Apparatus for Balancing the Counter-pressure of the Water upon the Tools that have to be Pushed Out through the Walls of a Diving Bell or the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Apr., 1897
Date of Application, 12th Apr., 1897
Complete Specification Left,
77th Jan., 1898-Accepted, 5th Mar., 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Balancing the Counter-pressure of the Water upon the
Tools that have to be Pushed Out through the Walls of a Diving
Bell or the like.
I, WALLACE FAIRWEATHER, C.E., of 62, Saint Vincent Street, in the City of
Glasgow, Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
(as communicated to me by Bergnings-och Dykeri Aktiebolaget Neptun,
Stockholm, Sweden,) to be as follows:-
This invention, relates to apparatus for balancing the counter pressure upon a
body movable in and out through the wall of a cell immersed in water or any
other liquid as for instance the tools of a diving-bell, or diving-tube.
When a tool that is moveable in and out of a diving bell or the like is to be
handled, while the bell is below the surface of the water, the outside pressure,
being greater than the pressure inside the bell, tends to push the tool into the
bell making it more or less difficult to move out and handle the tool. The object
of this invention is to provide an apparatus by means of which the said tools may
be handled as easily when the bell is in the water as when it is out of it.
The invention consists in connecting the moveable tool with a movable piston-
rod or the like, which is also acted upon by the pressure outside the bell, in such
a manner that the piston-rod tends to move the tool in a direction opposite to that
in which the pressure tends to move the same.
The accompanying drawing shows in Figs. 1 and 2 two different views of such an
apparatus in connection with the tool, for instance the gripping apparatus, of a
diving-bell.
a is the wall of the bell and 6 the tool, which is movable in and out through a
water-tight journal in the wall of the bell. c is the piston-rod which is movable in..
a cylinder or tube d. The lower end of the latter communicates with the space
outside the bell by means of a tube f provided with a cock e, while the piston cor
piston-rod c is connected with the tool b by means of a chain 9 running over
pulleys. In the case shown one end of the chain is fastened to the tube d, and the
chain runs over a pulley c² journalled in the piston-rod c¹. h is a guide for the
piston-rod c¹.
If the tube f and the piston c are on the same level as the tool, the tube f should
to have the same sectional area as the tool has at the outer end of the journal.
If again the tube is situated on a higher or lower level its sectional area should
to be so much larger or smaller that the pressure of the water upon the piston
corresponds to the pressure with which the tool is pressed inward by the water.
The pressure of the water upon the piston thus counterbalances the pressure upon
he tool. When the tool is to be moved out only the friction in the journal has
to be overcome.
.

page_text: The area of the piston can also be made so much greater as to overcome the
friction. If desirable it may also be so arranged that the tool will be drawn out
by the piston with greater (or less) force then it is pressed inward by the water-
pressure.
Dated this 10th day of Annil 1907
Apparatus for Balancing the Counter-pressure of the Water upon the
Tools that have to be Pushed Out through the Walls of a Diving
Bell or the like.
I, WALLACE FAIRWEATHER, C.E., of 62, Saint Vincent Street, in the City of
Glasgow, Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to apparatus for balancing the counter pressure upon a
body movable in and out through the wall of a cell immersed in water or any
other liquid as for instance the tools of a diving-bell, or diving-tube.
When a tool that is moveable in and out of a diving bell or the like is to be
handled, while the bell is below the surface of the water, the outside pressure,
being greater than the pressure inside the bell, tends to push the tool into the
bell making it more or less difficult to move out and handle the tool. The object
of this invention is to provide an apparatus by means of which the said tools may
be handled as easily when the bell is in the water as when it is out of it.
The invention consists in connecting the moveable tool with a movable piston
or the like, which is also acted upon by the pressure outside the bell, in such
a manner that the piston tends to move the tool in a direction opposite to that
in which the pressure tends to move the same.
The drawing left with the Provisional Specification shows in Fig. 1 and 2 two
differents views of such an apparatus in connection with the tool, for instance the
gripping apparatus, of a diving-bell.
C or
a is the wall of the bell and b the tool, which is moveable in and out through a
water-tight journal in the wall of the bell. c is the piston-rod which is moveable in
a cylinder or tube d. The lower end of the latter communicates with the space
outside the bell by means of a tube f provided with a cock e, while the piston
piston-rod c is connected with the tool 6 by means of a chain g running over
pulleys. In the case shown one end of the chain is fastened to the tube d, and the
chain runs over a pulley ² journalled in the piston-rod c¹. h is a guide for the
piston-rod c'.
If the tube and the piston c are on the same level as the tool, the tube f should
to have the same sectional area as the tool has at the outer end of the journal.
If again the tube is situated on a higher or lower level its sectional area should
to be so much larger or smaller that the pressure of the water upon the piston
corresponds to the pressure with which the tool is pressed inward by the water.
The pressure of the water upon the piston thus counterbalances the pressure upon
the tool. When the tool is to be moved out only the friction in the journal has
to be overcome.
The area of the piston can also be made so much greater as to overcome the
friction. If desirable it may also be so arranged that the tool will be drawn out
by the piston with greater (or less) force than it is pressed inward by the water-
pressure.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is;
1. In an apparatus of the class described, a piston adapted to be acted upon by
the pressure of the water outside the diving bell or the like, and so connected to a
tool that it tends to move the tool in a direction opposite to that in which the
pressure of water upon the tool tends to move the same.
2. The combination with a diving-bell or the like, of a tube one end of which
communicates with the outside of the bell and the other end with the inside, and
a piston moving watertight in said tube and connected by means of chains and
pulleys, or the like with the inner part of a tool thrust out through the wall,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 10th day of January 1898.
WALLACE FAIRWEATHER.