AN AUTO- MATON BELL FOR THE PREVENTION OF COLLISIONS AT SEA
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jozé Luis, of the British & Foreign Oflice for
Patents, No. 1B, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN AUTO-
MATON BELL FOR THE PREVENTION OF COLLISIONS AT SEA."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Gallois Foucault, of Saint Martin, in the Empire
of France.
ealed the 13th March 1860, and dated the 17th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jozé Luis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents,, with his Petition, on the 17th Sep-
.tember 185.9.
I; JOZE LUIS, of the British & Foreign Office for Patents, No. 13, Welbeck
Street, Cavendish Square, London, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN AUTOMATON BELL
FOR THE PREVENTION OF COLLISIONS AT SEA," & that it has been communicated.
to me from abroad by Gallois Foucault, of Saint Martin, in the Empire of.
France, to be as follows:-
: The object of the present Invention is, by means of a self-ringing bell, to
give notice of the approach or position (when at anchor) of vessels, and so
prevent collisions at sea, & also to signall the whereabouts of sands, sunken
rocks, and other dangerous vicinities. The apparatus is, of extremely simple
construction, being composed of a bell supported on an iron rod, and is sur-:
mounted by four arms placed at right angles, and having at each end a
movable hammer or clapper so attached that at the least oscillation the
hammer may strike the bell. When placed on a floating buoy (marking
sunken rocks, sands, or otherwise), or some part of the vessel (as the top of
-

page_text: one of the masts), it rings at the slightest oscillation of the vessel or buoy,
and thus, even during fogs, whether the vessel be sailing or at anchor,
collisions may be prevented by the bell signalling the whereabouts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jozé Luis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th March
1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JozÉ
LUIS, of the British & Foreign Office for Patents, No. 13, Welbeck Street,
Cavendish Square, London, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Jozé Luis, Her special licence that I, the said Jozé Luis,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jozé
Luis, my 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 "AN AUTOMATON BELL
FOR THE PREVENTION OF COLLISIONS AT SEA," communication from abroad by
Gallois Foucault, of Saint Martin, in the Empire of France, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Jozé Luis, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jozé Luis do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say: -
The object of the present Invention is, by means of a self-ringing bell, to
give notice of the approach or position of vessels, and so prevent collisions

page_text: at sea, and also to signal the whereabouts of sands, sunken rocks, and other
dangerous vicinities. The apparatus is of extremely simple construction,
being composed of a bell supported on an iron rod surmounted by four arms
placed at right angles, and having at each end a moveable hammer or clapper
(see Drawings) so attached that at the least oscillation the hammers may
strike the bell. When placed on a floating buoy (marking sunken rocks,
sands, or otherwise), or some part of the vessel (as the top of one of the
masts), it rings at the slightest oscillation of the vessel or buoy, and thus, even
during fogs, whether the vessel be sailing or at anchor, collisions may be
prevented by the bell signalling the whereabouts. In case of a complete
absence of motion in the ship, the clappers may be put in movement by a
set of pullies (see Fig. 2) arranged on the four arms, to which the clappers
are attached, and by the medium of a cord fastened to a ring the clappers
may be worked from the deck. By means of the same arrangement the
ringing of the bell may be stopped without the necessity of ascending the