CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PASSING BOATS AND OTHER FLOATING BODIES FROM A HIGHER TO A LOWER, OR A LOWER TO A HIGHER LEVEL, WITH LITTLE OR NO LOSS OF WATER, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE RAISING AND LOWERING OF WEIGHTS ON LAND
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
UNDERHILL, of Park Field Iron Works, near Wolverhampton, in the County
of Stafford, Iron Master, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-seven, in the eighth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said John Underhill, His especial licence, that I, the said John Underhill, my
exors, aditiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said John Underhill,
my exors, adñiors,, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein men-
tioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, also in all lis
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PASSING BOATS AND OTHER FLOATING
BODIES FROM A HIGHER TO A LOWER, OR A LOWER TO A HIGHER LEVEL, WITH LITTLE
OR NO LOSS OF WATER, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE RAISING
AND LOWERING OF WEIGHTS ON LAND;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that I, the said John Underhill, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in

page_text: part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance. with the said proviso, I, the said
John Underhill, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing thereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
In the said Drawing, Fig. 1 is a side view and section of my said improved
machinery or apparatus as applied to passing boats or other vessels from a
higher to a lower vessel; and Fig. 2 is a plan thereof; in both of which
Figures the same letters of reference indicate the similar parts. A, A, is
the higher level of the canal, and B, B, the lower level. C is a boat lying in
the upper level of the canal ready to be received upon a carriage D, which
can be lowered into the water sufficiently deep to allow the boat to float above
it, and as shewn by the representation of it in dotted lines. The two pairs of
wheels E and F of this carriage run upon the rails of two sets of parallel
inclined planes G, G, and H, H, the hinder wheels E, E, running upon the
rails G, G, in their ascent from the upper level of the canal to the horizontal
rails I, I, I, and the fore wheels F, F, upon the rails H, H, whereby the
carriage is preserved in a horizontal position during its ascent; in descending,
however, to the lower level of the canal the fore wheels F, F, run upon the rails
G, G, and the hinder ones E, E, upon the rails H, H; but on the ascent of the
carriage from the lower level of the canal to the horizontal rails I, I, I, as it is
not turned, so what were the fore wheels in the former case become now the
hinder ones, of course. The action of the rails in preserving the carriage in an
horizontal position will be best seen by the representation of it in dotted lines
on the right hand side of the Drawing, where it is shewn as being posited about
half way down the inclined planes. The carriage being thus preserved in an
horizontal position during its ascent and descent, as well as whilst passing along
the horizontal rails, of course the boat or other vessel lodged or supported
upon it preserves its horizontal position likewise. In order to allow the fore
wheels to mount upon the horizontal rails from the inclined ones II, the parts
J; J, of the horizontal rails I, I, are made to lift up by being mounted upon
pivots, and as seen on the left side of Fig. 1, where the fore wheel F is sup-
posed to have raised it in passing; and it is retained in that situation by means
of the weight K affixed to an arm connected with the axis of the parts J, J, as
shewn separately in Fig. 3. The hinder wheel in passing shuts it down again,
and so it. remains. When the carriage is descending the fore wheels pass over
the opposite moveable parts J, J, of the horizontal rails I, I, then lying in an

page_text: horizontal position, and come into contact with the pins L, L, projecting from the
weights K, K, as shewn separately in Fig. 4, by which means they are lowered;
and the moveable parts J, J, are raised up so as to allow the hind wheels to pass
underneath them down the rails H, H, to the lower level B, B, of the canal.
The carriage is allowed to descend low enough beneath the surface of the
water to permit the boat or other vessel to float off and quit it. The carriage
is then ready either to receive another boat or vessel upon it, and raise it to
the upper level, in a similar manner and as before described, or else to be
raised empty. In order to guard against the possibility of accidents happening
from the breaking of the chain employed in raising or lowering the carriage
and its load, additional rails are provided with ratchet teeth upon them, as
shewn in the Plan, Fig. 2, at M, M, M, M, and in the end section Fig. 5,
into which the clicks N, N, shewn in Fig. 1, catch, and thereby retain the
carriage in whatever situation upon the inclined planes it may happen to be;
and as an additional precaution to hinder the wheels of the carriage from rising
off the rails, preventer bars or rails o, o, are provided, which are placed at such
a height above the rails H, H, as just to allow the wheels to pass underneath
them freely, but not suffer them to quit their bearing upon the rails H, H,
and similar preventer rails may also be placed above the rails G, G, if required.
The means of raising or lowering the carriage and its load, or the carriage
without its load, may be afforded by the employment of the powers of steam
engines, water wheels, animals, or other fit and proper first movers of machinery,
and which powers may be communicated in any of the usual and well known
methods to a horizontal shaft P, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, turning upon necks or
pivots mounted on proper bearings, and supported upon strong framework.
Upon the shaft P a drum Q may be mounted, around which the chain or rope
R is coiled, to the other end of which a ring or loop S is affixed, which can be
traversed along a bar T, which is firmly supported upon the framing of the
sides of the carriage. This ring S is shewn in Fig. 1, in the position it will
have attained in raising the carriage and boat out of the water in the upper
level of the canal; but in descending or ascending the other inclined plane, it
will assume the position shewn by the dotted lines; or have slidden along the
bar T to the opposite end of it. I can, when desirable, cause the descending
tendency of the carriage to be counteracted by a balance weight hung to a
chain or rope wound upon another drum, affixed upon the shaft P in the
contrary direction to the rope or chain R, or by employing two sets of inclined
planes, in which one carriage and load may counterbalance the other in the
manner already in use, or by the use of a brake wheel. In case of employing
my improved machinery or apparatus for the purpose of communicating with

page_text: canals not in a direct line, I can place the carriage and its load upon a
horizontal revolving platform, similar to those used in railways, and which
may be actuated by any fit and proper power, so as to direct it to the required
position.
I do not mean or intend hereby to limit myself to the employment of any
particular material or materials in the construction of my said improved
machinery or apparatus, but to avail myself of the use of any which are fit and
proper for the purpose. What I consider as the principal. improvements in
my said Invention are, the employment of four railways, arranged in the
manner shewn and described herein, to support the four wheels of the carriage
in its ascent and descent upon the inclined planes, whilst, when upon a level or
in an horizontal position, it is supported upon two rails only, as usual, and can
thus, with the boat or other vessel upon it, be removed upon land from one
canal to another; and it is evident the ascent and descent of the boat or
vessel is accomplished with no loss of water, as would be the case were locks to
be employed. It is quite evident that four similar rails might also be employed
in raising or lowering weights held in similar carriages on railways, as well as
upon canals, as here described.
And I hereby claim all and every such employment of them for the several
purposes herein mentioned as my Inventions or improvements, and the peculiar
objects of my said Patent.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Underhill, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.