IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LIFTING VESSELS OUT OF WATER
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LIFTING VESSELS
OUT OF WATER."-A communication from abroad by Horace Irving
Crandall, of New Bedford, Bristol County, State of Massachusetts,
The Son of Imotion
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st May 1860.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LIFTING VESSELS
OUT, OP WATER," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to dock or shore vessels for building or
repairing by a more simple and less expensive structure than is at present in
use, for, this purpose..
To this end a cradle which is to carry the vessel to be raised out of the water
is combined with a suitable platform or staging furnished with suitable hauling
apparatus. The cradle is fitted with bilge and keel blockings and braces for

page_text: keeping the vessel in an upright position. The cradle is carried by a suitable
number of columns, which are jointed at their ends to the cradle and to base.
timbers. These columns, which are capable of swinging to and fro like the
arms of a parallel ruler, work between the standards of the platform framing.
and keep the cradle in a horizontal position whatever be the inclination given
to these columns or supports. The cradle is connected to the hauling
apparatus by means of chains, whereby the cradle may be let down into the
water under the vessel's bottom and the vessel elevated with a forward move-
ment until the columns are in a vertical position. The columns will then
serve as permanent supports, so that the vessel will not rest upon or be
supported by the lifting power.
i
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, iny executors, administrators, 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 "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR LIFTING VESSELS OUT OF WATER," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
imanner 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,.
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
. The object of this Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign corre--
spondent, is to dock or shore vessels for building or repairing, by a more simple
and less expensive structure than is at present in use for this purpose.
By the use of this Invention many serious objections to the present mode of
raising vessels out of the water and placing them on shore for repairing or
rebuilding will be obviated.
The Invention consists in combining with a suitable platform or staging,
furnished with bilge and keel blockings and braces for keeping the vessel in an
upright position, a suitable number of columns upon which the cradle is supported,
the said columns being jointed at their ends to the cradle and to base timbers,
and made capable of swinging to and fro while at the same time they keep the
cradle in a horizontal position whatever be the inclination given to these
columns or supports. . By this means the cradle may be let down into. the
water below the line of the vessel's bottom, and when the vessel is floated over
it the cradle may be elevated with a forward movement until the columns aro
in a vertical position; the columns will then serve as permanent supports, so
that the vessel will not rest upon or be supported by the lifting power.
This Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1.
is a longitudinal middle section showing a vessel resting in the dock out of the
water, and the position of the cradle or platform with its supports, when in
the water to receive the vessel upon it is shewn in red lines; Fig. 2 is a
transverse vertical section of the dock showing. the staging cradle and its
supports when the vessel is in an elevated position. Similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in both Figures.
A represents the framework of the foundation which should be constructed.
upon a good solid bottom and of sound timber. Upon this.framework are
placed at equal distances apart and parallel to each other three (or more or
less) longitudinal timbers B, B, B, and proceeding up from each of these
timbers are the supporting columns C, C, for the cradle or carriage D. The
columns each have T-gudgeons.on their ends which have their bearings in-
suitable journal boxes in the frame timbers B, B, B, and the longitudinal timber
braces E, E, E, of the cradle D. The columns are all set parallel to each other,
and are placed at frequent intervals along the timbers from front to rear of the

page_text: .carriage according to the tonnage of the vessel. to be shored on the dock.
G, G, are diagonal bracing rods which are jointed to the carriage and
foundation timbers between the rows of columns for giving strength to the
cradle and preventing it from canting, sideways during the raising of a vessel.
These bracing rods are so connected to the cradle and foundation timbers
as to partake of the movements of the cradle and to brace the same against
lateral motion in whatever position the cradle may be placed. The cradle or
carriage D is built and furnished like any ordinary cradle for docking vessels.
by floating them out of the water or drawing them up on ways, a, a, being the
keel blocks, and b, b, the bilgings upon which the vessel rests and by means of
which she is kept in a steady upright position. J, J, are chains attached to
the carriage D at each side and at or near the middle of the length of the
same. These chains or chains and rods pass round windlasses N, N, that are
operated through the medium of large and small spur wheels or any other
suitable hauling-up gear by hydrostatic engines, steam engines, or any other
suitable motive power. The engines are arranged on a very convenient
staging M crected along the sides and across the landside or stern of the
vessel as shown in the Drawings.
Having thus described the main features of the improved mode of docking
vessels without entering into detail of the minor parts which will be familiar to
any ship-builder, I will proceed to explain the process of raising a vessel out of
water and placing her on shore in an elevated position for undergoing
repairs, &c.
The cradle D is lowered down into the water as deep as may be necessary to
float the vessel over it, the vessel is then floated on it, seated on the bilge blocks,
and secured fast by tackle in a suitable manner. The engine is now set in
motion, and as the chains J, J, are wound up on these windlasses the vessel is
gradually elevated out of the water with an upward and forward movement,
describing the arc of a circle of which the columns C, C, C, are the radii, and
the axes of their lower journals the centres thereof. When the columns are
brought up to a perpendicular position the motion is stopped and the vessel
will rest upon and be supported by these columns high and dry out of the
water so as to allow of the inspection by the shipwrights of every part of her
bottom. The cradle is then made fast to the surrounding staging by chains
or rods attached to rings at the sides of the cradle so that it cannot swing
back. The same operation reversed will launch the vessel again into the water
with speed and great efficiency.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Apparatus

page_text: for Lifting Vessels out of Water," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim the means above described for raising vessels out of
the water and sustaining them at a suitable elevation for repairs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the First day of November in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
0
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)