IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF HARBOURS OF REFUGE, BREAKWATERS, SEA WALLS OR BARRIERS, AND OTHER LIKE STRUCTURES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richardson, of Hartlepool, in the County of
Durham, Engineer, and George William Jaffrey, of the same Place,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND
CONSTRUCTION OF HARBOURS OF REFUGE, BREAKWATERS, SEA WALLS OR
BARRIERS, AND OTHER LIKE STRUCTURES."
Sealed the 22nd July 1859, and dated the 2nd April 1859.-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richardson and
George William Jaffrey at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 2nd April 1859.
We, THOMAS RICHARDSON, of Hartlepool, in the County of Durham,
Engineer, and GEORGE WILLIAM JAFFREY, of the same Place, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF HARBOURS OF REFUGE, BREAKWATERS, SEA
WALLS OR BARRIERS, AND OTHER LIKE STRUCTURES," to be as follows:―
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of defensive
and protective sea works of various kinds, such as harbours of refuge, break-
waters, sea walls, barriers, and other sea board structures or contrivances
intended either for the defence of the coast against the action of the wind and
waves, or for protecting shipping. The details employed in carrying out this
Invention in actual practice consist mainly of a row, line, or series of tapered
towers, cylindrical in transverso section, and made either of cast or wrought

page_text: iron or of stone, each tower having a clear intermediate distance or space
between each at the top equal to its diameter. These spaces are in each case
filled in with balks of timber, cast-iron pipes or malleable iron tubes, or other
suitable material, so arranged as to form a species of vertical lattice or screen
to break the oscillation of the waves. These lattice or intermediate barrier
work also serves the purpose of preventing the inner sides of harbours from
silting up, as they allow the tides to flow freely in and out right through them,
which effect is impossible of accomplishment in close or impermeable sea wall
harbours. Harbours or sea barriers may be constructed according to this
plan in a very short time as compared with that required in the case of
ordinary works. All the towers can be made and finished on shore, and then
taken out to sea by derricks, and sunk on the exact spots necessary. Hollow
metal towers of this class may be pumped dry after being sunk, so that the
stone or other blocks used for the central filling up mass may all be made on
shore to moulds, and then laid in their places with as much ease as on dry
land. The cement for the interior mass is thus kept free from the wash of
the waves, and if "beton" is used in its rough state, the metal tower answers
as a mould to form a solid block or tower of beton deposited inside it, and
which is capable of standing securely even if the external metal casing is
destroyed. The lattice or screen frames can also be made on shore and
dropped into vertical grooves made in the contiguous sides of the towers by
the derrick. The filling up material of the towers may be stone or other
massive matter, solid beton or concrete, or beton filled in with a central mass
of slag. A permanent gangway is fitted up along the tops of the line of
towers, which, besides serving the purpose of a permanent passage, answers
also the temporary one of enabling the contractor to execute his work without
the aid of the usual gangway and scaffolding plant. In these structures
nothing is wasted, as each block or detail performs its allotted and intended
purpose, whilst within the guarded line the enclosed water space is safe, and
deep water for ships, which may come safely alongside the line of structure.
Each tower has a totally independent stability of its own equal to that of a
continuous solid wall; indeed the spaces between the towers may be filled in
with solid masonry, defended by latticework or bars of any suitable kind
so as to form a continuous solid line, but this solid or impermeable barrier is
not so useful or appropriate for the purpose as the permeable or open line or
wall herein-before described. The towers may either be solid throughout
or hollow, and merely lined with the filling up or strengthening material.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Richardson and George William Jaffrey in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
RICHARDSON, of Hartlepool, in the County of Durham, Engineer, and GEORGE
WILLIAM JAFFREY, of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Thomas Richardson and George William Jaffrey, Her special license
that we,. the said Thomas Richardson and George William Jaffrey, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas
Richardson and George William Jaffrey, our executors, administrators, or
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 THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF HARBOURS OF
REFUGE, BREAKWATERS, SEA WALLS OR BARRIERS, AND OTHER LIKE STRUCTURES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Richardson
and George William Jaffrey, by an instrument in writing under our 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 we, the said Thomas Richardson and George
William Jaffrey, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:
Our said Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of defensive
and protective sea works of various kinds, such as harbours of refuge, break-
waters, sea walls, barriers, and other sea board structures or contrivances
intended either for the defence of the coast against the action of the wind and
waves, or for protecting shipping. The details employed in carrying out this
Invention in actual, practice, consist mainly of a row, line, or series of tapered

page_text: towers, cylindrical in transverse section, and made either of cast or wrought
iron or of stone, each tower having a clear intermediate distance or space
between each at the top, equal to its diameter. These spaces are in each case
filled in with balks of timber, cast-iron pipes or malleable iron tubes, or other
suitable material, so arranged as to form a species of vertical lattico or screen
to break the oscillation of the waves. These lattice or intermediate barrier
work also serves the purpose of preventing the inner sides of harbours from
silting up, as they allow the tides to flow freely in and out right through
them, which effect is impossible of accomplishment in close or impermeable
sea wall harbours. Harbours or sea barriers may be constructed according
to this plan in a very short time as compared with that required in the case of
ordinary works. All the towers can be made and finished on shore, and then
taken out to sea by derricks, and sunk on the exact spots necessary. Hollow
metal towers of this class may be pumped dry after being sunk, so that the
stone or other blocks used for the central filling up mass may all be made on
.shore to moulds, and then laid in their place with as much ease as on dry
land. The cement for the interior mass is thus kept free from the wash of
the waves, and if "beton" is used in its rough state, the metal tower answers
as a mould to form a solid block or tower of beton deposited inside it, and
which is capable of standing securely even if the external metal casing is
destroyed. The lattice or screen frames can also be made on shore, and
dropped into vertical grooves made in the contiguous sides of the towers by
the derrick. The filling-up material of the towers may be stone or other
• massive matter, solid beton or concrete, or beton filled in with a central mass
of slag. A permanent gangway is fitted up along the tops of the line of
towers, which, besides serving the purpose of a permanent passage, answers
also the temporary one of enabling the contractor to execute his work without
the aid of the usual gangway and scaffolding plant. In these structures
-nothing is wasted, as each block or detail performs its allotted and intended
purpose. whilst, within the guarded line, the inclosed water space is safe and
deep water for ships, which may come safely alongside the line of structure.
Each tower has a totally independent stability of its own equal to that of a
continuous solid mass. Indeed the spaces between the towers may be filled
in with solid masonry, defended by latticework or bars of any suitable kind,
so as to form a continuous solid line. But this solid or impermeable barrier
is not so useful or appropriate for the purpose as the permeable or open line or
wall herein-before described. The towers may either be solid throughout or
hollow, and merely lined with the filling up or strengthening material.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we shall now

page_text: proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose we shall
refer to the Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in both Figures.
Figure 1 on the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents in side elevation
and partial vertical section a breakwater constructed according to our
Invention, and Figure 2 is a corresponding plan and horizontal section of
the same.
In carrying out our Invention in the arrangement and construction of a
harbour of refuge for ships, we, in the first place, construct a number or series
of iron towers A, A, so that when these towers are deposited in the sea at the
predetermined distance asunder, they extend outwards and partially enclose
the required extent of sea room. The towers are by preference made of a
circular figure in transverse section, wide at the base and tapering towards the
upper part, sweeping inwards from the base with a curve, or rising upwards
with straight sides of a gradually tapering or conical figure. These towers
are by preference constructed of cast iron or malleable iron, or partly of both
kinds of metal, but in lieu of these materials they may be constructed of
stone or timber, and made solid in the manner herein-after described.
In constructing the towers of metal, a framing of perpendicular and trans-
verse circular or cylindrical ribs is bolted together so as to form a skeleton
figure of the predetermined shape. This framing is then covered with
sheets of cast or wrought iron, which are riveted or otherwise secured to
the internal framing. The height and size of these towers must depend to a
great extent upon the depth of water and the position of the work; we may,
however, give as an example of a useful size for these towers, diameter at the
base thirty-five feet, tapering to a diameter of twenty-seven feet at the upper
part. The open bottom towers constructed in this manner are taken out to sca
in succession upon a powerful derrick or pontoon, or other suitable floating
apparatus, and are then sunk upon the spot required; the towers are arranged
in a straight or curved line at such a distance apart as to leave between each
an intermediate space equal at the upper part to the smaller diameter of the
tower or thereabouts. The towers being disposed in this manner, the water
contained within each is then pumped out, and the interior of the tower is
filled in with masonry, the blocks of stone being previously cut to the required
5 shape on shore; in this manner the work may be carried on with great
rapidity, the cement used in the building operations being meanwhile wholly
protected from the wash of the sea water. Instead of using stone as the
material for filling in the towers, concrete, beton, or other hard drying plastic
cement may be moulded into blocks of the required figure on shore and dried ;

page_text: these blocks when fitted into their proper places within the tower are to be
cemented together with a thin mixture of the cement or plastic material used
for moulding the blocks. In some cases we should give the preference to
another mode of procedure, namely, to fill the whole of the interior of each
tower with "beton" or hydraulic cement, as shewn at B, which cement
solidifying within the tower, the whole forms a compact and solid mass capablo
of withstanding the waves of the sea after the removal or wearing away of the
external plates of metal. In lieu of this solid mass of beton, a filling-in may
be used composed of beton, having a central mass or core of slag as at C, the
interstices of which may be filled up with the liquid, so as to form the whole
into a solid mass. The operation of filling up the towers with masonry or
with plastic materials is materially facilitated by the convenience which the
summits of the towers afford for at once laying down a permanent gangway or
road D from one tower to another, along which gangway materials and implo-
ments can be conveyed with nearly the same facility as on shore. In this
manner the expensive and costly plant required in harbour and const works of
'the ordinary kind are wholly dispensed with, and the work is done at far less
cost than can be accomplished with the usual structures. In place of con-
structing the towers of iron, they may be built wholly of stone, a suitable
caisson being sunk over the spot where the tower is to be erected; the water
having been pumped out of the caisson, the work may be carried on with great
rapidity if the several blocks of stone have been previously cut to the required
shape on shore. The open spaces between the contiguous towers are filled in
with open vertical frames 'E, E, which serve to break up and divide the waves
as they roll in, the water passing through the open screens without hindranco,
and yet in a comparitively smooth and. untroubled state, and so as to render
the position of the shipping in the harbour perfectly secure. These lattice
screens are constructed of balks of timber strongly bolted together, open
rectangular spaces being left between the contiguous vertical and transverse
beams of timbers. These lattico screens are by preference constructed on
shore, and in the opposite faces of each contiguous pair of towers, a deep
vertical groove is formed, either by bolting pieces of angle iron to the face of
the tower, or by casting the grooves in the plates of towers, or by securing
pieces of timber thereto in a similar manner. These lattice screens are taken
out in succession on the derrick, they are raised thereby to a sufficient height
to admit of their being lowered down into the grooves made for their reception
on the contiguous faces of the towers. Another mode of constructing theso
screens is to form them of cast-iron pipes or of malleable iron tubes. The
vertical tubes are connected together so as to form a frame or lattice by means

page_text: of transverse bars of metal at the upper and lower parts, and, if necessary, at
intermediate distances. These screens are fitted into the adjacent grooves in
the towers in the same manner as described in reference to those composed of
timber. In addition to the protective action of these screens, there is another
and highly important advantage attending the use of them in harbour and
other similar sea works, which is, that from their open construction they
prevent the silting up or accumulation of the sand inside the harbour, as the
tide has free access and egress through the open screen, so that the original
depth of water is maintained, and a prolific source of expense in the main-
tenance of dredging apparatus is avoided. The construction of harbours, piers,
or quays upon this plan admits of vessels approaching close up to the towers,
thus avoiding the waste of room and inconvenience attending long sloping
sea walls of the ordinary construction. Even in situations where a rigid or
impermeable sea wall would not be objectionable, our system offers considerable
advantages in point of strength, economy of first cost and facility of con-
struction. In such situations the towers are constructed and disposed as
herein-before described, but the intermediate spaces between the towers are
filled in either with a wall of masonry as at F, F, or are formed of blocks of
"beton" or concrete cemented together, and defended or not on the outer or
seaward side by a latticework of timber or metal. For these structures the
towers may either be the simple iron tower sunk into its proper place, or it
may be partially or wholly filled up with masonry, "beton," or other suitable
material. According to this system of constructing harbours, breakwaters,
sea walls, and other similar exposed works, it is impossible to carry out such
works in a manner more economical, for if properly conducted no portion of
the materials employed need be wasted, which is far from being the case
in structures of the ordinary kind, however careful the contractors may be in
the disposal of their materials.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, we would observe, in conclusion, that what we consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of harbours of refuge,
breakwaters, sea walls or barriers, and other like structures in the manner
herein-before described, or any mere modification thereof.
Second, the system or mode of arranging and constructing harbours, break-
waters, sea walls or barriers, and other like structures according to the
modifications herein-before described, or any merc equivalent therefor.

page_text: Third, the use and application of iron towers or columns whether filled or
not with stone, "beton," concrete, or other suitable materials in the construc-
tion of harbours, breakwaters, sea walls or barriers, and other like structures,
as herein-before described.
Fourth, the use and application of open frames or lattice screens, when
used in conjunction with stationary towers or columns in harbours, break-
waters, sea walls, and other like structures for the purpose of breaking up
and neutralising the force of the inrolling waves, at the same time preventing
the filling up of the harbour by the deposition of sand, as herein-beforo
described.
Fifth, the system or mode of forming harbours, breakwaters, sea walls, and
other like structures by means of a series of stone towers or columns arranged
in conjunction with intervening open frames or lattice screens, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Richardson and George
William Jaffrey, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
ninth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
THOMAS RICHARDSON