IMPROVEMENTS IN RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bland, of 123, Fenchurch Street, in the
Oity of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAISING
SUNKEN VESSELS."-A communication from abroad by Marcus
Horatio Bland, of Gibraltar.
Sealed the 6th December 1875, and dated the 30th September 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bland at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th September 1875.
I, JOHN BLAND, of 128, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London,
3 do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS," to be as follows:-

page_text: to be self-contained and driven by steam supplied by a flexible pipe
from the surface.
Second. Inlet valves to be placed on the deck to allow of the ingress
of water when the pressure outside exceeds that inside the ship.
Third. Large outlet valves to be placed on the deck communicating 5
with each compartment to allow of the escape of air or gas when the
pressure inside exceeds that outside the ship. In ascending to the
surface the expansion of air would be so great and rapid that a large
escape must be provided for to prevent the decks being blown up.
Fourth. To place inside each compartment tanks charged with 1
chemicals capable of being converted at will into a volume of gas
which at the water pressure at that depth would be equal to the
cubical contents of the compartment, or air can be pumped into the
vessel from the surface.
Fifth. All hatchways, ports, and other openings in the vessel's deck 1
and sides to be closed.
The result in practice would be that the water inside the ship being
pumped out, its place will be taken by tho gas or air pumped in. The
inlet and outlet valves will regulate the pressure, keeping the inside
equal to that of the water outside, so that no upward or downward 2
pressure will be brought to bear on the deck, but the whole body being
rendered specifically lighter it will return to the surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Bland in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th March 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BLAND, of 123, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, send
greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the g
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-

page_text: .
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Bland, Her special
license that I, the said John Bland, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Bland, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 RAISING
SUNKEN VESSELS," a communication to me from abroad by Marcus Horatio
Bland, of Gibraltar, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Bland, my executors, or administrators, by 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 John Bland, 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:-

page_text: which at the water pressure at that depth would be equal to the
cubical contents of the compartment, or air can be pumped into the
vessel from the surface.
Fifth. All hatchways, ports, and other openings in the vessel's deck
and sides to be closed.
The result in practice would be that the water inside the ship being
pumped out its place will be taken by the gas or air pumped in. The
inlet and outlet valves will regulate the pressure, keeping the inside
equal to that of the water outside, so that no upward or downward
pressure will be brought to bear on the deck, but the whole body being
rendered specifically lighter it will return to the surface.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bland, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.