IMPROVE- HENTS IN DERRICKS FOR RAISING SUNKEN SHIPS AND OTHER HEAVY BODIES FROM BELOW WATER, AND MOVING HEAVY BODIES FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Demerit Bishop, of Hanover House, Maryon
Road, Charlton, in the County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
HENTS IN DERRICKS FOR RAISING SUNKEN SHIPS AND OTHER HEAVY BODIES FROM
BELOW WATER, AND MOVING HEAVY BODIES FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER."
Sealed the 6th March 1857, and dated the 11th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Albert Demerit Bishop
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th September 1856.
I, ALBERT DEMERIT BISHOP, of Hanover House, Maryon Road, Charlton,
in the County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DERRICKS FOR RAISING SUNKEN SHIPS AND
BODIES FROM BELOW WATER, AND MOVING HEAVY BODIES FROM ONE PLACE TO
ANOTHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in derricks for raising
sunken ships and other heavy bodies from below water, and moving heavy
bodies from one place to another. For these purposes I combine a derrick,
such as was described in the Specification of a Patent granted to Alfred

page_text: Vincent Newton in my behalf, with a suitable construction of vessel, in order
that the derrick may be floated to the locality where it is desired to be used.
It is preferred that such floating vessel should be flat bottomed, having a
projecting keel or rib all round. The form and construction of the vessel
may be varied, but it is preferred to be built with parallel sides for a consider-
able portion of its length, and that the two ends should be of like form and
angular. The vessel is strongly framed or put together, to resist strains in
every direction, and is divided into numerous compartments or chambers by
longitudinal and transverse bulk heads, suitably arranged and constructed for
receiving water, in order that the weight of the derrick and heavy body
pendent thereto on one side of the floating vessel may be counterbalanced by
the weight of the water admitted into the compartments at and near the other
side of the floating vessel. In order to propel this vessel, it is preferred to
have endless chains with paddles or float boards on each side of the vessel
put in motion by suitable steam machinery on board; or paddle wheels or
other machinery may be employed for moving the vessel. Steam power on
board the vessel is also employed to give motion to the barrels or machinery
working the chains or hoisting tackle of the derrick, which is similarly con-
structed to what was described in the said Specification. By this arrangement
or combination of machinery and vessel, sunken ships and other heavy bodies
may be raised from below water, and they may also be conveyed from one
place to another with greater advantage than by the means heretofore
resorted to.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Albert Demerit Bishop in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALBERT
DEMERIT BISHOP, of Hanover House, Maryon Road, Charlton, in the County
of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Albert Demerit Bishop, Her special licence that I, the said Albert Demerit

page_text: Bishop, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Albert Demerit Bishop, 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 DERRICKS FOR RAISING SUNKEN SHIPS AND OTHER HEAVY BODIES
FROM BELOW WATER, AND MOVING HEAVY BODIES PROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Albert Demerit Bishop,
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 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 Albert Demerit Bishop, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in derricks for raising
sunken ships and other heavy bodies from below water, and for moving heavy
bodies from one place to another. For these purposes I combine a derrick,
such as was described in the Specification of a Patent granted to Alfred
Vincent Newton in my behalf, with a suitable construction of vessel, in order
that the derrick may be floated to the locality where it is desired to be used.
It is preferred that such floating vessel should be flat bottomed, having a
projecting keel or rib all round. The form and construction of the vessel
may be varied, but it is preferred to be built with parallel sides for a consider-
able portion of its length, and that the two ends should be of like form and
angular. The vessel is strongly framed or put together to resist strains in
every direction, and is divided into numerous compartments or chambers by
longitudinal and transverse bulk heads, suitably arranged and constructed for
receiving water, in order that the weight of the derrick and heavy body
pendant thereto on one side of the floating vessel may be counterbalanced by
the weight of the water admitted into the compartments at and near the other
side of the floating vessel. In order to propel this vessel, it is preferred to
have endless chains with paddles or float boards on each side of the vessel,
put in motion by suitable steam machinery on board; or paddle wheels or

page_text: other machinery may be employed for moving the vessel. Steam power on
board the vessel is also employed to give motion to the barrels or machinery
working the chains or hoisting tackle of the derrick, which is similarly con-
structed to what was described in the said Specification. By this arrangement
or combination of machinery and vessel, sunken ships and other heavy bodies
may be raised from below water, and they may also be conveyed from one
place to another with greater advantage than by the means heretofore
resorted to.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a floating derrick, constructed according to my Invention;
and Figure 2 is a transverse section thereof. The other Figures shewn by
the Drawings represent, for the most part, details of the construction of the
floating vessel with which the derrick is combined. The nature of each
view being written on the Drawing, need not therefore be repeated here.
Figure A shows a transverse section of the circular frame, upon which act
the friction wheels connected with the travelling brace rods, and by means of
which the boom traverses from one point to another of the circumference of its
capacity; and Figure B, the first operation of the derrick towards raising a
sunken vessel, which consists in trauling a chain round her from stem to stern,
and bringing it taut by dropping down an anchor.
In attempting to raise a sunken craft by means of two vessels moored on
cither side over her sunken position, and connected together by timbers or
stages lashed athwart both of the vessels, an unequal strain is alternately
transmitted from one set of the lifting chains to the other at the risk of
breaking them, owing to two alternate twisting motions being communicated
to the vessels by their rising and falling with the buoyant action of the water
on which they float. To those who are practically conversant with the raising
of sunken craft, it is well known that a submerged body cannot be brought up
to the surface while such a surging exists as that occasioned through this
motion to the vessels employed in the operation. This difficulty, however, is
entirely overcome by this floating derrick, which hoists without any surge, and
pulls equally upon all the lifting chains at the same time, while the sunken
craft becomes as it were a pendulum suspended from the extremity of the
derrick's boom. Sunken vessels, that by any method now practised, would
require many days for the adjustment of the chains alone, owing to the

page_text: obstruction caused by currents, can be raised by these derricks in a few hours,
and this without recourse being had to the tedious, hazardous, and expensive
process of employing a staff of divers with their necessary attendants.
On referring to the Drawing showing the constructive details, the Speci-
fication of the derrick's scow will be found as follows:-The frame is put
together with four longitudinal trusses having ex-braces and bolts; it is sealed
with two-inch oak planks and caulked tight, and an arch truss runs from
end to end of the scow, substantially braced with ex-braces, to which there
are two diagonal trusses with ex-braces to prevent the vessel from "tortion."
There are also eight transverse trusses, built in the same manner and made
perfectly water-tight, forming separate compartments or bulk heads.
raising a sunken vessel water is admitted as required into those compartments
of the scow which are on the opposite side to that where the hoisting takes
place, thereby readily providing a counter-balance to the accumulating dead
weight.
In
These water-tight compartments or bulk heads are of important service in
the recovery of vessels stranded upon a shelving beach or sand. The derrick's
scow having a very light draught of water, not over 30 inches, that side of it
towards the beach can be elevated out of the water by filling the bulk heads
on the opposite side. By this means, and by taking a purchase on the stranded
craft, the derrick may be brought broadside on the beach to the extent of one
third the scow's beam. When the raised end of the scow has been settled
down, the purchase upon the stranded craft is hauled in, and by the alternate
repetition of this process and the backing off the derrick, the stranded craft
may be brought down gradually to the water's edge and towed away, or, if
necessary, be "listed" for repairs while suspended in the lifting chains.
It is not necessary to enter into any description of the construction and
working of the derrick, the same being fully explained in the Specification of
the said Alfred Vincent Newton; neither is it necessary to enter into any
description of the machinery used for propelling or for actuating the chains
used with the derrick, such details forming no part of my present Invention.
The floating vessel being, as above stated, formed with water chambers or
compartments, the same are to be provided with plugs to admit and stop off
the water, and also with suitable pumps for removing the water from such
chambers or compartments, all which will readily be understood by workmen
capable of constructing such a description of vessel. The present Invention
consists in combining derricks such as are shewn with a suitable construction
of floating vessel, as herein explained, in order to the derrick being used when

page_text: afloat for the purposes of raising sunken ships and other heavy bodies from
below water. I would, however, remark that the details both of the derrick
and of the vessel with which it is combined may be varied without departing
from the Invention, so long as the peculiar construction be retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Demerit Bishop, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
GEO. PITT.
A. D. BISHOP. (L.S.)