AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR TAKING SOUNDINGS AND AUTO- MATICALLY REGISTERING THE SAME
Year: 1885

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION….
We JOHN ACKERLEY, of Connah's Quay, near Flint, in the County of Flint,
Iron Worker, and BENJAMIN PARR, of 63 Silver Street, Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Commission Agent, do hereby declare the nature of said Invention
for AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR TAKING SOUNDINGS AND AUTO-
MATICALLY REGISTERING THE SAME, to be as follows:-
Our invention consists in an improved method of and means for taking soundings
and automatically registering the same on board a vessel, the chief object of our
Invention being to furnish a simple and reliable apparatus or device which will
indicate automatically whether there is a sufficient depth of water under the vessel.
to allow her to proceed with safety.
To effect this we propose to pivot a rod preferably to the bottom of the vessel
near the keel and we connect a chain or its equivalent to the loose end of the rod
by which it may be raised or lowered; the other end of the rod passes or may pass
through the bottom of the vessel and is or may be cranked, and we connect the
cranked end by rods chains or otherwise to a suitable indicator or registering
apparatus, in such manner that when the pivoted rod is lowered if the depth of
water below the vessel exceeds the length of the rod no movement is communicated
to the indicator but as soon as the free end of the rod touches land and is slightly
raised the cranked end is moved and by its connections actuates the indicator which
continues to record the varying depth of the water as the free end of the rod is
raised or lowered.
ر

page_text: .
We JOHN ACKERLEY of Connah's Quay near Flint, in the County of Flint,
Iron Worker and BENJAMIN PARR of 63, Silver Street Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster Commission Agent, do hereby declare the nature of said invention.
for AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR TAKING SOUNDINGS AND AUTO-
MATICALLY REGISTERING THE SAME, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Our invention consists in an improved method of and means for taking soundings
and automatically registering the same on board a vessel, the chief object of our
invention being to furnish a simple and reliable apparatus or device which will
indicate automatically whether there is a sufficient depth of water under the vessel
to allow her to proceed with safety.
To effect this we propose to pivot a rod preferably to the bottom of the vessel
near the keel, and we connect a chain or its equivalent to the loose end of the rod
by which it may be raised or lowered; the other end of the rod passes or may pass
through the bottom of the vessel and is or may be cranked, and we connect the
cranked end by rods chains or otherwise to a suitable indicator or registering
apparatus, in such manner that when the pivoted rod is lowered if the depth of
water below the vessel exceeds the length of the rod, no movement is communicated
to the indicator, but as soon as the free end of the rod touches land and is slightly.
raised the cranked end is moved and by its connections actuates the indicator
which continues to record the varying depth of the water as the free end of the
rod is raised or lowered.
And in order that our invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect we will describe the accompanying sheet of drawings reference being a
had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a side view, Fig. 2 a plan and Fig. 3 an end view of a vessel to
which our invention is applied, Figs 4 and 5 are views illustrative of another
method of applying our invention.
In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 a is the hull of the vessel and 6 the keel in this instance
formed with a recess to receive a metal rod or bar c, one end of which is jointed or
pivoted at b¹ to the keel, and the other end is secured to a chain or its equivalent d,
by which the bar may be raised or lowered; a rod or its equivalent e is jointed
at c¹ to the bar o, and connected either directly, as shown, or by means of rods,
chains, or their equivalents to a toothed rack f, which gears into and actuates a
pinion g on the axis of which is mounted a finger (or fingers) h to indicate on the
dial the distance below the keel at which the free end of the bar o stands.
prefer to employ a spring j which bears against a collar e¹ on the rod e, and against
the underside of the deck k or other convenient stationary bearing surface, and
exerts a pressure upon the bar c to counteract the resistance of the water and to
keep the bar normally down,
We

page_text: In Figs. 4 and 5 the bar c instead of being fitted in a recess in the keel 6 is in
this case shown pivoted at the side of the keel.
When the pivoted bar c is released the free end falls by its own gravity assisted
by the action of the spring ; and if the depth of water below the vessel exceeds
the distance between the keel 6 and the free end of the bar c no movement is
communicated to the finger (or fingers) h but as soon as the free end of the bar c
touches land and it is slightly raised the rod e moves the rack f and so turns the
pinion g thereby causing the finger h to move around the face of the dial i, and
indicate the depth of water below the vessel. The finger h continues to move
backward and forward round the dial i recording the depth of water, as the free
end of the bar c is raised or lowered by contact with the varying surface of the
bottom below the vessel.
We would have it clearly understood that we do not limit ourselves to the exact
details herein shown and described as they may be considerably varied without
departing from the nature of our invention for instance the form of the indicator
or registering apparatus and the manner of connecting the same to the pivoted bar
may be changed or modified and différent means for raising or lowering the bar
may be employed, the bar also instead of being pivoted to the vessel might be
connected by a ball and socket joint or in other convenient manner, and a bell or
other alarm might be employed in place of an indicator.
•
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is
The use and application of a rod or bar pivoted or jointed preferably to the
keel of a vessel in combination with an indicator for automatically recording the
varying depth of water below the vessel, substantially in the manner and for
the purposes herein described and as illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
Dated this 25th day of July 1885.
H. B. BARLOW,
Agent for Applicants,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.