Improvements in Submergible Tubes or Dry Wells for Submarine Work.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Mar., 1897-Accepted, 8th May, 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Submergible Tubes or Dry Wells for Submarine
Work.
I, PER ARON WALLER, of Odengatan 10, Stockholm, in the Kingdom of
Sweden, Engineer, do, hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in submergible tubes or dry wells by
means of which a descent to great depths can be accomplishe1 for the purpose of
performing submarine investigations or work. The object of the improvements is
partly to furnish a ready means of raising and lowering the tube in the water
without altering its vertical position, and partly to render the operation of tools
through the wall of the tube possible when work is to be performed in the water
outside the tube.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure represents diagrammatically a vertical section of a tube provided with
means for raising and lowering it, and
Figure 2 represents a horizontal section of the same tube.
It is advantageous to make the lower end or the working chamber 1 of the
submergible tube of a somewhat larger diameter than the upper portion 2 which
serves as the means of communication between the working chamber and the outer
air. The tube may conveniently be built of tubular sections of sufficient strength,
the said sections being strongly united to one another and the joints made water-
tight in a satisfactory manner. When the tube is to be submerged, it is ballasted
by weights hung below or around it, the ballast being adjusted to the depth to
which the descent is to be made. The raising and lowering of the tube is effected
by emptying or filling an enclosed space or compartment arranged in connection
with the tube. Such compartments have previously been employed in connection
with diving-bells, but their location has been such as to easily cause deviations in
the position of the diving-bell with reference to the vertical plane. The com-
partment 3 which here serves the purpose in question differs from those previously
used in being annular and closed watertight. By means of a pipe 4 provided with
a valve which can be operated from the working chamber the said compartment
communicates at its upper end with an air-compressor outside the tube, and at
both its upper and its lower end it can be made to communicate with the surrounding
body of water through the valves 5 and 6. By letting in or forcing out water the
tube can easily be lowered or raised aud thus adjusted to its proper position, and
in view of the fact the water ballast always acts with the same force all around the
tube, the vertical position of the tube will not be affected at the raising or lowering
operation. While submerging the tube its upper end is supported by hoisting
apparatus located on suitable pontoons and movable in various directions, and for
doing work outside the tube provisions are made for illumination and for putting
out tools through the wall of the tube.
In the drawings Figures 3 and 4 show respectively a vertical and a horizontal
section of the means employed for thrusting out tools through the wall of the tube.
The tools are slid out in the usual manner through a ball journalled in a suitable
box, so as to allow the tools to be moved in different directions, at the same time
keeping the joint watertight. Through these balls 7 which are provided with a
neck the tool rod is carried, the latter being carefully fitted, in order to run

page_text: 1
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perfectly watertight when shifted longitudinally. It may be observed that there
can be more than one tool rod and a corresponding number of journalling balls.
A tool suitable for the work to be done outside the tube is attached to the outer
end of the tool rod. The work is frequently of,such a nature as to give the tube a
tendency to move away from the object, for instance the hull of a vessel, which is
being operated on, as for instance when a hole is to be drilled in the latter, a
scuttle glass to be forced in, or the like. To prevent such motion, tools are,
according to this invention, applied at two different, but adjacent points. of the
tube wall, one of said tools being suitably. formed for holding the tube in place and
the other serving to perform the required work. For holding the tube in place
there may be employed, two rods 8 and 9 or two or more pairs of such rods of
previously known construction one of which rods 8 is tubular, while the other 9 is
inserted into and can be shifted through the tubular rod.8. On the extremities of
both rods outside the tube there are grasping or. griping tools fixed so as to
co-operate when the rods are shifted with reference to each other. It is evi·lent
that both rods may be simultaneously thrust out or withdrawn through the ball 7
without shifting their relative positions.
In order to facilitate an exchange of working or griping tools at the external
ends of the rods while the tube is submerged, the space just outside of each ball-
_ joint is encased by walls 10 and a sliding cover 11 which is placed at the outer
side. This sliding cover can be moved from the interior of the tube by rotating a
shaft 12 by means of a hand-wheel 13. By means of a pin the shaft engages with
a rack 14 fastened to the cover so as to allow the latter to be slid in over the space
in front of the tool and the ball-joint or withdrawn from it. The external pressure
of the water would, however, prevent the motion of the sliding cover unless means
were provided for causing about the same pressure at the inner side of the cover.
This is accomplished by the aid of a pipe conduit 15 which places the space inside
the cover 11 in communication with the water outside the tube a portion of said
pipe conduit being located inside the tube and provided with a threeway-cock 16.
By turning this cock the water contained in the chamber just inside the cover 11
may, when the latter has been shut, be drawn off into the tube, the cover con-
sequently being subjected to an excess of external pressure which forces it tightly
against its seat. The ball-joint together with the journal box and tool rods can
now be detached and taken into the tube for exchanging the griping- or working-
tools at the outer ends of the rods, said parts being subsequently returned to their
places. When this has been done, water may again be introduced into the chamber
inside the cover 11 by way of the threeway-cock 16 and the pipe conduit 15, the
external pressure being thereby balanced by an interior one of equal magnitude. The
sliding cover can now be moved and the tool be thrust out of the tube. In place
of the pipe conduit 15 and threeway-cock 16 there may evidently be employed
two pipes each provided with a cock, one for emptying and one for filling the
space.
In pushing out the tool rods through the ball-joint a resistance is encountered
which is dependent on the water pressure outside the tube and the sectional areas
of the rods. For balancing this external pressure weights 17 are used which are
suspended in ropes or cords 18 secured to the inner ends of the tool rods and
passing over grooved discs 19 located near the ball-joints. These weights tend to
move the tool rods outward thus counteracting the external pressure on the latter.
The sizes of the weights can easily be suited to the acting water pressure. In
place of two ropes acting on the tool rods only one such rope may of course be
employed located underneath the tool rod and passing over a grooved disc likewise
located underneath said rod.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In combination with a submergible tube or dry well for submarine work a

page_text: watertight compartment (3) surrounding the tube and arranged so as to be filled
with water through suitable pipe conduits or freed from water by forcing into it
compressed air, for the purpose of allowing the tube to be lowered and raised and
by distributing the effect of the filling and emptying operations evenly around
the tube, causing the vertical position of the latter to be unaffected by said
operations.
2. In combination with submergible tubes or dry wells for submarine work,
provided with tools passing through the tube for doing work outside the latter, the
arrangement of two or more independent tools passing through the wall of the tube
quite close to each other, for the purpose of enabling one (or more) of said
tools, which is constructed as a griping tool, to be used for holding the tube in
place while the work (for instance drilling) is executed with the other tool (or
tools).
3. In submergible tubes or dry wells for submarine work, provided with tools
passing through the wall of the tube and with a cover for enclosing at the outside
the place where said tools pass through, the arrangement of the cover as a
sliding-cover (11), which can be moved by means of a pinion engaging with teeth
on said cover and secured to a shaft (12) which extends into the tube and is here
provided with a hand-wheel by means of which it can be turned.
4. In combination with submergible tubes or dry wells for submarine work,
arranged as specified in Claim 3, a pipe conduit (15) located partly inside the tube
and by which the space inside the closed cover (11) can be placed in communication
with the body of water without, a cock (16) being provided inside the tube for
opening or closing said pipe conduit.
5. In the arrangement specified in Claim 4, the arrangement that the cock is a
threeway-cock through which the space (11) inside the cover can be drained into
the tube.
6. In combination with submergible tubes or dry wells for submarine work an
arrangement for balancing the pressure on objects thrust out through the tube
walls, consisting of a weight (17) suspended in a rope (18) fastened to the inner
end of the object and passing over a disc (19) located close to the place in the tube
where the object passes through the latter.
7. The arrangement, specified in Claim 6, so modified that two weights provided
with ropes are attached to the object, one at each side of the latter, said ropes
being carried over discs (19) located about on a level with the point where the
object passes through the tube.
DL: 1 1... :f u..k 100
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.