IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE ATTACHED TO SHIPS TO PREVENT THEM SINKING
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Golston Sayers, of 12, Hunter St., Brunswick
Square, London, in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVED
APPARATUS TO BE ATTACHED TO SHIPS TO PREVENT THEM SINKING."
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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Golston Sayers
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th January 1881.
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RICHARD GOLSTON SAYERS, of 12, Hunter St., Brunswick Square, London, in
the County of Middlesex. IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE ATTACHED TO SHIPS
TO PREVENT THEM SINKING."
My Invention relates to apparatus intended to be attached to ships in order to
prevent them sinking.
My improvements consist in attaching to each side of a vessel a sufficient
number of flexible bags filled with air and covered with netting to support the
vessel and keep it from sinking when said vessel has sprung a leak or is otherwise
'disabled.
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Attached to each side of the vessel below the waterline I fix a number of pulleys
or blocks; ropes are made fast to the netting of each air-bag and passed round each
of the aforesaid pulleys or blocks and over the ship's side to a windlass. The bags
may be kept from touching the sides of the vessel by iron bars projecting from the
same in any convenient manner. The ends of the bars farthest from the vessel are
so constructed as to act as guides for the ropes.
"
When a vessel is expected to go down the air bags are filled with air as quick as
possible by a bellows or other blowing apparatus. The bags are then attached by
the netting to the ends of the aforesaid ropes and thrown overboard. The ropes are
drawn tight by a windlass and the air bags brought into the required position at the
side of the vessel.
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page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Richard Golston Sayers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th July 1881.
RICHARD GOLSTON SAYERS, of 12, Hunter Street, Brunswick Square, London,
in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE ATTACHED TO SHIPS
TO PREVENT THEM SINKING."
My Invention relates to apparatus intended to be attached to ships to prevent
them from sinking, and consists in attaching to each side of a vessel a sufficient
number of flexible bags filled with air and covered with rope netting to support the
vessel and keep it from sinking when the said vessel has sprung a leak or is
otherwise disabled. For this purpose I fix on each side of the vessel below the
water line a number of pulleys or blocks; ropes are made fast to the netting of each
air bag, and are passed round each of the aforesaid pulleys or blocks and over the
ship's side to a windlass or a steam or hand winch. The bags may be kept from
touching the ship's side by iron bars projecting from the same in any convenient
manner. The ends of the bars farthest from the vessel are so constructed as to act
as guides for the ropes.
When a vessel is expected to go down the air bags are filled with air as quickly
as possible by a bellows or other blowing apparatus. The bags are then attached by
The
the netting to the ends of the aforesaid ropes and thrown overboard.
ropes are drawn tight by a windlass or winch and the air bags thus brought into
the required position at the side of the vessel.
Having described the nature and object of my Invention, I shall now proceed to
ascertain more particularly by the aid of the accompanying Drawings in what
manner the same may be performed or carried into practical effect.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal elevation of a ship fitted with apparatus made
in accordance with my Invention; several flexible bags filled with air are here shown
hauled down into the water in order to buoy the vessel up and prevent it from
sinking. The size and number of the bags used will of course depend upon the
tonnage and weight of the ship, one and a half pounds of air being capable of
supporting thirty hundredweight dead weight of iron to the surface of the
water.
Figure 2 shows on an enlarged scale part of the side of the ship, with one of the
flexible bags. in position. The bar A is fixed to the side of the ship by means of
rivets or other suitable means, and is provided with grooves, so that the bar B may
slide down into it. The bar B has at its lower end a bracket C carrying a block or
pulley D.
A moveable wing E is attached to the bar B near the top by means of a
hinge, and is supported when in position by a stay F, which is provided with a
shoulder for that purpose, and is also attached to the bar B by means of a hinge.
The end of the. stay F passes through a hole in the wing E, and is secured by
means of a pin or bolt or in any other suitable manner. The lower end of the
wing E carries another block or pulley G. The flexible bag H may be made of any
suitable air-tight material, and should be covered with netting made of strong
ropes. These ropes may be twisted into one at the mouth of the bag or spliced to
a large rope J, J, which passes round the pulleys G and D and through a hole in
the side of the ship over another block or pulley K to a winch or windlass on the
deck.
Figure 3 shows a section of a pipe-or tube secured in the mouth of the bag to
allow of its being filled with air. This tube L is made with a valve of leather or
other suitable material near the inner end, and the other end is provided with a
screwed cap N. When air is forced into the bag the valve M lifts to admit it and will

page_text: not allow it to escape, and when the bag is full the cap N is screwed on in order to
render it more secure; any other well known and suitable valve may be used for
the same purpose.
When not required for use the bags and apparatus may be stowed in any con-
venient place on board the ship, the stay F being withdrawn from the wing E, 80
that both the wing and the stay can be brought close to the bar B and thus occupy
less space.
If the ship has sprung a leak or been otherwise damaged and is expected to go
down, each of the flexible bags is filled with air as quickly as possible, the wing E
and stay F being fixed in the position shown in Figure 2, the bar B is lowered into
the grooves provided for that purpose in the fixed bar A, and is secured to the
ship's side by two or more bolts b, b. The end of the rope J having been passed
through the hole in the ship's side and over the pulley K to one of the ordinary
winches or windlasses or to a winch provided for the purpose, the bag is thrown
overboard and hauled down into the water to the position shown in Figure 2. These
operations may be performed in eighteen minutes from the time of disaster, therefore
no vessel need sink at sea in future. The wing E and stay F serve to prevent the
bag from chafing against the ship's side in case of a rough sea.
Each bag with its apparatus being independent of the others, several of them
can be filled and hauled down at the same time according to the number of hands
employed.
I have described what I consider to be the best method of carrying my Invention
into practical effect, but I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the
precise details hereinbefore described, which may be modified in various ways, but
what I claim is,-
Firstly. Fitting apparatus on the sides of a ship for hauling down into the water
flexible bags filled with air to prevent the said ship from sinking, substantially as
herein described.
Secondly. The use of the fixed bar A, sliding bar B, bracket C, and pulley D,
the wing E and pulley G, and the stay F, substantially in the manner and for the
purposes herein described and shown in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Golston Sayers, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
RICHARD GOLSTON SAYERS
× (L.S.)