Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Apr., 1888
Specification Accepted, 25th May, 1888
I, ALBERT HENRY WALKER, of 274 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut, one of the
United States of America, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This projectile is adapted to contain oil, and to be thrown from a ship into the sea,
and to discharge that oil upward through the water to the surface of the waves, and
thus to allay the combers which would otherwise form upon their crests.
Figure 1 of the drawings, is a view of a projector, suitable to be used in
throwing my projectile, and clasped in the right hand of a sailor, and clasping the
projectile between its forward ends. Figure 2 is a view, partly in section,
of, what is shown in the upper part of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a section on
the dotted line of Figure 2. Figure 4 is a cross section of the projector, on the
plane of the mutual axis of the two parts thereof, and looking toward the pro-
jectile. Figure 5 is a fragmentary view of the middle portion of the two levers
which constitute the principal part of the projector, with the nut and bolt which
unite them removed so as to exhibit their mutual articulation. Figure 6 is a central
vertical section of the projectile.
The letters A and B, indicate the two levers which constitute the principal parts of
the projector. The rear ends of those levers are preferably made in the form of the
rear ends of the two members of tailors' shears; and they are pivoted together by the
bolt C, and are secured in position by the nut D, and a corresponding head on
the other end of the bolt. The strap E may be employed, if desired, to guard against
the danger of the projector slipping from the hand of the sailor, and flying into the sea.
The forward parts of the levers A and B are provided with the dowel socket F, and
the dowel G, respectively, to insure identity of plane in the mutually approaching
movement of the forward parts of the levers. Those forward parts are also provided
with the concave wings H and I, respectively; which wings are preferably made
integral with the dowel socket and dowel respectively, and serve to secure the easy
and certain placing of the projectile, at precisely the proper place in the projector.
The forward ends of the levers A and B, are provided with inwardly projecting
prongs J and K respectively; which prongs are firmly fixed in the blocks L and M

page_text: respectively; and which blocks are provided with exterior screw threads, for engage-
ment with corresponding interior scrow threads in the cylindrical recesses N and O,
in the levers A and B respectively. The strippers P and Q, reciprocate in those
cylindrical recesses respectively; and that reciprocation is caused by the spiral
springs R and S, respectively, and is limited by the annular flanges T and U,
respectively; which flanges are respectively integral with the outer cylindrical part
of the respective strippers. The two concentric cylindrical parts of the two strippers,
are united by an integral annular part as shown in the drawings; and the annular
spaces between those concentric annular parts, constitute the recesses for the springs R
and S respectively.
The numeral 1, indicates the shell of the projectile, which is preferably cylindrical
in form, though it may be made square or octagonal, or in any other convenient
outline; and which is manufactured by inserting the disk 2 in one end of that shell,
and soldering it to the annular shoulder upon which, in Figure 6, it is shown to rest;
and then by inserting the convex and centrally perforated disk 3 in the other end of
that shell, and pressing it up until its truncated apex is in contact with the disk 2,
and then soldering the interior border of the disk 3, to the inside of the disk 2, and
the exterior border of the disk 3, to the interior of the shell 1; and thereupon, in
inserting the perforated disk 4, in the opposite end of the shell 1, until it rests, as
shown, upon the adjacent annular shoulder in that end, and then pouring oil through
the aperture in the disk 4, until all of the interior of the projectile, except the annular
air chamber 5, is filled with oil; and finally in inserting the disk
upon the outside
of the disk.4, and soldering it firmly in place by a circle of solder extending entirely
around its border and entirely around the adjacent inner border of the shell 1.
When the filled projectile of Figure 6, is to be thrown into the sea, it is impaled
between the forward ends of the levers A and B, in the position shown in Figures 1,
2, and 3. Then the sailor grasps the rear ends of the levers, as shown in Figure 1, and
swings his arm as if he were about to throw or toss a ball, and at the instant his arm
reaches its utmost stretch, he opens his hand so as to separate the rear ends of the
levers A and B, and also to separate the forward ends of those levers, and thus extract
the prongs J and K from the openings which they made in the disks 2 and 6
respectively. That extraction, which might otherwise be limited to one of those
prongs, is insured to both of them by the strippers P and Q; which strippers are
forced towards the ends of the prongs J and K respectively, by the springs R and S
respectively. Thus liberated from the projector, the projectile is hurled into the sea.
During the flight of the projectile through the air, the oil is prevented from passing
out through the openings in the disks 2 and 6, by. reason of the smallness of those
openings, and the shortness of the time of that flight.
When the projectile reaches the water, its momentum carries it slightly below the
surface, where it floats with the air chamber 5, upward. Thereupon the oil is emitted
from the projectile through the opening in the disk. 2, and passes upward to the
surface of the sea, and is replaced in that projectile by water admitted through the
opening in the disk 6. The length of time occupied in the emission and rising of
the oil, depends upon the size of the opening in the disk 2, as compared with the bulk
of oil to be emitted. A projectile having all its dimensions double those shown in the
drawings, will hold about two ounces of oil; and when the opening in the disk 2 is
double the size indicated by the prong K, and when the oil is of proper fluidity, the
emission will be completed in a few moments.
Two ounces of oil when applied to a raging sea, will allay the combers of the waves
over two acres of water, as was proved by the experiment made by Captain Smith of
the British Bark Wallace, on the Atlantic Ocean, September 21, 1886. It follows
from this fact, that when lying to, or when lowering or hoisting boats in a heavy sea,
the combers can be kept several hundred yards away from a ship, by throwing a few
of these projectiles into the water around the ship and a hundred yards away from
the sides of the same, and by repeating the operation from time to time, if required.
The disk 4, or the air chamber 5, or both of them may be omitted from the projectile,
and its upright buoyancy, a little below the surface of the sea, be otherwise secured;

page_text: but whatever means are adopted for that purpose, they should be so proportioned to
each other and to the weight of the projectile and its contents, as to give the filled
projectile a specific gravity identical with that of sea water, or a little less than that,
and thus to cause the projectile to float with one opening upward and the other opening
downward, at or near the point, a little below the surface of the water, to which its
momentum will carry it when it reaches the sea.
The oil in the projectile may be fish oil, linseed oil, olive oil, or lubricating mineral
oil, or crude petroleum; and still other oils will produce beneficial results, but fish
oil is probably best, except when the projectiles are to be used in cold weather, when
fish oil mixed with mineral oil, to give it fluidity, is excellent.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A sea oiling projectile, consisting of a shell, one end or side of the interior of
which is provided with an air chamber, or its equivalent, and the opposite end or side
of the interior of which is provided with a weight or its equivalent, and the inter-
mediate part of the interior of which contains oil; substantially as described.
2. A sea oil projectile, consisting of an hermetically sealed shell, one end or side of
the interior of which is provided with an air chamber or its equivalent, and the
opposite end or side of the interior of which is provided with a weight or its equiva-
lent, and the intermediate part of the interior of which contains oil; the two opposite
sides or ends of which, that are provided with the air chamber and the weight
respectively, being also provided with sections of walls easily punctured to make
openings for the egress of oil and the ingress of water, respectively; all substantially
as described.
Dated this Ninth day of March 1888.