IMPROVEMENTS IN GRAPPLING AND RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Rainbird, of Norwich, in the County
of Norfolk, Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GRAPPLING AND RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED
BODIES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE."
Sealed the 30th March 1853, and dated the 7th October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Rainbird
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th October 1852.
I, SAMUEL RAINBIRD, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRAPPLING AND RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS
AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be
as follows:-
I grapple the vessel or other body, by means of an improved arrange-
ment or improved arrangements of chains or ropes, so that the ends of
each chain or rope being passed through rings on the other chain or
rope, and wound up by capstans, the chains or ropes are made to grapple
the sunken vessel and serve for raising it. I construct an air vessel with
tubes through it for the passage of the chains and cable stoppers, and

page_text: valves and pipes connected to it, so that it may be gradually sunk down
into its place alongside of the sunken vessel, being guided by the above
mentioned chains, to which it is afterwards made fast by the cable
stoppers. Two such vessels are used; and after being made fast on
each side of the sunken vessel they are partially filled with air until
the weight of the sunken vessel is nearly but not quite balanced. The
sunken vessel so partially balanced is then raised by means of capstans
on board of ships or other vessels placed above or nearly above the
sunken vessel. The chains are marked at regular distances (say every
five feet), so that it is easy to wind them up equally, and thus keep the
sunken vessel in a level position. The air vessels are divided into two
or more compartments, and air is introduced into both ends until each
end can be slightly raised by applying power or a weight to the capstans.
An air pump with flexible pipes and stop. valves is used for introducing
the air, and valves with ropes or other means of working them are
provided for letting out the air and water. The water is discharged by
a pipe which turns upon a joint, and always remains vertical or nearly
so, so that nearly the whole of the water may be expelled even although
the vessel may be lying on its side. The air vessel may be made
cylindrical, or it may be made more in the form of a ship with a keel
and rudder, or of other convenient form. When the sunken vessel has
been heaved up, until the tops of the air vessels have reached or are
near the surface of the water, more air is admitted, so as to expel the
remaining water, and enable the air vessels to take the whole weight of
the vessel, which may then be towed away to any convenient place, or
at once lightened of a portion of its cargo.
By these means the vessel is grappled very securely, and the air
vessels are attached very securely to it, and as low down as possible.
The vessel is steadily raised to the surface, whereas, if the vessel were
to be raised entirely by the buoyancy of the air vessels without the aid
of the capstans, it might come up so irregularly and out of level as to
shift its cargo and fall out of the grappling chains.
The Invention may be used for raising large detached masses or
rock or other large submerged bodies, as well as for raising sunken
vessels.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Rainbird in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 4th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
SAMUEL RAINBIRD, of Norwich, in the County of Norfolk, Builder,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Rainbird, Her special licence
that I, the said Samuel Rainbird, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Rainbird, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GRAPPLING AND RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES, AND
IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Samuel Rainbird, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Samuel Rainbird, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say):
The Invention consists of improvements in grappling sunken vessels
and other bodies by means of chains, and raising them by means of air

page_text: vessels in connection with other apparatus, and also of improvements in
such apparatus.
I shall first proceed to describe the Drawing, and afterwards the
mode of grappling and raising the sunken vessel or other body.
A, B, and C, D, in Figure 1, are two chains, by which the sunken
Each of these two chains has two
These rings can be fixed by shackles
vessel or other body is to be raised.
rings, as shewn at E, F, and G, H.
at different distances apart. These chains are to grapple the sunken
vessel, and to form a cradle in which it is to be raised, as herein-after
described.
Figure 2, is a plan shewing the sunken vessel D, and two steam
vessels or other vessels A, A, anchored one on each side of the sunken
vessel. Two smaller vessels B, B, are anchored at the head and stern
of the sunken vessel, and serve to support the chains, which are shewn
extended and ready to be lowered to grapple the sunken vessel.
Figure 3, is a side view of an air cylinder or cylindrical air vessel
made of wrought iron plates rivetted together and strengthened by ribs
and braces. Two of these air cylinders are employed, one being placed
on each side of the sunken vessel, as herein-after described; each air
cylinder is provided with a keel and rudder and a ballast chamber, to
facilitate the steering of it to the required position before it is lowered
down, as herein-after described.
Figure 4, is a plan of a stopper, by means of which the chains which
are to raise the sunken vessels are fixed in their proper places. This
stopper slides between two rebated rails B, B, which are fixed on the
top of the air cylinder. A, is the stopper, which is a plate of metal
perforated by a round hole and a straight slit communicating together.
The round hole is large enough to allow of the free passage of the
grappling chain c, while the slit is only wide enough to take a link of
the chain edgeways. d, e, are two stops, which can be fixed in any
required position and limit the motion of the stopper A. Each of the
stops d, e, carries a pulley, round which passes a rope or chain a, b, con-
nected to the stopper A. By pulling the rope or chain a, the slit of the
plate A, is brought into contact with the chain c, which is thus stopped
and fixed, while by pulling the rope or chain b, it is again released.

page_text: Figure 5, is a longitudinal section of the air cylinder shewing the
internal arrangements. A, A, is an air tight floor, the space below
which is filled with water to serve as ballast for keeping the cylinder in
one constant position. The air cylinder is divided into two compart-
ments by
a partition or bulk head E, so that either compartment may
be filled with air or discharged independently of the other. A number
of cylindrical tubes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, open at both ends, are carried
through the air cylinder, and serve for the reception of the grappling
chains shewn in Figure 1. h, k, are sliding valves for the entrance and
escape of the air from each compartment. They are opened and closed
by means of the ropes a, a, in a similar manner to that in which the
stopper shewn in Figure 4, is worked. These valves communicate with
the flexible tubes c, c, which are carried up above the surface of the water.
A tube d, passes through the air cylinder near to each end, and
contains a slide valve at e, communicating with the interior of the air
cylinder. This slide valve is opened and closed by an iron rod, the
end of which ascends to the top of the air cylinder, and is worked by a
wrench at the top. When the air cylinder is rather more than half
filled with water the slide valve e, Figure 5, is closed.
This part of the apparatus is shewn on a larger scale in Figure 9,
which is a section, and Figures 10, and 11, which are front and back
views of the same. E, is the slide valve. A, B, in these Figures is a
bent pipe or radial tube working in a stuffing box at the point B, which
is in the axis of the air cylinder, and furnished with a rotary screw
valve at B. This valve is opened and shut by the chains or ropes f,
and g, Figures 5, and 9. These chains are passed in opposite directions
round two grooves in the circumference of each valve, so that by pulling
one chain the valve is screwed up to its face and closed, and by pulling
the other chain the valve is unscrewed and opened. This pipe A, B,
serves for the escape of the water when air is forced into the air cylin-
der through the tubes c, c, in Figure 5. As this pipe is free to turn in
the stuffing box at the point marked B, in Figures 9, and 10, and d, in
Figure 5, its own weight keeps it in a vertical position, so that it is
always suitably placed for the discharge of the water, although the air
cylinder may roll over on one side.

page_text: Figure 6, is an end view, and Figure 8, is a side view, shewing the
mode of applying the improved apparatus for raising a sunken vessel.
Figure 2, is a plan of the same. D, is the sunken vessel. A, A, are
two steamers, which I employ to tow the two air cylinders to the spot.
A man is sent down in a diving dress to ascertain the position of the
sunken vessel, and a rope with a buoy is attached to each end of it.
The two steamers are moored in the position shewn in the Figures, and
two smaller vessels marked B, B, in Figure 2, are moored in the posi-
tions there shewn. One of the chains A, B, and C, D, Figure 1, is
placed on board each steamer, and the rings E and F, and G and H, are
placed at a distance apart, somewhat less than the length of the sunken
vessel, or about five feet, more or less, from each end of it. The end A,
of one chain, Figure 1, is then passed through the ring G, and the end
B, is then passed through the ring H; the end C, of the other chain
is passed through the ring E, and the end D, is passed through the
ring F. The ends of the chains are attached to two windlasses on
each steamer. The portions of the chain which extend from one steamer
to the other, are extended by means of the smaller vessels B, B, in
Figure 2, and the chains are then lowered down to the bottom so as to
surround and inclose the sunken vessel. All four windlasses are then
worked, by which means the chains are drawn together until they
embrace and grapple the sunken vessel, as shewn in Figure 8. The
air cylinders are now brought alongside of the steamers; a short
piece of chain, Figure 7, is passed through one of the vertical tubes of
one compartment of each air cylinder, and a similar piece is passed
through the corresponding tube in the other compartment, the distance
between the two tubes being the same as that between the rings E
and F, or G and H, Figure 1. The ends of these short chains are
hooked on the side of the air cylinders, as at b, b, Figure 3, until they
are required to be used; they are then unhooked and connected to the
ends of the grappling chains, while the other ends of the short chains
are connected to the windlasses on board the steamers.
The next operation is to prepare for sinking the air cylinders; ropes
or chains are then connected to the various short ropes or chains a, a,
f, f, g, g, Figure 5, for the purpose of working the valves, and also to

page_text: the ropes or chains a, b, Figure 4, for working the stoppers. The air
tubes c, c, Figure 5, are also attached; a valve at top and bottom of
each ballast tank A, Figure 5, is opened, so as to place it in commu-
nication with the rest of the air cylinder; these valves are not shewn
in the Drawing; they are opened by means of rods ascending through
the top of the air cylinder, and worked by means of a wrench. Two chains
or ropes are attached to two rings on the side of the air cylinder, as
at a, a, Figures 3, and 6, for the purpose of lowering the air cylinder.
These chains or ropes are attached to windlasses on the steamers, and
are graduated or marked at intervals of a fathom so as to serve as a
guide in lowering the air cylinder in a horizontal position. Everything
being thus arranged, the valves h, h, and e, e, Figure 5, are opened, and
the water flows in, driving out the air at the valves h, h, and the air
cylinder then begins to subside. When the air cylinder is rather more
than half immersed in the water the valves e, e, are closed, and the
screw valves at d, d, are opened. The water continues to enter at d, d,
until the cylinder sinks. It is lowered down gradually by means of the
graduated chains, as shewn in Figures 6, and 8, being guided in its
descent by the grappling chains. When it has reached the bottom, as
shewn at C, in Figure 6, the ropes of the stoppers marked a, in
Figure 4, are pulled, and the grappling chains are thus secured to the
air cylinder. The other air cylinder is lowered and fixed in a similar
manner. A diver may now be sent down to ascertain that everything
is properly arranged. The valves h, h, Figure 5, are opened by pulling
the ropes attached to them, and air is then forced down the flexible
tubes c, c, into the air cylinders by means of air pumps placed on board
the steamers, and worked by hand or by the engines of the steamers, or
otherwise. The water is thus gradually displaced from the air cylinders,
which are thus rendered buoyant. If, however, the air were to be forced
in until the air cylinders acquired sufficient buoyancy to raise the sunken
vessel, the consequence would be that it would rise to the surface
without any control, and might in fact rise head or stern first, or even
fall out of the grappling chains althogether. To avoid such accidents, I
proceed in the following manner :-I haul up the graduated chains by

page_text: means of the windlasses until they are stretched tight, and I hang a
weight on one of the levers of each windlass, so as to keep a certain
amount of tension on the graduated chains. Air is then forced into the
air cylinders until their buoyancy, together with the weights on the
windlasses, is sufficient to raise the vessel. The weights then descend
upon the deck of the steamers. The screw valves at d, d, in Figure 5,
are now closed, and the windlasses are then worked, and the sunken
vessel is drawn gradually up to the surface. The graduations or marks
on the ropes or chains show at once the position of the vessel, and enable
the workmen to raise it in a horizontal position. At the same time the
labour of raising the vessel is not very great, because the greater part of
its weight is balanced by the air cylinders. If the buoyancy should be
found too great it may be reduced by opening the valves at d, d, in
Figure 5, so as to allow a portion of water to enter and displace a
portion of the air, which is allowed to escape by a stop valve at the
upper end of each flexible tube. When the sunken vessel has thus
been raised to the surface it may be towed away into shallow water
while still supported by the air cylinders, or it may be previously lightened
by pumping out the water and removing the cargo.
It is not necessary
that the grappling chains should be made of the same strength through-
out, as the part above the air cylinders does not require to be so strong as
the lower part. The part above the air cylinders may be detached by the
diver, and removed after the air cylinders have been secured in their
proper positions, and before beginning to raise the vessel. A safety valve
opening outwards and lightly loaded with a spring or weight may be
attached to the upper part of the air cylinder, and it may be protected
by being enclosed in a tube, like the valves at d, and e, in Figure 5. In
raising a sunken vessel in the manner above described the valves at B,
in Figure 9, or at d, in Figure 5, are closed when a sufficient amount of
buoyancy has been obtained, and the same or nearly the same amount
of buoyancy will thus be preserved during the raising of the sunken
vessel, for the compressed air will expand and escape at the safety valve
as the vessel rises without affecting the quantity of water contained in
the air cylinders. If the valves at d, d, in Figure 5, were left open, on

page_text: the contrary, the compressed air would expand as the vessel rose, and
would displace a portion of water, and thus increase the amount of
buoyancy. This increase of buoyancy must be checked by allowing a
portion of air to escape, so as always to leave a part of the weight to be
raised by the windlasses. In lieu of hanging a weight on the lever of
the windlass the workmen may be employed to press upon the lever, so
as to keep up a tension upon the lifting chains.
I have described the air vessels as being of a cylindrical form, and
constructed of wrought iron plates, which I prefer, but other forms and
materials may be employed, provided that they are made sufficiently
strong, and air-tight.
I have described the operations as applied to the grappling and
raising of sunken vessels, but they may be applied in a similar manner
to other submerged bodies; as, for instance, for raising large detached
masses of rock, when of suitable form to be held by the grappling
chains.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not claim generally the raising of sunken vessels by means of air
vessels; but what I claim is,-
Firstly, the mode or modes of grappling sunken vessels and other
submerged bodies by the peculiar arrangement of chains herein-before
described.
Secondly, the mode or modes herein-before described of raising sunken
vessels and other submerged bodies by balancing a portion only of the
weight by air vessels, and then raising the sunken vessel or other
submerged body by means of windlasses or similar machinery.
Thirdly, the apparatus herein-before described consisting of air
cylinders or vessels divided into compartments traversed by tubes with
stoppers for securing the grappling chains, and moveable escape pipes
or radial tubes for the escape of the water, together with valves capable
of being worked by chains or ropes and other appurtenances, as herein-
before described.
Fourthly, the combination of air vessels and chaius or ropes with

page_text: windlasses or other lifting machinery, in manner herein-before described,
for the purpose of grappling and raising sunken vessels or other sub-
merged bodies by such combined apparatus, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Rainbird, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
EDWARD BLAKELY,
London Street,
Norwich.
SAMUEL RAINBIRD. (L.S.)