A CERTAIN METHOD OR CERTAIN METHODS OF EFFECTING AND FORMING SHELTERED FLOATING HARBOURS OF SAFETY BY THE EMPLOYMENT OF CERTAIN BUOYANT SEA BARRIERS APPLICABLE THERETO, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO AND USEFUL FOR THE FORMATION OF BREAKWATERS, FLOATING BRIDGES, LIGHTHOUSES, AND BEACONS, THE PROTECTION OF PIER HEADS, EMBANKMENTS, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADDERLEY
WILLCOCKS SLEIGH, K.T.S., of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Captain in Her most Faithful Majesty's Service, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of February, in the fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Adderley Willcocks Sleigh, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilego and
authority, that I, the said Adderley Willcocks Sleigh, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Adderley Willcocks
Sleigh, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
in all Her Majesty's Colonics and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of
Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "A CERTAIN
METHOD OR CERTAIN METHODS OF EFFECTING AND FORMING SHELTERED FLOATING
HARBOURS OF SAFETY BY THE EMPLOYMENT OF CERTAIN BUOYANT SEA BARRIERS
APPLICABLE THERETO, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO AND
USEFUL FOR THE FORMATION OF BREAKWATERS, FLOATING BRIDGES, LIGHTHOUSES, AND
BEACONS, THE PROTECTION OF PIER HEADS, EMBANKMENTS, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR
PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said Adderley Willcocks Sleigh, by an instrument in writing uder my

page_text: hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of tho said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Adderley Willcocks Sleigh, do hereby declare that the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, refe-
rence being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in the construction and adaptation of sloping or
oblique platforms, mounted upon, connected to, or supported by floating hollow
vessels or caissons, by which the platforms are always maintained in the
sloping or oblique positions, and are enabled to rise and fall with the tide.
These floating vessels and sloping platforms, when constructed, are to be so
arranged as to form sea and wind barriers for sheltering ships and other
vessels, and also pierheads, bridges, and other structures requiring such
shelter, from the ordinary destructive effects of heavy seas and gales of wind.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1, Sheet 1, represents a transverse
section of one of the floating breakwaters. a, b, c, is a hollow vessel, which I
prefer to make of ribs of timber strongly planked on the outside, and made
perfectly water-tight and buoyant; but it may be constructed of sheet iron, or
other suitable material, if desired. This caisson is of a peculiar shape, being
of the form of an oblong longitudinal wedge. The back part b, b, is rounded
like the sido of a vessel. The bottom c, c, is made perfectly flat, whilst the
upper surface or back a, a, riscs at an acute angle from the extreme edge of
the bottom, forming an inclined plane which extends longitudinally the whole
length of the structure. Through the centre of the caisson, and along its
whole length, extends a strong timber beam or keel d, which will be the
centro of motion on which the caisson floats. The top, botton, and sides of
the caisson are supported and strengthened by internal stays or bearings
arranged in any suitablo and convenient manner for the purpose of giving
stability to the structure. The sloping or inclined platform e, e, e, is mounted
upon the upper surface of the vessel, and firmly secured to it by wooden or
iron bracings or stays f. f. f; and strong rings 9, 9, are attached for inooring
it securely in any desired place. The lower end of this platform will be
immersed in the water, and its face or inclined plane rise therefrom at an

page_text: angle of about 30° (in imitation of the slope of a supposed beach) to a con-
siderable distance beyond the top of the caisson or vessel, thereby offering
a modified resistance to the violence of the winds and waves, by which means
their destructive effects will be much lessened, and the water behind screened
or sheltered from the action of the tempest. These floating breakwaters may
be made of any dimensions; and; in order to form a sea and wind barrier or
harbour of refuge, a suitable number may be moored side by side, either in a
straight or curved line, as may be required. They are to be connected
together by universal ball and socket joints or links and toggle joints placed
at the ends of the keel or beam d, by which they will be allowed to roll upon
their centres of gravity, or yield temporarily in any other way to the violence
of the winds or waves. The manner of arranging these sea barriers or floating
breakwaters to form a harbour of refuge is shewn in Sheets 2 and 3, in which
they are shewn connected together in the manner above stated, and are
moored to the bottom of the sea by chains or cables attached at one end to the
rings 9, 9, 9, of Fig. 1, and at the other end to anchors fixed to the ground
under the water. In place of the peculiarly shaped caisson a floating vessel
above described, the sloping platform or inclined plane may be attached or
connected to a floating framework, supported by a number of barrels or other
hollow wooden or iron vessels, or the inclined platform may be borne by a
wooden framework or raft. The platform may be employed even without any
floating support by connecting it at one edge, by means of chains, cables, or
otherwise, to the bottom of the sea, in such a manner that the upper edge
may-rise from tho water in an inclined direction.
Having thus described my Invention, and the manner in which the same
is to be performed, I wish it most distinctly to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the methods herein shown and described of constructing and
floating my improved sea and wind barrier, but claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent the employment, as
breakwaters, of portable sloping platforms or inclined planes partially immersed
in the water, in whatever manner or of whatever materials such inclined
planes may be constructed, or in whatever way they may be floated or buoyed
up in or on the water and held in the required situations, when such portable
and buoyant inclined planes are employed for the purposes or objects above
stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adderley Willcocks Sleigh, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
ADDERLEY WILLCOCKS (L.S.) SLEIGII.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of August, in the
sixth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Adderley
Willcocks Sleigh came before our snid Lady the Queen in Her Chancery,
and acknowlodged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument 5
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His Into Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Eighth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-two.