IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING OR MOVING DOORS IN THE BULKHEADS AND OTHER PARTS OF SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Carley Coxlcad, of No. 5, Saint
Donatt's Road, New Cross, in the County of Kent, Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND
CLOSING OR MOVING DOORS IN THE BULKHEADS AND OTHER PARTS OF SHIPS OR
VESSELS."
Scaled the 19th January 1875, and dated the 30th July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Carley
Coxhead at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th July 1874.
I, FREDERICK CARLEY COXHEAD, of No. 5, Saint Donatt's Road, New
Cross, in the County of Kent, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND
CLOSING OR MOVING DOORS IN THE BULKHEADS AND OTHER PARTS OF SHIPS OR VESSELS,"
to bo as follows:-
Heretofore great difficulty has been experienced in effecting tho
opening and closing of doors in the bulkheads and other parts of ships

page_text: or vessels, such doors being very liable to become stuck fast through
buckling of the doors themselves, derangement of their actuating
apparatus, and from other causes. Morcover the opening and ospecially
the closing of the doors by the means commonly used are very slow and
tedious operations.
Now this Invention is designed to obviate these defects and objections
by supplying a more ready, simple, and effectual means of effecting the
opening and closing of the doors. For this purpose I apply water or
fluid pressure acting upon a piston or pistons, or surface or surfaces
connected with the door to be moved. The piston may be arranged to
work in a suitable cylinder provided with a cock or valve, or cocks or
valves, for regulating the admission and emission of water or other fluid
to act against the respective ends of the piston, according to the direc-
tion in which the door is required to be moved, or the cylinder may be
fixed to the door so as to move with it, the piston, being fixed on a
hollow or tubular rod and remaining stationary. Tho requisite pressure
may be obtained in various ways. Thus it. may be done by means of a
small pump fitted to each cylinder and worked by hand, or by a large
pump, such as a ship's hand pump, which may be in connection with
several cylinders, or an hydraulic accumulator may be used in which the
required pressure can be constantly maintained, or in vessels fitted with
a fire-main; the cylinders may be put in connection with such main so
as to obtain the necessary pressure therefrom, or the pressure in a stcam
boiler or boilers may be made available by connection being established
between the lower part or parts of the boiler or boilers, and the cylinder :
of the door operating apparatus, or the head of water due to the immersion
of the ship may be made to serve the purpose. The door is locked in
position whon open by a cotter or other locking device.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Carley Coxhead in the Great Seal Patent 80
Office on the 27th January 1875.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CARLEY COXHEAD, of No. 5, Saint Donatt's Road, New Cross, in the
County of Kent, Engineer, send grecting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Carley Coxhead, Her special
license that I, the said Frederick Carley Coxhead, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Carley
Coxhead, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
timo 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND Apparatus for OPENING AND CLOSING OR MOVING
DOORS IN THE BULKHEADS AND OTHER PARTS OF SHIPS OR VESSELS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Carley Coxhead, 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
samic 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 Frederick Carley Coxhead, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the samo
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, and the Sheet of Drawings therein
referred to (that is to say) :-
Heretofore great difficulty has been experienced in effecting the
opening and closing of doors in the bulkheads and other parts of ships
or vessels, such doors being liable to become stuck fast through
buckling of the doors themselves, derangement of their actuating
apparatus, and other causes. Moreover the opening and especially the
closing of the doors by the means commonly used are very slow, and
tedious operations.
Now this Invention is designed to obviate these defects and objections
by supplying a more ready, simple, and effectual means of effecting the
opening and closing of the doors. For this purpose I apply water or
other fluid pressure acting upon a piston or pistons, or surface or surfaces,
connected with the door to be moved. The piston may be arranged to

page_text: Figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, shew details of the arrangement for
locking the door in position when opon.
Figs. 16 and 17 shew the attachment by which the piston rod is con-
nected to the door.
a is a bulkhead door; the frame in which it slides; c are lugs
attached to the door; d, is a rod whose lower end d' is connected to the
door a by a pin e passing through the lugs e and through the eye of the
rod. The upper end of this rod carries a piston ƒ fitting water-tight in
a cylinder g, whose respective ends are connected by pipes h, h³, to a
four-way cock i which communicates by another pipe with a hand
pump 1; m is a waste pipe which may be made to terminate in the bilge
of the vessel or elsewhere; is the handle of the four-way cock; one
end of this handle is connected by a chain n to the free end of the
pawl o of the locking apparatus. The other end of this pawl is hinged
at o' to one (p) of a pair of clip arms p, p', working on a common
centro p* in the framing g' attached to the lower end of the cylinder.
The clip arms are curved at 2³ so as to embrace the smaller diameter d
of the piston rod, whose bevilled shoulder & rests above the bevilled
upper edges p³ of the curved portions of the clip arms when the door a
is open. When the cock handle is moved so as to establish communi-
cation between the lower end of the cylinder and the waste pipe the
pawl o is raised so as to release the clip arms-p, p', which as the door by
its gravity draws down the rod d, aro moved outward by the bevilled
shoulder d³, so as to clear the rod and allow of its free descent. The pawl o-
is inclined at o² so that when the door is again opened the pawl in
falling shall move in the clip arms p, p', causing them to again embrace
and hold the part of the rod d. q is a float which may be placed in
the bilge or lower part of the ship. It is attached to one end of a lever »
having its fulcrum at 7. The other end of this lever is connected by a
rod s and chain a' to the cock handle, so that upon water entering the
ship the float rises and moves tho said handle as required; the door
then closes by gravitation but is prevented from descending with a crash
by having to displace the water under the piston.
&
เ
It will be evident that the hand pump / may be dispensed with by
placing the pipe in communication with a ship's pump, an hydraulic
accumulator, a fire-main, the lower part of a steam boiler, or other
available source of fluid pressure.

page_text: · Fig. 18 shows a modification applicable to situations where the head
room is comparatively limited. In this case the door a carries a cross
head a², to each end of which is attached one of a pair of piston rods d;
there being in this case two hydraulic cylinders, one at each side of the
door, connected together at their upper and lower ends by pipes h³, 1³.
The clip arms are hinged to the bulkhead, and hold up the door by
embracing a stud v fixed to the top end of the door for that purpose.
This stud is pointed at its upper end to ensure entering between the clip
arms, and has a collar or shoulder to rest upon the said arms for sup-
porting the door. In other respects this apparatus resembles that
described with reference to previous Figures, and will be readily under-
stood without further description.
Fig. 19 shews in clevation the arrangement I adopt for operating
doors moving horizontally.
And Fig. 20 is a central longitudinal section of the piston rod, piston,
cylinder, and other parts drawn to a larger scale. In this arrangement
the cylinder g. is fixed to the door a, so as to move with it, the piston ƒ
being fixed on a hollow or tubular rod t and remaining stationary.
Within the hollow rod is a tube 2 by which the pipe / communicates.
with the end of the cylinder g in rear of the piston f. The annular a
space between the internal surface of the tubular rod t and the external
surface of the tubo u forms a passage establishing communication from
the pipe ¹ by the orifices to the cylinder g in front of the piston f..
Thus it will be evident that by adjusting the position of the cock the
fluid pressure may be turned on to either end of the cylinder, so as to 2
either open or close the door, as may be required. Both the opening and
the closing of the door are effected by fluid pressure, and in this.
arrangement the
pressure of water due to the immersion of the vessel
may be advantageously applied.
As is obvious, apparatus in which the cylinder is fixed to the door 3
may be applied to doors moving vertically. In cold climates a tank of
glycerine may be used instead of water. In connection with my appa-
ratus for moving doors in ships or vessels as above described, I apply
indicators worked in any convenient and usual way from a moving part
of the apparatus for showing the position of the door.
Having described my said Inyention, and having explained the
manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I hereby declare that ·
.

page_text: I do not claim as of my Invention or the oxclusive use of the several
mechanical parts herein-before described or referred to, except when the
samo are used in and for the purposes of my said Invention, as respects
which I claim,-
First. The opening and closing or moving doors in the bulkheads and
other parts of ships or vessels by the application thereto of water or
other fluid pressure acting upon a piston or pistons, or surface or surfaces,
connected with the door to be moved, as above set forth.
Secondly. The combination and arrangement of parts shown in and
described with reference to Figs. 1 to 17, inclusivo of the Drawings for
the purpose specified.
Thirdly. The combination of parts shown in and described with
reference to Fig. 18 of the Drawings, for the purposo specified.
Lastly. The combination of parts shewn in Figs. 19 and 20 of the
Drawings when arranged and operating together as described, for the
purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Carley Coxhead, have
hercunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.