New or Improved Means of Railway Communication between Lands Separated by Water.
Year: 1890

page_text: Complete opecification Len, Gin rep., Topitu, von
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Means of Railway Communication between Lands
Separated by Water..
I, PHILIPPE BUNAU VARILLA, of 30, Rue de Grammont, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention to
be as follows:-
My invention relates to new or improved means of railway communication
between the shores of lands separated by water and is more particularly applicable
to the construction of railway communication between countries situated in the
position of France and England where for State reasons it is desirable to provide
for the temporary disablement or interruption of the connection between the two
countries.
The schemes heretofore put forward for connecting England with France by a
railway have been without results.
England has refused to sanction the construction of a tunnel having one mouth
situated in English and the other in French territory because the path of com-
munication which would be formed by a work of this description although
acknowledged to be practicable and economical is sheltered from the guns of a fleet
and would deprive England of the defensive advantages which it derives from its
insular position and naval forces if in case of a war with France the latter country
were to succeed in getting the control of the British end of the tunnel.
·
The construction of a bridge being essentially a vulnerable work and capable of
being broken by a few shots is not open to the same objection but on the other
hand the immense technical and financial difficulties involved in its construction
and the inconvenience which it must cause to navigation render the execution of
this design almost chimerical.
The system of passage forming the object of my invention and which I term the
variable mixed passage meets all the objections opposed to the solutions heretofore
proposed and at the same time retains the advantages peculiar to each of them and
fulfils the following essential conditions, namely
1. A practical and simple construction by means of an outlay not materially
greater than that involved in the tunnel scheme.
2. An essentially vulnerable form of connecting passage being capable of being
easily destroyed by projectiles thrown from a ship of war.
The system which I have invented consists firstly in extending the English or
French railways or both on metal viaducts or piers projecting approximately
perpendicularly to the shore and carried out to sea for such a distance as the
respective governments may deem necessary for their safety. Secondly in providing
at the sea end of each pier a structure enabling entire trains to be lowered to the
level of the geological strata in which the tunnel is to be constructed such descent
admitting of being performed either vertically by means of lifts or on inclines or by
any other arrangement enabling a train to be taken from one level to another
and thirdly in forming the submarine tunnel between the bottoms of these two
descents.

page_text: From a financial point of view this scheme presents the advantages of a tunnel
being based throughout almost the whole of the distance to be traversed on the
construction of a tunnel which is replaced by a viaduct or pier for a suitable
distance of say about half a mile to one mile for example from each end this being
moreover the shallowest part of the channel where no serious difficulty is to be
apprehended in the construction of a pier even in the open sea.
From a political or international point of view it presents all the advantages of a
channel bridge the path of communication being capable of being readily destroyed
or broken by a ship of war.
Not only can the viaducts or piers of approach to the tunnel by means of their
position in the open sea but also the works by which the descent is effected at the
extremity of each pier as well as the stationary machinery or apparatus employed
for the lowering and raising of the trains be very readily broken and destroyed by
the guns of a fleet.
The destruction by a bombardment of the walls protecting the shafts or descents
from the invasion of the sea will inevitably cause the tunnel to be flooded.
In consequence it may be said that the communication according to this invention
is perfectly vulnerable as the guns of a fleet can in a few minutes destroy all the
exposed parts (piers of approach) inundate the tunnel and overthrow the works by
which the tunnel is connected with the piers.
Dated 1:07 IC V
1000
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Means of Railway Communication between Lands
Separated by Water.
I, PHILIPPE BUNAU VARILLA, of 30, Rue de Grammont, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to new or improved means of railway communication
between the shores of lands separated by water and is more particularly applicable
to the construction of railway communication between countries situated in the
position of France and England where it is desirable to provide for the temporary
disablement or interruption of the connection between the two countries.
The schemes heretofore put forward for connecting England with France by a
railway have failed to obtain general approval. England has refused to sanction
the construction of a tunnel having one mouth situated in England and the other in
French territory because the path of communication which would be formed by a
work of this description although acknowledged to be practicable and economical is
sheltered from the guns of a fleet and would deprive England of the defensive
advantages which this country derives from its insular position and naval forces if
in case of a war with France the latter country were to succeed in obtaining control
over the British end of the tunnel.
The construction of a bridge being essentially a vulnerable work and capable of
being broken by a few shots is not open to the same objections but on the other
hand the immense technical and financial difficulties involved in its construction and
the inconvenience which it must cause to navigation render the execution of this
design almost chimerical.
The system of passage forming the object of my present invention and which I
term the "Varilla Mixed Passage" meets all the objections opposed to the schemes
heretofore proposed at the same time retaining all their advantages and fulfils the
following essential conditions, namely:
1. The construction is practical and simple and involves an outlay not materially
greater than that of the tunnel scheme.

page_text: 2. The form is of an essentially vulnerable nature, the connecting passage being
capable of being easily destroyed by projectiles thrown from a ship of war.
The system which I have invented consists firstly in extending the English or
French railways or both on metal viaducts or piers projecting over the sea in a
direction approximately perpendicular to the coast line and carried out to sea for
such a distance as may be deemed necessary to ensure the possibility of destroying
them by ships of war, secondly in providing at the sea end of each pier a structure
enabling entire trains of railway carriages to be lowered to the level of the geological
strata in which the tunnel is to be constructed such descent admitting of being
performed either vertically by means of lifts or by means of inclined planes or by
any other arrangement enabling the trains to be transferred from one level to
another and thirdly in forming a submarine tunnel connecting the bottoms of these
two descents.
And in order that my said invention may be fully understood I shall now proceed
more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to the several
figures on the annexed sheet of drawings the same letters of reference indicating
corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates in vertical section an example
of works for connecting two lands separated by water and Figure 2 represents the
works in plan.
In this drawing E and F represent two opposite shores such as the coasts of
England and France separated by water indicated at s and which are connected
according to my invention as hereinafter described.
The main part of the distance is traversed by a tunnel A excavated beneath the
bed of the sea or channel and at the extremities of this tunnel there are provided
hollow columns or structures B B₁ substantially constructed of masonry or other
These
suitable materials so as to be able to resist the violence of the waves.
structures B B' are connected with the adjacent shores by bridges or viaducts C C¹
constructed of metal or other materials and capable of being destroyed or rendered
impassable by the guns of a ship of war. Hydraulic or other apparatus is provided
in the structures B B' for lowering railway trains from the level of the said
bridges C C¹ to the level of the tunnel connecting the lower extremities of the said
structures and for raising the trains from the level of the said tunnel to that of the
bridges C C¹.
In order to enable a railway train to pass from one shore to the other say from
England to France for example it is simply run over the bridge C lowered in the
corresponding column or structure B to the level of the tunnel A and then run
through this tunnel to the hollow column B' at the opposite end of the tunnel
where it is elevated to the level of the lines on the bridge C¹ at this end and thus
enabled to pass on to the opposite shore.
From a financial point of view this scheme presents all the advantages of a
tunnel being based throughout almost the whole of the distance to be traversed on
the construction of a submarine excavation or gallery which replaced by a viaduct
or pier extending for a suitable distance of from say about half a mile to one mile
for example from each end this being moreover the shallowest part of the channel
where no serious difficulty is to be apprehended in the construction of a pier even
in the open sea.
From a strategic or international point of view it presents all the
advantages of a channel bridge the path of communication being capable of being
readily destroyed or broken by a ship of war. Not only can the viaducts or piers
of approach to the tunnel by reason of their position in the open sea, but also the
works by which the descent is effected at the extremity of each pier, as well as the
stationary machinery or apparatus employed for the lowering and raising of
the trains, be very readily broken and rendered useless or destroyed by the guns of
a fleet.
The destruction by a bombardment of the walls protecting the shafts or descents
from the invasion of the sea must inevitably cause the tunnel itself to be flooded.
The means of communication constructed according to this invention are perfectly

page_text: vulnerable as the guns of a fleet can in a few minutes destroy all the exposed parts
(piers of approach) inundate the tunnel and overthrow or render utterly impassable
the works by which the tunnel is connected with the piers or bridges at either
extremity.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
Connecting lands such as England and France separated by water by means of a
tunnel terminating at a point or points at a distance from one or both shores the
passage being completed by means of a bridge or viaduct communicating with the
extremity of the tunnel by means of a vertical or inclined connection the said con-
nection and the bridge or viaduct being so exposed or arranged as to be capable of
being readily destroyed or rendered impassable substantially as hereinbefore
described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 26th day of February 1891.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.