AN INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR TAKING SOUNDINGS AT SEA WITH MORE CERTAINTY AND CORRECTNESS THAN HERETOFORE, AND FOR OTHER NAUTICAL PURPOSES AND MATTERS CONNECTED WITH OR RELATING TO NAVIGATION
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
MASSEY the younger, of Hanley, in the of Stoke-upon-Trent, in the County
of Stafford, Watch Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of
March now last past, grant unto me, the said Edward Massey, my executors,.
administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole priviledge
and authority, that I, the said Edward Massey, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"AN INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR TAKING SOUNDINGS AT SEA WITH MORE
CERTAINTY AND CORRECTNESS THAN HERETOFORE, AND FOR OTHER NAUTICAL PURPOSES
AND MATTERS CONNECTED WITH OR RELATING TO NAVIGATION;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Edward
Massey, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and
at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Massey, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described as
follows; that is to say:-
Figure 1 (in the Drawing annexed) represents the sounding machine.
A, A, the sounding weight, about eighteen inches long, the body of which
containes a register with two dials. B, B, is an iron or brass rod twelve
inches long. C is a tin buoy about six inches square and four deep, which
must be made air-tight, the particular use of which will be mentioned here-
after. To the bottom of the aforesaid buoy is secured at D, D, a pair of
spring tongs, one end of which rests on a hook at E, and in the spring part
of tongs at F is fixed a rotator or revolving apparatus G, G. This apparatus
is composed of a copper or other metallic tube G, G, and four brass or other
metallic vanes g, g. The tube must be air-tight, and about twelve inches in
length, and one and a half inch in diameter, with a conical point about four
inches long. The diameter of this tube may be sometimes less and the length
greater, but the diameter should never be greater than one and a half inch,
as it would increase the resistance by opposing too much surface to the water.
The vames must be soldered or otherwise fastened to the tube in a spiral
direction, so as to produce a rotatory motion round the axis of the tube when
sunk in the water. On each vane is fixed a regulator, whose office is (when
rightly set on its scale) to make the rotator perform a certain number of
revolutions in a given space correspondent with the calculation of the wheels
of the register, and if any little accident should happen to the rotator it may
by experiment in water be corrected by the regulators. The length of each
vane is five inches and three quarters of an inch, their breadth at the broadest
part is two inches and three quarters of an inch, and are brought circularly to
a point as at H. The inner edge of the vanes, which is soldered or otherwise
fastened to the tube, is rather more than the sixteenth part of an inch thick,
and filed tapering towards the outer extremity so as to lighten the rotator,
otherwise it would-require-a-longer_air_tube, as the use of the tube is to
make the rotator nearly of the same specific gravity with the water, by which
means by a very small impulse the rotator will register the true depth. For
did not the specific gravity of the rotator form nearly an equilibrium with the
water it would not revolve truly till the velocity was equal to the rate of about
four miles per hour, whereas, in consequence of the air tube, it will give the
true distance at the velocity of about a mile and a quarter per hour. I, K,
represents one of the regulators nearly the eighth part of an inch thick, with
two screws which secure it to the vane as at I, K. The lower screw K is a

page_text: fixed centre, and the upper screw I passes through a circular opening at L.
The outer point of the regulator is an index which points to a scale graduated
into ten parts. At one end of the aforesaid scale is the letter F, and at the
other the letter S. Supposing all the regulators to be standing at S, the
rotator, if well executed, will be about one fourth slower than if they were
standing at F; when the regulators are standing at S, the angles of the vanes
are shortened, which occasions the rotator to move slower in the same space;
by moving any of the regulators one degree towards F, it will increase the
rotary motion about one mile in one hundred and sixty. The water increases
in it's effect on the angles of the vanes in proportion as the regulators are
moved towards F, but when brought forward as far as F the water has
nearly its full effect on the angles, so that were the regulators taken off the
vanes the rotator would go very little faster than if they were all on the vanes
standing at F. The regulators on the above principle are very steady, and
subdivide each other from S to F. I adjust the rotators by experiment in
water to correspond with the registers to the greatest nicety, that is, to ascer-
By
tain the space the machine will decend by every revolution of the rotator.
altering the angles and size of the vanes the rotator may be made to revolve
in any
desired space;
but the above-described one I consider very well
proportioned for obtaining a true distance in slow motion, making a revolution
every seven feet; but as I consider the sounding machine never decends so
slow as to require a rotator to be moved by so very small an impulse as the
above-described one does, and which is absolutely necessary to ascertaining
the process of a vessell as hereafter to be described, so that a smaller tube may
answer for that purpose. M is the upper part of a universal joint to which
a rotator is secured by screws. N, a support to the drop o, o.
P a stud to
the drop.
Q, a stop to prevent the drop from rising too high. R is a
friction wheel. S, a bevil spring. T, a locking rod. U, a guard to the
locking rod. V, the locking plate. W, W, is a bevil rod and universal joint.
The particular use of the bevil rod is to fling the rotator out of the eddy of
the register's wake. The axis to which the bevil rod is made fast is an endless
screw which acts in a wheel of eighteen teeth. On the axis of this wheel is
an index which moves round a graduated circle in every twenty-one fathom,
and is marked from 1 to 21. On the aforesaid axis is a pinion of eight leaves,
which acts in a wheel of thirty-two teeth, the axis of which is a pinion of six
..., and acts in a wheel of thirty teeth, which carrys an index round
a graduated circle, which is divided into twenty parts, each division answering
to twenty-one fathoms, and marked from 21 to 420 fathoms. The use of the
tin buoy, as before mentioned, is, when the machine is hove in the water the

page_text: resistance it meets with on the surface lifts the buoy of the hook E, and the
spring tongs F, drawing off the tube of the rotator, leave it at liberty to
revolve. Were it not for the above method of entering the rotator to a
certainty in the water, the machine could not be so well depended on. There
must be a separate rope tied to the buoy for the purpose of drawing it back.
The lower part of the sounding weight is filled with lead, which runs nearly
up to the register. Now let us suppose the machine to have decended in the
act of drawing the machine out of the water after sounding, the rotator, having
a tendency to fall in a direction with the sounding weight) presses back the
bevil spring S, and the rod W, W, falls out of the drop O, which likewise
falls and brings down the locking rod T, which falls into the locking plate V,
and prevents the index from being moved in drawing up the machine. An
additional weight may be used to every twenty or forty fathoms of line, so as
to prevent it forming an equilibrium with the water; but care should be taken
to proportion the strength of the lines, so that the last line may be sufficiently
strong to draw back the machine with its accumulated weight. By the above
method soundings may be obtained in very deep water.
Another particular advantage which this machine has over any before in use
is, that soundings may be obtained in twenty fathom water without the trouble
of heaving the vessel to, altho' she may be going at the rate of five miles per
hour, for, as the rotator registers the decent of the sounding weight, there is
no occasion to pay any respect to the length of line out, so that the mariner
may vear out any quantity of line, which will give time (as the vessel advances)
for the machine to decend. As a means of ascertaining the correctness of the
sounding machine, I suggest that the apparatus hereafter described be attached,
which I apprehend will be found to give the perpendicular length of line out
or nearly so, but not having determined the effect by experiment I do not
inean to give it as positive.
Figure 7 represents a reel, which may be made of brass or wood. I prefer
copper for the barrell or cylindrical part, which should be made air-tight, and
-about-twelve-inches long and eight inches in diameter; from this it may be
increased to any size necessary. A, A, two buoys whose office is to keep the
cylinder in an horizontal position. B is the frame. C is a bridge. D is a
locking plate. E is a bolt. F is a bolt spring. G is a friction spring. K is a
pump spring. I is a pump piece, one point of which catches the locking
bolt at K, and to the other end is fastened a strong line, which I call the
horizontal or stray line. The sounding or perpendicular line being wound round
the cylinder, and the machine hove in the water, the reel continues on the
surface. Whilst the sounding weight decends the mariner must vere out the

page_text: The
horizontal line till the sounding weight has arrived at the bottom, the method
of determining which will be mentioned hereafter; he must then give the
Jine a sudden pull, by which means he draws the pump piece and lets go the
lecking bolt, which springs into the locking plate, and prevents the cylinder
from moving any further, and of course stops the sounding or perpendicul..r
line. The machine should then be drawn in, and the length of line let off,
the cylinder examined and compared with the distance marked on the register
which is contained in the body of the sounding weight, and if the mariner
finds these accounts to agree he may be assured he has got a true sounding.
The machine may be used with or without the reel, or the reel without the
locking or friction spring, which will occasion the machine to decend quicker,
but experience only can point out the most proper way of using them.
method the mariner must take to determine the time necessary to elapse before
he strike the horizontal line is as follows:-He must, by experiment in water,
determine the velocity with which the machine decends through a certain
space, which may easily be done by observing the cylinder on the surface,
which will stop on the weights striking the bottom, and comparing this velocity
with the velocity his vessel may be going through the water at any time when
he wishes to get soundings; for instance, supposing the machine to decend
at the rate of eight miles per hour, and the vessel to be going at the rate of
four, the horizontal or stray line in this case should be equal to half the
perpendicular one, but should rather exceed, which is of little consequence.
The reel may be used separately with a common sounding lead, or it may be
used together with Figure 1 for shallow soundings, but for deep soundings
the reel will not answer so well, as it is not calculated or proper to be used
with more than one weight, if intended to take the perpendicular length of line
run off the reel, when the other part of the machine may be used without
the reel with any number of weights, or. two weights may be used with the
reel;
but the perpendicular in this case must be taken from the register,
only without paying any respect whatever to the length of line run off the
reel.
Figure 2d represents the rotator with another kind of register. This instru-
ment is to be used in an horizontal direction for ascertaining the progress of
a vessel at sea. A, A, a, a, is a rotator or revolving apparatus exactly the
same as the one before described for the sounding machine, excepting that the
regulators are set a little forwarder to make the rotator revolve in every six
feet eleven inches and six tenths of an inch, so as to correspond with the
It has
register, whereas the above-described one revolves in every seven feet.
They are secured from
likewise four stays, two of which B, D, are shewn.

page_text: vane to vane by screws, so that they make the rotator very strong, but the
rotator may be made either with or without them. C, C, C, C, four cane
rods (each rod being about seventeen inches long), which connect the rotator
and register together. The reason why I put the rotator so far from the
register is to prevent it from being affected by the eddy of the register's wake.
I prefer cane rods to mettal ones on account of their being so much lighter, and
have less tendency to bear the rotator from its horizontal position, which is of
advantage in slow sailing. When the motion of the vessel is slow the register
falls nearly in a perpendicular direction, but the rotator still preserves its
horizontal position, and by the means of an universal joint it communicates
its revolutions to the register. The advantage in applying the rotator as
above stated is, that it avoids the friction of turning a rope about a hundred
yards long, which would be necessary was the register kept on board the
vessel. D is a uneversal joint which is screw'd to a separate axis as repre-
sented in Figure 3d. E, in that Figure, is a crank which catches on an arm
that is fast on the pivot of an endless screw F, so that both axis go round at
the same time. The use of this axis is to take the weight and friction off
the rotator of the endless screw, which will make it very durable to what it
would be was the rotator on the same axis. And as the chief of the friction
and wearing out is on the axis to which the rotator is fixed, I have made it
with moveable bushes, so that the mariner may, by carrying more than one
set of bushes and axis, replace them occasionlly without the assistance of a
mechanic. The above-mentioned endless screw acts in a wheel of twenty
teeth, the axis of which has a pinion with six leaves which acts in a
wheel of forty-two teeth, the axis of which has a pinion of seven and
acts in a wheel of forty-four teeth, the axis of which has a pinion of six
and carries an index round a circle, which I graduate into twelve parts, each
answering to the twelfth of a mile. The last-mentioned pinion acts in a
wheel. of sixty teeth, the axis of which has likewise a pinion of six, and carries
an index the reverse way round a scale graduated into ten parts, each
answering to a mile, and is marked from one to ten. The last pinion acts in
a wheel of sixty teeth, the axis of which carries an index round a scale, which-
is likewise graduated into ten parts, each answering to ten miles, and marked
from ten to one hundred miles. The number of wheels and teeth may be
varied so as to register any desired distance.
Figure 4th is a back view of Figure 2, on which is represented two guards
G, G, rising about two inches above the pillar plate, and terminating towards
the points H, H, between which there is a clear passage for the water. These
guards at the same time prevent the registers revolving, which always has a

page_text: tendency when in the water to remain as here represented. The above machine
or improved log is to be kept towing after the vessel at sea, except in altering
the vessel's course, then it must be taken in for inspection. The length of
line by which the machine must be towed may be varied, for as it must
always be cleared of the eddy of the vessel's wake, which extends much farther
when she is going eight or ten knots than when she is going but five, so that
the mariner may vary the line from twenty to fifty fathoms, which great length
I think will be necessary in quick sailing.
Figure 5 represents another way of using the rotator with a different kind
of register for determining the rates of currents wherever a small boat may
be anchored. A, A, Figure 6, is the kind of metal joints to rods of about
twelve inches long, which may be made use of when it is required to get
the rate of an under current, and the point to which it sets. The machine may
be let down by rods of the above description in the water to any depth below
the index B. The current then begins to operate on the register the same as
the wind does on a vane; the rotator (which must be secured to the cano
rod A, A,) then presents itself to the current, and begins to revolve.. The
above-mentioned index B must be held by the person in the boat to the
north or given point, which must be in a perpendicular line with the
point marked on a plate at D, which plate is divided into .thirty-two parts,
answering to the points of the compass, and a space cut out at every
division so as to admit a locking-piece D. The rotator, having revolved for
a little time, lets go the locking-piece, which falls into some one of the
spaces on the divided plate C, C, whichever way the current may have car-
ried the register, the mariner letting the machine remain in the water
a limited time. On drawing it up he must examine the register, and compare
it with the time it has been in the water, by which means he is able to
determine the rate of the current, and by examining the points on which
the register is locked he is likewise enabled to judge of the course the under
current is setting too, although the upper current may be running a different
F is an axis which the register turns on. G, the friction roller. H, a
way.
balance for the register. L, an endless screw, which acts in a wheel of twenty
teeth, the axis of which has a pinion of six, and acts in a wheel of forty-two
teeth. On the axis of this wheel is fixed a hoop, which is moved or set by
an index on circle S; when this index is set to S lift out the locking-piece
at D, and the upper end of it will pass an opening in the hoop, at which
time turn the index from S half the circle either way, which will prevent the
locking-piece from falling until such time as the wheels move the index back.
to S. The last-mentioned axis has a pinion of seven, and acts in a wheel

page_text: of forty-four teeth, the axis of which has a pinion of six, and carries an index
round a circle, which is graduated into twelve parts, each answering to the
twelfth of a mile. The last-mentioned pinion acts in a wheel of sixty teeth,
and carries an index the reverse way round a circle every ten miles, and is
marked from one to ten. Care should be taken in fixing the vanes on the tube,
so that when the rotator is emerged in the water it may lie in a horizontal
position. The vanes, as fixed on the above-mentioned tube, leave the butt end
of it clear four inches and three quarters of an inch. The rotator being put toge
ther should be fixed on its centres, so that it may move freely, and if the vanes
should not prove of equal weight, the heaviest must be reduced till the rotator
become poised; this will be an advantage to the rotator in very slow sailing.
The most essential part of my improvements are as follows:-First,
with respect to the sounding machine, the chief object of which is to do
away or lessen the errors arising from the old method of taking soundings,
as the chief guide for the mariner by that method is to judge of the perpen-
dicular depth by length of line out, which is very apt to deceive him a great
deal; whereas on the above principle he is governed by the decent of the
sounding weight only, without paying any respect whatever to the length of
line, excepting in case of using the reel.
My improvements in the rotators are, the invention of the air tube, and
the method of adjusting or regulating it. A rotator on the above-mentioned
principle will answer for both quick and slow sailing, and give the true
distance in both cases without any danger of it's breaking the register in
quick sailing by holding too much water. These are advantages which no
former rotator ever possessed; and that the mariners may be able to determine
whether the rotator has met with any accident, I make a steel gage, one
end of which I fix in a dot nearly at the extremity of the vane; the other
end reaches to the next vane. I make a mark on it, and so continue the
process until all the vanes are marked, and, as they are fixtures, their marks
always remain at the same distance from each other if the rotator has not
received any injury, notwithstanding the rotary motion may be altered by the
regulator as before described, the vanes still remaining stationary, so-that-
the mariner may be assured whether the rotator has received any injury by
applying the gage as above stated. The registers may be made of brass or
any other fit materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Massey, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and two.
g
EDWD (L.S.) MASSEY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-first day of
September, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Edward Massey 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 Twenty-first day of September, in the year above
written.