CERTAIN METHODS OF SUSTAINING ANIMAL LIFE AND COMBUSTION FOR A GREAT LENGTH OF TIME, AT CONSIDERABLE DEPTHS BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THE SEA, OR OTHER BODIES OF WATER, IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO ENABLE A PERSON MAKING USE OF SUCH MEANS TO EXIST AND TO MOVE PROM PLACE TO PLACE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. OR AT ANY REQUIRED DEPTH BETWEEN THE SURFACE AND THE BOTTOM, WITH MUCH MORE FACILITY AND ADVANTAGE THAN BY ANY OTHER APPARATUS OR CONTRIVANCE WHICH HAS BEEN HITHERTO INVENTED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1805

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, JOHAN
GOTTLIEB FREDRIC SCHMIDT, of Greek Sticet, Soho, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gentleman, and ROBERT DICKINSON, of Tavistock Street, Covent Garden,
in the said County, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
Is Letters l'atent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, beaung date at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of
July, in the forty-fifth year of His reign, give and grant unto us, the
said Johan Gottlieb Fredric Schmidt and Robert Dickinson, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, is special licence. that we, the said Johan
Gottlieb Fiedic Schmidt and Robert Dickinson, our executors, administra-
tois, and assigns should and lawfully might, during the ten of years therein
mentioned, make use. exercise and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of CERTAIN METHODS OF SUSTAINING
ANIMAL LIFE AND COMBUSTION FOR A GREAT LENGTH OF TIME, AT CONSIDERABLE
DEPTHS BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THE SEA, OR OTHER BODIES OF WATER, IN SUCH A
MANNER AS TO ENABLE A PERSON MAKING USE OF SUCH MEANS TO EXIST AND TO MOVE
PROM PLACE TO PLACE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. OR AT ANY REQUIRED DEPTH
BETWEEN THE SURFACE AND THE BOTTOM, WITH MUCH MORE FACILITY AND ADVANTAGE
THAN BY ANY OTHER APPARATUS OR CONTRIVANCE WHICH HAS BEEN HITHERTO
INVENTED FOR THAT PURPOSE," in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging us. the said Johan Gottlieb Fiedne Schmidt and Robert
Dickinson, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under

page_text: the hand and seal of one of us, to cause a particular description of the nature
of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be imolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, relation being thereunto bad, may more fully and at large appear
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, wo, the said
Johan Gottlieb Fiedne Schmidt and Robert Dickinson, do hereby declare
that our said Invention is described in the Diawings hereunto annexed, and
the following description and references thereto, that is to say
-
The principle of our Invention to enable men to live under water for a
considerable length of time, and as fiee as in open an, and to maintain com-
bustion in similai cucumstances, which is effected by the same means, consists
in furnishing him with a machine or apparatus capable of supplying him with
that gazious or aenform fluid which is absolutely necessary for the support of
ammal life, namely, common au, or at least with the constituent parts of that
acriform fluid, for atmospheric air, as is now well known, is a compound of two
distinct gases, contaminated with a comparatively small quantity of other
heterogeneous bodies intermingled with it. This aciform fluid is the only one
that is fit for respiration, for none of the gases with which we have hither to
become acquainted can be breathed without ultimately producing deleterious
effects, though many of them may be taken into the lungs for a shorter on
longer time without injury, but if the gas is fit for respuation it is absolutely
necessary that it be composed of the sanie ingredients of which our atmosphere
is formed
And further, as an auml can only bicath a given quantity
an for a given time, that is to say, as it can live in a confined quantity
of atmospheric air for a certain time only, it is absolutely necessary that the
animal should be furnished from time to time with a new or fresh quantity
of that fluid which is necessary for respiration, for if this be not attended to,
the confined quantity of air in which the animal has breathed becomes the
most deadly poison, and produces suffocation as effectually as any other non-
respirable fluid. Without entering into a chemical detail concerning the causes
and nature of the changes which the an undergoes during respiration, and
which thus renders it deleterious, we shall merely state that one of its constituent
parts, to which modern chemists have given the names of oxygen gas, vital
an, dephlogisticated an, &c &c, becomes absorbed during respiration in the
air cells of the lungs, it enters or combines with the animal body, in order to
produce certain important changes necessary for the support of the functions on
which animal life principally depends. The other constituent part of the
atmospheric air, which cannot be respired without injury, and which chemists

page_text: have designated with the names of axotic gas, mitrogen gas, phlogisticated air,
&c &c, remains unaltered during respiration, or at least nearly so; that is to
say, it undergoes no chemical change, but remains constant and uniformly the
same both in quantity and quality, or nearly so and is thrown out again by
the lungs into the medium fiom whence it is taken, with this remarkable
property, however, that it is accompanied by another new gazeous fluid, formed
o produced during respiration in the lungs of the animal, together with a
quantity of aqueous vapour, which is also expired This new gazeous fluid thus
produced to which chemists have given the name of carbonic acid gas, nicphitic
gas, &c., would also kill the animal it it were permitted to be exposed to its
influence It must be obvious, from what has been so fu stated, that if u
man, included in a given or limited atmosphere, be enabled to reproduce the
loss which the medium in which he lives experiences from respiration by anti-
ficial means, and if he further be enabled to remove or get ind of the carbonic
acid gas produced, he may continue to respire unmolested without injury
The leading principle of our Invention consists in the accomplishment of these
objects without any communication with the atmosphere, and without taking
down under water a quantity of atmosphene an sufficient to sustam life for a
given period of time which would be by far too troublesome, and perhaps not
practicable to a considerable extent The mode of our Invention consists in
enabling the person intended to live under water to take down with him a
certain quantity of one or, if necessary, both of the constituent parts of the
atmosphene an in such a state of existence that it occupies but a minute
bulk, but is capable, under certain cucumstances, to produce a prodigious
large quantity of atmosphene an, this we effect by reducing oxigen gas by
means of mechanical pressure to such a small bulk that, when added in due
proportion to the azote from which the oxigen has been substracted by respi-
ration, it reproduces an artificial atmosphere in which espnation may be
canned on with facilty and ease. Suppose, therefore, that a man reques
20 cubic feet oxigen gas to support life for three hours, and we compress that
quantity of gas into the space of one cubic foot, a reservon of eight cubic feet
ct the compressed gas will be sufficient to maintain life for twenty-four hours
The compression of the gas may be canned on to any extent the vessels are
capable of resisting Having stated before that the carbonic acid produced
during respiration would prove fatal to animal life if not removed, we have
accomplished that end by constructing our machine in such a manner that it
contains a sufhcient quantity of substance, which rapidly absorbs or attracts
the carbonic acid gas, and combines with it so as to condense it into itself, and
remove it from the atmosphere through which it was diffused The substance

page_text: made use of for that purpose may be either a caustic alcali, such as soda,
potash, barytes, strontia, lime, or any other fluid capable of abstracting cai-
bonic acid, or capable of condensing this gazeous fluid into a solid or fluid
substance. This being so far elucidated, we farther state that we also employ
the compressed oxygen gas as an auxiliary instrument, means, or power for
either diminishing or increasing the specific gravity of the machine, which, by
the help of another simple contrivance producing the effects of the natatory
vessel of fish, enables it to receive a vertical motion with case and facility
The houzontal motion may be obtained by the usual mechanical contrivances,
if it be wished that the person should not be exposed to the sudden pressure
of the water, the vessel may be closed, but in that case he cannot have his
hands at liberty. nor could the machine itself resist very great pressuie We
therefore have picferied to give to our machine such an anangement of its
parts as enables us to have it either open at the bottom, or anywhere else
between its upper and lower parts; under these encumstances the person
within may have apprehension to suffer at first from the incicased pressure of
the adjacent water. but that cannot be material if a slow or gradual descent
be had recourse to. 'The sinking of the machine may be effected by the
dimmution of the oxygen gas during the process of respiration or other wise by
mechanical means If it be wished to remain fixed or stationary, the person
within may let down a weight or weights so as to become a little specifically
lighter than the water in which the machine is iminersed If he wants to
ascend, nothing more is requisite than to open a stop-cock or other contrivance,
so as to admit a new quantity of oxigen gas fioni the resci vou The whole
volume of the included gas being compressible by the water at great depths,
in order that he may be enabled to retain the same quality and volume of gas
which had been carried down just under the surface of the water, and at any
depth in open vessels. it is necessary or convenient to have reconise to another
reservoir containing a quantity of compressed azotic gas, this gas being added
in due proportion to the oxigen gas under such cucumstances, produces
immediately the required volume of atmospheric air, this, however, is not
necessary but at considerable depths The construction of the machines for
accomplishing these ends may differ according to the fancy or caprice of the
workmen they may be open at the bottom. resembling diving bells, or they
may be open anywhere else between top and bottom, they may also be
constructed of two detached parts, so that the upper part includes the lower
one, together with its edge or otherwise. Our construction, which, however,
may be vaned. may be seen in the Drawing which accompanies this In
regard to the support of a flame, or the maintenance of the combustion of a

page_text: combustible body. very little need be said, all the conditions which are
necessary for respiration are also necessary for the maintainance and support of
a flame or a combustible body, if these therefore be attended to, an ignited or
flaming body may be caused to continue to buin, under the conditions before
specified as long as the circumstances there pointed out are attended to The
form of the lamp or lanthoin to accomplish this is not material, provided the
pinciples are followed Our construction of a lamp may be seen in the au-
nexed Diawing other contrivances the ingenious workman will easily suggest.
Plate I. Fig represents a vertical section of the lantern It consists of a
cylindrical vessel a, made of cast 11on or any other metal, strengthened by means
of metallic bais placed edgeways, it is intended to contain the compressed
oxigen gas bis a vessel destined to hold a solution of alcalı or any other
substance capable of absorbing the carbonic acid gas. c is a glass bell covering
the lamp
dis another glass vessel, including a quantity of common an
confined by mcicury
This vessel is represented at Fig 3. together with its
float and level, to be descubed presently. c is a lamp, with cotton and oil on
other substances. In order to make use of this lantern, let the cylindrical
vessel a be filled with oxigen gas by means of a condensing apparatus con-
nected with it, at the pait h the vessel is to be filled with a caustic alcaline
solution up to the fast shelf y of which there are several in the vessel b If
now the lamp be lighted, the quantity of oxigen contamed in the bell will
diminish, and the flame would become extinguished if no additional quantity of
oxigen be admitted, but as the confined quantity of air in the vessel d becomes
now expanded by tue of the diminution of oxigen, this confined quantity of
an lifts up a float which presses against a lever communicating with a valve in
the tube, which is connected with the vessel a, and thus a communication is
made with the bell c, and the vessel a, and oxigen is admitted to support the
combustion. when this has been effected the valve becomes again closed on
account of the clacticity of the an being restored The caustic alcaline solu-
tion in the vessel b, being in contact with the au in the vessel c, absorbs,
combines, or condenses the carbonic acid which would otherwise extinguish the
flame In order to promote this combination as much as possible, perforated
shelves are placed within this vessel to present to the carbonic acid as large a
surface of the acaline solution as possible by the least motion To give a regulaı
motion to the alcaline solution, a projecting shelf is placed above the rest of the
shelves, so as to prevent the solution froin being thrown up to the lamp Fig 2.
is an elevation of the lantern Fig 4 is an horizontal section of the vessel b
through the vessel d. Fig 3 is a view of the regulator The combustion may

page_text: be supported by merely opening a stop-cock adapted to the tube that commu-
nicates with the bell cand the vessel a It is, perhaps, unnecessary to state
that the flame of the lamp should not be enlarged too much, for in that case
the included air in the bell c would acquie too much elacticity, and thus
oppose the free action of the regulator
Plate II Fig I. vertical section of a diving bell, a vessel containing
compressed oxigen communicating with the inferior part of the bell by
means of a stop-cock c. d is a gutter, divided into partitions, containing a
stratum of liquid caustic alcalı, and destined also to give a steady motion to
the machine. e, vessel containg compressed azotic gas, the use of which has
been specified before, it also forms a convenient scat for the person included
in the bell. f, hooks for suspending weight to, in order to render the machine
stationary at determined places, after the method recommended by Mr. Spal-
ding. Fig. 2. is an elevation of the same machine: a, a, a, a, represent
windows, b, b, hooks for suspending weights to. Fig. 3 is the bottom grate
with hinges
Fig 4., horizontal section of the machine across the gutter
When this machine is used for the purpose of working at the bottom of the
sca, the alcaline solution might be dispensed with, for the great pressure of
the water in contact with the carbonic acid gas will cause the latter to combine
with that fluid with facility.
apparatus, which may be
This part of the machine
Plate III Fig I is the vertical section of a machine consisting of two separate
parts, calculated to enable the duver to work with his hands along the side of the
vessel, or any other object, nothing being exposed to the water but his arms, the
rest of the body being defended fiom the contact of the water by the air con-
tained in the machine. a, a, a, a, the upper part of the
constructed of wood or metal, or any other substance
is connected with the lower part of it by means of a contrivance d, d, also 10-
presented, Fig 2., so that they may be brought nearer or farther at pleasure
2 is the icsci von containing the compressed oxigen gas. e is a tube furnished
with a stop-cock, and connected with the reservol 2 If to this stop cock be
added a regulator which is capable of admitting oxigen gas in the ratio in
which the an within becomes compressed, either by descending to greater
depths or by cspuation, the same bulk of air will be maintained without the
help of the diver, and the water, of course, will never ascend above the bum
of the lower vessel The pinciple of this regulator may be a float resembling
the ball-cock made use of in cisterns, &c. f represents the vessel appropriated
for the alcaline solution, moveable by means of g. Weights may be suspended
to this machine by means of the hooks c, c. h is an oai to move from place to

page_text: This machine is calculated
It must be obvious that
place in water not much agitated, k, h, windows
puncipally for living only a short time under water
the lower part of it b, b, b, may be added to the diving bell, Plate II Fig I,
so that the person contained in the latter receives the additional advantages
of working not only at the bottom of the sea, but also facing or be sid
other objects Fig 3 is a vessel constructed upon the preceding principle,
intended to contain several individuals, it contains also the contrivanco
imitating the air bladder of the fish, noticed before, and marked 6, it is open
below at the part d, and closed at the top. a is the vessel destined for the
compressed gas If, therefore, the stop-cock c be opened, a quantity of the
compressed gas will instantly rush out and expel the water in b, unless the
pressure of the latter does not exceed that of the gas within, which, however,
could only happen in very great depths It is obvious that by means of this
contrivance the machine may be rendered specifically light, and that this may
be repeated a great many times in depths not exceeding ten or twenty fathoms,
the gas being only compressed fifteen times It is, besides, necessary to
state, that this contrivance will be of the utmost utility in the construction of
any of the vessels here detailed, or any other machine calculated for experi-
ments under water
Plate IV Fig. I. represents the vertical section of a submanne vessel
capable of containing a considerable number of men Fig 2. represents a
longitudinal section of the said vessel This vessel is constructed upon the
principles so often explained already a, a, denote galleries destined for the
individuals b, b, Fig I and II, the magazine of the alcaline solution.
e, e, Fig I. and II., reservons of the oxigen gas c Fig 1. and II, is the
natatory vessel b, described
Plate III. Fig 3 d, d, benches f is a stop-cock for adınitting oxigen
gas a tube furnished with a stop-cock, and communicating with the
partition c 1, 1, Fig 2, places for ballast, r. communication between the
two gallenes, having at the bottom a cucular opening for the purpose of
passing from this vessel into a smaller one, represented Fig I Plate III. and
vice versa This vessel, if properly gged, may sail, motion may also be
given to it by means of oais and a rudder The Just and necessary lion-
zontal equilibrium may be obtained by common mechanical contiivances,
subject to proper mathematical calculation
In witness whereof, we, the said Johan Gottheb Fiedric Schmidt and
Robert Dickinson, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Nine-
teenth day of Angust, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and five
J. G. F. SCHMIDT. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Nineteenth day of
August, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Johan Gottlieb Fiedric
Schmidt came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid and all and every thing therein contained, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided
Inrolled the same Nineteenth day of August, in the year above witten.