CERTAIN METHODS OF CONSTRUCTING LOCKS OR CANALS, DOCKS, AND NAVIGATIONS, AND OF CONSTRUCTING IMPROVEMENTS FOR LOCKS OF CANALS, DOCKS, AND NAVIGATIONS ALREADY EXISTING, BY MEANS OF WHICH THE LOSS OF ANY QUANTITY LESS THAN THE. WHOLE QUANTITY OF THE WATER NOW LOST WHEN VESSELS OF ANY DESCRIPTION PASS LOCKS CONSTRUCTED AFTER ANY OF THE PRESENT KNOWN METHODS WILL PREVEN WHICH LOCKS AND. PROCURING THE SUPPLIES OP WATER NECESSARY. TO CANALS, DOCKS, AND NAVIGATIONS, AND BY MEANS OF WHICH INVENTION CANALS, NAVIGATIONS, &C. MAY BE MAINTAINED IN COUNTIES.H
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, СHARLES
AUGUSTIN BUSBY, of New Millman Street, in the Parish of Saint Pancras,
in the County of Middlesex, Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of April, in
the fifty-third year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Augustin Busby, my exors, admors, and assigns, His said Majesty's special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George
Augustin Busby, my exors, admors, and assigns, and every of them, by
myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as I, the said Charles Augustin Busby, my exors,,
admiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my Invention of.
"CERTAIN METHODS OF CONSTRUCTING LOCKS OR CANALS, DOCKS, AND NAVIGATIONS,
AND OF CONSTRUCTING IMPROVEMENTS FOR LOCKS OF CANALS, DOCKS, AND NAVIGATIONS
ALREADY EXISTING, BY MEANS OF WHICH THE LOSS OF ANY QUANTITY LESS THAN THE.
WHOLE QUANTITY OF THE WATER NOW LOST WHEN VESSELS OF ANY DESCRIPTION
PASS LOCKS CONSTRUCTED AFTER ANY OF THE PRESENT KNOWN METHODS WILL BE
PREVENTED, AND BY WHICH LOCKS AND. IMPROVEMENT OF LOCKS INVENTED BY ME,
GREAT EXPENCE WILL BE SAVED IN PROCURING THE SUPPLIES OP WATER NECESSARY.
TO CANALS, DOCKS, AND NAVIGATIONS, AND BY MEANS OF WHICH INVENTION CANALS,
NAVIGATIONS, &C. MAY BE MAINTAINED IN COUNTIES. WHERE THEY ARE NOW.
IMPRACTICABLE FROM WANT OF SUFFICIENT SUPPLIES OF WATER, AND THAT ALSO

page_text: BY MEANS OF WHICH INVENTION LOCKS MAY BE CONSTRUCTED CAPABLE OF RAISING OR
DEPRESSING THE WATER CONTAINED BETWEEN THEIR GATES TO ANY HEIGHTS OF
DEPTHS, HOWEVER GREAT, WITH AN UNIFORMLY SMALL LOSS OF WATER," within
that part of His Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, in such manner
as to me, the said Charles Augustin Busby, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
or any of them, should in my or their discretion seem meet, and that
I, the said Charles Augustin Busby, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, should
and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity,
and advantage from time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by
reason of the said Invention, for and during the term of years therein
mentioned, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers,
privileges, and advantages therein-before granted or mentioned to be granted
unto me, the said Charles Augustin Busby, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, for
and during and unto the full end and term of fourteen years from the date
thereof next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be compleat and ended,
according to the Statute in such case made and provided; in which said
recited Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I, the said Charles
Augustin Busby, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar
months next and immediately after the date thereof, that then the said recited
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
should utterly cease, determine, and become void, anything therein-before
contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as in and by
the said recited Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the aforesaid proviso or condition
contained in the said recited Letters Patent, I, the said Charles Augustin
Busby, do, by these Presents, and by the Drawings or Figures hereunto
annexed, to which these Presents refer, and which I propose and intend
to form part hereof, particularly ascertain and describe the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, that is
to say:-
Firstly, Figure 1.-To exemplify the nature of my said Invention, and
the principles upon which it is founded, let there be two vessels a, b, c, d,
and e, f, g, h, equal or nearly equal in their horizontal extent, having a free

page_text: communication with each other by means of a conduit s, and both containing
water to one and the same level i, k; and let the depth of the vessel e, f, g, h,
below the level i, k, be at least equal to the altitude of the vessel a, b, c, d,
above the same level. Again, let there be two ponds of water land m level
with i, k, and a, b, e, f, respectively, each pond being of such an horizontal
extent as that its surface shall not be sensibly lowered by withdrawing from it
so much water as would fill either of the said vessels a, b, c, d, or e, f, g, h,
from the level i, k, to the level a, b, e, f. Then let there be placed and fitted
in the vessel e, f, g, h, and immediately over and upon the surface of the water
therein contained, a double piston; that is to say, two pistons n and o, firmly
connected by a bar p, at a distance equal or nearly equal to the interval
between the levels i, k, and a, b, e, f. And further, let there be two conduits
9 and between the pounds and m and the vessel e, f, g, h, whenever,
and only when, the pistons are depressed below the position exhibited in this
Figure.
Figure 2. Here the aforesaid pistons are represented somewhat depressed,
say, for example, one foot; the water has consequently risen one foot, or nearly
so, in the vessel a, b, c, d; the water in the vessel is consequently about two
feet above the level of the lower piston, and thereby causes an upward
pressure against the under side of the said piston about equal to the weight of
a column of water two feet in height; but as the pistons have each descended
about one foot, two separate feet of water have been admitted into the vessel
e, f, g, h, from the pounds land m, that is to say, about one foot of water has
been admitted over and upon each of the pistons, the gravitation of which waters
It is obvious that a
equals or nearly equals the aforesaid upward pressure.
similar counterpoising operation of the waters must take place at all stages of
the elevation or depression of the water in the vessel a, b, c, d, between the
levers i, k, and a, b, e, f, and therefore that the pistons may be moved upwards
and downwards, or downwards and upwards, the water in the vessel a, b, c, d,
being thereby elevated and depressed to all levels between the levels i, k, and
a, b, e, f, by an average force no greater than is sufficient to overcome the
friction of the said pistons against the circumference of the vessel e, f, g, h, and
the vis inertiæ of the matters that are moved. I say average force, because
there must be alternately added to and subtracted from the force necessary to
overcome the said friction and vis inertiæ a power equal to the weight of the
pistons, otherwise the gravitation of the pistons themselves will accelerate the
descending and will retard the ascending motions of the said pistons. This
contrivance is founded on the following law of statics, applied by me to heavy
fluids in preference to solids, and also in preference to solids and fluids in.

page_text: conjunction; namely, that heavy bodies may be made. to ascend and descend in
conjunction by a power no greater than is necessary to overcome friction and
vis inertiæ, provided the common centre of gravity of those bodies does not move
upwards or downwards.
Secondly, having explained the principles which form the basis of my said
Invention, I proceed to describe what I conceive to be the best manner of
bringing these principles into action so as to effect the purposes for which a
Patent has been granted to me as aforesaid. Suppose, for instance, it be
required to construct a lock of a canal, dock, or navigation, according to my
said Invention, capable of passing vessels with the loss of any assigned quantity
of water, but say, for example, with the loss of one eighth part of a lock, of
water, in what is commonly called a double operation.
Figure 3. I first build a lock a, a, a, a, in the manuer now common and
usual, with the exception of an aperture, which I form. in one of the sides, or
in the bottom thereof. On one side of that lock I form a circular reservoir
b, b, b, b, nearly equal to the lock in its horizontal extent, and deeper below
the surface of the lowest pond of the canal, dock, or navigation contiguous to
the said lock than that surface is below the surface of the highest pond
of the canal, dock, or navigation contiguous to the said lock; and as the
side walls of locks are generally, for the purpose of encreasing their
stability, made to decline from each other so as to cause the locks to
contain more water in any given height of the upper part than is con-
tained in the same given height of the lower part, I generally make the
horizontal extent of the upper part of the reservoir to diminish just as much
as the horizontal extent of the upper part of the lock increases, so that the
horizontal extents of the lock and the reservoir taken together are the same,
or nearly the same, at all levels. And I also erect a strong vertical shaft.or
'spindle c, c, in the centre of the said reservoir. I then extend from an aperture
which I form in the bottom, or in the circumference of the said, reservoir near
the bottom, a conduit d; d, d, d, to the aperture formed in the side or in the
'bottom of the said lock. Then I extend conduits e, e, e, e, e, e, e, from the
lowest ponds, which conduits I cause to terminate near to opposite parts of
the circumference of the said reservoir. And I extend other conduits
'f, f, f, f, f, f, f, from the highest pond, which conduits I.cause to terminate
'near to other opposite parts of the, said reservoir.
Figure 4. Having effected these objects, I proceed, to build a vessel to the
form and proportions exhibited in the fourth. Figure, which vessel I generally
construct after the materials and manner of workmanship used by. back makers
in making the immense vats-used: in large breweries. The horizontal extent

page_text: of the vessel, of which plans and sections are exhibited in this Figure, is such,
that if that extent, minus the extent of the conical aperture d in the centre, be
multiplied by the interval between the levels of the aforesaid highest and
lowest ponds, minus the thickness of the upper floor of the said. vessel, the
product will be equal, or nearly equal, to the product of the horizontal extent.
of the lock, together with the horizontal extent of the conical aperture in the
centre of the said vessel, and the horizontal extent of the space (all taken at
the same level) that will remain between the circumference of the said vessel.
and the circumference of the said reservoir, when the said vessel shall be
placed therein, multiplied by seven eighths of the interval between the afore-
said highest and lowest ponds, the distance between the upper surfaces of tho
two floors of the vessel is equal, or nearly equal, to the greatest interval that
ever occurs between the highest and lowest ponds, and the distance between
the upper floor and the top of the vessel is of similar extent. The upper
diameter of the said vessel is so much greater than the lower diameter, or the
lower diameter of the said vessel is so much greater than the upper diameter,
as will allow a sufficient draft for the circumscribing hoops, and the conical
aperture in the centre of the said vessel is designed to subtract from the area
and contents of the said vessel a space equal, or nearly so, to the addition
which is made to the area and contents of the said vessel, in consequence of
the encrease to its upper diameter, so that the horizontal arca of the sail
vessel, exclusive of the said aperture, will be equal, or nearly equal, at all
levels. The upper syphon pans a, a, are to be filled with water, as are the
lower syphon pans b, b, and the lower floor is, besides, to be covered with
water so high
as that the distance between the surface of that water and the
upper surface of the upper floor shall be equal to the present interval between
the aforesaid highest and lowest ponds. The weight of the said vessel, toge-
ther with the weight of the said water, is to be such as that when the said
vessel shall be immersed in water to the depth of the surface of the said
water on the lower floor, its unbalanced gravitation shall be equal, or nearly
equal, to the weight of one eighth of a lock of water. The space occupied
by the materials of which the circumference of the said vessel, and the circum-
ferences of the syphon holes c, c, and upper syphon pans are composed, toge-
ther with the space inclosed by the said syphon holes and syphon pans, is so
proportioned that, if the said vessel be immersed in water to the depth of seven
eighths of the interval between the highest and lowest ponds above the upper
floor, and the space between the upper and lower floors of the said vessel to
be filled with water, the other parts of the said vessel, exclusive of the syphon
holes, being also filled to a height above the upper floor equal to the interval

page_text: between the aforesaid highest and lowest ponds, minus the 'thickness of the
aforesaid upper floor, that then the weight of the said vessel, together with
the weight of all water therein contained, shall be equal or nearly equal to
the weight of the water displaced by the said vessel. This vessel I call or
denominate a double floating cistern.
Figure 5. I then construct four syphons of the forms and proportions
represented by this Figure, which syphon's will herein-after appear to be used.
to form communications between the waters contained in the aforesaid upper
and lower conduits and the waters contained in the aforesaid upper and lower
syphon pans of the double floating cistern, the two larger syphons being used
to communicate between the lower conducts and lower syphon pans, and the
two smaller syphons to communicate between the upper conduits and upper
syphon pans. The syphons are best made of iron cast in three pieces, the
joints being rendered air-tight by means of a contrivance. invented by Earl
Stanhope, and commonly called the Stanhope ponds.
Figure 6. Thirdly, having now formed and constructed the several parts of
my said Invention, I proceed to arrange or place those parts together in the
order exhibited in the two following Figures, the first of which consists of a
plan or bird's-eye view of the lock, the reservoir, the highest and 'lowest
ponds, the upper and lower conduits, the double floating cistern placed within
the reservoir; the larger syphons a, a, filled with water, and communicating
between the lower conduits and lower syphon pans, and the smaller syphons
b, b, filled with water, and communicating between the upper conduits and
upper syphon pans.-Note, the colours blue, red, and yellow are intended in
this and in all the following Figures respectively to designate and distinguish
the waters and communications between the waters contained, first, in the lock
and in the reservoir; secondly, in the lowest pond, lower conduits, lower syphon
pans in the lower part of the double floating cistern; and, thirdly, in the higbest
pond, upper conduits, upper syphon pans, and upper part of the double floating
cistern.
Figure 7.-This Figure exhibits a vertical section through the line d, d, in
the preceding Figure. Here, the water in the lock is represented level
with the lowest pond, the upper surface of the upper floor of the double float-
ing cistern level with the highest pond, and the lower part of the said double
floating cistern filled with water communicating, by means of the larger
syphons, with the lower conduits to the level of the lowest pond. Now, the
unbalanced gravitation of the double floating cistern being equal, or nearly
equal, to the weight of one eighth part of a lock of water; I prevent the
said double floating cistern from descending (now that I do not wish it to

page_text: common
descend, by affixing it to the aforesaid vertical shaft by some
mechanical contrivance; and in this Figure it is intended to be understood as
being so fixed.
Figure 8. Fourthly, I cause my said Invention to operate by unfixing the
said double floating cistern, and in this Figure the double floating cistern is
supposed to have been unfixed from the aforesaid vertical shaft. and is repre-
sented as having descended through half the interval between the highest and
lowest ponds, minus half the thickness of the upper floor of the said double
floating cistern. The water has consequently risen in the lock seven sixteenth
parts of the interval between the aforesaid highest and lowest ponds. The
lower part of the double floating cistern has been filled by the larger syphons
from the lower conduits to the level of the lower pond. The upper part of
the double floating cistern has been filled by the smaller syphons from the
upper conduits to the level of the upper pond, and the double floating cistern
bas lost half, or nearly half, its unbalanced gravitation or descending force.
Figure 9. And in this Figure the double floating cistern is represented as
having descended through double the space passed through in the preceding
example. The water in the lock has risen to the height of seven eighth
parts of the interval between the aforesaid highest and lowest ponds. The
upper and lower parts of the said double floating cistern are filled by waters
conveyed through the syphons from the upper and lower conduits, and the
double floating cistern has lost the whole, or nearly the whole, of its unba
lanced gravitation or descending force. Now I again affix the double floating
cistern to the vertical shaft or spindle, and having filled the lock to the level
of the highest pond from the water of that pond, the water in the lock prepon-
derates one eighth of a lock, or nearly so, over the double floating cistern.
Then I unfix the double floating cistern from the said vertical shaft. The
water in the lock will then fall, by its superior gravitation, through seven
eighths of the interval between the highest and lowest ponds, and then the
one eighth of a lock of water remaining in the lock will balance, or nearly
balance, the gravitation of the said double floating cistern; but by fixing the
double floating cistern to the vertical shaft, and letting the one eighth of a
lock of water now in the lock pass out therefrom to the lowest pond, the
double floating cistern will regain its original preponderating power, and being
again loosed from the vertical shaft will descend as herein-before described.
Thus, by means of the loss of one eighth of a lock of water, the surface of
the water in the lock may be alternately elevated and depressed at pleasure;
and thus, by causing vessels to take advantage, in the usual manner, of the
elevation and depression of the water in the said lock, I enable these vessels

page_text: to pass through the said lock with the loss of one eighth of a lock of water
only, even if the double operation of filling and emptying the said lock be
necessary to the passage of each vessel.
Having described the principles upon which my said Invention acts and is
founded, and also what I conceive to be the best means of adapting the same
to the construction of a lock capable of preventing the loss of seven eighths
of the water now generally lost in lockage, it is manifest from that description;
and I hereby declare, that by making proportional variations in the propor-
tions of the parts of my said Invention, that my said Invention may be
applied to preserve any other quantity less than the whole quantity of the
water which is now lost when vessels pass locks of canals, docks, or naviga-
tions; and again, it is manifest, and I declare that, by making the double
floating cistern equal in horizontal extent to the horizontal extent of the lock,
to the horizontal extent of the aforesaid conical aperture, and to the hori-
zontal extent of the space intervening between the circumferences of the
double floating cistern and the reservoir,-further, by making the said
double floating cistern buoyant in the water of the reservoir, and by applying
a mechanical or statical compensation equal to the weight of a body of water
sufficient to fill the space occupied by materials by the syphon holes and upper
syphon pans, which space cannot be further occupied by water, my Invention
may be made to operate by a mechanical or other force only sufficient to over-
come the vis inertiæ of the double floating cistern and of the waters which are
to be moved, and in that case my said Invention would enable vessels to pass
locks of canals, docks, or navigation, without any loss of water; and I declare,
that my said Invention may also be constructed and may be made to act after
the manner of the double piston exemplified in the Figures One and Two; but
I do not consider either of those modifications of my said Invention, nor any
other of the many I have practised in various modes, to be advantageous;
neither, on the contrary, do I always confine myself to the precise proportions,
nor to the forms or manners of constitution above described; because (though
not necessary to the nature of or principle upon which my said Invention acts
and is founded, it may sometimes be adviseable to vary those proportions,
forms, and manners of constructions, for the purpose of meeting and accom-
modating the local and other adventitious circumstances under which my said
Invention shall happen to be employed.
Lastly, I declare, that I improve existing locks of canals, docks, and navi-
gations by constructing the constituent parts of my said Invention as herein-
before described, and also by accommodating and applying the same to such
locks in such manner as shall best suit the local and other adventitious circuni-

page_text: ances of those locks, and so as to avoid any alteration of such locks other
an by piercing the sides or the bottoms of such locks, so as to form a
mmunication with the reservoir in manner as aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Augustin Busby, have hereunto
set my hands and seals, this Twelfth day of June, in the fifty-third
year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the
grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
King, Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirteen.