Improvements in Brushes or Tools for Cleaning Ships' Bottoms, and for other like purposes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Aug., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 4th June, 1891-Accepted, 4th July, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brushes or Tools for Cleaning Ships' Bottoms, and
for other like purposes.
I JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincoln's Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention which has been com-
municated to me from abroad by Alexandre Tiribilot of Paris in the Republic of
France Commercial Agent to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a brush or tool chiefly intended for cleaning ships
This tool
bottoms by removing the barnacles and other matter adhering thereto.
can be attached to a handle of suitable length and is constructed with a wood back
perforated with a suitable number of holes for the reception of bunches of wire and
bunches of softer material arranged or combined as hereinafter described. To the
brush back there is attached a flat plate of metal having sharp edges and corners
projecting beyond the sides and ends of the brush so as to act as a scraper and assist
in loosening and detaching the barnacles or the like.
The hard or wire part of the brush is preferably composed of tinned wire of about
the thickness of an ordinary pin each bunch being composed of say six wires bent
double with the ends projecting. These wires form the central part of the brush
being surrounded by the softer part which is similarly composed of bunches of
bristles or fibres such as are generally employed in the manufacture of hard rough
brushes. These bunches are preferably 3 centimetres or say about one inch in
length and placed about 4 millimetres or of an inch apart being about of an
inch in diameter at their base but spread out so as to touch one another at the
outer ends.
The bunches of wire at the central part of the brush are of the same length as
the bunches of softer material at the outer part but do not spread out in the
same way.
A plate of iron or steel or other suitable metal is attached to the back of the
brush being held between the back and a block of wood to which is attached an
inclined socket for the reception of the handle the parts being secured by bolts
passing through the whole. The end edges of the plate or scraper are cut at an
angle or inclined to the sides so as to present acute angles at the coruers and
facilitate detaching matter from hollows or recesses in the ships bottom or the
scraper may be of any other suitable shape according to the work to be performed.
The brushes according to this invention as hereinbefore described may be constructed
with or without the said plate or scraper.
Did 10th day of & reconst 1900
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brushes or Tools for Cleaning Ships' Bottoms, and
for other like purposes.
1 JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention which has
been communicated to me from abroad by Alexandre Tiribilot of Paris in the
Republic of France Commercial Agent and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement -
This invention relates to a brush or tool chiefly intended for cleaning ships

page_text: bottoms by removing the barnacles and other matter adhering thereto being also
applicable to other like purposes. This tool can be attached to a handle of suitable
length enabling it to be used in the same way as a broom and is constructed with a
wood back perforated with a suitable number of holes for the reception of bunches
or tufts of wire and bunches or tufts of softer material arranged or combined as
hereinafter described. To the brush back there may be attached a flat plate of
metal having sharp edges and corners projecting beyond the sides and ends of the
brush so as to act as a scraper and assist in loosening and detaching barnacles or
other hard substances capable of resisting the action of the brush.
And in order that this invention may be fully understood I shall now proceed
more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to the
several figures on the annexed sheet of drawings the saine letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in end clevation a brush or
tool according to this invention and Figure 2 represents the tool viewed from
the side on which the tufts are located.
The brush is constructed with a wood back or body 1 of rectangular or other
suitable shape perforated with a number of holes at regular intervals for the
reception of a corresponding number of bunches or tufts of wire and bunches or
tufts of fibrous material of animal or vegetable origin (hogs bristles hair, couch
grass, tampico piassava or the like) being of a softer nature than the wire and of a
similar character to the material usually employed in the manufacture of hard or
rough brushes for polishing parquet floors, sweeping streets, yards and for other
similar purposes.
In the tool represented in the drawings the side and end parts of the brush are
formed by two rows of tufts 2 composed of relatively soft or fibrous material of
the kind hereinbefore indicated. These tufts may be conveniently made about one
inch in length and of an inch in diameter at the base or root. In this case the
distance between the tufts at the base is about of an inch but as they
tend to spread out at the ends they meet in the usual way at the surface of
the brush.
The central part of the said brush is provided with a number of rows of holes
(six rows in the example illustrated) for the reception of tufts 3 composed of tinned
wire of 'about the same thickness as a common pin. These tufts are preferably
composed of six wires bent double so as to present 12 ends at the surface of the
brush at about the same level with the ends of the tufts of softer material
(Figure 1). Owing to their comparative stiffness the tufts of wire do not spread
out at the free ends but remain separated from one another as represented at 3 in
Figure 2 and constitute the part of the brush that is employed to disintegrate the
deposits of matter requiring removal.
On the other side of the back or body there is attached a plate 4 of iron, steel
or other suitable metal in the form of a four sided parallelogram with sharp edges.
This plate acting as a scraper is secured between the back 1 of the brush and a
solid block 5 of wood connected to the back or body 1 by screws or bolts 6 passed
through the back 1 and block 5 as represented in Figure 1. These same bolts
may also be employed to connect the tool to a socket 8 for the reception of a
suitable handle 9.
This tool enables incrustations growths for deposits on ships bottoms for example
to be removed with great facility. For this purpose it is simply necessary to
immerse the brush in water and rub it energetically over the surface to be cleaned
in order to disintegrate and clean off the weeds, moss, mussels, barnacles, or the
like in a most effectual manner. Anything that does not yield to the action of the
brush can be easily detached or scraped off by means of the scraper or plate 4
the ends of which are cut at an angle or inclined to the long sides as represented in
Figure 2 to enable it to be readily introduced into angles or recesses in the surface
to be cleaned.
"It is evident that the shape dimensions and proportions of the tool and the

page_text: nature of the vegetable or animal substances and of the metal employed in the
construction of the brush and scraper may be modified according to circumstances
and in certain cases the scraper or plate 4 may be dispensed with.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what 1
claim is.
First. A tool for cleaning ships bottoms and for other like purposes constructed
with a brush composed of a combination of bunches or tufts of wire with
bunches or tufts of softer material such as vegetable or animal fibre and a plate
or scraper substantially as herein before described with reference to the accom-
panying drawings.
Second. A. tool for cleaning ships bottoms and for other like purposes consisting
of a brush constructed with bunches or tufts of wire combined with tufts of
softer material such as vegetable or animal fibre substantially as hereinbefore
described.
Dated the 4th day of June 1891
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agenta.