Improved Means to be used in connection with Ship and other Railways for Conveying Ships Overland.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Sept., 1890-Accepted, 18th Oct., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means to be used in connection with Ship and other
Railways for Conveying Ships Overland.
I GEORGE BROCKELBANK of "Belmont" 21 Thicket Road Anerley in the County
of Surrey Gentleman, 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 :—
The object of my invention is to provide easy and safe means for the conveyance of
ships or vessels overland, (and will be understood clearly by the aid of the accom-
panying three sheets of drawings to which I refer and in which respectively like
letters designate like parts. a Figure 1 Sheet 1 is a tank resting on a railway
truck 6, the wheels of which travel on rails c c fixed on a platform, e, which can be
raised or lowered by hydraulic or other machinery. d Figure 2 is a ship in position
floated over the tank, a, so that when the platform, e, and the tank a are raised the
ship is received into the tank and floats in her own element being water-borne as
shown in Figure 2, Sheet 2. 9, 9, 9, g. in all the figures are stanchions with suitable
chains (that meet half way over the ship's deck, and are connected by screw-links to
prevent the tank from bulging) to be hauled overboard and made fast immediately
upon the top of the tank reaching the surface of the water, and not higher. The
platform, truck, tank, and ship are then raised to the required elevation that is to say
the platform rails upon which the truck-wheels travel are brought flush or level with
the railway or permanent way as shown in Figure 2 Sheet 2, and the truck is then
coupled to the locomotive, f, Figure 3 Sheet 2. To supersede and dispense with the
expensive hydraulic machinery and lift and to avoid the possible danger of the rails
of the platform and those of the permanent way not being in exactly the same level I
have adapted a long lock or dock a Figures 1. 2. 3. 4 Sheet 3, the two gates of which
open inwards towards each other as shown at S Figure 1, and, t, Figure 4 Sheet 3.
Figure 1 Sheet 3 shows a ship which has entered the lock or dock x, the gate S
heing open, and the tank, a, on the platform, b, inside the gate, t, which is shut.
Figure 2 Sheet 3 shows the lock or dock gate S closed, and the lock or dock full of
water let in through the sluice k Figures 1. 2. 3. 4 thus raising the ship higher than
the tank, a, and ready to be hauled into position over said tank as shown by Figure 3
Sheet 3. Figure 4 Sheet 3 represents the ship lowered into the tank a the water
being level with the sea or river as the case may be, and the gate Figure 4 open
to allow the locomotive, f, Figure 3 Sheet 2 to enter and be coupled to the truck after
the water bas passed away through the sluice-valve, m, in the gate S Figures 1. 2. 3. 4.
In letting water out through the sluice-valve, m, in the gate S Figure 4 the said valve
must be closed as soon as the top of the tank a is visible, so that the chains on the
stanchions 9, 9, 9, 9, may be screwed up taut as in the case of raising by hydraulic or
other lift. Immediately after the said chains have been made fast, the water in the
lock or dock must be lowered down to the sea or river as the case may be. The ship
now afloat in the tank, a, is ready to be conveyed to her destination. For economy,
security, strength, safety, saving of time, stability, and other advantages the tank
should virtually be a truck in itself as in Figures 3 and 4 Sheet 1. By this means
the height of the lift is reduced several feet, the weight is much lessened, the ship is
nearer the ground, and the whole operation is simplified. In the tank, a, there is a
valve in a convenient position by means of which the water may be let in or out as
required, and said valve may be furnished with a lock and key to prevent its being
tampered with.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is.
1. The application of any suitable or convenient tank for conveying ships or vessels
on any ship-railway or other railway.
2. The employment of stanchions and chains for preventing the sides of said tank
from bulging.
3. The gates of the lock or dock opening inwards as herein mentioned.
4. The arrangement and combination of the tank a, stanchions 9, 9, 9, 9, chains,
railway truck b, platform e, and lock-gates S and t opening inwards, all respectively
herein before mentioned and described substantially as and for the purposes herein
specified and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Purposes herein specified.
Dated this 11th dor of Santhan 1000