IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING THE WRECK OR FOUNDERING OF SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth and Company,
Patent Agency, at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING THE
WRECK OR FOUNDERING OF SHIPS OR VESSELS."-A communication from
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Wirth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th October 1873.
I, FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Agency,
of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED SAFETY APPARATUS FOR
PREVENTING THE WRECK OR FOUNDERING OF SHIPS OR VESSELS," a communication
from Eugen Schaal, a person resident at Leichlingen, in the Empire of
Germany, to be as follows:-

page_text: Instead of the compressed air, carbonic acid may be developed from
salts, but it must then be filtered through cotton or pieces of chalk,
and the developing apparatus must be provided with regulating cocks.
This developing apparatus should consist of an enamelled vessel.
The hoses may be made of india-rubber or any other suitable material,
their shape varying according to circumstances. If they are to be laid
along the vessel, they are best made of a cylindric form, but if to be
laid under the vessel they may be enlarged on their sides into sacks.
The size and number of the hoses must be equal to the size and load
of the vessel, and as too large lioses might burst, a larger number of
small hoses is preferable.
A vessel provided with this safety apparatus is prevented from sink-
ing, it may be repaired, and in any case time is gained for saving
people, life, and property, and preventing accidents similar to that of
the Northfleet.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frank Wirth in the Great Seal Patent Office of
on the 25th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANK
WIRTH, of the Firm of. Wirth and Company, Patent Agency, at
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the¨
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Frank Wirth, Her special
licence that I, the said Frank Wirth, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frank Wirth, 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, usc, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED SAFETY
APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING THE WRECK OR FOUNDERING OF SHIPS OR VESSELS,"

page_text: a communication from Eugen Schaal, a person resident at Leichlingen
in the Empire of Germany, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Frank Wirth, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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, the said Frank Wirth, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :—
Many wrecks and losses of vessels or ships at sea are caused by
leakage which increases the specific weight of the vessels by the water
running through the leaks. To prevent or counteract this increased
weight I provide each vessel with sacks or hoses filled with air or gas,
by which means it becomes specifically lighter and can float on the
surface of the water; but to be of use it is necessary that this means
shall be quickly employed, and the expeditious provision of vessels with
air sacks or hoses forms the object of this Invention.
Air, hydrogen, or any other suitable gas, is compressed to the 50th
or 100th part of its volume by means of an air compressing apparatus,
and the chamber which contains the compressed gases is air-tightly
connected by means of a cock with air-tight hoses arranged as a cable
rolled up on a cable drum, so that the hoses previously rolled together
may be directed in any direction by rolling up the cable.
If it is wanted to conduct, for instance, the hose below the vessel,
this hose is placed at the one side of the vessel and the cable drum on
the other, the cable being led under the vessel.
If the hose is to be led around the hull or walls of the vessel holders
must be employed to hold the hoses, and this arrangement enables the
hoses to be placed in a short time.
If the air cock. is opened the hoses are instantly filled with air, by
which • means the vessel must be raised, as one volume of water is a
heavier than seven hundred volumes of air.

page_text: In passenger boats, air sacks may be arranged along the ceiling of
the lower cabin of the vessel which is below the surface of the water,
and in case of wreck these sacks occupy a very large space which
otherwise would have been occupied by the water, but when emptied
they occupy a very small space.

page_text: In order that the cable which connects the drum with the hoses does
not swim under the vessel it is suspended in the front and back side of
the vessel, and if the hoses shall be drawn under the keel of the vessel
the cable is to be thrown below and wound up on the drum until the
hoses are brought into their proper position.
If the hoses are to be placed along the sides of the vessel, suitable
arrangements are to be made to hold up the hoses guided by cables
along the walls.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of the said Inven-
tion, and the way in which it is to be or may be carried into practical
effect, I claim,-
Firstly. The employment of compressed air or gases in connection
with air-tight hoses and sacks for holding sinking ships above water.
Secondly. The employment of carbonic acid developed from salts for
the same purpose.
And, Thirdly. The various arrangements and combinations of the
apparatus and means for the purpose as herein described.
In witness whereof I, the said Frank Wirth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
T WIRTH. (LS)