AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING SHIPS, VESSELS, OR BOATS, AND OF APPOR- TIONING THEIR FREIGHT TO THAT CONSTRUCTION, SO AS TO PREVENT THEIR SINKING OR BEING DESTROYED BY FIRE
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Miller at the. Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th June
1863.
I, WILLIAM MILLER, of No. 70, Upper Stamford Street, Blackfriars, in the
County of Surrey, do, hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING SHIPS, VESSELS, OR BOATS, AND OF APPOR-
TIONING THEIR FREIGHT TO THAT CONSTRUCTION, SO AS TO PREVENT THEIR SINKING
OR BEING DESTROYED BY FIRE," to be as follows:-
The means which I employ for this purpose consist in so constructing the
vessels that when freighted with a cargo and passengers the specific gravity
of the whole is less than an equal bulk of water, and so much less in propor-
tion as it is required to keep a larger portion of the vessel above the surface
of the water. The mode by which I effect this is by constructing the
vessels with small cellular water-tight compartments, varying in dimensions
from, say, a cubic foot to a cubic yard, or larger, but never very large, which
cells may be arranged in the vessel when found most convenient, and when
the desired result can be produced, but they must always be of sufficient
number and capacity to float the vessel when filled with water to the required
height, and it will be found that the number and capacity of these cells will
have to be regulated by the specific gravity of the cargo and passengers; thus
a cargo of heavy material like iron will require a larger capacity of cellular
compartment than a cargo of sugar or of wine. The upper deck of a vessel
might be composed entirely of cellular compartments, and this in a passenger

page_text: vessel might be found amply sufficient to float the vessel when filled with
water to the required height. These cellular compartments may be made of
any material, but what will probably be found most convenient, durable, and
cheap, will be iron, which may be painted, or tinned, or galvanized, so that by
soldering each compartment may be made water-tight and independent of its
neighbouring compartments; thus if a hole should be made in one or more
compartments by cannon shot, the vessel striking on rocks, or other accident,
the water can enter those compartments only which have sustained injury;
and should the water enter into the vessel not occupied by the cellular com-
partments, it can submerge the vessel only to a certain depth, the rest of the
uninjured cells keeping the vessel afloat. To every vessel I would also attach
a means of allowing the water to enter with great rapidity, so that should the
vessel take fire the water will extinguish the fire, and can afterwards be
pumped out, and the lives of the passengers, the vessel, and cargo saved
from destruction. By this means also vessels of war can be so constructed
that it will be very difficult either to sink, burn, or blow them up. In
addition to the cellular compartments, and where such a construction would
be inconvenient, I would fill up every vacant space in the vessel with some
material whose specific gravity is much inferior to water, such as cork, in fact
I would use every means to reduce the specific gravity of the vessel and its
contents as much as possible consistent with economy of space for cargo and
convenience of passengers.