Improvements in Submergible Boats and in Boats capable of being nearly Submerged, and Methods of Maintaining the Specific Gravity and Trim of the same.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Apr., 1895-Accepted, 18th May, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Submergible Boats and in Boats capable of being
nearly Submerged, and Methods of Maintaining the Specific
Gravity and Trim of the same.
I, JOHN PHILIP HOLLAND, of No. 209 Garside Street, in the City of Newark,
County of Essex and State of New Jersey, one of the United States of America,
Engineer, 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 :-
This invention relates to the class of boats adapted to be submerged and those
adapted to be nearly submerged, such as torpedo boats and the like.
It is well understood by those familiar with the construction and operation of
this class of vessels that the preservation of the specific gravity of the boat as a
whole, and the preservation of its trim, are of the highest importance. To maintain
a constant depth of submersion or partial submersion, the specific gravity of the
boat must be maintained, or at least he capable of nice variation by suitable devices
within the control of those on board and managing the boat, and not open to chance
variation. And it is equally important that the center of gravity of the boat shall
not be subject to chance variation, and especially subject to variation fore and aft
in such a manner as to arbitrarily affect the relative immersion of the bow and
stern.
This chance variation in the specific gravity and center of gravity is due, in this
class of boats, partly to the consumption of fuel, partly to the launching of torpedoes
or projectiles, and partly to the expenditure of ammunition in firing, and the purpose
of my invention is to compensate these. The method I employ in doing this is to
automatically admit water to the spaces occupied by the thing or substance
consumed or expended in the proper proportion to compensate by weight and
position the weight lost by the boat as a whole by such expenditure.
For example, if oil be consumed for fuel, water will be automatically admitted
to the boat as the oil is consumed in the same proportion by weight as the oil, thus
preserving the specific gravity of the boat intact; and as the water admitted will
occupy substantially, or nearly the same position in the boat as the oil it replaces,
the center of gravity will not be disturbed in any appreciable degree. On the
other hand, if a torpedo or charge of ammunition be withdrawn from its case and
expended, the place occupied by the said torpedo or charge will be filled,
automatically, by water from outside the boat, the water admitted being of the
same, or substantially the same weight as the thing expended which it replaces.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention embodied in a
submarine boat adapted for the use of oil as a fuel for propulsion, and adapted for.
launching torpedoes. To avoid complexity and confusion I have not illustrated
these features of a submarine boat which are common and well known, but limited
the illustration to those features only which are comprised within my invention and
those necessary to illustrate its operation.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal, vertical section of the forward half of a submergible
boat of spindle or cigar shape and provided with compensating devices embodying
my invention and illustrating my method.
Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the boat in the plane of the line 2, 2, in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is an enlarged, sectional view of the devices for compensating a torpedo
when launched.

page_text: Fig. 4 is a fragmentary transverse section of the conveyor for solid or granulated
fuel.
A represents the hull or shell of the submergible boat, which may be of the usual
kind and be provided with a turret or conning tower, A*. This boat may be driven
by a propeller and have the usual rudders and steering gear for guiding its motions.
It may also have the usual means for controlling its specific gravity so that the
proper depth of submersion can be maintained. Devices and means are known for
effecting these objects and such of these as are suitable may be employed.
In the center of the boat, directly under or below the conning tower, is arranged
a diving lock, B, which has a hinged bottom, b, opening outwardly and a similar
top or cover, bx, opening inwardly. About this lock B, is an annular water
chamber, C, and around this water chamber is an annular chamber, D, for oil or
other liquid fuel.
E represents, as a whole, a steam pump, of which e is the motor cylinder, e¹ an
oil pump cylinder, and e³, a water pump cylinder. The oil pump takes oil from
the oil tank and forces it to the furnace and the water pump takes water from
outside of the vessel or boat and forces it into the water tank. As these movements
go on simultaneously, and as the two pumps will be constructed, as to capacity, of
such relative size that they will pump like weights of the liquids, it follows that
the consumption of oil will be compensated by the water taken in, and this will be
effected in a regular and automatic manner.
Where the thing consumed or expended is a solid body, as a charge of ammunition
or a torpedo, the means employed for effecting the compensation will be, or may be
as will now be described with especial reference to Fig. 3.
Within the hull of the boat are arranged one or more cells, G, to receive each a
torpedo or projectile, H. The cell will preferably be cylindrical with its outer end
closed and its inner end provided with a removable hinged cover, g. In the cell is
a piston, g', which divides said cell with a water-chamber or receptacle and a
torpedo or projectile chamber. A pipe, g², connects the outer end of the water-
chamber in the cell with the water of flotation through the shell of the boat and
this pipe is provided with a cock, g³. The other or projectile chamber in the cell
is connected by a pipe, g', with the usual compressed air-reservoir, as I, in Fig. 1,
and is provided with a cock, go. When it is desired to withdraw the torpedo or
projectile H from its cell for launching or use, the cover g is removed and the
cock in the water inlet pipe opened; the incoming water, under a head or
pressure due to the submersion of the boat, forces the piston gl toward the inner
end of the cell, thus driving the torpedo out so that it may be readily withdrawn
for use.
The movement of the piston is limited by a suitable detent or detents, g,
which, as here shown, are screws or pins set in the wall of the cell but so arranged
as to arrest the piston but allow the torpedo to pass. These detents will be so placed
with respect to the length of the cell that when the movement of the piston is
arrested thereby the weight of water in the cell beyond the piston will equal the
torpedo in weight, or substantially so.
To drive out the water and return the piston to its first position, the cover g
will be closed and the cock in the air pipe g opened. The compressed air will enter
the inner end of the cylinder and force the piston to the outer end, driving out the
. water. The cock in the water-inlet pipe will then be closed, and the compressed
air cut off.
As the interior arrangements of a submergible boat may be varied greatly, I do
not limit myself to that shown in the drawings, which are somewhat diagramatic.
For example, the pipe g may be as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, or it
may turn and extend back to the inner ends of the cells, as shown in Fig. 3, so as
to bring the controlling cock therein within more convenient reach of the operator.
The cock in the air-pipe g* is, or may be a two-way cock, so that when the air is
cut off from the compressed air holder the air confined in the inner end of the cell
will escape at said cock. Such variations in the construction are within the

page_text: common experience of good workmen in this art and will not require detailed
illustration.
The air-reservoir or holder may be stowed in any convenient space.
Figs. 1 and 4 illustrate the manner of feeding and compensating the expenditure
of solid or granulated fuel. This fuel may be kept in bunkers, h, at the sides of
the boat and separated by partitions. Alternate bunkers only will be filled and
the others left empty. A screw conveyor, i, extending along the base of the
bunkers and rotated by an engine, j, conveys the fuel let into the conveyor casing
from any bunker to the point desired, the pump, 1x, connected with the engine j, at
the same time pumping water from outside the boat into the adjacent empty bunker
by way of a pipe, , connecting by cock-controlled branches,, with the several
bunkers. I may employ both liquid and solid fuel at the same time, or under
different conditions of service the different kinds of fuel may be used.
I am aware that in submerged torpedo boats to be controlled by electricity from
shore and employing compressed gases for operating the engine, it has been pro-
posed to admit water to chambers in the boat adjacent to the gas tank during the
time the engine is running, the water being cut off when the engine stops; but my
invention differs from this in that I admit water in direct proportion, by weight, to
the expenditure, whereby the specific gravity of the boat and its center of gravity
are maintained; and this proportion is maintained automatically.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim :-
1. A. submergible vessel or boat, or a vessel or boat capable of being nearly
submerged, having a fuel receptacle and a water receptacle adjacent thereto a
feeding means for feeding the fuel from the fuel receptacle to the furnace, and a
simultanecusly operating water supplying mechanism which supplies water to the
water receptacle in quantity equal in weight to the fuel expended and proportionately
as the latter is expended, substantially as set forth.
2. A submergible vessel or boat, or a vessel or boat capable of being nearly
submerged, having a receptacle for liquid fuel, a receptacle for water adjacent to
the fuel receptacle and a pump comprising a pump cylinder and pipes for pumping
out the liquid fuel to be expended and a pump cylinder and pipes for pumping water
from outside the vessel into the water receptacle, the capacity of displacement of
said pump cylinders being proportioned to the difference in specific gravity between
the liquid fuel and water, substantially as set forth.
3. A submergible boat or vessel, or a boat or vessel capable of being nearly
submerged, having a cell for a torpedo. or the like, closed at the outer end and
connected thereat with the water outside of the vessel, and closed at the inner end
with a removable cap and connected at said inner end with a receptacle for com-
pressed air, said cell being provided with a piston, and a detent to limit the extent
of travel of said piston, and having cocks to control, the flow of water and air
through the respective pipes, substantially as set forth.
4. A submergible boat or vessel, or a boat or vessel capable of being nearly
submerged, provided with a torpedo cell in the form of a cylinder having in it a
piston and furnished with a detent for limiting the travel of the piston, said cell
being connected at its closed outer end with the water outside of the vessel and
provided with means for controlling the influx of water to said cell back of the
piston, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
5. A submergible vessel or boat, or a vessel or boat capable of being nearly
submerged, having a projectile chamber, and a water-chamber adjacent thereto, and
means for supplying water to the water-chamber to compensate for the weight of a
projectile removed from the projectile chamber, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 8th day of April 1805
STEPHEN WATKINS,
Wolverhampton, Agent for the Applicant