IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND IN THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN CONNECTION THEREWITH FOR RAISING SUNKEN SHIPS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES, AND FOR CONDUCTING OTHER SUB- MARINE OPERATIONS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Thomas Parlour at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 10th June 1870.
I, JOSEPH THOMAS PARLOUR, of Brooklyn, New York, United States
3 of America, now of No. 8, Trinity Terrace, Grosvenor Road, Pimlico,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY AND IN THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN CONNECTION THEREWITH FOR RAISING
SUNKEN SHIPS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES, AND FOR CONDUCTING OTHER SUB-
MARINE OPERATIONS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates more especially to the raising and supporting
of sunken ships or other submerged bodies.
The said Invention consists, first, chiefly in the peculiar construction
and arrangement of the several parts or sections of the raising apparatus
and the novel means for adjusting and securing the same in any
desired position under the vessel. It can be adapted to vessels of
various dimensions when sunk or embedded in the sand.
My Invention consists, secondly, in the peculiar construction and
arrangements of bridges or archways made in parts or sections, and

page_text: in the novel means for adjusting and securing the same in any desired
position, which bridges are held in chains or rods of iron, and work
on centre pins which are fastened to the deck. They are also fastened
to standards or uprights which are fastened to the deck and sides of
the vessel used for the support of the bridges, thus allowing the bridges
to swing into the centre of the vessel, which bridges then lie fore and
aft of the vessel. These bridges when at work are swung out over
the side of the vessel and coupled together with cramps and logs of
timber, or with iron beams or chains or screws to hold the bridges in
the required position.
On the said bridges I arrange boxes for guides to work into, also,
pivots for the boxes to work on, and slots or shoots or tracks for the
same to work into and to slide freely thereon; these boxes are made to
slide into the centre or to any desired position of or angle to the bridges ;
the said boxes are made of cast or wrought iron.
In these boxes I arrange guides with frames made of wood or iron
bars, or rods or chains, which chains are kept ridgid by bars of iron
made of any desired length, and fastened to or between the links of
the chains. The frame is provided with guides which extend down-
ward to the sides of the ship or other body which is to be raised. These
guides can be made of any required length to go down into any depth
of water, and I can raise from one to ten thousand tons with the same
apparatus. The bottom part of the guides or frames is made semi-
circular, and pivotted to the centre guides or shafts, which guides or
shafts are made to be set or drawn down into the sand or mud to embrace
the bottom of the vessel or other body. The lower parts of the guides
or shafts are made to work on a pivot on the centre shaft or guide, and
are drawn together by means of chains or screws toward the vessel's
bottom, and are kept there by chains or by left and right handed
screws, which screws are worked by chains on the top part of the bridge
by windlasses and cranks. These chain wheels may be operated by
steam or hydraulic power. The lower part of the guides is made with
steel spikes so as to penetrate metal as well as wood, also to keep the
guides from slipping out from under the bottom of the vessel. These
steel spikes are also put on logs of timber, which logs lie fore and aft
of the vessel's side, and are fastened to the guides so as to keep them
together. The said guides when at work are drawn down with chains or
set down with toothed wheels and shafts, which wheels work in a toothed

page_text: rack or ratchet bar which is arranged upon the face of the guides. They
can also be set down with screws worked by chains, and set down to any
depth, and by means of the lateral guides they are kept in a vertical
plane, as they are raised or lowered.
At the lower ends of these guides I arrange pulleys over which chains
pass to a windlass on the bridges, whereby the adjustment of the lower
part of the guides is effected in any suitable manner.
On the upper
part of the boxes is pivotted a pawl; this pawl is made to engage with
the toothed rack or ratchet bar to hold the parts of the guides in any
required position.
I also arrange on the side of the vessels which are used for supporting
the bridges one or more sets of telescopic tubing with large open mouth
pieces for the purpose of going down under water without divers. The
tubing can be made of any length, and lined with tin or zinc, or any
suitable material, for the purpose of throwing light down the tubing.
A lime or other light may be used at the bottom of the tubing to
illuminate the space immediately surrounding the same.
The men
when working are supplied with air by means of a fan wheel or chains
with buckets fastened to them, which chains pass over toothed wheels
attached to the top and bottom of the tubing, and are drawn down
through an air-tight tube.
I attach also to the bottom part of these guides rubber piping for
the purpose of having air forced down underneath the vessel to overcome
the suction by allowing water to go underneath the bottom of the
vessel, thus taking off a large amount of weight from my apparatus.