IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF APPLIANCES FOR THE PRE- VENTION OF SICKNESS ARISING FROM THE MOTION OF SHIPS AND VEHICLES."
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Brown, of 99, Western Road,
Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF APPLIANCES FOR
THE PRE-
VENTION OF SICKNESS ARISING FROM THE MOTION OF SHIPS AND VEHICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th November 1875.
I, JOHN HENRY BROWN, of 99, Western Road, Brighton, in the
County of Sussex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF APPLIANCES FOR
THE PREVENTION OF SICKNESS ARISING FROM THE MOTION OF SHIPS AND VEHICLES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object to procure an appliance by means
of which a certain part or structure belonging to or connected with a
ship or vehicle may be permanently kept in a perfectly horizontal

page_text: position, and passengers within or upon such parts or structures be
preserved from the sickness or other inconveniences which might other-
wise accrue to them from the pitching or rolling of ships in water, or
from the shaking of carriages or other vehicles on land. To this
end I provide a certain number of wells or reservoirs of prismatic,
cylindrical, or other appropriate shape, and communicating with each
other by means of tubes or other conduits. These wells or reservoirs I
fill with water or any other fluid to a suitable height, and within them
I place floats, pistons, or plungers, furnished with rods or other con-
tinuations, upon or from which I suspend a cabin or platform horizon-
tally. Inasmuch as the water or other liquid passes or circulates
continually through the conduits from well to well as the ship or craft
rolls or pitches, or the vehicle is shaken during its progress; such liquid
permanently preserves its level, and by this means the cabin or platform
suspended upon the floats, pistons, or plungers, or upon the rods thereof,
is effectually prevented from following the movement of the ship or
vehicle and compelled to remain perfectly horizontal. In some cases
I connect the wells or reservoirs at one end of the ship or vehicle with
those at the other end thereof, so as to suppress or counteract a large
proportion of the vertical motion of the cabin or platform.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Brown in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY BROWN, of 99, Western Road, Brighton, in the County of
Sussex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Brown, Her special
licence that I, the said John Henry Brown, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Brown, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF APPLIANCES FOR THE PREVENTION OF
SICKNESS ARISING FROM THE MOTION OF SHIPS AND VEHICLES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Brown, my exe.
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under 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 John Henry Brown, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings:-
This Invention has for its object to procure an appliance by means
of which a certain part or structure belonging to or connected with
a ship or vehicle may be permanently kept in a perfectly horizontal
position, and passengers within' or upon such parts or structures be
preserved from the sickness or other inconveniences which might other-
wise accrue to them from the pitching or rolling of ships in water, or
from the shaking of carriages or other vehicles on land. To this end
I provide a certain number of wells, tanks, or reservoirs, of prismatic,
cylindrical, or other appropriate shape, and communicating with each
other by means of tubes or other conduits. These wells or reservoirs I
fill with water or any other fluid to a suitable height, and within them
I place floats, pistons, or plungers, furnished with rods or other con-
tinuations, upon or from which I suspend a cabin or platform horizon-
tally. Inasmuch as the water or other liquid. passes or circulates
continually through the conduits from well to well as the ship or craft
rolls or pitches, or the vehicle is shaken during its progress, such liquid
permanently preserves its level, and by this means the cabin or platform
suspended upon the floats, pistons, or plungers, or upon the rods thereof,
is effectually prevented from following the movement of the ship or
vehicle and compelled to remain perfectly horizontal. In some cases
I connect the wells, tanks, or reservoirs, at one end of the ship or

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings I have shewn in Figure 1 a
a longitudinal section, in Figure 2 a cross section, and in Figure 3 a
plan, of a set of wells, tanks, or reservoirs, in their normal position,
communicating with each other, and so connected with a cabin or
platform as to secure its horizontal position under all circumstances;
this arrangement being applicable both to ships and to vehicles.
Figure 4 is a diagram of a cross section of a ship to which the
applince for the prevention of sea sickness, constructed according to
my Invention, has been adapted, shewn in this instance in a slanting
position when the cabin remains horizontal, and the plan of the ship
deviates about twelve degrees therefrom.
Figures 5, 6, and 7, shew variations in the configuration of the float
or plunger; and Figure 8 is a horizontal sectional diagram of a set of
four wells or tanks placed at one end of a ship and designed to com-
municate with a similar set of tanks or wells at the other end by means
of a conduit or waterway, so as to balance or equilibrate one or more
suspended cabins or platforms placed between them.
In all these Figures identical parts, appliances, or organs, are denoted
by identical letters of reference.
A, A, are the wells, tanks, or reservoirs, which are filled with water
or other suitable liquid to an appropriate height, and within which the
hollow floats or plungers B are placed. The wells or tanks A, A, com-
municate with each other by means of a set of tubes or conduits C, C,
which in Figure 3 form a parallelogram with the tanks or wells, whilst
in Figure 8 they join the wells diagonally. The conduits C may freely
communicate with each other, as shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 8; or a 3
sluice valve D may be placed within one or several of them, so as to
intercept the current of liquid between the tanks whenever required.
Within the fork or staple shaped ends F of the float or plunger rods E
I fit the grooved rollers or pulleys G, G, and upon these the longitudinal
rods H, H, fitted with similar grooved rollers or pulleys I, I, upon
which I place the transversal rods J, J, in such a manner that the two

page_text: my Invention, and I have therefore thought it unnecessary to shew any
such mode or method in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Instead of being surmounted by the suspension frame H, H, J, J,
as shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, the floats B may have their rods E fixed at
the top thereof by means of stays O, O, as shewn in a longitudinal
section in Figure 5. In this case a central tube P is provided within
the tank A in such a manner that the float B itself is guided outside
this tube and the rod E within. To the platform K a stay Q is fitted
in this case, which is connected with a chain or rope R suspended on
the rod E, so that at the up-and-down motion of the floats B the
compensation by means of the ropes or chains R takes place in the
same manner as it does in the case of the ropes or chains L, Figures
1 and 2.
Figures 6 and 7 represent a longitudinal section and plan from below
of a float or plunger, which, instead of consisting merely of a hollow
casing, as in the Figures previously shewn, has at its bottom an open
casing S divided into compartments in cellular or "honeycomb "fashion,
by means of which a certain amount of atmospheric air is made to form
a sort of cushion within the water or other liquid in the tank, and
thereby to facilate the motion for which the float is designed.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and illustrated
the same in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not claim the construction of moveable or suspended
cabins on board ships generally, neither do. I claim the floating of
vessels within ships, but what I claim is,―
Firstly. The construction and use or employment of tanks, wells, or
reservoirs, communicating with each other, with floats or plungers
immerged therein, and having a cabin or platform suspended therefrom,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein described and
illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Secondly. The construction of a moveable frame for the suspension
of a cabin or platform in the manner and for the purpose herein set
forth and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3, of the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings.
Thirdly. The mode or method of suspending a cabin on the float rods
directly, as herein set forth and shewn in Figure 5 of the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings.

page_text: Fourthly. The construction and use or employment of a float or
plunger formed in cellular or honeycomb fashion, in the manner and for
the purpose herein set forth and illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 of the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Brown, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
Witness,
J. T. DANN,
1, Crawshay Road,
North Brixton, S.W.
(L.S.) JOHN HENRY BROWN.