IMPROVEMENTS IN SOUNDING MACHINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Massey, of 4, Birchin Lane, in the City of.
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SOUNDING MACHINES."
Sealed the 4th June 1861, and dated the 11th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Massey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
December 1860.
I, THOMAS MASSEY, of 4, Birchin Lane, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SOUNDING MACHINES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in sounding machines. In
the Specification of a Patent granted to me and Thomas Savage, dated 17th
October 1857, No 2661, is described an Invention for applying a guard or
apparatus to protect the mechanism of a sounding machine which was con-
nected on one side of the bar to which the lead was affixed, and in practice
it has been found that the resistance offered by the guard and the mechanism
causes the bar and lead to incline and to descend in an oblique direction.
Now my present improvements consist in applying a guard or apparatus on
the opposite side of the bar to which the lead is fixed, as well as on that side
on which the mechanism is connected, so as to present, as near as may be, a like
amount of resistance to the water on either side of the bar, or in place thereof
the weight is applied centrally below the guard within which the mechanisın
is placed, and the guard is arranged so that it may be suspended centrally from
above.
By these means the machine will be caused to descend vertically

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by 'the said Thomas Massey, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th June 1861.
"TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MASSEY, of 4, Birchin Lane, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight-bundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Massey, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Massey,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Massey, 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 SOUNDING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Massey, 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 Thomas Massey, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in sounding machines.
In the Specification of a Patent granted to me and Thomas Savage, dated
17th October 1857, No 2661, is described an Invention for applying a guard
or apparatus to protect the mechanism of a sounding machine which was
connected on one side of the bar to which the lead was affixed. And in
practice it has been found that the resistance offered by the guard and the
mechanism causes the bar and lead to incline and to descend in an oblique
direction. Now my present improvements consist in applying a guard or
apparatus on the opposite side of the bar to which the lead is fixed, as well as
on that side on which the mechanism is connected, so as to present as near as
may be a like amount of resistance to the water on either side of the

page_text: bar; or, in place thereof, the weight is applied centrally below the guard
within which the mechanism is placed, and the guard is arranged so that it
may be suspended centrally from above. By these means the machine will
be caused to descend vertically.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side view, Figure 2 a front view, and Figure 3 a plan of
the arrangement or construction I prefer. a is the bar to which the mechanism
of a sounding machine is attached; b is the weight by which the mechanism is
caused to descend to the bottom; and d is the eye or opening at the upper end
of the bar a, to which the cord is applied; dd is the guard within which the
mechanism of the sounding machine is attached to the bar a, and it will be
seen that the centre of the guard coincides with the centre of the weight, and
with the centre of the bar a at the point where it is attached to the cord; hence
when in the water the whole of the apparatus will tend to sink in a vertical
line by reason of the central position of the weight and of the point of sus-
pension. I would state, that although I prefer the construction and arrange-
ment shown, I do not confine myself thereto, as similar advantages may be
obtained by the employment of a bar a, with an opening intermediate of its
length, as is shown at Figure 4, where the bar a in place of being on one side
only of the guard is at both sides thereof. Or the bar a may, as heretofore, be
straight, and have the measuring apparatus protected by a guard as heretofore;
but in order to counteract the effect of so having a guard on one side a second
guard is to be applied on the other side of the bar a.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Massey, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
THOS. MASSEY. (L.S.)