IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS AND SIMILAR FLOATING STRUCTURES SUCH AS PIERS, QUAYS, BREAKWATERS AND BRIDGES
Year: 1884

page_text: I, ARTHUR SAMUEL HAMAND of No. 9 Bridge Street, Westminster, Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers do hereby declare the
nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS AND SIMILAR FLOATING
STRUCTURES SUCH AS PIERS, QUAYS, BREAKWATERS AND BRIDGES and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My improvements relate, in the case of Ships, to the construction of a vessel
composed of an upper portion forming the deck or decks where the chief part of
the freight is to be carried, the bottom side of such upper portion being placed at
such a height above the level of the water as to be above the tops of the highest
waves of the seas in which the Ship is intended to travel.
The upper or deck portion is to be supported and united by columns, rods and
ties to two or more watertight vessels, preferably of nearly cylindrical shape, with
conical ends, so proportioned that their total united contents shall give such
a displacement that the lower cylindrical vessels will be more or less wholly
submerged.
The submarine portions will contain the boilers, coal, and machinery for
propulsion, and in certain cases there will also be made provision for heavy
portions of cargo. Each submerged portion is to be provided with one or more
screw propellers at both ends acting independently and also rudders at both ends
to enable the vessel to go forward or backward with equal facility.
The columns joining the decks to the submerged portions, which columns may
Le of a circular, elliptical, or any other convenient section, may also be hollow to
afford access by stairs, ladders, &c. and also to provide coal shafts, ventilation, &c.
to the submerged vessels.
These columns, together with the diagonal struts and ties of requisite strength,
both in the longitudinal, transverse, and diagonal directions, form the necessary
bracing as of an ordinary girder, the deck portion representing the upper boom and
the submarine portion representing the bottom boom.
The submarine portions are to be placed as far apart as convenient for the
purpose of giving as much stability as possible, and there being no freeboard there
will be no obstacle to the wave motion, the tops of the waves passing freely over
the submarine portion.
When driven through the water at high speed the vessel will remain unaffected
by waves in consequence of their not being able to attack or affect the reserve of

page_text: buoyancy, or only the small portion contained in so much of the lower portions as
is allowed to remain above mean water level and the supporting columns.
The whole ship will therefore be very steady as the displacement portion will
move along and through just below the mean surface of the water and will be free
from the usual tendency to rise on each wave or swell. The absence of motion in
the vessel will render it very suitable for transporting railway trains, by sea.
Both the submarine portions and the deck portion are to be constructed on the
most approved cellular watertight bulkhead system and so that each portion will
be independently buoyant.
The submarine portions may be wholly sunk, if desired, and maintained at any
desired depth below the mean water level.
The same system may be used for the purpose of constructing similar floating
structures such as piers, quays, break waters, and bridges, in which case there may
be any number of submarine vessels, arranged at right angles or otherwise to. the
length of the structure, carrying columns of any convenient section supporting a
platform, the bracing being arranged in a similar way to that already described for
ships and the whole structure forming in the same way one or more large girders.
ARTHUR S. HAMAND.