PROVEMENTS IN MOORINGS, OR APPARATUS FOR SECURING ARTICLES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE FIXING OF CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Addison, of St. Helier's, Jersey, Captain,
Retired List, Her Majesty's Indian Army, for the Invention of "IM
PROVEMENTS IN MOORINGS, OR APPARATUS FOR SECURING ARTICLES, APPLICABLE
ALSO TO THE FIXING OF CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS."
Sealed the 27th March 1868, and dated the 29th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Addison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th September 1862.
I, JOHN ADDISON, of St. Helier's, Jersey, Captain, Retired List, Her
Majesty's Indian Army, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOORINGS, OR APPARATUS FOR SECURING ARTICLES,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE FIXING OF CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment of plates of metal of sizes pro-
portioned to the strain likely to be exerted upon them, which are placed in pits
made in the earth for their reception, prepared with a bottom of loose earth,
on which the plates rest, and into these pits, after the placing of the plates,
sufficient water is admitted to cover the plates to create a perfect atmospheric
pressure. For picketing horses and cattle to, I form the plate with a pointed
end, so that it may be used to dig the pit or hole in which it is to be inserted.
I connect chains or rods to the plate to which the animal is picketed after the
plate has been sunk in the pit, and covered as before mentioned.

page_text: I employ large plates for moorings, and employ them, for instance, iu
warping vessels off a beach, or otherwise. I employ them also to support
uprights, between which ropes may be carried; and I place the moorings and
uprights on the banks of a river, to assist troops, for instance, in passing across
rivers and fords. I use them also to support uprights for fencing. I also
employ them for supporting uprights to which iron plates are fixed for facing
earthworks, to be substituted for stone walls. Again, I sink plates in the
earth which carry an upright on a flange, on the upper part of which chairs
for holding rails are fixed, the sunken plate being fixed to the earth by
atmospheric pressure. The moorings are also well adapted as substitutes for
anchors for steam ploughs. All my apparatuses herein-before described are
fixed to the earth by one system, namely, by atmospheric pressure or
pneumatic adhesion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Addison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ADDISON, of St. Helier's, Jersey, Captain, Retired List, Her Majesty's Indian
Army, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Addison, Her special licence that 1, the said John
Addison, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Addison, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MOORINGS, OR APPARATUS FOR SECURING ARTICLES, APPLICABLE ALBO
TO THE FIXING OF CHAIRS FOR RAILWAYS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Addison, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
inent 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 g
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to he filed

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Addison, 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 fol-
lowing statement, that is to say:-
My system is as follows:-Fig. 1, see the Plans, represents a side view of
the wrought-iron chair, which is 30 inches long, 12 broad, and 1 inch thick,
on which the socket, Fig. 6, is fixed by 4 strong rivets countersunk, and by
the nut screw in the centre, see Fig. 7. The socket is of wrought iron,
12 inches long, 9 broad, and 1 inch thick, and the two sides 6 inches deep,
through which the two half-inch bolts pass, see Fig. 7, for securing the
sleepers. Fig. 2 represents two sleepers fixed on to the socket; Fig. 5
represents a wrought-iron plate 20 inches long, 12 broad, and thick,
which is to be galvanized, on which a square wrought-iron bar 2 feet
long and 1 inch diameter is fixed by a nut screw. The flange, 4 inches in
diameter and inch thick, is shrunk on near the top, see Fig. 3, to prevent
the chair sinking too deep into the ground. The bars which cross the plate
are 2 inches broad and inch thick, and rivetted on. The plate is to be
sunk in a pit 24 feet deep, leaving 3 or 4 inches of loose earth spread level
over the bottom, on which as much water is to be thrown in as will cover the
plate, which is then to be fixed in it, and the earth thrown in and well beaten
down with a paving hammer. By putting in the water a perfect vacuum is
created, and consequently a perfect atmospheric pressure. The chair is then
to be fixed on to the bar, and secured to it by a nut screw, see Fig. 1. On
these chairs not only continuous wooden sleepers could be fixed, but iron ones
also by diminishing the size of the socket. Atmospheric pressure is equally
well adapted for the following purposes.
Fig. 8 represents a mooring for warping a vessel off a beach she has been
stranded upon. It is a wrought sheet-iron plate 7 feet long, 3 feet broad, and
inch thick, and surrounded with bars inch thick and 2 broad, rivetted on,
and the bars which cross it of the same dimensions, and 10 feet of chain cable
attached to the centre bar. When used it must be sunk to the depth of
7 or 8 feet, in the manner described for sinking the plate attached to the
railway chair.
Figs. 9 and 10 represent 2 cast or wrought iron plates 15 inches long,
11 broad, and th inch thick, for picketing cavalry, &c., &c. The hole they
are fixed in is not to be deeper than 15 inches.

page_text: Figs. 11 and 12 represent a plan for preventing infantry soldiers in passing
a rapid ford being carried bodily away. The bars 13 and 14 are fixed on to
wrought-iron plates 18 inches long, 12 broad, and inch thick, which are to
be sunk in the manner described, viz., by atmospheric pressure. The bars
are square, and 1 inch in diameter.
Having now described my Invention, and the best means with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I would observe, in conclusion,
that I do not mean to confine myself rigidly to the precise arrangement or
construction of parts herein set forth, as they may doubtless be varied without
departing from the nature and object of my Invention; but what I claim of
my Invention is, the discovery of creating a perfect vacuum, and consequently
a perfect atmospheric pressure, by covering with water the plates herein
specified, for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Addison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.