CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO FLOATING GRAVING DOCKS, FOR REPAIRING AND BUILDING SHIPS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Taylor, Engineer, of the firm of
Messrs. James Taylor, and Company, Britannia Works, Birken-
head, in the County of Chester, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO FLOATING GRAVING DOCKS, FOR
REPAIRING AND BUILDING SHIPS."
Scaled the 19th January 1853, and dated the 26th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Taylor at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th November 1852.
I, JAMES TAYLOR, Engineer, of Messrs. James Taylor & Co.,
Britannia Works, Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN AND APPLICABLE TO FLOATING GRAVING DOCKS, FOR REPAIRING AND
BUILDING SHIPS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, in the first place, in constructing such
floating graving docks of iron, and formed in compartments so as to
admit of the due regulation of the floating power of the structure,
in order to adapt it for receiving and containing ships to be repaired
or altered. These floating graving docks are also fitted with iron

page_text: water-tight gates, to be closed on the admission of, or while con-
taining, a ship within the dock.
The water which has entered with the ship is forced out of the
compartments as required, by means of pumps worked by steam or
other power fixed at the head of the dock or in any convenient part
of the same. There are also floating vessels adapted and applied
to the upper part of the sides of the dock, in order to increase the
floating power of the structure before the water is forced out.
And my Invention consists, in the second place, in adapting and
applying to, or raising upon, ship lifts or rafts hollow air-tight side
walls, thereby forming such lifts or rafts into floating graving docks.
These side walls are formed with partitions separating the upper
from the lower part of the said walls, and preventing the admission
of water into the upper part of the same.
The engines and pumps
for forcing out air and water when required are fixed in the upper
division of the walls, and at one end of the apparatus or dock.
These divisions or compartments act also as a floating vessel on
each side of the structure, to support it while a ship is being
admitted, lifted, and shored within it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said James Taylor in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JAMES TAYLOR, Engineer, of the firm of Messrs. James Taylor and
Co., Britannia Works, Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Taylor, Her
especial license that I, the said James Taylor, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James

page_text: Taylor, ny 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO
FLOATING GRAVING DOCKS FOR REPAIRING AND BUILDING SHIPS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Taylor, by an in-
strument in writing under my hand and scal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Taylor, 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 Draw-
ings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say):
My Invention of "Certain Improvements in and applicable to
Floating Graving Docks for Repairing and Building of Ships" has
for its object the construction of such docks and the arrangement of
the apparatus belonging thereto, in such a manner as to adapt them
for use, independently of the rise and fall of tides; so that whereas
floating docks heretofore have required the aid of the tide to enable
vessels to pass into or out of them, floating docks constructed accord
ing to my Invention may receive vessels into them, or allow vessels
to pass out of them, in waters in which there is no rise and fall of
tide. Floating docks of this construction may, however, be used in
tidal waters as heretofore, but with increased facility, owing to the
improved means under my Invention of regulating the floating
power of the structure and the level of water within it.
And the manner in which such subject is carried into effect is, in
the first place, by constructing floating graving docks of iron in
compartments from which the water may be discharged, and in

page_text: which its height may be regulated according to an index in the
engine room or other convenient place, influenced by a float at the
other end of the dock. These docks are closed by means of iron
gates or a caisson at the stern of the dock, worked by crab winches
and chains. The engine and pumps for discharging the water from
and regulating the height of water in the compartments are fixed
at the heads or sides of the dock, and communicate with the com-
partments by means of pipes.
To the body of the dock on each side are adapted and applied
hollow spaces or chambers, with partitions in them, into which spaces
or chambers the water may pass from the body of the dock through
valves worked from the upper part of the same.
The dock may
also be constructed with hollow vessels adapted and applied to the
upper part, but I prefer constructing it with the hollow spaces or
chambers, as herein-after more particularly described.
And the object of my Invention, as above stated, may be accom-
plished, in the second place, by adapting to or raising upon ship lifts
or rafts, hollow air-tight side walls, thereby forming such lifts or
rafts into floating graving docks.
In both these modes of accomplishing the object of my Inven-
tion, the structure is composed of parts answering substantially the
same purpose. In order, therefore, that my Invention may be more
fully understood, I will proceed to describe, by the aid of the accom-
panying Drawings, the form of construction of dock and arrangement
of the apparatus belonging thereto which I prefer; from which it
will be seen, that the object of my Invention, as above stated, may be
accomplished either by constructing the dock at once in the form
herein-after described, which I prefer, or by converting a ship lift
or raft into a floating graving dock, by making the necessary addi-
tions of side and end walls.
Fig. 1, is a longitudinal vertical section, shewing the dock with
its gates and the steam engines, pumps, valves, &c., but omitting
minor details. Fig. 2, is a plan or horizontal view of the same.
These two Figures are divided, in order to bring them within the
required size.
Figures 3, 4, and 5, are transverse vertical sections

page_text: .
of the dock, shewing its general form and construction, with the
situation occupied therein by a ship or vessel intended to be repaired.
A, A, A, A, are four compartments into which the body of the dock,
as high as the flooring B, is divided. These compartments are
formed and constructed of plate iron in the ordinary manner in
which iron vessels are built and strengthened by means of ribs C, C,
adapted to the form of the dock in its transverse section, and riveted
by means of angle iron to the inner and outer set of plates or shell
of the dock. These ribs may be varied in form and arrangement.
The compartments A, A, are fitted together with water-tight parti-
tions or bulk heads D, D, between them, extending longitudinally
and transversely, as shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 2; E, E, are.
pipes communicating with the pumps F, F, by which the water may
be pumped out of the compartments A, A, into the spaces or chambers
G, G, between the side walls H, H. These side walls are divided
into compartiments by means of iron bulk heads or partitions, by
which also they are separated from the engine room. I, I, are valves
for the passage of water, when required, from the body of the dock
into the spaces or chambers G, G; these valves are worked by.
means of rods and winch handles J, or levers by which they may
be opened and closed as required. L, L, are iron gates suitably
mounted at the stern of the dock, and worked by means of crab,
winches and chains M, M. Instead of these gates, a caisson may be
used. The ordinary blocks and shores for supporting vessels when
in dock are shewn at N, and O. I would here remark, that the dock
may be varied in form and construction from that represented in
the several figures, and particularly in Figures 3, 4, and 5, and it
may be constructed with an air-tight partition or ceiling in each of
the spaces or chambers G, G, so as to increase the buoyancy of the
structure, by presenting an obstacle to the rising of the water within
the said spaces or chambers.
I will proceed now to describe the mode of operation in taking a
ship or vessel into dock and discharging the water from the same;
also that of undocking a ship or vessel. Figures 3, 4, and 5, are.
three transverse sections of the dock, shewing the position of the

page_text: ship in the several stages of progress towards her ultimate fixture
ready for undergoing repairs. Fig. represents the dock with
the gates open, and the ship floated in and ready for docking. Fig. 4,
represents the dock as it would appear after the gates have been
shut, and the level of water in the body of the dock lowered so as to
allow the ship to settle upon the blocks, the ship having been shored
at the upper part. Fig. 5, represents the dock as it would appear
when pumped dry, with the ship on the blocks and completely
shored.
It will be seen, on reference to Fig. 3, that the dock is sunk to
a suitable depth in the water for admitting the ship, the empty
spaces or chambers G, G, serving to float the dock to the extent of
their cubical contents, which supply a floating power equal to more
than the whole weight of the dock. By opening valves or cocks
water may be admitted from the sea or water in which the dock is
floating into the chambers G, G, or into the body of the dock, and
the dock may be sunk to a greater depth when necessary. The
gates being now closed and secured, the valves I, I, are opened, in
order that water may pass from the body of the dock into the spaces
or chambers G, G, thereby lowering the level of water in the body of
the dock and allowing the ship or vessel to settle down upon the
blocks; the ship or vessel is at this time shored at the upper part,
as shewn in the Drawing. The valves I, I, are now closed, and the
pumps F, F, set to work, by means of which the remaining water is
withdrawn from the body of the dock until it is clear as low as the
flooring B, as shewn at Fig. 5. The water may either be thus
pumped into the spaces or chambers G, G, or into the sea, as may be
found advisable, which would depend upon the weight of the ship or
vessel, the shoring of which has to be completed as the water is
withdrawn from under it.
In taking the vessel out of dock the above described mode of
operation is reversed. The valves I, I, are opened, and the water
which has been admitted into the spaces or chambers G, G, is
allowed to pass therefrom into the body of the dock, filling the same
up to the level of which such amount of water is capable; the

page_text: valves are then closed, and the remainder of the water in the spaces
or compartiments G, G, pumped therefrom into the body of the dock,
by which the level of water therein is raised; the sluices in the
dock gates or the caisson are now opened and a quantity of water
admitted thereat sufficient to float the ship or vessel; the gates are
then opened or the caisson withdrawn, and the vessel taken out of
dock.
In conducting the above described operations, it is important that
the degree of floatation given to the dock should be under the easy
control of the shipwright or engineer entrusted with the direction of
the same. For this purpose the spaces or chambers G, G, and the
body of the dock up to the floor B, are divided into water-tight
compartments as above mentioned, and the pumps F, F, are con-
nected separately with each compartment by means of the pipes
E, E, each pump being furnished with disconnecting gear and valves.
The height of water at the four corners of the dock is registered on
an index in the engine room or elsewhere, by means of guage tubes
leading from the corners of the dock to the engine room. Should
one part of the dock be too buoyant, it may be sunk to its proper
level by working the pumps connected with that compartment and
pumping water into it, or the requisite balance of the structure may
be attained or restored by pumping water out of the opposite com-
partment. In a similar manner any part of the dock may be raised
or lowered as circumstances may require. It is also to be observed
that there are valves or cocks (as above mentioned) to admit water
into the body of the dock, and also into the spaces or chambers G, G,
from the sea or water in which the dock is floating. By opening or
closing these valves or cocks, the position of the dock in the water
may be regulated.
In forming ship lifts or rafts into floating graving docks (accord-
ing to the second part of my Invention), it is necessary to adapt
thereto a flooring, and side and end walls similar to those above
described, and to insert in the walls an air-tight partition or ceiling,
to prevent the water from rising so high in the hollow walls as to
interfere with the required degree of floating power of the structure

page_text: to kept in reserve. I would here remark, that in some cases it may
be desirable to discharge the water from the apparatus or dock suffi-
ciently to enable it to rise and carry up with it the vessel within it,
in order that it may be made to settle and be secured upon what is
commonly termed a "gridiron." This mode of using the dock may
be found convenient in cases in which the vessel may require exten-
sive repairs.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood
that I do not mean or intend to confine myself to the precise forms
and arrangements of all the parts shewn and described, as the same
may be varied without departing from the essential principle
embodied in my Invention as above described. I would also remark,
that I do not claim as of my Invention any of the parts separately
which have been above referred to, nor the modes of operation in the
docking or undocking of ships which have been above described.
But what I do claim as of my Invention, is the general construction
and arrangement of floating graving docks composed of iron, and
formed in water-tight compartments with the means of easy control
and regulation of the floating power of the structure, so as to admit
of the docking and undocking of ships or vessels as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Taylor, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
JAMES TAYLOR.
(L. S.)