A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE BREAKING UP OF .ICE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Robert Lumley, of 14, Marlborough
Place, St. John's Wood, London, for the Invention of "A NEW
AND IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE BREAKING UP OF
.ICE."
Sealed the 6th October 1875, and dated the 26th May 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Robert Lumley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th May 1875.
. I, HENRY ROBERT LUMLEY, of 14, Marlborough Place, St. John's
Wood, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE BREAKING UP
Or ICE," to be as follows:—
For the purpose of breaking up ice in seas, lakes, rivers, and other
waters, I claim as a new and original Invention, and one which has
never before been applied, the operation and mechanical process of
striking ice from beneath and above at the same moment at nearly
opposito spots. By striking the ice from beneath its resisting power is
:
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page_text: more readily overcome; and further, by the mutual upward and down-
ward blows delivered by my mechanical process at nearly the same
opposite spots, I utilise the vast power of the proximate meeting of
opposing forces, a power by which the cohesion of any substance, its
grain, and fibre are destroyed with the utmost facility.
The apparatus I claim to enable me to carry out the above process
consists of two rows of long and thin ice stabbers, one row acting from
above, the other from beneath the ice, and returning the reverse way.
Rows of these ice stabbers fixed in handles project from and are held
by their handles secure in flat boxes, which boxes are attached to long
levers or arms, the lower lovers or arms being longer and curved
upwards at the ends so as to permit the lower range of ice stabbers
to pass completely through the upper and the reverse action. These
lovers or arms are attached to beams on board a ship, and receive the
necessary stabbing and slotting movement from machinery on board
the vessel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Robert Lumley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY 2
ROBERT LUMLEY, of 14, Marlborough Place, St. John's Wood, London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the a
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Robert Lumley,
Her special licenco that I, the said Henry Robert Lumley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Robert Lumley, 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,

page_text: -and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF AND
APPARATUS FOR THE BREAKING UP OF ICE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Robert Lumley, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Henry Robert Lumley, 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:-
This Invention relates to a new application of mechanical force for
the breaking up of ice in frozen seas, lakes, rivers, canals, and other
waters, and thereby rendering them navigable.
The principle of this Invention and new application of mechanical
force is, in the first place, the delivering of a powerful upward blow
from beneath the ice, that is to say, in a direction where the resistance
is weakest, the ice having no support from the water; in the second
place, the combination of the above-described blow from beneath the
ice with a blow on the upper surface of the ice, the two blows being
delivered at nearly opposite directions to each other, and at the same
instant, thereby the vast power of the meeting of two forces propelled
from opposite directions to each other is employed, a power by which
solid matter and the cohesion of any substance are readily broken up.
The process and apparatus by which I accomplish the above results
are exemplified on the accompanying two Sheets of Drawing, each
Sheet representing the same apparatus or machinery, but at a different
moment of its action, and similar letters of reference denoting similar
parts where such parts appear in each of the Figures respectively.
Figure 1 (Sheet I.) of the Drawings represents the machinery in
position to commence the upward and downward blows on the ice,
the ice presumably being between the "ice stabbers" O and D. A
indicates six powerful arms made of iron or any suitable material;
B, six exactly similar arms. It will be understood that any desired
number of arms may be used according to requirement. At the end

page_text: of each of the arms A and B are almost rectangular or preferably
slightly curved bars of iron or other suitable material gradually
decreasing in their diameters on each side from the contre, and ter-
minating in small and pointed ends; these bars which I designate
"ice stabbers" are indicated by C and D, and are attached by their {
centres to the arms A and B, or of one piece with them.
Figure 2 (Sheet II.) shews the "ice stabbers" C and D meeting
each other in the centre of the solid ice. It will be seen that the
"ice stabbers do not touch each other at their points; but are closely
proximate side by side, with space sufficient for ice stabbers C to 1
pass by the side of those D, and for the arms A to pass between the
arms B.
Figure 3 (Sheet II.) represents the "ice stabbers" as having passed
through the ice, the ice stabbers C having ascended to their full height,
and those D having descended to their full depth, the arms A having 1
likewise passed between the arms B each to the full extent of their
action. The ice stabbers are now in a position to recommence the
same operation upon another section of the solid ice which has just
been performed by the prior upward and downward blows of the
ice stabbers, D will now deliver the upward blow, and C the downward 2
blow.
E and F (Figures 1, 2, and 3), indicate the axles to which the arms
A and B are attached, and whereby they receive their action.; G, G,
bearings in which these axles work. The axles E and F are in their
turn connected by means of the rocking levers H, I, with any ordinary 2
mechanical gearing for operating the desired blow, and which should
also permit the ice stabbers C and D to be propelled downward
together simultaneously upon the broken ice to clear it from the
front of the vessel or platform carrying the ice-breaking machinery;
K, L, indicate suitable counterweights secured on the rocking levers H, I. 3
M, M, (Sheet II.) are guides between which work the arms A and B,
and by which they are kept from swaying or moving laterally.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my said In-
vention, and in what manner the same may be performed, I would
observe that I do not limit myself to the use of the machinery or 3
apparatus above described and illustrated on the accompanying Drawings

page_text: as a means of using and putting into action my Invention and principle,
as this might be effected by other combinations of machinery operating
the same blows upon the solid ice, and that what I claim as of my
Invention and desire to secure by the herein in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
Firstly. The upward blow from beneath the ice.
Secondly. The combination of simultaneously delivered blows from
above and below the ice at proximate opposite spots.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Robert Lumley, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.