IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE DEPTH OF Water undeR VESSELS.TER UNDER
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Alfred Poole, of 21, Fairfield Terrace,
Lower Tranmere, Birkenhead, in the County of Cheshire, School-
master, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
INDICATING THE DEPTH OF Water undeR VESSELS. "
INDICATING THE DEPTH OF WATER UNDER VESSELS. "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Alfred Poole
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th July 1874.
I, GEORGE ALFRED POOLE, of 21, Fairfield Terrace, Lower Tranmere,
Birkenhead, in the County of Cheshire; Schoolmaster, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
INDICATING THE DEPTH OF WATER UNDER VESSELS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the application of electricity and use
of apparatus for the purpose of indicating the depth of water beneath
vessels under way, and by such indications to give warning of the
approach to land or the presence of banks or submerged ground.

page_text: The apparatus for these purposes comprises a chain and weight
suspended from the end of a lever, which is attached to a small shaft
placed below the end of the bridge of a steam vessel so as to overhang
the side of the vessel. The length of the chain will limit the depth at
which the presence of submerged rocks, ground, or other obstacles are
to be indicated on board. On the bridge and connected with the said
chain and weight is an arrangement of wheels, "clockwork," and a dial,
on which figures, each indicating fathoms, are marked. On the weight
at the end of the chain coming in contact with an obstruction the chain
and lever will be moved from their vertical line, thereby putting in
motion the clockwork and indicating on the dial an obstruction at the
depth of a certain number of fathoms, and as the chain and lever are
moved still further from their vertical line and nearer to a horizontal
position so will be indicated on the dial a less number of fathoms.
•
An electric bell operated by means of a self-sustaining battery is con-
nected with the indicating apparatus and rings at each record on the dial
to call attention thereto. The electric current may readily be connected
or disconnected with the indicating apparatus as required.
:
The weight is so shaped that when drawn rapidly through the water
it may partially resist the tendency to rise towards the surface.
**
This Invention is a modification of that which is fully described in
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Alfred Poole in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ALFRED POOLE, of 21, Fairfield Terrace, Lower Tranmere, Birkenhead,
in the County of Cheshire, Schoolmaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Alfred Poole, Her special

page_text: licence, that I, the said George Alfred Poole, my executors, adminis
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Alfred
Poole, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE DEPTH OF WATER
UNDER VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Alfred Poole, 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 George Alfred Poole, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
This method of taking soundings while the vessel is under weigh
consists in showing upon. an indicator on board ship the varying
positions or depths of a weight attached to a limited length of chain or
wire rope between the vertical line A, B, Fig. 5, and the horizontal
line A, C, with a chain ten fathoms in length hanging vertically,
as A, B. The weight is ten fathoms from the ship's rail; when in the
position of the line A, D, the depth is seven fathoms; and of A, E, five
fathoms, the depths regularly decreasing as the weight and chain
approach the horizontal line A, C. These changing positions are
correctly shewn upon a dial on board ship, and when the variation
extends over a fathom a bell rings to call attention to the indicator.
The improvements which are the subject of this Invention consist
in,―
First. The use of a chain, wire rope, or single wire attached to the end
of a lever to carry the weight in the place of a rigid rod, as described in
a previous Patent.
Secondly. In placing the indicator on the bridge of a steam vessel.

page_text: current whenever desired.
-
Fourthly. In the shape of the weight or lead.
The chain, wire rope, or single wire, which
may be of any determined
length, from five to one hundred fathoms, the length of the same
giving the greatest depth reached by the lead, that is, in the direction
A, B, Fig. 5, is attached to the end of a lever A, Fig. 1, of any con-
venient length; the said lever carries round the pulley shaft B, which
takes with it the pulley C, Fig. 6, the motion is then carried on to
pulley D, Fig. 6, by an endless chain passing up the tubes D, D, Fig. 1.
Attached to pulley D, Fig. 6, and moving with it is a crank or arm F,
which is connected with the rack G by connecting rod H. The rack G
works the pinion K fixed on shaft L, at the end of which is the
hand M which is moved round to the figures upon the dial by the action
of the lead moving from one fathom to another, as seen in A, D, and
A, E, Fig. 5. On the shaft L, Fig. 6, is fixed a disc or wheel N with a
number of pins projecting, corresponding in number to the number of
fathoms marked upon the dial, Fig. 4, each pin as it is brought round
moving the hammer P and causing it to strike the bell R.
The weight or lead Fig. 2, which is flat on the upper side and curved
on the under side, as seen in Fig. 2, is fixed at right angles on a metal
rod of any convenient length, the diameter and weight of the lead
varying from eight inches and twenty-five pounds weight for a twenty.
fathom machine, to twelve or fourteen inches and fifty to sixty pounds.
weight for a sixty or hundred fathom apparatus.
The lead is attached to the chain, wire rope, or single wire, by which
it is suspended, by a swivel E, Fig. 2. The metal rod which passes
through the centre of the lead projects below it and terminates in a
small knob, the object of this arrangement being to prevent the lead
fastening into any soft bottom of sand or mud with which it would
otherwise come in contact.
The principle on which this lead is made to work and by which it
maintains its position in the water is that of the inclined plane, and I
claim the application of this principle to the working of a ship's lead for
sounding purposes as part of this Invention.

page_text: The improvements which are the subject of this Invention are
carried out substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Alfred Poole, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
GEORGE ALFRED POOLE. (L.S.)