IMPROVED MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR SOUNDING OR FINDING THE DEPTH OF THE SEA
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William James Mackenzie of Glasgow in the County of.
Lanark North Britain Electrician for an Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS
AND APPLIANCES FOR SOUNDING OR FINDING THE DEPTH OF THE SEA"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William James Mackenzie at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th November 1882.
WILLIAM JAMES MACKENZIE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Electrician, "IMPROVED MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR SOUNDING OR
FINDING THE DEPTH OF THE SEA,"
This Invention, which relates to improved means and appliances for sounding or
finding the depth of the sea, has for its objects to enable soundings to be taken
continuously from a vessel while under way, and to have correct readings of the
depth observed or recorded on board the vessel without requiring to haul in the
sounding instrument.
In carrying out the Invention, according to one modification, a close covered
cylindrical or other casing or sounding vessel is used, into which the sea water is
admitted by openings at or near the lower end, while the upper end is filled with
air or other compressible gas which cannot escape when the sounding vessel is
immersed. This sounding vessel is suspended in the sea by a cable passing over
the ships side, and is caused to sink to the bottom by means of a heavy weight
hung or in any convenient way attached to it, while the cylindrical vessel is
maintained in a vertical or approximately vertical position, partly by a connecting
wire or cord from the weight to the cable, and in part by means of the air confined
in its upper end, as also if need be by means of a separate air vessel fitted over the
sounding cylinder.
The sounding cylinder is made of brass or other metal or strong material, and
the vessel is by preference lined internally with vulcanite or other nonconductor
of electricity.
Within the cylindrical casing are fitted two plates or rods or two series of plates
or rods of platinum, copper, or other metal, or as is preferred of carbon, which are

page_text: by preference placed symetrically in inclined positions and extending from the
upper end of the cylinder (where they are close together, but not in contact) either
down into the water, or to the level attained by the water when there is no
pressure, that is when the cylinder is simply immersed to admit water into it.
These plates or rods are connected to separate conducting wires insulated from each
other and passing out through the cylinder to the cable which carries the sounding
cylinder, and of which the conducting wires form the core. The cable with the
conducting wires is wound on to a drum on board the vessel, and the inboard ends
of the conducting wires are either passed through a hollow shaft in the drum, or
connected by insulated conductors to wires leading to a battery, and having in
circuit a galvanometer which is deflected-to-a-degree corresponding to the resistance
of the circuit when closed.
When soundings are to be taken, the cable to which the sounding cylinder is
attached, is paid out until the weight connected to it reaches to and drags along
the sea bottom.
The water entering the lower end of the sounding cylinder immerses the lower
ends of the inclined carbon plates, and the circuit is completed by the salt water
through the plates and conducting wires to the battery and galvanometer, and a
deflection of the galvanometer takes place. As the cylinder sinks, the water
entering it compresses the air within its upper end, and rises to an extent
corresponding to the pressure due to the depth of the water over the cylinder. As
the water rises, a greater length of the inclined carbon plates is immersed, and the
space intervening between the highest points of immersion of the plates is lessened.
The water being a resisting medium, and the extent of water space in the circuit
being lessened as the sounding cylinder sinks deeper, less resistance is offered to
the passage of the current, and the galvanometer is deflected to a greater degree,
corresponding to the lessened resistance. This effect is also increased by a greater
extent of surface of the plates being immersed in the salt water within the
sounding cylinder when it descends to a greater depth of the sea.
By observing the deflection of the galvanometer over a graduated scale correct
readings of the depth of the sea may be noted without hauling in the cable and
the sounding cylinder or stopping the ship. The scale of the galvanometer is made
movable, so that its divisions can be made to read correctly for varying strength
of battery current.
Instead of having two conducting wires in the cable, a single conducting wire
may be used, and be connected through an insulated medium in the cylinder case
to one of the inclined plates, while the other plate may be connected to the metal
of the casing, and through the connecting wire to the weight and to the metallic
sheathing of the cable which will act as a return conductor.
The winding drum on which the cable is wound may be of any suitable
construction, and may be operated by hand or by gearing from a winch, or other
motor. The galvanometer used is by preference of the kind known as dead
beat, and may be graduated empirically to read in fathoms, or in other units
of depth.
Instead of admitting the sea water direct to the cylindrical sounding case, this
case may be placed within an outer case containing any solution or liquid to act
as a resisting medium for the current, and the outer case may be fitted with a
movable piston or flexible disc or an air pad on which the pressure of the sea water
may act
The galvanometer may also be fitted with a style and be arranged to record its
deflections continuously on a strip of paper moved under it by clockwork.
A key or other contact making device may be fitted in connection with one of
the conducting wires, and be used to put the sounding instrument out of circuit
when continuous soundings are not to be taken.
In another modification, the sounding vessel consists of a small water tight casing
connected to a cable of which the core is formed by conducting wires insulated from
each other. The lower end or one side of the casing is fitted with a flexible

page_text: diaphragm which by preference consists of a corrugated metal plate of the kind
used in aneroid barometers.
This diaphragm is connected to one of the conducting wires, and between the
diaphragm or a stud fixed to it, and a fixed plate or stud inside the casing,
connected to the other conducting wire, is placed a carbon button.
The conducting wires are connected to a battery and to a galvanometer as before
described.
The casing is sunk in the sea by means of a weight, and as it descends, the
pressure on the diaphragm increases. The pressure on the diaphragm is communi-
cated to the carbon button interposed between the conducting wires of the electric
circuit, and variations of pressure on the button due to different depths of the
casing in the sea, cause variations of resistance of the carbon to the curren
transmitted through it and the wires and produce greater or less degrees of
deflections of the galvanometer which is provided with a graduated scale.

page_text: 15th May 1883.
WILLIAM JAMES MACKENZIE, of Glasgow in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Electrician "IMPROVED MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR SOUNDING OR
FINDING THE DEPTH OF THE SEA.”
My said Invention, which relates to improved means and appliances for
sounding or finding the depth of the sea, has for its objects to enable soundings to
be taken continuously from a vessel while under way, and to have correct readings
of the depth observed or recorded on board the vessel without requiring to haul in
the sounding instrument.
The Invention is illustrated by the accompanying Drawings in which figure 1 is
a general view representing part of a vessel with the improved sounding apparatus
attached. Figure 2 is an elevation and figure 3 is a vertical section of a modifi-
cation of the improved sounding vessel or "sounder." Figure 4 is an elevation,
and figure 5 is a plan of part of the sounder with its casing removed. Figures
and 7 are side and edge views of forms of plates used in the sounder, and figure 8
is an elevation of a sinker used to retain the sounder close to the sea bottom.
Figure 9 is an elevation, and figures 10 and 11 are vertical sections taken at right
angles to each other, representing another modification of sounding vessel or
sounder. Figures 12 and 13 are side and edge views of a drum on to which the
cable carrying the sounder is wound. Figures 14 and 15 are a side elevation and
a plan of a galvanometer which is used to indicate the variations of electrical
resistance produced by the sinking of the sounder to a greater or less depth in the
water. Figures 16 and 17 are diagrams illustrating the method of connecting the
wires to complete the circuit through the various parts of the apparatus.
In carrying out the Invention, according to one modification of the apparatus
represented in figures 1 to 8 of the drawings, a close covered cylindrical or other
casing or sounding vessel A. is used, into which the sea water is admitted by
openings a at or near the lower end, while the upper end contains air or other
compressible gas which cannot escape when the sounding vessel is immersed. This
sounding vessel A is suspended in the sea by a cable C passing over the ships
taffrail, and is caused to sink to the bottom by means of a sufficiently heavy
weight B attached to it by a stout line D in the manner shown, or in any other
suitable way, while the cylindrical vessel A. is maintained in a vertical or approxi-
mately vertical position, partly by connecting the cable C on the opposite side of
the vessel, slightly higher up, and in part by means of the air confined in its upper
end, as also, if need be, by means of a separate air vessel fitted over the sounding
cylinder A, and a weight fixed to the line end.
The sounding cylinder A is made of brass, or other metal or strong material,
and the vessel is lined internally with vulcanite or other nonconductor of
electricity. Within the cylindrical casing are fitted two plates or rods or two
series of plates or rods E, E', of platinum, copper, or other metal, or of carbon,
which are by preference placed symmetrically in inclined positions, extending from
near the upper end of the cylinder (where they are close together, but not in
contact) either down into the water, or to the level attained by the water when
there is no pressure, that is when the cylinder is simply immersed to admit water
into it. The upper ends of the plates E, E¹, are held apart by a slotted bar in a
ring of vulcanite A¹ as shown in figure 5, so that the nearest connection across the
vulcanite is greater than the greatest separation of the plates E, E¹. The plates or
rods E, E, are connected to separate conducting wires e, e¹, covered with insulated

page_text: material, or otherwise insulated from each other and from the water inside the
vessel, and passing out through the cylinder A to the cable C which carries the
sounding cylinder, and of which the conducting wires may form the core, or the
cable may be formed with a metallic sheathing which may serve as one of the
conducting wires. The cable C with the conducting wires is wound on a drum F.
on board the vessel, and the inboard ends of the conducting wires are either passed
through a hollow shaft in the drum, or connected by insulated conductors to wires
leading to a battery H, and having in circuit a galvanometer G which is deflected
to a degree depending on the electro-motive-force of the current and the resistance
of the circuit when closed.
In the arrangement shown in the drawing, of connecting the cable to the drum
and to the battery and galvanometer, one of the conducting wires e¹ forming the
core of the cable C or the sheathing of the cable when used as one of the con-
ductors is electrically connected to the drum F and to the metallic framing F,
while the other conducting wire s is kept insulated and passed through a hole in
the spindle f of the drum and through a vulcanite disc f¹ to a metallic rim on that
disc, against which bears a spring f³. One wire e of the circuit through the
galvanometer G, is connected to the spring f' which is insulated from the framing F¹,
and the other e³ is connected by a binding screw to the framing F1 of the drum, and
leads to the battery H. The galvanometer or indicator and the battery are conve-
niently fitted in a box I which may be placed on deck or in the deck-house J, as
indicated in figure 1; and the conductors from the sounder A passing through the
cable C and out of the drum F are led to the deck-house.
When soundings are to be taken, the cable C to which the sounding cylinder A
is attached, is paid out until the weight B connected to it reaches to and drags
along the sea bottom.
The water entering the lower end of the sounding cylinder A immerses the lower
ends of the inclined plates E, E¹, and the circuit is completed by the salt water
within the vessel A through the plates E, E', and conducting wires e, e', e³, es, to
the battery H and galvanometer G, and a deflection of the galvanometer takes
place. As the cylinder A sinks, the water entering it compresses the air within
its upper end and rises to an extent corresponding to the pressure due to the depth
of the water over the cylinder. As the water rises, a greater length of the inclined
plates E, E is immersed, and the space intervening between the highest points of
immersion of the plates, is lessened. The water not being a good conductor, and
the extent of water space in the circuit being lessened as the sounding cylinder A
sinks deeper, less resistance is offered to the passage of the current, and the
galvanometer is deflected to a greater degree corresponding to the lessened
resistance. This effect is also increased by a greater extent of surface of the
plates E, E, being immersed in the salt water within the sounding cylinder when
it descends to a greater depth of the sea, and it may still be further increased by
making the strips or plates E, E', of greater breadth towards their upper ends, as is
indicated in figures 6 and 7, to give an extra amount of contact surface as the
water ascends.
By observing the deflection of the galvanometer G, or of a pointer g attached
to the galvanometer needle, over a graduated scale g¹ correct readings of the depth
of the sea may be noted without hauling in the cable C and the sounding cylinder A,
and without stopping the ship. The scale g' of the galvanometer may be made
movable, so that its divisions can be made to read correctly for varying strength
of battery current. The galvanometer used is by preference of the kind known
as "dead-beat," and may be graduated empirically to read in fathoms, or in other
units of depth. The galvanometer case G is hung upon gimbals to mitigate the
motion of the vessel, and the connections made through the gimbal rings, which
are suitably insulated.. The galvanometer may also be fitted with a style and be
arranged to record its deflections continuously on a strip of paper moved under it
by clockwork. A key or other contact making disc K is fitted in connection
with one of the conducting wires, and is used to put the sounding instrument and

page_text: the galvanometer into circuit when readings of the depth are to be taken, or to
break the circuit when continuous soundings are not to be taken.
The winding drum F on which the cable is wound may be of any suitable
construction, and may be operated by hand or by gearing from a winch or other
motor.
Instead of admitting the sea water direct to the cylindrical sounding case A,
this case may be placed within an outer case containing any solution or liquid to
act as a conducting medium for the current, and the outer case may be fitted with
a movable piston or flexible disc or an air pad on which the pressure of the sea
water may act.
In the modification shown in figures-9, 10-and-1-1, the sounding vessel consists
of a small water tight casing A connected to a cable C of which the core is formed
by conducting wires insulated from each other, or in which is an insulated con-
ducting wire, and a metallic sheathing forming a return conductor. The lower end
or one side of the casing A is fitted with a flexible diaphragm L, which by
preference consists of a corrugated metal plate of the kind used in aneroid
barometers. This diaphragm L may be connected to one of the conducting wires,
and between the diaphragın or a stud fixed to it, and a fixed plate or stud inside
the casing, connected to the other conducting wire, is placed a carbon button. It
is preferred however to reduce the pressure of the diaphragm on the carbon, by
means of levers in the manner shown in figures 10 and 11. In this case, the
pressure of the sea water against the diaphragm L is transmitted by a short
stem 7 to a lever M jointed at m to a bracket piece formed in the casing A. To
the upper end of the lever M is fitted a plate or disc n which bears against a
carbon button N fitted to a disc or plate n³ on an insulated cross bar P in the
casing A.
The position of the carbon button N may be adjusted by means of a screw n³
which is reached through an opening O in the casing A fitted with a screw plug.
The casing A is attached by a collar c to the cable Ŏ which enters the casing by
a water-tight stuffing box A². The metallic sheathing of the cable or one of the
conducting wires, is in electric contact with the metal casing A, and with the
lever M and disc n on one side of the carbon button N, and the other conductor
or insulated core of the cable is led into the casing and connected to the fixed
plate n on the opposite side of the carbon button, so that the circuit is completed
through the carbon.
The conducting wires of the cable C are connected to a battery and to a
galvanometer on deck, as described with reference to the first modification,
The vessel A. is sunk in the sea by means of a weight, but does not require to
be maintained in a vertical position; and as it descends the pressure on the
diaphragm L increases. The pressure on the diaphragm L is communicated to the
carbon button N interposed between the conducting wires of the electric circuit,
and variations of pressure of the lever and disc M, n, on the button N due to
different depths of the casing in the sea, cause variations of resistance of the carbon
to the current transmitted through it and the conducting wires, and produce
greater or less degrees of deflections of the galvanometer over the graduated scale.
From these deflections, readings of the depth of the sea are taken either con-
tinuously or at intervals as may be found convenient.
In the first modification of sounding vessel, the cable may be made to enter by
a stuffing box, in the manner shown in figures 9, 10 and 11.
Having now described my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is
to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my Invention is;-
First. The means herein described of sounding or ascertaining the depth of the
sea by recording on deck the variations in strength of a current of electricity
transmitted through a sounding vessel, such variations being caused by the
varying depth of the sounding vessel, substantially as herein set forth.
Second. The appliances for sounding or ascertaining the depth of the sea,
arranged and combined, substantially as herein described and illustrated,

page_text: Third. As means for sounding or ascertaining the depth of the sea, the com-
bination with a close casing (A) of the strips or plates (E, E¹) and conducting wires
connected to a battery and galvanometer or indicator on deck, substantially as
herein described and illustrated.
Fourth. As means for sounding or ascertaining the depth of the sea, the com-
bination with a close casing (A) of a diaphragm (L) exposed to the water, and
a carbon button (N) acted on by the diaphragm and interposed between conductors
having in circuit a battery and galvanometer or indicator, substantially as herein
described and illustrated.
Fifth. The sounding vessel or casing A fitted with the inclined or curved and
tapering conducting plates E, E¹ insulated or separated from each other, sub-
stantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
.
Sixth. The sounding vessel or casing A fitted with a diaphragm L acting directly
or through the lever M on a carbon button N in an electric circuit, substantially as
and for the purpose herein set forth.
In Witness Whereof, I, the said William James Mackenzie, have hereunto
set my hand and seal this eleventh day of May in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty three.
W* JAB MACKENZIE (LS)
0 Witness
WALLACE FAIRWEATHER C.E., Fel. Inst, P.A.
Of W. R. M. Thomson & Co
Patent Agents
Glasgow.