IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOATING STRUCTURES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOATING STRUCTURES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Thomas Schofield and Robert Schofield, of Grass
Valley, County of Nevada, California, United States of America.
Sealed the 23rd April 1861, and dated the 11th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th February 1861.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOATING STRUCTURES," to
be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a floating structure on which the
platforms or roadways of bridges, lighthouses, piera, landing stages, and other
structures may be supported above water in places where the depth of the
water does not allow of the application of the pillars or fixed foundations com-
monly used for such structures.

page_text: The Invention consists in the employment for the above purpose of a series
of hollow globes or cylinders, which are steadied by balance weights, which
are secured to the ground by chains and anchors. These hollow globes or
cylinders are also furnished with arms or standards which extend upward for
the purpose of supporting the roadway, platform, or other structure to be
erected above water. The hollow globes or cylinders are also provided with
valves and pumps for removing the water which may find its way into
the interior of the globes or cylinders, so that their buoyancy may be
maintained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOATING STRUCTURES," being &
communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to produce a floating structure on which the
platforms or roadways of bridges, lighthouses, piers, landing stages, and other
structures may be supported above water in places where the depth of the
water does not allow of the application of the pillars or fixed foundations com-
monly used for such structures.
The Invention consists in the employment for the above purpose of a series
of hollow globes or cylinders, which are steadied by balance weights, which
are secured to the ground by chains and anchors. These hollow globes or
cylinders are also furnished with arms or standards which extend upward for
the purpose of supporting the roadway, platform, or other structure to be
erected above water. The hollow globes or cylinders are also provided with
valves and pumps for removing the water which may find its way into
the interior of the globes or cylinders, so that their buoyancy may be
maintained.
In the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 shows a sectional side elevation
of a railroad bridge constructed according to this Invention; Figure 2 is a
transverse vertical section of the same. Similar letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in both Figures.
A series of hollow globes or cylinders A, made of sheet iron or other metal,
and perfectly water-tight, are confined below the surface of the water at a
depth of several fathoms so as to place them entirely out of the influence of
the waves. Each of these buoys is furnished with three or more arms a,
projecting downward in a radial direction from the cylinder or globe which
constitutes the body of the buoy, and chains b, which are finally secured to the
ends of these arms, are connected with anchors c that are moored in the
ground. The chains must be made of the specific gravity of water, so as not to
hang as dead weights on the buoys, and they may either be constructed out of
tubular links, or when made of ordinary solid links, small buoys d have to be
interposed at certain intervals of sufficient capacity to counteract the weight of
the chains.
Each of the cylinders or. globes A must be provided with a steadying or
ballast rod B, which extends down in a vertical direction to as great a depth
as may be practicable. These ballast rods are made of hollow tubes e of

page_text: metal, surrounded by a wooden casing f, so as to make the specific gravity of
the rods about equal to that of the water; and a heavy ball g is secured to
the end of each of these rods, or it may be suspended from a chain connected
to the lower end of the ballast rod.
Chains attached to anchors i serve to adjust and plumb the ballast rods;
and in order to better effect this purpose each ballast rod is constructed with
a hole running through its perpendicular length, and continued up through
the cylinder or globe to the top of the bridge, as shown in Figure 1, where
one of the ballast rods and one of the cylinders is represented in section. The
chains are fastened to hooks h' on the inside of the tubes e, whereby the
stability of the ballast rods is considerably increased. The tubes j, which
extend from the upper extremities of the ballast rods up through the buoys A
to the top of the bridge, are provided with two valves k, k, the valve k to
connect the inside of the tubo to the inside of the buoy, and the valve kto
interrupt the connection between the air in the inside of the buoy and the
water on its outside; and a pump C is arranged in each of the tubes j, so that
by the action of this pump the water which may find its way into the interior
of the cylinders can be removed. This pump is so arranged that a float 1,
which is connected to the pump rod, and which dips into the bilge water, by
operating an alarm or index m on the top of the bridge, gives notice when the
bilge water has reached a certain height, so that the attendant, by operating
the pump, can remove the water before it is allowed to rise high enough to
cause any damage.
The bridge or other structure rests on standards D, which extend upward
from the buoys A to such a height above the surface of the water as may be
desired or found necessary for the safety of the bridge or other structure.
The standards may be connected by cross braces o, and the standards of two
adjoining buoys are united by ares p, which also form supports between the
arms for the longitudinal timbers or beams forming the foundation of the
bridge or other structure to be erected on the buoys. These beams may be
made of iron or of wood, and in case a railroad bridge is to be erected on the
buoys A, the rails are placed on a platform which rests on the top of the
longitudinal beams, as shown in Figure 2.
From this description it will be easily understood how, by the aid of these
improved buoys, a bridge, or a lighthouse, or any other structure, may be
erected in water of any depth with perfect safety.
Having now described this Invention of improvements in floating struc-
tures, and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I

page_text: claim, as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent, the combination of
the cylinders A, or their equivalents, provided with suitable valves, with arms,
ballast rods, and standards as and for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (LS.)