IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING TRAVELLERS OR LIPTING ENGINES TO BARGES OR OTHER CRAFT, FOR DRAWING PILES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Ross Foord, of Acorn Wharf, Rochester, Kent,
Contractor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING TRAVELLERS
OR LIPTING ENGINES TO BARGES OR OTHER CRAFT, FOR DRAWING PILES,
Sealed the 22nd May 1860, and dated the 8th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Ross Foord at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th December 1859.
I, JOHN Ross FOORD, of Acorn Wharf, Rochester, Kent, Contractor, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPLYING TRAVELLERS OR LIFTING ENGINES TO BARGES OR OTHER CRAFT, FORE
DRAWING PILES, RAISING SUNKEN CRAFT, MOORINGS, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention is for improvements in applying travellers or lifting engines
to barges or other craft for drawing piles, raising sunken craft, moorings, and
other such like purposes, as will be more readily understood by reference to
the accompanying Drawing. The part colored yellow is a new application of
timber and ironwork to a barge or other craft for the purpose of placing a
travelling jenny or lifting engine over the precise spot where the power can be

page_text: most beneficially exerted. A is a barge or other craft, ballasted to the extent
of about half the burden at the C end; D is a travelling jenny or lifting
engine; this is used to draw down the B end of the barge or other craft into
the water to about the same level as the C end. By the time the power is
exerted to that extent together with the ballast at the C end acting as a lever,
it is believed that any pile, sunken craft, mooring, & such like can be
economically raised.
The whole of the design is new in so far as regards the shape and con-
figuration, except the parts colored dark, and the application of the travelling
jenny or lifting engine in this particular way is also new.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Ross Foord in the Great Seal Patent Office on
⚫ the 8th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOIN
Ross FOORD, of Acorn Wharf, Rochester, Kent, Contractor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Ross Foord, Her special licence that I, the said John
Ross Foord, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Ross Foord, 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 Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING TRAVELLERS OR LIFTING ENGINES TO BARGES OR
OTHER CRAFT, FOR DRAWING PILES, RAISING SUNKEN CRAFT, MOORINGS, AND OTHER
SUCH LIKE PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Ross Foord, my executors or administrators, 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 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Ross Foord, do hereby declare.the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 an end view of a barge or vessel
having a traveller or lifting engine applied thereto, according to my Invention;
and Figure 3 shews a plan of the barge or vessel, the traveller or lifting
engine being removed; Figures 4, 5, and 6 shew the construction of lifting
engine which I prefer, but to which separately I make no claim, nor do
I confine myself thereto, as other arrangements of lifting engines may be
employed in place thereof; and although the mechanism of the lifting engines
used may be varied, I prefer that the same should be such as to admit of
being capable of movement to and from the end of the barge or vessel where
the lifting of a pile or other body is to take place, yet, if preferred, the barrel
on which the chain is wound, and the mechanism combined therewith, may be
constantly fixed or retained at the end of the barge or vessel where it is to be
used, or the barrel and part of the mechanism used therewith may be retained
and worked at a distance from the end of the vessel, so long as other parts of
the mechanism are placed and retained (when at work) directly over the pile
or body which is to be raised. A is the midships of the barge or vessel used,
the form or construction of which vessel may be varied, and when the lifting
engine is a travelling one, then two rails a, a, are to be fixed on suitable
longitudinal bearers a', a', supported by proper transverse bearers a², a², which
are securely fixed to the barge or vessel. The rails a and bearers a¹ project
over the end B of the vessel, whilst the end C of the barge or vessel when
about to lift a pile or other body is weighted or more deeply immersed in the
water by weights or ballast applied at that end. The Drawings shew the
machinery to be in the act of commencing to raise a pile E, which is embraced
by a short chain f, to which is attached the block g of the lifting chain h.
The block g in the arrangement shewn has three sheaves, but it may have
more or less sheaves, and above it is another block i, and it is important that
whatever be the arrangement of lifting engine which may be used that the
arrangement should be such that the block i should be supported by suitable
framing, retained or fixed on the longitudinal bearers a', a', (which longi-
tudinal bearers are to project over the B end of the barge or vessel) directly
over the pile or body to be raised. This framing may be moveable with the
lifting engine, as shewn in the Drawing, or it may be fixed. In the arrange-
ment of lifting engine shewn, and which is what I prefer, the engine can travel
to and from the midships of the barge or vessel, and be brought and retained

page_text: in a position when in use, so as to bring the block i directly over the pile, and
so that a single lifting chain h may be used and caused to work around as
many sheaves in the blocks g and i, as may be requisite.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any of
the parts separately; but what I claim is the application of travellers or
lifting engines to barges or vessels, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ross Foord, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN ROSS FOORD. (L.S.)