AN IMPROVED BREAKWATER
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bennett Hays, of No. 47, Cambridge Street,
Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED BREAKWATER."
Sealed the 15th June 1855, and dated the 7th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bennett Hays
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th April 1855.
I, WILLIAM BENNETT HAYS, of No. 47, Cambridge Street, Pimlico, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED BREAKWATER" to be as follows:-
It consists of a series of planes or platforms placed one above the other at
suitable distances apart, inclining towards the sea or advancing waves, so that
when the waves meet the planes or platforms, it will be subdivided into layers,
and thus pass up between the planes or platforms. The force of the wave will
be thereby arrested. The angle of inclination of the planes or platforms may
be varied, according to circumstances. The planes or platforms may be parallel
with one another, or they may vary from parallelism, as may be found most
suitable. The platforms or planes may be uniformly plain, or they may be
curved, according to circumstances, and they may be perforated. The above-

page_text: described breakwater may be fixed by means of piles, or otherwise secured to
the sea bottom; or it may be adapted to any existing structure; or it may be
caused by any suitable means to float upon the surface of the water, being
secured by moorings or otherwise; or it may be attached or connected to any
floating structure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Bennett Hays in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BENNETT HAYS, of No. 74, Cambridge Street, Pimlico, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Bennett Hays, Her special licence that I, the said Wil-
liam Bennett Hays, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Bennett Hays, 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 "AN IMPROVED BREAKWATER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Bennett Hays, 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 William Bennett Hays, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
fullowing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is to construct breakwaters which may resist the
force of the sea or other water with as little damage as possible to themselves,

page_text: and by dividing the water of cach wave into several parts, and causing each of
these to move in a diagonal or partly vertical direction, and thus to neutralize
a great part of the motion and force of the sea or water by the opposite or
nearly opposite force of its own gravity. For this purpose, I construct my
improved breakwater by placing platforms one over the other with intervals
between them, and so inclined to the horizon as to present the lower part of
cach platform to the sea or water to be resisted, and to cause the water when
in motion to pass between the platforms in a sloping upward direction.
The Drawings annexed represent several forms of my improved breakwater
as constructed under various circumstances, according to the depth of water
and nature of the ground, or the purposes for which the breakwater may
be required.
Figure 1 represents, partly in section, a construction of my Invention, suitable
for ground fit for holding piles, and with a small depth of water. D, D, is the
ground; E, E, the low-water line; and G, G, the high-water line; A, B, C, are
piles to support the structure, and there may be any number of those that may
be requisite to give a proper stability to the breakwater to be formed; C is one
of the piles towards the sea side, or water to be resisted, and there may be any
number of such bays or clusters of piles, similar to those at A, B, C, disposed
in straight lines or curves, as circumstances may require, as shewn in Figure 4,
which shews tho piles A, B, C, arranged in a curve at convenient distances apart
to allow of the platforms being supported by and between them. p, p, p, p, are
the platforms, supported by uprights f, f, and strengthened by cross pieces.
Each platform is inclined at an angle to the horizon, which may be the same
or different in each case. I find that an angle of about 50° is in usual cases
suitable. The platforms may be made of wood, metal, or any fit material for
lasting well in water. The lower side of each is towards the sea side. The
depth of the lower end of the lowest platform depends much upon the nature and
magnitude of the waves to be resisted; in general it ought not to be much less
than six feet below the lowest trough of any wave at the pile C. The distance
between the lower end of each platform and that next above it may be from ono
foot to five feet, according to the force of the sea at the place. The number of
platforms and the height of the piles supporting them should be such as to
allow the lower end of the highest platform to be nearly at the height reached
by the crest of the highest wave at the pile C at high tide.
If the upper part
of this breakwater is to be horizontal, the upper platforms will be successively
shorter, and be supported at the upper ends by horizontal pieces resting on the
piles, as shewn in the Figure. The breakwater thus constructed will present
to the sea or water a series of inclined platforms, somewhat like a Venetian

page_text: blind, and when the water is agitated, and a wave rises above the level of the
water at the pile C, it will be divided by the platforms, and the lateral motion
towards the pile B will cause it to run up and between the platforms, as shewn
in the Figure by the blue line H, H, H, which represents the contour of an
advancing wave. The columns or slices of water between the platforms will by
their weight gradually overcome the force, acting obliquely upwards, and the
resistance thus offered will check the lateral motion and much of the vertical
motion, so that the water behind the pile B, towards the pile A, or harbour
side of the breakwater, will be comparatively calm.
Figure 2 represents, in section, another form of my improved breakwater,
suitable for a temporary protection, or for places where piles are not to be driven.
In this case the breakwater is supported upon a raft, in which A, B, C, are
balks or timbers, or hollow or other beams, placed parallel or opposite to the
water to be resisted, and moored by cables K and L. The platforms p, p, P: P,
may be similar to those before described, but the manner of their support may:
be advantageously varied by introducing the cross pieces f.f.f. and uprights
C, S, so as to strengthen and secure the whole. The raft is placed behind or
away from the sea side of the platforms, and without moorings or with them;
also, the raft may rest against piers or other stationary supports, and thus
floating may be allowed to rise and fall with the tide or water. The action of
this form of breakwater will be nearly similar to that represented in Figure 1;
but as the wave rises to the position H, it will not raise the whole breakwater
much, as the raft on which it depends for position floats in the water behind
the wave, and where it is less disturbed. In this form of breakwater, the
aumber of platforms and their distance apart, as well as the depth of the lowest
point of the lowest platform, ought to be so arranged that the lowest point of
the lowest platform is not much less than six feet below the depression or
trough of the sea, and the lowest point of the highest platform is not much
below the highest crest of a wave in a storm.
Figure 3 represents, in section, a form of my improved breakwater, suitable
for places where the water is deep, and the range from high to low water con-
siderable. A, B, is a wall or barrier, or one of a series of detached piers, which
may be built of masonry, piles, or other suitable material, and placed at con-
venient distances apart; B being towards the sea side or water to be resisted.
g, g, is a guide, which, with others similar to it at proper intervals, serves to
retain the raft carrying the breakwater in its position while it rises and falls
with the tide or water. In or against g, g, there rests a series of wheels,
sheares, or friction rollers, or other contrivance adapted for allowing free play in
a vertical direction to the hollow or solid beams C, V, forming part of the raft.

page_text: p, p, p, p, are the platforms, which may be constructed in a manner similar to
that in Figures 1 or 2, and suitably braced, tied, or secured together.
Figure 5 represents, partly in section, and Figure 6 in plan, a form of my
improved breakwater, suitable for protecting any kind of floating vessel or raft
from the disturbance or destructive action of the sea. V, V, is the raft or
floating vessel, which may be hollow or solid, and constructed in a circular,
elliptical, or other suitable shape, (in Figure 6 it is shown circular,) and
secured by moorings; or it may rest against piers or other stationary supports,
so as to be allowed to rise and fall with the tide or water. p, p, p, p, aro
the platforms, which may be constructed in a manner similar to that in
Figures 1, 2, or 3, and fixed on one side or on all sides of the floating vessel
or raft, according to the direction in which it is most exposed to the waves.
The platforms may in any of the forms of my breakwater be inclined planes or
curved, either convex or concave, or both convex and concave to the zenith;
or some may be curved, convex, or concave, and others plane surfaces. In
Figure 3 I have represented the platforms as slightly curved. The raft may
be made of sheet metal or other suitable material, the buoyant parts having
enough of their volume above water to give the whole structure that buoyancy
which will cause it readily to rise and adjust its position to the varying force
of the waves.
I do not claim as my Invention the piles, rafts, guides, beams, uprights,
barriers, piers, or other parts mentioned in the above description separate from
the combinations as a breakwater; but what I claim as my Invention is, the
construction of a breakwater with platforms one above the other, inclined to
the horizon, and admitting the water between them, whether the structure be
stationary, moored, or floating against fixed walls, piers, piles, or barriers, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bennett Hays, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
WILLIAM BENNETT HAYS. (L.S.)