IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKWATERS AND PIERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Brainerd Webb, of 34, Great George Street,
Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREAKWATERS AND PIERS."
Sealed the 23rd October 1860, and dated the 20th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Brainerd Webb
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th June 1860.
I, EDWARD BRAINERD WEBB, of 34, Great George Street, Westminster,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKWATERS AND PIERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the construction of breakwaters and piers com-
posed of bars, rods, or pipes of wrought or cast iron, or of chains or links of
wrought iron affixed to or between girders or frames of wrought or cast iron
or wood, and supported on piles of wood, or of wrought or cast iron, or in or
on frames of wood or iron. The structure is intended to present an inclined,
vertical, or curved face to the action of the waves, formed by the bars, rods,
pipes, chains, or links, which are arranged in horizontal, inclined, or crossed,
single, double, or multiplicate series. When required, a certain number of
the piles or portions of the frames are to be carried up from or through the
structure, so as to support a platform, which may be used as a pier. The
mode of fastening the bars, rods, pipes, or chains to the girders, frames, or
piles may be varied. When the base is a deep stone embankment, and piles
are unsuitable, main frames (supporting the girders or frames which contain,
or in which are fixed the bars, rods, pipes, chains, or links,) may be fixed to
chairs embedded in the body of the embankment, or to blocks of stone or

page_text: logs of timber similar embedded. When the base is of solid rock, and there
is no embankment, the depth of water being suitable, then the main frames or
their chairs (or the feet of piles if such are used) may be fixed directly to the
rock itself. In some cases it may be desirable to insert pipes or bars with
wings, and moveable in the girders or frames.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Brainerd Webb in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
BRAINERD WEBB, of 34, Great George Street, Westminster, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edward Brainerd Webb, Her special license that I, the said
Edward Brainerd Webb, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Brainerd Webb, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKWATERS AND PIERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Brainerd Webb, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Brainerd Webb, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in Breakwaters and Piers" has for its
object the more economical construction of fixed breakwaters and piers

page_text: adapted to the formation or projection of harbours without the use of squared
or coursed masonry, and in such a manner as to allow coast and river currents
and portions of waves to pass through the breakwaters or piers into or out
of the harbours which they form or protect. By this means the deposits
which are generally formed in harbours where solid stone breakwaters are used
will be entirely or almost entirely prevented.
And my Invention with this object in view consists in the con-
struction of breakwaters and piers composed of bars, rods, or pipes of
wrought or cast iron, or of chains or links of wrought iron affixed. to or between.
girders or frames of wrought or cast iron or wood, and supported on piles of
wood or of wrought or cast iron, or in or on frames of wood or iron. The
structure is intended to present to the action of the waves an inclined vertical
or curved face formed by the bars, rods, pipes, or links, which are arranged in
horizontal, inclined, or crossed, single, double, or multiplicate series. When
required a certain number of the piles or portions of the frames are to be
carried up from or through the structure so as to support a platform which
may be used as a pier. The mode of fastening the bars, rods, pipes, or chains
to the girders, frames, or piles may be varied. When the base is a deep stone
embankment, and piles are unsuitable, main frames (supporting the girders or
frames, which contain, or in which are fixed the bars, rods, pipes, chains or
links) may be fixed to chairs embedded in the body of the embankment or to
blocks of stone or logs of timber similarly embedded. When the base is of
solid rock, and there is no embankment, the depth of water being suitable,.then.
the main frames or their chairs (or the feet of piles, if such are used), may be
fixed directly to the rock itself. In some cases it may be desirable to insert
pipes or bars with wings and moveable in the girders or frames.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed by the
aid of the accompanying Drawings, in which are represented different forms
and arrangements of the parts above referred to as constituting my improved
section; Fig. 2 a front elevation, and Fig. 3 a back elevation of the same.
In these, and the several Figures hereinafter referred to, the same letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts. A, A, are girders of cast or wrought
iron containing sockets for the insertion of the horizontal iron pipes B, B.
By preference I make the sockets large enough to admit of the insertion

page_text: therein of wedges of wood between the outer circumference of the pipe, and
the inner surface of the socket, and such wedges by fixing the pipes in their
places serve also to diminish the effect of the percussion of the waves
upon the pipes. In order to avoid injury from compressed air I prefer filling
the ends of the pipes with concrete or some other impermeable substance.
The lengths of the pipes and the spaces between them may be varied, according
to circumstances, chiefly with reference to the angle which the face of the
breakwater makes with the horizon, and the maximum force expected to
be exerted thereon by the waves. The girders A, A, may be fixed at any
required angle of inclination to the horizon. They may also be either
rectilinear or curved so as to produce either a plane or a curved surface
in the breakwater. They may also be constructed of timber when advisable.
These girders may be fixed in any convenient manner to a series of piles C, C;
these piles may be of iron or wood and suited to the locality. The piling
and framework requisite to support the face and front of the breakwater will in
all cases be constructed so as to adapt it in point of strength and arrangement
of the parts to the particular locality in which it is erected. Below the
low-water mark and between the piles of the front row I insert (where no
stones are used as shewn in Sheet II, and where the depth of water requires
it) a series of pipes E, E, placed by preference vertically (as shewn in Fig. 1)
and to any convenient depth in order to obstruct the movement of the water
below the low-water mark, I prefer to place these pipes more closely together
than those on the upper surface of the breakwater. These pipes may be all
of equal diameters (as shewn in Fig. 1,) or they may vary in diameter, increasing
from the bottom upwards (as shewn in Sheet IV.) hereinafter referred to,) or
they may be winged pipes or bars as shewn in Sheet III. Between the
pipes may be inserted rods of iron, lengths of timber chains (as shewn in
Sheet II.) winged pipes (such as are shewn in Sheet III.) or combinations
of these arrangements.
Sheet II. represents an arrangement wherein chains F, F, are used in
combination with the pipes B, B. In this example the upper structure of
the breakwater is fixed to pipe chairs or supports G embedded in a low-water
embankment. Fig. 1 is a cross section, and Fig. 2 a front elevation of the
structure.
Sheet III. represents a form of breakwater in which the pipes B, B, and
E, E, are moveable in their sockets or bearings. Fig. 1 is a cross
section, and Fig. 2 a front elevation. These pipes have wings cast on or
affixed to them. I prefer to insert the ends of these moveable or partially
revolving pipes in pieces of timber H, H, fixed to the iron girders A, A.

page_text: Some of these winged pipes may be omitted, and fixed pipes, chains or bars,
inserted instead thereof, or the pipes or bars may each possess but one wing
or flap, in which case this wing or flap will be pendent, and the pipes or bars
will not usually revolve when struck by waves, but a rocking motion will be
communiccted to them instead.
Sheet IV. shews the combination of a pier with the breakwater; Fig. 1
is a cross section, and Fig. 2 a front elevation, I is the pier which is a
platform supported on the pillers or frame K, K, carried up from the pillars
or frame of the breakwater. The mode of constructing and supporting piers
in combination with the breakwater will however be varied according to the
strength, dimensions, and capabilities required.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would remark that I am aware of
bars of cast iron having been proposed to be used in combination with, and
inserted in masonry, but I dispense with the use of masonry. And I would
further remark that my Invention is not confined to the use of pipes, bars,
rods or chains arranged precisely as shewn and described, but the parts may
be otherwise formed and arranged. But I hereby declare that what I claim
as of my Invention is the construction of breakwaters and piers composed of
iron pipes, bars or rods inserted in, or affixed to, iron girders or girders
or frames of wood, or compound girders or frames of wood and iron, and
of revolving or rocking winged pipes or bars of cast or wrought iron, either as
a continuous series, or in conjunction with plain pipes, bars, rods, chains or
links, and in either of the arrangements described presenting an uneven face
which will permit considerable portions of the waves to pass through the
structure in a divided state as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Brainerd Webb; have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of December, in the
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
year of
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE.
50, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Patent Agent,
E. B. WEBB. (L.S.)