Improvements in and Connected with "Water Tight" Bulkhead Doors of Navigable Vessels.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Dec., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 21st Sept., 1889-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and Connected with "Water Tight" Bulkhead
Doors of Navigable Vessels.
We, WALTER PATERSON, of 19 Saint Vincent. Crescent, Glasgow in the County
of Lanark, Engineer, and WILLIAM BRUCE CUMMING of 10 Merton Grove, Bootle,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of our said
invention to be as follows:-
This invention has reference mainly to those kinds of bulkhead doors which are
fitted in the bulkheads of navigable vessels and are adapted to slide in a plane parallel
with and closely to the bulkhead, and cover and uncover the aperture or doorway
formed in the said bulkhead, such doors being known as, "water tight" bulkhead
doors.
A bulkhead door constructed and operating according to our invention consists as
follows:-The door is made in two parts and so arranged that when the doorway is
open one of the parts will be mostly below the sill of the door and the other will lie
above the opening, when on the other hand when the doors close the aperture or
doorway, the two portions are by suitable gearing or mechanical devices caused to
approach each other, the lower one being raised from its open position and the upper
one being lowered from its open position; the two parts thus meeting each other at a
convenient point between the top and bottom of the door aperture.
The mechanical devices by which the two parts of the door may be made to
approach or recede from each other simultaneously may consist of screw gear, chain
or rope gear, or tooth gear, or any combination thereof. The gear may be worked by
manual steam or hydraulic power or any combination thereof.
According to one arrangement of manual screw gear, we employ a worm or screw
operated from a fixed bearing above the door, said worm being passed through a nut
in or on a frame connected with or attached to the lower half door, and also a nut in
the upper half door, the part of the worm however which passes through the latter
nut having a converse pitch to the other part. The frame may be formed partly of
side rods which are capable of being adjusted or screwed up so as to tighten up the
doors when required.
The meeting edges of the two half doors which slide in suitable side guides may be
formed so that when closed one slides into the other, or past the other in such a
manner as to mako a water tight"
"joint.
"
When we employ an artificial power such as hydraulic or steam, the top half door
may be in connection with the piston rod of a cylinder, and the lower half door may
be connected to the top one by chains or ropes, so arranged that they cause the lower
door to rise when the top one is lowered and vice-versa. The fluid under pressure
may be admitted to either one or other sides of the piston automatically by a floater
operated by the height of the water in the bilges of, the vessel and operating a valve
connected with the cylinder; or this valve may be operated by hand from the deck
of the vessel or other point.
If the conditions are such that it is necessary or advisable to operate the doors at a
point some distance therefrom we may employ a second cylinder which would be
situated at or near the said point of operation, a piston would be employed in the
cylinder and it would be worked by hand through screw or equivalent gear, forcing
water or other liquid to either one or other side of the piston of the cylinder
connected with and operating the doors; or the piston might be operated by steam
from the main boiler, or water from the "donkey engine," or fluid under pressure from
any suitable source may be used therefore.
Suitable pipes and valves would be used to control the supply and discharge fluid

page_text: from the said cylinder or cylinders, and conduct the same from one cylinder to another
when desired; and relief or safety valves may be employed on the pipes or cylinders
so as to prevent the pressure within them being raised to above a safe point.
Dated this 20th day of December 1888.
WALTER PATERSON.
WILLIAM BRUCE CUMMING.
By Cheesbrough & Royston, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and Connected with "Water Tight" Bulkhead
Doors of Navigable Vessels.
We, WALTER PATERSON, of 19, Saint Vincent Crescent, Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, Engineer, and WILLIAM BRUCE CUMMING, of 10, Merton Grove, Bootle,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of our Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This Invention has reference mainly to those kinds of bulkhead doors which are
fitted in the bulkheads of navigable vessels, and are adapted to slide in a plane
parallel with and closely to the bulkhead, and cover and uncover the aperture
or doorway formed in the said bulkhead, such doors being known as
water tight
bulkhead doors.
66
"
A bulkhead door constructed and operating according to our invention consists as
follows: The door is made in two parts and so arranged that when the doorway is
open one of the parts will be mostly below the sill of the door and the other will lie
above the opening, when on the other hand, the doors close the aperture or doorway,
the two portions are by suitable gearing or mechanical devices caused to approach
each other, the lower one being raised from its open position and the upper one being
lowered from its open position; the two parts thus meeting each other at a convenient
point between the top and bottom of the door aperture.
The mechanical devices by which the two parts of the door may be made to approach
or recede from each other simultaneously, may consist of screw gear, chain, or rope
gear, or tooth gear, or any combination thereof. The gear may be worked by manual,
steam, or hydraulic power, or any combination thereof.
According to our arrangement of manual screw gear, we employ a worm or screw
operated from a fixed bearing above the door, said worm being passed through a nut
in or on a frame connected with or attached to the lower half door, and also a nut in
the upper half door, the part of the worm however which passes through the latter
nut having a converse pitch to the other part. The frame may be formed partly of
side rods which are capable of being adjusted or screwed up so as to tighten up the
door when required.
The meeting edges of the two half doors which slide in suitable side guides may
be formed so that when closed one slides into the other, or past the other in such a
manner as to make a water tight" joint.
66
When we employ an artificial power such as hydraulic or steam, the top half door
may be in connection with the piston rod of a cylinder, and the lower half door may
be connected to the top one by chains or ropes so arranged that they cause the lower
door to rise when the top one is lowered and vice-versa. The fluid under pressure may
be admitted to either one or other sides of the piston automatically by a floater,
operated by the height of the water in the bilges of the vessel, and operating a valve
connected with the cylinder; or this valve may be operated by hand from the deck of
the vessel or other point.
If the conditions are such that it is necessary or advisable to operate the doors at a
point some distance therefrom, we may employ a second cylinder, which would be
situated at or near the said point of operation; a piston would be employed in the
cylinder and it would be worked by hand through screw or equivalent gear, forcing

page_text: water or other liquid to either one or other side of the piston of the cylinder
connected with and operating the doors; or the piston might be operated by steam
from the main boiler, or water from the "donkey-engine," or fluid under pressure
from any suitable source may be used therefor.
Suitable pipes and valves would be used to control the supply and discharge fluid
from the said cylinder or cylinders, and conduct the same from one cylinder to another
when desired; and relief or safety valves may be employed on the pipes or cylinders
so as to prevent the pressure within them being raised to above a safe point.
Having thus specified generally the nature of our Invention its description will
now be proceeded with in reference to the drawings hereunto annexed and forming
a part of this specification, by way of explaining more fully the nature of our
invention. The drawings of the description of them set forth together special
constructions of "watertight" bulkhead doors designed to carry out the construction,
the nature of which has been above explained.
In the drawings the same letters and figures of reference are used to denote the
same or corresponding parts wherever they occur.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 illustrates in front elevation, and
Figure 2 in side elevation, a "water tight" bulkhead door constructed and operating
by manual screw gear according to our invention.
Figure 3 illustrates in front elevation, and Figure 4 in side elevation, a
water
tight bulkhead door constructed and operating by hydraulic or steam power according
to our Invention.
Figure 5 is a front elevation, and Figure 6 a side elevation, of a cylinder and
appliances adapted to operate the apparatus illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, from a
point some distance therefrom.
Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of the device we employ for wedging the doors up
to the face of the frame.
Figure 8 is a sectional plan of the device shown in Figure 7.
We will first describe the manual screw operated door illustrated at Figures 1 and 2.
We construct the door in two parts, namely, an upper half a and a lower half a¹;
these half doors a and a¹ are arranged so that when the doorway is open, the lower
part a will be mostly below the sill of the door, and the upper part will be above the
opening, and are constructed to fit and slide in the side guides b. Near the top of
the guides a fixed bearing d is provided, and some distance above this bearing there
is a second fixed bearing d₁; running in the bearings d d' there is a shaft e provided
with a right hand screw e and a left hand screw e². The screw e² passes through a
screw nut or boss a² attached to the upper half a of the door, and the screw e¹ passes
through a screw nut a³ on or attached to the crosshead f. This crosshead fis
connected by two side rods f¹ f' to two brackets at at formed on or connected to the
lower half a of the door: the upper end of the shaft e is provided with a wheel or
other suitable turning device.
In operation, the halves a and a¹ of the door are made to approach or recede from
each other, simultaneously, by turning the shaft e, the screws e¹ and e² moving the
doors by means of the screw nuts a² and a³.
We will now give an example of our invention fitted to be worked by hand-
hydraulic or by steam power, as illustrated in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6; when employing
hydraulic or steam power, the upper half door a may, as shown in Figure 3, be
connected to the piston rode of a cylinder g, and the lower half door a¹ is connected
to the upper half door a by chains or ropes h; the said chains or ropes h h are
attached at the lower ends to lugs ¹¹ on the lower half door a¹, which lugs project
through slots in the guide 6 and at the upper ends pass over fixed pulleys h² h² and
are connected to the upper half door a at ³ ³ so that as the upper half door a is
forced down by the piston rod e, the lower half door a¹ is drawn up by the chains or
ropes h to meet it.
The cylinder g may be a hydraulic cylinder in which case it is provided with a cock

page_text: or valve k, having a branch , a branch ² to the top of the cylinder g, a branch k³ to
the bottom of the cylinder g, and a branch . The valve is provided with a lever v
worked by a rod from any convenient place. To work the piston and its rod e,
liquid under pressure may be supplied from any suitable source to the cylinder g
through the branch ¹ or 4, and to the top or bottom of the cylinder g, through the
branches or ³ as required.
The supply of liquid for working the piston, and its rod e, of the cylinder g, may
be provided by means of a hand hydraulic cylinder m, shown at Figures 5 and 6,
the piston and rod n of this cylinder m is worked by means of the hand wheel o which
is placed above the cylinder m, and works the bevel wheels p p. the wheel p¹ being
provided with a journal running in a bearing on the bracket 9, and being formed with
an internal screw into which works the piston rod n which is provided with a screw
at its upper end for this purpose, and so that the turning of the wheel p¹ will work
the piston of the cylinder m up and down as required. The cylinder m
munication with the cylinder g by means of the pipes s and t.
in com-
The pipes is connected to the branch k¹, and the pipe is connected to the
branch. In the case of a Steam Ship, the pipe s is provided with a non-return
steam lift valve u which is in communication with the steam boiler by the branch u¹
and is always free to open into the pipe s. The branch u may also be in com-
munication with the discharge from a donkey steam pump. The pipe t is provided
with a valve v, which is provided with a pipe w which serves as an exhaust when
working by means of the donkey pump. On the cylinder m and in communication
with the pipes s and t, respectively, there are provided safety valves s¹ and t¹, so that
should any abnormal pressure occur in the system and within the end of the cylinder
under pressure the liquid in that end will lift the safety valve thereof and be forced
into the pipe (s or t) connected therewith.
When working the water tight doors by means of the apparatus constructed and
arranged as shown at Figures 3 to 6, the pipes s and t may be in communication with
the cylinders g of one or a set of doors. When worked by hand the upstroke of the
piston of the cylinder m, caused by means of the hand wheel o and the bevel
wheels pp, forces liquid from the cylinder m through the pipes to the branch k¹ of
the cock of the cylinder g, and to the top or bottom of the cylinder g according to
the way opened by the cock k through the lever a, the return liquid from the other
end of the cylinder g passing from the cylinder through the then exhaust branch, and
the pipe t, back to the other end of the cylinder m. On the down stroke of the
piston of the cylinder m, the liquid is forced through the pipe t to the cock k, and
through the branch to the top or bottom of the cylinder 9 as the way may be
opened by the cock k the return liquid flowing through the branch k¹. The non-return
or lift valve u is always free to lift and open, into the pipes, so that any loss and want
of liquid in the pipes or the system will be replenished. When steam is used to work
the piston of the cylinder g, it is supplied through the valve u and the pipes, the
exhaust being through the pipe t, the valve v, and the pipe w. In like manner when
the piston of the cylinder g is worked by liquid from the donkey pump, it is supplied
to the cylinder g through the valve u and the pipe s, the exhaust being through the
pipe t, valve v, and pipe w.
The cock k may also be arranged to be worked automatically; for this purpose it
is provided with a lever a connected by a rod ' to a float a, placed at the bottom of
the ship, so that in case water flows into the ship it will lift the float ² and through
the rod and lever a will open the valve k to steam or other pressure from the
pipes, which will, through the piston rod e, cause the half doors a a¹ to close. The
half doors a a¹ are provided with projections y y¹, so that should the lower half
door a¹ stick or jamb, a prop can be placed to butt on the projections y y¹ and by
working the upper half door a it will force the lower half door a' down. At the
lintel and at the sill of the door and at the centre where the half doors a a¹ meet,
we provide wedging devices ¹. The meeting edges of the half doors a a¹ are bevelled,
as shown in Figure 7, so that they form a joint where they come together and cut
through or displace any obstacle.

page_text: The wedging devices for bringing the half doors up to face, are illustrated in
Figures 7 and 8. On the four corners of the half doors we provide wedge pieces 1
and on the wedging devices we provide brasses 2, which are adjustable by screwed
bolts 3, and by which the half doors are set up to face when closed.
In this Specification we have described the upper and lower doors as half doors, but
we have it understood that the sizes of the parts need not be equal; but if they
are not equal it will be understood that the gear must be arranged accordingly. We
would also have it understood that although we have described the hand hydraulic
gear as adapted to work doors made in two parts, it is also applicable to work ordinary
doors made in one piece.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
=
1. The water-tight bulkhead door herein described, that is to say, a door consisting
of two parts; for the purposes set forth.
2. A water-tight bulkhead door constructed of two parts, said parts being adapted
to slide in opposite directions and simultaneously; for the purposes set forth.
3. A water-tight bulkhead door constructed of two parts, said parts being connected
together by means of chains, rods, or ropes, and so arranged that the two parts are
actuated by a single mechanism and moved simultaneously towards each other when
closing, and recede from each other in opening; and also as set forth with reference
to the drawings.
4. The combination with a water-tight bulkhead door of a system of hydraulics
comprising two or more cylinders and pistons, one of said cylinders and pistons being
connected to the door and the other, the actuating cylinder, with the said door
cylinder, whereby by operation of the actuating cylinder and piston, the door
cylinder and piston and its door (or a plurality of same) are operated; for the
purposes set forth.
5. In combination with a bulkhead door operated by a hydraulic cylinder and
piston, a hydraulic cylinder and piston adapted to be operated by manual power,
substantially as in the manner set forth; and also as set forth with reference to the
drawings.
6. The combination with a hydraulic system of the nature herein described, for
operating water-tight bulkhead doors, of a mode or means substantially as described,
by which the cylinders which operate the doors are adapted to be operated by means
of steain from the steam generators of the ship or by the "donkey pump;
"and
also the means arranged and adapted to operate as set forth with reference to the
drawings.
7. The combination with the cylinder of a "hand hydraulic " gear for actuating
water-tight bulkhead doors, of safety valves, arranged on or in connection with
said cylinder adapted to operate substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
8. The combination of the cylinder m, cylinder g, and double bulkhead door a, a¹,
arranged and adapted to operate substantially as set forth with reference to
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, of the drawings.
9. The double water-tight bulkhead door with hand screw gear arranged and
adapted to be operated substantially as set forth with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of
the Drawings.
10. The construction of parts set forth with reference to Figures 7 and 8 of the
Drawings.
CHEESBROUGH & ROYSTON,
15, Water Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.