IMPROVEMENTS IN CAISSONS."
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jonathan Robert Baillie, of 1, Rochefort Villas,
Hoe Street, Walthamstow, in the County of Essex, Naval Architect, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CAISSONS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jonathan Robert Baillie
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th December 1867.
I, JONATHAN ROBERT BAILLIE, of 1, Rochefort Villas, Hoe Street, Waltham-
stow, in the County of Essex, Naval Architect, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CAISSONS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to the raising and lowering of the decks of
caissons when required, in order to obviate the necessity of removing such
decks from and restoring them to their positions, as usual. And my Invention
consists in the adaptation and application to caissons of tanks or barrels for
supporting the decks thereof, such tanks or barrels passing downwards through
cavities formed in the ordinary air chambers and resting on the water. By
this means the upper or platform deck can be readily raised or lowered to the
extent required, so as when lowered to admit of the caisson being drawn into
the place formed to receive it, and when raised to constitute a platform for
the caisson in the ordinary manner. The said lifting tanks or barrels may be

page_text: of various dimensions and the mode of their disposal and arrangement in the
caisson may also be varied. And the moveable deck is intended to be kept
in its highest position above the top of the caisson by means of jointed bars
or by other suitable supports.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jonathan Robert Baillie in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONATHAN
ROBERT BAILLIE, of 1, Rochefort Villas, Hoe Street, Walthamstow, in the
County of Essex, Naval Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jonathan Robert Baillie, Her special licence that I, the said Jonathan
Robert Baillie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Jonathan Robert Baillie, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CAISSONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Jonathan Robert Baillie, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jonathan Robert Baillie, 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, referenco being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of "Improvements in Caissons" has reference to the raising
and lowering of the decks of caissons when required by partially floating them
in order to obviate the necessity of having powerful appliances and machinery

page_text: for the purpose.
And my Invention consists in the adaptation and application
to caissons of tanks or barrels for supporting the decks thereof, such tanks or
barrels passing downwards through cavities formed in the ordinary air chambers
and floating in the water. By this means the upper or platform deck can be
readily raised or lowered to the extent required so as when lowered to admit
of the caisson being drawn into the place formed to receive it, and when raised
to constitute a platform for the caisson in the ordinary manner. The said
lifting tanks or barrels may be of various dimensions and the mode of their
disposal and arrangement in the caisson may also be varied. And the moveable
deck is intended to be kept in its highest position above the top of the caisson
by means of jointed bars or by other suitable supports.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed by
reference to the accompanying Drawings in which are represented two modes
of carrying the Invention into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2 is a plan or horizontal view; and Figures
3 and 4 are end views representing one form of caisson and arrangement of
trs or barrels; Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 are corresponding views representing
another form and arrangement of the same. In these several Figures the
same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
A is the upper or roadway deck of the caisson; B, B, are the tanks or
barrels which support or float the deck A, and which are connected to the same
in any suitable manner. These tanks or barrels are by preference shewn to
extend to the bottom of the air chamber, but they may be made to extend to
the keel of the caisson or of less depth as preferred. In Fig. 2 they are shewn
to be cylindrical, and in Fig. 6 oblong. D, D, are cavities formed in the air
chambers of the caissons C, C, in which the tanks or barrels B, B, slide up
and down as required for raising and lowering the deck A. Openings are
formed in the bottom plating of the air chamber underneath the tanks or
barrels B, B, for the purpose of admitting water into the cavities D, D, as
required in order to float the deck A by pressing on the under surfaces of the
tanks or barrels B, B. It will be obvious that on removing the water from the
cavities D, D, the tanks or barrels B, B, will be allowed to descend in the
cavities and with them the roadway deck A as represented in Figures 4 and
8, and that on admitting water into the cavities D, D, the tanks or barrels
will be pressed upwards and the deck A raised into the position shewn in
Figures 3 and 7.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would remark that the form of the caisson
and the number and arrangement of the tanks or barrels may be varied; but
what I claim as of my Invention is, the adaptation and application of tanks
or barrels to caissons, such tanks or barrels working vertically in suitably
formed cavities in the air chambers in order to raise and lower the roadway
decks of caissons for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonathan Robert Baillie, have hereunto
set my band and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
J. COMBE,
Sol",
Staple Inn.
JONATHAN ROBERT BAILLIE. (L.S.)