IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AND IN MOORING BUOYS, BEACONS, FLOATING LIGHTS, AND OTHER FLOATING VESSELS AND BODIES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Hamilton, of Oxford Square, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF AND IN MOORING BUOYS, BEACONS, FLOATING LIGHTS, AND OTHER FLOATING
VESSELS AND BODIES."
Sealed the 16th February 1858, and dated the 24th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Hamilton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
August 1857.
I, ALFRED HAMILTON, of Oxford Square, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF AND IN MOORING BUOYS, BEACONS, FLOATING LIGHTS, AND OTHER
FLOATING VESSELS AND BODIES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its objects improvements in the construction of and
in mooring buoys, beacons, floating lights, and other floating vessels and
bodies. For these purposes, in constructing buoys, beacons, floating lights,
and other floating vessels and bodies, they are made of annular or ring shape,
that is, every such floating structure is made open in the centre (though it
may have a platform or deck formed above such open space). It is preferred
that the bottom of every such structure should be flat, and the outer side
thereof formed as though the structure were composed of two equal and
similarly truncated cones, the one inverted upon the other, so that their
smaller ends should be in contact, the line of floatation coinciding with the
line of contact of such cones, but neither of these conditions is essential. It
is also preferred that the structure in every case should be circular or elliptic,
but this is not essential; nor is it essential that the line of floatation should be
at the smallest circumference, as, in place of forming a structure girt in or of

page_text: Icast circumference in the middle, or at any other part than the middle of
its depth from top to bottom, the sides may be made to bulge or project
outwards. When constructing such floating bodies of iron, it is preferred to
make them in sections, each capable of floating alone, the sections being fitted
so that they, or any one or more of them, may be readily removed and replaced
by another or others respectively, and when of large diameter such structures
may be made with openings to allow of boats passing into and from the
interior. In mooring such floating structures, the mooring chains or cables
are made fast to the body on the inner side thereof, and at or near the centre
of the open space. The apparatus for mooring consists of a structure com-
posed of wood or iron, or a combination of wood and iron, or any other
substances, or combination of substances, such that if unconstrained it would
float on the surface of the water, to which structure an amount of chain or
other cable or moorings is attached sufficient to cause it to sink below the
surface to any required depth. And beacons, floating lights, and other
floating vessels and bodies, instead of being moored by means of a cable and
anchor in the usual way, are each of them, by this Invention, secured by means
of a chain or other cable suspended from some point within or upon them-
selves, and having the other end attached to the submerged body, by
connection with a chain or other cable passing through, or round, or by any
other means fixed to the said submerged body or structure.
When necessary
the position of this submerged body or structure is indicated by a buoy, with
which it is connected by a small cable, by means of which it (the submerged
body or structure) may be drawn up, if required, to the surface of the water
when it is desired to moor a vessel thereto. This arrangement (in addition
to its application to the purposes of mooring buoys, beacons, floating lights,
and other floating vessels and bodies intended to remain stationary) provides
a description of mooring bucy capable of affording to ships bringing up in
deep water the advantages of a mooring in shallow water; whilst, being below
the surface of the water, it offers no obstruction to the movements of shipping.
For the purpose of rendering the position of a buoy, beacon, floating light, or
other floating vessel or body, when moored or at anchor, more secure in a
heavy sea, the inventor has invented what he calls respectively a "self-acting
brake" and "a self-acting screw or paddle."
The self-acting brake consists of a structure of wood or iron, or wood and
iron combined, or of any other substance in the form of a shutter or door, or
any other practicable form (but the form. is not essential), either fixed firmly
to the side or stern of such floating vessel or body, so that it is always at right
angles to the direction of the motion or mooring of such floating vessel or

page_text: body, and below the surface of the water; or it is attached on one side to the
side of the floating vessel or body and below the surface of the water by
hinges, on which it revolves in such a manner that, when such floating vessel
or body is either in forward motion or at rest, the brake has a position
parallel or nearly parallel to the direction of the motion. or mooring of such
floating vessel or body, and when the floating vessel or body obtains backward
motion (as in the case of its being struck by a sea on its fore part or bows)
the brake is forced open or back into a position at right angles to the direction
of the motion of the floating vessel or body, in which position it is retained
during the backward motion of the floating vessel or body, either by supports
placed behind and to receive it, or by chains fixed so as to hold it in such
position.
The self-acting screw or paddle consists of a screw or paddle wheel, fixed
beneath or within the floating vessel or body, and partly or wholly submerged,
so that when the floating vessel or body obtains backward motion (as when it
is struck by a sea on its fore part or bows) the screw or paddle wheel will be
made to revolve by the pressure of the water. The screw or paddle wheel
works on an axle, which is connected with springs within the floating vessel or
body in such wise that when it is made to revolve by pressure of the water,
these springs become tightened or compressed, and remain so until the
pressure exercised by the water has ceased, when the screw or paddle wheel
is made to revolve again by the action of the springs, but in an opposite
direction, until the springs have resumed their original state of tension or
condition of rest, so that the floating vessel or body may by the second action
of the screw or paddle be immediately brought back to its first position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Hamilton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALPRED
HAMILTON, of Oxford Square, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me
the said Alfred Hamilton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred
Hamilton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as

page_text: I, the said Alfred Hamilton, my executors, administrators, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AND IN MOORING BUOYS, BEACONS, FLOATING
LIGHTS, AND OTHER FLOATING VESSELS AND BODIES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Hamilton, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Hamilton, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of and
in mooring buoys, beacons, floating lights, and other floating vessels and bodies.
For these purposes, in constructing buoys, beacons, floating lights, and other
floating vessels and bodies, they are made annular or of ring shape, that is,
every such floating structure is made open in the centre (though it may have
a platform or deck formed above such open space). It is preferred that the
bottom of every such structure should be flat, and the outer side thereof formed
as though the structure were composed of two equal and similarly truncated
cones, the one inverted upon the other, so that their smaller ends should be in
contact, the line of floatation coinciding with the line of contact of such cones,
but neither of these conditions is essential. It is also preferred that the
structure in every case should be circular or elliptic, but this is not essential;
nor is it essential that the line of floatation should be at the smallest circum-
ference, as, in place of forming a structure girt in or of least circumference in
the middle, or at any other part than the middle of its depth from top to bottom,
the sides may be made to bulge or project outwards. When constructing such
floating bodies of iron, it is preferred to make them in sections, each capable
of floating alone, the sections being fitted so that they, or any one or more
of them may be readily, removed and replaced by another or others respectively,
and when of large diameter such structures may be made with openings, to
allow of boats passing into and from the interior. In mooring such floating
structures, the mooring chains or cables are made fast to the body on the

page_text: inner side thereof, and at or near the centre of the open space. The appa-
ratus for mooring consists of a structure composed of wood or iron, or a com-
bination of wood and iron, or any other substances, or combination of substances,
such that if unconstrained it would float on the surface of the water, to which
structure an amount of chain or other cable or moorings is attached sufficient
to cause it to sink below the surface to any required depth. And beacons,
floating lights, and other floating vessels and bodies, instead of being moored
by means of a cable and anchor in the usual way, are each of them, by this
Invention, secured by means of a chain or other cable suspended from some
point within or upon themselves, and having the other end attached to the
submerged body by connection with a chain or other cable passing through,
or round, or by any other means fixed to the said submerged body or structure.'
When necessary, the position of this submerged body or structure is indicated
by a buoy, with which it is connected by a small cable, by means of which it
(the submerged body or structure) may be drawn up, if required, to the surface
of the water when it is desired to moor a vessel thereto. This arrangement
(in addition to its application to the purposes of mooring buoys, beacons,
floating lights, and other floating vessels and bodies intended to remain
stationary), provides a description of mooring buoy capable of affording to
ships bringing up in deep water the advantages of a mooring in shallow water,
whilst, being below the surface of the water, it offers no obstruction to the
movements of shipping. For the purpose of rendering the position of a buoy,
beacon, floating light, or other floating vessel or body, when moored or at
anchor, more secure in a heavy sea, the Inventor has invented what he calls
respectively "a self-acting brake," and "a self-acting screw or paddle."
The self-acting brake consists of a structure of wood or iron, or wood and iron
combined, or of any other substance, in the form of a shutter or door, or any
other practicable form (but the form is not essential), either fixed firmly to the
side or stern of such floating vessel or body, so that it is always at right angles
to the direction of the motion or mooring of such floating vessel or body, and
below the surface of the water; or it is attached on one side to the side of the.
floating vessel or body and below the surface of the water by hinges, on which
it revolves in such a manner that when such floating vessel or body is either
in forward motion or at rest, the brake has a position parallel or nearly parallel
to the direction of the motion or mooring of such floating vessel or body;
and when the floating vessel or body obtains backward motion (as in the case
of its being struck by a sea on its fore part or bows), the brake is forced open
or back into a position at right angles to the direction of the motion of the
fluating vessel or body, in which position it is retained during the backward

page_text: motion of the floating vessel or body, either by supports placed behind and to
receive it, or by chains fixed so as to hold it in such position.
The self-acting screw or paddle consists of a screw or paddle wheel, fixed
beneath or within the floating vessel or body, and partly or wholly submerged,
so that when the floating vessel or body obtains backward motion (as when it
is struck by a sea on its fore part or bows), the screw or paddle wheel will be
made to revolve by the pressure of the water. The screw or paddle wheel
works on an axle, which is connected with springs or weights within the float-
ing vessel or body in such wise that when it is made to revolve by pressure of
the water, these springs or weights become tightened or compressed, or drawn
up respectively, and remain so until the pressure exercised by the water has
ceased, when the screw or paddle wheel is made to revolve again by the action
of the springs or weights (but in an opposite direction), until the springs or
weights have resumed their original state of tension or condition of rest, so
that the floating vessel or body may by the second action of the screw or paddle
be immediately brought back to its first position.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
A, A, A (Figures 1 and 2), are iron circles bounding the inner side of the
structure. They are three (or more) in number (Figure 2), one at the upper
edge, another at the lower edge, and a third in the middle between the two
former. B, B, B, are similar circles (Figures 1, 2, and 3) corresponding to
A, A, A, and in the same planes, but on the outer side of the structure. The
space within the circles A, A, A, is entirely open from above down to the
water, but may, when required, be covered in with a deck. T, T, T, is an iron
beam arched (as in Figure 2); and placed at a convenient distance from the
centre of the open space, and between that centre and the forepart of the
structure. F and H denote the fore and binder parts respectively of the
structure. T, T, T, is intended to add strength to the structure and to support
another iron beam immediately below it (T, T', Figure 2), by means of the
ties m, m (Figure 2). T', T¹, rests at either end on the middle iron circle
A,A, A, and whilst increasing the solidity of the structure is designed to
carry the mooring chains which are suspended at its centre (as in Figure 2).
E, E, E, E (Figure 1), are longitudinal iron beams, resting at one end on the
middle inner iron circle, and at the other end on T', T'. They are designed
to strengthen the structure generally, and to assist T, T', in supporting the
strain of the moorings, for which latter purpose they are partly let into T¹, T¹.
They also serve to carry P (Figures 1 and 2) the self-acting paddle wheel
before mentioned, of dimensions sufficient for the purpose required, and fixed

page_text: as near to the fore part of the structure as conveniently may be. The
shaft of this paddle wheel projects over E, E, E, E, and has each end held
on a shoulder D, fixed to the structure (as in Figures 1 and 2), in which they
revolve. The portions r, r, of the shaft between E, E, and D, support each
a weight W (Figures 2 and 3), which is suspended by means of a rope or
chain passing round the shaft, the weight is therefore drawn or let down by the
revolutions of the paddle wheel. M, is the place wherein (when the structure
is intended for a lighthouse), to step a mast, on the top of which the light
would be exhibited. 0, 0, Figures 1, 2, and 3 (the self-acting brakes), are
fixed by a hinge along the base of the A on which they revolve freely within
certain limits, determined by a chain attached to the apex of the A; the
length of the chain being such that when open to the utmost extent any
backward motion given to the structure would cause them to fall back against
the body of the structure, into the angle of which they are made to fit. These
brakes are so adjusted that when closed they maintain a position at right
angles to the direction of the backward motion of the structure, and thus
impede such motion. s, s, Figures 1 and 3, are iron ties or straps fixed
vertically at intervals on the outside, and for the purpose of giving greater
strength to the structure.
It is thought preferable (for lighthouses) to form the upper part of the exterior
of the forepart of the structure differently from the other portions of the
upper part (or part above water). This difference consists in continuing the slope
of the under part (or that which is below the surface of the water) up to the
deck, as represented by the shaded portion in Figure 1. The effect of this
formation would probably be by offering but little opposition to the progress
of a sea in rough weather to avoid the danger usually attending any vessel if
struck by a sea.
Under this arrangement a sea impinging on the fore part of
the structure would rush unopposed up the incline and fall into the open
space within.
Whether of wood or iron the floating body would be constructed in a
similar manner and in accordance with principles with regard to strength and
floatation similar to those that usually prevail in the building of ships and
other floating bodies. Figure 4 represents the submerged float or mooring
apparatus. This structure may be made of any convenient shape or size.
The shape I prefer, however, is that of two cones (the upper one having
its sides concave) united at their bases, as in the Figures shewn; it may
be made either entirely of metal or wood, or of metal and wood combined;
if made entirely of metal the parts would be put together on the same
principles that govern the construction of iron vessels, and if made of metal

page_text: and wood combined, the metal portion would be constructed in like manner;
the wooden part being composed of strong and buoyant timbers strongly
united together. What has been said of the wooden portion, when metal and
wood are combined, will evidently apply when the structure is entirely of
wood. Figure 5 is a section of an iron float of this latter description
through the apices of the two cones; h, h, h, h, a hawse hole, through which
the moving chain passes, being secured and free from play at each apex.
The bearing of the mooring chain is taken at the upper apex, and the
structure is strengthened by a series of iron circles c, c, c, c, at intervals within
it. Figure 6 is a sectional elevation of a buoy or beacon made on my principle.
The base of the buoy or beacon is constructed in the same annular form and
upon the same principles as the floating lighthouse already described, the
upper part (above the base) being made like other buoys or beacons.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise details shown, as variations may be made therein, according to
the purposes to which the structures are to be applied; and I would have it
understood that when constructing floating vessels and bodies other than buoys
and beacons, such as light ships and others, then I combine with the floating
annular bodies used in such structures suitable compartments for the residence
of persons and for containing stores, and for storing of merchandise; and I
I would state that I do not claim the construction of ring-form or annular
floating vessels, generally when uncombined with other suitable structures for
forming them into buoys, beacons, light ships, and floating vessels and bodies
proper for the reception and residence of persons, and containing stores, goods,
or merchandise.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Hamilton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. A. W. HARPER,
117, Stanley St., S.W.
ALFRED HAMILTON. (L.S.)