IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAINS AND APPARATUS USED FOR SUBMARINE PURPOSES
Year: 1866

page_text: Sealed the 28th August 1866, and dated the 1st March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Beare Caulfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents. with his Petition, on
the 1st March 1866.
1. WILLIAM BEARE CAULFIELD, of 13, Cromwell Buildings, Southwark,
in the County of Surrey, Submarine Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAINS AND APPARATUS USED FOR
SUBMARINE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in chains and apparatus
used for submarine purposes.
In constructing a chain the links or parts
are made hollow, and by preference of a cylindrical form and in suitably.
short lengths; each link or length is made air and water tight; the several
lengths or links are connected together by means of ball-and-socket or
universal joints. By these means chains of any desired strength may be
constructed, and of such weight in respect to the weight of water displaced
thereby as the circumstances of their use in particular cases may require.
In constructing beams to be used for submarine purposes they are made of

page_text: hollow tubes or vessels, and by preference each beam is of a triangular
form; the ends or angles where the parts come together, and where the
parts are joined one to the other, are made air and water tight, and if
desired such tubes or vessels may be divided into separate cells or compart-
ments. By these means buoyant beams are produced possessing great
strength. In using the description of chains above described a self-acting
stopper may be employed therewith, which can be lowered and raised from
the surface of the water, and be the means of connecting the two ends of
a chain or chains without the aid of a diver. When using flexible water
and air proof bags or vessels for raising sunken vessels or other bodies in
the water, in place of their being closed in all parts as heretofore, each such
vessel has an opening at its lower part, in order as the vessel rises more
and more towards the surface of the water, and is subject to less and less
external pressure, some of the air contained in the vessel, and by which it
is kept distended, may escape, so as to reduce the internal pressure to what
is requisite for keeping the vessel distended.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Beare Caulfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, WILLIAM
BEARE CAULFIELD, of 13, Cromwell Buildings, Southwark, in the County
of Surrey, Submarine Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent
Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me. the said William Beare Caulfield, Her special licence
that 1, the said William Beare. Caulfield, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as 1, the said William Beare Caulfield, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAINS AND APPARATUS
USED FOR SUBMARINE PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
1, the said William Beare Caulfield, my executors or adininistrators, by

page_text: an instrument in writing under my or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Beare Caulfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:--
This Invention has for its object improvements in chains and apparatus
used for submarine purposes. In constructing a chain the links or parts
are made hollow, and by preference of a cylindrical form and in suitably
short lengths; each link or length is made air and water tight: the several
lengths or links are connected together by means of ball-and-socket or
universal joints. By these means chains of any desired strength may be
constructed, and of such weight in respect to the weight of water dis-
placed thereby as the circumstances of their use in particular cases may
require.
о
Figure is a longitudinal section of a chain constructed according to
my Invention.
a. d, are the cylindrical links, made by preference of wrought iron; they
are closed at the ends by the discs or diaphragms a', a', and they receive
screw caps b. b. c. c. are balls contained within the caps b; they are con
nected together in pairs, as is shown, by stems d, d; screw threads are
cut on the stems, and a hole tapped with a corresponding thread is formed
through each of the balls. Figure 2 shows a side view. partly in section,
of the ends of two links of a chain formed in a somewhat different manner,
and as is suitable for chains of large size. The cylinders a, a, in this case
are riyetted up, and the caps b. b. are also attached by rivets. In place of
centre balls, segments c. c. only are employed, and they are secured by
keys or wedges e, e, passed through the stems d, d. Openings are left for
the insertion of these keys, and the openings are furnished with covers
b. b. By regulating the proportions of the links of chains constructed
in this manner any desired amount of buoyancy may be given to them, so
that they may if desired float on the surface of the water. These chains
are peculiarly suited for use in raising sunken vessels; they should for
this purpose be so proportioned as just to sink in the water. The method
in which employ them, which however forms no part of my patented

page_text: C
Invention, is as follows:- attach two such chains, each somewhat longer
than the vessel to be raised, to a shoe such as is shown at Figures 3 and 4;
this shoe is hinge-jointed at f, and its ends at 9, g, receive the terminal
balls of the chains. By means of steam tugs or otherwise 1 then draw
the shoe under the fore part of the vessel, and cross the chains attached to
it under the stem; then I let down from the surface a stopper, such as I
will presently describe, and by means of it lock the two chains together;
thus, without materially increasing the weight to be raised, a strong belt
is formed around the vessel, to which ordinary lifting tackle may be
attached. The stopper employ to unite the ends of two chains, such as
those above described, is so arranged that it can be lowered from the
surface of the water into its place on the chains, so as to secure them
without the aid of a diver. Figure 5 is an end view of the stopper,
Figure 6 a plan, and Figure 7 an under side view of the same. It consists
of a frame or casting g, g, with two holes through it by which the chain
can pass freely; h, h, are flaps hinged to the frame or casting ; these
flaps are shown open in the Drawings; i is a link attached to the flaps,
and is a small chain connected therewith, by which the apparatus is
lowered; so long as the stopper hangs its weight on the small chain k, the
flaps are kept open by the weight of the instrument against the resistance
of the springs 1, 1, but as soon as this weight is otherwise supported the
flaps close. The ends of the chains, or of ropes attached to them, are
passed at the surface of the water through the holes in the stopper; this
is then lowered by the small chain k. The flaps h, k, remain open, and
the stopper descends until it can get no further, the flaps then close
into the spaces between the links. In constructing beams to be used for
submarine purposes I make them of hollow tubes or vessels, and by pre-
ference each beam is of a triangular form; the ends or angles, where the
parts come together and where the parts are joined one to the other, are
made air and water tight, and if desired such tubes or vessels may be
divided into separate cells or compartments. By these means buoyant
beams are produced possessing great strength. Such girders are very
conveniently employed in raising sunken ships. The arrangement is
shown at Figures 8 and 9. a, a, is a triangular girder, made of wrought-
iron tubes, so as to be as buoyant as possible. It has an eye at a to
receive a chain communicating with the weight to be supported. b is a
bing of waterproof material filled with air and attached to the girder a by
the lashings c, c. When using flexible water and air proof bags for raising

page_text: sunken vessels and other bodies by attaching the bags immediately to the
sunken vessel or body, in place of using bags which are closed in all parts
as heretofore, cach such vessel has an opening at its lower part. in order
as the vessel rises more and more towards the surface of the water. and is
subject to less and less external pressure, some of the air contained in the
vessel, and by which it is kept distended, may escape, so as to reduce the
internal pressure to what is requisite for keeping the vessel distended.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Beare Caulfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
W. B. CAULFIELD. (L.s.)