Iм- PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR LADING AND UNLADING THEIR CARGO
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alphonse Alexis Bois at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th June 1872.
I, ALPHONSE ALEXIS BOIS, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, No. 23, Paris,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN THE MEANS OR
APPARATUS FOR LADING AND UNLADING THEIR CARGO," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide means whereby railway
or other trains or sets of carriages and other long and weighty bodies or
collections of bodies may be carried for longer and shorter distances at
sca without the necessity of being taken to pieces and in the same
condition in which they run on land.
The Invention consists of two parts, 1stly, in a novel construction of
ships or vessels by which the train or string of vehicles is carried; and
2ndly, in a novel construction of floating jetty or pier over which the
train or string of vehicles passes on to or from the vessel.
The vessel is composed of a raised platform supported by a number
of floating bodies to which it is attached by an open framework.

page_text: The floating bodies are of a peculiar form, the transverse section
presents the form of a symmetrical trapezadal figure, the larger side
of which is at the bottom. The side walls of the bodies incline inwards
and upwards up to a point or nearly so a little above the maximum
line of floatation, when they turn inwards so as to meet one another.
The floating bodies are completely closed and the only access to them
is through tubes leading from the platform. They are placed parallel
to one another separated by a certain interval, and can be constructed of
the same length, but it is preferred to somewhat increase their length
according as they are situated nearer to the centre of the boat without
however standing out beyond the platform. Each of the floating bodies
is provided with a rudder at both ends. Supports or brackets of open
framework are firmly attached to the floating bodies and to the bottom
of the open framework upon which is the platform so that the whole
are solidly united together. The platform is constructed so as to project
or overlap the bodies in order that in the case of collision or other
accident they may be protected from injury, and they are also covered
with a strong coating of resisting material as a further protection. The
rails for the carriages extend from one end to the other or fore and aft
of the platform throughout its length, and the portion upon which the
rails are laid is terminated at both ends by a turned up piece or boards
placed strictly at right angles with the rails. A balustrade provided
with the necessary passages or doors surrounds the whole platform,
Any system of propeller may be employed for my boats, but I prefer
at present to use paddle wheels of which as many may be used as judged
necessary.
The wheels should be arranged so as to act in the open spaces between
two of the bodies and should be actuated by separate machinery.
A distinctive feature of this part of my Invention is the means I
adopt for always securing the perfect equilibrium of my boats, so that
it is unnecessary with my system so to arrange the carriages or trucks
of the trains that their weight should be equalized throughout, but the
whole train may be run on to the platform and carried in precisely the
same condition as that in which it travelled on land. This is effected
by arranging in my boats just below the upper surface of the plat-
form a compensating system of ballasting consisting of a series of
passages laid with iron rails upon which run weights provided with
wheels, these passages run both fore and aft and athwart the platform or

page_text: in only one direction if desired, and there are as many of them as may
be found necessary.
Each gallery contains a certain number of the
running weights attached one to the other so as to constitute a train
which together make up a length varying from one-half to a quarter of
the length of the gallery in which they run. In order to bring about the
simultaneous action of all the trains of weights in order to compensate
for the irregular distribution of weight of the load a great variety of
arrangements may be employed. The means I have hitherto employed
consisted in a drum for each gallery connected by shafts and actuated
by cables.
The jetty or pier to which my Invention secondly relates is applicable
not only for the special purposes of the boat I have just described but
also to the general purposes of loading and unloading ships. It
resembles somewhat a bridge of boats in its construction, and is com-
posed of a platform or floor formed of a certain number of divisions
connected at their extremities by means of solid articulations similar
to those by which large hinges are united. Each of these divisions
composing this sort of movable bridge is supported by floating air boxes
hermetically closed, and a frame conveniently arranged upon these
floating boxes has the object of raising the floor to a level with the
platform of my new boat or the deck of other vessels. My floating pier
is constructed sufficiently broad as to be capable of being laid with a
corresponding number of rails to those on the boat. Each division of
the jetty has its upward and downward course limited by convenient
means.
It will be seen that as the first division of the jetty is fixed and rests
upon the land and the last division floats entirely upon the water that
an inclined plane is formed throughout the remaining divisions down
which the train can run on to the boat. The height of the tide of the
particular place where my system is constructed will regulate the length
of the jointed divisions of my jetty, but care must be taken that they
are always made long enough to allow a sufficiently gentle incline for
the purposes of traction.