IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING FOUNDATIONS FOR MARINE OR OTHER STRUCTURES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Manico, of Bucklersbury in the City of
London, Lieutenant Royal Marines, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
"
Scaled the 23rd October 1857, and dated the 24th April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Manico at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, .with bis Petition, on the
24th April 1857.
I. EDWARD MANICO, of Bucklersbury, in the City of London, Lieutenant
Royal Marines, do hereby declare the nature of tho said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING FOUNDATIONS FOR MARINE OR OTHER STRUCTURES,"
to be as follows:-
I propose to construct a cradle or receiver of open work bar iron of any
size or shape that may be found convenient, but the shape I prefer is that of
a diamond; these cradles are to be filled with stones, for the entry of which a
small opening is left, and afterwards filled up to tally with the rest of the bar
work. Wherever a foundation is required, either at the mouths of harbours,
on shifting sands at sea, or in swamps, river courses, or similar places on land,
I
propose to form such foundation by lowering on to the 'sands (if at sea)
these cradles, leaving them to be filled up with sand and gradually to sink on
to the firm rock, chalk, or otherwise; the filling in will be effected by the
action of the waves, and the sinking effected by their specific gravity. I.
propose to continue the process by adding any number of my cradles until the
foundation shall have been formed, on which a superstructure may be raised.
cither by a continued use of the cradles, or by masonry, or otherwise. The
cradles inny be attached to each other by chains or otherwise if found
desirable.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Manico in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
MANICO, of Bucklersbury, in the City of London, Lieutenant Royal Marines,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing dato the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Manico, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Manico,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward
Manico, 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 OBTAINING
FOUNDATIONS FOR MARINE OR OTHER STRUCTURES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Manico, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and
scals, 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, tho said Edward Manico, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, referenco being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters of reference placed thereon, similar letters denoting similar
parts in each of the Figures respectively.
The caisson de fer, hereafter described, is adapted for use in obtaining
foundations for constructing permanent sea works on any dangerous and
exposed part of a coast where masonry will not stand the effects of the sen,
and where there is no escape for vessels when once blown on it, which un-
happily frequently happens in making the principal ports in the United
Kingdom, and elsewhere. My attention has for the last twenty years been
drawn to this subject, and fourteen years experience on the coasts of Great
Britain and Ireland has enabled me to make such observations on the action

page_text: and force of the sea, and the means of meeting it to arrest its violence, that I
have, I consider, providentially succeeded in discovering a system which when
adopted will not only avert the continued loss of vessels on the Goodwin and
elsewhere, and often their unfortunate crews, but will also in an incredibly
short time throw up an embankment along the inner line of the sands, that
shipping may ride at anchor (in the case of the Goodwin) in the Downs, under
its protection, in comparative safety. This upon reflection will be found not
only feasible but practicable, and will return an ample interest for the outlay,
either by a small tonnage duty chargeable on every vessel entering the port of
London, which no owner, it is presumed, would be unwilling to pay, and
thereby funds would be produced to carry out the works, so long as they gave
evidence of their durability and importance. It is also applicable for banks of
canals, redeeming land washed away by the sea, or for sea works on a sandy
coast where foundations cannot be obtained by any other means. It will be
found also most useful as a protection to any sea works on the coast during
progress, as a means of preventing those expensive washings down of which
there have been many these late years. Indeed economy is here combined
with usefulness, as the caisson is so composed that the sea has no power over
it, and its adhesion to tho sand consolidates the mass, rendering it a safo
barrier against the tempestuous waves. I term my Invention a "caisson de fer."
It is, as the Drawing shews, a hollow fabric of iron; its shape may be diamond,
square, or any other that may in practice be found serviceable, but I prefer
that shown in the Drawing. The capacity or content of the caisson is usually
a cubic yard, which I believe will be found the size most suitable for the
purposes of my Invention; but I confino myself to no size, as different works
will most likely require different sized caissons. A caisson of a cubic yard in
capacity (to the description of which I confine myself in this Specification).
will contain about one ton of stones, and when bedded in sand or shingle the
interstices between the uneven sided stones will receive from ten to twelve
hundredweight of sand or shingle, which will work into the caisson and form a
solid mass, which with the iron of which the cradle or caisson is made will
when in position weigh upwards of two tons.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows an elevation of the caisson de fer, filled with stones, and in
position on sand for sinking; Figure 2 an isometrical view of the sanic
suspended prior to sinking it where required.
To construct the caisson, as shewn in Drawing, I take bar iron, say, 157 feet,
of 3 inches wide by an inch thick, flat bar iron in twenty separate lengths,
having 136 drilled 3-inch bolt holes to receive 401-round 2-inch bolts and

page_text: nuts, 16-round square-headed 24-inch bolts and nuts, and 44-inch rivets for
its construction, that is to say, eight 9 feet lengths of flat bar iron 3 inches
wide by 2-inches thick, heated and turned up every three feet with seven -
inch drilled bolt holes in each, placed transversely for bottom and sides, the
bottom secured by eight bolts and nuts, four 12 feet 3 inch lengths for
hoops, three having 10 drilled 4-inch bolt holes in cach, and the fourth
(the upper one) eighteen drilled 4-inch bolt holes, each of these bars heated
and turned up every three feet, and rivetted at the ends for hooping up the
sides, then bolted. The cover consists of eight 4 feet 6 inch
wide by an inch thick bar iron, cach having four drilled -inch bolt holes
heated and turned up 9 inches from each end placed transversely and fastened
with eight round bolts and nuts. When the caisson is filled with stone, this
cover is placed over and bolted through the upper hoop and the top sides with
the square-headed bolts, which completes the caisson de fer represented in the
Drawing; a, a, being the cover; b, b, bolts and nuts fixing the cover to the
body of the caisson when filled with stones. In order to break the joints of
the work, above water, half and quarter caissons are used.
lengths of 3 inch
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the means by which
it is carried into effect, I desire it to be well understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein given, or to the relative proportions of
parts to each other, as such may be varied without departing from the principle
of my improvements, nor do I claim the exclusive use of any of the articles
used in my Invention when taken separately and not in combination or for the
purposes of my Invention, which I declare to be, and I claim, the exclusivo
use of the combination of parts or articles herein described, mentioned, or
shown when used for the purpose of obtaining foundations for marine or other
structures.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Manico, havo hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE,
4, Wellington St., Strand,
Patent Agent.
E. MANICO. (L.S.)