AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLEANING THE BOTTOMS AND SIDES OF SHIPS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Studdy, of Waddeton Court, in the County of
Devon, Gentleman, Commodore, Royal Dart Yacht Club, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLEANING THE BOTTOMS AND SIDES OF
SHIPS."
Sealed the 8th September 1877, and dated the 24th March 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Studdy at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th March 1877.
HENRY STUDDY, of Waddeton Court, in the County of Devon, Gentleman,
Commodore, Royal Dart Yacht Club. "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLEANING
THE BOTTOMS AND SIDES OF SHIPS."
This Invention relates to novel apparatus for cleaning the bottoms and sides of
ships, and freeing the same from various matters which collect thereon and impede
the progress of the ship through the water.
The said apparatus is designed to be used at sea, or wherever the ship may
happen to be when it is necessary or desirable for her bottom or sides to be cleaned;
it is constructed of portable form that it may be conveniently carried in the ship,
occupying but very little space when not in use. It is readily fixed in its position
when required to be used, and is rapid and effective in operation, removing
completely all foreign matters from the bottom of the ship, and thus a saving of
time is effected for sailing vessels, and of both time and fuel for steam vessels.
In carrying my Invention into practice I provide two pieces of wood or other
material of suitable length, which are bolted or otherwise so fastened together as to
form a sort of frame or trough of the required width to enclose the keel of the ship;
on its two sides and at the bottom of the said frame I provide rollers having their
supports or bearings within or upon the pieces formning the frame, the said rollers
being placed horizontally and at right angles thereto. I thus form a frame to fit
over the keel of the vessel and provided with rollers, which when the said frame is
fixed for use are in contact with the bottom of the said keel and permit the frame
to be readily moved to and fro the whole length of the vessel. When in use the
said frame is to be kept in the required position by means of ropes which are
attached thereto, and extend up the sides of the ship to the deck, where they are
made fast by any suitable means.
In connection with the said frame I provide sheets of canvass, india-rubber, or other

page_text: suitable material, which are attached to it by ropes running through the same, or
through blocks connected thereto in such a manner that the said sheets may be
made fast to the frame, or will be capable of being drawn up and down by ropes
leading to the deck. To these sheets I attach brushes constructed of any suitable
material, and arranged at any desirable angle, and the said brushes may be flat and
rigidly fastened to the sheets, or they may be circular and fitted in bearing blocks
to be attached to the sheets so that the said brushes may revolve.
In some instances it may be desirable to attach wings, projections, "otters," or
air-bags to the ends of the said sheets in such manner that the said wings or pro-
jections may be acted upon by the current of water by which the whole apparatus
may be carried along, the vessel in one direction without the assistance of any other
power.
The said apparatus is put into operation as follows, that is to say, the frame or
trough is first lowered by any suitable means and caused to enclose the keel of the
vessel as above described, the rollers being in contact with the bottom of the said 1
keel. To each end of the said frame a rope is attached extending to the deck, one
over the bows and the other over the stem. The said frame being in position the
sheets with the brushes on their sides, as herein-before described, are adjusted by
means of the ropes provided for that purpose, one sheet being upon one side of the
vessel, and the other sheet upon the other side of the vessel, so as to form a sort of
cradle, enclosing a certain portion of the vessel from the keel nearly or quite to
the water line, the brushes being in contact with the bottom and sides of the
vessel.
The said apparatus being thus fixed in its position by operating the ropes leading
therefrom to the deck, a vigorous brushing may be applied to any portions of the
ship's bottom or sides, which will effectually remove in a short space of time all
foreign matters adhering thereto. By operating the ropes leading from the said
frames over the bows and stern alternately, the whole apparatus, frame, sheets, and
brushes, will receive a backward and forward motion lengthwise of the ship, and
thus the sides and bottom will have applied to them a vigourous brushing in a
horizontal direction; then to complete the process the sheets may be drawn up and
down by means of ropes running through the frame, or through blocks attached
thereto and communicating with the deck, and by means of other ropes attached to
the top part of said sheets, the frame in this operation remaining stationary. By
this operation a vigourous brushing is given in a perpendicular direction, or at right
angles to the first described operation. When that portion of the ship's bottom and
sides covered by the apparatus has been thoroughly cleansed the said apparatus is
shifted to another position and the same operations are gone through again, and so
on, until the whole surface to be operated upon has been cleaned.
The ropes may be worked by manual labour, or may be arranged to be actuated
by steam or other power.
Instead of the said sheets it may be sometimes desirable to use other apparatus,
such as brushes with long handles, the said brushes being attached by ropes to the
said frame, and operated on deck by means of the handles, which would extend up
the sides of the vessel.
I have described my Invention as applied to vessels having keels, but it will be
readily understood that with certain simple modifications my said Invention may be
adapted to flat-bottomed vessels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Henry Studdy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th 5
September 1877.
HENRY STUDDY, of Waddeton Court, in the County of Devon, Gentleman,
Commodore, Royal Dart Yacht Club. "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CLEANING
THE BOTTOMS AND SIDES OF SHIPS."

page_text: This Invention relates to novel apparatus for cleaning the bottoms and sides of
ships, and freeing the same from various matters which collect thereon and impede
the progress of the ship through the water.
The said apparatus is designed to be used at sea, or wherever the ship may
happen to be when it is necessary or desirable for her bottom or sides to be cleaned;
it is constructed in a portable form that it may be conveniently carried in the ship,
and will occupy very little space when not in use. It may be readily fixed in its
position when required to be used, is rapid and effective in operation, and will
remove completely all foreign matters froin the bottom of the ship, thus saving
time in the case of sailing vessels, and both time and fuel in the case of steam
vessels.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn an advantageous form in which my
said Invention inay be embodied.
Figure 1 is a plan or top view of my apparatus as constructed for cleaning ships'
surfaces; Figure 2 is a side view of the same; Figure 3 illustrates the method of
using the same upon a ship.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
In carrying my Invention into practice for the cleaning of ships' sides and
bottoms, I construct a frame or trough a of two pieces a¹ of wood or other material
of suitable length, which pieces are bolted or otherwise so fastened together as to
make the said frame of the required width to enclose the keel of the ship on its two
sides. At the bottom of the said frame I provide rollers b, having their supports or
bearings within or upon the pieces a¹ forming the frame, the said rollers being placed
horizontally and at right angles thereto, as clearly shewn in Figure 1, but in some
instances these rollers may be dispensed with. When the said frame is fixed for
use, as in Figure 3, the said rollers are in contact with the bottom of the said keel
and permit the frame a to be readily moved to and fro the whole length of the
vessel. When in use the said frane is to be kept in the required position by means
of ropes c which are attached thereto, and extend up the sides of the ship to the
deck, where they are made fast by any suitable means.
In connection with the said frame I provide sheets of canvas, india-rubber, or.
other suitable material, which are attached to it by the ropes e running through
the same or through blocks e connected thereto in such a manner that the said
sheets may be made fast to the frame a, or will be capable of being drawn up and
down by the same or other ropes leading to the deck. To these sheets I attach
brushes constructed of any suitable material and arranged at any desirable angle,
and the said brushes may be flat and rigidly fastened to the sheets; or they may be
rollers with brush surfaces and fitted in bearing blocks to be attached to the sheets,
so that the said brushes may revolve. In the case of very foul or dirty vessels I use
in place of, or in connection with the brushes, a spring scraper floated with air
casings (or otherwise):
In some instances it may be desirable to attach wings, projecting "otters," or air
bags, or other vessels to the ends of the said sheets in such a manner that the said
wings or projections may be acted upon by the current of water by which the whole
apparatus inay be carried along in one direction without the assistance of any other
power. is a weight or ballast to assist the drawing down or adjustment of the
said apparatus. When the said apparatus is adjusted in the required position this
weight is tripped or cast off, and may be drawn up to the deck.
The said apparatus is put into operation as follows, that is to say :-The frame or
trough is first lowered by any suitable means and caused to enclose the keel of the
vessel, as above described, the rollers (when the rollers are employed) being in.
contact with the bottom of the said keel. To each end of the said frame a rope d
is attached extending to the deck, one over the bows, and the other over the stern.
The said frame being in position the sheets with the brushes on their sides as herein-
before described are adjusted by means of the ropes c provided for that purpose, one
sheet being upon one side of the vessel, and the other sheet upon the other side of
the vessel, as slewu in Figure 3, so as to form a sort of cradle enclosing a certain

page_text: portion of the vessel, from the keel nearly or quite to the water-line, the brushes
being in contact with the bottom and sides of the vessel.
The said apparatus being thus fixed in its position by operating the ropes &
leading therefrom to the deck, a vigorous brushing may be applied to any portions
of the ship's bottom or sides, which brushing will effectually remove in a short time
all foreign matters adhering thereto. By operating the ropes leading from the said
frames over the bows and stern alternately, the whole apparatus, that is to say, the
frame, shoets, and brushes will receive a backward-and-forward motion lengthwise
of the ship, and thus the sides and bottom will be brushed in a horizontal direction;
then to complete the process the sheets may be drawn up and down by means of
ropes c running through the frame or through the blocks attached thereto, and
communicating with the deck by means of other ropes attached to the top part of
said sheets, the frame in this operation remaining stationary, the ship's surface
being thereby brushed in a perpendicular direction or at right angles to the first
described operation.
It will generally be found more convenient to finish the cleaning of a portion of
the ship's surface before commencing to operate on a further portion, and when
each portion of the ship's bottom and sides covered by the apparatus has been
thoroughly cleansed, the said apparatus is shifted to another position, and the same
operations are gone through again, and so on, until the whole surface to bo operated
upon has been cleaned.
The ropes may be worked by manual power, or may be arranged to be actuated
by steam or other power.
Instead of the said sheets it may be sometimes desirable to use other apparatus,
such as brushes with long handles, the said brushes being attached by ropes to the
said frame, and operated on deck by means of the handles, which would extend up
the sides of the vessel.
I have described the said Invention as applied to vessels having keels, but it will
be readily understood that with certain simple modifications it may be adapted also
to flat-bottomed vessels.
Having thus fully described my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I wish it understood that I claim the improved apparatus for cleaning the
sides and bottoms of ships, consisting of the frame or trough, with or without
rollers, attached to and operated and guided by suitable ropes or lines, and provided
with sheets, brushes, or other adjuncts, as above set forth and operating as above
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Studdy, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven
H. STUDDY. (L.S.)