IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING SHIPS OUT OF THE WATER FOR THE PURPOSES OF EXAMINATION AND REPAIR
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Clark, of 24, Great George Street, West-
minster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING SHIPS OUT OF THE WATER FOR THE PURPOSES OF
EXAMINATION AND REPAIR."
Sealed the 3rd April 1857, and dated the 19th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Clark at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th January
1857.
I, EDWIN CLARK, of 24, Great George Street, Westminster, Civil Engineer,
5 do hereby declare the. nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING SHIPS OUT OF THE WATER FOR THE PURPOSES
OF EXAMINATION AND REPAIR," to be as follows:-
This. Invention consists in a method of arranging machinery for raising
ships out of the water for the purposes of examination and repair. For this
purpose I erect a series of columns in two parallel rows at some suitable place.
where the water is sufficiently deep to float the largest ship which it is intended
to.raise, and I prefer to erect these columns by adopting the system used in.
bridge constructions, of sinking wrought or cast iron cylinders, or cylinders

page_text: with screws, and excavating from the interior of them, as is well understood.
In connection with each of the columns is a hydraulic cylinder and ram, which
by means of descending rods is connected with girders which extend to the
corresponding post in the opposite row. Over this series of parallel girders,
which I call a gridiron, and between the two rows of columns, the ship to be
raised is floated, and the pumps in connection with the hydraulic cylinders are
set to work so as to bring each girder to bear against the keel of the ship,
which is then shored in the ordinary manner. Afterwards the pumps are
simultaneously set to work, and the girders are lifted, and are prevented from
again descending by palls, which fall into suitable teeth formed at intervals on
the columns, and when the pall falls into a tooth of the ratchet in connection
with any one of the columns, then the pump belonging to such column is
stopped until all the girders have been raised a corresponding distance. In this
way I am able to keep the distribution of the weight between the different
girders tolerably uniform. On each side of the two parallel rows of columns
before mentioned I drive piles, on which I build workshops, at or near the level
to which the vessel is raised. When a large number of ships have to be raised
by one raising machine, then I do not execute the repairs on the raising
machine, but previously to, floating the ship over I sink on to the girders a
large shallow iron vessel, which I call a saucer, and I raise the ship and the
saucer together. As the saucer rises above the water it empties itself by a
valve in its bottom, and when the girders are again lowered the saucer floats
away with the ship inside it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th July. 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
CLARK, of 24, Great George Street, Westminster, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edwin Clark, Her special licence that I, the said Edwin Clarke, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edwin

page_text: Clark, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR RAISING SHIPS OUT OF THE WATER FOR THE PURPOSES OF EXAMINATION
AND REPAIR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edwin
Clark, Edwin Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 Edwin Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof:-.
This Invention consists in a method of arranging machinery for raising
ships out of the water for the purposes of examination and repair. For this
purpose I erect a series of columns in two parallel rows at some suitable place
where the water is sufficiently deep to float the largest ship which it is intended
to raise, and I prefer to erect these columns by adopting the system used in
bridge constructions, of sinking wrought or cast iron cylinders, or cylinders with
screws, and excavating from the interior of them, as is well understood. In
connection with each of the columns is a hydraulic cylinder and ram, which by
means of descending rods is connected with a girder or girders which extend
to the corresponding post in the opposite row. Over this series of parallel
girders, which I call a gridiron, and between the two rows of columns, the ship.
to be raised is floated, and tho pumps in connection with the hydraulic
cylinders are set to work so as to bring each girder to bear against the keel of
the ship, which is then shored in the ordinary manner; or instead of allowing
the ship to rest directly upon these girders, I prefer placing a strongly-framed
platform upon the girders in order more perfectly to distribute the weight of
the ship over the girders, and the ship then reposes and is shored up upon this
platform. Afterwards the pumps are simultaneously set to work, and the
girders are lifted, and are prevented from again descending by closing the water
in the presses, or by palls, which fall into suitable teeth formed at intervals on
the columns.. On each side of the two parallel rows of columns before

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, Sheet I., is a side elevation, partly in section; Figure 2 (Sheet 1*)
is a transverse section, and Figure 3 is a plan, of machinery or apparatus for
raising ships out of the water for the purposes of examination and repair.
Figure 4, Sheet 2, is an end elevation of the same on an enlarged scale.
à, a, a, a, are the series of columns, erected according to the method which
I have already mentioned, that is to say, by sinking cylinders on to the
bottom and excavating from the interior of the cylinder, which is kept clear of
water either by closing the top of the cylinder and forcing air into it or by
pumping the water out, as may be most convenient. When one length of the
cylinder is sunk another length is bolted on to the top of it, and so on; or,
the columns may be fixed by forming-screws on their ends, which are caused
to penetrate into the earth, as in what is known as Mitchell's screw pile, and
which is now well understood.
Figure 5 is a front view, partly in section, of one of the columns. Each of
these columns contains a hydraulic cylinder b, which is supported by a strong
cast-iron ring c firmly attached to the walls of the column, and the hydraulic
cylinder contains a ram d, carrying at its upper end a crosshead e, from the
extremities of which chains or rods f, f, descend to one end of the cast-iron
girders g, g, which are strengthened by the articulated bars h, h, which pass
underneath the girder from end to end. is the engine house (shown in
general plan, Sheet 1*), containing a steam engine and pumps for forcing the
water into the pipes which communicate with the hydraulic cylinders b. And
in order to secure uniformity of action in lifting the girders, the presses from
which they hang are arranged in three independent groups, and one of these
groups contains all the presses at one end of the apparatus, whether on one or
other side of it, and the two other groups contain each of them the remainder
of the presses on one side of the apparatus. The presses in each group are all
connected together, so that perfect uniformity of pressure is secured as regards
the individual presses in each group, while the three groups themselves are so
arranged that their three centres of action form a tripod support upon which
the vessel may be supposed to be seated, the arrangements for working the

page_text: presses being such that any point of the tripod may be raised or lowered in-
dependent of the remaining two. In this manner a simple manipulation gives
the means of insuring perfect horizontality during the act of rising or lowering
the gridiron with the vessel upon it.
When a ship is to be lifted, it is floated over the girders g; g, or over a
platform placed upon these girders, and water is then forced into all the
hydraulic cylinders b, b, until all the girders or the platform placed upon them
are brought to bear on the keel of the ship, and then when the ship is shored.
the lifting operation commences. When the examination or repair has been
effected, the ship is lowered by allowing the water to escape gradually from
under the rams. When a large number of ships have to be raised by one
raising machine, then I do not execute the repairs on the raising machine, but
previously to floating the ship over I sink on to the girders a large shallow
iron vessel, which I call a saucer, and I raise the ship and the saucer together.
The saucer I so use forms in itself the platform before alluded to.
the saucer rises above the water it empties itself by a valve in its bottom,
and when the gardens are again lowered the saucer floats away with the
ship inside it. The method in which I prefer to construct the vessel which
I call a saucer is fully described in the Specification of a Patent granted to
me, and bearing even date with the Patent of which this is the Specification.
As.
In case I require greater lifting power than is given by these presses, I deck
over the saucer or construct air vessels of sufficient dimensions within it, so
that by pumping the water out of such air vessels or out of the whole area of
the pontoon while it is sunk I may increase my lifting power to any required
extent, the horizontal position of the saucer being always maintained by the
presses, which consequently must always lift a portion of the weight.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim generally
the arranging apparatus for raising ships out of the water, consisting of a series
of submerged beams, which after the ship has been floated over them are
raised out of the water hydraulic apparatus, for I am aware that this has
before been proposed; but what I claim is, the general arrangement of the
apparatus herein described, and particularly the erecting the parallel rows of
columns between which the girders are suspended, by adopting the system
5 used in bridge constructions, of sinking wrought or cast iron cylinders, or
cylinders with screws, and excavating from the interior of them.
I also claim the dividing the hydraulic cylinders into separate sets, each set
being in connection by suitable main pipes with its own pump or pumps, so

page_text: that each set may act independently of the other sets, in place of connecting
all the cylinders to one pump and to one main pipe, as has before been pro-
posed to be done. I also claim the combined machinery or apparatus, con-
sisting of a set of girders raised by hydraulic apparatus, as already described,
and a large shallow iron vessel, which I call a saucer, for raising ships out of
the water for the purposes of examination and repair.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven..
EDWIN CLARK. (L.S.)