IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MEANS FOR PROTECTING SHIPS AND SEA FORTS OR BATTERIES FROM TORPEDOES AND PROJECTILES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Francis Joel at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 4th June 1877.
HENRY FRANCIS JOEL, of Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MEANS FOR PROTECTING SHIPS AND SEA FORTS
OR BATTERIES FROM TORPEDOES AND PROJECTILES."
This Invention relates to certain peculiar constructions and arrangements of
apparatus to be fitted to a ship's sides, bows, and stern, or to the faces of floating or
stationary sea forts or batteries, with a view to protecting the same from the
destructive effects of torpedoes, whether the same be sunk, floating, or of the class
known as the "fish torpedo."
I am aware that attempts have been made to obtain the protection required by
the aid of netting supported at intervals by booms or spars projecting outwards
from the sides or other parts of the hull of a ship, but whilst the protection afforded
thereby is insufficient, the arrangement itself is too cumbrous to admit of its being
readily shipped and unshipped.
Now, the essential feature of one part of my said Invention consists in adapting
to the sides or other parts of ships, or to the faces of sea forts or batteries, binged or
jointed or folding frames or supports carrying gratings, screens, or nets in such a
manner that the whole forms a strong elastic and mechanical protection, which can
be expeditiously mounted by part and opened out or unfolded for action to any
required distance from the deck of the ship whilst under way, or from the platform.
of the fort or battery, and be as readily folded up, dismounted, and stowed away in
separate parts when not required for use..
Another part of my Invention consists of a contrivance to be fitted to the bows of
a ship for the purpose of catching and severing or dragging the mooring chains and
electric conductors connected with the buoys or floats of sunken torpedoes, intended
to be fired by electricity or otherwise, thereby rendering them harmless before the
hull of the ship has approached within their range of action, the said contrivance
consisting of a moveable frame with claws and cutters or shears, worked either by.
the resistance of the water when the ship is under way, or by mechanical means
actuated from ship board.
According to one arrangement of apparatus more especially adapted for protecting;

page_text: ships and sea forts or batteries from locomotive torpedoes, such, for example, as the
class known as "fish torpedoes" and the like, and from the attacks of torpedo
boats, I permanently secure to the part to be protected two or more vertically
disposed girders, slotted longitudinally along the web from near the top to near the
bottom of the said girder, the lower ends of which descend to any required depth
down the ship's side or below the surface of the water. In the upper ends of the
slots of these girders there is pivotted by a bolt or pin one end of a longitudinally
slotted suspension bar, the lower end of which projects outwards and downwards at
an angle, and is similarly jointed to the outer and upper end of an angular strut,
the inner and lower end of which is pivotted to the bottoin of the slot in the before-
mentioned slotted fixed girder. To this same joint, pin, or bolt, there is pivotted a
boon which is slotted longitudinally and projects outwards horizontally or nearly
so to any desired extent from the ship's side, and is situate at any desired depth
below the surface of the water. At the point of junction of the suspension bar with
the hinged strut there is pivotted the end of a horizontal beam of angle iron or
other convenient section disposed parallel to the ship's side. A similar longitudinal
beam parallel to the first is situate several feet below it, and is free to slide and
pivot at each end freely in the slotted hinged booms, there being a duplex system of
hinged or jointed suspension bars, struts, and booms at convenient distances along
the ship's side or part to be protected.. Between the two longitudinal beams there
are secured by nuts and collars, or other convenient modes of fastening, a series of
vertically disposed solid or tubular bars of steel or iron, placed at such intervals
apart as will form a metal grating sufficiently close to obstruct the passage of a
torpedo, each bar being capable of being readily removed" and replaced at
pleasure.
If desired a netting stretched in a frame may be substituted for the said grating.
When in action the parts stand out some distance from the ship's side and form a
resultant parallel frame of great strength, the grating or net frame hanging perpen-
dicularly; but when not required for immediate use the several jointed parts are
hauled inwards and upwards near to the ship's side, and folded into a small compass
by the action of chains or ropes secured to the hinged struts, and hauled or wound
in board by windlasses on deck.
The several parts of this folding apparatus can be readily taken asunder from the
deck of the ship, and stowed away and remounted again part by part when occasion
requires.
According to another modification, which is more simple and compact, when hauled
up or out of action, 1 dispense with the slotted fixed girders and substitute there-
for-double-jawed-lug supports; having-an-under-cut slot or opening therein, which
allows-the-lower-pivotted-end-of-a-boom-to-be-dropped therein from above, and
when introduced to be retained by the slipping of the pivot into the under-cut part
of the opening, the said pivot being also prevented from escaping forward by a
projection on the front part of the opening. The boom having been thus adjusted
lowered-by-a-chain-or--rope-till-it-assumes a horizontal position from the ship's
side, and is there retained either by a light suspension rod, hooked at each end, or
by a tie rod working when being hauled up into a slot on the boom, or vice versa,
so that it may fold up a diagonal butt-jointed stay or tie which folds up when the
screen is raised, or by the hauling chain alone, or it may be thus supported by
buoying its outer end, such buoy being used either alone or as an auxiliary to the
suspension rod or chain.
is
The outer end of the boom is hooked and has a slight under cut in the opening,
and to this hook is suspended by a slot a channel or trough-shaped iron supporting
rod; of a rounded or other section, there being any desired number of such rods and
pivotted booms at intervals, say, for example, of from 10 to 15 feet, more or less,
round the ship. The said supporting rods are connected with each other by
horizontal elastic or light frames, or bars, or tubes of iron, steel, or other suitable
material, by preference of angle iron or steel tubing, so as to form a grating or screen,
the connections being made by angled slots in the flanges of the channelled bars, such

page_text: slots being curved at one part so as to admit of the horizontal bars being readily
placed and retained therein without fixing, and of being as readily removed. These
horizontal bars have projections or stops at their ends, so that they are secured
endwise, and are made of such a length that they butt up against the inside of the
outer flange of the channel-shaped suspending bars; the purpose of this is to admit
of the horizontal bars being free to bend or spring with a lateral play in the
supporting slots, thus offering a springy or gradual resistance to the projectile, and
at the same time effectually tying the suspending frames together. If the force of
the projectile is sufficiently great the springy motion is communicated to the
adjoining rows or tiers of bars, and thence also to the whole of the system. If
desired these horizontal bars may be made to open and close like louvres, and thus
form a close screen when raised for small projectiles. In this way a strong and
elastic protecting screen or grating without any bolt, pin, or other mechanical fixed
or tie jointing is formed, which hangs perpendicularly at any required distance from
the part to be protected.
The supporting rods of the screen are tied by diagonal ties to render the whole
strong to withstand the wash of the water when the ship is moving.
If preferred, a suspended frame with elastic network may be substituted for or
combined with the grating.
In order to hold the suspended frame in a vertical position it may be connected,
if found desirable, by diagonally disposed butt-jointed stays to the boom, which
stays form a rigid strut when opened or straight, but will fold inwards and allow
of the frame swinging towards the booms when the apparatus is being hauled up,
which is accomplished by chains or ropes connected with the ends of the booms and
with the joints of the diagonal stays, and leading to windlasses on board. The
frumes being loosely suspended at the top are free to move or give way in the water
under the impact of any heavy projectile or locomotive torpedo, thus more effectually
absorbing the vis viva thereof and arresting the flight of the same.
In adapting this modification to the bows or stern of a ship the lower ends of the
booms, in lieu of being made with pivots on each side, are made spherical and fit
into sockets of corresponding form, but undercut so as to prevent the accidental
escape of the boom after it has been adjusted and brought into position.
The booms are mounted as above, and when lowered to a horizontal or nearly
horizontal position are all swung in their sockets by means of chains, so as to bring
their outer ends forward under the bowsprit, assuming an angle following the
contour of the ship or not, as desired, and effectually covering the sides of the ship,
the two frames being clamped or otherwise held together by any convenient clamp
or other fastening readily adjusted or removed. The screens, nets, or gratings will
thus hang down perpendicularly some distance in front of the bows, and when the
ship is under way will either remove or explode any sunken torpedoes that may lie
in its course without injury to the hull. Buoys may be applied at the outer ends
of the booms, if desired, to support or assist in supporting them horizontally upon
or below the surface of the water. In some cases the booms may be made of wood,
with iron shoes at the ends, or of light open lattice or other framework, and they
may be made to carry suspended frames provided with stretching ribs to distend a
rope or other netting, an air chamber being formed on or attached to the upper edge
of the said frames to buoy them.
My apparatus for cutting or severing the connectors between sunken torpedoes
and their buoys, or for dragging the same so as to render them harmless before the
bows reach them, consists of a light outrigger projecting any required distance
beyond the bows at any required level below the water, which outrigger may consist
of light girders pivotted at one end into sockets secured to the sides of the bows or
attached in front of the before-mentioned screen, and carrying at their outer or
forward ends a buoy carrying or supporting the spindle or axis of a series of
revolving blades or cutters having sinooth or serrated cutting edges, the said blade
being
shaped in cross section, so that the resistance of the water against the
back or broadest edges of the blades will cause them to revolve by the forward

page_text: motion of the ship through the water. Pivotted on the same axis, but loose thereon,
are two claws or arms of any desired length, which are capable of being opened out
more or less, so as to catch any torpedo wires that may come within their range and
bring them under the action of the revolving cutters, which act as rotary shears in
conjunction with the stationary claws or arms. The adjustment of the amount of
opening of the said claws may be accomplished by means of connecting bars jointed
to the lower ends of crossed levers, the upper ends of which work in a slotted
quadrant as to be capable of being opened more or less.
It is obvious that various other mechanical arrangements may be employed for
imparting a rotary or other motion to the cutters, which may be made to act as an
ordinary pair of shears, whilst the spread or opening of the claws may also be
regulated by any equivalent mechanical contrivance. As these cutters, or shears
will operate below the surface of the water, it will be convenient to connect them
in any well-known manner by means of a conductor with an electric bell or other
signal on board, in order to indicate whether or not they are in operation, the
stoppage of the cutters being caused to make contact and ring the bell, thereby
calling the attention of the officer in charge.
The entire frame, with its cutting apparatus, is connected by a chain or chains
with a windlass on deck, so as to be readily hauled up out of the water or lowered.
again as occasion may require. In some cases light outrigger frames may be
attached to buoys in front of the ship for the purpose of removing floating torpedoes
or contacts.
Although chiefly designed with a view to protecting a ship or sea fort from the
effects of torpedoes, the herein-before described folding screens may obviously be
made so as to afford a certain amount of protection from shot and other projectiles.