IMPROVE- MENTS IN RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED STRUCTURES AND ARTICLES AND IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bonnet Frederick Brunel, of Hampstead Road, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED STRUCTURES AND
ARTICLES AND IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 13th October 1857, and dated the 15th April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bonnet Frederick Brunel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th April 1857.
I, BONNET FREDERICK BRUNEL, of Hampstead Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAISING -SUNKEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED STRUC-
TURES AND ARTICLES, AND IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to
be as follows:-
This Invention consists in raising sunken vessels by filling them wholly or
partially with gas, where the cabins or interior compartments are capable of
holding the gas, or in raising such as are not capable of holding the gas, and
other submerged articles, by means of gas-hollers connected to them.
The gas which I prefer to employ is hydrogen on account of its superior
lightness, and the facility with which it is generated.

page_text: The apparatus I employ for generating hydrogen gas consists of a cask-like
vessel with one bottom or head of wood or other non-metallic substance, and
the other of metal. The gas is generated by the action of acid upon two
dissimilar metals, the metal head being one of such metals. The vessel is so
constructed that when the metal head is placed downwards the gas is generated,
while on the contrary if the non-metallic head be placed downwards no electrical
action takes place, consequently no gas is produced. It is intended when sinking
these gas generators that no action shall take place, or rather no gas shall be
produced until the generator has reached the spot where it is to be used.
There are suitable cocks and passages for the outflow of the gas.
Another apparatus is for caulking any apertures there may be in the vessel to
be raised, when the raising is to be effected by introducing gas therein. These
caulks consist of metal discs furnished on one of their surfaces with an india-
rubber crown and traversed by a cylinder. Flexible moveable syphons are con-
nected to this cylinder, and allow of the outflow of water through them. Again,
my apparatuses for containing the gas for raising and buoying up vessels, and
other submerged articles, are made of metal, wood, gutta percha, or caoutchouc.
When of non-flexible or rigid materials they are provided with inlet and
outlet valves or passages, whereby on being placed on the water, water enters
and drives out the air, so as to permit of their being sunk without effort.
When of caoutchouc or other flexible material, I drive all the air out by
folding or rolling them up, and sink them with facility; into these apparatuses
the gas is introduced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Bonnet Frederick Brunel in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 15th October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BONNET
FREDERICK BRUNEL, of Hampstead Road, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters. 3
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Bonnet Frederick Brunel, Her special licence that I, the said Bonnet
Frederick Brunel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others 3

page_text: "
as I, the said Bonnet Frederick Brunel, 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 RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED.
STRUCTURES AND ARTICLES, AND IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Bonnet Frederick Brunel,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Bonnet Frederick Brunel, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto'
annexed, that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is, first, to raise and refloat ships of war or
commerce which have been submerged or sunk, whatever may be their size or
weight, and whatever the depth at which they may be immersed.
Second, to raise and get out of the water electric cables, which may require
to be repaired or otherwise.
Third, to remove from the entrance of a harbour, river, or other channel
any submerged body, whatever its volume or density, and at whatever depth it
may be submerged.
My Invention is based on the employment of gas as my raising power;
hydrogen is the gas I prefer to all others, for it unites all the properties which
my operations require. It is more easy to generate in abundance, its dis-
engagement can be effected under any pressure, and no pressure produced up
to the present time has been known to condense it. It is also the lightest
gas known.
My Invention consists in displacing from the submerged ship, or from the
raising vessels hereafter described, and in substituting for the volume of water
therein an equal volume of gas; in other terms, in substituting hydrogen gas
for water in the body of the ship. The power thus employed rests entirely on
the immense difference of respective density between hydrogen and water. As
will be hereafter described under the heading, "Mode of Operation," whether

page_text: the hydrogen is generated in the hold or interior of the submerged ship, or
whether recourse is had to the use of raising vessels herein-after styled
"subleveurs," the introduction of gas is effected in the samo manner, the
hydrogen will be introduced into the interior of the vessel or into tho.
"subleveurs." Each globule of gas introduced in rising through the water will
traverse it and will place itself naturally in the upper part of the space.
The globules will succeed each other rapidly, and will form a continuous
current of gas which will establish itself gradually at the upper part of tho
hold, cabin, or other part of the interior of the ship or of the "subleveurs."
This body of gas constantly increasing will press upon the surface of the
liquid, and as soon as the first globule has been introduced it will immediately.
dislodge an equal volume of water and occupy its place. What will occur
with one globule will take place with a thousand, so that a cubic foot of
hydrogen will drive out a cubic foot of water; the power which I am enabled
to generate by my method of working, and to employ to detach and raise any
bodies from the bottom of the water is without limit.
The engines and apparatuses I employ in carrying out my Invention are
four in number.
First, an apparatus to generate the gas which I call "gazogene."
Second, subleveurs, which are cylindrical and spherical vessels made of
metal or wood, &c. for containing the hydrogen to raise such ships and
structures' as are too much decayed or too weak to contain the gas in themselves.
These subleveurs, whatever form we may give them, serve as wo have just said
as holders for the hydrogen gas, and they are intended to be fixed to the body
to be raised from the bottom of the water.
Third, caulking stoppers formed of sheet or cast iron, or other metal discs
pierced through their centre with an aperture which receives a bar of iron or
other metal having at one of its extremities two moveable metal arms. On
one surface of each of these discs I place a flat crown or layer of caoutchouc,
the diameter of which is rather less than that of the disc.
Fourth. syphons, the branches of which are made of caoutchouc.
My object is to employ throughout apparatuses of the greatest simplicity of
.construction. The gazogene must also fulfil the following conditions:-
First, its respective density must be superior to the volume of water which 3
it displaces in its immersion, in order that its descent in the water may be
effected without power applied thereto.
Second, it must resist the exterior pressure created by the water in which it

page_text: will be immersed, as well as other bodies with which it may come in contact
while being submerged.
Third. its resistance must be three times the sum of pressure which the
hydrogen will exercise on the interior thereof.
Fourth, it is necessary that the generation of the hydrogen should take place-
in the apparatus only during its period of action, and that that generation be-
completely arrested and suspended during all the time that the apparatus is.
descending to the bottom of the water to reach the place where it is to operate,.
as well as during the time it will take in. being raised again after having.
Conorated
5
hydrogen will exercise on the interior thereof.
Fourth, it is necessary that the generation of the hydrogen should take place
in the apparatus only-during its period of action, and that that generation be-
completely arrested and suspended during all the time that the apparatus is.
descending to the bottom of the water to reach the place where it is to operate,.
as well as during the time it will take in. being raised again after having.
toperated.
DESCRIPTION OF THE GAZOGENE:
The coat or exterior of the guzogene consists of a barrel of thick wooden
staves bound by metal hoops. One of the heads is also of wood; the centre of
its interior surface is provided with a straight tube of copper. A plug similar-
to that of a tap is inserted in this tube in order to open and close the passage.
or way through it. The upper end of the tube is furnished on the inside with:
a valve in copper shutting inwards. This tubo is intended to convey the gas.
The other head of the barrel is formed of a stout plate of copper held between
the ends of the staves in the same manner as the wooden head. In the centre.
of this metal plate a circular aperture is made, the diameter of which is equal
to two-thirds of that of the plate. This aperture is provided with a copper
stopper properly adjusted; upon the posterior surface of this stopper there is
fixed a cylindrical net of copper wire which I call a "diaphragm ;" its
diameter is slightly less than that of the stopper on which it is fixed, and its
length is equal to the fourth part of the total heighth of the interior axis of the:
gazogene. The upper extremity of the diaphragm is provided with a moveable
capsule also open, and of the same metal.
The diaphragm is intended to receive and retain a plate of zinc rolled
spirally, the breadth of which is equal to the heighth of the receiver. Upon
the exterior surface of the metal head of the gazogene is fixed a moveable
disc of iron equal in diameter to that of the metal head, and secured by screws.
The use of this disc is to serve. as a bridle to exert a pressure from the
exterior to the interior on the copper stopper, which is intended as already
stated not only to close the apparatus hermetically, but also to servo as a
support to the diaphragm which is fixed on it. This diaphragm will enter in
the interior of the gazogene. I make gazogene in wood because it will
cost less than if made in metal, and it will be less subject to injury from

page_text: contact with other bodies. There are two reasons for employing one head of
metal. The first is that a circular opening having to be made in the
centre of the lead, and this opening requiring a stopper to close herme-
tically, sufficient precision could not be obtained in wood; the second
reason is from the electric property of metal, and above all metals I prefer
.copper.
The volume of the acidulated bath (diluted sulphuric acid 12 to 15 degrees
Baumé), occupying nearly one-third of the area of the gazogene, and this latter
being placed with its metallic head turned towards the earth, it will follow that
the metal head and the copper diaphragm, as well as the zinc spiral enclosed
in the cylinder of the diaphragm, will be entirely covered by the said acidulated
bath, and that thereupon the metals being in contact, a regular electric battery
will be formed. The copper will be the negative clement, and will not be
attacked by the acid of the bath, and no corroding action will take place on
this metal. The zinc on the contrary becoming the positive element, all the
energy of the acid will be directed on it. The metal, in order to unite with
the sulphuric acid to form a sulphate, can only do so by passing into a. state of
oxide; it will decompose the water, which, as is well known, is composed of
oxygen and hydrogen. The first of these bodies combines with the zinc and
becomes converted into oxide, which, coming in contact with sulphuric acid,
combines with it and forms a proto-sulphate of zinc. The hydrogen being
liberated disengages itself in the form of gas. From the arrangements of
this apparatus a voltaic current being generated, the hydrogen will become
disengaged in very great abundance; the chemical action being assisted and
excited by the electric fluid will be much more active and much more powerful
ns well as more regular than if all these arrangements had been neglected, and
if the zinc spiral had been alone in contact with the acid bath. As has been
said above the gazogene being standing up with its metallic head turned
towards the earth, consequently the metal being in immediate contact with the
acidulated bath, hydrogen is immediately produced. It will be understood
that the tap in the tube will be open; but as has been said previously, it is
indispensable that in the transporting of the gazogene into and submerging it,
no production of hydrogen must take place, and for these reasons:-First, if the
production of the hydrogen takes place it is necessary to open the tap in the
tube in the apparatus, and then the gas would escape through the water and
be lost. Secondly, if to avoid the loss of hydrogen by shutting the tap, the
operator would be exposed to the danger of rupturing the gazogene, for
hydrogen, being produced continuously, and unable to escape, would be con-

page_text: 'the said opening projects, and is curved towards the circumference of the
subleveur. A plug is fitted in eacli tube; in fact, each curved tube is nothing
but a tap fixed on the subleveur, and I hereafter call it "tap of the
subleveur." All the openings of the under part of the subleveur are bermeti-
cally shut by means of iron stoppers screwed in the body of the subleveur.
At each side of the cylinder, and on the same longitudinál lines as the
openings, strong iron rings are placed. At each extremity of the subleveur I
fix a strong iron support which receives two pulleys. The sheaves of these two
pulleys touch each other without pressure. The sheaves forin between them
a circular aperture to receive a metallic cord.
In Figure 3 of the Drawings annexed I shew, in external elevation, and at
Figure 4, in section, one of my cylindrical raising vessels. A is the body;
B, B, B, taps; C, Č; C, stoppers; D, D, pulleys; E, E, bearings for pulleys;
F, F; rings for connecting the apparatus to the body to be raised.
DESCRIPTION OF A SPHERICAL SUBLEVEUR.
This subleveur is in the form of a hollow globe, made of sheet iron strongly
rivetted together. This sphere is consolidated and made strong and rigid by a
series of iron ribs fixed on its surface. These ribs start from the poles, and
will be fixed upon an iron hoop running found the centre of the sphere. This
hoop has fixed around it a series of rings; each ring is intended to carry a
metallic cord. At the centre of each pole I form a circular opening; one of
these openings is hermetically shut up by a moveable stopper. The other
opening is fitted with a tap similar to that already described for the cylindrical
subleveur. Two iron supports carry double pulleys, as described for the
cylindrical subleveur.
Figure 5 is an external elevation, and Figure 6 a section, of a spherical
raising vessel. A is the body; B, central hoop; C; C, ribs ; .D, tap; E,
stopper; F, F, rings; G, bearings for pulleys; H, H, pulleys.
STOPPING AND CAULKING APPARATUS.
This instrument is designed to shut up and close in a few ininutes, and
hermetically, the port holes, hatchways, and generally every description of
apertures voluntarily or accidentally made in the hull of a sunken vossol.
·
The stopper is composed of several pieces united so as to form a whole. A
disc of sheet or cast iron, the diameter of which will vary with the size of the
openings. to be stopped, but it must slightly exceed the diameter of such
openings. At the centre of the disc there is a circular aperture to receive an
iron cylinder, the length of which is rather more than the thickness of the sides

page_text: successively superposed coverings. The first is made of strong hemp canvas
sewn round the caoutchouc itself. This canvas has by a wire twisted spirally
around it. The last coating over the wire consists like the first of strong
hemp canvas. The canvas is made waterproof by a solution of caoutchouc.
Thus protected the tubes of the syphons will not be injured by any friction.
to which they may be subjected in the working.
Figure 8 is an elevation of a caulking and stopping syphon. A is a hollow
iron cylinder; B, B, cross pieces; C, axis of same; D, pin to keep the
cross pieces on the axis; E, caoutchouc crown or padding; F, metal · disc ;
G, nut for scrowing disc forward; H, suction tubo or branch; I, leaden dise;
J, channels or grooves in the under side of the disc; K, outflow pipe or.
branch; L, leaden sphere.
Upon the vessel containing the salvage apparatuses reaching the spot where
the ship to be raised lies sunk, she is anchored. The gazogenes, stopping
apparatuses, metallic cords, as well as all necessary ropes must be placed in
order on the deck. Two divers are lowered into the water, one to starboard
and the other to port, to ascertain the state and position of the sunken vessel.
According to his investigations, each diver will report the result: of his obser-
vations to the director of the work. If no long crevices nor large openings
exist in the hull of the sunken vessel, the director will cause two divers to
descend provided with tools, in order that one on the port and the other on the
starboard side may open up two port holes or ports. Suitable stoppers of the
description herein-before set forth, corresponding in all the diameters of their
discs, as well as in the length of the cross pieces, must be prepared, so that
each stopper may be perfectly adapted to caulk hermetically. the openings in
which it is to be fixed; the flexible crowns of the discs are to be coated with
a strong solution of caoutchouc or other suitable waterproof coating. The
starboard diver is lowered again in the water, carrying with him the stopping
apparatus marked No. 1, corresponding to the opening marked No. 1 on the
starboard side of a ship; the diver introduces inside that opening the tubo of
caoutchouc, serving as the suction tube of the syphon. As soon as the leaden
disc, which the extremity of this tube is armed with, passes the thickness of
the ship's side, it falls in the interior of the latter, and takes a vertical posi-
tion and forms a right angle with the 'cylinder of the stopping apparatus on
which it is fixed; the diver continues the introduction of the cylinder of the
apparatus. The cross pieces after being introduced will have changed their

page_text: position, and will have assumed, with the rod carrying them, a form resembling
the letter T. The diver will draw towards him the cylinder of the stopping
apparatus till the cross pieces touch at their extremities the interior sides of
the ship; simultaneously he will slide on the said cylinder the stopper disc till
its flexible padding or crown touches the exterior surface of the ship. The
diver must take care to place the cylinder in such manner that the curved
extremity of the suction tube of the syphon be turned downward; he must
also maintain the cylinder horizontally and at the centre of the opening, in
order that the disc may completely mask it; he next turns forward the screw
of the cylinder till it is in contact with the anterior face of the disc, and ascer-
tains that the cylinder is in its right place at the centre of the aperture, and
that in all parts the edge of the disc is beyond the edge of the opening. All
these conditions being fulfilled, the diver continues to turn the screw forward,
the latter presses and tightens the disc against the exterior surface of the ship;
the flexible crown is now by pressure confined and compressed in a flat posi-
tion between the ship and tho metal disc in such manner that if even there
should exist on the parts of the ship in immediate contact with the flexiblo
crown irregular and projecting surfaces, such as heads of rivets, edges of
timbers, or any other projections, the caulkage would not be less perfect than if
the surfaces were flat and even; the nut will be turned and tightened till the
stopping and caulking apparatus is solidly fixed. The caulking stopper No. 1
being placed, the diver will be raised to take the stopper No. 2 and place in
the corresponding opening No. 2, in the same manner as it has been
described for No. 1, and so on for all the openings. The caulkage on the
port side will be executed by the port diver in the same manner I have
explained for the starboard side. The operation of stopping and caulking
being completed on both sides of the sunken ship, each diver will raise on the
deck of the sunken vessel the outflow pipe of one of the syphons, and both
divers will re-ascend in order to take each of them a gazogene properly pre-
pared; the two divers thus provided will be lowered down again near the
sunken ship, and will place their gazogenes on the deck, the metal head of
this apparatus downward, and its escape tube upward. The outflow pipe of
the syphon, previously raised on the deck, will be fixed on the escape tube.
By this arrangement the whole of the syphon becomes the gas conducting
tube; after the conducting tube has been fixed on the gazogene, the tap of the
latter will be open. As soon as the gas is sufficiently compressed and attained
in the gazogene an amount of pressure superior to that exerted by water on
the tube, the bydrogen gas will raise the valve in the orifice of the tube, and

page_text: will escape through it; the column of gas will drive before it the column of
liquid contained in the tube, and the hydrogen, being continuously generated
in the apparatus, will feed the column of gas, which will continue to drive the
head of the column of liquid till driven completely out of the tube, passing
successively from the latter through the interior of the cylinder of the caulking
and stopping apparatus, and afterward through the exit branch of the trans-
formed syphon, hydrogen gas occupying then the place of the water; and the
column having arrived at the lower extremity of the suction tube of the hereto-
foro syphon, it will finally disengage itself and enter in the hole or cabin full
of water in the sunken ship. The displacing of the water contained in tho
ship will then commence; it will be forced from the inside to the outside by
the tubes of the syphons, and will be discharged through the inferior extremity
of their diverting branches into the sea.
The operation of the displacing of water by gas must be continued till the
latter imparts sufficient buoyancy to the submerged vessel to cause it to float
again.
The movement of ascension will (according to all probability) commence
when the inferior surface of the confined layer of gas will have attained tho
level of the line of floatation of the ship. If otherwise, that is to say, if after
the layer of hydrogen has been carried even below the line of floatation, the
ship does not commence to ascend, then, in that case, I cease the introduction
of gas into the ship; I alter the position of the gazogenes, and turn their
metallic head upward, and their disengaging tube downward.
To overcome afterward the resistance of the ship, I make use of the
auxiliary power of the subleveurs, which I use in the manner I am about to
describe, for raising a ship decayed or broken to pieces:
WORKING AND USE OF THE SUBLEVEURS OR RAISING APPARATUSES.
After the divers have inspected the sunken ship and found her so decayed
or broken as to prevent her containing gas, it will be useless to employ the
caulking stoppers, and the ship must be raised by the subleveurs. One cylin-
drical subleveur is detached from the stern of the operative vessel, and placed
longitudinally and parallel with the starboard side of the said operative vessel.
On the deck of the last-named vessel is fixed a capstan, the pillar of which
has two strong iron chains rolled round it. Theso two chains will, mount
vertically, and each of them passes in a pulley fixed to a yard; from thence it
will descend to the upper part of the subleveur to be made fast to the rings
upon it. then turn the capstan until the chains begin to stretch. Two other

page_text: capstans are placed longitudinally on the deck of the operative vessel. On
cach of their respective pillars is wound round a metallic cord; the ends of
each of the cords will be lowered towards the subleveur and passed through
the opening formed between the double pulleys fixed at each end of the
subleveur.. I next unwind these two metallic cords, making them slide
between their respective pulleys until they have reached the submerged ship.
One of these metallic cords is designated as "stern conductor," and the other
as "bow conductor." The diver then takes tho end of the stern conductor
and fastens it on the side of the stern. The distance which must exist between
the centre of the length of the sunken ship, and the point where the stern con-
ductor is fastened, must be equal to the half of the total length of the sub-
leveur which is going to be placed. The diver next takes the bow conductor
and fastens it to the bow of the sunken ship, on the same line and at the same
distance from the centre of the ship, and in the same way as has just been
explained for the stern conductor. The distance between these two conductors
will be equal to the total length of the subleveur. This operation being
terminated, the divers are raised up.
The capstans to which the stern and bow conductors are driven round till
these conductors are stretched.
The stoppers to the four apertures in the under part of the subleveur are
unscrewed, and all the taps on the top thereof opened when the subleveurs are
prepared for immersion; they are then lowered down to the position they are
to occupy upon or at the side of the sunken ship. Two divers will then
descend near the sunken ship, in order to fasten the subleveur firmly by means
of the rings which it carries at its lower part. This fastening being completed,
one of the divers will close, with screwed stoppers, two openings in the lower
part of the subleveur, while the other will go over the upper part and close all
the taps. This operation terminated, the divers will be raised up; cach of
them will afterwards receive a gasogene furnished with its tube for conducting
hydrogen, which having to be flexible will be made of caoutchouc. In order
to increase its resistance, this tube will be covered throughout its length with
coatings similar to those described for the flexible tubes of the syphons. One
of the extremities of this tube is supplied with a copper armature, which will
serve as a nut by which the tube may be firmly secured to the extremity of
the gas escape tube of the gazogene. The other extremity of the conducting
tube will be terminated by a straight metallic tube of about eight inches in
length, which will be fitted with a stop-cock, and carries at its extremity (not
enclosed in the caoutchouc) a copper valve. This tube is constructed in

page_text: identically the same manner as that at the wooden bottom of the gazogene.
The tap which is fixed at the metallic extremity of the conducting tube must
be closed, in order that during its descent and the motion of the gazogene
through the liquid, the water may not enter the said tube.
The divers will next be lowered near the submerged ship, and when they
have arrived at the upper part of the subleveur, each will screw the metallic
extremity of the conducting tube of his gazogene into the extremity of a tap of
the subleveur. The conductor being strongly fixed to this tap, the divers will
separate, cach carrying his gazogene under the lower part of the subleveur;
they will each then capsize their gazogene, the metallic bottoms being turned
downwards; they will untwist the conducting tube if it has become at all
twisted during the above operations, and they will suspend it to the rings at
the lower part of the subleveur under the tap, in which is fitted, the metallic
extremity of the conducting tube, and without changing the position of tho
gazogene; after this, the conducting tube starting from the gazogene will
rise to the upper part of the subleveur, forming a curve which will embrace
one half of the circumference of the subleveur. Immediately after the
gazogene has been suspended and firmly fastened, cach diver will successively
open the taps which intercept at three points the channel through which the
hydrogen passes in its way from the gazogene to the subleveur; he will
open first the tap of the gazogene, and then ascend to the upper part of the
subleveur and open the tap of the conducting tube as well as that of the said
subleveur; the hydrogen has then only to raise two valves in order: to pass
freely into the subleveur. The chemical action taking place as soon as the
gazogene has been suspended, the disengaged hydrogen will have soon
developed by its pressure a sufficient force to raise the valve of the disengaging
tube of the gazogene. The gas escaping around the raised valve will rapidly
rise in the conductor, stopping only at the extreme valve of this conductor;
the hydrogen continuing to be produced in the gazogene will soon fill the
conducting tube. As soon as the tube is full of gas, the production of hydrogen
continuing constantly and the gas escaping nowhere, this latter will becoine
compressed gradually both in the gazogene and in its conducting tube;
gradually this compression will increase until the valve is opened with a
gaseous force exceeding the pressure of the liquid which on the other side
keeps it shut. The hydrogen will find its way naturally to the upper part of
the internal space. The displacement of the water contained in the subleveur
will increase in volume to the same amount as the hydrogen introducing itself
in it. The gazogene will continue to furnish hydrogen till the water has been

page_text: completely expelled from the subleveur, or till the sunken vessel has been raised
by the buoyancy thus obtained, and has ascended to the surface of the water.
As soon as a sufficient volume of hydrogen has been introduced into the
subleveur, the latter will tend to move itself at its moorings; the divers will
then unfasten the bow and stern conductors, take them out of the pulleys of
the subleveur, aud cause them to be raised to the deck of the operating vessel;
they will also detach from the upper rings of the subleveur the supporting
chains, which will be then withdrawn and placed on the deck of the operating
vessel.
The different operations, which have just been described successively for the
starboard side of the sunken vessel, will be simultaneously executed in the
same way on the port side of the ship. If, however, the two subleveurs which
are placed at the starboard and port sides respectively of the sunken ship are
not sufficient to raise it, two other subleveurs should be added. The working
of the supplementary subleveurs should be in all respects similar to what has
been described for the primary ones. The rings on the lower parts of the
supplementary subleveurs should be fastened to the rings of the upper parts of
the primary subleveurs.
The use and the mode of working the spherical sublever, are as follows:-
Each time a body of great specific gravity has to be raised it will be
necessary that the resultant of the forces which are to raise the body shall
pass through its centre of gravity, and that the bouyant body shall exert its
upwards force through that centre; consequently, every time it happens that a
small body of great density has to be raised from the bottom of the water, tho
spherical subleveur will be used, and with this it will be easy to make converge
upon the same point all the buoyant force of the apparatus. Likewise if
a body of large magnitude has to be raised, and it becomes necessary to
exert a powerful traction on some one point only of its extent, the spherical
subleveur may be employed. The working of this subleveur will be in all
points similar to the operations already explained for the cylindrical sub-
leveur. Metallic cords passing through pulleys fixed at each side of its
equator will also be used, in order to conduct the subleveur directly above
the body to be raised. Chains of support will also be employed to sustain
it during its transport into the liquid. The stopper which closes the
aperture made at the lower point will be opened in order that the water
may enter the subleveur. The tap fixed at its upper point will also be
opened, in order that the air contained within it may escape. The expul-
sion of the air will take place through the tap until the completo im-

page_text: mersion of the subleveur; after this immersion, and when the subleveur has
been lowered over and near to the body to be raised, it will be fastened to the
latter by means of the metallic cords which the subleveur carries at the series
of rings at its equator. The substitution of gas for water in the subleveur will
take place exactly in the same manner as has been described for the cylindrical
sublevour. The gazogene will be placed also at the lower part. The gas
will rise to the upper part through a flexible tube of a construction
identically the same as that of the one which has been previously described.
Tho gas will introduce itself in the same manner as before into the
spherical subleveur, and the water will be forced through the aperture
at the upper part; consequently the spherical sublevour will acquire its
Should the
power of traction in the same way as the cylindrical one.
subleveurs fastened to the body to be raised when full of gas not have
a sufficient power to destroy the equilibrium and raise the body to the
surface of the liquid, supplementary subleveurs will be added to the first ones
in order to increase the power of traction and overcome the resistance. But
before the attachment of the supplementary subleveurs, it will be indispensably
necessary to take away from the lower part of the fixed subloveurs the
gazogenes which are suspended to them. If the gazogenes have not supplied
a sufficient quantity of hydrogen to the subleveurs to develop in them the
required buoyancy, the gazogenes will be detached from underneath the
subleveurs, raised up to the operative vessel, and recharged afresh, either with
zinc or with acidulated water.
In the aforesaid cases the tube which conducts the bydrogen from the
gazogene into the subleveur must always bo detached from the inside of the
tap of the subleveurs; before separating the gazogene from the subleveur, it is
necessary that the diver shut all the taps, beginning with that of the dis-
engaging tubo of the gazogene, in order that this apparatus being capsized
the acidulated bath may be no longer in contact with the valve of the same
tube, that the acidulated bath may not descend in the conducting tube.
The tap of this latter tube will also be closed, in order that the water may
not enter the tube during its transport through tho liquid. Care must be
taken to close the taps of the subleveurs, for if this be neglected all the
hydrogen introduced into the subleveur will escape rapidly.into the water,
as soon as the conducting tube of the gazogene is separated from the tap of,
the subleveur.
The subleveurs previously described have been constructed in such manner
as to obtain rigidity; I am now about to describe others in which on the

page_text: contrary I intend to obtain flexibility, and these I shall therefore name
"flexible subleveurs." They will not be, made of metal like the former, but
will differ from them, both in construction and in the mode of their immersion.
The flexible subleveur will have either a cylindrical or spherical form, and
vegetable matters will be used in their construction, namely, three strong
tissues made of cotton, hemp, or other textile matters, impregnated with
caoutchouc and superposed flat, one upon the other, and laminated afterwards
so as to unite them perfectly together and form only one strong resisting
body, flexible, water-tight, and completely impervious to gas. The material
thus produced will be cut afterwards into strips or pieces of the required
form, according to the spherical or cylindrical form required to be given to
the subleveurs. These strips or pieces will be strongly sewed together, and
cach seam will be coated with varnish. The flexible spherical subleveur will
be supplied at one of its poles with a metallic tube, furnished with a tap
key in order to open or shut up at will the channel of the said tube. The
said tube is to have screwed into it the disengaging tube of the gazogene,
in order that from this latter the hydrogen may pass. in the interior of the
The flexible cylin-
subleveur, till the perfect development of its volume.
drical subleveur will be supplied at its lower part with several metallic tubes,
with taps similar to the preceding ones, in order that several gazogenes may
be fixed to them, and disengage together the hydrogen to supply it. The
spherical subleveur will be entirely enveloped by a net made of prepared
hemp cord; this net will be furnished with a series of strong cords, which will
descend underneath the lower pole of the subleveur. The cords will be fixed
by their extremities to a ring, which is used to fasten the flexible subleveur to
the sunken ship. The flexible cylindrical subleveur will be also enveloped by
a net formed of prepared hemp cord, and a series of ropes attached to this
net will be terminated by a metallic ring, in order to fasten the subleveur to
several points of the submerged ship.
The flexible, spherical, and cylindrical subleveurs will be folded, and care-
fully enclosed in cases for transport to and from the place of operation.
The flexible subleveurs will be used as follows:-Immediately after the
divers have inspected the sunken ship, the subleveurs will be extended on the
deck of the operative ship, and then each of them will be folded and rolled on
itself lengthwise, in such manner that the air contained in it may be driven
out through the taps of the tubes at its lower part. The rolling being termi-
nated and the air expelled, the subleveurs will be fastened to one another at
suitable distances, in order to keep them rolled during their descent into the
sea. Thus disposed and prepared the subleveurs will be lowered into the sea

page_text: in the same way as a cable, and as they gradually reach their destination, the
divers fasten them to the sunken ship, and untie them from each other after-
wards. Underneath each spherical subleveur will be fixed a gazogene, and
underneath each of the cylindrical subleveurs there will be fixed as many
gazogenes as they are provided with taps and tubes for at their lower parts.
As soon as the gazogene is fixed under a subleveur the tap of the disengaging
tube is opened as well as the tap of the tube adapted to the subleveur, and
the gas is immediately disengaged and enters the subleveur, and gradually as
the hydrogen is introduced the subleveur unrolls itself, and expands simul-
taneously until it has assumed its full form and volume, and displaced an
equal volume of the water in which it is immersed; accordingly, when a
certain number of subleveurs have been fastened round the sunken ship and
expanded as described, the buoyant force of the said subleveurs will be in
equilibrium with the weight of the ship; if, then, only an additional cubic
foot of hydrogen is introduced in the subleveurs, a corresponding quantity of
water will be displaced, and immediately the equilibrium will be destroyed the
weight of the sunken vessel will be overcome; and in the same way that an
acrostat leaves the earth to rise in the air, carrying with it the whole of the.
weight with which it is loaded, the subleveurs will carry with them the sunken
ship through the liquid. By increasing the excess of hydrogen the velocity
upwards will be increased'; the motion upward will continue until the surface
of the water is reached.
In order that all the necessary submarine labor may be executed with
exactitude and punctuality during the night as well as in the course of the
day, cach diver's apparatus will be provided with a small apparatus for
producing an electric light.
And having now described the nature. of my said Invention, and in what
manner the samo is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the raising of sunken vessels, and other submerged structures and
articles by the means and in manner herein-before described.
Second, the construction and method of action of the gazogene, or gas
generating apparatus, herein-before described, and for the purposes described.
Third, the construction and action of the caulking stoppers, herein-before
described for stopping holes and apertures in submerged ships and other.
structures.
Fourth, the construction and action of the caulking syphon stoppers, herein-.
before described..
Fifth, the construction of the rigid, cylindrical, and spherical subleveurs or.
raising vessels, herein-before described. .

page_text: And, lastly, the employment of flexible subleveurs, constructed in manner
and for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bonnet Frederick Brunel, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
B. F. BRUNEL. (L.S.)