IMPROVE- MENTS IN AND RELATING TO THE PACKING OF FIBROUS OR LOOSE MATERIALS IN SHIPS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bruce Thompson, of Dundee, in the
County of Forfar, North Britain, for the Invention of
IMPROVE-
MENTS IN AND RELATING TO THE PACKING OF FIBROUS OR LOOSE MATERIALS
IN SHIPS."
Sealed the 11th April 1871, and dated the 14th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bruce
Thompson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 14th October 1870.
I, WILLIAM BRUCE THOMPSON, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO THE PACKING OF FIBROUS OR LOOSE
MATERIALS IN SHIPS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
Hitherto it has been the practice when stowing cargoes of fibrous
material, such, for example, as flax, hemp, codilla, or tow, into ships for
transport, to put such materials into the hold in a loose or disintegrated

page_text: state, after which, when so placed therein, the materials are packed
tightly together by means of screw jacks into as small a part of the hold
as can be effected. The operation is slow and therefore costly.
The present Invention then relates to the packing of such fibrous
materials in a more rapid, effectual, and therefore more economical
manner, and it consists in fitting the vessels into which the materials
are stowed with a moveable hydraulic or other packing press actuated
by pumps or other power driven by a donkey or other engine or by
hand power. The press or presses is or are so situated as to receive
the fibrous or loose material as it is passed on board the ship from a
lighter, barge, or wharf, and in this manner it is pressed together before
being passed into the hold, thereby avoiding the operation of pressing
it by screw jacks when in the hold, thus enabling the vessel to take a
much larger cargo, and avoiding the risk of straining the vessel, as
often happens under the present mode.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Bruce Thompson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BRUCE THOMPson, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North Britain,
send greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
34th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said William Bruce Thompson,
Her special license that I, the said William Bruce Thompson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Bruce Thompson, my 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 AND RELATING TO THE

page_text: PACKING OF FIBROUS OR LOOSE MATERIALS IN SHIPS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Bruce Thompson, 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.
KNOW NOW YE, that I, the said. William Bruce Thompson, 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 following statement, reference being had to the accompanying.
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to.
say:
Hitherto it has been the practice when stowing cargoes of fibrous
material, such, for example, as flax, hemp, codilla, or tow into ships for
transport, to put such materials into the hold in a loose or disintegrated
state, after which, when so placed therein, the materials are packed
tightly together by means of screw jacks into as small a part of the
hold as can be effected.. The operation is slow and therefore costly.
The present Invention then relates to the packing of such fibrous
materials in a more rapid, effectual, and therefore more economical
manner, and it consists in fitting the vessels into which the materials
are stowed with a moveable hydraulic or other packing press actuated
by pumps or other power driven by a donkey or other engine or by hand
power. The press or presses. is or are so situated as to receive the fibrous
or loose material as it is passed on board the ship from a lighter, barge,
or wharf, and in this manner it is pressed together before being passed
into the hold, thereby avoiding the operation of pressing it by screw.
jacks when in the hold, thus enabling the vessel to take a much larger
cargo and avoiding the risk of straining the vessel as often happens-
under the present mode.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, that is to say :-
The hereunto, appended Sheet of Drawings is a transverse section of
a vessel illustrative of the combination of a packing press therewith as

page_text: employed for the purpose of effecting my improvements in the packing
and stowing of fibrous or loose materials in ships.
Under the arrangement shewn the sole or bed plate A of the press is
placed across the hatchway B formed in the main deck C, the said
hatchway B being preferably formed with a coaming D all round, as
shewn. To the upper side of the sole or bed plate A of the press
columns E are secured for the purpose of supporting the top frame F.
The follower or lower table G is attached to a ram contained in the
hydraulic cylinder H, which projects downwards from the sole or bed
plate A into the 'tween deck compartment of the vessel, as shewn.
The fibrous material to be packed, such, for example as flax, hemp,
codilla, or tow, which is to form the whole or part of the cargo of the
vessel into bales is in the first instance when passed on board the ship
from an adjacent lighter, barge, or wharf, placed in suitable quantities
between the top frame F and the follower or lower table & which is
then gradually moved upwards, thereby reducing the bulk of the said
fibrous material to the extent desired, and before being removed from
the press the compressed material is bound with hoops or ropes, and
thereafter conveyed to and stowed in the lower hold I, the 'tween
decks K, or upon the main deck C, as may be desired. The upward
movement of the follower or lower table G may be effected through
hydraulic or steam pressure exerted direct upon the ram situated in the
cylinder H, or in place of using a hydraulic press to lift the follower G
it may be lifted by one or more screws, racks, and pinions or other
suitable gearing, the said gearing being actuated by hand or steam
power.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the
system, mode, or manner of carrying the same into practical effect, it
is to be understood that I do not confine myself to the particular
arrangement of mechanism or appliances herein-before set forth and
illustrated upon the appended Sheet of Drawings, as the press or presses
employed may be of any convenient form or arrangement and the
situation or position of the said press or presses may be different from
that shewn; what, however, I do consider as novel and original and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is, the combining of one or more packing
presses with ships for the purpose of facilitating the packing of loose

page_text: materials on board and for preventing the straining action upon the
ships which results from the mode of packing fibrous materials at
present employed, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bruce Thompson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of April One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
WILLIAM BRUCE THOMPSON. (L.S.)