IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR TOWING SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR LAYING SUB- MARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Maze Kilner, of No. 3, Saltney Road,
Chester, Clerk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE
USED FOR TOWING SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR LAYING SUB-
MARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES."
Sealed the 7th October 1867, and dated the 4th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Maze Kilner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th April 1867.
I, JAMES MAZE KILNER, of No. 3, Saltney Road, Chester, Clerk, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO
BE USED FOR TOWING SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IS APPARATUS FOR LAYING SUBMARINE
TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be used for
towing ships or vessels, and in apparatus for laying submarine telegraph cables.
I form each vessel with a tube or passage passing downwards from the deck of
the vessel and out through the bottom; in this tube a slide works in which
are passages, one for the towing chain to pass down and others for stays. The
towing chain passes down the passage in the slide of the tug to and up the
[Price Sd.]

page_text: corresponding slide of the towed vessel. There are on board both vessels
windlasses or winches suitably placed for hauling in and slacking out the tow
chain and for setting up the stays which stay the slides to take off from them the
strain of the tow chain. The tow chain being in this arrangement immersed in
water will not be liable to the violent vibrations and jerks to which a tow rope
suspended in the air is in rough weather subjected; greater freedom also is
given to the steerage of the vessel, the points of attachment of the tow chain
being brought nearer the centres of the vessels. The slides are employed more
especially to keep the tow chain free of the bottoms of the vessels when the
towing and towed vessels differ considerably in draft of water; their use
however, is not in all cases necessary, and the tow chain may pass freely
through the tube which is lipped for it like a hawse pipe both at the bottom
and top.
For submerging telegraph cables I employ an inclined tube passing down
through the vessel and furnished with a hawse pipe lip at the top and bottom.
The lower end of the pipe is at or near the centre of the length of the vessel.
and near the upper end of the pipe on the deck of the vessel is the brake
apparatus for checking the speed at which the cable runs out.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Maze Kilner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MAZE KILNER, of No. 3, Saliney Road, Chester, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Maze Kilner. Her special licence that I, the said James Maze Kilner,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I. the said James
Maze Kilner, 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
APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR TOWING SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR
LAYING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES," upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said James Maze Kilner, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my. or their, or one 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that the said James Maze Kilner, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be used
especially for towing ships or vessels, and in apparatus for laying submarine
telegraph cables; the said apparatus is, however, also useful in many other
ways.
Figure is a longitudinal section, and Figure 2 is a plan, of a portion
of the deck of a ship having apparatus combined with it according to my
Invention.
In my Specification I use the following terms by which I hope to make
myself more thoroughly understood:-
The Cleaver, which is marked A in the Drawings, is a slide perforated for
the passage of the towing chain and stays; this slide passes through the ship,
and is called "cleaver" from its form for cleaving the water; it is capable
of being raised and lowered by à purchase, a side view of which is shewn
separately at Figure 3.
The Cleaver Trunk is the case in which the cleaver works and in which the
water rises and falls to its external level.
The Sub-cleaver is a spar of hard wood or iron thrust through one of the
apertures of the cleaver so as to lengthen it when required; it is not a
necessary appendage to the cleaver.
Alley. This is the common name I apply to all the narrow passages con-
nected with my apparatus; it is already a familiar name, as the passage
through which the screw shaft passes in screw steam vessels is called the screw
alley.
Throat Alleys, marked B, B, are attached to the cleaver trunk only when
required for false keels, the chains passing through them lift the false keel, as
the throat hallyards do the throat of a fore and aft sail, hence their name.
The Quadrant Rail. This is an instrument which is substituted for the
usual arched rail used for bearing tow ropes above the deck of a tug
vessel.

page_text: The Grab Link.-This is an instrument which can be applied to a chain at
any point in its length for the purpose of retaining it.
Methods of Reeving the Chains.-For reeving chains in any of the alleys I
adopt either of the following three methods:-First. I sink a small grapnel by
means of a sounding lead and line through the alley in which the chain is
required to be passed: I then take another lead line with two leads attached
to its bight the breadth of the ship apart; "I under-run the ship" from
forward, as the lead line passes aft it must be hooked by the grapnel, and thus
communication with both sides of the ship is attained. Or, second, the pump
hook may be lowered or any long piece of rigid iron, taking care to keep the
hook pointing forward. Or, 3rd, I attach a deep sea lead to its line more than
twice the depth of the ship from its end, and to the end a piece of bamboo or
cigar-shaped buoy; I sink the lead until it draws the bamboo clear of the ship's
bottom, then draw in the lead again and unbend it, and vere out the line so
as to let the bamboo rise to the surface, from thence it may be picked up.
The following are the uses to which my apparatus may be applied :-
1. Submarine telegraphing.
The Grab Link.-This is an instrument which can be applied to a chain at
any point in its length for the purpose of retaining it.
Methods of Reeving the Chains.-For reeving chains in any of the alleys I
adopt either of the following three methods:-First. I sink a small grapnel by
means of a sounding lead and line through the alley in which the chain is
required to be passed: I then take another lead line with two leads attached
to its bight the breadth of the ship apart; "I under-run the ship
"from
forward, as the lead line passes aft it must be hooked by the grapnel, and thus
communication with both sides of the ship is attained. Or, second, the pump
hook may be lowered or any long piece of rigid iron, taking care to keep the
hook pointing forward. Or, 3rd, I attach a deep sea lead to its line more than
twice the depth of the ship from its end, and to the end a piece of bamboo or
cigar-shaped buoy; I sink the lead until it draws the bamboo clear of the ship's
bottom, then draw in the lead again and unbend it, and vere out the line so
as to let the bamboo rise to the surface, from thence it may be picked up.
The following are the uses to which my apparatus may be applied :-
1. Submarine telegraphing.
2. Towing ships or vessels.
3. Towing torpedoes.
4. Anchoring ships, or floating light vessels exposed to heavy riding.
5. Propelling ships in calms.
6. Steadying ships by means of false keels.
7. Ballasting ships by suspending anchors or guns to the cleaver, &c.
8. Careening ships, the cleaver acting as a lever.
9. Steering ships under special circumstances.
10. Piercing hostile ships by means of a submarine bayonet to be affixed
to the bows.
11. Cleansing the bottoms of ships.
12. Raising sunken ships.
13. Pumping up sea water for washing decks or extinguishing fires.
14. Waterclosets and urinals.
For Towing. The chain may pass down one of the alleys or over the sterr
and quadrant rail of the tug to and up the cleaver or alley of the towed vessel
The tow chain being in this arrangement immersed in water will not be
liable to the violent vibrations to which a rope suspended in the air is in rough
weather subjected; greater freedom also is given to the steerage of the vessels
the points of attachment of the tow chain being brought nearer to thei
centres. The cleavers are employed more especially to keep the tow chai
free of the bottoms of the vessels when the towing and towed vessels diffe

page_text: considerably in draft of water: their use however is not in all cases necessary.
and the tow chain may pass freely through the alley in cases where the cleaver is
not used. The tow chain however need not of necessity itself go through
the ship, but when desired may be frapped down by means of a single or
double spring chain, so that though it passes in the first instance out at the
bower hawse hole its strain is brought to bear on the ship at a low level
beneath the water. The spring chain acts upon the bower chain by means
of my Invention, a grab link to the lower part of which the spring is shackled
if single, or if double it passes through a thimble and back to a point at or near
its departure from the ship. When a double spring chain is employed instead
of a single alley in the centre, which I otherwise use, T. have twin alleys which
pass from the deck of the ship through the garboard streak or dead wood on
either side the keel a little abaft the fore foot, or on either side the stem
a little above the fore foot, or correspondingly in an iron vessel; one of these
alleys contains the standing part, and the other the hauling part of the spring
chain. The grab link is shewn at Figure 4; when these alleys pass by an
incline through the fore foot or near it the plunging of the vessel in a seaway
would probably cause the water to be thrown up as a fountain by them; to
avert this I have invented a breakwater lip which turns inwards, as shown in
Figure 5. Instead of the usual arched rail used for bearing tow ropes above
the deck of a tug vessel I substitute my quadrant rail, which is shewn in
plan at Figure 6, and in side view at Figure 7; it rests and is secured on the
taffrail of the vessel, and projects on either side beyond the quarter. The
quadrant rail is divided into three pieces, the centre of which is firmly secured
to the taffrail and forms a base or pivot on which the inner ends of the
projecting parts are attached, and by means of which they can be turned
forwards at pleasure so as to be out of the way when the vessel is going along
side a quay or other vessel. Two rigid bars of flat iron of sufficient strength
are attached to the funnel or mast, which being properly secured by stays
forms the centre of strain for towing. These bars with the mast or funnel
form an acute angled triangle, of which the latter is the perpendicular base.
The bars relatively occupy the position of boom and topping lift, and
swing when required from side to side, being attached by shackles to strong
spider hoops, which encircle the mast or funnel at their point of junction with
each other; two more parallel bars of flat iron are attached by a pin and fore
lock, and to these again at their after extremity are affixed a roller and hook.
The roller travels from side to side on the quadrant rail, and the hook (which
is meant to be inserted in the extreme link of the tow chain) can be made to
let go the latter at any moment by releasing the lever which (when depressed

page_text: and secured in its position by a forelock pin) sustains the weight and tension
of the chain. The quadrant rail, &c. may be used for overall rope towing, but
in this case the roller should be removed so as in reduce the weight of the
parallel bars, which would be lifted off the rail by direct tension. By means
of my system of submerged chain towing an auxiliary screw sailing ship such as
a frigate, corvette, or sloop of war, might be commissioned under one captain,
officers, and crew and despatched to a distant part of the world without once
severing the connection, unless desired, under any circumstance of weather.
Thus the crew of the Monitor would not be doomed to lengthened imprison-
ment in the close dark quarters that at best can be provided in such a vessel,
but would be relieved periodically or when weather would permit by relays
of officers and men, who in their turn, would be recruited in health by a return
to the more roomy quarters of the larger vessel. In this way many of the
noble ships now lying in idleness or destined for the ship breakers yard may
be usefully employed, and vast expense saved to the country. In stormy
weather the Monitor would ride in comparative security in the wake of the
larger vessel, the scope of the chain being adjusted to the circumstances and
its strain relieved by the quasi elasticity imparted to it by the action of the
water on it. In a calm or very light wind (neither vessel being under steam)
the weight of the chain would help to bring about a dangerous proximity;
to avoid this let one vessel slip her end of the chain, having first attached to
it a light hawser which she may veer away to any length, and so preserve a
safe distance, the chain the while being "shortened in" by the other vessel
until circumstances shall once more render the normal connection (the chain)
advisable. It should be observed that the "tug" and the "towed" may reverse
their relations whenever occasions require it without severing the connection,
as the chain may radiate in any direction from the point of its departure from
either vessel; ordinary steam colliers might tow with them one or more other
vessels specially constructed for the purpose, and needing no other crew than
two or three men to relieve each other at the helm, as their meals might be
conveyed to them by means of a messenger line from the towing steamer.
To avoid collision (or under other special circumstances) by means of a small
line led aft the helmsman may at any moment slip the end of the tow chain,
a line being attached to a trigger which at once releases it by the same
method as is frequently used for releasing the cat-head stopper from an
anchor.
The following inconveniences incidental to over-all rope towing are avoided
by my system :-
1. Danger to life and limb, and frequently to the safety of the ship, by the

page_text: sudden snapping of hawsers, as in the possible event of the chain being
broken by my system its immediate effect would be harmless.
2. Wear and tear by friction to hawsers and the parts of a ship with which
they come in contact.
3. The more rapid deterioration in the strength of rope compared with
chain under all circumstances, and it must be remembered that the latter
may be rendered more durable and smooth for its passage through the water
by galvanizing or painting.
4. Trouble and inconvenience to passengers and crew, caused by the
necessary shifting of a hawser from quarter to quarter on board the towing
vessel.
5. The impossibility of maintaining connection between a tug and towed
vessel throughout a gale of wind or the continuance of a long voyage.
:
6. The depression of the bows of a vessel when being towed by the ordinary
method (often the occasion of danger and loss) is avoided, the tension at a
lower point having the effect of raising the vessel's bow, while when necessary
its contrary effect on the tug may be avoided by the use of the quandrant rail
apparatus, which may be employed as an auxiliary to suspend the chain
passing from the cleaver of the tug or by direct action from the vessel towed.
When the cleaver is considerably lowered I employ two stay or back stay
chains which pass down through the cleaver and up alleys specially prepared
for their reception at any convenient position between the bilge and garboard
streaks. If preferred the stay chains may hook or shackle on to eye bolts at
any accessible position, or two of the scuppers may be formed to act as
hawseholes for their reception as well as ordinarily for the discharge of water
from the deck. I prefer however the first method mentioned as it exposes
less of the stay chains to be trailed through the water.
Sub-cleaver. When required I use a sub-cleaver which is thrust through
one of the alleys of the cleaver beyond and below it. The sub-cleaver may
be supported by a stay which is shackled on to its lower end, it is also
furnished with a block. A line is passed from the deck down one of the
alleys of the cleaver through the block and thence is attached to the vessel.
or object to be towed. The principal use of the sub-cleaver is to tow
torpedos construct these of a cigar-form with a cast-iron pipe running
through their centre. The torpedo may be charged with combustibles and its
specific gravity adjusted so that it will just sustain itself in the water, and
when towed will be kept at right angles from the point of traction.
electric wire passes from the combustibles and is connected with another wire
extracted from the centre of the tow rope at the countersunk end of the
An

page_text: torpedo.
The wire now passes along through the rope up the cleaver and
into the ship; two or three of these torpedos may thus be strung on one
The sternmost
rope which contains a corresponding number of wires.
torpedo must be ignited first by connecting its wire with a battery; the explo-
sion will destroy the tube and so much of the rope as it contains; a second,
and a third, or more, may thus be exploded in like manner in quick succession
and probably with considerable effect on a hostile vessel when attempting to
cross the stern or follow in the wake of a vessel armed with these destructive
weapons. The torpedos may be made of a diameter sufficiently small that
they may be thrust down the large alley of the cleaver and committed to
the water from the lower deck of a large ship without exposing a man, or
they may be thrown over the side and thence taken in tow. The rope which
passes through the torpedo is sustained in its position by two india-rubber
washers which encircle it, the wire being between them; a third flat washer
encircles the rope at the fore end of the torpedo and keeps the rope from
being chafed at that point as well as firm.
For Submerging Telegraph Cables.-I employ an inclined tube passing down
through the vessel; the lower end of the pipe is at or near the centre of the
length of the vessel, and near the upper end of the pipe on the deck of the
vessel is the brake apparatus for checking the speed at which the cable runs
out. sometimes place a large sheave instead of a lip at the lower part of
the tube. By my method the ship carrying the cable and from which it is
payed out need not of necessity be a steamer, e.g., an old line-of-battle ship
otherwise useless would do as well, and thus the great expense paid for
the delay in port of a large valuable steam ship for the months necessarily
occupied in coiling on board the thousands of miles of cable required to span
the Atlantic would be saved. The weight of coals and machinery too would
be saved, and probably the tonnage thus left unoccupied would suffice without
making the ship too deep for carrying the shore end of the cable, which might
be paid out through one of my cleaver trunks fitted with a sheave at its lower
part. Besides the line-of-battle ship which carries the cable 1 should employ
three steam vessels of moderate capacities to tow her, because I assume that
one or even two vessels (unless of extraordinary size) could not carry coal
sufficient to tow a vessel at the rate of four or five knots across the Atlantic,
the vessels then would proceed one ahead of the other connected by my
towing apparatus. The foremost vessel need have but one cleaver, i.e., for
towing it would be her province to tow the other three vessels, say for a
third of the distance, until her supply of coals shall be exhausted or nearly
so, the two other steam vessels merely keeping their fires banked up o

page_text: assisting very sligtly in the progress so as io economize their fuel until their
turn shall come. The first vessel having been released by the second vessel
slipping her towing cable may return home. No. 2 now takes up the towing
until another third of the distance has been completed, when No. 3 proceeds
to tow for the rest of the voyage. By this arrangement a continued progress
at a speed sufficient for the purpose may be made. Communication between.
the towed and towing vessels can be maintained (if desired) by a
separate electric cable suspended in the air from one ship to the other, so
that orders may be as freely transmitted as if the operation were confined to
one ship.
Apart from the towing method the advantages of my system of laying a
cable through the centre of a ship are as follows:-
1. It would subject the cable to less strain by the raising and falling
of the vessel than there must be when the cable is payed over the
stern.
2. It would admit of the successful laying of a cable considerably less in
weight and strength.
3. It would protect a cable from injury by a ship passing close astern of
the vessel laying it.
4. The cable thus laid would be straighter as it would be less affected by
any deviations made in the direct line of the ship's course.
5. As the operations might thus be entirely under cover of the upper deck
they would be unimpeded by rain, by stormy weather, or by darkness.
6. The men employed would be more under the inspection of their officers,
and any malevolent attempts to injure the cable from interested motives
would be more readily detected.
For Anchoring Ships.-The cable attached to the anchor may be passed
direct through any of the alleys used for towing; or it may be frapped down
as suggested for towing by the use of the "grab link," which should be
suspended with the circular part in front of the hawsehole with the chain
cable rove through it before the anchor is let go. When the anchor is down
and the bower cable taught ahead the grab link may be lowered so that its
narrow part will grab the cable. The spring chain (which as in towing may
be single or double) is then "hove taught." and secured; when this is done
the bower cable may be "veered out" of its hawse until the spring has the
entire strain or shares it equally with the bower chain. If more scope is
required both bower and spring chains may thenceforth be veered out at the
same time; or if the bower chain only is to be lengthened the spring should
first be slackened and it and the grab link suspended to the bowsprit by

page_text: means of a single or double tripping line or chain depending by a snatch-block
from the bowsprit; thus "tripped up" the narrow part of the grab link will
be detached and the bower chain may freely pass through the circular part.
Before the bower chain has been fully veered to its required length the
tripping line is slackened and the "slack" of the spring gathered in. The
bower cable may now again be veered out as before-described until the spring
shares its strain. On weighing the anchor, the spring, if single, should be
slackened, if double one of its ends may be slipped and "unrove," the grab
link will then come up with the part of the cable to which it is attached, and
when high enough may be suspended in front of the hawse as before the
anchor was let go.
For Propelling Ships.-I form a piece of timber or iron casting (which I
call a propeller block) as a continuation of the cleaver at its lower end. In
the centre of the length of this block I place a V sheave crossways, and through
this sheave fore and aft ways a shaft, to which I attach at either end two
two-bladed propellers, which are revolved by an endless chain which passes
under the above-described V wheel, through the centre alley of the cleaver,
and over one of two driving wheels affixed side by side to a standard on deck;
a driving band or rope is now taken round the other wheel, and this attached
to the driving wheel of a donkey engine; or if desired the apparatus may
be worked by a quarter deck capstan which has over it (at sufficient height
for the men to walk beneath) a horizontal V wheel of large circumference
equal, it may be, to that occupied by the capstan and its bars. It is proposed
that this horizontal V wheel should be of light structure, which though it may be
removed at pleasure would hold but little wind, and would be useful and rather
an ornament than otherwise to a quarter deck, as it could be made to spread
a circular awning that would itself be quite out of the way of the running
rigging of the ship, which ordinary awnings are not. There are two large
dowels attached to the propeller block. When desired for use the whole of
the under water apparatus is prepared on deck. Two chains are attached to
the dowels of the propeller block, which are passed through the first and third
alleys of the cleaver up to the deck. A line is attached to the bight of the
endless driving chain to draw it up the centre alley; or it may be hooked up
afterwards, and a guy line or chain is attached to a swivel at the fore end of
the propeller shaft. The whole apparatus is now lowered overboard, and when
raised to its place the dowels will keep it firm. When it is desired to take
the apparatus inboard the driving chain may be unshackled and detached; the
apparatus may then be lowered until clear of the cleaver, and by means of the
guy chain the whole may be raised to the lee cathead and taken inboard by

page_text: the fish tackle or other purchase. Where the deep draught of water required
for propellers beneath the ship is objected to I form a two or three bladed
propeller in front of the stem or cutwater of the vessel, secured by means of a
framework and dowels. The dowels are drawn up by ropes or chains info
the alleys on either side the stern or keel near the fore foot. A driving sheave
is fixed abaft the screw, and the shaft slightly projecting in front of the sheaves
terminates in a swivel link to which is attached a chain or rope that suspends
it to the bowsprit end. Above the bowsprit or alongside it are similar driving
wheels to those before described, by means of which connection is established
with the donkey engine or capstan. In tropical climates where land and sea
breezes with intervals of calm prevail ships of wars with large crews would find
the use of my propellers worked by the capstan a means of saving fuel on the
frequent occasions that occur for removing short distances or getting out of
harbours to the open seaway. Applied to ordinary sailing ships they afford
with a donkey engine a means of making progress in calms which though slow
may help materially to lessen the length of passages.
False keels of three kinds may be applied with my apparatus.
1. A block similar to the propeller block is formed with a slot lengthways
so as to admit a sheet of iron until its upper part will touch the foot of the
cleaver. In this position it is secured by nut screw bolts, and may be
lowered overboard and raised to its position as described under the head of
propellers.
2. The triangular keel is formed by a sheet or sheets of iron suspended by
a throat chain through one of the throat alleys, and at its acute angle by two
chains, which may pass up the screw well or rudder trunk, and so firmly
sustain the false keel in a central position. Should the vessel have a keel
two cheeks may be attached to the acute angle of the false keel, which will
clip the keel proper. The lower angle is distended by a chain passed up the
cleaver.
3. The third false keel is formed by a sheet or sheets of iron in a square
form, and is only adapted to vessels fitted with two of my cleavers. It is raised
and sustained in its position by two throat chains and two others which distend
its lower corners to the foot of each cleaver. Either of the systems may be
adopted at pleasure, as one does not involve the other. Where more than
one sheet of iron is used they may be stiffened by battens of wood or iron; or
their top and bottom edges may be inserted in lengths of iron of a Jew's harp
section, and secured by nut screws. It is imagined that these false keels or
any one of them will have great effect on a ship in lessening her rolling and

page_text: leeway. The general arrangements heretofore alluded to are shown in the
sketches on Sheet III.
Ships shifting their cargoes need have no apprehension of capsizing by taking
the simple precaution of suspending one or more anchors or guns to the ship's
bottom through my apparatus.
Careening. Ships that have sustained injury to their bottoms in many parts
of the world can only effect repairs by careening by means of purchases affixed
to their masts. Ships supplied with my cleavers will find them very powerful
auxiliary levers, which will render the operation less difficult and dangerous,
and often practicable when it would otherwise be impossible, effecting, it may
be, the saving of a ship when her condemnation would otherwise be inevitable.
Steering Ships. In the event of accident to a ship's rudder a temporary
steering apparatus may be readily applied by either of the following
methods:-
1st, a spar (which must be iron or hard wood so that it will sink) is sus-
pended beneath the ship, one end to the foot of the cleaver and the other to
two ropes or chains, which pass through blocks attached to spars which are
rigged out as davits on each side of the ship. Two tackles are applied across
the ship, and the falls taken to the steering wheel; by this means the after
end of the submerged spar may be drawn from side to side as a rudder.
2nd, two weights like the sash weights of a window are made to fit the
back stay alleys with sufficient freedom that they may easily be drawn up or
lowered down by the chain or rope which suspends them; there is a block at
the upper part of each alley from which the chain or rope is led to the
steering wheel, the action of which will raise or lower at pleasure either of
the weights, which when partially below the ship's bottom will with greater or
less force (according to the length protruded) offer a resistance that will divert
the ship's course and steer her.
For Cleaning Ship's Bottoms.-The cleaver and any of the alleys connected
with my apparatus may be used for "see-sawing" a rope to which a brush is
attached; by this means the run and other parts of the ship which cannot
otherwise be reached by the ordinary appliances may be cleansed.
The Submarine Bayonet is formed of wrought steel or other metal; it is
nicely fitted as a shoe to the stem and fore foot; it has a dowel for passing up
the alley marked No. 2 in the sketch, Figure 8. If there be a keel the shoe
of the bayonet must be fitted to it and drawn up tight by a chain passing
down one alley on one side of the keel at No. 2 and up the corresponding one
after passing beneath the shoe in a slot made to receive it; it is desired that

page_text: the throat of the dowel marked T should be very strong, so that when a
hostile ship is struck it may have its full proportion of the force of the con-
cussion, the stem and forefoot sharing it likewise, thus there will be the
whole length of the keel or kelson as a backing. The bayonet may be fixed
at any time in smooth water or moderate weather in the following manner:-
A chain must be attached single or double (in the latter case through a
sheave) at the top of the dowel and passed through alley No. 2, by which it
is drawn up in position when lowered over the bows by a tackle attached to
the bowspit or to a knee in its place, if there be no bowspit. There is a hole
in the upper part of the bayonet through which a length of a chain cable passes
from the foremost starboard to the foremost port hawsehole; this chain sus-
tains the main weight of the bayonet; the remaining hawsehole on each side
is reserved for the use of the anchors. If preferred, I form a slot and sheave
lengthways with the bayonet and support it thus instead of from the hawse-
holes, a second sheave being formed in the bowsprit or stem knee; in case
of the bayonet being injured it may at any time be released in a moment
from the bows by slipping its suspending chains, and a spare bayonet (being
in reserve) can be applied to supply the place of a lost one. When it is
desired to take the bayonet inboard I hook on the cat block, and having
slacked the suspending chains I raise it to the cathead, and finally inboard
by the fish tackle as an anchor. The bayonet may be barbed so that when
thrust into a hostile vessel it may be left there to render her unmanageable.
For Raising Sunken Vessels.-The advantages of my alleys are manifest,
as a ship thus employed is sustained in her upright position with any weight
she is capable of bearing suspended to her bottom.
Pumping up Sea Water for Washing Decks or Extinguishing Fires.-
Instead of the ordinary head pump a pump may be applied to any of my
alleys for the above purposes; they or any of them may also be used when not
wanted for their chief purposes for waterclosets or urinals; in either case I
prefer a lining tube connected with the soil pan or urine receptacle which
extends down the alley and beneath the surface of the water; by this
means the alley will be preserved from pollution, when required the lining
tube may be withdrawn. A portable closet of sheet iron or wood may be
constructed and placed over the top of the alley thus used and secured to the
deck.
The advantages of these closets over those placed in the sides of a ship
would be that one would be equivalent to two, assuming that the lee closet
only can be used; they would be more cleanly and pure from being connected
perpendicularly with the water, and could be easily flushed by water pumped

page_text: In witness whereof, I, the said James Maze Kilner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JAMES MAZE KILNER. (L.S.)
Chaplain of Chester Castle.