IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING AND GUIDING CAISSONS OR GATES USED FOR OPENING AND CLOSING DOCKS OR BASINS, WHICH INVENTION IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO FLOATING BRIDGES OR PONTOONS AND THE LIKE."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Lake and Thomas Walmsley Taylor, both of
Victoria Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO APPARATUS FOR
SUPPORTING AND GUIDING CAISSONS OR GATES USED FOR OPENING AND
CLOSING DOCKS OR BASINS, WHICH INVENTION IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO
FLOATING BRIDGES OR PONTOONS AND THE LIKE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Lake and Thomas
Walmsley Taylor at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th
January 1881.
SAMUEL LAKE and THOMAS WALMSLEY TAYLOR, both of Victoria Street,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers.
RELATING TO APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING AND GUIDING CAISSONS OR GATES
USED FOR OPENING AND CLOSING DOCKS OR BASINS, WHICH INVENTION IS ALSO
APPLICABLE TO FLOATING BRIDGES OR PONTOONS AND THE LIKE."
Our Invention is chiefly designed to facilitate the working of the sliding caissons
or caisson.gates now commonly used instead of ordinary gates for opening and
closing the entrance to floating or graving docks, basins, and the like. The said
Invention however is applicable in other cases where it is desired to provide for
closing or bridging water ways or channels which have to be alternately opened
and closed, as when floating bridges or pontoons are employed for railway, military,
or other purposes.
We will however in the following description more particularly refer to the
application of our Invention to caisson gates for docks or basins, which caissons or
gates are moved endwise into and out of a chamber or recess at the side of the
dock entrance in opening and closing the same.
Our said Invention consists chiefly in providing in combination with such
caissons or gates, and above the said chamber or recess, a guideway consisting of a
series of anti-friction rollers, against which the said gates or caissons have their

page_text: bearing by reason of the upward pressure due to their buoyancy in the water, each
caisson or gate being guided between the walls of the recess or chamber as it moves
into or out of the same, and the caisson or gate must be of sufficient length to close
the entrance to the dock without entirely leaving the said recess.
For effecting the object of our Invention we arrange one, two, or more series
of rollers with their axes transverse to the direction of the movement of the
caissons, and bracketed to the parallel walls forming the sides of the recess or
chamber, into which the caisson is received when drawn inward in opening the
dock, the roller brackets being secured by means of girders extending above
the recess, both transversely and longitudinally to the line of movement of the
caisson.
•
The caissons may be constructed of iron or other material in. any suitable manner;
they are made water tight, and by regulating the quantity of water within them
their buoyancy may be increased or diminished as desired, so that they will bear on
and work in contact with the said rollers in such a manner that they may be
opened and closed with a very slight expenditure of power.
We prefer to use hydraulic power for pulling the caisson into and out of the
said recess or chamber, and we provide at the back of the said recess, or in any
other convenient position, a revolving pulley of the same width as the links of the
chain, and properly shaped to receive the same, and the chain takes only a half
turn on the said pulley, thus keeping the caisson, while subjected to upward
pressure by reason of its buoyancy in the water, from moving either to the right or
Jeft, as it would tend to do if the chain were coiled around an ordinary drum.
The discharge of water, from the caisson, may be accomplished in the ordinary
manner by means of a valve or valves arranged and operated in any suitable
manner.
At the inner end of the caisson, that is to say, the end which is presented
toward the recess, we may provide a canti-lever or projection beam, which forms an
inward extension of the part working in contact with the said rollers. The object
of this construction is to ensure to the caisson when the dock entrance is closed a
sufficient support to ensure its steadiness; this canti-lever should be extended
sufficiently from the end of the caisson to bear upon about four of the said rollers.
By our Invention, as will be obvious from the above description, we utilize the
buoyancy which has heretofore tended to overturn the caissons to ensure the
steadiness and safety of the same in such a manner that their capsizing will be
impossible. Moreover, their movement to and fro to open and close the dock will
not be liable to obstruction, as when they rest and move on rollers at the bottom
of the water.
The distance between the two side walls of the said chamber is not sufficient to
allow the water to escape freely as the caisson is drawn into the same, and there-
fore the opening of the dock could only be effected very slowly without some special
provision for obviating this difficulty. We therefore provide at the end of the
caisson chamber a relieving culvert capable of taking out the water as fast as the
caisson may be pulled back into the said chamber, the paddle or valve of such
culvert when dropped causing the water to accumulate and form a brake.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Samuel Lake and Thomas Walmsley Taylor in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 11th July 1881.
+
SAMUEL LAKE and THOMAS WALMSLEY TAYLOR, both of Victoria Street,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
RELATING TO APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING AND GUIDING CAISSONS OR GATES
USED FOR OPENING AND CLOSING DOCKS OR BASINS, WHICH INVENTION IS ALSO
APPLICABLE TO FLOATING BRIDGES OR PONTOONS AND THE LIKE."
Our Invention is chiefly designed to facilitate the working of the sliding caissons
or caisson gates now commonly used instead of ordinary gates for opening and
closing the entrance to floating or graving docks, basins, and the like. The said
Invention however is applicable in other cases where it is desired to provide for
closing or bridging water ways or channels which have to be alternately opened
and closed, as when floating bridges or pontoons are employed for railway, military,
or other purposes.
We will however in the following description more particularly refer to the
application of our Invention to a caisson or gate for a dock or basin, which caisson
or gate is moved endwise into and out of a chamber or recess at the side of the
entrance to the dock or basin in opening and closing the same.
Our Invention consists chiefly in providing in combination with the caisson or
gate, and above the said chamber or recess, a guideway consisting of a series of
anti-friction rollers, against which the said gate or caisson has its bearing by reason
of the upward pressure due to its buoyancy in the water. The said caisson or gate
is guided between the walls of the recess or chamber as it moves into and out of the
same, and must be of sufficient length to close the entrance to the dock without
entirely leaving the said recess or chamber.
For effecting the object of our Invention we arrange one, two, or more series of
rollers with their axes transversely to the direction of the movement of the caisson
and to the parallel walls forming the sides of the recess or chamber, into which the
caisson is received when drawn inward in opening the dock, the roller brackets
being secured by means of girders extending above the said recess, both transversely
and longitudinally to the line of movement of the caisson.
In the accompanying Drawing,-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of the said chamber with our improve-
ments applied thereto, and represents the caisson or gate closed, and
Figure 2 is a plan partly in horizontal section of the same.
Figure 3 is a transverse section of the said chamber, with the caisson or gate
therein.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
A represents the caisson or gate, and B the chamber or recess at one side of the
dock entrance adapted to receive the said caisson. C, C, represent anti-friction
rollers, against which the said gate or caisson has its bearing, and D, D, are the axes
of the said rollers extending transversely to the direction of movement of the caisson.
E, E, represent the girders to which the roller brackets are secured.
The caissons may be constructed of iron or other material in any suitable
manner. They are made water-tight, and by regulating the quantity of water
within them their buoyancy may be increased or diminished as desired, so that
they will bear on and work in contact with the aforesaid rollers C in such a
manner that the said caissons may be opened and closed with a very slight
expenditure of power.
We prefer to use hydraulic power for pulling the caisson into and out of the
recess or chamber B, and for this purpose we provide at the back of the said recess,

page_text: or in any other convenient position, a revolving pulley of the proper width and
shape to receive the links of the chain G, which takes only a half turn on said
pulley. This pulley serves as a guide whereby the caisson, though subjected to
upward pressure by reason of its buoyancy in the water, is kept from moving either
to the right or left as it would tend to do if the chain were coiled around an
ordinary drum or barrel. The discharge of water from the caisson may be
accomplished in the ordinary manner by means of a valve or valves arranged at H
and operated in any suitable manner.
At the inner end of the caisson, that is to say, the end which is presented toward
the recess, we may provide a canti-lever or projecting beam I, which forms an
inward extension of the part working in contact with the rollers C. The object of
this construction is to give to the caisson when the dock entrance is closed, as
shewn in the Drawing, a sufficient support to ensure its steadiness; this canti-lever
should be extended sufficiently from the end of the caisson to bear upon the requisite
number of the said rollers C.
By our Invention, as will be obvious from the above description, we utilize the
buoyancy (which has heretofore tended to overturn the caissons) to ensure the
steadiness and safety of the same in such a manner that their capsizing will be
impossible. Moreover, their movement to and fro to open and close the dock will
not be liable to obstruction, as when they rest and move on rollers at the bottom of
the cill.
The space between the two side walls of the said chamber is not usually
sufficient to allow the water to escape freely as the caisson is drawn into the same,
and therefore the opening of the dock could only be effected very slowly without
some special provision for obviating this difficulty. We therefore provide at the
end of the caisson B a relieving culvert J capable of discharging the water freely
as the caisson is pulled back into the said chamber. The paddle or valve of this
culvert when dropped causes the water to accumulate and form a brake.
It is obvious that with regard to floating bridges or pontoons the arrange-
ment of the anti-friction rollers will be substantially the same as that above
described.
Having thus fully described our said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, we wish it understood that we claim,-
The combination with a sliding caisson or gate for closing the entrance to a dock
or basin or with a floating bridge, pontoon, or the like, of a series of rollers arranged
above the same, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Walmsley Taylor, for myself and on
behalf of the said Samuel Lake, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and eighty one.