IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND DESTROYING SUBMERGED VESSELS, ROCKS, AND OTHER BODIES, AND ALSO
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Amable de Saint Simon Sicard, of Paris,
Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING
AND DESTROYING SUBMERGED VESSELS, ROCKS, AND OTHER BODIES, AND ALSO IN
Sealed the 12th January 1855, and dated the 29th August 1854.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Pierre Amable de Saint
Simon Sicard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition and Declaration, on the 29th August 1854, pursuant to the
9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
AMABLE DE SAINT SIMON SICARD, of Paris, Chemist, do hereby declare that
the nature of the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND
DESTROYING SUBMERGED VESSELS, ROCKS, AND OTHER BODIES, AND ALSO IN APPARATUS
TO FACILITATE THE EXAMINATION OF SUBMERGED BODIES," and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in improvements in apparatus to attach
chains to submerged bodies by means of a screw put in rotation from the
surface of the water, and also in apparatus to bore submerged bodies for the
purposes of blasting, and for other purposes.

page_text: F. These beams of wood are placed one on each side of the vessel to be raised,
and they are connected together by the diagonals C and D. Then motion is
given to the nut E, which causes the screw F to travel under the vessel,
carrying with it the chain G. When the screw F gets out of the first nut it
enters the second, and is caused to pass out at the other side. Then, by means
of the cog wheels J, the beams A are raised, one on each side of the vessel,
bringing up with them each an end of the chain G.
Figure 2, Sheet 2, shows an apparatus for cutting grooves in submerged
bodies, in which chains may be laid. A is a frame, in which slides another
frame, in which are mounted the wheels B, B, which give motion to the
descending bar C, which is made in two pieces sliding in or out of each other
to compensate for the action of the waves. At the end of the bar C is a collar
I, through which it passes; to this collar is connected a rope G. The action
of the apparatus is as follows:-The cutter D is brought in contact with the
submerged body, and motion is given to it by means of the wheels B. Then
the cutter is slowly traversed by the screw F, and the rope G is in the same
proportion wound on to the drum H, and by this means the groove is cut. E
is a scraper, which follows the cutter, and clears out the groove.
Figure 3, Sheet 2, shows the manner in which a vessel is raised by encircling
it with a chain. A is the chain, which terminates in the hook and eye K, C.
To each of the pieces K and C is attached a rod H and D, descending from the
surface, and by means of which the hook and eye are linked together. To the
chain A are connected other chains B, B, by means of which the large chain
is moved about, and the ship is raised. At the stern of the vessel the chain is
connected with the piece I on the bar I, by means of which the chain is from
the surface forced under the stern of the vessel.
Figure 1, Sheet 3, shows another means of raising vessels. F, F,' are two
jaws turning on the centre B. One of the jaws F is connected to the rod E,
descending from the surface. When this apparatus is lowered over the vessel,
the chains D, D, are kept tight, and the jaws open; when it is in its place the
chains D are slackened, and the vessel is raised by the chains C, C, the bar E
having first been unscrewed.
Figure 2 shows a pair of nippers or holders, by means of which the chain E
is put through a port or other hole in the side of the vessel. A, A, are two
jaws, between which the bar E is held by forcing the tube B over the jaws.
The bar is then put through the hole in the vessel, and the tube B is slid up
to allow the jaws to open, and release the bar E, which, by setting across the
hole, retains the chain.
Figure 3. shows the apparatus for examining submerged bodies. C is a tube

page_text: descending from the surface, at the end of which is a mirrow D. F is a lamp
for illuminating the body to be examined, in front of which is a glass. This
lamp is supplied by compressed gas from the reservoir I. The rays of light
from the illuminated body pass through the glass C, impinge on the mirrow D,
and are by it reflected up the tube, and the body is thus rendered visible from
the surface. In the tube C may be placed lenses similar to those of a
telescope, when the depth is sufficient to render this necessary.
Figure 4 represents an instrument I employ for stopping or plugging holes
made in a wreck or elsewhere for the introduction of powder, when the
operation of blasting becomes necessary. Hitherto 1 have employed common
plugs or corks which have been driven in in the ordinary manner; but these
not presenting sufficient resistance to the action of the powder when exploding,
I propose to insert a screw plug a by means of the rod b, which rod,' when the
plug is inserted sufficiently far, 'I turn in the contrary direction, and detach
from the plug by means of the screw shewn in dotted lines at c, the same
principle being employed in this case as has been already explained in con-
nection with Figure 2, Sheet 1.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Amable de Saint Simon Sicard,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
G. SAUTTER.
DE ST. SIMON SICARD. (L.S.)