IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNAL BUOYS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Barr, of the City, County, and State of New York,
in the United States of America, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SIGNAL BUOYS."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Frank Barr at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd February 1881.
FRANK BARR, of the City, County, and State of New York, in the United
States of North America. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNAL BUOYS."
My Invention relates to that class of signal buoys in which the signals are pro-
duced automatically by air compressed by the vertically reciprocating motion of the
buoy, induced by the surface waves, in a tube or cylinder which extends from the
bottom of the buoy down into still water, and it consists, first, in combination with
a buoy of this class of an engine or other motor operated by compressed air;
secondly, in the combination with the buoy and its compressed air motor of an
electric or other light operated or supplied by the motor; thirdly, in the
combination in a single buoy of a "day mark," a "beacon light," a "fog signal,"
and an automatically operating compressed air motor; and, fourthly, in the detailed
arrangement and combination of parts of my improved signal buoy, substantially
as hereinafter set forth. The fact that at a certain distance below the surface of
the ocean the water is always in a quiescent state, regardless of the agitation in
the form of waves of its surface, has long ago been taken advantage of in the
construction of automatically operating signal buoys in the following manner :-
The buoy is provided with a downwardly extending cylindrical tube of such a
length (say, thirty or forty feet more or less), that it will reach below the depth to
which water is agitated by the waves, and it follows that the water line will
remain constant at the same point within the tube, the enclosed column of water
not being affected by the waves. By lifting the buoy up and down as it rides
upon the surface waves, the column of water within the tube will operate like a
piston, or rather the enclosed column of water will remain stationary while the
enveloping tube works up and down around it, and by providing the upper closed
part of the tube with a suitable air inlet having an inwardly opening check valve,
air will be fed into the tube every time the buoy rises on the crest of a wave, and

page_text: as it descends into the trough of the wave the air inlet is closed by the pressure
from within, and the compressed air contained in the upper part of the tube or
cylinder is forced out through a whistle or other sounding apparatus, which forms
the air outlet or exit from the tube or compressed air chamber. Thus we have an
automatic signal buoy signalling by whistling; but by my Invention an additional
means of signalling by light is provided, the advantage of which is too apparent to
require demonstration. In the Drawings hereto attached A is the chamber or body
of the buoy, which is placed upon a boat B having a flat deck b; C is the tube or
cylinder which extends from the bottom of the upper chamber or body of the buoy
down through the boat B, and should be of such a length as to reach down into
the still water region below the surface or region of agitation. A pipe D reaches
from the upper closed end of the tube C up through the buoy passing through its
top, and is provided with a back-pressure or any other suitably constructed valve d,
through which air is fed into the tube or cylinder C at every rising of the boat
with its super-imposed chamber. As the boat descends into the trough of the sea
valve d is closed as to the inlet of pipe D, but opens into the chamber or hollow
inside of the buoy, thus allowing the air to escape at d¹ out into the buoy, which is
enclosed air tight on all sides. Thus it will be observed that the upper part or
body of the buoy forms a storage chamber or reservoir for compressed air, and this
is utilized to drive an engine E or other motor of suitable construction, and capable
of being operated by compressed air.
In the Drawings I have represented an oscillating cylinder engine, which as
usual in. this class of engines feeds through a hollow trunnion, and exhausts
through a pipe e which extends up through the top of the buoy, and is provided
with a suitably constructed cap to prevent ingress of water in rough weather.
This engine or motor, which should be provided with a suitably constructed
governor (by preference so arranged that it may be adjusted from the outside of
the buoy without opening this) for the purpose of regulating and controlling its
speed, runs a dynamo electric engine F, which supplies the current for an electric
lamp or lantern G placed upon the top of the buoy.
If it is desired to use an oil lamp or lantern (a Fresnel light, for example),
instead of the electric light, the engine may be employed to pump the oil from the
hold of the lower part of the buoy (i.e., the boat B), which is capable of containing
a large supply lasting several months, up into the lamp, which should have an
asbestos or other indstructible wick, and also an overflow pipe for conveying the
surplus of oil back into the reservoir in the boat. Or the motor may be employed
to run a gas engine, or in fact any other kind of an engine or apparatus for
producing a light, adapted for the circumstances and conditions of the case.
The buoy itself is of sufficient size to serve as a "day mark," and we have seen
how it may also by my Invention be made to serve the purposes of a beacon or
night signal. By the attachment of a whistle, syren, or other sounding apparatus,.
it may be made to serve as a fog signal also in a very simple and efficient manner,
and altogether independent of the apparatus for operating the light signal in the
following manner :-
The downwardly extending tube or cylinder C is divided by a longitudinal
diaphragm c (Figs. 4 and 2) into two compartments e and f, the larger of which e
forms the compressed air chamber, with its stationary column of water furnishing
the power to run the motor in the manner described. The smaller compartment f
is continued up through the body of the buoy by a pipe H, which in like manner
as pipe D is fitted with a back pressure valve, and provided with a whistle or
other sounding apparatus I at its upper end, which projects out through the top of
the buoy. I prefer to enlarge that part of the pipe H which passes through the
upper part or chamber A of the buoy, as shown in Fig. 2 of the Drawings, by
which means an air chamber or reservoir is formed of sufficient capacity, and hold
a suitable quantity of compressed air to operate the whistle.
As the buoy rises on the crest of a wave air enters the pipe H and the compart-
ment through the back pressure valve, which is closed as the buoy descends, but

page_text: opens the inlet to the whistle, which is sounded by the forcing of the compressed
air through it. The lower part of the buoy, consisting of the boat B, is of the
construction and shape shown in the Drawings, and is provided with a treble keel,
or rather a keel compose of a middle part or keel proper k, which extends from
the upper end of the stem of the boat abaft to tube C, against which its rear end
abuts, and two parallel side wings L, L, reaching from a bent the middle of tube C
back to the stern of the boat. By this construction or arrangement of the boat
with its keels I secure steadiness of motion of the buoy, causing it to stand vertical
in any sea.
The buoy is connected by a chain or steel rope M of suitable length to a nun
buoy N, which is anchored by a chain cable O in mid-ocean, or wherever else it
may be desired to place the buoy. This arrangement gives a more freely vertical
motion to the buoy A, B, than if it had to drag the heavy anchoring cable, which
is supported by the intermediate nun buoy N, besides chafing of the downwardly
extending tube against the anchoring cable is thereby prevented.
Having fully described my Invention and the manner in which the same is to
be performed, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-
1st. A signal buoy provided with an air reservoir or chamber, means for feeding
and compressing air into said reservoir or chamber by the motion of the buoy, and
an engine or motor placed within said reservoir, and operated by compressed air,
substantially as set forth.
2nd. The combination with a signal buoy having a water tube extending down-
wardly below the body of the buoy of a compressed air chamber or reservoir, and
an engine or motor adapted to be operated by compressed air, substantially as set
forth.
3rd. In combination a signal buoy having a downwardly extending water tube,
with an air reservoir or chamber above the water level, an upper air chamber fed
from said lower chamber, an engine placed within said upper reservoir or chamber,
and adapted to be operated by compressed air, and an exhaust leading from the
engine to the outside of the air chamber, substantially as set forth.
4th. In a signal buoy a downwardly extending water tube divided by a
longitudinal partition or diaphragm into two compartments adapted to supply two
or more separate chambers or reservoirs A, H, in the buoy with compressed air
independent of one another, substantially as set forth.
5th. In a signal buoy an enclosed air chamber, means for feeding and compressing
air into said chamber by the motion of the buoy, an electric lamp or lantern placed
outside of said chamber, wires or conductors connecting said lamp or lanterns with
a dynamo-electric engine arranged inside of the chamber, and an air engine or
motor placed within said air chainber, and connected by suitable gearing or belting
to the electric engine, all constructed, combined, and operating substantially as and
for the purpose herein shown and specified.
6th. A signal buoy having an upper air chamber, a boat or float supporting said
air chamber, an open bottomed tube or cylinder extending downwardly from the
air chamber, and a pipe or tube leading from the tube or cylinder through the air
chamber to the outer air, said pipe having a back pressure or similar valve adapted
to alternately open the pipe to the outer air, but close it to the air chamber, and
vice versa, substantially as set forth.
7th. A signal buoy having an air chamber, a boat or float supporting said air
chamber, an open bottom tube or cylinder extending downwardly from the air
chamber, and divided by a longitudinal diaphragm into two compartments, a pipe
leading from one of said compartments to the outer air, and a pipe leading from
the other of said compartments to the outer air, substantially as and for the
purpose herein shown and set forth.
8th. The boat shaped buoy, float, or support B, having downwardly extending
water tube C, a middle keel K extending from the stem toward and abutting
against said water tube, and two side keels or wings L, L, extending from the
middle shaft to the stern of the boat, substantially as set forth.

page_text: 9th. The signal buoy A, B, with downwardly extending water tube C, and treble
keel K, L, L, attached to an anchoring cable M below the water line by its middle
keel K, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Barr, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Third day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.
FRANK BARR. (LS.)