IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GIVING WARNING AND INDICATING THE PRESENCE OF WATER IN SHIPS, VESSELS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugene Julien Hennuy, Engineer, of Charleville,
in France, and of Frith St., Soho, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GIVING WARNING AND
INDICATING THE PRESENCE OF WATER IN SHIPS, VESSELS, AND OTHER
STRUCTURES."
Sealed the 23rd June 1874, and dated the 25th February 1874.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Eugene Julien Hennuy
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 25th February 1874, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
JULIEN HENNUY, Engineer, of Charleville, in France, and of Frith
Street, Soho, W., send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVED Appa-
RATUS FOR GIVING WARNING AND INDICATING THE PRESENCE OF WATER IN SHIPS,
VESSELS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant

page_text: unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the
first and true Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Eugene Julien Hennuy, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
".
My Invention has reference to the employment of a kind of hammer
which is caused to strike upon a bell by a train of wheel work similar to
that generally found in clocks, and a float or buoy, in manner herein.
after described.
When my apparatus is wound up and suitably placed in a ship or boat
it will be silent as long as the part of the ship or boat with which it has
been put into communication does not contain any water, but as soon as
any water begins to get into it, it will give immediate warning of its
presence.
A spiral steel spring which is coiled in a barrel is made to set in
motion a hammer through an ordinary train of cog wheels, pinions, an
excentric, and a fly wheel suitably disposed and mounted. The hammer
when set in motion vibrates and rapidly strikes a bell. The vibratory
movement is communicated to the hammer by the excentric which
works between the two brances of its lower end, which is bifurcated and
touches alternatively each branch of the fork when the clockwork is in
motion. Upon the same axle where the excentric works a small fly
wheel with some notches disposed upon its external circonference is
mounted, so that when a kind of bolt is placed in one of them the clock-
work is kept at rest. The bolt when the alarum is silent rests in one of
the notches of the fly wheel, and is pulled downwards by the weight of
the buoy or float which is attached to it by a rope or wire suitably
disposed. When any water enters the part of the ship where the buoy
is placed it causes it to float and the bolt is then withdrawn from the
notch where it rested by the action of a spiral steel spring attached to
it and working upwards. Then the fly wheel is immediately disengaged
and the whole train of wheels and the hammer are set in motion by the
mainspring. Of course weights might be used instead of the main-
spring and the spring connected with the bolt.

page_text: The action of electricity upon soft iron can be also made available
instead of the clockwork by causing the float when lifted by the water
to complete the circuit of an electrical current, which is then made to
act upon an electro-magnet in the usual manner and ring a bell.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention and the mode in
which I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the arrangements herein described, although such
are in my opinion the best which can be made, but what I do claim is the
giving material warning of the dangerous presence of water in the
interior of a ship by the means of an alarum, and a buoy or float in
manner herein before described
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Julien Hennuy, here-
unto set my hand and seal, this 24th day of February, A.D.
1874.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Julien Hennuy, here-
unto set my hand and seal, this 24th day of February, A.D.
1874.
EUGÈNE JULIEN HENNUY. (L.S.)
EUGÈNE JULIEN HENNUY. (L.S.)