so as to convey the pressure
from the pumps to the supply pipe or pipes of the cylinder, and which flexible
pipes or tubes may be coiled around drums, so as to enable them to be
employed in freely transmitting pressure, irrespective of the length to which
they are extended or unreeled according to the motion or position of the cradle
with respect to the pumps or source of power. Instead of constructing
cylinders in the ordinary manner of hydrostatic presses, I prefer, in certain
cases, to construct cylinders with trunions, to admit of their accommodating
themselves to the angles or form of the ship's side or bottom.
By this Invention the ordinary and tedious systems of blocking and shoreing
up ships, and the great loss of time and materials incident thereto, will be
avoided, as the ship to be hauled up or elevated, whether on a slip-way or a
coating pontoon, may be hauled over the cradle, pontoon, raft, or other plat-
form, and upon attaining the right position, the rams or pistons may be forced
out to the required extent, so as to retain the ship in its place, and firmly
secure or block her up, so as to admit of her being raised or removed from out
of the water, each cylinder being properly secured or shut off, so as to prevent
Jonkoma or conne of its Avid contento.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas William Miller in the Great Seal Patent Office on.
the 16th September 1859.
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WILLIAM MILLER, of Her Majesty's Dockyard, Portsmouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters a
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year

page_text: of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Thomas William Miller, Her special licence that I, the
said Thomas William Miller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas William Miller, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 BLOCKING OR SECURING SHIPS AND OTHER
VESSELS WHILST BEING REMOVED, EXAMINED, OR REPAIRED," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas William Miller, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Thomas William Miller, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings.
This Invention relates to the application of hydraulic or hydrostatic power
or fluid pressure employed in a series of presses or cylinders and rams fitted
or fixed upon the movable cradles or platforms of hauling-up slips or slip-
ways, or to pontoons, rafts, floating or fixed dry docks, the ram heads or piston
heads of which may be fitted with beams, crossheads, or vibrating arms or.
levers, capable of adjustment to the form or angle of the ship's side or bottom,
and such arms may be fitted with friction rollers, or be so formed as to act as
buffers, or the heads of the rams may come into direct contact with the sides
of the vessel without the intervention of vibrating arms or friction rollers.
A number of cylinders of suitable dimensions with rams or pistons are fixed
in such positions as may be convenient for taking in and supporting any class
of ships for which the slipway, cradle, pontoon, raft, or platform is calculated
or capable of supporting, and such cylinders and their fittings should vary in
length, and be otherwise adjusted to the position in which they are fixed, and
to the part of vessels against which they are intended to operate.
The cylinders on each side of the keel blocks or line of the keel are to be
connected by means of a pipe or pipes with the forcing pumps, from which the
pressure is communicated, and these supply pipes or connections may either
be fixtures to the cradle, pontoon, raft, or platform, or may be detachable

page_text: therefrom, but each cylinder should be fitted with one or more stop-cocks, for
shutting off the supply or pressure, and retaining the fluid contents of the
cylinder and maintaining the position of the ram-head against the side or
bottom of the vessel.
To compensate for alterations in the position of the cradle, pontoon, raft, or
platform, flexible tube connections or pipes are attached, so as to convey the
pressure from the pumps to the supply pipe or pipes of the cylinder, and which
flexible pipes or tubes may be coiled around drums, so as to enable them to be
employed in freely transmitting pressure, irrespective of the length to which
they are extended or unreeled, according to the motion or position of the
cradle with respect to the pumps or source of power.
Instead of constructing cylinders in the ordinary manner of hydraulic or
hydrostatic presses, I prefer, in certain cases, to construct cylinders with trun-
nions to move in pedestals set upon proper frames in foundation plates, so as
to admit of their accommodating themselves to the angles or form of the ship's
side or bottom, or of being moved into and kept in proper position for this
purpose by worm or screw pinions, working into worm or screw wheels fixed
to the cylinders of the presses, or to their trunnions, the pinions to be fixed
upon spindles, which are to work in pedestals fixed to the frames or foundation
plates for supporting the trunnions, or kept in position by circular ratchet
racks and palls similarly arranged.
By this Invention the ordinary and tedious systems of blocking and shoring
up ships, and the great loss of time and materials 'incident thereto, will be
avoided, as the ship to be hauled up or elevated, whether on a slipway or
a floating pontoon, may be hauled over the cradle, pontoon, raft, or other
platform, and upón attaining the right position, the rams or pistons may be
forced out to the required extent, so as to retain the ship in its place, and
firmly secure or block her up so as to admit of her being raised or removed
from out of the water, each cylinder being properly secured or shut,off so as
to prevent leakage or escape of its fluid contents.
I apply a similar arrangement of hydraulic or hydrostatic apparatus upon
the floor or platform of any kind of slip or repairing 'dock, whether. such dock
or ship repairing platform be moveable or fixed as in a floating or fixed dry
dock, and whereon it is desirable to provide for great variations in the size of
ships to be hauled up or docked. I place or dispose the hydraulic or
hydrostatic machinery or apparatus on each side of the centre or keel-block
line, and instead of fixing them, each upon an independent sole plate or
foundation, I lay down guide ways or long foundation plates or beds trans-
versely to and at right angles with the keel line, and by which the several

page_text: hydraulic or hydrostatic. apparatus may be made to approach nearer together
or be extended apart according to the size of the ship to be hauled up or
otherwise docked for the purpose of examination or repair, whilst each
apparatus is as securely held in its place as if it had been bolted down or
otherwise held immovably, and without having the advantage of being readily
adjusted in position.
In the accompanying Sheets of Drawings I have illustrated the application
of my Invention to the platform of a slipway, as the nature of the said
Invention and the mode of applying it in various other situations will be more
readily understood thereby. And although in these several views shewn in
the Drawings hereunto annexed the cylinders with their rams or pistons are
shown as fixed and incapable of ready adjustment in their distance from the
centre line or line of keel blocks, yet it will be clearly seen by those conversant
with the construction of docks, slipways, and hauling up platforms for
examining and repairing ships and such like works, that instead of fixing each
apparatus upon a foundation, a suitably strong foundation plate having a
guide way or traversing face may be laid down upon which each cylinder
and its ram or piston may be slid or traversed into the required position and
there received and held firmly.
In the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings will be seen several views of
apparatus constructed according to this Invention.
In Sheet 1, Fig. 1 is an end view shewing the hydraulic or hydrostatic
presses or cylinders in position upon a cradle or platform intended to be used
upon a slipway; Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view of
Fig. 1; Figs. 4 and 4 A exhibit two end views of a dock floor or slipway
platform constructed differently, as thereon shewn. On reference to Sheet 2 it
will be seen that Fig. 5 is a side view in section, shewing the manner in which
I prefer to construct the hydraulic or hydrostatic presses or cylinders; Fig. 6
is an end view in elevation of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a plan view of Fig. 5; the
same letters of reference apply to like or corresponding parts in each Sheet of
Drawings. A, the cradle or platform upon which a ship is supported in dock;
B, part of a ship supported by the hydraulic or hydrostatic apparatus and
hauled up out of the water; C, the hydraulic or hydrostatic presses or
cylinders and rams, and their apparatus, constructed according to this Invention,
supporting the ship; D, the pressure pipes and valve apparatus arranged
separately on each side of the cradle platform or floor, to convey the pressure
from the hydraulic or hydrostatic force pumps to the hydraulic or hydrostatio
presses or cylinders, and force out the rams or pistons so as to give the proper
support to the ship to be hauled up..

page_text: The following small letters have reference to the several parts of this
hydraulic or hydrostatic apparatus. a, the hydraulic or hydrostatic presses or
cylinders, which are to be of various lengths according to the position upon
the cradle platform or floor; b, the rams or pistons of the hydraulic or hydro-
static presses or cylinders, which, when in action, will be pushed out or
extended more or less as the form of the ship to be supported may require
and which rams are to have their heads so formed that they may receive the
falcrum spindles of the beams, cross heads, vibrating arms, or levers to
distribute their support to the ship, or they may be formed to act as buffers
or to be of a suitable shapo to give their support at once to the ship, without
the intervention of any intermediate means. c, the beams, crossheads, vibrating
arms, or levers which are intended to be formed of two side pieces, so con-
structed and connected together with stretching bolts that they may each have
a fulcrum bearing or spindle in their centres, which is to be capable of moving
in the heads of the rams or pistons and to have friction rollers with gudgeons
at each end, which are to move in bearings formed in the side pieces of the
beams, crossheads, vibrating arms or levers, so that these parts may freely
accommodate themselves to the form of the ship to be supported or hauled up
when the rams or pistons are forced out to give their support, or to take the
weight of the ship. d, the friction rollers in the ends of the beams, crossheads,
vibrating arms, or levers; e, the main pressure pipes, extending along each
side of the cradle or platform, and connected with the hydraulic or hydrostatic
force pumps by means of flexible pipes, which may be coiled or rolled up by
hand or self-acting apparatus as the cradle or platform is drawn up out of the
water, and uncoiled or unrolled by the cradle or platform when it is allowed
to slide down the slipway into the water again; f, the small pressure pipes
for connecting the bydraulic or hydrostatic presses or cylinders with the main
pressure pipes, which small pipes are to be united with the main pressure
pipes, and with the small shut-off or communication valves by proper screw
or other joints; g, the small shut-off or communication valves connected with
the small pressure pipes and the hydraulic or hydrostatic presses or cylinders,
for the purpose of shutting off any of the hydraulic or hydrostatic presses or
cylinders when not required to be used, and for retaining the pressure in the
hydraulic or hydrostatic presses or cylinders when supporting a ship, when
they will be closed, and also for letting off the pressure from any of the
hydraulic or hydrostatic presses or cylinders when no longer required to be
maintained in them.
Although in the accompanying Drawings I have shewn my Invention applied
to a traversing slip way or hauling up slip, yet I wish it to be understood that

page_text: it is equally applicable to dry docks of all kinds, whether fixed or floating
docks, as by the use of the machinery or apparatus according to my Invention,
a considerable economy both of time and materials will be effected by its
application, inasmuch as the supporting and securing in place of the ship or
other vessel may be proceeded with immediately that it is drawn over or upon
the craille or platform, or into the dock, and moreover by its application I
am enabled to dispense with the cutting and adjustment of timber struts,
shores, &c., by which considerable economy in the materials usually employed
in docking a ship can be attained.
For the purpose of dispensing with a number of hydraulic or hydrostatic
apparatus according to this Invention, which would be necessary for enabling
a patent slip or dock to take in all sizes of vessels which it was capable of
admitting or receiving, I construct the foundation sole plate or bed piece for
receiving and supporting the hydraulic or hydrostatic cylinders in the form of
a slide piece or open bed, for the purpose of admitting to travel along between
its cheeks at right angles with the centre line of keel blocks or longitudinal
line of the dock; and I secure the cylinders in their correct positions by
means of a suitable arrangement of palls which take into strong ratchet teeth
cast on to or by the side of the bed plate, and for the purpose of enabling the
position of the cylinders with their pistons and apparatus to be changed, and
at the same time to insure each pair of cylinders to be moved to the same
extent or degree from the centre line of keel blocks. I connect them together
by means of endless chains passing under or across the platform of the slip-
way, cradle, or dock floor, so that motion may be communicated to both
cylinders at the same time from any convenient position; and instead of
employing chains for the purpose of altering the position of the cylinders and
their apparatus, I prefer for some purposes to employ a right and left hand
screw shaft, extending across the platform, cradle, or dock, or two separate.
screws, to which motion may be communicated simultaneously from the same
point, and the whole of the sets of bydraulic or hydrostatic apparatus from.
end to end of the platform may be connected together and operated from one
or more convenient points.
By the use of flexible pipes, I am enabled to continue the application of
pressure either during the upward progress of the cradle or moving platform
of a patent slipway, or whilst the position of the cylinders and their rams or
pistons is being changed. And for this purpose I employ any of the ordinary
and well-known descriptions of flexible tubing of sufficient strength to bear
the requisite amount of internal pressure, and I coil it upon a drum, having
suitable grooves therein or formed with flanges, between which it may be

page_text: coiled without injury, and I attach the inner end of such coil to the hollow
axle of the drum upon which the flexible pipe is wound, and the hollow axle
or shaft is connected with the pressure pipe or connecting piece from the force
pumps by means of a suitable stuffing box or other equivalent means which
admits of the rotation of the drum and the winding on or unwinding, or coiling
and uncoiling of the flexible pipe to allow of the alteration or position of the
cradle platform or of the cylinders thereon in relation to the fixed source of
power or the drum or reel upon which the flexible pipe is coiled.
Although I have shewn in the accompanying Drawings the head of each
ram or piston as being fitted with a double arm or vibrating beam having at
each end a friction roller or rollers, I propose to employ either a single head,
rounded or of other suitable form, and composed of wood or other suitable
material, or instead of being formed as herein-before described or illustrated,
any other shape may be given to the ram head.
Although I have described several modes of connecting together and causing
the opposite cylinders to approach closer together or be extended apart, yet
they should be so arranged as to be capable of disconnection, whilst the
application of pressure to each series of cylinders should be independent of the
other, as by this means the vessel may be hauled over to the one side or the
other, if required, and the means of restoring the pressure to any one or more
of the cylinders independently of the others may be thus secured. And
although I have shown in Figs. 5, 6, &c., the ordinary hydraulic or hydro-
static cylinder and ram, and have shown the means of securing or retaining
the internal pressure within these cylinders, as by means of the ordinary stop
valve; and have shown the ordinary cup leather as the form or description of
packing employed for preventing the escape of the fluid and for maintaining
the internal pressure, yet I prefer in some cases to add a rack to each side of
the ram, plunger, struts, or palls, connected on each side of the ram head, by
which the position of the ram as it is projected from out of the cylinder is
retained, whilst the palls which take into the racks for the last-mentioned
purpose can be released instantaneously and withdrawn upon the undocking
or removal of the ship or other vessel. And although I have, in describing
the mode of working the apparatus constructed according to this Invention
mentioned the employment of water as the medium of transmitting the power
from the force pumps, placed in any convenient position for the purpose, yet
I do not propose to employ invariably either fresh or salt water, as naptha,
oil, spirits of wine, or other fluid or liquid may be employed instead of
water.
I apply loaded safety valves in connection with the rams and cylinders and

page_text: with the forcing apparatus for the purpose of enabling the degree of pressure
to be regulated.
Having now described my said Invention and illustrated some of its appli-
cations or methods of applying it, I wish it to be understood that what
I claim is,
First, the method of applying hydraulic or hydrostatic power, as herein
described, for the purpose of blocking or securing ships and other vessels
whilst being removed, examined, or repaired.
Second, the application of hydrostatic or hydraulic presses or cylinders with
rams upon the moving or traversing cradle or platform of patent slips or slip-
ways, in combination with flexible pipes as herein described.
Third, the employment of hydraulic or hydrostatic presses or cylinders with
rams having fixed or moveable single or double heads, either on the moving
or traversing cradles of patent slips or slip ways, or in or upon the floor or
bottom of fixed or floating dry docks for the purpose of blocking and securing
ships as herein-before described.
Fourth, the use or employment of a reel or drum with a hollow shaft or
axis for receiving or holding flexible pipe in combination with hydraulic or
bydrostatic presses or cylinders with rams or plungers, employed as herein-
before described for blocking or securing ships and other vessels whilst being
removed, examined, or repaired.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas William Miller, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
5
Witness,
THOMAS WILLIAM MILLER. (L.S.)
JAMES BANNIS ER,
7, Victoria Terrace, Landport,
Portsea.