IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND MOORING FLOATING STRUCTURES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Liddell, of Abingdon Street, in the City of
Westminster, and Robert Stirling Newall, of Gateshead, in the County
of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND
MOORING FLOATING STRUCTURES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Liddell and
Robert Stirling Newall at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 18th December 1865.
We, CHARLES LIDDELL, of Abingdon Street, in the City of Westminster, and
ROBERT STIRLING NEWALL, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, do hereby
déclare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING
AND MOORING FLOATING STRUCTURES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of floating bodies which are
intended to carry a superstructure suitable for warning the mariner of his
proximity to land, shoals, or sunken rocks, and to the mooring of the same, so
that they may be permanently submerged at a level below the action of the
waves.
The floating structure we make of such form and size that it will have a
power of flotation fully equal to sustain the weight of the superstructure, which
we prefer to consist of skeleton framing carried above the action of the highest
The floating structure we anchor to screw or other moorings or
sunken weights by means of parallel or nearly parallel chains acting nearly
perpendicularly, and attached so as to allow the float to move laterally when
acted on by currents, and at the same time maintain its horizontal position.

page_text: The mooring chains we work by means of winches, hydraulic presses, or
other arrangement, so as to allow of the adjustment of the level of the float
and the raising or lowering of it. When using hydraulic presses, which we
prefer as the means of adjustment, we provide a cylinder for each mooring
chain, and connect these cylinders with one pump, so as to obtain when
required simultaneous action and equal tension on all the mooring chains or
cables.
By these arrangements the mooring chains are kept always tight, and the
constant wearing action which takes place in chains attached to buoys or light
vessels moored in the ordinary way is got rid of.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Liddell and Robert Stirling Newall in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 18th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
LIDDELL, of Abingdon Street, in the City of Westminster, and ROBERT
STIRLING NEWALL, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Charles Liddell and Robert Stirling Newall, Her special licence
that we, the said Charles Liddell and Robert Stirling Newall, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Charles Liddell
and Robert Stirling Newall, our 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. "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND MOORING FLOATING STRUCTURES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Charles Liddell and Robert
Stirling Newall, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that. I, the said Robert Stirling Newall, on behalf of
myself and of the said Charles Liddell, do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly 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 the construction of floating bodies which are
intended to carry a superstructure (suitable, for example, for warning the
mariner of his proximity to land shoals or sunken rocks), and to the mooring
of the floating bodies, so that they may be permanently submerged at a level
below the action of the waves.
. The floating structure we make of such form and size that it will have a
power of flotation fully equal to sustain the weight of the superstructure, which
we prefer to consist of skeleton framing carried above the action of the highest
waves. The floating structure we anchor to screw or other moorings or sunken
weights by means of parallel or nearly parallel chains attached to the float so
as to allow it to move laterally when acted on by currents, and at the same
time maintain its horizontal position..
The mooring chains we work by means of winches, hydraulic presses, or
other arrangement; so as to allow of the adjustment of the level of the float,
and the raising or lowering of it. When using hydraulic presses, which we
prefer as the means of adjustment, we provide a cylinder for each mooring
chain, and connect these cylinders with one pump, so as to obtain, when
required, simultaneous action and equal tension on all the mooring chains or
cables.
By these arrangements the mooring chains are kept always tight, and the
constant wearing action which takes place in chains attached to buoys or light
vessels moored in the ordinary way is got rid of.
Having stated the nature of our Invention, we now proceed to describe the
manner of performing the same.
The floating structure is made of a series of cylinders securely fastened
together, or of a circular or annular form, perfectly water-tight, and of sufficient
strength to resist the pressure of the water when submerged. On the top of
this is erected a superstructure or skeleton framing carried above the action of
the highest waves, and which may be used for carrying a beacon or lighthouse,
or for the pier of a bridge, or other purpose.
The float is anchored by screw moorings or weights placed on the ground
in such positions that the chains attached to them may be brought up nearly
perpendicularly to appropriate holes in the float, through which the chains

page_text: pass to the fastenings in the superstructuré. ."These fastenings may either
be winches, hydraulic pressés, screws, or other arrangements for producing
-strain, fixed at such a height as to be above the action of the waves when the
'float is submerged. We prefer hydraulic presses as the most easy means of
adjustment, and we fix a hydraulic cylinder to each upright of the framework
over the holes in the float, through which the mooring chains pass. All these
'cylinders are connected by pipes leading from the lower end of the cylinders
'to one pressure pump, each pipe having a cock to shut off the connection. of
'the pump when required. The mooring chains after having been passed
through the holes in the float are attached to the piston rods of the hydraulic
cylinders fixed to the framework, and on pressure being applied to the
cylinders by means of the pump all the mooring chains will be strained alike,
and the float will be submerged by pressure on the pistons. When one piston
has been pressed to the end of its stroke all the mooring chains are clamped
to the framework of the superstructure, and then disconnected from the
hydraulic pistons which are drawn out, and the mooring chains, after having
been shortened by removing the necessary lengths, are reattached to the pistons.
Pressure is reapplied to the cylinders, the clamps are slackened, the chains
are hauled in by continuing the pressure and the float is further submerged.
By repeating this process, the float may be submerged to the extent required,
'and' it.is then to be securely clamped to the mooring chains.
:
The accompanying Drawing is given as an illustration of a float submerged
and carrying a superstructure fitted with an arrangement of hydraulic press
for submerging the float. On this superstructure may be placed a beacon or
lighthouse, or it may be used as a pier of a bridge.
What we claim as our Invention is making and mooring floating structures
in such a manner as that they may be permanently submerged at a level below
the action of the waves, and in using such floats to carry a superstructure
'rising above water level.
6
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Stirling Newall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
R. S. NEWALL. (L.B.)