AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CONNECTING
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
LOUIS FELIX FRANCHOT, late of Paris, in the Kingdom of France, but now
residing at No. 23, Norfolk Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, and CYPRIEN MARIE TESSIE DU MOTAY, late of Paris aforesaid,
but now residing at No. 23, Norfolk Street aforesaid, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, by Her Letters Patent under
the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of August, in the seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Charles Louis Felix Franchot and Cyprien Marie Tessié duo Motay,
our exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that we, the said Charles Louis Felix Franchot and
Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motay, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, and every
of them, or such others as we, the said Charles Louis Felix Franchot and
Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motay, our exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of Her United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, Her Majesty's Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, our Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CONNECTING

page_text: AND LAYING PIPES OR VESSELS BENEATH THE SURFACE OF WATER FOR THE PURPOSE
OF FORMING THEREWITH TUNNELS OR VIADUCTS FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF PASSENGERS
AND GOODS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso requiring
that we, the said Charles Louis Felix Franchot and Cyprien Marie Tessié
du Motay, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us,
and cause the same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chan-
cery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Charles Louis Felix Franchot and Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motay, do hereby
declare that the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained in manner
following, reference being had to the three Sheets of Drawings hereto annexed,
and the letters and figures thereon written.
We will first describe the construction of a tunnel or viaduct made in
accordance with our Invention, in the manner represented in the three Sheets
of Drawings hereto annexed, and we will then point out and ascertain the
particular contrivances or mechanical arrangements constituting the method
that we claim as our said Invention.
In Sheet 1 the Figures 1, 2, and 3, represent portions of such a tunnel or
viaduct. Figure 1 shews a longitudinal section of three large cast-iron
pipes constituting portions thereof; videlicet, firstly, a pipe (I.) fixed at one
end to the shore of the river, lake, arm of the sea, or other piece of water
that the tunnel is intended to traverse, and forming the commencement or
entrance of the tunnel; secondly, a pipe marked (II.), represented as already
connected with the pipe I.; and, thirdly, another pipe, marked III., similar
in its construction to the pipe II., and represented in the Drawing as sus-
pended in the water by tackle (worked from a barge or other suitable craft
not shewn in the Drawing) as it would appear when upon the point of being
brought end to end, and connected under water with the pipe II. Figure 2
is a cross section of the tunnel or viaduct taken at about either of the lines,
Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a cross section at another part of the length of
the tunnel or viaduct, exhibiting a sort of chamber formed laterally out of it
for the purposes herein-after more particularly described.
Figure 4 is a cross section of the tunnel taken at the line A, B, of Figure 1,
and Figure 6 is another cross section taken at the line C, D. The pipes I., II.,
and III. may be respectively formed in one casting if they are not of great

page_text: length, or they may be of two or more lengths united together by suitable
water-tight joints. They are represented in the Drawing Figure 1, Sheet 1,
as in two lengths overlapping each other, as shewn at 14, 14, Figure 1, and
the joints being rendered water-tight by running in lead in the manner
frequently practised in connecting large water pipes together, or by means of
iron cement or any other of the substances known and used for making tight
joints between large pipes. The left-hand end of each of the pipes I., II.,
and III., Figure 1, spreads out, as will be observed on inspection of the
Drawing, into a chamber of larger diameter than the rest of the pipe, and
then is contracted again, a flange 5, 5, being formed at the extremity of each
such pipe. The right-hand end of the pipe III. does not spread out into
an internal chamber, but is only enlarged a little at the extremity, so as to
form a flange corresponding to and intended to fit against the flange at the
left-band end of the pipe II. Into the left-hand end of the pipe II., and into
each of the pipe III., is represented as fitted a circular ring 3, 3, the shape of
which will be understood by comparing the section of it contained in Figure 1
with the end view of it contained in Figure 4, and by referring also to
Figure 5, which is an edge view of a portion of two of the segments, shewing
one of the wedges 1 interposed between them. The ring 3, 3, is formed in
three segments, see Figure 4, which, if brought close together, would not
constitute a ring of sufficient external diameter (as will be seen by inspection
of Figure 4) to fill up the internal diameter of the pipe; but it will be
observed, that at the three joints of the three segments of the ring 3, 3, the
spaces between them are filled up by three wedges, III., Figures 4, 5, and 6,
which, being forced out towards the internal circumference of the pipe by the
nuts and screws 2 (the ends of which screws are firmly fixed into the metal
of the pipe), expand the segments 3, 3, into a ring of such diameter as to fill
up and closely and tightly fit into a groove or recess formed in the inside of
the neck of the pipe, as will be seen by carefully examining the section of the
ends of the pipes II. and III. at 3, 3, in Figure 1. The ring 3, 3, being
thus fixed, forms a sort of bed on which can be applied a circular plate or disc
4, 4, see Figures 1 and 6, which is fastened thereto by a sufficient number of
screw bolts, as shewn at z, z, Figure 6; and note, that the surface of the ring
3, 3, against which the plate 4, 4, is thus fastened, must be turned quite true
and flat. The left-hand end of the pipe II., and both ends of the pipe III., are
thus closed up, as if a lid were applied upon each, so as to render the said
pipes water-tight. We have thus a portion of a tunnel composed of the
pipes I, and II. (supposed to be already completely fixed), one end of which
rests on the bank of the river, lake, or arm of the sea intended to be traversed,

page_text: groove
pipe III. is lowered
In order so to lower
II., the two pipes are
and the other is closed, as above described, by the apparatus 3, 3, and 4, 4,
and to this end is to be connected the pipe III., which, as above described, is
closed water-tight at both ends. Now, for the purpose of connecting these
two pipes, they are provided respectively with the following apparatus :-At
one part of the circumference of the pipe III., at the right-hand end thereof,
are two hook-shaped pieces 6, 6, see Figure 1 and 4 (which may be either
cast in a piece with the pipe, or be separate pieces bolted to it); and these are
adapted, as will be seen by inspection of Figure 1, to catch into the
formed at 10 in the neck of the pipe II. whenever the
sufficiently, and brought sufficiently close to the pipe II.
the pipe III., and bring it into contact with the pipe
provided respectively with pulleys 7 and 8, see Figures 1, 4, and 6 (the pulley 7
being supported between the two hooks 6, 6), and a strong rope is passed round
both the pulleys 7 and 8, as seen in Figure 1, one of the upper ends of which is
fixed to some suitable frame or support on board of a barge or other craft,
which will be anchored in a convenient position near the pipe for that
purpose, and the other end will be passed round the barrel of a crane or other
suitable well-known machinery, whereby it can be let out or tightened at
pleasure. Before the pipes that are to be connected together under water are
lowered into the water it will always be prudent to fit them together on the
shore, to ascertain that the several bolts and bolt holes and other parts that
are to fit together match accurately; then they will be taken to pieces again,
in order to proceed to put them together under the water in the places they
are ultimately to occupy. It must be remembered, in following the description
of the mode of connecting the pipes under water by means of the apparatus
or parts herein-before described, that the pipe II. is to be considered as having
been already firmly connected with and fixed to the pipe I., and supported on
suitable foundations (which will be herein-after described) so as to be a com-
plete fixture, and the pipe III. must be imagined to have been lowered down
into the water into the position shown in Figure 1. For that purpose it is
supported at the left-hand end by a rope A 1, C1, similar to the rope A, C,
and near the right-hand end by a third rope A 2. Now the pipe having been
brought into the position Figure 1 by letting its pulleys 7 and 8 slide down the
ropes A and A 1, it is obvious that by continuing that operation, only with
more slowness and care than at first, the right-hand end of the pipe III. will
descend along the branch A of the rope A, C, and, as the pipe II. is, as afore-
said, a fixture, will approach that pipe until the hooks 6, 6, drop into the
groove 10, and the flanges of the two pipes come opposite to and in contact
with each other. In order more completely to insure bringing the end of the

page_text: pipe III. exactly opposite the end of the pipe II., so that they shall
match centre and centre, the end plate 4, of the pipe III., is provided
with a wedge-shaped piece of metal 12, see Figures 1 and 8, and at
the corresponding opposite part of the end plate 4 of the pipe II. is fixed
a piece of metal 13, formed with a wedge-shaped socket or opening in it,
adapted exactly to fit to and receive the wedge 12, so that when the end
of the pipe III. is let down the rope A, as above described, the wedge 12,
coming opposite the opening of the piece 13, will naturally be pushed
into it by the gravity of the pipe (the other end of the pipe being, at the
same time, carefully and gently lowered a little by slackening the rope A 1,
C 1, Figure 1), and thus the pipes II. and III. being brought into con-
nexion at two points, the latter will easily, by a careful working of the ropes
A, C, and A 1, C1, and A 2, be brought with nearly perfect accuracy opposite
the end of the former, so that the respective flanges 5, 5, of the two pipes, and
the bolt holes in those flanges shewn in Figure 1, will apply against each other
with great exactitude. Things being in this state, it remains only for the
workmen who will be stationed in the pipe II. to screw the bolts 9, that pass
through the flange of the pipe II., home into the nuts II., placed in the
interior of the flange of the pipe III., and thus to draw the flanges of the two
pipes in tight contact with each other. It will be seen by the Drawing,
Figure 1, that in the face of the flange of the pipe III. there is a cavity or
annular channel 5, 5. In that is laid a ring of packing of some kind, such
as leather, lead, or copper of the finest and softest quality, or some of the
cements that harden under water, so as to form a packing at the joint between
the flanges of the pipes II. and III. Generally it may be directed that any
material used as a packing in making the joints of pump barrels or water
pipes will be proper to be used as a packing between the pipes of our tunnel
or viaduct. It will be observed also that the shape of the joint between the
two portions of pipe that constitute each of the pipes (see 14, 14, Figure 1)
is such as to admit, in case of the packing 14 getting slack or damaged, of
tightening the said packing by hammering, or of the introduction of more
packing from the inside of the pipe. And for the same purpose, the packing
between the flanges of the pipes at 5, 5, is accessible from the insides of the
pipes. As the joint above described has to be made under water, the screw
bolts 9 are furnished with packing, as shewn at 9, in Figure 1, and the holes
through which they pass in the flange of the pipe II. are ground out quite true
and cylindrical for the said screw bolts at the part where they are thus packed
to work in their sockets like a piston in a cylinder. When the ends of the
two pipes have been brought together as above described there will be a certain

page_text: quantity of water enclosed in the space between the ends of the two pipes, and
this will be removed by drawing it off through a cock fitted in the moveable
end plate 4, 4, of the pipe II., into the interior of the said pipe, and afterwards
pumping it out from the tunnel by pumps placed in the side chambers 21,
see Figure 3, formed at suitable distances in the pipes that form the tunnel.
And note, that the cavities formed behind the flanges of the pipe III. which
receive the nuts 11 are of such size that the said nuts do not entirely fill them,
but have a little space around, as shewn by the Drawing, Figure 1. The
object of this is, that in case the water which penetrates into the sockets or
holes destined to receive the screw bolts 9 during the process above described
of connecting the pipes does not escape past the thread of the screws when the
said screws are screwed into their places, such water may pass round outside
the nuts 11, and so escape into the space between the ends of the pipes; and
then, when the flanges at those ends have been brought into contact, the said
water can be drawn off into the interior of the tunnel by the cocks herein-
before referred to as being fitted into the moveable end plates of the pipes.
The joint between the two pipes being complete, the bolts which fasten the
end plate 4 of the pipe II. to the segments of the ring 3, 3, may be withdrawn,
the wedges 1, 1, may be loosened, and the ring 3, 3, can then be taken to
pieces, and all the said parts can be withdrawn into the interior of the pipe II.,
and removed through the same and through the pipe I. out of the tunnel, by
the aid of a suitably constructed truck or carriage (running either upon
temporary rails laid along the bottom thereof, or upon the permanent rails if
the same is intended to be traversed by a railroad), and by means of other
mechanical aids of any of the kinds usually employed by engineers in lifting
and moving weighty pieces of metal. And in this there will be no difficulty, the
plate 4, 4, being, as herein-before mentioned, of less diameter than the interior
of the tunnel. The same operation will be performed for opening the end of
the pipe III. by disconnecting and withdrawing the apparatus 3, 3, and 4, 4,
belonging to that pipe, and the several segments and plates 3, 3, and 4, 4,
being withdrawn through the pipes II. and I., and removed out of the tunnel
through the end of the pipe I., the joint of the pipe II. and III. will present the
appearance and be in the state exhibited at y, y, Figure 1, where the joint of
the pipes I. and II. is exhibited, and an uninterrupted water-tight passage will
then exist throughout the portion of the tunnel described above, as far as the
left-hand end of the pipe III. Another pipe, similarly provided with such
apparatus as herein-before described, will then be let down into the water, and
connected with the left-hand end of the pipe III., and the passage through
the same afterwards opened by removing the apparatus constituting the false

page_text: bottoms of the several pipes in the same manner as above described; and so on
until a tunnel of viaduct is completely formed by a series of such pipes as the
pipes I, II, and III., extending across the whole width of the river, lake,
arm of the sea, or other sheet of water intended to be traversed by the tunnel.
Of course the nature of the machinery or mechanical means used for dis-
mounting and withdrawing the segments of the rings 3, 3, and the plates
4, 4, will vary according to the size of the pipes, and the consequent sizes
and weights of the apparatus 3, 3, 4, 4.
We will now proceed to describe the mode of fixing in the water a pipe
tunnel formed in the manner herein-before described. If the bottom of the
river, lake, arm of the sea, or other piece of water that it traverses should chance
to be horizontal, or only of a gentle curvature, and of an even or nearly even
surface, and of a solid or firm material, probably no artificial fixing of the
pipes will be requisite, but their weight and rigidity will be sufficient to keep
them properly in their places; but under the ordinary circumstances which
are found to exist in reference to the shape and materials of the beds of
rivers, or of arms of the sea, or other large bodies of water, we propose to
adopt several artificial modes for fixing and maintaining a tunnel constructed
as above described in its place. The first of such modes is represented in
Sheet 1, Figures 1, 2, and 3. Before the pipes are let down into the water
(in the operation of connecting them as before described), they are separately
fixed each in a strong frame of timber 16, 16, see Figures 1, 2, and 3, closed
in at the sides by planking, sec 17, Figures 2 and 3; and when the pipes are
placed and connected with each other successively quantities of loose stones
and rubbish, or of some of the cements which are used in hydraulic architec-
ture and harden under water, are dropped down into the frames 16, 17,
through canvass tubes 18, see Figures 1 and 2, so placed as to let the said
materials drop down by the sides of the pipes, as shewn in the section,
Figure 2, and thus a kind of double wall or foundation will be formed, filling
up the space between the bed of the river and the lower part of the pipes, on
which the pipes and the lower cross timbers of their frames 16, 16, will rest;
see Figures 1 and 2. The canvass tubes 18 are kept steady in their places by
a strong frame of iron 19, 19, see Figures 2 and 7, mounted on a rail 20,
fixed to the main frame 16, and having at each end a ring, which clasps round
the end of one of the canvass tubes 18. If the depth and force of current
of the water in which the operations are carried on are not great, the above-
described arrangements will be probably found sufficient for keeping the
canvass tubes steady, their upper ends being, of course, suitably steadied and
kept open over the gunwale of the barge or other craft from which the

page_text: foundation materials are thrown in. But if the depth or force of current of
the river is considerable, one or more steadying frames 19 will be fastened at
intervals to the canvass tubes to steady and keep them open, &c., and they
will be kept in a position vertical, or nearly so, by means of ropes fastened to
barges moored at suitable distances. In describing the above mode of laying
a foundation of stones and other loose materials to support the tunnel, we do
not of course prescribe, as in all cases exclusively to be adopted, the canvass
tubes and apparatus above described, nor even the particular form of founda-
tion appearing on the Drawings delineated in Sheet 1 as the result of that
method, though we recommend such a method of working as advantageous.
But it is obvious that many well-known practical modes of forming foundations
on the beds of rivers by the deposit of loose stones and other loose materials
may be adopted, keeping only in view, as the important point in reference to
forming the foundation for one of our tunnels, that a foundation should be
deposited to such an extent and of such a shape that the tunnel shall be
partially embedded in it, and derive stability, not only from its own weight
and the weight of the foundation, but from the force of adhesion of the
materials of such foundation. When a tunnel constructed according to our
Invention is to be laid across large bodies of water, as, for instance, across a
lake or an arm of the sea, it will be advisable in general to adopt, in combina-
tion with the means we have described of forming a foundation, some of the
methods in use for protecting piers, jetties, breakwaters, and other similar
constructions against the force of the waves, for the purpose of protecting the
tunnel and the works connected with it against the action of the waves near
the beach and in the shallows. And it will also be advisable in many
instances (particularly when the water to be crossed is of great depth, in order
to avoid too great a dip of the tunnel) to lay the pipes that form the extremi-
ties of the tunnel below the surface of the ground forming the beach or bank
on a line as nearly level with the bottom of the water as circumstances will
allow. Note, we have represented the several pipes forming the pipe
tunnel above described as cast with ribs round them, as shewn in Figure 1,
and between these ribs are driven in tight a great number of thin pieces of
wood, see Figures 1, 2, and 3, in order to bind together a thick coating of
asphaltic composition or bitumen (such as is used for making pavements), with
which we intend that the pipes shall be clothed or surrounded. Such clothing
of the pipes is not absolutely necessary, but will tend to preserve them from
decay. The mode of effecting through our pipe tunnels the transit of goods
or passengers forms no part of our Invention, and requires therefore merely to
be alluded to, in order to point out that according to the mode in which such

page_text: transit is to be effected variation in the practical arrangements of the interior
of the pipes will of course become requisite. For instance, if it be intended to
carry a railroad through the tunnel, it will probably be found advisable to cast
the pipes either with a solid bed at the lower part of the pipe, as shewn in
Figure 2, or with strong longitudinal ribs properly formed, and prepared to
receive rails. In that case also lateral chambers, such as those shewn at 21,
Figure 3, may be requisite, not merely for placing pumps therein for pumping
out any water that may be deposited in the tunnel (either from the water left
between the ends of the pipes after they are connected, as herein-before
described, or by reason of leakage), but also for the purpose of providing
accommodation for the railway watchmen, and so with respect to many other
arrangements of various kinds which may be required, according to the
particular mode of transit adopted, all of which arrangements will fall within
the province of the engineer applying our Invention to the construction of
tunnels, and who will, therefore, so far as is not inconsistent with the apparatus
we have described for connecting and fixing pipes, have the said pipes cast of
such shape and with such additional internal parts as may be necessary to admit
of adapting thereto any machinery or apparatus that he may require for the
particular mode of transit that he shall adopt. And note, that although we
have described and represented in the Drawing cylindrical pipes, and although
the cylindrical form of pipe will probably on many accounts be found the most
convenient both to manufacture and to use, yet it is not essential to adopt
that form, or the particular size shewn in the Drawings; any shape or size
of pipe or vessel that is compatible with the application of the parts we have
described as necessary in connecting and fixing the pipes may be adopted.
In the description herein-before contained we have only referred to a single
line of pipes, but in the Figures delineated in Sheet 2 of Drawings hereunto
annexed we have represented the application of our Invention to a double-line
pipe tunnel or viaduct. We have also shewn another method of making a com-
pound pipe in two or more lengths, different from that described in reference to
Sheet 1. And we have also shewn another mode of fixing or steadying the pipes
on the bed of the river or other sheet of water that they are intended to cross.
Figures 9 and 11 represent a longitudinal and cross section of one of the
pipes of a double-line tunnel, shewing the mode of making the joint of a
compound pipe made in three pieces, one of 16 feet in length, and two of eight
feet each, and sbewing also a mode of fixing or steadying the same in the
water; and Figures 10 and 12 represent an outside view and a cross section
also of a double-line tunnel, exhibiting another mode of fixing or steadying it.
When there are two lines of pipes it is not necessary to have the pipes inclosed

page_text: in a frame such as that described in reference to Sheet 1, but instead the
pipes are connected by a certain number of cross frames of iron 28 (sce
Figures 11 and 12), which are placed at suitable intervals along the length of
the tunnel, and bolted to projecting plates cast out of the pipes. See also
Figure 13, which is a horizontal plan of one of the double-line tunnels. The
foundation of loose materials is formed by depositing such materials between
the two pipes, and accumulating them until they spread out under each pipe,
forming a bed or foundation something of the shape shewn in the Figures 11
and 12. In order to steady and fix the pipes in their places they may be
provided either with the apparatus shewn in Figures 9 and 11, or with that
shown in Figures 10 and 12. In the former the steadying or laying the pipes
is effected by means of strong rods of iron 25, which are passed through
stuffing boxes 26 in the bottom of each pipe, and driven out obliquely down-
wards through the artificial foundation into the bed of the river. The rods 25
may be made either in one or in several pieces, screwed one into another, as
shewn in the Figure 11, and more fully in Figure 23, Sheet 3, and also in
Figure 14, Sheet 2, which is a section of one of the stuffing boxes 26, and
they may be made either pointed at the ends, as shewn in Figure 11, or with
flat or blunt ends 25ª, Figure 12. The rods 25 are fitted in their stuffing
boxes before the pipes are lowered into the water, and when the pipes are so
lowered and connected together the rods 25 are driven downwards at first by
dows of a heavy hammer, until they are driven to such a depth as to meet with
great resistance; and then a tool, consisting of a clamp and screw, see 37,
Figure 17, Sheet 3, is applied to each rod 25, and by turning the screw by a
spanner the said rod may be driven in to the bed of the river till it is firmly and
immoveably fixed. By this means also the level of the pipes may be altered,
as whenever any rod 25 has been driven into the bed of the river until the
resistance is sufficient to prevent it from going any deeper it will form a point
of resistance for the action of the clamp and screw 37, above referred
to; and if the operation of that tool be continued, the upper end of the
clamp will be forced against the interior of the pipe, and will raise it
up. As soon as the pipe which is being adjusted and fixed has been
raised to the proper level at any part, by thus working one of the rools 25,
a wedge 27, see Figure 14, Sheet 2, is driven in between such rod and
the cap of its stuffing box 26, and so with each rod until the pipe is firmly
fixed in its place. And when the rods have been driven as far as is
requisite, and the pipes levelled, as above described, the end of the rods are
cut off flush with the internal surface of the pipes. The stuffing boxes 26
are, as will be seen by the Drawing, Figure 14, of the ordinary construction

page_text: of the stuffing boxes used for steam-engine piston rods, or pump rods. In
Figures 10 and 12, the mode represented of fixing the pipes is by means of a
combination of rods 25, driven vertically through stuffing boxes into the bed
of the river, and what may be termed anchor fastenings. The rods 25 will
be driven into the bed of the river in the same manner as already described
in reference to Figures 9 and 11. The fastenings that we have termed anchor
fastenings, consist of plates 23, see Figures 10 and 12, the lower ends of
which are formed into two broad hooks, somewhat similar in shape to the
flukes of an anchor, see both the Figures, and they are suspended from the
circumferences of the pipes by levers 23a, which hang upon centre pins in
brackets cast upon the pipes, see Figures 10 and 12. The said centre pins
should be made of gun metal, to avoid, as much as possible, oxidation. The
back of each of the levers 23a, is furnished with a row of ratchet teeth, into
which drops a pall 24 suspended just above it, as shewn in Figures 10 and 12;
while the pipes are being let into the water for the purpose of connecting
them together in the same manner as we have described in reference to the
Figures drawn on Sheet 1 of the Drawings, and while the operation of driving
the rod 25 continues, the anchor hooks 23 and palls 24 are kept up by
ropes in the position shewn by the dotted lines, Figure 12; but as soon as the
pipes are successively placed and connected and levelled, and the rods 25, if
used, are driven as far as it is intended to drive them, the anchors and palls
23 and 24 are let go, the hooks 23 catch into the bed of the river, and the
palls 24 dropping down between the teeth of their respective ratchets, they
form together a firm support for the pipes. The materials intended to form
the artificial foundation are then dropped into the water, the anchor fastenings
23 forming a sort of boundary for such foundation, as shewn by Figures
10 and 12. Sometimes, however, it will be found advisable to form the
artificial foundation before letting go the anchor fastenings, in which case the
said fastenings will catch into the foundation instead of the bed of the river
or other water, or else their points will pass through the former and penetrate
into the latter, according to the hardness and thickness of the foundation.
The Figures 9 and 10 of Sheet 2, shew the method herein-before referred
to of forming the joints of a compound pipe made of several lengths. It will
be observed, that where the ends of the pieces of pipe overlap each other, the
external one is formed with a spherically shaped mouth, and the corresponding
end of the piece of pipe that fits into it swells out to a spherical form to
match thereto, leaving a narrow space between the two in which lead is run
to form a joint in the ordinary manner. The internal pipe is however poised
or jointed at one end upon a pair of pivots or centre pins 30, which are let

page_text: into the thickness of the metal of the outer pipe. The mode of thus poising
one pipe on centre pins fixed into the other will be more clearly understood
by referring to Figure 21, Sheet 3, which represents a section of a compound
pipe similarly formed. This arrangement permits a very slight flexibility or
susceptibility of motion in one direction only, at the joint of the two pipes.
The pipes delineated in the Figures, Sheet 2, are intended to be furnished
with the same apparatus for connecting them as those described in reference
to Sheet 1; most of those parts are shewn upon the Drawings, Sheet 2, and
require no further description.
In the Figures drawn on Sheet 3 of the Drawings hereto annexed, a still
further different mode of making the joint of a compound pipe is represented.
Here it will be observed, that the compound pipe is composed of four lengths
of pipe; the corresponding ends of the several pieces of pipe are spherical at
the joints, Numbers 1 and 3, while they are cylindrical at the joint No. 2;
at both joints Nos. 1 and 3, the inner pipe is suspended or centered upon
centre pins 80, let into the metal of the outer one in the same manner as
described herein-before of the pipes shewn in Figures 9 and 10, Sheet 2, and
as shewn in Figure 21 of Sheet 3, which is a section of the compound pipe
taken at the line E, F, Figure 16, Sheet 3. The several joints, however, of
the pipe, Figure 16, Sheet 3, instead of being common lead joints, as de-
scribed in reference to the construction exhibited in Sheet 2, are formed with
a packing of hemp, such as is used for packing the pistons of steam engines,
or of any of the materials used for packing the pistons of pumps, which
packing is pressed tight in the cavity between the two pieces of pipe at cach
joint, in the manner following, which is also applicable to the joints of the
pipes represented, Figures 9 and 10, Sheet 2 :-It will be observed, that each
outer pipe is cast with a shoulder 31 at the extremity of such pipe (see
Figure 16), against which shoulder the packing is pressed; behind the
packing is placed a series of cast-iron plates 32, placed all round the circum-
ference of the inner pipe, so as to form in effect an iron ring placed directly
in contact with the packing, see Figure 16, and the section, Figure 22, taken
at the line A, B, which exhibits the disposition of the plates 32. The plates
32 are pressed hard against the packing, so as to compress it against the
shoulder of the pipe at 31, by means of a tool 34 made like a hand vice,
see Figures 19 and 20, from inspection of which Figures it will be seen, that
by placing the legs of such vice between the ends of the plates 32 and the
shoulder 40 of the pipe, and by turning round the spanner on the end of the
screw 34 in one direction or the other, so as to spread out or contract the
legs of the vice, the packing at 31 will be more or less tightened; when the

page_text: packing is thus tightened as much as is requisite, pieces of wood 33, 33, see
Figure 18, which is a transverse section of the joint No. 2 at C, D, arc
inserted behind the plates 32 between them and the shoulder 40 of the pipe;
and these pieces of wood keep the plates 32 and the packing in their places.
If the packing works loose, the pieces of wood 33, 33, will be removed, and
fresh packing can be introduced and tightened up by reapplying the tool 34,
and then the pieces of wood 33, 33, will be replaced to keep the packing up
to its place. It will be seen, that by this mode of making the joints of a
compound pipe a double mobility is given, as the pipe will be capable of a
slight degree of flexibility or motion about the axes 30 at the joints, Numbers
1 and 3, and will be susceptible also of expansion and contraction in the direction
of its length at the joint No. 2. And note, if, notwithstanding the packing
above described, there should be any infiltration of water by the joints of the
pipes, it will be prevented from passing thence into such pipes by the sockets
of the centre pins 30, by means of the caps which are fastened over the ends
of those centre pins, as shewn at Figures 19 and 21, Sheet 3.
The mode of lowering into the water and connecting a series of compound
pipes, such as those above described, for the purpose of forming them into a
continuous tunnel, will be the same as that already described in reference to
Sheet 1, as will be seen by inspection of the Drawing, Figure 16, Sheet 3,
exhibiting the several parts 3, 4, 9, 11, 6, 7, 8, described in reference to the
Figures, Sheet 1. For effecting those purposes a tunnel, constructed on the
plan represented in Sheet 3, will be adapted, in consequence of the flexibility
or susceptibility of motion of which it will be capable, owing to the formation
above described of the joints at No. 1, 2, and 3, to apply itself to the undula-
tion of the bed of a river or other piece of water, provided those undulations
are not abrupt; and therefore, we propose in fixing such a tunnel, to dispense
with the laying of an artificial foundation by the deposit of loose stones and
other materials, and to employ only fixing rods 25, the mode of driving and
the object and effect of which require no further explanation after what has
been said of them in describing the Drawings in Sheet 2. But note, that in
this construction, and also in that described in reference to Sheet 2, it will be
advisable to form in the pipes a certain number of blank stuffing boxes 36, sec
Figure 16, in order to introduce, if necessary, at any time, a further number
of the rods 25. These stuffing boxes will be filled up, until wanted, by plugs
of wood or metal. And note also, that it will be advantageous, though not
absolutely essential, to cover the rods with a sheathing of some metal less sus-
ceptible of oxidation than iron, or else to cover them with a coating of such
metal by the galvano-plastic method, or any other known method of coating
iron with a coating of any such metal.

page_text: Having now described our said Invention of "An improved Method of
Connecting and Laying Pipes or Vessels beneath the Surface of Water for the
Purpose of Forming therewith Tunnels or Viaducts for the Conveyance of
Passengers and Goods," and the manner of carrying the same into effect,
we do hereby declare that we do not claim the laying of pipes generally under
water for the purpose of forming tunnels or viaducts therewith; and we more
particularly declare and point out that we do not claim generally the making
of pipes with flexible joints by means of axes of motion and packing, as pipes
with ball and socket joints, moveable about centre pins external to the pipes,
and with packing interposed between the joints, not being so applied as to be
accessible from withinside the pipes, have been used. But what we claim, as
constituting the said improved method, is,―
Firstly, the application to pipes (for the purpose of forming therewith such
tunnels as aforesaid) of apparatus such as we have herein-before described,
consisting of false bottoms or ends and tightening screws, so adjusted to the
said pipes as to permit of the pipes being placed under water without admitting
the water within them, and of their being connected together under the water
with a water-tight joint by drawing them together from the insides of the
pipes, and of establishing afterwards an uninterrupted pasage through
the pipes by the removal of the false ends or bottoms from the inside of the
said pipes, without injuring or interfering with the joint previously made.
Secondly, the application of pipes (for the said purpose) of catches or
hooks, grooves, guides, and such other parts as are herein-before described for
guiding the descent of the pipes, and laying them in their places opposite to
one another, under water, in the manner herein-before described.
Thirdly, the particular method which we have described of applying (in
connecting the separate lengths of a compound pipe) centre pins or axes
of motion inside of such pipes, as explained in reference to the Figures
contained in Sheets 2 and 3 of the Drawings hereto annexed, and packing, as
explained in reference to the Figures contained in Sheet 3; such centre pins
and packing being used either separately or in combination, in order, and in
such manner, that while the joints of such compound pipes are sound and
water-tight, and are accessible and capable of being adjusted from withinside
the pipes, the said pipes shall at the same time have a certain slight capability
of motion in a direction about their centre pins or axes of motion, or in the
direction of their lengths, or in both directions.
Fourthly, the application, in the operation of completing the laying of pipes
for the purpose aforesaid, of apparatus such as we have described in reference
to the parts marked 26, 25, 23, 23a, and 24, Sheet 2 of the Drawings, for the
purpose of levelling and steadying and fixing the pipes.

page_text: And, save as aforesaid, we do not claim as our Invention any of the matters
r things described in this our Specification.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Louis Felix Franchot and
Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motuy, have hereunto set our hands and
seals, the Twenty-ninth day of February, One thousand eight hun-
dred and forty-four.
CHARLES LOUIS FELIX (L.S.) FRANCHOT.
CYPRIEN MARIE (L.s.) TESSIE DU MOTAY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of Fe-
bruary, in the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Charles Louis Felix
Franchot and Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motay came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.