IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOCKS AND APPARATUS FOR REPAIRING SHIPS AND VESSELS
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY PITCHER, of the West India Dock Ilouse, Billiter Square, in the City
of London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by ITer
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Nineteenth day of December, in the first year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Henry Pitcher, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Henry Pitcher, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Henry Pitcher, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOCKS AND APPARATUS FOR
REPAIRING SHIPS AND VESSELS," as communicated to me by a certain foreigner
residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I,
the said William Henry Pitcher, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad.
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Henry Pitcher, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):-
The Invention communicated to me from abroad consists of a mode of con-
structing docks, and apparatus for working the same, for repairing ships and
vessels, in substitution of ordinary dry docks and slips heretofore used for such
purposes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a dock constructed according to the In-
vention; Figure 2 is an end view, Figure 8 is a plan, and Figure 4 a section
of Figure 1; and it should be stated, that the same letters of reference are used
to indicate similar parts in each of the Figures. A, A, are the cylinders of the
hydraulic machinery; B are pistons or plungers; C is the supplying forcing
pump; D is a lever handle of the forcing supply pump; E are moveable iron
frames, the nature and construction of which are clearly shown in the Drawing;
F, F, are connecting rods, which communicate the motion of the pistons or
plungers to the frame E, E, as will readily be traced in the Drawing; G, G, are
couplings uniting the two frames E, E, with the pistons or plungers; H are nuts
for retaining the cross heads on the ends of the pistons or plungers; I, I, are
chains, six on each side of the dock, but that number may be varied; J, J, are
iron bolts for stopping the chains I, I; K, K, are pulleys, over which the
chains work; L, L, are catches taking into the toothed rack M, M, by which
the frames E are prevented running back in case of accident; N, guiding and
friction rollers for the frames E, E; 0, 0, are beams for receiving and sup-
porting the keel of the ship or vessel; P, P, are straps for fixing the cylinders
A; Q, Q, are cross pieces, to which the beams O are fixed; R, R, are uprights
of the machinery for wedging and sustaining the ship or vessel; S, S, aro
toothed triangles, sliding on the uprights, and are regulated by the ropes I and
2; the rope No. 1 is used to raise the machinery, as will readily be traced in
the Drawing; V, V, openings used to stop the chains when the pistons are at
the end of their stroke.
Having thus explained the nature of the parts, and their combination, I
will proceed to explain the manner of action :-
Supposing a ship or vessel (which it is desired to repair) to have entered
the dock, it is to be fixed therein by means of the triangular pieces S; this is
to be done by pulling on the ropes or chains No. 1; the uprights R must then
be fixed to those parts of the ship or vessel which are near to them; this being

page_text: done, the lever D of the forcing pump must be acted upon, and the motion
continued thereto till the end of the stroke of the pistons B. The next opera-
tion will be stopping the chains I, by the iron bolts for that purpose, at V.
The ship or vessel being thus raised, may be retained whilst repairing for any
desired length of time; and when it is wished to lower her into the water, that
operation will readily be accomplished by allowing the water slowly to flow
from the cylinders A, having first removed the stops or bolts employed for
retaining the chains to the position to which they have been raised. The
construction of the hydrostatic cylinders an: machinery being well understood,
and in itself forming no part of the Invention, and as the same, and the parts
connectel therewith, are clearly shown in the Drawing, no further description
will be necessary. And I would have it understood that I lay no claim to any
of the parts separately of which the combined machinery is composed, the
parts separately being well understood; and it will be evident that variations
may be made in some of the parts without departing from the character of the
Invention.
I would, in conclusion, remark, that what I claim as the Invention secured
by the present Letters Patent is, the mode of constructing docks, and appa-
ratus for working the same, for repairing ships or vessels, as herein described,
in substitution of the common dry docks and slips, and such like apparatus
heretofore used for such purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Pitcher, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of June, One thousand eight
WILLIAM HENRY (L.s.) PITCHER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1888, the aforesaid William Henry Pitcher came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.