A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OF ELEVATING SHIPS OR BOATS IN THE WATER TO ENABLE THEM TO PASS OVER SANDBARS, SHALLOWS, AND THE LIKE, AND FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND DOCKS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Cato McKeen, of Irvington, in the County
of Essex, State of New Jersey, United States of America, for the Inven-
tion of "A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OF ELEVATING SHIPS OR BOATS IN THE
WATER TO ENABLE THEM TO PASS OVER SANDBARS, SHALLOWS, AND THE LIKE,
AND FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND DOCKS."
Sealed the 13th October 1865, and dated the 12th July 1865.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Thomas Cato McKeen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 12th July 1865, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, BE IT KNOWN that I,
THOMAS CATO MKEEN, of Irvington, in the County of Essex, State
of New Jersey, United States of America, have invented "A NEW AND
IMPROVED MODE OF ELEVATING SHIPS OR BOATS IN THE WATER TO ENABLE
THEM TO PASS OVER SANDBARS, SHALLOWS, AND THE LIKE, AND FOR RAISING
SUNKEN VESSELS AND Docks," and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,
clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings forming a part of this Specification, in which Figure 1 represents
my apparatus applied to a boat shown in longitudinal section; Figure 2 is a
г.

page_text: transverse section taken through the boat, exhibiting the buoys arranged
under the same; Figures 3 and 4 are views of buoys of different forms of
construction.
Various means have been essayed for excavating and washing away the
sandbars which occur very frequently in the beds of rapid running rivers,
such, for instance, as the Mississippi, the Ohio, and other rivers of the United
States, and which are great hindrances to navigation, besides being the cause
of much loss of life and property, but such devices have been found totally
Inefficient in remedying the evil, for so long as the rapid currents continue
these barriers will be found, and the evils attending them be in vogue.
My Invention has for its object the remedying of these difliculties without
disturbing sandbars, or without the employment of excavations, or what are
denominated "camels," which are sometimes used to carry boats over the
bars, or for elevating sunken vessels and docks, the construction and opera-
tion of which are understood by those conversant with the art to which my
Invention pertains; and it consists in furnishing the vessel, of whatever
description, with a strong metallic vessel of a suitable capacity which will
serve to contain condensed air. The air is to be forced into this vessel by
suitable air pumps, operated by the engine or by manual power before the
vessel starts on her voyage, or any time during the voyage, so that the con-
densed air will be ready for use at the approproate time. With this vessel or
air receiver is connected a strong pipe or main, and to this main are attached
at the required intervals along its line branch pipes of any flexible material
found best adapted to the purpose, which communicate with bags or buoys
herein-after described, each branch pipe being provided with a faucet, by
turning which the air can either be admitted into or excluded from the
particular buoy to which the branch pipe leads; and it further consists in
connecting with these bags cords or chains, which are attached to the side of
the vessel, and arranged in such a manner that these buoys can be thrown
over the stem and stern and sides, and be brought under and near the keel
while in an uninflated state, and while in this situation can be inflated
simultaneously, or one or more at a time, so that the vessel may be elevated
horizontally, or in that portion where she lies deepest in the water, and in a
few minutes so as to decrease the draught sufficiently to permit it to
float over the bar or whatever may be the obstacle in its course in perfect
safety.
The accompanying Drawings forming a part of this description will sufice
to illustrate the general features of my Invention, but in making them the
form and proportions of the apparatus as will be adopted in practice are not

page_text: canvas'
preserved. In these Drawings A represents a vessel or air receiver, which
may be concealed in the hold of the vessel B, or placed in a suitable situation
on deck. This vessel or receiver is to contain the condensed air for inflating
the buoys, and this air is supplied to the vessel or receiver A, by suitable air
pumps; C is a main which communicates with the vessel A by means of a
pipe D; attached to this main pipe C on either side of it, and at suitable
distances along its line, are flexible branch pipes E, each provided with its
own faucet or cock; these communicate respectively with the bags F, which
can be inflated by opening their communications with the receiver A, when
the compressed air rushes into them, and when so inflated. they. serve. the
purpose of buoys or floats, and when not inflated can be packed away in..ȧ
very compact compass on board. These bags consist of cotton or linen
coated with gum elastic, and of multiplied thickness, until the
required strength is attained to bear inflation with atmospheric, air obtained
from the vessel A, or they may be made of any other suitable air and water
tight flexible material. In order to complete the strength of these floats or
buoys and to prevent their injury from contact with the surface of the vessel,
I cover them with strong cordage, which is knit around them similar to the
netting on balloons, and which is wrought on rings or grummets at the bottom
and top of the bags; or the strands of the cordage may be united into a cable
or hawser at the bottom of the buoy, which hawser, by being fastened to or
passed under the keel, will draw and hold the buoys in place. When
rings are used, to the lower rings are fixed hoops provided with springs, for
securing the bags. down to their places on the sides and close to the keel,
The hose or flexible pipe is attached to the tops, sides, or bottom of the bags,
as may be desired, by strong metallic or other coupling, or it may be a con
tinuation of the material of which the bags are made. The form of buoy
best adapted for the purpose may be round, square, or cylindrical, or a com-
bination of two or more of these forms, and of the size to meet the necessity
of the case; the buoys may also be provided with a man-hole, to which may
be fitted an air-tight metallic cover or head, the object of which contrivance
is to enable a workman to perfectly close and finish the seams of the buoy on
the inside, and also to enter the buoy to repair or strengthen it.., In the use
and management of the buoys or elevating bags, while the vessel is being
elevated, care must be taken that the bags are not ruptured by the pressure
of the air within them increasing as the buoys rise towards
"the surface,
thereby diminishing the external pressure of the water upon the buoys in
an increasing ratio. To obviate this danger the buoys should be provided
with safety valves graduated to open at certain degrees of pressure; or the
"
2
".
b

page_text: danger may be avoided by carefully attending to opening the cocks or faucets
inserted in the pipes through which the air is supplied to the buoys, or by an
aperture in the bottom of the bags or buoys. The modes of placing the
buoys under the vessel are very various, but the plan adopted by me is to use
a rope or cable G, multiplied between two rings to pass under the ship's
bottom from one gunwale to the other. These are so constructed and matted
by cross layers as to make the buoys press singly and uniformly on the sides
of the vessel. J, J, are cocks on either end of the main C for the escape of
the air from the buoys when they are to be packed away after they have
been inflated and used. Although I use the main C as shewn in the
Drawings, I do not confine myself to its use as a necessity, but the buoys may
be inflated without its aid by substituting a pipe forming a direct communi-
cation between each buoy or bag and the receiver A, and this method does
not in the least interfere with inflating all the buoys simultaneously, or one or
more of them at a time as desired.
In describing the operation of my Invention we will suppose for illustration
my apparatus to be applied to a steamboat, and it is approaching a sandbar
which lays in its course and it is desirable to cross this bar, upon which the
water may be only a few feet deep; the bags are therefore thrown over the
sides of the boat and secured under each side and near the keel. The air
which has previously been condensed and which is contained in the vessel A
is suddenly let into the main pipe C, from whence it rushes through the pipes
connecting with the bags and inflates them all simultaneously, or those of
them whose communications with the receiver A have been opened, and
elevates the vessel sufficiently to permit its safe passage over the bar; the
air can then be let out of the bags by opening the cocks J, J, and the bags
themselves be drawn up and suspended under the guards, or be drawn into
the vessel and packed away for further use without stopping the speed of the
vessel or taking it out of its course. My apparatus would also be exceedingly
useful in saving a 'vessel from foundering in the event of its becoming damaged
by collision, or being "stove in" from any cause, for the bags may be made
to possess sufficient buoyancy to keep the vessel afloat until the leak is
remedied. My apparatus may also be applied to raising sunken vessels or other
objects. I am aware that in raising sunken vessels bags and other vessels for
containing air have been sunk alongside of the wreck and the water pumped
out so as to raise the wreck, and I am aware that bags have been sunk under
water and then filled with air by means of force pumps for raising sunken
objects, and therefore I disclaim these as constituting a part of my Invention.
But what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, the use
4:
"

page_text: and application of the air reservoir or receiver "A" in combination with the
bags or buoys "F," whether connected together directly by the use of pipes,
or with the intermediate main "C," the whole arranged and operating
substantially in the manner and for the purposes above set forth.
THOMAS CATO MCKEEN (L.S.)