ROVEMENTS IN PLUMMETS AND GAUGES FOR INDICATING THE DEPTH AND THE HEIGHT OR LEVEL OF LIQUIDS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Blair White, of the Town and County of
the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Doctor of Medicine, for the Inven-
tion of IMPROVEMENTS IN PLUMMETS AND GAUGES FOR INDICATING THE
DEPTH AND THE HEIGHT OR LEVEL OF LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 13th December 1861, and dated the 17th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Blair White at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th June 1861.
I, DAVID BLAIR WHITE, of the Town and County of the Town of New-
castle-upon-Tyne, Doctor of Medicine, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLUMMETS AND GAUGES FOR INDICATING
THE DEPTH AND THE HEIGHT OR LEVEL OF LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-.
My Invention is more particularly intended to indicate on shipboard the
height or depth of water that may have leaked into or otherwise entered the
hold, but it is applicable to indicating the depth and the height or level of
liquids generally.
According to one arrangement my Invention consists in the employment of
a galvanic battery, a wire from one pole of which leads to a needle or series of
needlesorindicators, whilecommunicationisestablished tocomplete the electric
circuit by means of a float, or, in the case of salt water and other good con-
ducting liquids, by the water itself rising and coming in contact with one or

page_text: other of a set of metal plates placed one over another, and each having con-
nected to it a separate wire leading to the indicating apparatus. The plates
being at different levels, the indicating apparatus shows which plate is in
communication, and consequently the height of the liquid..
According to another arrangement I employ an annular piston working
between a cylinder and an internal tube containing the wires which lead to
the metal plates before mentioned. These plates are all connected with one
pole of the battery, and a wire attached with a tongue to the piston, and which
rises and falls therewith, is connected to the other pole. As the column of
water presses on the piston (the pressure being proportionately counteracted
by a spring or springs) it moves the tongue with the wire to one or other of
the metal plates, and the needles or indicators show which plate is in com-
munication, as in the former arrangement..
To adapt a plummet to this arrangement append a brass bell to a line
wire which passes through the internal tube before named. Two wires from
-different poles of the battery are carried one to the cup of the bell and the
Fother to the clapper, communication-between them being preventod. When
the plummet reaches the ground the bell falls on one side, and the clapper
coming in contact with the cup completes the electric circuit, and causes an
indication to be made. I sometimes hang a plummet of this description over
the stern or other part of a vessel, and attach it to a windlass which is in
communication with a battery.
I am aware my Invention inay be carried into effect in various manners as
far as detail is concerned, but I intend to claim as my improvements in
gauges, constructing them in such manner that the liquid, the depth or level
of which is to be gauged, shall itself, or through a float or piston, complete an
electric circuit by communicating with one or more of a series of metallic
conductors arranged above one another, and show on an electric indicating
“apparatus connected with a galvanic battery, the height or level of such
liquid or the object may be effected by allowing the development of the
electricity as influenced by the depth or rise or fall of such liquid, as may be
dono in various ways, to be the indication of the depth or rise or fall of such
liquid.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Blair White in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
BLAIR WHITE, of the Town and County of the Town of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, Doctor of Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
David Blair White, Her special licence that I, the said David Blair
White, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said David Blair White, 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
night 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 PLUMMETS AND GAUGES FOR INDICATING THE DEPTE AND THE
HEIGHT OR LEVEL OF LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said David Blair White, 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 David Blair White, 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 theroof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say :-
My Invention is more particularly intended to indicate on shipboard the
depth of water in which the ship may be floating, or the height or depth of
water that may have leaked into or otherwise entered the hold, but it is
applicable to indicating the depth and the height or level of liquids generally.
According to one arrangement my Invention consists in the employment of
a galvanic battery, a wire from one pole of which leads to a needle or series of
needles or indicators, while communication is established to complete the
electric circuit by means of a float, or, in the case of salt water and other

page_text: good conducting liquids, by the water itself rising and coming in contact with
one or other of a set of metal plates placed one over another, and each having
connected to it a separate wire leading to the indicating apparatus. The
plates being at different levels, the indicating apparatus shows which plate is
in communication, and consequently the height of the liquid; or two plates
cach connected with a separate pole and placed close together with one
indicating needle may serve, the greater or lesser depth of fluid increasing
or diminishing the acting surface of the plates, and deflecting the needle
accordingly.
By another arrangement for sounding, a piston or ram influenced by the
pressure of the water acts upon plates connected with the battery by the wires
through the line, and gives indications as in the before mentioned.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal section of a
leakage gange constructed according to this arrangement; Figure-2-is a section-
of a gauge somewhat modified, in which the circuit is maintained by the
action of salt water; Figure 3 is a view shewing the plates on the left-hand
side of Figure 2, and Figure 4 is a view of an index with helices behind cach
needle, and in communication with the plates.
W, W, W, is a rod made of wood, gutta percha, or other non-conducting
material, to which a series of metal plates A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, a,
Bb, C, D, are connected at convenient intervals; S, S, S, are wires, one
led from each of the plates, and in communication at the other end with one
pole of a galvanic battery. These wires in their course to the battery pass
through helices, not shewn, at the back of the indices in Figure 4, and
influence the needles when the circuit is established; P is a float free to slide
on the rod W; it carries small metal tongues or wheels which are in con-
nection with a wire R, in communication with the other pole of the battery.
In Figure 2 there are plates having wires passing through the helices to one
pole of a battery, and T, T, T, is a plate in connection with a wire com-
municating with the opposite pole. The guage shown at Figures 1 and 2 is
placed in the well.
The working is as follows:-As the float P, Figure 1, rises it brings the
different platos into electric circuit, and deflects the respective needles on
Figure 4; when the float rises to the plate M, the middle tongue V transinits
a current through the needle M; this continues while the other two tongues
are acting upon A, B, C, D, connected with A, B, C, D, below. By
this means the deflection of the needle M shews that any deflection of the
needles A, B, C, D, must imply that they are being acted upon a second
time. By placing more plates on the rod similarly to M, with corresponding

page_text: needle, the scale may be repeated a third time, and so on. The space of the
plates being extended into each other gives to each needle also two indications
according as the float or water acts upon one plate alone or combined with
the adjoining one. Thus, supposing each indication to mark 3 inches, the
float or water acting on plate A alone is 3 inches, on plates A and B,'6 inches,
plate B alone, 9 inches, B with C, 12 inches, and so on. The plate X is loose
and may be slid пр or down; it is connected with a wire and coil forming a
bell; this acts as an alarm, and may be brought into any part desired,
sounding when the float or water reaches to the height decided on.
action in Figure 2 is similar to that in Figure 1, the salt water forming the
circuit without the necessity for the direct communication of the float, the
plate T, T, T, acting instead.
The
Figures 5 and 6 are views of plummets both so nearly similar that one
description will serve for both, excepting that Figure 5 has a solid ram or
piston, and Figure 6 a diaphragm or piston, the packing or cup C being on
the cylinder in Figure 5, and on the piston in Figure 6.
A is a cylinder; B, a ram or piston; C, air and water-tight packing;
D, stuffing box, through which passes the line E with the wires; H, H, are
the insulated plates, similar to those in Figures 1 and 2; I is the coiled wire
on the ram or piston to allow of motion; J is a cap or hollow containing
mercury, two wires running from it to one pole, and two wires from the
insulated plate K to the other pole. A wire also runs from the tongues or
wheels V, V, V.
The operation is as follows:-There are wires extending from the plates
H, H, passing through helices to a pole of a battery. When the plummet is
sunk in the water the rain or piston operates against a powerful spring and
is pressed up, the cylinder as the plummet descends carrying tongues or
wheels which act upon the plates and corresponding needles precisely as in the
leakage gauge. To the cup or hollow J containing mercury run two wires
from one pole, and to an insulated plate K near the cup run from the other
pele two other wires. When circuit is established one rings a bell, the other
deflects a needle. When the plummet reaches the bottom it falls on one side,
the mercury forms the circuit by flowing to the insulated plate, and indicates
the same to wherever the wires may be conveyed. L is a stopper for closing
the mercury cup J; F, F, Figure G, are holes by which water is admitted
to the cylinder below the plunger. Figure 7 is a view of a plummet with
only the cup apparatus attached.
At plan 2 I have given a general outline of both apparatuses; A, A, A, the
leakage in 3 holes; 1, 1, 1. the rods in wells; 2, the indexes beside tho

page_text: steerman; 3, the alarm in captain's cabin; 4, the battery; B, B, B, plummet,
hanging here over bowsprit; 5, the coil of line with wire communicating
with the battery.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
mauner the same is to be performed, I declare that my Invention may be
carried into effect in various manners as far as detail is concerned, and that I
claim as my improvements in plummets and gauges, constructing them in
such manner that the liquid, the depth, height, or level of which is to be
gauged, shall itself, or through a float or piston, complete an electric circuit
by communicating with one or other of a series of metallic conductors arranged
above or near one another, and show on an electric indicating apparatus con-
nected with a galvanic battery, the depth, height, or level of such liquid,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said-David-Blair White, have-hereunto-sct-
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.