Year: 1888

page_text: I, ALBERT HENRY WALKER, of 274 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut, one of
the United States of America, attorney and counselor at law, 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 projectile is adapted to contain oil, and to be thrown from a ship into the sea,
and to discharge that oil upward through the water, to the surface of the waves, and
thus to allay the combers which would otherwise form upon their crests.
Figure 1.of the drawings is an exterior view of a sea oiling cartridge containing this
projectile. Figure 2 is a central longitudinal section of the cartridge of Figure 1.
The letter A indicates the shell of the projectile, which carries the oil to the sea.
The letter B indicates the base of the projectile; which base is preferably a cylindrical
block of hemlock or spruce, or other wood or substance of similar specific gravity.
The letter C indicates a valve, preferably made of iron, and occupying a seat in the
center of the inner end of the base block B. The letter D indicates a weight, pre-
ferably consisting of lead, cast into the forward end of the shell A. The letters E
and indicate a narrow tape, preferably made of loosely spun flax or cotton, and
serving to hold the valve C in its seat, by being attached, at its forward part, to the
cars and H, which project from the backward side of the valve; and by being
passed thence, backward through the cylindrical openings I and J, to opposite sides of
the base block B; and thence over the wad K, which is preferably made of felt, and
placed upon the rearward side of the base block; and finally by being tied at its rear-
ward ends, in a tight hard knot, on the rearward side of the wad. The letter L
indicates the oil chamber in the shell A; and which oil chamber, when two and five-
eighths inches long and one inch in diameter contains about one ounce of oil.
The letter M indicates the cartridge shell, which contains the powder chamber N,
and is constructed in all respects like well known cartridge shells of warfare, and
which holds and throws the projectile described in the last paragraph, in precisely the
same manner that such cartridge shells have heretofore been made to hold and throw
clindrical projectiles of lead or iron.

page_text: The above described projectile is constructed by making the shell A, of metal or
paper, or other suitable substance, and by casting the weight D into the forward end
of the interior thereof, and by fastening the valve C and the wad K, to the base
block B, by means of the tape E F, and then by inserting the base block thus
furnished, tightly into the rearward end of the shell A, after filling that shell with oil
nearly up to the line to be occupied by the forward side of the base block B and the
yalve C. Thus completed, the projectile may be fastened in the cartridge shell, in the
same manner that solid cylindrical projectiles of warfare are fastened in such shells.
The mode of operation is as follows:
The cartridge is placed in any breech loading, cartridge firing, rifled gun of suitable
caliber, located on shipboard or on shore, and the gun is directed over the waves to be
allayed, and is discharged in the manner proper with that sort of gun. The explosion
of the powder in the powder chamber N, ignites and burns and thus severs, the
ape EF, and drives the projectile out of the cartridge shell, and out from the mouth
of the barrel of the gun, to a distance over the water according to the charge of
powder, the length and elevation of the gun barrel, and the weight and the cross-
section of the projectile and its contents. During the flight of the projectile through
the air, the valve C is caused to retain its place in its seat on the forward side of the
base block B, by the outward suction, through the openings I and J, which is caused
by the rapid passage of the projectile through the atmosphere. When the projectile
reaches the water, its momentum carries it, point downward, somewhat below the
surface, although its aggregate specific gravity is less than that of water. As soon as
its downward motion is arrested by the water, the valve O falls from its seat through
the oil, to the forward end of the oil chamber, and thus uncovers the forward ends of
the openings I and J. Thereupon the oil naturally rises through those openings and
out of the projectile while a corresponding quantity of water enters the projectile to
take its place. This operation continues until the whole of the oil in the projectile is
discharged from the upward end thereof, whence it rises to the surface of the sea,
where it spreads like a film upon the waves.
:
This projectile may be used without the cartridge shell M and the powder chamber N,
and may be thrown from a ship into the sea by means of a cord, one end of which is
provided with a hook engaged under the knotted tape E F, rearward of the base
block B. In which case the sailor seizes the cord and swings the projectile around
his head in a horizontal plane, until it has acquired a sufficient momentum, and is
directed over the side of the ship, when, by suddenly jerking the cord, he causes the
hook to break the tape, and thus enables the projectile to fly, point forward, through
the air, into the sea.
The felt wad K may be omitted, when the rearward end of the base block B fits
tightly in the cartridge shell M. And the valve C may be retained in its seat, while
the projectile is being manufactured, and afterwards before it is used, otherwise than
by the tape E F, consistently with being released from such substituted means of
retention at the instant the projectile is expelled from the cartridge shell. So, also,
one opening through the base block B may be made and employed, instead of two or
The specific gravity of the valve Ŭ must be greater than that of oil, and not
great enough to prematurely dislocate it from its seat, or to neutralize the buoyancy
of the rearward end of the projectile, which is caused by the small specific gravity of
the base block B. The specific gravity of the weight D, must be great enough to
cause the forward end of the projectile to point downward in the sea; but not great
enough to cause the aggregate specific gravity of the projectile to exceed that of
more.
sea water.
The oil in the projectile may be fish oil, linseed oil, olive oil, crude petroleum, or
lubricating mineral oil, and still other oils will produce beneficial results; though fish
oil is probably best. When the projectiles are to be used in cold weather, any thick
and heavy oil therein, requires to be mixed with lubricating mineral oil, to give it
sufficient fluidity.
Published data relevant to extemporaneous experiments which have been made with
oil, upon broken water, indicate a high degree of efficacy in the scientific use of small

page_text: quantities thereof, and thereby point to the opinion that an ocean steamer going
forward fifteen miles an hour, and provided with a suitable breech loading rifle, fixed
upon deck, and provided with a supply of the foregoing described cartridges, can
make, in a raging sea, a path of unbroken water for itself, an eighth of a mile wide,
and extending always an ample distance ahead, by simply shooting these projectiles
with sufficient frequency, from that rifle to a receding transverse line, an eighth of a
mile long, and a mile or less in advance of the ship. And when lying to, or when
lowering or hoisting boats in a heavy sea, the combers can be kept at any necessary
distance away from a ship, by throwing these projectiles to windward, into the sea,
a corresponding distance from the sides of the same, and by repeating the operation
from time to time, if required. So, also, in cases of ship-wreck within a mile of a
shore, a path of unbroken water may be made from the shore to the ship, by means of
these projectiles, and may furnish a safe passage, to and fro, for boats and rescuers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
to
1. A sea oiling projectile, consisting of a shell containing oil, one end of which is
provided with a weight of greater specific gravity than water, and the opposite end of
which is provided with a block or its equivalent of less specific gravity than water,
and with a valve of greater specific gravity than oil, to close an opening through that
block, during the flight of the projectile through the air, because of suction at the
rear of the projectile, and afterward to uncover that opening, because of that greater
specific gravity; all substantially as described.
2. The combination of the shell A; the base block B, provided with an opening
therethrough; the valve C, closing that opening; the weight D; and the tape E F,
holding the valve C on its seat on the base block B, and adapted to release that hold
when burned or broken; all substantially as described.
Dated this Fifteenth day of September 1888.