AN IMPROVED MODE OF ASCERTAINING THE TRUE POSITION OF SUCH VESSELS AS HAVE FOUNDERED AT SEA, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Adam Hunter at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th November.
1866.
I, ADAM HUNTER, 'of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid- Lothian, North'
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF ASCERTAINING THE TRUE POSITION OF SUCH VESSELS AS HAVE FOUNDERED
AT SEA, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS CONNECTED THEREWITH,"
to be as follows, that is to say':
This Invention which has for its object the indication in a very exact
manner of the position or locality of such vessels which have foundered at sea'
consists of three principal or essential parts, an air vessel or buoy, a connecting
line or rope, and a reel on which the latter is wound when the apparatus is
inactive, and from which the line or rope unwinds during the foundering of a
vessel, as is herein-after more fully set forth. The air vessel or buoy may be
made of any convenient form and of any suitable material, and its dimensions
depend upon or vary with the tonnage of the vessel which is to be provided
with the indicating apparatus, the dimensions also vary according to the
nature of the service in which such vessel is employed. The reel on which
the connecting line or rope is wound is situated in a case or box to protect it
from injury, the box being so secured in the hull that it becomes an integrat
part of the ship, care being taken in carrying out this arrangement that no
obstacle whatever may interfere with the freedom of revolution of the reel in

page_text: its bearings. In its entirety one end of the line is securely nxed to a point
on the surface of the buoy, the other end of the line being securely attached
to the body of the reel. The box for carrying the reel may be situated in any
convenient part of the hull so that the buoy may have perfect freedom of
escape from the cradle containing it. The form of the cradle or chamber
suitable for being situated at the quarter deck is that of an inverted hexagonal
conic frustum, its height above the deck level it is preferred should not exceed
18 inches or thereabouts. The chief bulk of the cradle passes through and
below the level of the deck, proportionate of course to the size of the buoy it
is intended to contain. The sides of the lower division are perforated so as
to give free access for the sea water to its interior in the event of the ship
sinking. The upper compartment of the cradle has its sides separate and
detached from each other to be fixed at their bases to the deck by such a form
of hinge as shall permit them to fold outwards, and when brought to the
perpendicular each side meets its corresponding part and thus completes the
hexagon, in which position and form they are retained by a special arrange-
ment of the top; the top is entirely separate, and has on its inferior surface
a descending flange moulding carefully adjusted to the sides, so that when
placed on the top of the cradle sides it will embrace them and thus retain
them in position. The top should be made of light buoyant wood with all
its fittings free and easy, so that in the event of a shipwreck it may readily
yield to the pressure of the ascending buoy and float away; the sides now
tend to fall outwards, and thereby remove such lateral obstructions as may
have accidentally got into the neighbourhood of the cradle. The buoy now
freed from all its coverings and impediments rises and remains on the surface
of the ocean to indicate the probable position of the wreck. The true position
may in consequence of currents and gales of wind be found to deviate
materially from the position of the buoy, but by drawing in the slack until it
reaches the perpendicular, accurate knowledge will be thus obtained. At
whatever depth of the ship it may be found necessary to place the reel, the
interspaces between it and the buoy are occupied by metallic tubes to connect
them directly with each other so that a safe and uninterrupted channel may be
formed for the transmission of the line. If from the formation of the ship it
is not possible to have the buoy and the reel in exact vertical position with
each other, then the deviation should be as limited as possible and carefully
compensated for by the introduction of one or two sets of pullies to obviate
friction. If the stern of the ship is decided upon as the place for the indicator
then a sufficiently strong cradle of timber or of iron spars should be built a
the part chosen for the reception of the buoy; in this case the reel and line

page_text: may be placed in the hold near the keel, the intervening space between the
cradle and reel to be occupied by a tube for the free transmission of the line.
The buoy should be painted of a bright conspcuous colour, and bear the name
of the ship to which it belongs; it should also have a flagstaff with a bright
coloured pennant fixed upon its sumit.