AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REMOVING SAND AND SIMILAR LOOSE MATERIAL FROM DOCKS, RIVERS. AND WATERWAYS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rudolph Bodmer, of 2, Thavies' Inn, Holborn,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
REMOVING SAND AND SIMILAR LOOSE MATERIAL FROM DOCKS, RIVERS. AND
WATERWAYS." A communication from John Johnson, of New York, in
the United States of America. Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rudolph Bodmer at the
Office of the "Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th April 1858.
•
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I, RUDOLPH BODMER, of 2, Thavies Inn, Holborn, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPA
RATUS FOR REMOVING SAND AND SIMILAR LOOSE MATERIAL FROM DOCKS, RIVERS, AND
WATERWAYE," (a communication from John Johnson, of New York, in the
United States of America.. Engineer, to be as follows:-
This invention consists in carrying a pipe or tube down to the sand or other
loose material, and causing a partial vacuum in such pipe or tube by means
of a pump or other contrivance, so that the sand or other loose material is
drawn up the pipe or tube and received in a suitable vessel for removal.
One arrangement by which the said Invention is intended to be carried
[Price 8d.1

page_text: out, consists in providing a boat with a small steam engine for working the
pump, an elastic pipe or tube reaching down to the sand or other loose
material at the bottom of the dock; river, or waterway. On working the pump
the sand or other loose material is drawn up and deposited in the boat..
This Invention may be modified and varied according to the nature of the
work to be performed; for instance, in removing sand or other loose material
from a waterway near the shore, the engine may be placed on the shore,
and when placed in a boat, as described, it will work at sea in moderately
rough weather, where the ordinary dredging machine would be useless.
°
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Rudolph Bodmer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RUDOLPH
BODMER, of No. 2, Thavies' Inn, London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year
Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Rudolph Bodmer, Her special licence that I, the said Rudolph
Bodmer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Rudolph Bodmer, 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 "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REMOVING SAND AND SIMILAR LOOSE MATERIAL FROM
Docks, RIVERS, AND WATERWAYS," (a communication from John Johnson, of
New York, in the United States of America, Engineer,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Rudolph Bodmer, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
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 Rudolph Bodmer, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
The nature of my Invention for "An Improved Apparatus for Removing
Sand and similar Loose Material, from. Docks, Rivers, and Waterways," con-
sists in carrying a pipe or tube down to the sand or other loose material, and-
causing a partial vacuum in such pipe or tube by means of a pump or other
contrivance, so that the sand or other loose material is drawn up the tube and
conveyed away, or received into a suitable vessel for removal..
The exact arrangement of such apparatus must depend, on the purpose..to
which it is to be applied, but I shall proceed to describe one arrangement
of apparatus for removing sand or other loose material.
Fig. in the annexed Drawing represents a longitudinal section of a boat
in which the apparatus is placed; Fig. 2 is an end view of part of the
apparatus; and Fig. 3, a piece of floating tube, hereafter described; and
Fig. 4, another separate part of the apparatus. In Fig. 1, A, A is the boat,
and B the sand to be removed. The cylinder C is provided with a solid piston,
which is moved by steam or other power, as represented at Fig. 1, and in side
view at Fig. 2, so that a partial vacuum is formed in the hollow chamber D, on
which the cylinder C is placed. This chamber D is provided with an inlet
I and outlet valve d and e, and is connected to the elastic tube F by the pipe ff.,
The chamber D is also provided with an elastic diaphragm or division M, of
leather or other suitable material, placed at the lower end of the cylinder C.
The sand and water pumped from B is thus divided from the clean water with
which the cylinder C is provided. The elastic tube F is hooped within, to
prevent it collapsing by- pressure, and proceeds under the water to the iron
dome or inverted funnel G, with which it is connected. In some cases I vary
the shape of the dome G, one of which is represented at Fig. 4.' This
dome is designed to be drawn or scraped along the bottom by the chains X,X,X,
so as to gather up the sand or similar loose material at the same time that the
pumping action is going on at the opening O. The framing a, a, a, a, is
secured to the boat A, A, and carries the pulley b, over which a chain, attached
to the hollow casting or dome G. passes. 'The dome G may by this means be
elevated or lowered at pleasure by the crab H. Connected with the exit
valve e is another tube E, leading to the elastic pipe K (similar to F), but
provided with a series of floats marked n, as shewn separate at Fig. 2. This
pipe K is carried by the current any required distance, and is open at
the end.
Supposing, therefore, the boat A, A, with the apparatus to be moored over
the sand bank B, the first thing is to let down the dome G on to the sand at B;

page_text: the pump C is then put into action, and each stroke of the piston vibrates.flic
diaphragm M, and produces a corresponding pumping action in the chamber D,
drawing up the sand and water through the valve d, and forcing it forward at
the exit valve e. The sand and water thus drawn up from below may be
delivered into a separate "hopper" or boat alongside, in the usual manner
practised with ordinary dredging machines, or where the locality suits it may
be forced forward thro' the elastic tube K, and conveyed out into the tideway
or deep water; but these arrangements and various modifications of the
apparatus must depend on the locality and the nature of the work to be
performed. ...
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Now, I am well aware that the pumping of sand from under water for the
purpose of sinking piles was described by Lawrence Holker Potts, M.D., in
his Specification of a Patent, No. 9975, in the year One thousand eight hundred
and forty-three, for "Certain Improvements in the Construction of Piers,
Embankments, Breakwaters; and other similar Structures," and also that
pumps have been used in cleaning loose and wet foundations for building
purposes, but the removing of sand and similar loose material from docks,
rivers, and waterways for the purpose of deepening and clearing the same, '1
hold to be new and never before practised, and I claim the same as a new
Invention, communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rudolph Bodmer, have hereunto.. set
my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight..
Signed and sealed by the above-
named Rudolph Bodmer, in the
presence of
ROBT. CUNLIFFE, Sol'.,
RUDOLPH BODMER. (L.S.)
ני
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43, Chancery Lane.