Improvements in Means or Apparatus to be Fitted in Ships for Use as a Gauge or Indicator of the Depth of the Ship's Immersion.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Feb., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 20th Dec., 1893-Accepted, 3rd Feb., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus to be Fitted in Ships for Use
as a Gauge or Indicator of the Depth of the Ship's Immersion.
I, THOMAS GREY 'BARRON, of 2, Fern Villas, Elwick Road, West Hartlepool,
in the County of Durham, Superintending Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to means or apparatus to be fitted in ships for use in
ascertaining the exact depth of the ships immersion.
The object of my invention is to provide simple and reliable means of ascertaining
at a convenient position within the ship the exact depth of the ships immersion
irrespective of the state of the surface water around the ship with a view of
complying with load line regulations with facility and accuracy.
The nature of my invention consists as follows:-A water guage consisting of a
tube made wholly or partly of glass so as to expose to view the level of the water
within it is attached to a board or plate extending from the deck beam of the ship,
so that the tube comes midway between the two load line discs at the ships sides
and at the same level, the plate or board to which it is attached being graded or
marked off for computing from the level of the water in the guage glass the position
of the load line discs relatively to the mean level of the water surface. A pipe
connection from the guage tube to the ships side affords a communication between
the guage tube and the outside water, at a depth at which the outside water is
quiet so that the level of the water in the guage tube takes the mean level of the
water surface outside the ship. The admission of the outside water to the guage
inside is controlled by a cock or valve fitted to the pipe connection at any con-
venient position and by a stuffing box for obtaining a free passage combined with
a water tight fit between the guage tube and the pipe connection.
In cases in which a guage placed at the same level as the load line discs is found
to be inconvenient for reading its index I make the following provision for taking
the readings in a more convenient position. An open topped vessel occupies the
place of the guage tube into which a float is placed furnished with a rod or spindle
extending upwards to an index provided above the deck where the position of the
top of the rod or an indicator or pointer attached thereto has reference to a scale
for computing the position of the load line discs relatively to the mean level of the
surface of the water, or in other words the correct depth of the ships immersion.
It will be understood that the combination of parts adapted for carrying my
invention into effect may be modified according to circumstances without departing
from the essential features thereof as for instance a separate guage complete in all
its parts may be provided at each side of the ship so that the depth of immersion
may be separately ascertained at either side of the ship.
D
1
ليمي
1909

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus to be Fitted in Ships for Use
as a Gauge or Indicator of the Depth of the Ship's Immersion.
I THOMAS GREY BARRON, of 2 Fern Villas, Elwick Road, West Hartlepool,
in the County of Durham, Marine Superintending Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to means or apparatus to be fitted in ships for use in
ascertaining the exact depth of the ships' immersion.
The object of my invention is to provide simple and reliable means for ascer-
taining at a convenient position within the ship the exact depth of the ships'
immersion irrespective of the state of the surface water in which the ship is
immersed with a view of complying with load-line regulations with facility and
accuracy.
In carrying out my invention I provide a load line gauge within the ship, consisting
of a water gauge communicating by a pipe and its connections with the water
outside, the water gauge being furnished, with an index marked off to show the
several depths of immersion to be taken into account according to the circum-
stances involved in noting the load line. Thus the water should rise in the glass
to S in summer if loaded in salt water, and to F W if loaded in fresh water, and so
on with other marks according to the regulations in force, but the particular
combination and arrangement of parts constituting the said gauge or indicator.are
modified to suit the circumstances or conditions in which they are to be used and
take their simplest and most advantageous form when the gauge with its index,
which if preferred is constructed to extend from the light water line to load water
line, is placed in line with the load line discs, and the admission pipe communicates
with the outside water at a depth below the surface at which the said outside water
is quiet.
But in cases in which a gauge could not be placed in this position or would be
found to be inconveniently accessible if so placed providing it could be so placed at
the same level but at some distance fore or aft of the load line discs the requisite
correction must be made to allow for the trim of the ship.
Also any of the aforesaid modifications of my apparatus could be placed at either
or both sides of the vessel instead of along the centre line.
But in so far as the invention described in my Provisional Specification extends
to an arrangement for placing the index above the deck level by means of a float
immersed in an open topped vessel at the load line level and supporting a spindle
indicator in front of the index above, I have since found that there is no novelty in
contriving this. I shall therefore omit all further reference thereto in both the
Specification and drawings.
And in order that my invention may be fully understood and carried into effect
under the varying circumstances or conditions as hereinbefore suggested, I will now
proceed to further describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which the same letters of reference are used to indicate the same or corresponding
parts in all the figures.
Figure 1 is a transverse section amidships, showing the arrangement with my load
line gauge placed in line with the load line discs and the admission pipe taken down
into deep water.
Figure 2 is a half transverse section of a vessel with the load line gauge shown
at the ships' side.
Figures 3, 4 and 5 are enlarged views showing in detail the load line gauge and
its index as used and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2; Figure 3 being a vertical view
in part section, Figure 4 a corresponding plan view, and Figure 5 a vertical view
showing a side elevation relatively to Figure 3.

page_text: In the figures, a is the admission cock at the ships' side controlling the admission
pipe b, which leads up into the water gauge c, the construction of which when
placed at the level of the load line discs as shown in Figures 1 and 2 consists as
follows:-The water from the admission pipe b enters the gauge glass c in which it
finds its level with the surface water outside, is the index which is marked off to
indicate the position of the load line discs relatively to the mean level of the outside
water.
But in order to prevent the water in the gauge glass from being too sensitive to
the disturbance of the outside water or to the oscillations of the ship, I combine
therewith a water balance consising of the tube e, the principle of which consists in
a larger column of water in the tube e controlling or balancing a smaller column of
water in the tube c, which tube being made of glass is preferably of small diameter;
for instance, taking the area of tubes e and c as 16 to 1, the disturbance of the water
in the gauge tube c is shared by the larger column of water in the water balance
tube e to an extent which renders it sufficiently steady in practice for the purposes
of this invention. This arrangement is preferable to using the larger tube e both
as a water balance and water gauge as it would then have to be constructed wholly
or partially of glass. is a test cock for testing the accuracy of the water level
inside the water gauge. The water gauge is bracketed to a suitable support g
which may be taken to represent a board or plate extending as a pendant from the
ships' deck beam, or a bulkhead in Figure 1, or a board or plate extending from the
ships' side or ship shell plating or frames in Figure 2.
Although the drawings illustrate the load line gauge with a separate communi-
cation to the outside water in each case, the connection with the sea may be through
the boiler blow down cock or other existing connection.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood
that I am aware that the method or principle of ascertaining the depth of a ship's
immersion by means of a water gauge communicating with the outside water is not
new, I therefore make no claim to such method or principle otherwise than as
embodied in and carried into practice in the manner as hereinbefore described, but
I declare that what I claim is :-
The means or apparatus for use in ships as a gauge or indicator of the ships'
immersion, consisting of a water gauge in which the gauge tube c is combined with
the water balance e communicating with the outside water, arranged, constructed
and fitted together substantially as and for the purpose as hereinbefore described
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated thie 10th day of December 1902
G. J. CLARKSON,
Chartered Patent Agent,
Stockton-on-Tees, Agent for the Applicant.