An Improvement in or connected with Moorings for Buoys.
Year: 1898

page_text: .Date of Application 18th Oct., 1898
1.4.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
"
An Improvement in or connected with Moorings for Buoys.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of the Firm of A. M. & Wm. Clark, of
53, Chancery Lane, in the. County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Chartered Insti-
tute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a com-
munication to me by Charles Alfred Hutchins, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the
Dominion of Canada) to be as follows:-
This invention, which has for its object to relieve the moorings of buoys of
strain and to prevent the fouling of the cable, consists of a drag whose ends
are connected by cables with an ordinary buoy and its mooring, so that the
drag is submerged about midway between the buoy and mooring. The drag is
hollow and comprises a central cylindrical portion having an interior annular
strengthening rib and conical ends provided with eyes for the attachment of
the cables. From the end of the central portion nearest to the buoy, an open
conical skirt flares outwardly towards that end so as to present its surface to
the resistance of the water and form a drag against the pull exerted by the
action of the buoy so as to take the main strain off the mooring and by keeping
the slack of the cable off the bottom, prevent the fouling of the cable with
the mooring.
Dated this 18th day of October 1898.
:
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents, 53, Chancery Lane, London.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Ipmrovement in or connected with Moorings for Buoys.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of the Firm of A. M. & Wm. Clark, of
53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Chartered Insti-
tute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a com-
munication to me by Charles Alfred Hutchins, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the
Dominion of Canada) 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 moorings for buoys, the object of the invention
being to provide means for preventing buoy-cables from breaking; to prevent
the cables from dragging and fouling at the bottom; and to provide an effective
bight to which ships may be anchored or which can be conveniently grappled
and a sunken buoy be readily removed.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this

page_text: specification wherein Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my improved buoy,
and Figures 2, 3, and 4 illustrate the application thereof to various purposes.
In the use of floating buoys, it frequently happens that changes in the wind
and tides cause the cable to be dragged about on the bottom and to become
fouled either with itself or with the bottom. The cable is thereby shortened
and the efficiency of the buoy impaired. In a heavy sea the mooring may part
and the buoy drift away. It is to avoid these dangers that the present invention
is intended; the invention comprising a buoy which, when submerged, holds
the cable off the bottom, so that it is payed out and taken in according to the
strain on the floating buoy.
My improved buoy, as shewn in Fig. 1, has a cylindrical body 1 with tapering
ends 2 adapted to have the cable 3 attached to them. The body is provided at
one end with an outwardly fiaring rigid skirt 4, constituting a drag against the
movement of the buoy through the water.
In Fig. 2 the submerged buoy is shewn interposed between the sections of
the cable of a floating buoy 5. The full lines in the figure indicate the posi-
tion of the cables and buoys in calm weather; the cable in this position being
at all times held above the bottom. When the floating buoy yields to the
action of the sea or of the wind, the cable becomes taut, as shewn in dotted lines.
When a heavy sea strikes the floating buoy, the strain on the upper cable-
section is conveyed to the submerged buoy, the skirt of which, constituting a
drag, breaks the greater portion of the strain and transmits but little to the
mooring 6. It is therefore evident that the submerged buoy performs the double
function of relieving the mooring of strain and of preventing the fouling of
the cable. When thus insured against fouling, a cable rarely parts.
In Fig. 3, the submerged buoy is shewn holding up the bight of the moorings
of a sunken buoy. A cable supported in this manner may be readily grappled
and the sunken buoy recovered. Without the use of the submerged buoy,
grappling on rocky bottoms would be difficult, perhaps impossible.
In Fig. 4, 7 shews the position of a vessel riding out a gale on a lee shore.
The buoy in this case is attached by one end to the anchor-chain, so that when
dragged under the surface of the water it will form an effective sea anchor in
addition to the anchor at the bottom.
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 An attachment for marine-buoy cables, the attachment having a buoyant
rigid body capable of being held by the cable to float at a point between the
bottors and the surface of the water and also having a rigid skirt extending
outward from the body and forming a drag against the movement of the attach-
ment through the water.
:
2. An attachment for marine buoy-cables, the attachment having a rigid and
buoyant cylindrical body portion with tapering ends, which ends are adapted
respectively to have sections of the cable attached thereto and the body portion
being capable of being held by the cable to float at a point between the surface
of the water and the bottom thereof, and the body having at its cylindrical
portion an outwardly flaring rigid skirt forming a drag against the movement
of the attachment through the water.
1011
T11000