IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CATCHING FISH
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wilkinson, of Jarrow, in the County of
Durham, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
CATCHING FISH."
Sealed the 15th October 1867, and dated the 18th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wilkinson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th April 1867.
1, WILLIAM WILKINSON, of Jarrow, in the County of Durham, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR CATCHING FISH," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus by the use of
whic the operation of catching fish will be greatly facilitated.
When applying this apparatus I propose to employ a larger class of fisbing
vessel than is in common use, and to provide steam power for propelling the
same, and as much greater power will be required to haul in the net than will
in general be available in a properly manned fishing boat of the class referred
to, I propose to use a donkey engine for this purpose.
The fishing apparatus may be thus described:-A rectangular net of any
given size say, 150 feet square, is connected at its edges with a framework of

page_text: flexible air tubes which are connected with an air pump in the fishing vessel.
The tubes forming the framework are fitted at intervals with escape valves for
regulating the internal pressure of the air forced into the tubes and also with
discharge cocks. In the middle of the net a ring of tubular network is fitted
to receive and retain a supply of bait, which while it attracts will be protected
from the fish. Weights are attached to the flexible frame to sink the net to
the required depth in the water, and buoys are secured by ropes to the
corners of the frame to indicate when the net is properly spread. The net is
raised to the surface of the water by pumping air into the flexible air tubes,
whereby sufficient buoyancy is obtained to bring up the apparatus and any
fish that may have been attracted within the range of the net to the surface;
the net is then hauled on shipboard by aid of the donkey engine, the air
being meanwhile discharged from the tubes to reduce their bulk and render
them the more manageable. This apparatus when employed in catching
small fish which swim in shoals will not require the bait ring, but being sunk
below the level at which the shoal swims and retained at that level by
suitable floats is to be drawn gently forward, its horizontality being maintained
until it meets a shoal; the air tubes being then inflated the net will rise under
the shoal and enclose a large number of fish.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patont, filed
by the said William Wilkinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILKINSON, of Jarrow, in the County of Durham, Engineer, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Wilkinson, Her special licence that I, the said William Wilkinson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Wilkinson, 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

page_text: Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR CATCHING FISH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Wilkinson, my executors or administrators, 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 William Wilkinson; do hereby
declare the nature of my 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):
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus by the use of
which the operation of catching fish will be greatly facilitated. When
applying this apparatus I propose to employ a larger class of fishing vessels
than is in common use, and to provide steam power for propelling the same,
and as much greater power will be required to haul in the net than will in
general be available in properly manned fishing boats of the class referred to,
I propose to use a donkey engine for this purpose.
The fishing apparatus may be thus described:-A rectangular net of any
given size, say one hundred and fifty feet square, is connected at its edges
with a framework of flexible air tubes which are connected with air pumps in
the fishing vessel, and which when inflated serve to give buoyancy to the
expanded net. In the middle of the net a ring of tubular net work is fitted to
receive and retain a supply of bait, which while it attracts will be protected
from the fish. Weights are attached to the flexible frame to sink the net to
the required depth in the water, and buoys are secured by ropes to the corners
of the frame to indicate when the net is properly spread:
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn the improved fishing
apparatus and also the manner of employing it both for ground fishing and
shoal fishing; in the former case I operate with one vessel, and in the latter I
prefer to use two steamers. The net is wound upon a roller or rollers carried
by brackets or davits affixed to the side of the vessel near the head and stern
thereof, and in order to spread the net with the aid of one vessel anchors are
used for securing one end to the ground, while the other end is drawn forward
by the receding vessel to open the net and lay it out horizontally."
Fig. 1 shews the lowering of the anchors preparatory to letting down the

page_text: net; Fig. 2 shews the anchors secured in the ground and the net descending
in the act of being laid flat on the ground, and Fig. 3 shews the lowering of
the net completed; Fig. 4 shews the net expanded and in its buoyant state
suspended horizontally between two ships at a proper level to intercept (when
raised) a passing shoal; Fig. 5, shews in side view, and Fig. 6 in end view,
a steamer in the act of hauling in the raised net; Fig. 7 illustrates the
manner of attaching the framework of air tubes to the net, and Fig. 8 shews
in plan view the tubular net work for receiving and retaining the bait when
the net is used for ground fishing.
The net is made of strong twine or cord of any size of mesh to suit the
kind of fish desired. Any required number of widths of netting are connected
together in the ordinary manner of forming fishing nets to produce a net of
the desired size, which should be by preference square and as large as the
length of the vessel with which it is to be used will admit of. The edges of
the net are strengthened by being secured to a strong line or bolt rope (which
passes round the whole net) after the manner shewn at Fig. 7. The net is
made square for the convenience of paying out and hauling in the air tubes,
which may be of any size that will when inflated raise the net to the surface.
The air tubes are made of india-rubber, cloth, or other material that is
capable of being collapsed and inflated at pleasure, and will insure their
being water and air tight; these air tubes are arranged round the outer
edges of the net on all four sides, and firmly secured to the bolt ropes
by which the net is circumscribed. The tubes may be divided into as many
sections as the owner may think proper, according to the size of the net; one
that I have at present in use is made in four parts divided by stop-cocks.
The tubes are fitted with suitable self-acting escape valves to prevent the
bursting of the tubes under any undue internal pressure of air. For the proper
working of this apparatus one or more screw steamers are necessary, fitted
with a small engine and an air pump with a long stroke. The hauling
apparatus with which the vessel is fitted extends the whole length of the ship;
it consists of a drum or roller, the length of which is determined by the length
of the vessel, of seven or eight inches diameter, and furnished throughout the
length with pegs at regular distances which will prevent the net from surging,
and facilitate the hauling in of the net. Toothed wheels are used for working
the roller and obtaining the speed of rotation required for hauling in. The
standards or davits which carry the lauling apparatus are to be arranged
for the application of a single or double rollers or winding on drums and
fitted with various sized wheels and intermediate wheels; the standards or

page_text: davits should be high enough to allow six or seven feet vertical height from
the deck of the vessel, and they should extend far enough from the bulwarks
to afford room for the men to get the fish out of the net outside of the
steamer. The air pump I prefer is one with a long stroke and small bore
and with the least possible amount of clearance at the end of the stroke.
The pipes for conducting the air from the pump to the collapsible tubes
surrounding the net must be made of the same sort of material as those
tubes, and made air and water tight, and always four or five fathoms longer
than the depth of water you are fishing in, and the air pump must bo
arranged so that there must be a conducting pipe to each section of the air
tubes; thus if there be two, three, four, or more sections of these tubes
there must be as many conducting pipes, and each pipe must convey its air
to its respective section independently of the others to insure an equal inflation
throughout the elastic framework. The tubular network for containing the
bait (see Figures 3 and 8) I make three or four inches in diameter, and form
it into a circle of twenty or thirty feet diameter with straight tubes crossing
each other at the centre of the circle; this cage I fill with any suitable bait
and fix securely to the centre of the net. The apparatus constructed
according to the above description and the tubular framework thoroughly freed
from air being properly arranged for paying out, and the steamer with the
apparatus accompanied by a tender being brought to the fishing ground,
two small anchors are attached by lines to within about twenty fathoms
of the corners of the tubular framework having buoys attached by lines of
suitable lengths; one buoy with its anchor is now cast overboard from the vessel
carrying the net, as shewn at Fig. 1, and the tender or auxiliary steamer is
steamed ahead with the other buoy and anchor which is let go at a suitable
distance to insure the proper spreading of the net. The vessel carrying the
net is allowed to drop with the tide or wind, and the net is paid out to the edge
after attaching buoys and lines to the corners, and it is then cast overboard,
as shewn at Fig. 2, with the air conducting pipes which are also buoyed.
The net is then allowed to sink to the bottom, as shewn at Fig. 3, where it
remains quiescent until the time arrives for inflation; when it is judged
proper to raise the net the air pipes at the near corners are got in either
by lines or steamers and passed to the bow and stern of the vessel and made
fast, then those of the outer corners (at the other edge of the net) are secured
and the pipes are then attached to the air pumps which are then set in action.
The air forced into the sections aforesaid will slowly at first, but with rapidly
augmented speed, give buoyancy to the net and cause it to rise to the surface

page_text: of the water.
The necessity for using self-acting escape valves as before
mentioned is that when the tubes are immersed in a given depth of water
the external pressure will require a corresponding internal pressure of air
to expand them, but when through the buoyancy of the inflated tubes the
net rises the internal pressure must be proportionately decreased to allow
for the decreasing outward pressure, if then no escape valves were attached
the inflated tubes would inevitably burst. By the application of self-acting
valves, however, as the external pressure decreases the air will be allowed to
escape and relieve the tubes from all undue internal pressure; the edge of
the net next the hauling-in vessel having been made fast fore and aft, the
outer side or edge of the net is brought in by lines, or the small steamer,
over the top of the standing part of the net and passed over the rollers, so
that when the net is wound in the double of the net will be alongside of the
vessel with the fish inside secure to be taken out by hooks or otherwise. As
the net comes in the air cocks are to be opened to allow the air to escape, and
to prepare the net for the next lowering.
Having described my mode of catching large fish, or such as swim at the
botton, I will next describe my method of catching fish which swim near
the surface in shoals, as herrings, mackerel, pilchards, &c. I sink the same
sort of net any suitable depth below the surface, as shewn at Fig. 4, and
suspend it by means of buoys of any sort in a flat or horizontal position without
being baited, and not up on edge as was heretofore the usual way of taking
these sort of fish; then I draw the net gently along by means of small steamers
or other boats of any kind to meet the shoal from whatever direction they come,
and when the net is under the shoal (which can generally be seen, I inflate
the air tubes as before directed and raise the net to the surface; 1 thus not
unfrequently enclose nearly the whole shoal. In the ordinary way of netting
these sort of fish the net is buoyed up on edge with corks on the top side or
edge and pieces of lead or stones at the bottom, the net therefore hangs on edge,
and the fish that come in contact with the net so suspended in trying to get
through become entangled in the meshes and are caught, but these are a very
small proportion of the shoal.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved Apparatus
for Catching Fish," 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,-
First, the means above described whereby I am enabled to enclose and
secure fish in a net expanded horizontally.

page_text: And, secondly, the above-described means of baiting nets which are capable
of being rendered buoyant at pleasure by the aid of elastic air tubes or
receivers.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilkinson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
W. WILKINSON. (L.S.)