IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO DIVING BELLS, DRESSES, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING SUBAQUEOUS UPERATIONS. PROVISIONAL SPATION
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Mauldin Vinter, of East India Dock Road,
Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO DIVING BELLS, DRESSES,
AND OTHER ANALOGOUS APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING SUBAQUEOUS UPERATIONS.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Mauldin Vinter at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd October 1872.
I, JOHN MAULDIN VINTER, of East India Dock Road, Poplar, in the
5 County of Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO DIVING
BELLS, DRESSES, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING SUBAQUEOUS
OPERATIONS," to be as follows:-
:-
The object of my Invention is to enable the diver or workman when
below water to communicate with persons above, and to ask for any
materials, tools, or articles he may require. This has hitherto been done
by means of signals made with a line, by pulling which in any peculiar

page_text: and preconcerted manner the diver can indicate to the person above the
particular article he wants sent down to him. Mistakes however
frequently arise, and the diver moreover has no means of asking questions
or communicating anything for which signals have not been previously
arranged. I obviate all these difficulties by adapting to the helmet of
the diving dress or to any convenient part of a diving bell a speaking
tube, which is provided at its lower end with a mouth piece and stop
cock which is under the command of the diver, and at the upper end with
an air-tight air chamber of peculiar construction. This air chamber is
by preference made of a hemispherical form, and its upper part is covered
over with a piece of skin bladder, sheet rubber, or other analagous thin
membrane protected on the outer side by a perforated metal plate. On
the tubular stem of this air chamber there is an air cock with a stopper
perforated with fine holes. When the diver wants to speak to the
attendant above he has only to open the stop cock below, place his mouth
to the mouth piece, and call out.
The attendant above will always have the perforated air chamber at
the upper end of the speaking tube near his car, and will, consequently,
hear any loud sound from below. He will then open the air cock above,
and a slight and gentle flow of air from below will ascend up the pipe.
The diver can then say anything he pleases to the man above, and the
sound will be carried up by the ascending current of air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Mauldin Vinter in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MAULDIN VINTER, of East India Dock Road, Poplar, in the County of
Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Hor
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in the 3
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Mauldin Vinter, Her
special licence that I, the said John Mauldin Vinter, my executors,

page_text: "
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Mauldin
Vinter, 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO DIVING BELLS, DRESSES, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS
APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING SUBAQUEOUS OPERATIONS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Mauldin Vinter, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner tho
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 John Mauldin Vinter, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly 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):-
The objects of my Invention of "Improvements Applicable to Diving
Bells, Dresses, and other Analogous Apparatus for Facilitating
Subaqueous Operations" are to enable the diver or workman when
below water to communicate with persons above, and to ask for any
materials, tools, or articles he may require, and also to enable the
attendant above to communicate with the diver below. The former of
these objects has hitherto been accomplished by means of signals made
with a line, by pulling which in any peculiar and preconcerted manner
the diver can indicate to the person above the particular article he wants
scut down to him. Mistakes however frequently arise, and the diver
moreover has no means of asking questions or communicating anything,
for which signals have not been previously arranged. All these difficulties
are obviated by adapting to the helmet of the diving dress or to any
convenient part of a diving bell a speaking tube which is provided at its
lower end with a mouth piece and stop cock, which is under the com-
mand of the diver, and at the upper end with an air-tight air chamber
of peculiar construction.

page_text: An analogous apparatus provided with a mouth piece at the upper
end may be employed for speaking to the diver from above, so that the
diver and his attendant may ask and answer questions reciprocally. Or
if this be not required the apparatus may be of a simple form, whereby
the diver can only make known his wants but cannot receive verbal com-
munications from above.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn the Invention as adapted
to a diver's helmet, but a similar arrangement of tubes, valves, and cocks
may be adapted to a diving bell. The arrangement shewn in the
Drawing is one whereby the diver and. his attendant can communicate
reciprocally with each other.
Fig. 1 is an external view of a diver's helmet with my improvements
adapted thereto; Fig. 1' represents in elevation the upper ends of the
conducting or air tubes, shewing the cocks and other accessories which
are above the water; Fig. 1' is another view of the air tubes, the
terminal air chamber being shown in section; Fig. 2 is a horizontal
section of the helmet; Fig. 3 is a partial vertical section of the helmet,
Ehewing the mouth picce through which the diver speaks. Fig. 4 is
another partial section of the helmet, shewing the car piece and tube
whereby the attendant above can speak to the diver; Fig. 5 is a sectional
view of this car piece with the air tubes connected therewith.
In Figures 1 and 2, a, a, are openings or windows in the helmet
provided with thick glass eyes to enable the diver to see; b is a third
opening through which the diver can speak when he is above water. It
is closed air-tight, by means of a cover which can be unscrewed and
removed when the diver is above water. All these parts are well-known
and of the ordinary construction and form no part of my present
Invention. In Figures 3 and 4, c is an air tube leading from the mouth
picce c¹ (Figures 2 and 3) in the helmet to the air chamber & above
water. This air chamber d is by preference made of a hemispherical
form or nearly so, and its upper part is covered over with a piece of skin
bladder, sheet rubber, or other analogous thin membrane d' protected on
the outer side by a perforated metal plate d. It is also provided with
an air cock e. On the tubular stem of this air chamber there is a short
branch pipe provided with an air cock and with a mouth pieceƒ³,
through which the attendant can speak to the diver below. The stop
cock on the branch pipe will always be closed except when the

page_text: attendant above wants to speak to the diver, and the stop cock e will
always be open except when the attendant is speaking to the diver.
When the diver wants to speak to the attendant above he has only
to open the stop cock h below, then place his mouth to the mouth piece,
and call out.
The attendant above will always have the perforated air chamber d
(at the upper end of the speaking tube) near his ear, and will, con-
sequently, hear any loud sound from below; he will then open the air
cock e on the air chamber d above, and a slight and gentle flow of air
from below will ascend up the pipe c. The diver can then say anything
he pleases to the man above, and the sound will be carried up by the
ascending current of air and pass out through the cock e to the car of
the attendant.
When it is desired to speak to the diver from above a signal is given to
the diver by pulling once at the life line attached to his waist; the latter,
if ready to receive a communication, will answer "all right" and will close
the cock below. Upon the attendant hearing the diver's "all right"
he will close the air cock e on the air chamber d and will open the cock f¹
on the branch pipe f, and will then speak into the mouth piece f; the
sound will then travel down the pipe c and along the short branch
pipe to the ear piece i attached to the helmet and shown detached and
in section at Figures 4 and 5. After acting upon the skin tympanum in
the ear piece of the helmet and thus communicating with the diver
the sound will pass up the return pipe k and escape through its per-
forated end at the top. The skin tympanum of the ear piece is protected
from accidental damage by two perforated plates, as shewn at Figures
4 and 5.
I have already said that the apparatus may be simplified if desired by
dispensing with the tube and accessories, whereby the attendant above is
enabled to speak to the diver below. When it is only required for the
diver to express his wants a single air tube only will be sufficient. Fig. 6
represents a single air tube provided at its upper end with an air
chamber d and air cock e constructed and arranged precisely like those
already described, but there is no branch pipe f and no mouth piece ƒ³
above, nor is there any branch pipe g or ear piece i below, as shewn at
Figures 1, 2, and 4, and consequently there will be no necessity for the
return tube k. The simplified apparatus will therefore consist of a single

page_text: tube c, Fig. 6, provided with a mouth piece c' below and the air chamber
d and stop cock above. This arrangement of parts may be adapted to a
diving bell so as to enable the divers in the bell to communicate with
the attendants above. If desired the small air chamber d may be
provided with a whistle, which will be sounded and will attract attention
whenever the driver blows in the air tube c; the attendant will then
remove the whistle and hear what the diver has to say.
Having now described my Invention and having explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to mo
by Letters Patent as aforesaid, adapting to the helmets of diving
dresses or to diving bells or other analogous apparatus air pipes provided
with mouth pieces, air chambers, cocks, valves, and other accessories as
herein set forth, so that the diver and the attendant above may
reciprocally communicate with each other as and for the purpose herein
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Mauldin Vinter, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.