Improvements in Means of Preventing Fouling on Ships' Bottoms and in Providing for the Application of such Means.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 1st June, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 1st Mar., 1890-Accepted, 19th Apr., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means of Preventing Fouling on Ships' Bottoms
and in Providing for the Application of such Means.
I, THOMAS FISHER of Hillbrook House Holywood in the County of Down in
Ireland Paint and Colour Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is to prevent the attachment of barnacles and other
shell fish to the bottoms of ships during their voyage without interrupting the working
or motion thereof and incidentally to increase their speed.
For these purposes I employ a mixture of oil and nitrate of copper or other noxious
or poisonous ingredient stored in a tank or other reservoir and distributed by
gravitation or mechanical agency through perforated tubes or pipes placed at
intervals vertically or at a slight angle therefrom on each side of the ship and reaching
down near to the keel.
I form shoulders or grooves down the sides of the ship along the lines of the per-
forations so as to counteract the pressure of the water against them and to allow of
the escape of the mixture which is diffused over the ship's bottom by the force of the
water.
Dated this 21st now 1000
HYNDMAN & DICKSON,
6, Waring Street, Belfast, Agents for Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means of Preventing Fouling on Ships' Bottoms
and in Providing for the Application of such Means.
I, THOMAS FISHER of Hillbrook House Holywood in the County of Down in
Ireland Paint and Colour Manufacturer 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 :-
The object of my invention is to prevent the attachment of barnacles and other
shellfish to the bottoms of ships during their voyage, without interrupting the working
or motion thereof and incidentally to increase their speed.
.
For this purpose I employ a mixture of oil and nitrate of copper or other
noxious or poisonous ingredient stored in a tank or other reservoir and distributed
by gravitation or mechanical agency through perforated tubes or pipes placed at
intervals vertically or at slight angles therefrom on each side of the ship and reaching
down near to the keel.
In preparing the mixture I dissolve about a pound in weight of powdered nitrate
of copper in as small a quantity of hot water as is sufficient to liquefy the powder.
To this solution I add about seven pounds in weight of black soap and stir the
mixture which I then completely blend with about ten gallons of oil into an emulsion
by continued stirring and agitation.
The best oils are vegetable oils, such as olive oil, castor oil or colza oil, and
the animal oils but mineral oils are also applicable and much cheaper and may be used
in either the refined or a crude state.
Other poisonous and noxious matters may be substituted for nitrate of copper
and will be variously mixed and blended with the oils according to their natures and
"

page_text: properties. For instance, two pounds in weight of carbolic acid may, without the
intervention of any other.substance, be blended with ten gallons of oil as an equivalent
for the pound of nitrate of copper.
But I do not wish to restrict myself to the use of oils blended with special
poisonous or noxious matters, inasmuch as the oils alone, applied by the aid of my
apparatus hereinafter described, will though less effectively or more slowly prevent
fouling and remove animal and vegetable growths adhering to ships' bottoms and
obstructing their passage through the water.
The mixture or oil which I have described is stored in tanks or other reservoirs
disposed in convenient positions upon or under decks from which I distribute it by
gravitation or if necessary or desirable by a jet of steam or by mechanical agency,
such as a force pump, through perforated tubes or pipes or other analogous conduits
placed at intervals vertically or at a slight angle or inclination therefrom on each side
of the ship and reaching down near to the keel. And I may also discharge the
mixture or oil from the blades of the screw propellers of steam vessels in order to
clean the same and produce increased speed.
I form shoulders or grooves down the sides of the ship along the lines of the
tubes or pipes or I take advantage of the overlaps of the plates of iron and steel
ships so as to counteract the pressure of the water against the perforations and to
allow of the escape of the mixture or oil which is diffused over the ships bottom by
the force of the water.
And in order that my said invention may be more fully understood I shall now
proceed to refer to the drawings upon the sheet hereunto annexed, the same. letters of
reference being used throughout all the figures to indicate the same or corresponding
parts of my apparatus.
Fig. I is a side elevation of the bow and stern ends of a ship (the mid-ships being
removed for convenience) showing the positions of tanks or reservoirs for storing the
mixture or oil and the lines in which the tubes or pipes and perforations are laid and
having a portion of the shell removed to show the passage of the tube or pipe through
the shaft to the screw propeller.
Fig. II is a sectional plan of the bow of a ship showing perforated tubes attached
externally to the stem.
Fig. III is a section of a perforated plate for the side of a ship showing the tube
or pipe attached internally thereto.
Fig. IV is an enlarged elevation of a side plate with perforations therein and
showing how the tube, pipe or conduit is formed and attached thereto.
Fig. V is a portion of a screw propeller shaft and of the blades of the propeller
showing the conduits through which the mixture or oil is distributed to the end of
the blades.
Fig. VI is a portion. of a screw propeller shaft showing the gland and stuffing box
by which the mixture or oil is introduced into the shaft from the tank or reservoir.
Figs.-VII and VIII are sectional ends of propeller blades shewing various ways of
conveying and discharging the mixture or oil.
a, a are the tanks or reservoirs for storing the mixture or oil; b, bare the tubes,
pipes or conduits for distributing the mixture or oil and c, c, c are the perforations
through which the mixture or oil is discharged from the sides and bottom of a ship
or from the blades of a screw propeller.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. The use in marine vessels of oil impregnated with nitrate of copper, carbolic
acid or other poisonous or noxious ingredient, combined or blended and employed
substantially in the mammer and for the purposes hereinbefore particularly stated and
described.

page_text: 2. The use in marine vessels of perforated tubes, pipes or other conduits con-
structed attached and employed substantially in the manner and for the purposes
bereinbefore described and shewn in the drawings hereunto annexed.
3. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting my oil storing and
distributing apparatus constructed and employed substantially in the manner and for
the purposes herein before described and illustrated by the drawings hereunto annexed.
Dated this 28th day of Februar 1800.
HYNDMAN & DICKSON,
6, Waring Street, Belfast, Agents for Applicant.