Improvements in Railway Cars for Conveying Ships.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 6th May, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 13th Nov., 1889-Accepted, 21st Dec., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway Cars for Conveying Ships.
I, WILLIAM SMITH, Civil engineer, 84 Fountainhall Road, Aberdeen, N.B. do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows
The object of this invention is the continuous and distributed support of ships
through the medium of hydraulic cushions on a ship railway car which may be made
flexible; ships being thereby practically waterborne while passing over a ship railway
with lateral curves and changes of gradient
The invention consists of a single or multiple line railway car, either whole, or
divided into sections coupled together by couplings or chains; supported either upon
the compound bogie system described in my specifications Nos 13,298 of 1886 and
11,207 of 1887, or on a rigid wheel base for each section. On this car a series of
flexible collapsible tubes or cushions are laid so as to line the internal surface of the
car, each tube extending from the top of one side of the car down the side, across the
bottom, and up to the top of the other side These tubes contain a sufficient volume
of water to rise high enough up the sides of the car for the head of pressure in the
cushions to counterbalance the weight of the ship, but not sufficient water to fill the
tubes.
The ship floats on and is stayed along the sides by these hydraulic cushions.
The tubes are carried high enough to allow for the canting of the car end wise on an
incline, raising the water within the tubes at the lower end of the car to a height
equivalent to the pressure thrown upon the lower end of the ship, without filling the
tubes.
The hydraulic cushions may extend from the bottom up to the bilges and smaller
tubes be carried up the ship's side; it is unnecessary to carry up the sides of the car
above the bilges as the tubes may be supported by the ship
The pressure on the material forming the hydraulic cushions never exceeds that due
to the immersion of the ship so long as the cushions are not completely filled with
water or the upper ends remain unclosed The materials of which the cushions are
formed consist of layers of canvas cloth coated with layers of india-rubber, or other
flexible, collapsible, and waterproof material
n
T
3000
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Railway Cars for Conveying Ships.
I, WILLIAM SMITH, of No. 15 Regent Quay, Aberdeen, North Britain, Engineer
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
e performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement.-
My Invention relates to the conveyance of ships on what are known as ship
railways; and it has for its object to provide a car whereon the ship will be practically
waterborne in such a way as to admit of the necessary flexibility of the car in the
vertical direction to enable it to accomodate itself to changes of gradient without
causing any undue strain on the vessel in passing from one gradient to another and
likewise sufficient lateral flexibility of wheel base to admit of the car following curves
or changes of direction of the line
The Invention consists essentially of a series of hydraulic cushions formed of flexible
and compressible U-shaped tubes lining the sides and bottom of a cradle like super-
structure of the car and containing water, the weight of the vessel when seated on
these cushions being counterbalanced by the hydrostatic pressure of the columns

page_text: of water in the vertical members of the tubes, these columns of water collectively
forming what may be termed a film of water of which the weight forms but a small
percentage of the total weight to be carried.
The Invention further comprises the cradle-like superstructure above referred to,
whereby the hydrostatic cushions are supported, said structure being formed
of U-shaped sections each of a width and shape to correspond to the cross-
sectional outline of the part of the ship to which it-1s to be applied, and each
adjustable to suit ships of different breadths, the several sections being connected
to one another by transverse hinges at the base so as to maintain an invariable
distance apart whilst permitting flexure of the series in the vertical plane
The Invention further consists in the combination, with such series of hinged
sections, of a wheel base composed, for each pair of rails, of two sets of trucks together
extending the whole length of the car, the trucks of each set being coupled together
so as to maintain an invariable distance apart whilst permitting free swivelling or
lateral motion guided only by the wheel flanges against the rails, one truck ouly of
each set being connected to the superstructure by a centie pin There are as many
pants of sets of trucks as there are lines of track for the car to run on, and the only
connection between the different sets of trucks, whether running on the same or different
tracks, is through the centre pins and superstructure
I will proceed to describe the details of construction of my improved ship, car,
with reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification,
wherein figure 1 is a half transverse section of the ship railway car at its maximum
breadth of beam, while figure 2 is a similar view shewing the upright side members as
adjusted for a narrow part of the hull of the same vessel or another vessel of less
breadth of beam. Figure 3 is a side elevation of one of the sections of the shup car,
and figure 4 is a half plan of the same. Figures 5 and 6 are diagram elevation and
plan shewing the ship supported on the car. Figure 7 is a section on line 1--1
figure 1. The same letters of referénce indicate the saine parts in all the figures.
"
A are the tubes containing the hydrostatic cushions They are plain straight
tubes made of several plys of rubber-coated canvas cemented together, woven
canvas hose pipe, or other water-tight flexible material, and when applied to the
cradle or superstructure of the car they are bent up to the U-form shewn. They
are not permanently connected in any way to the cradle, except on the bottom
of the cradle at or near the centre line thereof, but lay in position therein by
the own weight or confined within netting attached to the car, in order to
admit of the lateral adjustment of the cradle to suit the breadth of the hull They
are of sufficient length to rise up to about the height of the bulwarks of the
broadest vessel the car is able to receive They are open at the ends and whilst com-
pressed under the weight of the vessel they abut closely together beneath the bottom
and at the sides of the hull they may be of diminishing cross-sectional-area-towards
their ends where they are not required to afford lateral support for the vessel, the
hydrostatic pressure by which the weight of the vessel 15 counterbalanced being
dependent only on the height of the column of water and equally great, however
small may be its cross-sectional area. Being open at the ends, the tubes cannot be
exposed to such excessive pressure as would cause them to buist
"
The cradle-like superstructure, of which these tubes form the lining," is composed
of sections each section being constituted by a base or platform B and by: one or
more pairs of upright members C C₁ (there being, in the example illustrated, three
pairs of such uprights to each platform B) the members B, C,-C, being of girder-
like steel framing with a tubular lining and together constituting a U-shaped section
adapted to embrace the hull of the vessel. The platform B extends the full width
of the car and the upright members at both sides are mounted to slide thereon in
the transverse direction in order that the width between them may be adjusted to
suit the breadth of the hull. This transverse sliding adjustment of the upright
members is effected by screw or other gear, the uprights being fitted to slide on
guides on the base B and bolted securely in position after adjustment. The upright
members at one or both sides are hinged, as at (in figure 2, to allow of the ship

page_text: being easily floated into position in the cradle said hinged members being operated
by any suitable tackle and fixed rigidly in their upright position after the ship has
been received in the cradle The guide like uprights CC have their inner faces
broa lened by horizontal or cross members D against which are bolted vertical
Joist E which in turn are faced by planking F forming a continuous surface for
the support of the hydrostatic tubes A. The upper surface of the base B is sloped
downwards towards the centre to correspond approximately to the outline of the
bottom of the vessel, a central depression being provided to receive the keel. The
sections are hinged together by transverse hinges G by which any required number
of sections may be flexibly coupled together to suit the length of the vessel.
H are the bogie trucks connected to the bases B of two of the intermediate sections
by centre pins I K are trucks coupled to the bogie trucks and otherwise wholly
disconnected from the superstructure which rests on them through the medium of
rollers L which allow of the necessary lateral movement of the trucks beneath the
superstructure when running on curves
For the purpose of placing a ship on the car, the rails of the railway would be con-
tinued down a submerged ship-way in the wet dock down which the ship car would
be run under water after having been made up to the proper length and otherwise
prepared for the reception of the ship, the horizontal part only of the cushions being
already filled with water. The ship having been floated into proper position, the
car 18 run beneath it The ship having been fast to the car, the latter is hauled
up with the ship on it, the vessel as it leaves the water gradually settling on the
hydraulic cushions, neither the vessel nor the car requiring farther adjustment.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,
1. In a ship-carrying railway car, the combination, with a U-shaped cradle or
superstructure, of hydrostatic cushions lining said cradle and formed of juxtaposed
tubes of compressible material extending across beneath and up the sides of the
vessel, said tubes containing water and being open at the top and serving as a water
bed whereon the weight of the vessel is floated or counterbalanced by hydrostatic
pressure, substantially as specified
2 In a ship-carrying railway car, the herein described construction of cradle
like superstructure formed of U-shaped sections lined with U-shaped hydrostatic
cushions and hinged together by transverse hinges at the nase, so as to permit of
vertical flexibility of the cradle, substantially as specified.
3. In a ship-carrying railway car consisting of a cradle like superstructure formed
of U-shaped sections hinged together and lined with hydrostatic tubular cushions as
described, the construction of the upright members of said U-sections separate from
the base and adjustable in the lateral direction to suit the breadth of the hip,
substantially as specified
4. In a ship-carrying railway car consisting of a cradle-like superstructure formed
of U-shaped sections hinged together and lined with hydrostatic tubular cushions as
described, the hinging of the upright members at one side of said U-sections so as to
swing downwards and outwards to admit of the ship floating into position on the
cradle, as specified.
5 A ship-carrying railway car, constructed of U-shaped sections lined with hydro-
static tubular cushions and hinged together as described, and supported on sets of
compound bogies each set composed of a bogie proper swivelling on a centre pin and
of any number of trucks on which the superstructure rests through the medium of
rollers to permit lateral guidance of said trucks by the rails independently of the car,
substantially as specified.
Dated this 13th day of November 1889