IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING SHIPS' BOTTOMS AT SEA, AND IN THE MACHINERY, APPARATUS, OR MEANS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Harrison, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Shipowner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CLEANSING SHIPS' BOTTOMS AT SEA, AND IN THE MACHINERY, APPARATUS,
OR MEANS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Harrison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
January 1865.
I, JOHN HARRISON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Shipowner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CLEANSING SHIPS' BOTTOMS AT SEA, AND IN THE MACHINERY, APPARATUS,
OR MEANS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of machinery
employed for cleansing the bottoms of ships or vessels when at sea, and it
essentially consists of a knife- or scraper fixed to the end of a cranked or
straight rod or bar, and moveable in a frame, which frame is held close
against the ship's bottom by guide ropes which pass from one side of the
ship below the keel and up to the other side. The framework carrying the

page_text: scraper
is moveable on the guide ropes, 'fnd is furnished with antifriction
sheaves, so that it may be the more easily moved. On the side of the ship
opposite to that being scraped a guide apparatus is placed which bears against
the keel; by this apparatus the guide ropes are kept at the required distance
apart, and the outer or working rope is also kept from rubbing against the
keel. When the apparatus is employed for cleansing a ship's bottom it is
placed in the water and passed between the guide ropes and the ship. A
man situated at the side of the ship opposite to that being scraped hauls the
scraper down to the keel; when in this position men on deck haul at the
rope attached to the scraper, and the scraper by the peculiarity of its
formation acts across the plates of the hull, cleansing them in its course.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Harrison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd
July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HARRISON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Harrison, Her special license that I, the said John Harrison, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Harrison, 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 CLEANSING
SHIPS' BOTTOMS AT SEA, AND IN THE MACHINERY, APPARATUS, OR MEANS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Harrison, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Harrison, 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 :-..
My said Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of machinery
employed for cleansing the bottoms of ships or vessels when at sea, and it
essentially consists of a knife or scraper fixed to the end of a cranked or
straight rod or bar, and moveable in a frame, which frame is held close against
the ship's bottom by guide ropes which pass from one side of the ship below
the keel and up to the other side. The framework carrying the scraper is
moveable on the guide ropes, and is furnished with antifriction sheaves, so
that it may be the more easily moved. On the side of the ship opposite to
that being scraped a guide apparatus is placed which bears against the keel;
by this apparatus the guide ropes are kept at the required distance apart, and
the outer or working rope is also kept from rubbing against the keel. When
the apparatus is employed for cleansing a ship's bottom it is placed in the
water and passed between the guide ropes and the ship. A man or men,
or winding apparatus, situated at the side of the ship opposito to that being
scraped hauls (or haul) the scraper down to the keel; when in this position
if the rope attached to the scraper be hauled, the scraper by the peculiarity
of its formation acts across the plates of the hull, cleansing them in its
course.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several Figures on the explanatory Sheet of
Drawings which I have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing more
clearly the system or mode of carrying out my Invention in practice, that is
to say:-
On the appended Sheet of Drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse midship
section of a vessel, and shows the position and tackle of the scraping machine
in the act of scraping the bilge of a ship, and Figure 2 is an elevation of
the same; Figure 3 shows the position of the scraping machine working
at the run of the ship, the ship being in transverse section; Figures 4
and 5 show the scraper itself in detail, which herein-after will be distinctly
explained.
The whole apparatus may be said to consist of three different parts, viz., first,
the scraping sledge with scraper, and pole stretcher, and quarter guides;
second, the ropes for working the same; and third, the fenders for keeping
the ropes clear of the plates and keel of the ship, thus avoiding their friction

page_text: and abrasion, and for the purpose of carrying the working tackle round the
ship.
The scraping sledge into which the scraper and pole stretcher are fixed is
marked A in Figures 1, 2, and 3, but being shown in a large scale and
separately in Figures 4 and 5, the pole stretcher itself being marked Z, Z,
in Figure 2. I shall refer especially to these Figures for the more distinct
description of the different parts of which this scraping sledge consists, Figure
4 being a side elevation, and Figure 5 a longitudinal section of the same.
The sledge consists of a frame of wood or iron, or it may be constructed
partly of, both, or of any other suitable material. It is sledge-shaped, and
may be made of any size according to taste or convenience. The sides of the
frame marked B in Figures 4 and 5 are held together by cross bars C, of
wood or iron, at convenient distances, and of suitable number. On each of
the sides two sheave holders, of wood or iron, D and D', are placed opposite to
each other, as seen in Figure 2, and fastened to the sides by bolts a, or in any
other suitable way, projecting with their ends over the upper edge of the sledge,
and containing between them (each corresponding pair) two pairs of double
sheaves b, of any convenient size, and at suitable distances from each other.
To the front cross bar C a pole or standard made of wood or iron, shown in
the Figures by letter E, is fastened by means of bolts d and d¹, the last of
which has a ring e attached to it, the use of which is herein-after more dis-
tinctly explained. At the upper end of this pole or standard E a lever f,
made of iron or steel, or other metal, and of any form according to taste and
convenience, has one end jointed by a bolt g which is fastened to the standard E
in any convenient way. To the other end of the lever f the scraper F is
firmly connected, and the eye bolt h in Figure 5 receives the scraper bar i,
so called because it serves to lift or lower the lever, and consequently also
the scraper. The lever bar is made of iron or wood, and of any convenient
form, the one end of it being so constructed that a rope may be easily fastened
to it. This scraper bar slides, as shown in Figure 5, between two sheaves
fixed at a convenient place to the standard E and when in its proper place,
as illustrated by Figure 5, it forms a triangle with the standard E and the
scraper lever f, and the triangle thus formed being moveable in two of its
angles, the lever f with the scraper F assuming the position shown in
Figure 5, by the dotted lines when the side of the triangle formed by the
scraper bar i is made shorter which is done by pulling that end of it which
lies outside the triangle. The scraper F consists of a strong plate of steel
ground and sharpened on one edge along its entire length between the two
sides of the sledge frame A. At either end it has appended two long ears,

page_text: each of which are half the length of the blade, or any other convenient length
and size. These ears are not sharpened, but left the entire thickness of the
steel. They are turned to the front of the blade till they stand at right angles
to it, their lower edge being in a plane with the sharp edge of the blade, and in
a plane parallel with the lever f. The ears being of suitable length, and set at
right angles to and in a plane with the edge of the blade and the lever f, a
three-fold object is attained; they keep the blade within the frame when the
edge descends below the frame; they form an inclined plane to direct the edge
of the blade over the landings or overlappings of the plates; they also prevent
the edge from going too deep into the surface of the plates and injuring the
paint or composition. An eye bolt with a ring m is fixed on each side of
the frame towards the after end of the sledge, as shown in the elevation
Figure 4, to receive a rope, the use of which will be more distinctly described'
herein-after. The scraper sledge is also furnished with two long sheave
holders or quarter guides G, shown in detail in their position in Figure -4,
and also in Figure 3 in working state. It is not always necessary to apply
these quarter guides to the scraper sledge, and they may, therefore, easily be
disconnected from the sledge by removing them from the two clamps n and n¹,
into which they slide on each side of the sledge, and which are fastened thereto
by bolts. The construction of these quarter guides is in all other respects the
same as that already described with reference to the sheave holders D and D',
and can be made of iron or wood, receiving at their upper ends, and between
them, two pairs of double sheaves. The use of the quarter guides is to facilitate
the scraping of the run of a ship, as shown in Figure 3, and will be more
distinctly described herein-after. A hole O is left on each side of the sledge
frame opposite to each other, through which the pole stretcher can be put, as
shown at Z, Z, Figure 2, after it has been used in placing the guide-ropes
round the ship, thus preventing the canting over of the sledge in the water
when the ropes are loose.
Having thus described the principal parts of the scraping apparatus itself,
I shall now proceed to the second part, namely, the ropes by means of which
the scraping sledge is enabled to travel over any part of the ship, and by which
the scraping operation is effected.
:
There are eight ropes necessary for the working of the scraping apparatus,
namely, the two guide ropes, the front line, the back line, the scraper rope,.
the forefleet line, the aftfleet line, and the quarter brace.
The guide
ropes H and H' keep the scraper sledge and the fenders on and press them
against the sides of the ship. The front line I is fastened to the ring shown
in Figure 5 and by this rope the scraper sledge is hauled up on the side on

page_text: which the scraping is performed, while the back line K fastened to the ring m
as seen in Figure 4, and by a bridle, as seen at R, Figure 2, serves to pull the
sledge in the opposite direction. The scraper rope is fastened to the scraper
bar I, Figures 2 and 5, and enables the operator by pulling it to press the
scraper against the plates when the machine is in operation. The fore and
aft fleet lines are not shown in the Drawings, their use being merely to move
the fender standing at the keel along the bottom of the ship as the operation
of scraping proceeds. The quarter brace is not shown in the Drawing, its
use being to assist the quarter guides in pressing the machine into the
hollow or run of the ship, and for this purpose it is passed round the stern
over the rudder, the two ends being carried forward and hauled tight.
The fenders forming the third part of the apparatus consists of the front
line fender L, the back line fender M, the bilge fender N, and the keel
fender O. These fenders are all constructed either of iron or of wood, or partly
of both, and consist each of a sledge-formed frame like that of the scraper sledge,
and held together like it by means of cross bars made of iron or wood. Each
of them has four sheave holders furnished with double sheaves just in the
same way as the sledge A, and for the same purpose, to allow them to travel
on the guide ropes H and H³, which ropes are drawn through the sheaves
fixed to the holders. They are also furnished each with two longer sheave
holders made of wood or of iron, and fitted with double sheaves at their upper
ends to receive the front or back line. The sheave holders of the different
fenders between which the guide ropes pass are marked in Figures 1, 2, and 3
by the letter r, and those holding the front or back line in the same Figures
by s. The sheave holder on the front line fender L, being the one placed on
that side of the ship where the scraper is to operate, receives triple sheaves
for keeping both the front line and the scraper rope between them. The
position of these fenders on the ship, as shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, is as
follows: The front line fender and back line fender L and M are placed
outside the topgallant rails of the bullwarks to keep the ropes in their places,
and to act as purchases to haul over. The bilge fender N stands upon the
bilge of the ship on the opposite side to that which is to be scraped, as at N,
Figure 1. The keel fender O stands close by the side of the keel, and
keeps the ropes and running tackle clear of the keel itself, as shown at X,
Figure 2.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same may be practically carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do not confine myself to the precise
details or arrangements I have had occasion to describe or refer to, as many

page_text: variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the true principles
or main features of my Invention; but what I consider novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery or apparatus
for scraping ships' bottoms as herein-before described, or any mere modification
thereof.
Second, the use and application of a scraper blade moveable within a
sledge for scraping the bottoms of ships as herein-before described, or any
mere modification thereof.
Third, the use and application of quarter guides and a pole stretcher to
be employed when the apparatus acts over a ship's "quarter," as herein-before
described.
Fourth, the use and application of "fenders" in combination with the
scraping as herein-before described, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harrison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-five.
JOHN HARRISON. (L.S.)
JOHN HARRISON. (L.S.)